Convergent Evolution, an economic necessity?
So Budapest is slowly becoming a clone of just about every other international city. 2007 has the open threat of Gucci, Starbucks, the Body Shop and Burberry littering the high street (typically along Andrassy), joining last year's entrants Louis Vuitton, Schlecker, Mevida, L'Occitane and Tally Weijl. Personally, one of the few decent places is the Apple Center opened at Andrássy út 4. A visit there almost makes up for the close of the Goethe Institute at 24 (now to be found at Ráday utca 58) - which Louis Vuitton supplanted. Intellect was never much of a match for shallow chic. Along with the magnificent reopening of the New York Cafe in May last year, Budapest is looking more like the gem we have always known it was. All of which is, of course, good news. But depressing, too. For example, just taking the New York Cafe as an example. This place was once one of the centers of literary life in mitteleurope. Now, judging by the window displays it is a designer bag shop, with the threat of a more overt display of ostentatious tack to come (there are signs warning of an 'outlet shop' opening soon). But what this all does mean is that there is money about town. Not only from passing tourists, but from increasingly wealthy locals. The rate of change never ceases to astonish me. Blink and another shopping mall has bulldozered your local bakery out of existence - though you now have a convenient range of international franchises from which to get your morning danish. Truth is, I almost completely love the change. I've managed a parallel existence to consumerism in other cities and it's kind of great to have the choice here too. The cafe culture is alive and well, thriving in new hot spots around the city. So, let Andrássy be theirs. The sooner it is fully cloned and assimilated the better.
Word for the day
So, here's some useful vocab. to throw around:- 'ízléstelen' meaning tasteless.
- 'lompos' meaning tacky, with an undercurrent of untidiness. When used to describe a person it approximates to 'sleazy'
- 'giccses' meaning cheesy.
- 'kirívó' meaning showy or ostentatious.
