Latin American Artists in Nueva York: Orozco and Tamayo

Alright, we left off at Jose Clemente Orozco and Rufino Tamayo, two great Mexican artists. Orozco was considered one of "los tres grandes" (three important ones), referring to the three great muralists of that time: Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco. Siqueiros also was in New York at this time, but since I'm not a huge fan of his work, I won't go much more into him - beyond the little tidbit that he influenced Jackson Pollack with his use of industrial paints, like airplane paint, in his art. Ok, on to Orozco.

Orozco on the East Coast
Orozco lived in New York for a while - 1927 until 1934 and then again in 1940 and 1946.

One of his amazing murals is in a basement room in Dartmouth College. You'd be right to say that Dartmouth isn't in New York; it's in New Hampshire. But the mural he painted there is so amazing - I just have to write about it. It's called "The Epic of American Civilization" and it's 92-feet long. It portrays American civilization from the invasion of Mexico during the conquest to the Mexican revolution to scenes in the United States during the 1930s.

One segment of "The Epic of American Civilization", Jose Clemente Orozco, 1934, via Dartmouth

Orozco also painted scenes of New York life, such as "The Subway." Greg said it's like a jail cell. The dark and dreariness of the scene is very much like Orozco - his themes often have an apocalyptic overtone to them.

What stuck out to me is that the people look blurry and faraway, just like they would if you were trying to avoid seeing other people on a subway car. Beyond just the need to have space in a big city (even if it's only mental space), there's also a survival need there. You never know who you might meet on the subway and whether they are sane, unfriendly, or even short-tempered to the point of being murderous. Orozco shows the distance we place between ourselves and others in this painting.

"The Subway," Jose Clemente Orozco, 1928, via MoMA

Rufino Tamayo in New York

"I went to New York to get to know what painting really was... We were blind here, and New York made me aware of all the trends and currents that existed in those years. It showed me what art was."- Rufino Tamayo (via this New York Times article)

During the late 1920s, Tamayo was being eclipsed by the three great Mexican muralists of his time. There was really no need because Tamayo was an excellent painter who painted in a more universal style than the muralists. He wanted to base his art in principles of modern art, meaning flat compositions and abstract forms. Tamayo lived in New York between 1926-1928 and again in 1936 until 1950.

He exhibited in several galleries in New York and also had a major retrospective at the Guggenheim museum in New York in 1979. Not convinced? Here are two of his paintings that he did while in New York:

"Animales," Rufino Tamayo, 1941, via MoMA

Tamayo painted Animales right in the middle of WWII. It clearly communicates the fear and uncertainty that was rampant at this time in the world. These dogs are clearly hungry (see picked-clean bones at the bottom) and inspire fear in whoever would encounter them, especially in a dark alleyway somewhere. The animals are displayed with cubist lines and sinister colors. These are not your average domestic dogs here.

"Woman with a Pineapple," Rufino Tamayo, 1941, via MoMA

In total contrast, this peaceful scene of a woman with a pineapple. You can really see the influence of Picasso and cubism here. The colors also are interesting - you may never find a face with those types of colors (or shapes) in real life, but that's why it's art. Also, the subject matter evokes Gauguin with his island women.

Next up: Miguel Covarrubias and Joaquin Torres Garcia! Hope you're enjoying my presentation over many blog posts.

Gold, Boats, and Forts

I'm just getting to finishing up our posts on Colombia now so bear with me. Thanks! ~Ayelet

We spent our last few days on vacation in the town of Cartagena, right along the coast. In a way, I felt like our vacation only started when we got to Cartagena.

Watching the sunset on century-old city walls

Why?

Because 1) it's warm and humid, 2) the people are super nice, 3) it was easy to walk around and felt safe within the old city walls, and 4) there was a variety of things to see and do.

One morning we spent some time in the old fortress on the hill. Cartagena was where Spanish kept all the gold they stole from the indigenous people before they shipped it back to Spain. So pirates loved to raid the city, or at least try to. The old city is faced on 2 sides by water and is protected by the city walls. The fortress on the hill protects the back sides of the city. We had a great tour guide at the fortress - at one point, he had us go down a dark maze to show how the military communications worked back then. And then he let us flounder our way out of the maze and scare us half to death in the process. Fun times!

Leading to the mazes below the fortress

On another day, we took a boat tour to a few islands off the coast. It took 2 hours to get out there, but let me tell you, this guy was the most entertaining guide/boat game show host we've ever had. We've got video, which we hope to eventually put together, but for now, I'll share this photo of just one part of this voyage.

Yes, those are two men who are cross-dressed up in women's clothes from female volunteers on the boat. They even have lipstick on and stuffed towels up their butts. Then, they were made to walk the "catwalk" and even dance with a pole. And I just want to say that the North American/European tourists were in the minority on this boat. That afternoon, after the boat, we ate lunch on Playa Blanca and relaxed on the beach under a cabana. It was perfect.

Because it was really hot in Cartagena one afternoon (actually, who am I kidding? It was hot every afternoon so we took our siesta usually between 1-3 pm), we stopped by the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum). To our surprise, it was an air-conditioned museum delight! The first floor was about the Zenu Indian tribe, which had goldsmiths quite early. They were around 200 BC to 1600 AD although there are a few remaining members still around today. It was amazing to me that they had an advanced enough society to use gold and have enough wealth to pay for gold jewelry during that time. When you hear about modern civilization, you don't hear about how advanced the non-European societies actually were.

Gold earrings that both women and men wore 

On the second floor, there was a section that talked about how they created a canal system over 400,000 hectares (almost a million acres) of land in northern Colombia because it would keep flooding. They carved out canals in their lands so their crops would still get the nutritional benefits of being in the flood plains, but their houses and villages were safe on the canal ridges. It's interesting because even today, people often build in places that are almost guaranteed to flood without taking precautions.

We were not expected Cartagena to have so much to do and see. We were pleasantly surprised.

Update on Art History Class

You may remember I'm taking an art history class at the local university. There are a few updates I can give you now that we're more than a third of the way in.

• The class is half-full of art history nerds. You can especially tell who is an art history nerd and who is a art history amateur (myself included) when we sit in a cafe after going to a museum. The art history nerds (which I write with much affection) will talk the teacher's ear off about some abstract painting; an art conference coming to town; or problems that are affecting the Ecuadorian art field in general. Really heavy stuff. The rest of us will chat about the new airport in town, the weather, our next vacation, or a new movie. As you can imagine, I'm getting pretty good at Ecuadorian small talk.

• I'm now understanding 80% of what is said, maybe 75% on the day that starts at 9 am. I'm not a morning person when it comes to Spanish - I've found that my Spanish level decreases noticeably when I'm forced to communicate articulately at wee hours of the morning. So trying to identify what kind of art style a painting is before 10 am is not really happening. I sit back and soak it all in until my mind starts up for the day. Next week we have a 4-hour class and I think my head might just implode by the third hour. I've heard talk of pastries making an appearance though.

• Camilo Egas is one of my new favorites. The other week, our teacher took us to the museum of Quito's most under-appreciated artist, Camilo Egas. Let me tell you - this guy painted it all. He painted impressionism, cubism, abstract expressionism, surrealism, Spanish modernism, and lots of indigenous art. I couldn't take photos, but you can check out his work here. 

• I have an exam... tomorrow. I should be studying my butt off like all the good art history nerds, but I'm having a hard time concentrating on it tonight. We've got the most amazing cloud show happening outside our window right now. It's good blog-writing weather.

• My next presentation is on Latino artists in New York in the 20th century. My teacher says she's got text (in English!) for me so I think she's taken pity on me. I've also noticed there are not that many Ecuadorian art history books out there. And the ones that are out there are difficult to read. My theory is that these art history experts know they're a select few who write about Ecuadorian art history so they feel inventing obscure words (that aren't in any dictionary and confuse even the native Spanish speakers, mind you) is their right. They exercise that right pretty much every sentence. The sentences in these art history texts are something else, too. I've never seen such long sentences in my life. I've actually started counting the longest sentences I've seen so far - the record is 8 lines (2 lines less than this bullet point).

• I'll finish with some other painters for you to check out. Since our class is about Ecuadorian and Latin American painters, we've studied painters from all over. I've enjoyed Tarsila do Amaral from Brazil; Emilio Pettorutti from Argentina (futurism!); Pedro Figari from Uruguay; and Luis Martinez from Ecuador (I did a presentation on him - beautiful landscapes of Ecuador. I have to write a blog post just about him. After all, I did the research and my class probably only understood half of what I said anyway so other people should benefit from this knowledge). 

This is one of my favorites of Luis Martinez -
it's from a book called
"Luis A. Martinez" by Fernando Jurado Noboa.

Two Days in Medellin, Colombia

We just got back from a week in Colombia and our first stop was Medellin. If the city name sounds familiar, it might be because the infamous drug warlord, Pablo Escobar, ruled the city for many years. But he's gone now and the city is much better than it was during his time. To set the stage, we both read "News of a Kidnapping" by the well-known author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The book is based on a true story of several kidnappings of journalists in the 80's and 90's by Escobar's gang. It helped to picture what people went through during that time. Thankfully, the drug cartels are not what they were back then and Colombia is much safer now.

One slope of Medellin

The Medellin airport is actually 45 minutes outside of the city in a little mountain town called Rio Negro. To get into the city, you have to take a mini-bus and go over some hills and down into a valley. Apart from being so far away, it was nice to see a more rural part of the country because Medellin is 100% city. The city was warmer and a little more humid than Quito, but much of it was similar.

We decided to stay in the city center without much thought as to why. If I would do it again, we'd stay out in the El Poblado neighborhood, which was more hip and felt a lot safer. But no matter! Being in the downtown meant we were close to the park that housed more than 20 Fernando Botero sculptures and the Museum of Antioquia (the region Medellin is in). If you only have 24 hours in Medellin, these are two great sights to see.

Although it was raining when we got to the sculptures, we didn't let that deter us. The interesting thing about Botero is how he makes his subjects so large. According to him, he makes them that way because he wanted to express people's voluminousness and sensuality. I guess he meant we're all larger than life. ;-)

The museum itself had 3 stories full of Botero sculptures and paintings, as well as other Medellin and Colombian artists. A lot of the painters were from modern times so it was interesting to see their work.

Can you see the gun? This guitar was created to promote peace.

The next day we spent the day roaming around the El Poblado neighborhood I mentioned before. It had little shops, cafes and restaurants. There was even options for vegetarians - something that's not at all common in Ecuador. The area had a beautiful stream running through it with lots of lush gardens around, too. Our mountain-dried skin soaked up the moisture like sponges.

I'll write more about the later part of our trip in another couple blog posts - Medellin was okay, but Cartagena was the highlight of our trip. Just wait until you see the pictures!

Good Reasons to Visit Ecuador, Part II

As promised, here's Part II of our reasons to visit Ecuador:

Feel TALL!

View from our window - we get the best sunsets!

Every time I stand next to Ecuadorians, I feel tall. It may be hard to imagine someone feeling tall at a small 5'4" (on a good day), but it's true! Especially next to men here, I am tall. The indigenous people are shorter than average Ecuadorians, but my mom at 5'0" would be average here.

The Great Outdoors
Ecuador is a dream for the outdoors people. Greg and I can get lazy, but we get out a lot here. We have a great huge park right behind our apartment that we can explore the trails of. It's great for those days when you don't want to get out of the city to be in nature. Otherwise, there are some great daytrips that are within 2 hours of Quito: Papallacta, Pululahua, Mindo, Otavalo, etc.

Diverse Regions

Making friends with a seal in the Galapagos!

Ecuador has a great diversity in terms of climates - it's got the Andes (where we are), the Amazon (about 7 hours away by bus and boat; 1 hour by plane), the Coast (about 7-10 hours away by bus or less than an hour by plane), and the Galapagos (which is amazing). In those regions are sub-regions like cloud forests, which are amazing. It means you get to see a lot of different types of life in Ecuador.


Strong Sun
Because of the altitude and the equator, the sun is really strong here. Bring lots of sunscreen and cool sun hats while you visit because you will use them both a lot. You'll go home with a lot of vitamin D!


Intact Culture

We thought Germany had a strong culture, but it's got nothing on Ecuador. You'll still see people wearing traditional clothes, speaking Quichwa (the native language), and creating materials in the old way. It's amazing to feel like you're living in a real-life museum in that sense.

Intrepid is Impressive

Hey readers,

We have been gone for a while. Away from home and the blog. But after a long vacation to see family in the United States, we are back and full of stories. Aside from seeing family, I (Greg) was most excited to visit New York City. As I have told many people, I had visited NYC once as a kid 20 years ago. I came from a small town in central Wisconsin were the tallest building was about 5 stories high. On that trip, we arrived to Grand Central Station on the Amtrak. The instant my family walked out of the station I was overwhelmed by the tall buildings, a mugging of a handicapped person right in front of me, police on horses, and what seemed like my parents disappeared in all of this big city chaos.

That city of chaos image was in the back of my head as we flew in to NYC, however, we have lived in enough big cities now for 10 years so that I had a good feeling the city would feel very normal to me. In fact, Ayelet and I had to do one of our new travel approaches of divide and conquer since we admit to having a variety of interests to satisfy. That allowed me to really take in the city that scared me as a child and experience it from a whole different perspective.

My main stop was to go to the Intrepid Museum and see the new display of the Enterprise Space Shuttle.

Like everything in NYC, this display was impressive and over the top. The Intrepid Museum is one of a kind. It is a museum dedicated to aircraft and is housed on and in a retired Navy aircraft carrier.

Not only does this museum showcase a wide range of flying things, but you can get great city views from this angular piece of floating crafted metal.

Museums in Quito

If you've read this blog when we were in Germany, you'll probably be well aware that we love museums. To recap, here's more about our museum adventures in Berlin, Nuremburg, Vienna, Istanbul, London, Jerusalem, Rome, Munich of course, and so many of the places we visited.

In Quito, we haven't been to that many museums. There's just so much culture to see and outdoors stuff to do that museums haven't been high on our list. But we decided to take a rainy weekend day to visit the museum of contemporary arts in Quito. To begin with, we had the hardest time finding the place within the Casa de la Cultura museum complex. I asked two people sitting at the info desk of Natural History museum and they had to resort to the internet to find it (even though I had directions to exactly where we were). Because of what they told us, we decided to give up on our search for that particular contemporary arts museum and check out the Casa de la Cultura itself. Well, when we entered into that building, the guard said we had to go to a different place and he gave us directions.

When we followed his directions, what did we see, but the museum we had been looking for at the start! And guess what? It was right next to the Natural History museum, literally the next door over. The girls at the info desk of the Natural History museum did not even know what the neighboring museum was! As you can see, I'm still amazed that they have jobs at the museum.

The man at the front desk was so nice - when he didn't have change for a $10 (our tickets were $4 total), he let us get in for the $2 that we scrapped together. Maybe he felt flustered because when we came in, the security guard was lounging out on the lobby sofas, half asleep.

They had two large rooms and several long hallway exhibits. In the first large room, the security guard in there had music blasting (it wasn't so loud, but it was loud for a museum). Thankfully, it wasn't pop Latin or salsa music. It was distracting. But even more distracting was how horribly lit the museum was - if you stood in front of a painting, your shadow would fall on it and you wouldn't be able to see any of the details of the painting. Very weird. You could see they were trying to put in these little LED lights, but they had hardly any wattage to them and basically they were wires sticking out of the ceiling. 

They did have some beautiful scenes of Ecuadorian indigenous people, musical instruments from all over the world, and costumes of various Ecuadorian indigenous folks in the museum. Greg and I both enjoyed it in the end, but it was a very different experience than the museums we've been to.

Guess Where?

When driving down the interstate like a plant in a greenhouse, you get the feeling of being cooked because of the heat. As Ayelet and I were heading west on I-80, we looked at a wayside map to figure out where some water might be on our drive through Nebraska. We found a small park called Johnson Lake. After a stretch of our legs, we needed to get back on the road so we could meet our friends in Colorado. Rather than going back to the interstate we headed south toward Kansas…that is your first hint to guessing the city we were in.




While driving, we started to only get country music stations on the radio. The twangy melodies were occasionally interrupted with important trade updates on the prices of corn, soy, and wheat. That was followed by the overall value of the DOW. It made sense as we had been driving on a corn-walled highway.

We were low on gas and needed to stop in the next town. As we slowed down I noticed a sign saying we had entered “The Home of the World BB Gun Championship.” We had indeed entered a whole new world.



I was most interested in the colorful back window of a truck at the gas station. The collection of stickers was __________ (there are too many possible words to put here so fill in the blank on your own). The collection that I could read included: a message from Jesus, an NRA membership sticker, an acronym using the name OBAMA (with the M standing for “mistake”), and a handful of others I couldn’t quite read.



Anyway, after getting back on the highway, we began to see signs for a monument/museum called “Last Indian Raid on Kansas Soil.” Unfortunately we did not stop, but the title really seems to convey the purpose. With all those clues, can anyone guess where we stopped or what highway we were driving on? Answer posted below this picture

We were at the junction in Norton, Kansas, to pick up Highway 36. It was beautiful countryside; just watch out for all of the combines that look like something from a scary alien movie.

Top 5 Favorite Trips in Germany

Unlike the list of our favorite international trips, this list was harder to rank because we loved each of these places for different reasons. Here are our favorite trips in Germany:

Berlin

Ahhh, chilly, frosty Berlin! The nonconformity and edge of the people in Berlin was in such contrast to the conservative nature of Munich - it was so refreshing. If you're looking for a place to visit with great museums, food and design inspiration, Berlin should be on your list.

Don't let the snow in these pictures scare you - it's probably gorgeous May through October.

Lindau


The harbor at dusk



Greg planned this trip on his own for our second anniversary in November. It was the perfect time to visit because the folliage was beautiful and Lindau was quieter than it probably was in the summer. To get to the city, the train crossed a bridge across a section of the lake and Lindau looks just magical. Most of the weekend was spent walking around the small city and Lake Constance, but we did also check out their fabulous museum while there.

 
Nuremberg


One of Nuremberg's fountains



Greg calls this city "the city of fountains" because there were really so many fountains, including a huge, amazing one featuring various sins like gluttony, avarice, hatred, etc. Of course, there were many other things to see in the town, but that and the house of Alfred Durer, a painter, stuck with us.

During the war, the city was almost completely wiped out, but they did a wonderful job rebuilding it and making it look like it did in the pre-war days. This was a very fun place to walk around in and they also have a few good museums... and supposedly an amazing Christmas market, but we didn't see it.

Bayerischzell

We saw Bayerischzell first in the winter when we went cross-country skiing and loved it. The track was fantastic and wound its way by a river and through a plain, ending with a warm plate of kaiser schwarm at a local restaurant.

I think Bayerischzell was the best cross-country skiing we did while in Germany and it was too bad we found it so late. At least we have the memories!

Eichstatt

Unlike our other vacations on this list, this trip we took with our family that lived there - my aunt Na'ama and uncle Gil, and their kids: Shai-Li, Amit and Yuval, and their friends. It was a full weekend with canoeing, exploring ruins, hikes with kid-and-Greg-friendly activities, and chipping away for fossils. When we eventually have a home in the US, ask us to show you our fossilized worm poop slate.

I think this trip was important for us because it was our first and we really bonded with our family through it. Greg hardly knew my family at that point and it was a pretty quick way for him to get to know them all. The German-Portuguese family that also came with filled us in on the history of the area we were in and about Germany in general. It's hard to believe that we took this trip in August of 2009 and we had just moved to Germany a few weeks before. 


Greg swinging across a murky pond







Our canoe, which was always the last one in



Our Five Favorite International Trips

While on the train back from Triberg, Greg and I thought about our five favorite trips we've taken together in the last two years. We have wonderful memories and great stories from all of our trips, but here are the most special ones:

Croatia

Island of Cres

If I could talk about Croatia every day to everyone I see, I would. But then I would be one of the "crazies" so I withhold from doing so. The parts of this country we saw were absolutely beautiful and fairly untouched by tourism, unlike Italy and Greece. Although the language is a problem, I envy the people who live there.

The coastline and Plitvices park were so gorgeous, and there are tons of great old cities to explore as well. My mouth still waters when I think about the grapes, tomatoes and cucumbers I ate there - it felt like someone had just picked them off the plant and handed them to me. I still sometimes say to myself if I eat an average grape in Germany, "it's just not like Croatia."

If you're looking for a sunny holiday off the beaten path, go to Croatia!

Budapest

If you've seen quite a bit of Europe - as we have over the years - old buildings and churches start to look the same, or you've already seen what you consider the most beautiful church and none of the others can compare. The reason I'm saying this is because I think this was our mindframe when we arrived in Budapest. We had just left Vienna, which is a beautiful classic European city, and Budapest hit us with a solid dose of reality.

It may not be a city for everyone, but we loved it. The atmosphere, the resourcefulness of the people, the kindness of people in helping us find our way around... it just felt so different from Western Europe. Or indeed, any other country we'd been to.

Istanbul

Talking about something different from Western Europe, Istanbul was it, for sure! We went here for our first anniversary (our second was in Lindau, which is in Germany - that list is coming soon). I wish we had time to explore other areas of Turkey because it sounds like each part is very different. I especially hope to get to the ruins in the East at some point in my life.

Having been to a Muslim country when I was small (and Greg had never been to one before), we were struck by the beautiful minerats and mosques everywhere. There must have been at least 30 on the hills around our quaint little hotel. Parts of the city were crumbling, but the palace grounds and the museums were still very much there. And I won't go on again on how much the Islamic designs inspire me with their beauty. I'm sure you all had about enough of that already.

Prague

Prague seems to be everyone's favorite and for good reason. The city is so lovely whatever the season. Even when we went in winter, the snow on the ground gave Prague this mystery and warmth. Greg went with his parents in the summer and they seemed to all like it for the nice cafes along the river and easy walking distances. Another of our friends went in the spring and meet great new friends randomly. Everyone seems to find something that they enjoy in the city.

Salzburg
Last on our list is Salzburg, but not because we liked it the least. It's only 2 hours from Munich so we went there a lot the first year. The city is touristy, but in a way, I never minded it. The walk up to the castle gives one such a great overlook as to why people go there. The beautiful little old town stretches out below you and you may even make out the palace grounds to your left.

Last time we went there, I visited the art museum on the hill and I think the walks along the cliffs were more fun for me then than checking out the art. And of course, who can forget the Sound of Music tour?

 We'll also be doing a post about our top five favorite trips just in Germany so stay tuned!

Quick Recap on Israel

Kate and I in the Old City market of Jerusalem

Every time I've visited Israel in the last couple years, the experience has been different.

I've gone back for Passover with Greg in March; a family wedding in September; and this time meeting with Kate, one of my best friends growing up, to show her my second home and introduce her to my family. Kate and I have known each other 15 years and she hadn't met the majority of my family until this trip.

Check out what she wrote about her experiences in Israel: Tel Aviv and Be'er Tuvia, Israeli art and design, the start of our trip, and of course, Jerusalem.

We ate hummus, falafel and pita in Jerusalem's Old City with my Safta ("grandma" in Hebrew) Rachel; dipped our feet into the Mediterranean; chilled out in the hammock with my aunt Dari and Safta Tzipi; and in general, met family and got lost along the way (my fault entirely). I actually think I saw more red heads on this trip to Israel than ever before - must be Kate's influence!

Family dinner on Friday night

Bahai Temple up close

My cousins Noa and Romi

Sculpture at Israel Museum

My pregnant cousin Dana on the beach in Tel Aviv


Check out the rest of my photos!

Budapest Activities

As you already know, we had a great time in Budapest and wish we had more time to spend in the city. We only visited one museum, but spent much of our time walking around and getting a feeling for the neighborhoods of the city. It was a wonderful way to see the architecture and experience the city in its true life.

Rickety, rusty trains - but very convenient, timely and cheap!

After an adventure getting to our hotel via public transport, we had an easy night and then spent the next day doing things we loved: going to an art museum and visiting the city's famous baths. There are several baths scattered throughout the city, but we choose to go to the Szechenyi baths. You could soak in the pools of various temperatures ranging from 68 degrees F to 104 degrees F inside or out. While it's not quiet with people milling around or particularly sweet-smelling with the funky thermal smell, it's great fun to people watch and relax in the soothing waters. Greg especially enjoyed seeing the old guys playing chess while in the water.

Outside bath part of Szchenyi

On Wednesday, we met up with fellow teacher friends who had taught in Budapest before moving to Munich and they took us on a daytrip to Szentendre, a little artist's village not far from Budapest itself. They knew the best places to get ceramics, knives, glass and delicious Hungarian cakes. Dave and Henny also gave us so many ideas of great things to see in the city that we would not have done otherwise. After we came back to Budapest, we checked out the great synagogue and walked along the citadel walls on the Buda side of the city.

View of Parliament from Buda side

Church on the top of the Buda side

We later met up with Dave to check out a local kert, which was an old warehouse bar in the city (surprisingly clean) where people used to simply drink all night rather than risk being caught out after curfew. Now it's filled with students and old timers, a random assortment of chairs (supposedly there's even a few made from bath tubs that have been cut in half and legs added on) and a movie screen to keep some sort of license going.

On our last morning, we ate yummy "chimney cakes," found several cute design stores and stumbled upon the Rumbach synagogue that was undergoing renovatioins. We also checked out a communist statue on Margarit Island - a lovely 2.5 km island on the Danube and easily reachable from the city. We had a simple lunch and bid our adieu to the lovely city. Budapest might not be a city you would think to visit, but we loved it.

Dome of the Rumbach Synagogue