Kaleidoscope of patterns

The neo Renaissance museum, built at the turn of the 19th century, is a kaleidoscope of patterns and decorative detail. Eastern European grandeur... Noticed the same kind of splendour in September in Budapest, another capital that sprang to life in the late 1800s.
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Plants and patterns

Today really liked the print on Dolce and Gabbana dresses for the new season. A plant (no idea of the name).

Then realise that I have one... A present some weeks ago.

And I spotted this same plant in a restaurant in Budapest, in September. Obviously very on trend...

Market patterns and a wedding

More embroidery in Budapest, spotted at the Central market.  But it's a bit tame.

Not so the fox furs hanging alongside ...

Again, patterns elsewhere seem more exciting than the patterns on the embroidery.

A mushroom stall.

Peppers.

Parsnips.

Grapes and dried tomatoes.





And the stairs, and wire grids.

Shattered glass in the park on the way home.

And a wedding near the Opera House. Human patterns.

Budapest and crochet

No escaping the bleak legacy of Communist tradition in Hungary. It echoes on. You feel it in the metro and as you fly in over the concrete (Soviet era) tower blocks fringing Budapest.
But the architecture and ornament in much of the old part of the city more than compensate. Embroidery on the altars of St Stephen's Basilica.

There is a lot of embroidery in the shops (for tourists). But more interesting is the randomly encountered embroidery and work that's not for sale. For example, the crochet under the linen tablecloth in a magically neo Renaissance restaurant (very much later).

And more pattern, more redolent of contemporary Budapest, on a phone box spotted on the way home.