Les Anciens New Year 2005/6 in Budapest

[AEGEE Logo] Six days of party and good mood

Spectacular start into the new year: 46 former AEGEE people, their partners and friends celebrated the new year in Budapest, between 28th of December and 2nd of January. Sightseeing, parties, games, excursions and much more was on the very tight programme of the event, which was the first Les Anciens New Year's event at the same time. But surely not the last one.
The programme started on 28th of December with a sightseeing tour in the castle district and a visit to the most famous cafe in the district - the Ruszwurm. This cosy cafe is small, but fortunately only ten participants had arrived by that time. By the time of dinner in the restaurant Limonádé near Jászai Mari tér the number of participants and guests had risen to 20, including CD member Bernd Knüfer, who dropped by together with Christoph Dürr on his way to Bratislava. After the dinner the group went to the disco Alcatraz, which had not only great music, but is situated right opposite the hostel, where 32 of the 46 participants were lodged.
Next morning the group went to Normafa, the house mountain next to Budapest, which is the place where families go for skiing or riding sleighs. Unfortunately it was a bit too foggy to get the usual nice view over Budapest, but it was quite nice anyway. Right afterwards it was time to see a bit more of Budapest. Our charming co-organiser Zsuzsi Bukta arranged a guided tour in the magnificent parliament, the second biggest in Europe, and led the group afterwards to the basilica. In the evening the group went to the restaurant "Budapest Anno" in Nádor utca, where we were playing music games and an AEGEE quiz. Winner Barbara Bolta, who happens to be Les Anciens secretary, won the title of the very first Les Anciens Super Brain! After this we went dancing in the Jam Pub near Moszkva tér.

Going to the Normafa hill on 29th of December. Organiser Mariann Kleszó gives some short explanation, then people are off into the snow. If you think that we built this nice little snowman, you are wrong. Third photo from the right: Mariann, me, Michael Groll, lying: Ferenc Ferdinánd. Next photo: Antonella Tusa, Valerie Lambertyn, Despina Fytili and Petya Zvetkova.

30th of December: Pools and play

The 30th of December started with another sightseeing tour. But this time it led only down the street next to the hostel, the Dohány utca. The group visited the synagogue, which is the second biggest in the world, after the one in New York. We had a great guided tour there. Then it was time for a big highlight on the programme: the visit to the Széchenyi bath! We had great fun in the famous outdoor pools, especially in the whirlpool, filled with Anciens people.
In the evening we went to the recently opened Palace of Arts to see the production "Steel" by Experidance, the best dance theatre company of Hungary. This spectacular show was followed by a dinner in the restaurant Stex, one of the nicest pub-restaurants in town. Since our group was not tired and unstoppable, most people went dancing in the Henry James Bean pub to conclude the day.

The second biggest of their kind: in the parliament (left) we had a nice sightseeing tour. Also in the synagogue, where Mike Reuther and his girlfriend Angela Rothe enjoyed the tour. Fourth and fifth photo: the basilica of Esztergom. Rolf Wienkötter took photos like in the good old times...

31st of December: Excursion and Countdown

The next morning was already the 31st. In order to show our guests a bit also of the country, we took the morning train to Esztergom, a cosy town at the Danube bend, right at the border to Slovakia. Unfortunately due to heavy snow falls the train had a huge delay and also walking to the town centre took more time than usually. So we could not cross the bridge to Slovakia or to walk around a lot, but had only time to see the basilica, the main church of Hungary. Anyway, soon after our return to Budapest the New Year's night party started. It took place in the Coco Bongo Club, a new pub very near to the hostel. We had a great party there with more than 80 people, including a lot of Hungarian friends of the two co-organisers Zsuzsi Bukta and Mariann Kleszó, but also guests such as Paolo "Balyno" Balistrieri, Aniko Vass, Valerio from Cagliari, Akos Wetters and many more. The party lasted until 6 a.m. in the morning!

The New Year's party is starting! Hiding: Izabela Procakiewicz from Poznan, on the second photo: Mike and Angela, Michael Groll, Lara Glück, Zuzana Molent, Elisa Cutulle and Marc Collard. Third photo: Zuzana, Roman Noack and Elisa. Fourth photo: Mike and Angela. Fifth photo: Jens-Erik Weber, Rainbow NetCop Anna Karger-Kocsis, Antonella, Dirk Berndsen, Alexandra Mitsiou and Despina Fytili. Last photo: a Dutch-speaking table with Marike Rijswijk, Berber Hettinga, Valerie Lambertyn and Else Weijsenfeld.

More party guests: Michael Reiling, Katrin Uhlik and Rolf Wienkötter could speak their mother tongue. Balyno, whose girlfriend Salta lives in Budapest, had a nice chat with Niels from the Netherlands and Markus Schönherr. An international couple sat at the next table: Austrian Janina Kowalski and her French boyfriend Jean Laurens were accompanied by Robert Drese, Petya Zvetkova and Timo von Focht. Fourth picture: Marcus Khoury, who was the last guest to arrive on 31st of December, with Samia Saad, Stefan Recksiegel and Peter Baum. Last photo: also some friends of the owners of the Coco Bongo Club were coming.

Michael Groll from Kiel gave great belts with lots of bottles to the local organisers, Frank Copier joined the photo. Roman and Elisa enjoyed the dinner meanwhile. Third photo: Peter Baum chatting with a friend of a Hungarian guest. Next: Zuzana Molent, former Zuzana Malejcikova, also known as the "Slovak Zsuzsi", who formed AEGEE-Zsuzsi together with Zsuzsi Bukta. Second from right: Berber Hettinga, followed by a photo with Marcus Khoury.

First: Michiel chatting with AEGEE legend Akos Wetters. Second: Zsuzsi chatting with Niels, a friend of Akos. Next: Mariann Kleszó chatting with several people. Fourth: people chatting and drinking at the bar. Last: the Szabó clan of AEGEE-Debrecen - Szilvia Szabó (middle) with her sister Csilla, also with former AEGEE-Europe president Egens van Iterson Scholten.

Organiser Noémi Csetneky chatting with Rainer Gahn, with whom I discovered the club some months ago. Next: Elisa, Barbara and Anna. Third picture: Liz, the girlfriend of the pub owner. Fourth. Marcus Khoury and Rolf Wienkötter, chatting probably about exciting topics such as law studies. Fifth: Zsuzsi talking with Helga Schuszter, one of the nice former AEGEE-Budapest members. Last one: Balyno tells stories.

First: sailing fans Stefan Recksiegel and Despina Fytili. Next: Michael Reiling, enjoying dancing. Third: the crew of the club. Fourth: Zsuzsi Bukta's brother Imre, the DJ of the night. Last: Anna Karger and Roman Noack, discussing Salsa dancing style.

Making waves: Elisa and Barbara. Middle: Zsuzsi with co-organiser Kriszta Erdös. Fifth: Stefan Recksiegel and Zuzana. Last: Everybody dance now!

At the height of the party people danced in circles. Roman Noack and co-organiser Ferenc Ferdinánd (FF) were watching. Frank Copier was rather focusing on nice chats (fifth photo), while others such as Timo, Petya and Michael Reiling danced like crazy.

1st of January: Cafe tour and Wine-tasting

Who thinks that this was the end, is wrong. The group met again at 12 am on 1st of January to go on a cafe tour in Buda and Pest. Originally we wanted to go to the artists village of Szentendre in the suburbs of Budapest, but it was raining too much. So we did a more relaxing programme. First we went to Cafe Central near Ferenciek tere, then we crossed the Danube to Buda and went to Cafe Miro in the castle district. At 6 pm we went to Maligán, the best wine restaurant in Budapest, where we were trying out five different wines. We were surprised about the number of people showing up! Previously I estimated we would only be around 30, but I was wrong! Many people prolonged their stay in Budapest or called friends to the wine tasting. So we were 50 people in a room made for 36! Anyway, we all fit inside and had a great time there. Afterwards we concluded the night in the Marco Polo Club.

Another year, another party. Some of the oldest people of the event united at one table: Jürgen Rahm, me, Mike Reuther, Michael Groll, Dirk Berndsen. Next: the same, plus Iza. Next: just Iza. Then: Jürgen and Despina.

Lifting people. First some lightweights such as Zsuzsi and Edina Adam, then comes Michiel. Edina (middle) cannot watch these finally successful attempts...

Katharina and Michael are chatting in the Marco Polo Club, so does Academy board member Marino Bresciani (second picture). Dirk, Roman and Marc practise beer-lifting, Marike and Despina smile for the camera and Jens shows his latest photos to Marike.

2nd of January: Les Anciens Bowling Tournament

And it was still not over, although now many people departed. Next morning still 21 out of 46 guests were in town, and most of them joined us in the Szent Jupat restaurant near Moszkva tér, famous for the biggest schnitzel in Hungary. After this we had nice discussions in the Cafe Europa and went bowling the same night. We turned this bowling night into the first Les Anciens Bowling Tournament - which was won by Zsuzsi Bukta and Les Anciens Activity Coordinator Michiel van Hees.
This - on the evening of 2nd January - was the end of the programme. And still a lot of people were in town who met for sightseeing and going out. The last common meeting was in the evening of the 3rd in the Grand Cafe Miro on Liszt Ferenc tér - one of the places to go for the next New Year`s event in Budapest? One thing is for sure: seeing the enthusiasm, the great mood and happiness of our participants, I am sure that many of this fantastic group want to celebrate also the next New Year together. For us organisers it was a great pleasure to make this event, to see how much everyone enjoyed it!