Late at the Library: The Party Rules

On Friday the British Library held one of their late night openings to promote their Propaganda: Power and Persuasion exhibition. The only information given about the evening was that it was a party with Hot Chip DJing and a set from the band Public Service Broadcast. Entry to the exhibition was free with the ticket and "former British Library Artist in Residence, Christopher Green, together with his 'Party Police', will use a variety of propaganda techniques to ensure you have a good time."

Interesting! 

First of all we headed to the Euston Tap for some pre-party drinks. Set in the old archways to the gardens, they are very interesting buildings. If you love your craft beer you will love Euston Tap. It was a little lost on me unfortunately as I don't drink beer, but they obviously had a choice of spirits. It is tiny and rather uncomfy-looking inside, but it was a sunny day and everyone was happily sprawled outside.

Opposite Euston Tap is its sister Cider Tap, London's only dedicated cider bar, so if you're more into your cider you can pop across the road and grab a cider.

Then we headed to the Library for the party - an oxymoron, no?

The library had been transformed into a dictatorships haven, complete with secret police watching from the top balconies.

We were given a passport with various tasks we had to accomplish in order to get different stamps. We had to collect stamps from the "Party Police". Tasks included "effervescing, dancing, singing and creating communal joy". This was a dictatorship that would make sure you were going to have fun and party. 

Hula hoops were twirled, glitter was thrown, badges were made, dissenting began. Protests were thwarted, people were not allowed to not have a good time!!

Not sure this guy was a member of the secret police, but he sure had an incredible beard. Bravo.

If you're into electro music, with no words alongside performance art, you will love Public Service Broadcast. I liked it for the first few songs - not sure you can really call them songs though, more like a musical score as the music played like a soundtrack to the videos playing behind them. However, the novelty quickly wore off on me. I guess I'm just not hipster enough.

My sister really got into the Communist spirit:

The exhibition itself was really interesting. We all know how propaganda played a huge part during the wars. This exhibition bring to the forefront the ridiculous accusations and the mind games that both sides played. Shocking books were secretly commissioned by the Hitler regime to create hate towards the Jews and books were published in America to persuade them that Churchill was a madman. Ancient propaganda from all over the world is shown too, but the real eye opener here for me was the recent forms of propaganda, less noticeable because they are less ridiculous, from NHS HIV/AIDS leaflets stating "Don't share needles" to the green cross code or "what to do in the case of a nuclear attack " in the 80s. Truly interesting.

The Exhibition runs till September, so you still have loads of time to get down and see it.

Budapest 2013: THE FOOD!!

The post you've all been waiting for....

The food in Budapest is incredible. All food is ridiculously cheap and great quality. Or maybe that was luck, but we didn't have a bad meal anywhere. Even in the tourist areas, it is a lot cheaper than anything you would pay for over here. We could get a three-course meal for about £10-£12 easy.

On my first night just after arriving, we went for a very late dinner. The first thing I ate was a dish that seemed influenced by Duck and Waffle!! Instead of duck and maple syrup, however, this place used chicken.
Full description: black spaghetti with chicken, almonds and maple syrup. It was sweet, but you know I love sweet. So it was gooood. The white stuff on top was of a prawn cracker type texture that you get from Chinese restaurants. But no where near as good. So I'm not really sure at all what it was.

Sophie ordered a duck dish with some kind of amazing potato cake thing and plum rice.

It was very yummy.

We got there so late, the kitchen had closed and we couldn't order dessert. It's ok though because it meant we had an excuse to order midnight room service!!

You know I wish I could remember the names of some of these places we went to. Unfortunately for me, the language is so strange-looking that I find it near on impossible to remember the names of anywhere we went.

One I can remember, however, is Book Café. Because that's it it's English name!!

From the street, you would have absolutely no idea that this beautiful café is here. It literally is a hidden gem. House on the top floor of a book shop, Book Café is one of the most stunning places I have ever seen.

As you can see, it's not packed with tourists. I don't know if that was due to the times we went or if it really hasn't been discovered by them yet (although it is on Trip Advisor so....).

It had an amazing array of cakes and pastries, sandwiches and patés to choose from, click "read more" to see them!!

Budapest: Day 2

We still hadn't seen all the main sites in Budapest, so goal for day two was to see Heroes Square and the City Park.

The day started as all days should. With coffee and cake for breakfast.

Newly discovered honey coffee....gorgeous! Not too sweet at all. Orange juice was to balance the cake. Just to keep it healthy.

Decisions, decisions.....

Heroes Square is one of Hungary's world heritage sites.

On either side of the square was a museum and an art gallery housed in very impressive buildings.

Click "read more" to see!!

Budapest 2013: Day 1

I finished my degree last Thursday. I don't know what I expected as I said the last few words in my speaking exam - fanfare perhaps? - but when the end came there was a slight anti-climax. I expected to feel more immediate relief or elation. Instead I felt a bit numb and as though I were in shock. I couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact I'd actually finished after four years at university. It was clear I needed sleep, I had my first proper nights sleep in six weeks that night, and I needed to blow off a hell of a lot of steam.

Along with all the stress that had been building up over the weeks and other things that had happened recently, a getaway from real life was much needed. So when my friend Sophie invited me on a spontaneous trip to Budapest, as she was working there, I jumped at the opportunity.

Flights booked, money changed and the day after finishing my degree off I went to join her.

The first thing that struck me about Budapest was the architecture. It's hard to miss, every single building is of this grand gothic style. Most buildings are quite run down, there has not been much upkeep, but every single building I saw was clearly original and had ornate designs and carvings into the brick.

These were typical of buildings down side streets, from what I saw. Down some of the more main roads, for instance this road leading up to Heroes Square, where there are lots of embassies and important buildings, things get a little more grand:

The lovely S!

You could tell just from the fact that this street was tree lined, that this was a posh area. This was the main Andrássy avenue, a bit like Broadway in NYC, that has other main cultural attractions along it, such as the Opera House, the music academy and a large shopping district.

The Opera

Entrance to the Opera.

Along this road were also...old palace buildings (?!). Don't quote me on that. That happened a lot during our trip. We knew we were seeing something of interest...but not quite sure what. This was probably down to a mixture of language barrier and stumbling across some things.

Ornate details in the brick

Neither of us have been to Budapest before, so we thought we better make the most of it and be super tourists to see everything that people say you have to see if you visit.

First: the Danube, which was full of river boats and cruises, the Chain Bridge, the first bridge to join the two sides of the city: Buda and Pest together, the Palace and the breathtaking views of the city.

Click "read more" to see!!