Budapest summer short term rental Feri Flat - for July and August. Three night minimum.
Featured on House Hunter's International March 2013. A professional video of this 3 room apartment is on the site below.
Showing posts with label Frommer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frommer. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Sunday, September 15, 2013
PeaceGarret from Eric
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Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 7:22 PM
To: drryanjames@gmail.com
Subject: Mention of your Budapest guidebook
Dr. James,
I've used your Frommer's guidebook twice now on visits to Hungary, thanks for it. I mention your book in my blog entry about the Aztek cafe:
http://peacegarret.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/aztek-choxolat-cafe-budapest/
Eric Timar
Falls Church Va.
Dear Eric,
It is always heartwarming to hear from readers whether it is with praise or suggestions for the next time around. However, it is truly an elevated form of praise when someone quotes you into their own work.
I am honored and thank you for doing so. I will have to put this in my own blog as a remembrance.
Ryan
Sunday, August 11, 2013
A Heated Run for the Museums
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After meeting with the director, seeing the intro historic video, and taking the tour, I’m a believer (just like the Monkees). The museum is fabulous and should be on everyone’s top 10 things to do in Budapest. The history was mixed with medical care, humanitarianism, and critical thinking. There will be more about this when my article is published.
From there, I went to the Burg Hotel to do an update on them. The Museum of Music was next, where I really only intended to do a run through to reacquaint myself, but the little old lady overseer had other ideas. She insisted I listen to pieces of music by each of the instruments in the collection. Each of the rooms with instruments on display has a computer with the history of the instrument in English as well as sample pieces. In the last room, she had me playing a couple of instruments; my pointing at my watch meant nothing to her. I was probably the only visitor this week. Being set back in a courtyard makes it a bit intimidating.
Koller Gallery has been trying to get this Frommer’s author there for the last three years; a month after the last book went to press. Today, I visited. What a delightful collection and varied assortment of art in differing media by a range of artists. Again, I spent more time here than anticipated, but this time willingly and without a chaperone. The top room is a memorial to Amerigo Tot, an artist born here, but who left for Italy early in his career.
Hidden in the Fortuna Passage is a door leading upstairs to a buffet lunch restaurant. When I have been here in the past, the prices were so incredibly cheap, it seemed impossible they could survive. This was my lunch stop, but it brought a surprise. The prices have increased considerably, though the food is still the same excellent quality.
Onward soldier, to the Military Museum. In the blazing sun, I walked around the building completely not finding a door that would open. As it turned out, it is closed until the end of August. This is a return to place for authenticity in writing. With this in mind, the remaining steeple of the Catholic Church bombed in WWII was nearby, so I stopped; the doors looked open and I have never been inside. Wrong, still locked up. On the side though, someone had left little stuffed toys. Why anyone would is anyone’s guess, but it stimulated my inner child. I arranged the various animals in different poses and then photographed them making up captions in my head. Maybe it was heatstroke.
I have always enjoyed the Budapest Museum and think it really is underappreciated. They have a newish exhibit, at least new for me: Budapest - Light and Shadow - The 1,000-year History of a Capital. I loved this exhibit. My favorite was the painting of the two small angels eating watermelon. It looked so refreshing in this heat.
Finally, I dragged myself to the National Art Gallery, where they insisted I see the temporary exhibit first: Monet, Gauguin, Szinyei Merse, Rippl-Rónai. Yes, this was truly a worthy exhibit to see, but it cannot be included in Frommer’s since it is only a temporary exhibit. I whizzed through and then headed upstairs. Each and every time I visit this museum, I have forgotten from the last time how much I really enjoy the collections. If I were not so doggone tired, I would appreciate it more. Maybe next time.
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Help, I Am Melting
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On one of the hottest nights, Ron suggested we dine out since I need to review restaurants for my Frommer's assignment anyway. He went through my list calling places to see who had A/C and who didn't. This is like Santa's good or naughty list come summer time. He discovered a Thai restaurant, Parázs Prezzó that I had wanted to try. Jackpot! They have A/C. Reservations were made for 7pm and we were there on the dot waiting to be cooled and fed. For once we did not care how efficient the service was, the longer they took, the more air conditioning we could absorb into our pores. If we could only do a slow release of the coolness, like a time release vitamin capsule, it would be perfect.
When we arrived the place was jammed, but three tables had reserved signs on them. The woman behind the bar said “Sit anywhere!” even before we said we had reserved our space. Once we adopted our table the two waiters went into a confab, while shooting looks in our direction. They were too far away speak to, but I could have written a note on the napkin “We did have a reservation!” to hold in the air. Interestingly, not one worker who was visible was of Asian heritage. Yes, we all know that Hungarians originally came from somewhere in Mongolia, but those facial traits have long since evaporated through cross-breeding with other Europeans.
Once I relaxed and realized we were not going to be evicted from our feeding ground, it dawned on me the air temperature was barely cooler than outside. Perhaps the air was on, but with some many hot bodies, it really wasn’t cool. Neither was the food, it was hot and my carrot salad was spicy hot. Incredibly good! This restaurant gets two thumbs up.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Frommer Phoenix Rising
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Arthur Frommer was not pleased with the Google alliance, which essentially shut him out. His name was a trademark, but Wiley Publishers held the cord that bound. Arthur who is in his 80s and his daughter Pauline, a stalwart addition to the line of Frommer’s travel series with her own line of titles, jointly have taken back the castle. Arthur has bought the rights back to his name. So the next time someone asks ‘What’s in a name?’ you can answer potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Personally, with the Google takeover, a rose by any other name did not smell just as sweet.
Aside from Arthur Frommer being my adventuresome hero, it was a pleasure and honor to pen books under his name. When it looked as if this were to end with the last Europe book that came out in December 2012, there unquestionably was a heartsickness that permeated my soul.
Then the phoenix knocked at my door or more specifically, my e-mail mailbox. I received an e-mail from the online editor for Frommers.com. She explained that in order to build their brand name to what it once was updating the website was a necessity. Would I be interested? Would I need to be asked twice? I don’t think so. Yet, I remembered the first go around with this back in 2006. There was no reality until the contract appeared.
The contract appeared yesterday in an e-mail, which I need to sign and return. The web update will be much less rigorous than writing a book. They only want a total of 46 listings. The breakdown is 14 hotels, 12 museums, 16 restaurants, and 4 nightlife adventures. Most of this I could do in my sleep. I go to the museums regularly. We have been eating out more often recently than we have in the past and with the ruins pubs and other hotspots; it will be a piece of cake, diabetic of course. I have until November 1st to complete the work and my name will be listed.
I cannot tell you how many e-readers have told me they would never go without a paper guidebook when they travel. Amen to that!
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Paul Roberts Beats Me to the Punch
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"So I hear from Tech New Today that Google has sold the Frommer’s brand back to Arthur Frommer and he will be publishing books. Apparently they just wanted the data for Zagat etc. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22024603 on Google Drops the Bomb in Slow Leaks".
This is a truism. I found the story on Skift, again written by one of the former Frommer's editors who was left behind when the transition happened. He was actually one of my editors, but only when I had to do web updates for the various books.
Google had plans on integrating the information from the Frommer's guides into its own Google + network. This is in spite of the fact that survey after survey still shows that Google + is just not as popular or utilized as other social media outlets. Frommers.com had tens of thousands of subscribers, while Google + only added 107 subscribers to their Frommer's channel.
One tidbit I did not know is that Penguin/Random House are the publishers for the Fodor's, DK, and Rough guides as well as others. Avalon Travel publishes Rick Steves and the Moon guides. Where it all goes from here is anyone's guess, but Frommer has to start with absolutely no content as Wiley Publications has sold it all to Google.
Frommer is 83 years old, but his daughter Pauline was an participant and award winning writer for the company. They still need to find a publishing company willing to produce the books.
There may be hope that I will get to author more books after all, but it seems it will not be anytime soon.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Google Drops the Bomb in Slow Leaks
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The first LinkedIn note sent me to a story in CNN Money, which you can find here. While reading this article, I discovered that they were tipped off by an article in Skift. Skift, I asked myself? I have read just about every travel publication in the English language dating back to the days when the only thing that was available was a hand typeset magazine produced only by monks who lived Swiss monasteries in the Alps. Even those had to be first translated from Latin to English before hitting the newsstands. Yes, I have a long and varied history with all forms of travel news. How did Skift fall from my radar?
A better question yet is how do all of these sites survive? There cannot be that much adverting money out there, especially when their own article about the demise of tour books addresses the downturn in tourism overall. All of that aside, if you want to go to the original Skift article, click here.
What seems to me as very unprofessional in business dealings today is the lack of courtesy. Skift reports “Starting with Frommer’s New York City With Kids, which can still be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in other bookstore inventories and was supposed to publish on February 19, the entire future list of Frommer’s titles will not see the light of day. Many of the authors attached to these 29 titles told Skift that they were informed by editors now working at Google that the books would not publish.”
That being the case, I have to count my blessings that the last book I contributed to was released in November, Frommer’s Europe 12th edition, just at the wire of Google shutting down Frommer’s. Payment was received as well as my ten complimentary copies. Thanks to the god of publishing, Arthur Frommer, who wrote the first guidebook to Mount Olympus.
Although, I can certainly share with you that the many other Frommer’s authors I have been in contact with were never told a thing about their future with Frommer’s or Google. All of us have only had speculation bestowed upon us. Google has even removed the shopping portion on the Frommers.com site. Miserable! Those were the days my friend, we thought they would never end.
Meanwhile the travel forums are abuzz with reports of iPads and smartphones being snatched from the hands of tourists trying to read a map while staring at a street sign. Little and large buggers zip by on motor bikes or fast scooters and do the ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ routine. Maybe just enough people will long for the days of nostalgia and demand tour books be printed again.
The first 2 books below are the ones I wrote; for all the other titles here, I wrote the Hungary chapter.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
The Open Wound
0 commentsThere has been a topic that is about a month old now. I have written about it before, but it is still an open wound. The fact is that Google has bought out Frommer's or more precisely John Wiley & Sons portion of anything travel related, but nothing has been shared with any of the authors.
Yesterday, I had the thought to try to find other Frommer's authors. It is not like they have ever provided us with a list, though to be honest, I had never asked directly either. I had mentioned to an editor or two how great it would be to be able to be in touch with the other authors of say the Europe by Rail book, the Eastern Europe, or the Europe book. Although there were three different editors involved, none of them responded with any encouragement; the matter fell flat. I could have take the normal route of writing to Frommer's in NJ knowing they would have forwarded the letter to a particular author at some point in time, generally too far into the future for me to have remembered writing at all. Those that sent letters in regarding the Hungary book, generally arrived in my mail months and months after being sent to the publisher.
Just by chance, I thought I would Google "Frommer's Authors" and see what came up. What I had hoped for was to find other Frommer's authors who may have heard more information than I have or we could just share notes.
What I discovered was a rather well thought out blog that addressed the issue in a post called "Why Google will most likely kill Frommer’s, and why that’s probably a mistake". You can find it here. I did send him a comment stating that his fourth possibility was ethnocentric. Google cannot keep up with the changes in the Hungarian website world, since many of the shops and small restaurants have no web presence.
Another blog I found has the post "Google buys Frommer's - What's next?". The writer of this blog is another Frommer's author for Seville and Andalusia, Spain. You can read his thoughts here.
One would like to think that out of professional courtesy at least, there would be something from the corporate office of Wiley or Google sharing some morsel of information. I am going to post in the travel writers group on LinkedIn and see if that garners any info. I will keep you posted.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Goodbye Frommer's Goodbye
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This is from the USA Today article, but there is plenty more all over the web. None of it is heartwarming to one of their travel writers. I had been a Frommer's fan for decades before I started to write for them.
That Frommer's was already up for sale likely hastened the transaction. Wiley put it up for sale, along with its other consumer market products, in March.
Frommer's extensive digital footprint, compared to competitors, may have added to its appeal, says Jason Clampet, founder of online travel publication Skift.com and a former editor at Frommer's.
For several years, Frommer's has made its guidebook content available online and also offers several travel mobile apps.
Google declined to comment. But in a statement, it says Frommer's will be added to the Zagat team "to provide a review for every relevant place in the world."
Job cuts were underway at Frommer's on Monday, including the layoffs of its entire online team, according to a report by Skift.com.
It also remains unclear if the Frommer's brand will survive. "I hope so. Everyone knows it," Clampet says."
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