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FOLK PERFORMANCES ..It's pretty easy to get tickets and tourist offices or the actual performance sites. As soon as I approached the very elegant Budai Vigadó building, I knew I was in for a Hungarian treat. It was an evening of traditional Hungarian music and dance. Now, I don't understand the reasoning behind it, but in Budapest, the cheap seats at this event are in the front row! You pay twice the price to sit in the back. Well, give me a cheap seat and let me sit up front to thoroughly enjoy facial expressions and very intricate fingering on the strings. I just kept catching myself with a smile on my face.

Half of the perfomances had traditional dances in a variety of costumes to accompany the musicians. All of the music was entertaining, and I was surprised I recognized some of the pieces. I would have sworn I knew no Hungarian music, but Mozart and Liszt slipped in somewhere into my education.

When the performance ended (unfortunately) there was the option for a night dinner cruise on the Danube. Budapest is beautiful to stroll in the day, but it is amazing to see it at night all lit up and dazzling. It was a magical hour.

MARTIN

Copyright 2007 by Phillip Martin All rights reserved.