
Thanks to the long midsummer days, light was sufficient even in the evening for some nice impressions outside the Gellert Bath. The lanterns seem to origin (as the building does) from times of Vienna Secession.
The coffeehouses in Budapest were inviting, especially now as it was neither crowded nor too hot. And with a good sense for design and a certain facileness in decoration they very often formed attractive places to stay. Difficult to resist for someone like me, whose engine runs on coffee of all kinds.
The kickoff meeting for our project (EnerCity, at the moment of this writing in a preliminary stage) took place in the Technical University of Budapest, where we were warmly welcomed by Prof. János Szlávik, Head of Department of Environmental Economics. In his keynote he mentioned just in passing a small detail which still remains in…
I am posting this from back home again. The trip was short, intense and filled to the brim with interesting discussion about our project’s features like thermal mapping of city quarters as a support for decisions to thermally renovate buildings in order to cut their CO2 footprint. Photography was for the fringe time, like early…
On special request from Martina, whose dry humour every day is a cause for a smile, just two around-the-corner images from downtown Budapest. The glory of some of the buildings is amazing, comparable only with Vienna or Prague. And just steps away you find buildings that have not been renovated probably since cold war times.
On top of Gellert Hill in Budapest is the Liberty Statue, commemorating the liberation of Hungary from the demons of National Socialism, embodied by german troops and ‘special units’. The translated inscription at the foot of the liberty statue reads “Erected by the grateful Hungarian Nation in memory of the liberating Russian heroes.” At that…
A short business has led me to Budapest: A multinational EU funded project working on CO2 reduction by better energy usage has its kickoff meeting here. The first free hours I used for a walk through the center, which shows amazing contrasts between Gucci shops and decaying building blocks just within eyesight.
One of the cool places in Krk, the cafe Casa dei Frangipane in the harbour, is named after the dynasty of the Frankopan, which was very influential in Croatia up to the 16th century. The Frankopan sovereigns tried to defend their estate both against the turkish invaders and the Venetians and where ultimately defeated by…
Always eager to avoid security risks hidden in older software, I first tried the new 3.0 version of the blog software WordPress on my local installation. I was impressed by the smoothness and speed of the upgrade process, which did not cause any hickups or even minor changes in the look of my handcrafted theme.…
Sherri’s remark on the “kid colors” of the Egglestonian trike reminded me of the slides on a playground in Krk, and recently searching through Carl Weese’s Pennsylvania images brought that Wadesville playground slide to my attention. What a difference in the obtrusiveness of the coloring. Personally I am less than convinced that we do kids…
At least since my unexpected encounter with Eggleston’s famous trike on a Honda Poster (here) I am somewhat sensitized for those small vehicles. So my heart leaped for a moment when I saw this symphony in blue, consisting of that chinese-made little threewheeler and the harbour scenery and intensified by the red tail light. Of…
As Krk has a strict regime on construction activities, the historic (aka 19th century) appearance of its structure is mostly intact inside the city walls. The houses are of similar height and irregular floor plan and the walls richly structured. Thus the interesting play of shadows everywhere. The challenge for the council now will be…
Searching for the church of Sveti Krsevan, we stopped in the small village of Poljica for lunch. And a fine lunch this was, by far the best grilled lamb that I’ve eaten on this island. But really spectacular was the walnut schnapps, served before *and* after the meal. Sometimes it’s really good not being the…
Today was the Feast of Corpus Christi, and as the town of Krk on the island of Krk is the seat of the bishop, there was a large procession through all of the alleys.Krk itself is the town of Sveti Kvirin, Saint Quirin. Now don’t get me wrong, I am the last to deny religious…