I can take a train at 15:48 or another one at 16:48. Hmm, I could go up with the cable car one more time, ski down and catch the later train. I go out of the restaurant – the mountain is lost in fog, it’s snowing, the ski-chairlift is empty. Why is NO ONE going…
Where’s my wallet? Oh, dear. Seemed sunny this morning, and it’s forecasted to snow tomorrow, so I decided to go for a spontaneous half-day skiing trip. It’s 12:30, I’m in the Flumserberg parking lot, have just arrived to a very lucky just-in-time parking opening in an otherwise full house; just when I wanted to put…
16-18 october 2009 A swift 3.5 hours away from Barcelona by the new fast train, Madrid is not what I expected. Had imagined a yellow city in a deserted landscape, donno why, maybe from looking at the yellow color on the map in central Spain. Yet what I found was a monumental, green city, busy,…
13 October 2009 The most “visible” of the Barcelonean geniuses is no doubt Gaudí. Because you can admire his work from the outside (as well). Probably the most…different architect that ever lived. He took the Jugendstil in fashion during his time and just ran away with it, to completely new territories. The easiest way to…
12 october 2009 We left at 5am, dark, 7-8 degrees Celsius, and reached sunny Barcelona with some 20 degrees. The easiest way to get to the centre from the airport is via the blue bus, which left us at the University, not far from Hostal Central. Very well located, 5 minuts walking from Plaça Catalunya,…
End of September 2009 As I was heading towards the car I thought it was strange it doesnt react to my remote opening attempts. “The remote control battery must be done”, I thought. Turns out the car battery was done. Shit. I had all the luggage with me, was heading to meet O. in Munchen.…
September 2009 Troyes (read: “tro’ah”) was one of the nicest surprises this year. On the way back from Champagne I stopped just to check it out, had no idea what to expect. Had read that it has an interesting old town, but I didn’t expect… this: I had read there are old wooden Fachwerkhäuser, but…
September 11, 2009 I had no idea that Mr. Moët invented the champagne drink, sometime around 1743 on a Wednesday. Or that Mr. Chandon was his son-in-law. Or that the black Pinot Noir grapes give white juice, unless you leave the shells in the mix. I didn’t know much, but I learned a lot visiting…
eluded us. There were flags in the city, but when we arrived there was nothing special going on, except lots of tourists around. But to start with the beginning, we did a “classic” tour by now, through central Switzerland, Einsiedeln, where we can still not take pictures inside, but we arrived right before mass, which…
August 22 Since S. was based in Basel, we decided to check out Van Gogh, since he had a concert in town. Nice, not all songs, but some of the hits were on, plus some songs I didnt know but liked. I didnt even ask if pictures are allowed, I guessed no. Van Gogh has…
The third and last part of the long-week-end-in-Southern-France trip was in Italy. The coast from Menton to Genova is in the Liguria region. After visiting Menton at the French border, I crossed to Italy and stopped in San Remo. Wasn’t too impressed till I found a passage to the heart of the old town, right…
After doing Route Napoleon in 1 day, the second day was reserved for Cote d’Azur. Started out in Cannes, where I decided spontaneously that it would be the place to spend several hours, to “take it all in”. Continued to Antibes with its fortress on the sea shore, Nice, which is nice, then Eze, a…
A recent trip to Southern France consisted of 3 main parts. The first was Route Napoléon, the route which he used when coming back from the island of Elba to reclaim the throne. He chose to avoid the regalist Rhon valley and went for the mountains, from Cannes to Grenoble. I did it the other…
The highlight of this year has been the trip to Japan. 9 days, intense, Japanese-tourist-style ;). Below is a slideshow of selected (269) pictures. For the story that goes with them, you’d have to check the Romanian blog, here. I won’t take the time to translate them, it’s too much, took me a year to…
In the attempt to get things here up-to-date, here’s a quick look at the winter season 2008/9. Nothing much happened, except work and skiing week-ends. I re-visited some places I’d been before, and tried out some new ones. In short chronological order: I ended 2008 with a trip to Zermatt, to see the Matterhorn, a…
I spent only one day in Bucharest, so there was not much time for pictures. But, since I passed the Athenaeum anyway, couldn’t help taking a piktcha. Or 2. By the way, a story I heard from a friend – on holidays in Switzerland, they stayed at Hotel Ibis. They had pictures on the walls…
August 2008 The “Pro Etnica” festival I stumbled upon in Sighişoara is a fine thing. Most minorities in Romania send artists who perform on a scene in the main square of the medieval citadel, songs, dances and what not. The crowd is not as big and crazy like at the medieval festival, creating a very…
August 2008 Constrasting with the crowded capital, always in a hurry and pointedly materialistic, a oasis of beauty and color, with historic and spiritual focus, but without losing the atmosphere and energy of an “important city” – that is Krakow for Poland, and that is Braşov for România. I’m pleasantly impressed by Braşov (read: Brashov,…
July 2008 A small city lost in the Transylvanian hills, on the road from Târgu Mureş to Turda-Cluj, Luduş is completely off the touristic track. Even for Romanians – as for foreigners, I don’t know if you need more than two hands to count foreign tourists who’ve evere been there. But for those related in…
I had very few images about Turda in my head. Knew that it has some chemical industry, a football team that won once the Romanian cup while playing in 2nd league, that it was an old roman city, and – that was about it. My cousin told me about the thermal baths, and then I…
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