Budapest Hungary

ZANKA, Hungary (Reuters) - They called it the "Plattensee" (flat sea), and for Germans from both sides of the Berlin Wall, Hungary's Lake Balaton was close, cheap and mostly free of spies. No one knew then their 1960s lakeside holidays would set in motion events that helped bring down the wall dividing them. As the world recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War and Germany's reunification, Hungarians on the scenic shores of central Europe's biggest lake recalled the decades when crowds of East and West Germans vacationed here, just to be together. "A ... Read Full Story

Newsletter 2009/11/25 - Berlin's Poison-Pen Letter BUDAPEST/BERLIN (Own report) - The Hungarian media reacted with estrangement to Germany and eight other western nations' diplomatic arm-twisting of Hungary. Through their embassies, the nine countries admonished Budapest with a public protest note, following Hungarian measures against West European and US companies operating in Hungary. A water company lost its lucrative franchise in a southern Hungarian city, because of overpricing and suspicion of irregularities while the German chaired European Bank for Reconstruction and Development along with a US company had to give up the radio frequencies of their stations to their rivals. The protest note was considered ... Read Full Story

LONDON (Billboard) - One of Britain's most beloved entertainers, with global career sales estimated at 135 million by her label, Shirley Bassey hardly needs to make albums anymore. But on November 9 in the United Kingdom, Geffen/Universal will release "The Performance," produced by James Bond soundtrack master David Arnold and featuring songs custom-written for her by Take That's Gary Barlow, the Pet Shop Boys, Rufus Wainwright, KT Tunstall and others. Bassey's manager, album executive producer Paul Carey, suggested the project after the "incredible" reaction to Bassey's 2007 Glastonbury Festival performance. In July 2008, he met with the 72-year-old singer to explain the concept of ... Read Full Story

Hungary's Sziget music festival, one of the biggest in Europe, kicked off unofficially Tuesday with a 10-hour concert denouncing racism one day before the start of the five-day event. The bonus Day Zero, not included in the 39,000-forint (156-euro, 220-dollars) Sziget pass, featured mainly local performers celebrating diversity and denouncing racism in a country shocked by a recent wave of anti-Roma crime that has left six dead. The 17th Sziget festival officially starts on Wednesday, with almost 200 international performers taking part, including such mainstream acts as Lily Allen, Fatboy Slim and Nouvelle Vague, or world music by Calexico and Khaled. Last year, some ... Read Full Story

Yesterday it was Torkos Csütörtök , and as I mentioned before, we were out to enjoy it. Unfortunately I was only able to visit two restaurants (time did not allow more), but that was both fun, interesting and gave some new experiences. Lunch at Spoon At noon we entered into Spoon with my wife and ate our lunch there. We ate Caesar Salad and an Angus Steak, and for dessert we ate Brownie a’ la Spoon and Cinnamon flavoured apple rings in pastry coat with homemade nut ice cream. It was nice to sit in a restaurant were you can watch the castle as ... Read Full Story