Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Liszt in Budapest

around the corner from the Klassz Cafe . . . a pedestrian mall, with this action statue of Franz Liszt . . .
hittin' the high note . . .

Egy Vilaj - One world - Budapest Fine Arts Museum

agggh.
No Artist Name, and I can't find it on WWW.
 
After we'd had our cappacino and torte, we went in the room next to us, and I was so blown away with this picture I wanted to take a picture, but the guard said, "With Photo Ticket, Only!" so we went back upstairs and paid 300 Forint for the ticket then I dashed back down to grab the photo . . . Mrs was waiting upstairs, so, yeh, it's a little off-center and crooked . . . I'd a given anything for a poster of this, but not available . . . I think they mainly rely on a poster printing system, rather than having them instock, and the machine was down . . . but this art was worth the trip.

Klassz - Budapest

after the museum, we hiked back past Oktagon to Klassz . . .still on the up-scale avenue Andressy', which I take to mean Embassy Row . .  . from all the, er, Embassies . . . The travel book warned of long waits, but we waltzed right in -- was around 4pm -- but it did get busier as we sat.
 
Borzongas is kinduva droll name, but it was very fine, prosecco-like.
 
I had grilled duck foie gras . . . with what amounted to apple sauce . . . very fine apple sauce . . . coulda made a meal of just that, it was that good.
 
Mrs' had something which was equally amazing, but it photos not so well: blue cheese soup with pears . . . they served it with the cooked pears in the bottom of the bowl, then poured the hot soup on top of it . . . a nice presentation . . . we had not ever imagined blue cheese soup, much less how good it would be . . . 8^) . . .
 
then we kinda messed up, blog-wise, since we both got the duck on paprika risotto . . . dang it . . . the magyars do *something* to paprika dishes we don't quite understand, where they DO get some spice into it, when we just get a weak flavour . . . this risotto was awesome, the duck was awesome, the staff was awesome, the whole place is awesome. Loved it.

Cimon and Pero - Budapest Fine Arts Museum

is the exemplary story of a daughter, Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. She is found out by a jailer, but her act of selflessness impresses officials and wins her father's release.[1]
 

The Calling of St.Matthew - Budapest Fine Art Museum

I just kinda think this is a musing . . .
St. Matthew is bald, bearded, and wearing glasses . . . WTH ?
8^D

Parable of the Unfair Judge - Budapest Fine Arts Museum

8. The Parable of Unfair Judge (Lk 18:2-5)
“There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”
 
So-o-o-o-o-o
the idea in the painting, as I see it, and the actual parable, don't seem to corroborate . . . that is, in the picture, one gets the idea that the judge is being unfair to HER, instead of to her antagonist, as I read in the parable . . .

Da Brueghels

Some of Mrs' Personal Faves . . . we hadda linger over their multiple samples at the museum in Wien, too . . . sorta Hieronymous Bosch-y to me . . .
 
We just watched The Mill and The Cross last night, about the Brueghels . . . very arty . . . I'm not sure it told me as much about them as the director . . . c'est le cine . . .
 

Eve at the Budapest Fine Arts Museum

this is half of the set, of course, and I should have gotten Adam, too, but I didn't . . .
what was weird was that the snake was in his picture, not hers . . . 8^D . . .
I just tho't -- as fine art goes -- this was a very fine Eve . . .

El Greco & Velasquez Budapest Fine Arts Museum

Oddly enough, the showcase at the Budapest Fine Arts museum, next to Heroes' Square, is the spanish art gallery . . . with 7 El Grecos and assorted other artists. So we belined there. I was speed walking past the ones I wasn't impressed with, and suddenly came up short . . . This large picture of the sorrowful woman caught my eye, and it was being reverenced by some guy sitting on a bench in front of it. Sure enough, this was, these were, the El Grecos... this in particular was Mary Magdalene . . . awesome . . . the Velasquez transfixed me too, the faces  . . .

Chocolate Torte & Capacino at the Budapest Fine Arts Museum



ok.
we did the memento park . . . I drove . . . it was a miracle we got there because the guide book and the GPS in the car didn't agree on where it was, but we did it the old fashioned way, with follow-your-nose-navigation . . . the agent at the car lease place had loaned me his personal Milo GPS, since they were all out, but he warned me that it was not current . . . that proved problematic at times . . . and then, I couldn't even get the dang thing to come back on so we hadda navigate low-tech back to town. . . scary . . . but successful . . . then we decided to hoof it out to the park and the fine-arts-museum from there (Oktagon) . . . not so far, but a good hike . . . so first thing at the museum was some re-sustenance, after the hand-wringing anxiety and exercise . . . just a little cappacino and a slice of chocolate & orange torte . . . a little dry . . .but still good

Memento Park - Budapest

we've kinda gotten over the idea of Commie-Camp, that the icons and detritus of the Communist Era are "fun", but it's all undeniably a part of history, worth preserving, just not reverence, if you see how I mean . . . so this park where the Magyars have parked statues of Soviet Era "art" is a well-executed good idea, even if they're apparently suffering from some budgetary constraints . . . in spring, when the bushes, grass, and trees fill in, it might not look so bedraggled . . .
 
I tho't Russian Debutante's Handbook was about Prague, but lookit: Stalin's boots here in Budapest . . .