Photo of the week: Sunset on Tisza River

Pure bliss and relax..

Halo 3 ODST Trailer

It looks like Hungary lately is becoming a favorite set to film action shoots. I wonder if it started with parts of the movie Red Heat (Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi) shot in Rudas Baths, or with Michael Jackson’s HIStory film intro shot in Heroes’ Square, but the latest in the series is the new Halo 3 ODST trailer.

Halo is probably the most popular video game at the moment; so popular that the term “Halo killer” is now being used to describe console games that aspire, or are considered, to be better than Halo. The standalone expansion for Halo 3 is called ODST. The acronym stands for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, and define a character that does not possess all the original armors, reflexes and strength of the previous characters, being therefore more vulnerable to gunfire and having players to act more cautiously as a consequence.

Halo 3 ODST the video game is due to be released on September 22nd 2009, but on September 4th, as apart of a massive advertising campaign, the live-action (as supposed to entirely computer generated) trailer was released on Internet. The Trailer was shot in Hungary, and the language is Hungarian, although apparently supposed to represent Russian for fictional purposes.

International Wine and Champagne Festival – Budapest 2009

Are you into wine? Well then from September 9th to 13th Budapest is definitely the place to be. But in case you’re not there is so much going on at the Festival that your guaranteed to have a great time.

Let’s start from the location: the stunning Buda Castle, since 1987 a UNESCO world heritage site. In the Castle terraces there are also two stages, where you can enjoy musical performances, men’s choir, folk dancing, jazz music, and more. On top of that there are also other events in various locations; at the Skanzen Museum in Szentendre you can find events like grape harvest parade, churching champagne knights, grape hunting crowd, while in the Palace of Arts in Budapest there are charity wine auction and classical music concerts. Even children will be easily entertained by the puppet theatre, the medieval playhouse, and by the childcare, where qualified attendants have the to draw, listen to stories and have delicious grapes.

Gastronomy is course strictly related to wine, so at the Festival you can spoil yourself at the Corner grill, the Potluck Farm, and the Open Air Kitchen with Mediterranean and Hungarian delicacies, including fried and grilled meats, sausages, stuffed cabbage, but also lighter snacks like scones baked on site, töki pompos (a flat bread-like pastry baked in oven), and a wide selection of sheep, goat and cow cheeses.

When it comes to the main guest of the Festival, wine, there are 170 wine distributors from Hungarian and foreign wine regions. With the entrance ticket you also get your very own crystal tasting glass, and a convenient, easy to use glass holding bag. Before the whole event there is a two days Wine University, where you can learn about traditional wine making, wine market, historical and cultural wine issues.

Whether you’re a wine aficionado or not, the Wine and Champagne Festival in Budapest guarantees to have something for you.

More info:

Official WebPage

Official Budapest Tourism page

Photo of the week: Budapest Memorial

Extremely moving memorial to victims of WWII who were thrown into the Danube. Most people never notice the empty shoes. So much more vivid than the typical granite plaque etched with names.