Saturday night in Budapest (part 3)

Ahhhh ... rested, fed and ready to go again!

And so I am off to the Fire Dance ... woo hoo!

I took a new way back to the Chain Bridge, I got some neat shots too.

A self-portrait in a handy window on Fashion Street.

St Stephen's Basilica.

Freedom Square and its interactive fountain, with the US Embassy in the background.

I've reached the Danube now ... the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle in the distance.

And so I am back at the Festival - - with its lovely colored lanterns in the trees, colorful benches, and with the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle in the background.

More of the fabulous colored lanterns - it was SO nice!

And so I wait for the Fire Dance to begin ... I manage to get a seat on a bench in front of the Large Stage, once the last act finishes and the crowd thins. Then - the Fire Magicians Company emerges and it becomes clear that they will not perform on the stage (which makes sense, with fire being their art and the woodenness of the stage) ... rather next to it on the sand. So, up I get to stand along with the many others in a semi-circle surrounding the small burning markers that the performers had just placed to mark out their "stage."

There were four performers, two male and two female. The music they were dancing to was a light industrial if you will. Good fit really.

A good shot of two of the performers.

They were very acrobatic, as you can see from this shot. The women are hanging on just by their feet!

A great shot ... you can see the fan-like implements held by one of the girls, spread out wide. Every few minutes the performers would alternately go behind a screen and get new implements to dance with. The woman in the foreground is swinging a ball of fire at the end of a chain.

Another acrobatic move ... turning into an ...

... an upside down split! Whoa!!

Uh oh ... they look like they are winding down for an ending.

Ha! It was just a fake-out ... cool! Now both of the women have the fans of fire.

Ummmm ... ouch. That does NOT look like it feels good for the woman on the bottom! But, it does make for a damn good shot!!!

I love this action shot ... with its fabulous trails of fire!

So, this performers new implement is a large hula hoop! She twirled that thing well boy, going up and down her body - - even to her neck ... which made me wince every time the lit parts came near her head/hair!

So, now the women have long chains lit on fire - - whoa, great shot! Love the shaft-of-fire going skyward (far right) ... showing well the blue and orange of fire.

Another fave action shot ... lots of fire trails! Ooooo ... p-r-e-t-t-y.

Another cool action shot.

Sigh ... and so they are winding down - with a really cool split move!

And so each of the four performers take their "bow" ... by kneeling and eating the fire of their particular implement - a great shot, no blurriness here!

An excellent show ... truly entertaining. The music was good, the dancing and acrobatics were well done and choreographed - but the star was the fire - - - - life saving at time, and life taking at others ... fire, so cool and hot all at once!

I took a detour on the way home, to the Parliament building - so I could get some close-up shots, not just the ones I got from across the river.

A wide-shot of the Parliament building.

A close-up of the pointed-arched groin vaulted upper arcade of the Parliament, nicely framed by the double spires.

A view back at the Chain Bridge from the Parliament building, with Buda Castle in the background.

Atilla Jozsef, sitting on the grass at Parliament. He was an important and well-known Hungarian poet in the first 1/3 of the last century ... he died young, 32, in 1937.

And so I begin to make my way home to my hotel, as it has been a long long - great - day.

I came upon St Stephen's Basilica again, and what a gorgeous place it it! There were many people hanging out on the steps and in the square there, even though it was past 11p already.

And so I stopped for a tea and a WC visit ... and found a handy mirror at the California Tea Company!

And that is it my friends, the end of my first full day in Budapest ... and what a busy and fabulous day it was!

Thanks for joining me - tune in tomorrow for more of this lovely city.

Here is a link to the day's photos on my Picasa page ... Budapest Day One