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 […]
As my wife said, when you come to Budapest but don’t stop by Zeller Bistro, for dinner – you have wasted your trip here. Zeller is a very small bistro on the Pest side of the city, family own and family run. They also own a small farm and make their own wine and some […]
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 […]
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 […]
Originally built in Romanesque style in 1015, the current building was constructed in the late Gothic style in the second half of the 14th century and was extensively restored in the late 19th century. It was the second largest church of medieval Buda and the seventh largest church of medieval Hungarian Kingdom. Officially named as the Church of Our Lady, […]
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, […]
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, […]
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 […]
We are going to Hungary for the long weekend. In our sights we have Budapest, what we understand to be an amazing city full of splendid cafes, mineral baths and spicy paprika and goulash among other more cultural things.
This is our little hotel we stayed at in Ribeauvillé in Alsace France over the weekend. After lowering the bar significantly in London at Hotel Dumpshire this was not only a well deserved and great treat but a nice surprise. The hotel is located on a quiet square with a fountain just about in the middle […]
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, 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 […]
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 […]
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.
We are continuing to enjoy the beautiful spring weather. It’s is warm, it is dry and it is very sunny.
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.
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.
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 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 […]
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 […]
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.
Today we went to Buckingham Palace to see the change of the guard, us and about 1000 other people with nothing better to do on a beautiful spring day. The whole ceremony is quite long, with much fanfare and massive crowds and not a lot to see. It seems there is not one place that […]
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.
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
We woke up to a spectacular spring day in London. It is the sort of day you wish you were going on the London Eye simply to see the entire city with beautiful blue sky and some white clouds. That is exactly how we started our day today. First thing after breakfast we set […]
Just the Hogwarts castle – so real and so close you can almost touch it, if it wasn’t for the barriers and the security and the CCTV…
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 […]
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. […]
The first part of the tour is on the sound stage where the Great Hall scenes were shot as well as some of the other iconic sets from the movie, such as the Boys, Dormitory, Gryffindor Common Room, Potions Room, the Burrow, Hagrid’s hut, Umbridge’s Office, the Dumbledore’s Office, the Ministry of Magic etc.. It all […]
Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. This building used to serve as a royal residence, the Treasure for the Royal Jewels, a defence building and a prison. There has been more blood […]
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.
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.
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.
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 […]
We are exploring London bit by bit. The weather went from sunny to drizzle, so we are taking a bit of a break and shelter from the rain.
After an eventful day yesterday we are starting off slow today. First order of the day – sleep through the breakfast at the hotel. Second order of the day – find a place to sit, relax and enjoy a morning cup of coffee and watch the world go by.
We constantly aim to elevate the amateur way of traveling – this trip is no exception. We set off from Nuremberg to Frankfurt on the train. We did not want to chance getting stuck in traffic or a snow storm or getting stressed about getting there on time. We would arrive in Frankfurt with 2.5 […]
It’s Spring Break. The kids are officially out of school for a week. On Boris’ request we are going to London. It is one of the cities he really wants to see. We are setting off to Frankfurt on a train, then we are catching a flight to London on Ryan Air. We are packed […]
Now that it is warm outside the girls football team is practicing twice per week.
The German National Museum is quite stunning. It is a mix of ultra modern and old gothic buildings, including an old church. Some of the old buildings date back to 1525. Some of the most valuable exhibits in the museum collection are the oldest known wooden globe which predates Columbus’ discovery of America and a […]
Right, so with Mozejkos here it was inevitable that we would be going back to L’Osteria – it is everyone’s favourite pizza joint in Nuremberg and even mid week you need reservations to get it – it’s a crazy place. After pizza we went next door for some gelato.
We spent another great day in Prague and we did not step foot into a single church. Right now it is our go to city for a day trip. We have been to Munich 5 times already but that was out of necessity, we have been to Prague 3 times because we wanted to go […]
Starting your day off the proper way with a nice light breakfast and a hot coffee. We love coming to Paul when in Prague.
It is another weekend and we are setting off to Prague for another day trip. It is an amazing city, and we love it there. In the caravan following us are Mozejkos, we are going to explore this town a bit more.
Our Danish friends are here for a week. First order of the day is to go out for a walk after a big brunch. The day did not live up to its +15C today but any day without snow, wind or sleet we will take. Beautiful day to be outside – tomorrow a day […]
The Tooth Fairy has been very busy around this house. Evelina has lost so many teeth that her retainer does not stay in anymore. Today we went to see an orthodontist to get it adjusted, but just as we suspected until some new pearly whites come in, no retainer will be worn. Evelina seems quite […]
Evelina’s new title with her football team is pre – pro, and now she looks the part too.
Once a normal wall, since the 1980s it has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles songs. Young Czechs would write grievances on the wall and in a report of the time this led to a clash between hundreds of students and security police on the nearby Charles Bridge. The movement these students followed was described ironically as […]
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