Eastern Europe is changing so fast at the moment, and Hungary is one of the movers and shakers there. The capital Budapest boasts a pretty amazing club scene, and more beautiful buildings than Prague (according to my Hungarian friend from work Tamas, anyway). We spent half the weekend at his 1970s style beach house next to Lake Balaton; the biggest lake in Eastern Europe, and an incredible one at that – with beautiful warm water about 1 metre deep spanning hundreds of square kilometers. It’s like a really big spa, only cheaper!
One of the highlights of Hungary are its old-style Roman baths. These are like big public swimming pools, but cooler – you don’t do laps, you just sit there under the fountains, warming to the thermally-heated pools, and chat to people (though given that I didn’t speak Hungarian, this was difficult and/or brief). The surrounding buildings boast an elaborate maze of variations: including the whirlpool, a series of mini-pools where each pool is 3-4 degrees hotter than the last, and Hungarian massage/manicure tables (and yes, I sampled both).
Monday, July 31, 2006
I'm Hungary ... to hang out with Tamas and Reni, with Angie
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Beautiful Prague - who would've thought old stuff could be so fun? :)
My mate Cram and I decided to explore this place, known for its beautiful architecture, abundant tourists and status as preferred locale for British bucks/hens nights (we saw tens of them throughout the weekend, mostly in strange costumes and invariably drunk). We pretty much spent the whole weekend walking, looking at old buildings, visiting the Communist museum (which was fascinating), listening to free classical music concerts, and …looking at more old buildings. Cheap food and drink was also a bonus!
Monday, July 10, 2006
A trip to Pisa deserves a round of stupid leaning tower photos ...
Having half a day to kill in Florence as great - it gave me enough time to get to Pisa (1 hour by train) and time to take plenty of photos - as well as climb the thing!)
Can I say the climbing is COOL. It's like being in a vortex (So I'm told). You walk up the stairs and you feel yourself pushed and shoved in different directions as you go around (and I'm not just talking about my legion of fans!) :)
Of course the highlight - apart from the view from the top - are all those photos you can do with such a great stimuli to work with:
You can help keep it up:
You can make it worse:
You can try to fight it:
You can fight it at close range:
Or if you can't beat 'em, join 'em ...
(note: horse may be irrelevant)
Can I say the climbing is COOL. It's like being in a vortex (So I'm told). You walk up the stairs and you feel yourself pushed and shoved in different directions as you go around (and I'm not just talking about my legion of fans!) :)
Of course the highlight - apart from the view from the top - are all those photos you can do with such a great stimuli to work with:
You can help keep it up:
You can make it worse:
You can try to fight it:
You can fight it at close range:
Or if you can't beat 'em, join 'em ...
(note: horse may be irrelevant)
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Italy - Champions of the World
Continuing the theme of travelling for the purposes of sport (World Cup, World Cup, Wimbledon) was the trip away for the final of the World Cup. It was too difficult to try to get to Germany - though I'd already been to Berlin twice AND Germany weren't in the final. So I flipped an (imaginary) coin and decided for Italy over France, then jumped into a plane in the cheapest plane I could find going to anywhere within Italy.
I ended up going to Florence, meeting up with my mate Giovanni's (from Stanford) best friend, Ciro.
For those of you who haven't been to Florence - it's pretty amazing. There is a huge river that runs through the city, overladen by bridge ...
Which looks gorgeous at night and twilight ...
... There was a large video screen set up on Micahelangelo's Piazza, a gorgeous huge lookout/car park overlooking the cirty ...
... This was the area for which we were to gather for THE game, the final, on the Sunday night (see statue of David in the background)!
In the meantime, Ciro's friends led us to this bizarre massive music festival about 30 miles away, situated in an old italian village ...
...
With musicians, lots of food, and cool circus performers like this fire dancer:
Of course the highlight of the weekend was the Italian world cup victory. OUR victory (sorry, you just had to be there).
After we (Italy) won, it was absolute ecstacy throughout not just the place where we were watching, but every single person in the city ...
Which continued well into the early hours of the morning ... what a party! :)
I ended up going to Florence, meeting up with my mate Giovanni's (from Stanford) best friend, Ciro.
For those of you who haven't been to Florence - it's pretty amazing. There is a huge river that runs through the city, overladen by bridge ...
Which looks gorgeous at night and twilight ...
... There was a large video screen set up on Micahelangelo's Piazza, a gorgeous huge lookout/car park overlooking the cirty ...
... This was the area for which we were to gather for THE game, the final, on the Sunday night (see statue of David in the background)!
In the meantime, Ciro's friends led us to this bizarre massive music festival about 30 miles away, situated in an old italian village ...
... With musicians, lots of food, and cool circus performers like this fire dancer:
Of course the highlight of the weekend was the Italian world cup victory. OUR victory (sorry, you just had to be there).
After we (Italy) won, it was absolute ecstacy throughout not just the place where we were watching, but every single person in the city ...
Which continued well into the early hours of the morning ... what a party! :)
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