The Land of Chivito, Mate, and Rafaelito

"Darlings," we asked ourselves, "is this a country which works?"

Not at all, that is if we take heed of our friend AS who is convinced, unconvincingly, that there are only two countries in the world which have a legitimate right to such a claim: North Korea and Romania. Indeed, for those seeking the security and convention of a dull democracy, then Uruguay and, in particular, its capital Montevideo, is not the place for them.

But for us it was, and is, a dream become reality.

Palacio Salvo - a landmark building in central Montevideo

reminder of former colonial times - Montevideo town house

For how could we not be captivated with, and enchanted by, a country where the brilliance of a southern summer sun, shining through the December days, is reflected in the vitality and warmth of a people so relaxed and at one with themselves?

a cheery shopkeeper leans across his book store counter 

a woman in the park enjoying a drink of the traditional Mate

group of nurses returning to the hospital after the lunch break - note the Mate

With our Mad Boy, Rafaelito, to act as our guide we toured the old town with its crumbling colonial-style shops and houses, its faded Coca-Cola signs, its bustling markets, street corners and pleasant parks. And at each turn always something to fascinate, to interest, to intrigue. New, new world indeed!

Coca-Cola, almost a National drink, seen advertised almost everywhere

the port area with Lance Hattatt and Rafael González Paz

browsing among the books and objets d'art in the Old Town

explanations being given by Rafaelito [Rafael González Paz]

playing at statues in a small city park within the Old Town

possibly not quite the Harrods of Montevideo but hugely interesting

Denied entry to the port to see the anchor of the 'Admiral Graf Spee', scuttled at the mouth of the River Plate in December 1939, we merrily, through the persuasive talk of Rafaelito, skipped past the guards and into the house where Garibaldi had once upon a time lived.

Jane Hattatt, Rafael González Paz and Lance Hattatt at Garibaldi' s house

A music concert, a night at the opera, a tango party [led astray by Rafaelito], a mausoleum, museums, cathedrals and churches, and buskers on buses all served to delight us further.

staircase, looking down from above, inside the Museum of Decorative Arts 

inside the mausoleum situated underneath the Plaza Independencia

purchasing tickets for the opera , 'Il Duce' at Teatro Solis- a very jolly occasion

In Pocitos, a residential suburb, we were invited into one of Montevideo's finest extant Art Deco buildings, ate delicious dinners and cavorted on the seashore.

Art Deco at Edificio el Mástil, 3105 Avenida Brasil

clambering over rocks on the shore of the River Plate

A Sunday market, occupying several streets, proved amazing, a handbag snatched and stolen alarming, a Christmas dinner of uncooked rice [woe on you Rafaelito] inedible, and a trip to Colonia del Sacremento pure heaven.

young rabbits, just one of countless items for sale in the Sunday street market

motoring in Colonia with Rafael González Paz [Rafaelito] and Lance Hattatt

But of Colonia del Sacremento there will be more to tell! [click on all images to enlarge]

Snapshots

Qui s'excuse s'accuse. So let us not dwell on an absence which, most shameful to admit, approaches that of a year. But should reason be required, then let it be said that it has been a year full of friendship, foreign travel [fear of the long haul flight finally overcome], frivolity [such parties], fantasy [the enchanting world of opera and ballet], and delights in abundance - the alliteration now exhausted - beyond all measure.

Richard Adams, Jane Hattatt and Lance Hattatt on The Grand Canal, Venice

Revisiting our garden days we spent time with dear friends, Lesley and John Jenkins, whose outstanding gardens surrounding their home, Wollerton Old Hall, enjoy much deserved critical acclaim from both near and far.

Wollerton Old Hall - view from the dining room window

Country house visiting remains an untold pleasure for us and the spent year excited with many most interesting discoveries of castles and palaces hidden in the depths of the Hungarian countryside. Alas, as has been remarked upon here before, many are in dire need of restoration and with some, one suspects, it is already too late.

a fireplace surround within the castle at Tata, Hungary

At home we have continued to entertain and with it has come the joy of spending time with friends old and new.

Jane Hattatt surveys the set table in the dining room

Alongside this we have been so very fortunate to enjoy seasons at the opera and ballet, to have attended musical events from Salon Concerts to full symphony orchestras and, on occasion, to have had the enormous pleasure and thrill of hosting cello and piano recitals within our own Budapest apartment.

Lance Hattatt - before a country house Salon Concert

before a concert to celebrate Latvian Independence Day

exterior of Budapest Opera House advertising a new ballet

Art Market Budapest occupied much of our time throughout 2013 having been invited early in the year to join the planning committee. The Fair, opening in late November, proved to be an enormous success, attracting thousands of visitors, and establishing Budapest at the heart of the Contemporary Art scene.

Ari Kupsus Gallery, stand at Art Market Budapest 2013

newly purchased painting by Orr Máté above sideboard

Abroad we made such fun forays to Italy [Lucca, Milan and Venice], to Slovénia, a jewel of a country with its ancient villages and towns and breathtakingly beautiful coastal ports, as well as to Germany and the cities of Weimar and Dresden.

Lance Hattatt, Andrea Franchi and Carlo Claude in Milan

table prepared for lunch in the loggia of Villa Massei, Lucca

guide books in readiness in a Venetian hotel bedroom

wayside Madonna with electrically lit candles in Slovénia

And then, finally, at the year's end, came The Great South American Adventure where, accompanied by Rafael González Paz, the maddest of Mad Boys, we crossed continents to his home city of Montevideo. 

Rafael González Paz practises in a rehearsal room in Weimar

But that is a tale yet to be told. More anon!!

Lance Hattatt in Montevideo, December 2013

Excuses, Excuses!!

What can we possibly say? How can we possibly excuse ourselves? That we have failed to post over the past couple of months pales into insignificance when we consider how much we have neglected you, our friends and Followers, who, despite our silence, have continued to maintain contact with so many kind and thoughtful enquiries through comments and emails. For this we send our heartfelt thanks.

Teddy, who joined us at the State Opera House, on the occasion of the St. Matthew Passion

We are delighted to report that nothing is amiss. Indeed, quite the contrary. Our lives have been filled with the most delightful of events - Opera, Ballet, Concerts, Soirées, Theatre, Exhibition Openings, Dinner Parties, Parties, Restaurants, Film Nights, Excursions - always in the company of the most wonderful friends and leaving little time for the most part to sleep!

And so it continues. But, we do assure you, you are far from forgotten. For the present our days are filled but we will, at the first possible opportunity, return to you all. And to this we so much look forward.

For now we ask your forbearance! 

Back to the Future

"Children should be seen and seldom heard" is a credo that our parents subscribed to fully. One learned how to play quietly, never to speak at the dining table and only to venture an opinion when directly asked for it. No doubt a reaction to this parenting has resulted in our natural exuberance wherever we go, our love of loud chatter at dinner and our forthright views on anything from the price of fish to the philosophy of the human condition.

Lance Hattatt in contemplation before 'Ambivalent Space' by Róbert Várady [image JRH]

And perhaps our childhood experiences, most often as viewers of adult behaviour rather than as fully involved participants, have also accounted for our independence from the mainstream, of being outsiders and observers, ever the individuals as opposed to part of the crowd. We have found a kindred spirit.

We were introduced to Róbert Várady, the painter, and his works through the Várfok Gallery, Budapest's oldest privately owned art gallery. He is self-effacing, open and erudite. His art is powerful, haunting and, at once, both highly representative of the age to which it belongs and, yet, of another era entirely.

the painter Róbert Várady in front of his oil on canvas, 'Metropolis III', at the Várfok Gallery 

Realistically painted figures occupy a space and time which, in turns, is real and unreal, fixed and yet floating. They share an interface with a variety of geometric images, carefully drawn yet never clear cut. And, no matter how many characters there are, they appear to have no real underlying connection one with another nor, indeed, with their observers. The viewer, never pampered, patronised or comforted is challenged to make something of it all.

'Doing Business at Full Moon' , Róbert Várady, oil on canvas 2011, at the Várfok Gallery

In similar ways to how the new technologies confront humans constantly to reappraise and decode an ever developing cyberspace, so Várady's pictures ask questions, pose ideas and invite one to wrestle with the task of making sense of the individual and of society at large.

'Unidentified Object Slightly Radiating', Róbert Várady, oil on canvas 2011, Várfok Gallery

The art historian, Andrea Bordács, has written that "Várady's painting is the art of no man's land". Meditative and lonely figures, seen but not heard, seek an identity for self and a place in an almost virtual world. What better metaphor for life in 2013?

N.B. The exhibition, Várady Róbert / Tér(v)iszony, runs at the Várfok Gallery, 1012 Budapest, Várfok utca 11 until March 2nd.

As Luck Would Have It

Crossing the Danube via the Elizabeth Bridge, it is impossible to ignore the Klothilde Palaces. Side by side, a matching pair, they act as sentinels, guarding the gateway to nineteenth century Pest. 

For too many years they remained neglected, run down, symbols of a troubled past. That is until very recently when Fortune, smiling and munificent, restored these wayward twins to former glory.

the Klothilde Palaces [courtesy of Geolocation, Wikimedia] looking west

We are no strangers to them. For in December of last year M, our most generous friend, following a spectacular evening at the ballet, hosted the most glittering dinner and party in what has now become the Buddha Hotel, Restaurant and Bar.

the grand staircase of the Klothilde Palace leading upwards to the Buddha Bar [December]

looking down from above into the Buddha Restaurant on the night of M's December party

And only last week we were there once more, together with M, this time in celebration of the Chinese New Year at Richard's invitation. What immense fun too it proved to be. Throughout dinner, each course more delicious than the last, in a restaurant which positively dazzled, we were entertained to cavorting, dancing dragons whose brilliance and colour transported us from a snow filled Budapest to an Orient of gaiety and promise.

a dragon cavorts in the most entertaining fashion through the Buddha Restaurant last week

an impassive Buddha looks on at the antics of the dragon in celebration of the New Year

striding into a New Year last week, a yellow dragon partnered by one clothed in red

Then in complete contrast, the gentle, quiet sophistication of a dancer whose beauty, grace and charm captivated and enthralled the entire room.

an admiring onlooker at an adjacent table looks on in wonder at the grace of the dancer

Afterwards, in the upstairs bar, and now well beyond the witching hour, to music, dancing, laughter and more dragons we ate the most wicked of chocolate puddings and 'partied' the night away.

much merriment and enjoyment to be had at our table in the bar, well into the early hours

And in opening our Fortune Cookies, no snakes in the grass to be found!

Chandeliers and Champagne

To take Afternoon Tea at The Ritz Hotel in London is a treat. To stay at The Ritz is a luxury. To live at The Ritz for some ten years or so is the making of a legend. Yet this was, and is, the life of Richard Adams and, joy of joys, he is now to be found mostly in Budapest where our worlds collide.

Richard Adams, interior decorator, aesthete, bon viveur, and stylish peacock is a man of extensive and varied sensibilities. Audaciously bold, sharp eyed, quick witted, dramatically gestured and disarmingly attractive, he is prodigiously creative, generous, excellent company, a most loyal friend, and an all round 'good egg'. We love him.

Richard Adams caught in one of many looking glasses in his beautifully styled apartment

  

In Richard's artistic and beautifully manicured hands, clients can be certain that he will bring a civilising, cultured and knowledgeable influence to bear on any decoration scheme. He is master of his Art. And, above all, the end result will be charming, comfortable, elegant and, perhaps most significantly, fun. He is reluctant to describe his decorating style but a close inspection of his Budapest apartment reveals an interior where Neo-Classical with Baroque overtones meet 1960s London Carnaby Street via the Italian Renaissance. It is nothing if not eclectic, never for a moment pretentious and always, at every turn, visually exciting.

seen behind his desk, Richard Adams in the drawing room of his Budapest apartment

a wonderful arrangement of curtains in the drawing room; the chairs, a set of four, are French

A crystal chandelier of impressive proportion dominates the central axes of the drawing room and entrance hall corridor, pulling the visitor in from the moment he or she steps through the door. A white leather sofa, replete with leopard print cushions, is backed by a magnificent mural of St. Peter's in Rome. Silk curtains in shimmering sea-green festoon the high windows and, importantly, cascade onto the floor. Elegant looking glasses play with light and space, objets trouvées delight the guest explorer, plush upholstery is off set by bare stone and skilfully constructed cabinets hide from view those everyday essentials which are deemed to offend the eye. The marble lined bathroom is pure Hollywood.

a chandelier of impressive proportion dominates the central axes of hall and drawing room

    

Richard Adams and Lance Hattatt in conversation seated before the drawing room mural

throughout the apartment looking glasses reflect light and space adding a sense of infinity

a deep, sunken bath  is positioned centre stage in the luxurious, marble lined bathroom

Richard's apartment is testament to the work of a consummate professional. With his sure touch and exacting eye for detail, it is no surprise that his order books read like pages from Debrett's and an International 'Who's Who'. And as for what Richard reads, why 'Vogue', of course!

the lamp is dimmed over the drinks' table, the cat is comfortable, and we are away to dinner

Out With The Old - In With The New

"So very newly married," an aged parent used to say, with not a little touch of scorn in her tone, when looking at one wall of a room painted in a contrasting colour to the others. Over time we have adopted the phrase as our own, meanwhile taking great care to avoid this, and hopefully other, decorating downfalls.

As the years have passed, so we have extended the scope of the 'newly married' phrase beyond wall finishes, applying it with equal measure to matching curtains and cushions, colour co-ordinated bed linen, bathroom 'sets', which may well include loathsome lavatory seat covers, and almost anything from Marks and Spencer, Laura Ashley and the British Home Stores. We are not without opinion!!

the dining room showing chairs in variety, a collection of glasses and an assortment of china 

Now in our 33rd Wedding Anniversary year, it would require some stretch of the imagination, if not to say entry into the realms of science fiction, to describe ourselves as 'newly married'. And yet, lurking in the deep recesses of the sideboard cupboards, are to be found our fully matching, flamboyantly floral, many pieced 'Floradora' dinner and tea services which might, we are alarmed to think, suggest otherwise.

the table set for a recent dinner party with 'Floradora'  in evidence, but mixed if not matched 

'Floradora' with its red and blue flowers, swags of foliage and gilded, scalloped edges has served us well over the years but change is in the air. It is for Herend, the porcelain of Hungary since 1828, that we are now, to borrow a Betjeman term, enthusing and mix, not match, is very much the order of the day. A start has been made with soup and dinner plates, appropriate enough, we feel, as soup is a delicious stalwart of most Hungarian lunches and dinners. Tiny, stylised deep pink flowers are the sole decoration on the otherwise plain white china with a delicate, basket-weave rim. 

a glimpse of one of our  Herend purchases - a 1920s soup plate with delicate flower pattern

Dating from the 1920s and purchased from our favourite Budapest antique shop they, like us, or so we trust, wear their age well. We think fondly of the dining tables which they will have graced with their simple elegance over the decades.

And so future dinner parties will take on a new look. More Darby and Joan than newly married, perhaps?