The travellers come bearing loot….
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Relentless March
The Bavarian Spring is in full swing. Everything is exploding in all shades of green. All other colours of spring are not far behind. White asparagus is in season and literally everywhere you look, next up will be rhubarb and then strawberries all locally grown of course. While today was not the hottest day – […]
Millenium Monument
Heroes’ Square is one of the major squares of Budapest, rich with historic and political connotations. Its iconic statue complex, the Millennium Memorial, was completed in 1900, the square was named “Heroes’ Square” in 1929. The square is dedicated to the heroes of Hungary and was originally conceived as a Millennium Memorial for Hungary’s 1000 year anniversary as a […]
Jazz It Up
This place is no Zeller Bistro but we are out trying something new. Tonight we are at Lado Cafe. This little place, is where the locals hang out to have a dinner and listen to some live jazz or blues. Tonight is a live jazz show. Frankly we did not have the time to take […]
Art Deco and More
Art Deco is everywhere in Budapest, but so are great many other buildings in Romanesque, Gothic, Gothic Revival, Neo-Classical, Baroque, Hungarian secessionist, Renaissance and modern styles. For anyone with any interest in architecture Budapest is a treasure trove of amazing examples of different architectural styles – more often than not standing side by side.
Down By The River
It is quite warm and humid – a walk down by the Danube offers not only great views of the Buda side of the city but also a nice and refreshing breeze. From the Parliament Building, by the Jewish Memorial and all the way up to the Gellert Hotel famous for its baths – this […]
István Cukrászda
Budapest – the city of cafes and pastry shops is not disappointing. Laying waste to our waist lines is this little gem. Going back to 1956 this quaint little cafe, off the beaten path has been serving amazing cakes and coffees for well over half a century. We are talking a small break to relax, […]
Hungarian Parliament Building
The Parliament Building on the bank of the Danube is currently the largest building in Hungary and together with St. Stephen’s Basilica the tallest building in Budapest standing at 96m. The number 96 refers to the nation’s millennium, 1896, and the conquest of the later Kingdom of Hungary in 896. About one thousand people were involved in construction of the Parliament, during […]
St. Stephen’s Basilica
The church is named after Saint Stephen I of Hungary, the first King of Hungary (c. 975–1038), whose incorruptible right hand is housed in the reliquary. This is the most important church building in Hungary, one of the most significant tourist attractions and the third highest building in Hungary. Equal with the Hungarian Parliament Building, it is one of […]
Budapest Day 2
Today on the exploration agenda is more of the Pest side of Budapest. We are taking it easy today by having a nice, long and relaxing breakfast. After the breakfast we are heading towards the Danube to see the Parliament Building, The Great Synagogue, Gellert Hotel, Great Market Hall and St. Stephens Basilica, among other […]
To the Hunt
Meanwhile in the other room at Zeller Bistro a fox hunt themed bachelor party was taking place. 14 crazy Englishmen, a bachelor dressed like a fox and a lot of toasting. There were two different toasts given in about 5 minute intervals – To the Hunt and What Did The Fox Say! As the table […]
Pest side of Budapest
After a nice visit to Buda site of Budapest we crossed the famous Chain Bridge, to Pest side of the city. This, architecturally speaking, is the modern part of the city. Pest side of the city is a treasure trove of Art Deco, Neoclassical and Classical architecture, perhaps mores than Prague. For me that is […]
Buda Castle
Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, and was first completed in 1265. In the past, it has been called Royal Palace and Royal Castle. Buda Castle was built on the southern tip of Castle Hill, bounded on the north by what is known as the Castle District which is famous for its Medieval, Baroque, and 19th-century houses, churches, and […]
Fisherman’s Bastion
Fisherman’s Bastion is a terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style located on the Buda bank of the Danube, on the Castle hill just behind the Matthias Church. It was designed and built between 1895 and 1902. Its seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896. The Bastion takes its name from the guild of fishermen that was responsible for defending this stretch of the city […]
Budapest
The name “Budapest” is the composition of the city names “Buda” and “Pest” Dating back to before 1 AD Budapest is the 25th most visited city in the world and 6th most visited city in Europe. Budapest is extensively dotted with World Heritage Sites which include the banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter, Andrássy Avenue, Heroes’ Square and the Millennium Underground Railway, […]
Communism You Say
Placed stragegically close to our hotel is Budapest’s legendary – New York Cafe. Voted as one of 10 most beautiful cafes in the world – this newly renovated cafe was a longtime center for Hungarian literature arts and poetry, right from its opening on October 23, 1894. This truly is a dazzling and spectacular place, […]
Weekend Pad
This will be our home – away from home, away from home for the long weekend while we explore Budapest. So far our impressions are pretty good and we are looking forward to staying here and sampling the breakfast tomorrow morning, and each morning after that. We are about 10 minute walk away from […]
Getting There
We are on our way to Budapest, Hungary. It is a great and leisurely drive, the roads are pretty much empty and there is not a lot of construction. We made 3 quick stops, two of which were to buy road vignettes – a precautionary measure to avoid unpleasantries with border control like the last […]
Service Time
Spring means more travel time, Alfa is getting its first service after 21, 000 km of happy travels we did in it.
Alsace Countryside
A slow and leisurely drive through Alsace countryside, on a beautiful and sunny Sunday morning.
Riquewihr France
The name of this little village of 1500 just rolls off your tongue – Riquewihr, Riquewihr, Riquewihr. This little village is located about 5km from Ribeauvillé or 6km if you take the scenic route through the winding roads leading through the vineyards. Riquewihr is an old wine trading village , famous for it architecture and for the Riesling and other great wines […]
Colmar – France
Colmar, now a home to some 67,000 people, was founded in the 9th century. It is the third largest city in Alsace and a self proclaimed capital of Alsatian wine. If you have heard of the Statue of Liberty then you know Colmar – indirectly. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, was a French sculptor who is best known for designing […]
St Martin’s Church
This is the main church in Colmar, built in Gothic style in yellow and red sandstone. Originally the church was built in Carolingian style around the year 1000. There are a number of unique and rare features and ornaments in this church dating back to the 1300’s. With Sarah Pacini on the horizon we stopped in for a […]
Exploring Ribeauvillé
We were not early out of bed today, but in the morning on the way down to the main market square in search of suitable place to sit outside for breakfast we got to explore a bit more of this amazing little town. Ribeauvillé is almost like a medieval movie set – all homes are […]
Ribeauvillé – France
We are spending a nice spring weekend in France. Out in the middle of the French countryside about 80 km outside of Strasbourg is a picturesque little town called Ribeauvillé. Ribeauvillé is home to about 5 thousand people and a lot of very old and colourful Bavarian looking buildings dating back to the 8th century. Surrounded by […]
Charming
There is this charming and almost enchanted looking fence on the way to Volker’s office. It is just another row of old stone buildings with a small garden up front, on an ordinary street just on the outskirts of the old town and yet there is something different and almost magical about this place – […]
Out For Lunch
Thursday is a long day at school for kids. Evelina finishes at 3:30 while Boris is done at 5:00. All other days they finish at 1:00 so Thursdays are tough. Since they have an hour for lunch we decided to meet up and have it together.
Sushi Time
We are out for yet another walk today. Today we are trying Sushi Glass a highly recommended, very busy sushi place in the old town.
Castle Tour
Today is the first day of Spring. Today is also the first day we were comfortable enough to go out in shorts and a t-shirt, although after an hour we though we were a bit overdressed. We have been planning to take a tour around the entire castle defence walls or the old town since […]
White Everywhere
No, it is not snow, I think we are done with that horror. At first we thought that the tree by our house was a pussy willow but it turns out that all the pussy willows turned into these white flowers. The cherry trees are in bloom too, so it’s white, yellow and pink everywhere […]
Pre Pro
It has been absolutely gorgeous today, we hit 20C. The pre pro league of girls is having its football practice outside at yet another football field. Here are some action shots.
Crazies are out
At the end of the boulevard, the canal that feeds the castle moats turns into a lake. There is a huge park on both side of the lake with cafes, a boat rental and a lot of walking trails. Since last year, we also have a fancy new sand beach. The park was full of […]
That Kind of Day
No matter where we go, the patios are full of people sitting around and enjoying the wonderful weather. A couple of days ago somewhere by Frankfurt we set a new record for the daily high it was 23.7C. We are out and about in t-shirts wondering if by the weekend we will be able to […]
Kids + Travel = Loot
Here is some of the stuff that we acquired in London. As it is clearly evident most of it is from Harry Potter Studios. Good times.
Home At Last
Home sweet home. We knew today was going to be a long and challenging day. We knew we would not make the train, and there was a chance we would not make the shuttle bus to the train station, which means we would have to take an even later train. Not to mention the issues […]
Relaxing in London
After Changing of the Guard ceremony, or rather, before it actually concluded we set off across St. James’s Park to Piccadilly and a wonder around Regent Street, essentially circling around Soho for a bit of exploration. I think we all are a bit tired so today we are taking it easy. We went back to […]
Break Time
We went to see the Queen today but there was a scheduling problem with the palace. So instead of high tea we settled for watching the change of guard and a coffee.
Covent Garden
After our museum visit, we had a nice dinner in a traditional English Tavern and then headed out to Covent Garden which is a trendy boutique area in London. Then a quick stop to King’s Cross for a visit to Platform 9 ¾.
Natural History Museum – Treasures
There are a lot great exhibits and some real treasures. There is a tooth which was found by the side of the road which gave birth to the study of dinosaurs, the first adult skull of a Neanderthal ever discovered, the first edition of the “On The Origin of Species” by Darvin, a dodo skeleton, […]
Natural History Museum
To your average creationist this place is hell and Darwin is the devil, to the rest of inquiriting minds this is a place of amazement and wonder. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 70 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. Each exhibit hall is more splendid the the […]
British Museum
It appears that whatever the French have found first or did not lose in war is at the Louvre in Paris, the rest of the world’s treasures are in London at the The British Museum. The Rosetta Stone, the oldest chess set, the Portland Vase the precursor to Wedgwood China, The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Colossal red granite statue […]
Trafalgar Square
After London Eye we set out for a walk across the river towards the Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street and the British National Museum with a quick stop at a pub for some fish and chips.
Harry Potter – Hogwarts
The second studio is dedicated to animatronics, the concept art, prints, magic wands, the entire Diagon Alley and of course larger then life model of the Hogwarts Castle which was used for all of the outdoor scenes and fly by shots. The size of this model is hard to describe because words like huge and […]
Harry Potter – Outdoor Sets
Once you take it the splendid wonder of all the indoor sets, in the courtyard between the two studios are some of the outdoor sets which were used in the movie. Those include the Hogwarts Bridge, No. 4 Privet Drive, The Night Bus, The flying ford Angila, Little Whining and a few more chess pieces. […]
Harry Potter
This adventure took about 4 or 5 hours to get through but as Boris said, it was the best day of his life. Harry Potter Studios just outside London are well worth the time and the money for any Harry Potter fan. Even before you enter the studios, you are immediately impressed by the […]
Tower Bridge
It is hard to say what is more iconic in London – The Big Ben or the Tower Bridge. I think we would be hard pressed to pick between the two. After a bit of rain, the sun come out which made for some spectacular looking skyline.
Piccadilly
Until the 17th century the street was known as Portugal Street. Piccadilly is a famous road in London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to in the east. It is completely within the City of Westminster and it is one of the widest and straightest streets in central London, and it is always busy.
St James’s Park
We wondered towards Piccadilly and took a shortcut across St. James’s Park where there seems to be hundreds of thousands of spring flowers and hundreds of birds of all shapes and sizes. Every year millions of Londoners and tourists visit St James’s Park, the oldest of the capital’s eight Royal Parks.
London
Here are a few shots from around the Parliament Building and the Big Ben which we will be coming back to when we go for a ride on the London Eye. There are many beautiful places in London, each one more grand then the next, so we can’t wait to see more of it very […]
Fish and Chips
These were done just right with mushed green peas. Not only did we have a Polish waitress her uncle lives in Edmonton. Small world.
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