Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pay More for Budapest Dinner Than Most Hungarians Make in a Month
Hungarian tabloid Napi Asz is reporting that Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and two friends of Brangelina spent 100,000 forints ($500) on an evening meal at Budapest’s first restaurant to receive a Michelin star.
Now that amount may not seem a lot in New York, Paris and Tokyo gourmet dining circles, but it happens to exceed the monthly take-home salary of most Hungarians.
A fellow patron of the restaurant in question, Costes, told the tabloid that the Jolie-Pitts and guests ordered a six-course business menu in a sequestered section of the restaurant. The feast included lobster, turbot and gnocchi with artichokes – washed down with some of the finest wines from the region.
It used to be the best dining experiences in Hungary were not the ones found in restaurants but those that resulted from invitations to eat at the home of a Hungarian friend or acquaintance.
How times have changed.
New Hungarian Sport Promises Lots of Contestants in Skimpy Swimming Attire
Despite living in a land-locked country that is home to but a few lakes and rivers, Hungarians make the most of any opportunity in which they are in the water; Hungary is a consistent gold-medal threat in such Olympic events as swimming, water polo, canoeing and kayaking.
Now headball, a new Magyar sport, is making … um … waves. The rules of headball closely resemble those of soccer. Teams are made up of three players each, two fielders and a goalie, that try to shoot a beach ball into the opposing goal using their noggins. Matches are held within an enclosed 15×5-meter floating playing area.
Organizers hope headball, which is played in two seven-minute halves, will garner the sort of grassroots following that, in the late 1970s, propelled the popularity of another waterside sport, beach volleyball, and eventually turned it not only into a 24-hour-sports-channel favorite but an Olympic event as well.
Impromptu and informal versions of headball have been played at Lake Balaton, the country’s largest body of water, every summer for decades. In 2010 a group of Budapesters decided to make it an official sport, complete with its own organization, the MFLSZ or Hungarian Headball Association. And on August 19, 2011 Budapest played host to the first annual Headball Cup.
Still, to the casual observer, ie, a fellow like myself who breaks into a sweat during a game of pool, there seems to be a don’t-try this-at-home element to headball. Observing the video above, one cannot help but think there is a high likelihood — with so many heads moving this way and that in a relatively small space — that one or two might bang into each other every once in a while.
English Second-Hand Clothing Stores Still Thriving in Hungary
Attention Britons! Do these clothes look familiar?
A visitor to Budapest, or any other Hungarian town for that matter, might be struck by the number of Union Jacks decorating the storefronts of the high streets.
Rather than signifying a Magyar version of a fish and chips shop, these businesses invariably bear the name “Angol Ruha” or “English Clothes” and sell second-hand English clothing, usually at a very low cost.
Last year we wrote about how these shops had been sprouting up all over the place. Twelve months later and the trend is still thriving.
Rather than sell goods per item, many second-hand clothing stores in Hungary choose to offer goods by the kilogram. For example, a store might offer clothes for 1,000 forints (about $5.60) on Monday and proceed to lower its rates each day of the week: 800 forints/kg on Tuesday to 200 forints (a little more than a buck on a Friday.)
If the day is right, one can walk out with an incredible bargain. We recently heard of a woman who, on a Friday, purchased a blouse for 30 Hungarian forints or $0.17. A men’s shirt, which is heavier, may cause you to dig a little deeper into your pockets, but on a Friday you may be able to claim one for about $0.50.
Whither the Sziget Fesztival?
The organizers of one of Europe’s largest and most popular music festivals might now have to pay a hefty price for the land they use every August.
The Children’s Railway of Budapest
My piece on Budapest’s Children’s Railway recently appeared in United’s in-flight magazine, Hemispheres.
Located high in the hills of the Hungarian capital, the 60-year-old, seven-mile Gyermekvasut is the largest scenic train line in the world operated almost entirely by children. Kids from 10 to 14 do (almost) all the jobs their adult counterparts would: conducting, granting engineers permission to start the trains, selling tickets, and pulling switches and signals. (Adults drive the trains, which can reach speeds of 12 miles per hour.)
