The first sight when arriving at a new destination by plane is an overview of the city where you will live. That initial picture is completed with the route to the place of residence; now, the city begins to take its shape as one crosses squares, bridges and houses. Thus, the visitor begins to create […]

These things in the title and subtitle have nothing in common, but they are in a way representative of some funny and interesting things that I have encountered since I started working for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980. So, here are three unrelated ‘episodes’ from my life as a diplomat. When joining […]

My love affair with Hungary began in 2004. I was then the Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy in Bucharest, Romania. I had never been to Hungary, although Budapest had captured my imagination for many years. In the summer of that year, we drove across Europe from Romania, holidaying en-route in Croatia and Italy, and […]

There have been numerous significant associations in the history of bilateral relations between Belgium and Hungary. The Belgian ambassador highlights two of these. The first one takes us back to the 19th century when Princess Stéphanie of Belgium – born in 1864 to Leopold II and Marie Henriette of Austria – married Rudolf, the only […]