Travel | Wigley and Associates

Video clips: Hungarian music and dancing

By Griff Wigley, on July 27th, 2006

From tonight’s reception, 3 video clips of Hungarian music and dancing and a 4th of the audience in a line dance.

24 seconds.

28 seconds.

40 seconds.

52 seconds.

Budapest Thursday night reception photos

By Griff Wigley, on July 27th, 2006

I’ve added five dozen photos from tonight’s reception to the ICELE Budapest photo set.

Post-session socializing in Budapest

By Griff Wigley, on July 26th, 2006

The first afternoon session was followed by a coffee break. A wine reception followed the later session.

I took several dozen photos of the socializing and have added them to the ICELE Budapest photo set.

Wednesday afternoon sessions: Opening Plenary, Research Findings

By Griff Wigley, on July 26th, 2006

Left photo: Today’s plenary opened at 3 PM with remarks from Symposium Director Dylan Jeffrey, DCLG.

Left Center: Keynote speeches were next: Andrew Pinder CBE, Symposium Chair and Former UK e-Envoy; and Julian Bowrey, Head of Sustainable Communities Summit and Former Head of Local eGovernment.

Right Center: Partner speeches were made by:

Guido Bertucci, Director for Public Administration & Development Management, UNDESA
Najat Rochdi, UNDP Representative in the Arab Region
Michael Remmert, Head of Good Governance in the Information Society, Council of Europe
Hon. Deb Markowitz, President of NASS
Jonathan Ortmans, President of Public Forum Institute

Right: Reseach findings were presented by Lawrence Pratchett, Professor of Local Democracy, De Montfort University and Don Norris, Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Click photos to enlarge.

I have audio clips of several of these presentations posted on the ICELE weblog.

Cow Parade visits Budapest

By Griff Wigley, on July 26th, 2006

The Cow Parade is in Budapest until September. Click photos to enlarge.

It’s generating some controversy here. A couple weeks ago, one of them was removed. See this story and a photo of the melting blue cow in this Budapest Sun article: CowParade turns heads in the city. This Budapest blogger wrote about it, too.

Favorite shots

By Griff Wigley, on July 26th, 2006

Four favorite photos from my two hours of Budapest tourism yesterday (click to enlarge):

Left: the setting sun hung on the edge of this small thunderhead for nearly an hour.
Left center: the largest billboards I’ve ever seen outside of Times Square, on the sides of buildings to the right of the tunnel under the Castle.
Right center: Chain Bridge
Right: Parliament

Mysterious fountain

By Griff Wigley, on July 26th, 2006

Of all the sites I took photos of yesterday, this water fountain on the Buda side near the Castle was one of the more intriguing. If you can translate the words, please attach a comment. And yes, the fountain does remind me of the same thing that you’re thinking. Click the photos to enlarge.

ICELE Budapest photo set

By Griff Wigley, on July 26th, 2006

I’ve started an ICELE Budapest photo set on Flickr where I’ve placed my photos from yesterday afternoon and last night.

I’m using the tag “ICELE Budapest” which has this RSS feed. The photo set can be viewed in a variety of ways, including a slideshow.

Dinner on the Danube

By Griff Wigley, on July 25th, 2006

After a few hours of snapping photos this afternoon (I’ll put some of those up in the morning), I was delighted to run into blogger Mary Reid (less well known as the mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames) and her husband and fellow Councillor Ian Reid. They were about to have dinner at our hotel’s Corso Restaurant which has an open-air terrace on the Danube, and they graciously invited me to join them.

Tonight was one of those spectacular summer nights to dine outdoors: warm, no bugs, no wind. And the scenery, including a stunning sunset, was quite memorable with the Buda Castle Royal Palace and the Chain Bridge (connecting Buda and Pest) lit up in the background. Plus, we met some familiar people, too: Fraser, Julia, Susie, and others. Click photos to enlarge.

Arrival in Budapest

By Griff Wigley, on July 25th, 2006

It’s 3 pm Tuesday in Budapest and I’m now online with a high-speed internet connection from my hotel room here at the Intercontinental Hotel in City Center.

I was a bit delayed in getting here from the Ferihegy airport — the mini-bus had a flat tire right as we were leaving. But I was with two delightful women from the UK who helped pass the time with their interesting travel stories.

I took the photo on the right from my room. That’s the Buda Castle Royal Palace on the other side of the Danube River. It’s hot and humid here, much like the weather I just left in Minnesota. Time for a nap, then a little sightseeing, some exercise, some food, and some work on my presentation.

Budapest and Baltimore bound

By Griff Wigley, on July 21st, 2006

On Monday, I depart for next week’s International e-Participation and Local Democracy Symposium in Budapest, Hungary. As the UK’s ReadMyDay weblog coach, I’ll be doing a couple of presentations on leadership blogging while I’m there, and again the following week in Baltimore, Maryland.

My UK colleagues and I will use the ICELE weblog that I set up yesterday to post reports, photos and audio from both events. Once the events are over, that weblog might end… or it might continue on in some capacity. I plan to add some of the same posts here.

This weekend, I’ll be spiffing up the ICELE blog and its sidebars and then starting Tuesday, I’ll begin blogging my travels from Amsterdam to Budapest where I’ll be staying at the Intercontinental Hotel.

I’ll have my laptop with me in Budapest and I’ve been promised a high-speed internet connection from my hotel room, so if you’re a client and need me for anything, I should be able to respond.