LOVELY BUDAPEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 158, 6 July 1937, Page 12

LOVELY BUDAPEST.

Gallant Men and Witty Women.

"Budapest is one of tlic 7iiost charming towns in Europe." said Miss Ksther Erikssen, speaking at the Business Clirls' luncheon held at Milne and Choyce's reception hall to-day. '"It is situated on both sides of the blue Danube, and is the only town on this lovely river. On one side is Pest, with its commercial centre, and on the other side is Buda, the romantic part with hills, royal palaces, forts and nobles' palaces. Everything that Xew Zealand has in the way of thermal activity, bathe and so on, can be found there." Life in Budapest, said Miss Erikssen, was still lived on the feudal system. Sixty years ago the serfs were freed, but on the big estates they were still serfs. Thrashing- of servants was quite lawful and torture was ueed in the prisons. Class distinctions were drawn finely. The poor were very poor and the rich very rich. Middle-class life, as in England, did not exist. There were thousands of people who for years had not had a shilling in their hands and had found their food in the rubbish bins. They had no homes, and slept on the streets, in parks and waiting rooms. On the other hand, among the rich life was extravagant. The men were gallant and the women witty and beautiful. The .restaurants were gay and amusing places. with champagne, dancing girls and music. The gipsies, too, were charming—not always loved by the Hungarians, but unable to be done without. In the royal castles there could not be festivals without the gipsies, whose music was a feature in itself. It was unwritten, and handed down from generation to generation. "People come to Budapest for three days and stay three* weeks —or three years. In fact they hate ever to leave it again."