A Visit To The Buda Castle

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is one of the most beautiful and atmospheric cities in Europe. Known as “The Pearl of the Danube”, this gorgeous city lies on both banks of the Danube river and is the most important political, cultural, social and industrial center in the country.

One of the most splendid and breathtaking sights in Budapest is the Royal Palace, also known as the Buda castle. It was built in the old part of the city, on Castle Hill, near the old Castle District. The Buda castle has a long - sometimes glamorous, sometimes fearsome, history.

The first royal castle was built in the 13^th century, on the same place. The oldest part of the contemporary palace was built in the 14^th century by Stephen, a King's brother. The Holy Emperor Sigizmund greatly expanded the place and in the beginning of the 15^th century the Buda Castle was the largest medieval Gothic palace. In the late 17^th century, after all the occupations and battles, many of the Palace's buildings were ruined. Maria Therese and later Franz Joseph – both eminent rulers of the Austrian Empire, in which boundaries Buda was situated – patronized the reconstruction of the building. In the 20^th century, more damage, murder and demolition followed.

The diverse history of Buda castle explains the exceptional mixture of architectural styles to be observed. Alas, many spectacular buildings, monuments and interior got stolen, destroyed or simply vanished in the impetuous history of the Palace.

The Hillebrandt-façade is a lustrous remnant of the Baroque style. Worth seeing is the Palatinal Crypt – the burial place for the Hungarian representatives of the Habsburg dynasty. It is absolutely authentic, having survived the World War II destruction.

The artistic decoration of the palace (interior, statues and monuments) is a beautiful example of how different styles can co-exist. The Matthias Fountain is a spectacular fountain, depicting Matthias Corvinus – King of Hungary, Croatia, Austria and Bohemia in the late 15^th century. The Monument of Prince Eugene of Savoy , a Neo-Baroque statue, is a sumptuous representation of the Habsburg-born François-Eugène as a rider, showing the decisive cavalry charge in the 1697 battle. The Turulbird is also interesting. This is a contemporary statue of a bird, the “turul” - a bird that appears in the Hungarian mythology, probably a large falcon. Two beautiful allegorical bronze angels represent the War and the Peace. They carry a trumpet (a symbol of soldier convocation) and an olive branch (that stands for peace).

The Budapest History Museum is located in the southern part of the Palace and contains specimens spanning from the Middle Ages to the end of the Communist era.

The Hungarian National Gallery is also a part of the Buda Castle. It exhibits Hungarian national objects, such as Gothic wooden statues, Gothic altars, Renaissance and Baroque arts and 19^th and 20^th century paintings.

The Buda castle has a long and spectacular history. For a great period of time, this place was the royal residence for many great kings. Today, the Palace serves as a museum, portraying some of the most magnificent historical and architectural achievements of the Hungarian people.

Quadro Racing - a FREE addictive arcade racer!

Economic recession ...We all got tired of these two words. In the beginning only the specialist could really grasp what this is all about. Now we all know - not the way of life we were used to.  

The recession hit all fields of human activity. Even the game industry. And now, the people who once enjoyed playing, find themselves facing a rather complicated question - where to find money for the upcoming blockbusters? 

This blog won't lead you to the Secret of Rapid Money-Making With Absolutely No Effort. It's all about entertainment, baby. Yes, even in terms of economic-whatever. I'm here, ready to present to you some free games. They've been an interest of mine for 5 years now. And who said that you actually have to pay to be properly amused? 

So, let's talk about 
 

QUADRO RACING 

It's all about racing, isn't it? No, forget about the lustrous urban style cars you can come across in any other racer. This game is about all-terrain vehicles. Is it a motorbyke? No! Is it a car? No! Does it offer some real entertainment? Yeah! 

The main aim is one - win, using your ATV. Some words about the graphics - it's really awesome! I'm not sure whether this screenshot lets you feel the atmosphere ..  It's all about you, the opponents and THE DESERT. The developers made me feel as in a real desert rally. Thums up for that! It offers some visual effects as motion blur, anti-aliasing and so on.

The sound .. well, they could've passed without it. Use your own music, because there is no in-game one. The nice part - when you do something spectacular with your ATV you can hear people clapping at you.. Nice!

The gameplay .. addictive. Quite addictive. In the beginning you have only one ATV (sounds so sci-fi, doesn't it ^^) and 1 track available and as the game goes, you can unlock the other features. This is the right place to warn you - in case my so-called review has persuaded you to try it, I highly recommend to enter the "Quick Race" mode first. Why? Simply to make acquitance with the game system and to understand the fact that the most important thing is .. to screw your opponents by beating their ATV down. Don't try to race like if you're in real life. Because you'll get your buggie crashed and this will eventually make you lose some precious seconds. 

The gameplay offers two modes - the normal, classic style racing and another one, where your main goal is to earn points, making spectacular jumps.

The difficulty goes up gradually - a wise developer decision, I guess. In the end the game is quite a challenge!

 Of course, Quadro Racing has its flaws. When you download and install it, you'll be sent over to GameTop.com - a free games website. Get used to this - whenever you finish playing, a browser  page will pop up with (omigosh, what a surprise!!) GameTop.com loading inside it. I didn't like the logo - I can't undestand how can one and the same people create such a beautiful game and such a .. meagre logo. 

But, let's not be that covetous - this is a very decent free game. I recommend you trying it! You can find it here !

Free And Legit Music? Why Not?

First I'd like to apologize for not being too much active on my blog - I fell ill and had a long recreation period in the country afterwards. The worst way to spend the summer .. But I'm here and running, as they say in the commercials.
When I got back, I felt a desperate need for music. I really needed my music, not just listening to a radio, where I can't pick favourite songs. But my music got me bored, I really wanted to try something new, something different that I've never listened to before.
So, I started a massive search and would gladly share the results with you.

1.


This is a very interesting website. It was designed to scrobble your tracks, so that you can use it to display your musical taste. With the time it evolved and now it is much more a social network than a highly specialized website. One has a profile where he could observe how many times his audio player played a track or an artist. Beside all the information about these tracks and the radio that is included in the software, I found muisc that is downloadable.
That's right - some artists upload their music to last.fm and all the users can download and enjoy it. I think that this is a well-thought step to make one's music popular - if you like it, please support us and buy our album.
I really bought an album and now I'm waiting for it to arrive.
At first, Last.fm looks pretty complicated but one gets easily used to it.
If you don't have a profile, don't hesitate -register, download the lat.fm software
(no spyware or ads included!) and download music. It's free!

2. Grooveshark

I admit I was amazed by this website. When I first popped in it, I came across a nice design and the ambitious tagline "Listen to any song, anywhere in the world." I gave it a try - I typed the name of some artist that are not popular and what was my astonishment when they were found by the website! Grooveshark resembles some radio - you choose the tracks you wish to play and can even quckly make up a playlist. Here comes the sweet part - you share the music you've got with the other users and get credit for it. Then you can use the credit to download commercial tracks without paying anything but this credit. And, believe me, there is much worth downloading. I think that almost everyone's musical taste can be fully satisfied if joining Grooveshark. Give it a try and you'll be pleasantly surprised!

3.


The first thing that comes to my mind when viewing this website is "cool". It contains the mp3s of thousands of some underground, independent bands who either work with a minor label or even do not have one. The website's tagline is "For the people, by the people." which is absolutely true. One can download a song without even bothering to register.
Yet, I recommend registering - it has much benefits.
One can choose what music to listen to and download by choosing between multiple genres spanning from "hardcore metal" to "experimental electronica".
As you choose your genre you can download the "track of the week",
view the band's biography or simply browse for some other music. And there are some very good tracks, produced by talented artists in all these genres. Give it a try, you'll hardly be disappointed!

4.  


This is a nice website where you can download music and give an assessment without registering.
 Mp3lizard has a nice design in white and green and it won't be hard for anyone to cope with it.
Music is divided into multiple genres and one can be sure he'll find some favourite songs here.
Most of the songs are good and waiting to be rated. Downloading is a fast and easy process.
Enjoy this website - it is not so popular, yet it contains some really good music.

I hope this post was useful for all the readers! Stay tuned for more!:)

Earth №2 coming right up!

For centuries, Mars has been a planet, known to us humans.
The ancient people observed it with interest and called it after the Roman god of war, due to its specific red colour - the colour of blood.
Some serious Mars study started about 130 years ago.
The italian astronomer Shiaparelli was the first one to observe the surface of Mars and give name to some "seas" and his famous "canali".
The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Later on, followed Mars 2, Viking (landed at Mars in 1976) and others.
In 2008 a spacecraft called Phoenix was launched in search of ice and  water around the poles.
What was the astonishment when Phoenix probes were declared capable of supporting life! 
On this picture, we can clearly see the ice. 
Sam Kounaves, the lead investigator and  Professor of Chemistry told the journalists that the soil probe, collected by Phoenix, shows availability of all the necessary nutrients to support life.
And it is non-toxic, as it was believed years ago.
Scientists now double their enthusiasm and nothing can dampen their spirit in search of native life forms.

This discovery may be of great importance to our civilization.
A "second Earth", as some jokers started calling Mars, will develop in some decades.
If there's ice and water, there may be some bacteria and other microorganisms.
Mars atmoshpere consists of : Carbon Dioxide: 95.3% Nitrogen: 2.7% Argon: 1.6% .
It sounds like science fiction, but organizations have future plans to enrich the atmosphere with oxygen and create conditions, acceptable for mammals and trees to exist. 
A second Earth will be formed in the future.
Nobody can tell now whether this is going to be good or bad.
I only hope that people will not repeat the same mistakes that cause the environmental decline of "Earth №1".

Help the world by clicking (part 2)

I'm quite happy that my prevous post arose some interest among the readers.
But before I start writing about some other websites, let me say it clearly -
there is no scam in these websites, each and every click (resp. you viewing an ad)
helps the environment and is no get-quickly-rich scheme.

The next website I will focus on is:

4. Care2

This is a very well designed website. I advise you to register and keep track of your help.
Once you've registered, there are a number of options to click on :
• Stop Global Warming - your click helps carbon reduction in the atmosphere.
• Rainforests - saving 23 sq.ft of rainforest per clcik
• Oceans - a click keeps pollutants out of the ocean
• BabySeals - a click supports a campaign in Canada to build public pressure against
 seal hunting.
• Big Cats - each click saves some acres of tiger's natural areal
• Primates - a click provides a chimpanzee with an orange or banana
• Pets in Need -  click to help a starving animal
• Children in Need - 14 children need sponsorship. Our clicks can help them
• Violence against Women - each click supports Amnesty International's Stop
Violence Against Women programs
• Stop Breast Cancer - help The Breast Cancer Fund organization by a click

5. TheHungerSite

This is a group of websites, supported by the same person/company.
One click values some donation, that sponsors make in favour of people in distress.
There are 6 websites :
► TheHungerSite- each click gives 1.1 cups of food to the hungry.
► BreastCancerSite - our clicks help funding money for a mammogram
► ChildHealthSite - helping a child to get proper healthcare
► TheLiteracySite - helping a child in need to attain literacy
► TheRainforestSite - one click protect 11.4 square feet of rainforest.
► TheAnimalRescueSite - an animal obtains 0.6 bowls of food for each click

These are the two major websites, supporting the "click-to-donate" campaign.
Of course, there may be more, but I'm confident that
Care2 and TheHungerSite use all the money properly. 
These websites have a support team, you can contact them and make sure for yourself.

Why did I choose the "click-to-donate" campaign?
Practically everyone can take part.
No credit card is needed, one is not burdened by some hard projects,
it takes a coffee break time... All you have to do is click regularly.
We all visit many websites every day. Let us pay some attention to the omnious enviromental problem  and help,
even in this less traditional manner. 
And listen to this song first :

Help the world by clicking (part 1)

Today I would like to draw your attention to a specific kind of websites - the "click-to-donate" ones.
They are about contributing to a just cause by simply clicking on a link. What is special about them? When clicking on a link, one can see advertisements.
They are being put there by sponsors,
who help the nature and the society with money or any other products. 
 At first, I admit I was quite sceptic about how
my click helps the rainforests or slows the global warming.
It is all in the ads one sees - as we know, ads cost money and this money is sent right away to starving people, animals and trees.

These are some of the websites.

1. Freerice
A website that trains one's vocabulary by a simple test.
One has 1 words and 4 options to choose from.
You should click on the synonym. For each word, you gain 20 grains of rice.
You can play as long as you wish.
Freerice is a non-profit organisation, working with http://www.wfp.org/ .
A small disadvantage for me is  that there is no ability to keep track of all the rice donated.
Yet, it is a just cause and is worth.
Give it a try, you may come across some new words and phrases :)

2. Freepoverty
This is an organization which goal is to stop the poverty.
Freepoverty donates cups of water to people in need - like the ones in Myanmar or Sichuan.
One plays a geography game - to locate the exact place of a certain town or celebrity.
There are 4 levels - easy, medium, hard and extra hard.
The closer to its actual whereabouts you locate a town, the more cups of water will you donate.
The maximum is 10 cups, the minimum - 1.
You can make 5 mistakes, after which the game ends.
The website remembers the IP and keeps record of donated cups.

3.  Freeflour
This is a website, that tests one's knowledge in geography.
For each correct answer, Freeflour donates the amount of money,
needed for a spoon of flour to Bread for the World.  
10 spoons of flour make up a bun, 100 - a loaf of bread. 
This means - the more you play, the more you help cure world hunger.
A small minus for me is the big presense of ads.
I know they are the money generator, yet this makes the website rather slow sometimes.
As with Freepoverty, Freeflour keeps track of the number of breads donated.

 

5 places to store some files

I'm sure of it. Each and every of us has searched for some decent website, where one can upload all kinds of documents, one's favourite music or some video file. Yes, there are some places present, where you can store a picture or two, but ... what happens to the 2 gb (for example) .rar file, containing some important text files,
some albums of the favourite band and a directory full of pictures, that you can't upload one by one? Read below :

1.

This is a nice storage website with stylish, easy and fast design.
You can upload files up to 100 mb each, yet there is no place restriction. The registration goes
fast and easy and gives some privileges - a catalogue of uploaded files and an opportunity for file-sharing level - whether the files/folders are accessible for everyone or they are private.
There is no time limit for keeping the files. Try it out!

2.
One of the best of its kind. After a short registration, one's granted some 5 gb place for storage.
If you need more, you can always upgrade - there are several options at a variable price.
The upload goes through a Flash based virtual drive that resembles Windows Explorer and provides various security options.
The upload limit for a single file is 100 mb, yet there is a possibility for multi-upload. 
Easy interface, plenty of gigabytes ... a very good storage place.

3.
This is a "light" version of 4shared. There is no need to register.
The file size in once again limited to 100mb.
When you upload a file, you get a download link and an administration link.
You can use it to set a password, a description or simply to delete the uploaded file.
2shared has a pretty nice design -  fast, stylish, easy to use.
There is also a search bar, if you are looking for something. 
A fast and useful website. Give it a try!

4.
Another good option for fast and secure file storage.
You get 2 gb free and some upgrade options - pretty advantageous, I think.
Diino has a multilangual support and interface.
The upload goes through special free diino software.
One can upload not just imple files, but folders, which is very convenient.
In the end - you can access it via your mobile phone.
You also get a free e-mail account.
Diino is a nice option when you have to backup big packs of data.

5. Filetac.com
Ever been in need to send a file to a friend? Filetac.com will help you.
One can upload up to 2 gb file. Filetac sends an e-mail to the user.
He receives a download link that can be used 10 times.
You can include some short text to the e-mail.
The files remain stored as long as you wish. If there is no download for 12 months, they get automatically deleted.
Very convenient and fast website. See for yourself.