THIS AND THAT

Bratislava - Pozsony

2010-08-24T18:45:00.045+03:00

Arrive abroad in the morning... - an old saying told us.

If you arrive in Bratislava in a gloomy morning, with apparently endless torrential rains don't expect to find any open Museums, Coffees or Pubs. Before 10 o'clock all are closed! Even so if you are lucky (as I was) you may find one pub with wide open doors, where the chairs are on the tables, but the waiter, while he's cleaning up, kindly serves you a cup of fresh mint-tea with lemon. If you are even more lucky, the rain stops and you can discover Bratislava carelessly.

St. Michael's Gate - Mihály kapu

First thing you do, as an ordinary turist: take an illustrated sightseeing city map from the first Information Office you see. Then locate yourself and the sights you want to see. Then try to find the first place or historical building using the map. At this moment you will have a surprise! The streets are so short that after few steps you have already reached your targeted building! Of course, if you are very lazy, you can have a tour with this funny little car, certainly you will hear lots of interesting facts about the city.

The old town of Bratislava is a tiny beauty, well kept and looked after. Monumental baroque palaces surround small squares, friendly old houses line along the narrow streets, tiny shops and pubs hide in the shadow of the doorways.

The Main square with the Old Town-hall - Főtér, a Régi Városházával

Even if you are alone, you won't feel lonely, as here and there you meet friendly local "people": one salutes you rising his hat, one chats with you if you sit on a bench, an other just shows you the best place to take photos, and one even looks up from the canal-hole... Here they are:

Let's chat... - Beszélgessünk...

The photographer at the corner.... - Fotós a sarkon

The Bratislava Castle sits enthroned on the top of the hill, several stairways and steep streets lead you to it. From up there there is a splendid view of the Danube with the New Bridge and modern Bratislava, across the river.

Bratislava Castle - Pozsony vára

After all these walking, you deserve a great lunch! There are several small restaurants in the old town, that serve Slovakian dishes. But I recommend you Restaurácia HRAD, up in the castle, where while you taste traditional sheep cheese noodle or other local specialities, you can also enjoy a beautiful view on the old town.

Other must see places: St. Martin's Cathedral, the coronation church of several Hungarian kings and queens, the Grassalkovich / Presidential Palace, the Archbishop's Palace, the National Theatre and the Hviezdoslavovo... And many - many more, but all very close by, in the old town of Bratislava.

Walking along the lanes you even forget that actually you are in the capital city of Slovakia, as the old town is so relaxing and friendly, with a bit of medieval tone.

Hviezdoslavovo: Chess-players - Sakkozók

The New Bridge - Az Új híd

Cute souvenirs: Straw-dolls - Aranyos emléktárgyak: szalmababák

New beginning - Újrakezdés

2010-08-22T22:26:00.003+03:00

After more than a year of silence I considered that it's time to restart writing. I swept the dust from the old blogging page, redesigned the layout and I"m ready to share a lot of experience. Let's see what happened around me recently...

Több, mint egy év hallgatás után újra kedvet kaptam írni. Lesöpörtem a port a régi oldalról, kissé át is alakítottam és készen állok megosztani egy rakás élményt. Lássuk mi történt mostanában...

A piece of Heaven - Egy darabka menyország

2009-07-15T08:34:00.013+03:00

There are places that attract you by their simplicity.

Last week I visited my relatives in Gyergyó - Gheorgheni.
They have a holiday cottage nearby the town, in an absolutely amazing place.

The fresh air, the smell of pine-trees, the green of the grass, the colourful wildflowers, the taste of the berries and the song of the birds enchants your senses.

The everyday stress disappears in seconds, and in a few minutes you feel totally relaxed. In such moments your elementary instincts wake up and burst out from forgotten inner depths.
You need to go for a walk for the excitement of the discovery: every step leads you to a new wonder hidden in a plant, a flower, a tiny mushroom. If you are patient and humble birds, ants, butterflies accompany you on your way, uncovering their little secrets.
You feel that you rediscover yourself, you feel the joy of freedom.

This is happiness.

Do we need something else?

White wagtail - Barázdabillegető

Bilberry - Fekete áfonya

On the fields - A réten

Tiny wonders - apró csodák

Calea Victoriei Bucuresti

2009-07-10T11:11:00.019+03:00

There are many interesting places in Bucharest that worths to visit.
I present you Calea Victoriei (Victory Avenue), the major avenue in the center of Bucharest.

Atheneul Roman (Romanian Athenaeum) with the statue of Eminescu, the famous Romanian poet

Biblioteca Centrala Universitara
The Library of University of Bucharest, restored after burning down during the 1989 Revolution

Galeria de Arta
Entrance to the Royal Palace - which held the Art Gallery

The 1989 Revolution Monument on the Revolution Square

Teatrul Odeon
Odeon Theatre

Old and new: Novotel Building

Hotel Capitol, Palatul Telefoanelor (Palace of Telephones) and Casa Capsa (Capsa House)

Covered street with small coffee houses

CEC -
CEC Building

Bucharest Financial Plaza

If you would like to see more pictures about Bucharest, you may have a look at my highlighted blogs:

Mighty Bucharest
Bucharest

Blog updated

2009-07-10T09:30:00.004+03:00

For several years I have used Yahoo 360 for blogging.
Now Yahoo decided to close this blogging service on 13 July, 2009 and recommended us to move our blogs to our Yahoo profile. The place they suggested didn't satisfy my expectation. Thus I decided to move the most interesting blogs here on blogspot, where I already had an account and few posts.
I copied my old blogs on the date they were posted on Yahoo. If you are interested reading them, you can find them via Blog Archive. Enjoy them!

Living kitsch

2009-06-19T09:13:00.027+03:00

Kitsch is a term that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style. The term is also used more closely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in bad taste, and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass. Kitsch is most closely associated with art that is sentimental; however, it can be used to refer to any type of art that is deficient for similar reasons—whether it tries to appear sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative, kitsch is said to be a gesture imitative of the superficial appearances of art. It is often said that kitsch relies on merely repeating convention and formula, lacking the sense of creativity and originality displayed in genuine art. Kitsch became defined as an aesthetically impoverished object of shoddy production, meant more to identify the consumer with a newly acquired class status than to invoke a genuine aesthetic response. (Wikipedia)

After this brief introduction I present you my ultimate experience on kitsch.

Recently I spent few nights in a small hotel ... well, it worth to tell its name: Pensiunea King. Seeing only the name and the prices, after you have booked the room by phone, you might expect something of high class.

You enter innocently the establishment, get the key and start the experience. First of all you can hardly go upstairs as there are photocells at each step that switch on and off the lights as you walk along. That might seem very environmental friendly solution, but when you try to climb an unknown staircase with heavy luggage in your hands it's really dangerous. The walls are imitating bricks and colored with red.

Finally, you get to the second floor where a hilarious hall welcomes you. Wooden covered walls, other photocells that switch on and very quickly off the lights and "breathtaking" decorations: commercial photos of nude women cut from magazines or calendars in frame, giant plastic flowers, paintings presenting idyllic nature...

You enter the room and remain speechless... First thing that catches your eyes is again the brick-like reddish wall. After your brain survived this shock you realize that actually that is a bar-counter with all that it needs and doesn't need: bar chairs, disco ball, glasses, fridge, garden gnomes and plastic or ceramic flowers on the shells.

Then you want to explore the rest of the room and look around. An other surprise: the red wall continues and ends up in a huge fireplace, decorated with plastic bonsai trees. But there are also wooden logs put in ready to be light up... which might melt the plastic flowers put on them or even burn down the whole place as the whole stuff is made of plaster-boards.

But don't worry...
If you really want to light a fire in the fireplace you only have to switch on the button next to it and you have instantly artificial fire created with two lamps, some orange fabrics and an air-blower, that moves the fabrics! In a totally dark room it looks like real fire, indeed.

The exploration continues to the sleeping area, where you find an immense and luxuriantly decorated bed that looks like it was made of milk chocolate rather then wood. A same sort of wardrobe and bedroom tables accompany the arrangement. The decoration is educative: a hypothetical representation of a landscape, maybe from the Mars, considering the tone of the painting.

The lamps can be switched on by touching the glass, and even have different light-intensity after several touches. Very funny, indeed, until you realize that the manufacturer forgot to end the cycle with the switch-off touch. So you have to pull out the plug if you want to end the show. You might notice also the tiger-face mat under the lamp... I hope you won't expect me to comment this.

Finally, the bathroom... with photocells that control illumination and ventilation... again very environmental friendly solution if you tend to forget to switch off the lights when you leave the area. But if you stay relatively motionless for few minutes in certain places... you are left in totally darkness and you have to wave or even make desperate movements to be observed by the sensors. Having light again you notice some well-chosen objects that complete the picture.

The toilet brush support is actually an elephant with butterfly bow...

...some beer glasses have advanced to be tooth brush glasses...
and of course the plastic flowers can't be missed.

If you still have appetite you may descend to the restaurant where you already know what to expect regarding the sort of decoration and lights. (I deliberately avoid the word "style").

Being sick of all these you rush out to have fresh air and observe the front-side of the building and read on the board that the names of the companies that run this pension are: Promisiunea (=promise) , Limita (=limit) and Folli.

From this moment on your brain gives up the struggle and you resign...

But after you process all this shocks you put yourself questions.

Is there any hope people finally realize that all of this is a massive kitsch? Does it exist a way out of this horror?
I tried to present with humor and easiness but it is about a serious disorder that tend to infect the world. Lack of culture, aesthetic education and distortion of senses and incapacity in recognizing real values produce these monsters.
And even if I know that all these are junk I support indirectly the kitsch. Even if I never bought such objects I would pay for the hotel room and thus I would support kitsch industry. It would be a solution to boycott kitsch production simply ignoring kitsch products. But that would be a tough problem as modern world is based on mass kitsch production and kitsch living. Kitsch is cheap as it is easy to make and buy and cheapness is a major reason for millions of producers and consumers.
Worse is when people spend to much to make kitsch as it becomes expensive and then they consider that is luxury and fancy, like this hotel...
Should I pay other people stupidity?
I could have left the establishment on the motive that I won't pay for kitsch... but they wouldn't have understood and haven't learned anything from the lesson.

Mighty Bucharest - Nagyszerű Bukarest

2009-06-18T17:24:00.001+03:00

If you want to see something unusual, unexpected, funny or weird simply have a walk in Bucharest...and you find treasures. Ha valami szokatlant, váratlant, vicceset vagy furcsát szeretnél látni, egyszerűen menj el sétálni Bukarestben... és kincseket találsz.

... funny street plates, that makes you feel at home,
...vicces utcanevek, amik láttán otthonosan érzed magad,

"The street where I kissed Mimi - Az utca ahol megpusziltam Mimit"

... an old airplane landed in the middle of a roundabout,

... egy régi repülőgép, ami a körfogalom közepén szállt le,

"Happy landing - Boldog leszállás"

... an ingenious way to keep visitors out of the Communist Hero's Mausoleum in Carol Park,
... a látogatók távoltartásának egy leleményes módja, a Kommunista Hősök Emlékművénél, a Carol Parkban,
"No entry - Bemenni tilos"

... pubs with suggestive names,
... sokatmondó kocsmanevek,

"Fără şpagă = No bribe - Megvesztegetés nélkül"

... and the statue of the famouse Romanian writer, Ion Luca Caragiale, having the body of a former Lenin statue, and the head of the writer.
... és a híres román író, Ion Luca Caragiale szobra, aminek a teste egy régi Lenin szoboré, a feje az íróé.

"I.L. Caragiale"

...yes, all these, any many others, could happen only here, as in Romania everything is possible...

... igen, ezek és még sok más, csakis itt történhetnek meg, hiszen Romániában minden lehetséges...

Swallows

2009-06-14T17:31:00.008+03:00

The swallows came back to the nest this year, too.

They "talk" all day long, I like to listen to them, it is so relaxing.
But it seems that they don't like to be photographed.
Actually, their nest is in a corner of my window and if I want to take a picture, I have to open it and lean out of the window. This scare them and they either hide in the nest or fly away and wait somewhere till I disappear.
I succeed to take only few and not very great pictures of them.

One of the swallow-parents guarding the nest.

Is anybody there?

Hello! I am the baby and I am hungry!

(You may notice the yellow spot near its beak, that the baby swallows have.)

I am coming!

Haystacks again

2009-06-10T21:48:00.002+03:00

The season of my favourite things has arrived...
Yesterday I noticed them on the hill, so I took my camera today, not to miss them.

They were still there...

This one has a funny top that is in contrast with the curve of the hill.

Traveler IQ

2009-04-19T15:29:00.000+03:00

This Traveler IQ was calculated on Friday, June 19, 2009 at 12:26PM GMT by comparing this person's geographical knowledge against the Web's Original Travel diary's 4,179,139 travelers who've taken the challenge.

It seems that my Traveler and Geography IQ has increased since last year, as now it is 109 and last year it was /only/ 94.
I haven't traveled a lot since my last test, I haven't studied maps... I think I was luckier this time.
What is your score?

Füvek

2009-03-20T17:07:00.004+02:00

"Húzd le sarud, ha zöldbe mész,
s füvekre úgy tedd talpadat,
hogyha majd ők lépnek föléd,
mind visszasimogassanak"

Horváth Imre: Sarutlanul

Celebrate

2008-12-24T09:26:00.005+02:00

Dear friends and visitors!

I invite you to celebrate.

You can celebrate what you want and prefer in this holiday season.

Enjoy this glass of wine...

Happy holidays!

Mikulás

2008-12-06T11:57:00.002+02:00

Do you remember your first Mikulás?

Mikulás = Saint Nicholas, who comes on 6th of December, and brings presents to kids. You can read the legend of Saint Nicholas here.

I have very vague memories about my childhood, but I have an image in my mind about one Mikulás evening.

I was so anxious to see the good old man and prepeared to meet him. I cleaned my boots and put near the entrance door. I was in my room at the window to see Mikulás coming. Suddenly the bell rang at the door and I rushed out from my room to the hall... and I saw through the window of the entrance door a shadow going away, and I heard his steps as he was going down the stairs .
I did not meet him, but I saw his silhouette...
I was a bit disappointed that he was faster than me and could not see him.

I was about 4 years old...

On the picture you can see Joulupukki, the Finnish Mikulás.

Haystacks

2008-10-27T21:36:00.006+02:00

I adore haystacks. They are my favourite "things".
If I see them staying on the hills I feel a strange emotion and I want to hug them. They look like some old little people that climb up on the hill.
I love their peculiar shapes, their curved lines.
I admire them during the sunset, when the sun-rays draw long shadows around them.

I decided to make a collection of photos presenting haystacks from all around the world, as I am curious how they look like in different regions.
If you are interested in haystacks or you have photos that you can add to my collection, please visit my flickr group called HAYSTACK.
Thanks :-)

Brighton SCHMAP-Guides

2008-10-17T18:01:00.018+03:00

One of my photos posted on flickR was selected for Schmap-Guides.

FlickR Mail:

Schmap Brighton Fifth Edition: Photo Inclusion

Hi Zsofia Nagy,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released fifth edition of our Schmap Brighton Guide:

Royal Pavilion
http://www.schmap.com/brighton/toppicks_attractions/p=171863/i=171863_33.jpg

Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

My photo in Schmap-Guides

This is the original photo, on FlickR.

Recycling day - October 04, 2008

2008-10-04T10:10:00.002+03:00

For the third time this year electronic waste is collected in our town. (And in others as well, as it is a national campaign.)

You should know that my town is relatively small and one of the poorest in the region.
Or maybe not?
The interesting thing is that every time this huge container was full of computers, TV-sets, fridges and other electronic equipments!
That means that people bought new ones and this means that they had money to change the old ones.
Are we really as poor as we pretend to be?

Citius, altius, fortius

2008-08-23T20:25:00.003+03:00

"Faster, Higher, Stronger"

... is the Olympic motto, proposed by Pierre de Coubertin and introduced in 1924, and ever since athletes all over the world respect it.

At every sport event athletes are better than their predecessors, improving their performances. And their results are recorded as world records. And the values for speed, time, distance, hight or weight change rapidly, reaching extremes.

But how far can they push the human performances? Is there a limit? Or what is the limit?
I mean the natural limit...

How fast can we swim or run, how high can we jump, how much weight can we lift?
Is it natural that new generation of athletes are better, faster and stronger?
Are they super-men and women?

Modern technology has a tremendous impact on sport performances. But how much can technology improve sport performances?

We see high-tech sport equipments that help athletes, as they are designed using aerodynamics, special, flexible materials and even space-technology ... as athletes look like some super-heroes.

Athletes aspiration for glory is a natural desire. But is this hunt for better performances and new world records pushing sport competitions to the extremes?

Is this the era of super-humans?
Or all is a fake, and most of them use performance-enhancing drugs and "accessories", that can't be detected by the "official" tests.

The road to the Fish-lake

2008-08-11T20:39:00.015+03:00

I haven't been biking for a long time, as the roads were always under construction and it was dangerous to bike on the side. But years ago I went regularly biking, every afternoon, day by day, until the first snow.
It was a pleasant afternoon, perfect for taking out my bicycle and take a ride somewhere... anywhere... but out of the town! Hmmm... Let's see... what is it at the fish-lake?
Leaving the main road, you find yourself in a beautiful valley, where the road is surrounded by smooth hills, corn-fields and meadows.

There is a small little house at the end of the village, it is like it was dropped there from a fairy tale...

On your way you can see some people making hay...

horses pulling carts...

sheep grazing on the top of the hill...

scarecrows waving along the corn-fields...

birds flying all around the bushes and even a sleeping cat on the tree!

The lake was quiet today, only few fisher-men were staying with their fishing-rods on the shore, no trace of tourist, who usually come here for camping, sunbathing or swimming on weekends.

The water surface was rarerly disturbed by small waves, created by some jumping fish. All was calm and relaxing...

The wind was shaking gently the leaves, the reeds were whispering softly, swallows were gliding over the lake to catch flyes, the sunrays were reflected by the water and the lake was shining...

The sunset was approaching sooner than I expected...

I took a last picture of the tiny cottage and pedalled fast to get home before getting totally dark.

Master's on-line and team-work

2008-06-15T22:26:00.003+03:00

In October 2007 I applied to a master's course, Communication and Public Relation in Business, in Bucharest, at the ASE (Academia de Studii Economice). The condition for admission was a university degree.

It is a two-year program, the study method is very interesting, a special form of distance learning, classes are off-campus, everything is "on-line". There is a special web-page created for us by the University, where we registered and logged in at the beginning of the courses. Each Monday our professors posted on the site the new topics, homework, questions, polls, projects and we had a deadline to read, learn, do and send back the homework and projects. There were forum topics and chats launched, where we could write our opinion about the topics and we could read others' opinion as well and could reply to them. The teachers gave us a feed-back after reading our answers. Everything was happening in a virtual world, we could enter the site any time we had free time, but we had to respect the deadlines and the requirements. The condition for entering the exams was to had activity on the forums, to do all the homework and projects for the deadline and to had certain amount of points/marks for these activities. The only occasion we could meet each other and the professors were the exams, as they were held in Bucharest.

We studied PR, communication, psychology, negotiation, e-marketing, deontology, human behavior, IT. We had a lot of projects to do, some were individual but there was a team-project, too.

As we didn't know each other only virtually, by reading each others' answers or interventions on the forums and seeing a small photo and a name next to the answers this team-project was the most interesting and challenging task. I was so lucky to be part of a great group, with 6 girls: Raluca, Gabi, Iza, Corina, Cristina and myself. Iza was so inspired to invite all of us in the group, choosing us after she was looking at our activity during the semester. (Very clever idea!) And she was right as all of us are hard working girls and active all the time, posting all the answers and homework in time. So we formed a wonderful team, even if we didn't know each other in real life. We had a project about how to develop the Romanian Black-Sea tourism. After a month of planned and organized work we finalized the project, but meanwhile we became very good friends. We did such a great job in communication and negotiation during these weeks that our professor was very pleased with our team-work.
We were anxious to see each other and decided to meet at the exams. To recognize each other easier we decided to wear red tops. Our live meeting was wonderful, we forgot all the stress of the exams and spent memorable moments together, finally, in the real world.

NATO Summit 2008, Bucharest, Romania

2008-03-26T08:52:00.009+02:00

I am not going to write about the 2008 NATO Summit, for further information here you have the links below...

http://www.summitbucharest.ro/en/1.html
http://www.summitbucharest.ro/ro/1.html
http://www.summitbucharest.ro/fr/1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Bucharest_Summit

... but I would like to present my view of the place where the meetings are held.
Bucharest, the Romanian capital city is the host of 2008 NATO Summit - April 1-3, 2008.
The biggest NATO Summit ever is organized in the biggest building in Europe: The Palace of Parliament in Bucharest.

The House of Parliament - view from Carol Park. Even from this distance it looks huge.

From this angle it doesn't look so scary... but it is at least 1 km far from this fountain.

The Palace of Parliament, the biggest building in Europe.

As you get closer it becomes bigger and bigger.

Tokaji wine

2008-02-23T15:19:00.016+02:00

Last weekend I visited Sárospatak, a pretty town in Tokaj region, Hungary. I went there with 3 pupils for a physics competition. While the kids were preparing their projects, the teachers had an "extra school" activity: a visit to a wine cellar.

I was really enthusiastic about this visit, as I always wanted to see a real wine cellar. As I descended into the cellar, there were lots of butts of different sizes along the pathway.

The Tokaj-Hegyalja region has a volcanic soil and the cellars are dug in the volcanic rock, too. This special micro-climate makes the wines of this region so special:

“The Wine of Kings, the King of Wines”

In the cellar

The cellar I visited is relatively new, but the walls were already covered by "noble mould", which has formed due to the dew that rises from the wine butts.

Noble mould on the walls

Tokaj - Hegyalja wine region is a well know wine region in Hungary, with the famous Tokaji Aszú, a sort of sweet white dessert wine, made of dried grapes.

According to the story, in 1630, during a Turkish raid, the people vintage in mid November, with a delay of several weeks. The grapes had shrivelled and become dry by then. They produced an unequalled wine from this vintage. This was the first dessert wine produced by adding dried grapes.

Here is the technology of the Tokaji Aszú wine. (aszú = shrivelled)

During the making of Aszú the dried grapes are separated from the whole berries, are collected in vats and processed into a paste resembling dough. From this so-called Aszú paste they add as many times 25 kilograms to 136 litres of fermenting must (=grape juice) as the number of butts they want the Aszú wine to be. (The vintage butts used at the time, in which they put the Aszú grapes, could hold 25 kg, and the traditional wooden cask for fermenting Aszú held 136 litres.) Only 3,4,5, and 6-butt Aszú wine is produced in Tokaj according to the tradition of several centuries.

After fermentation the Aszú grapes are removed from the new wine by a process of careful pressing and the wine is aged for at least 3 years in a wooden casks.

The different butts of Aszú also mean the distinction according to remaining sugar content: the 3-butt Aszú contains 60–90 g/l, the 4-butt Aszú 90–120 g/l, the 5-butt Aszú 120–150 g/l, and the 6-butt Aszú 150–180 g/l of leftover sugar.

A 6-butt Tokaji Aszú with honey-like colour

We were served with 6 different sort of wines:
furmint, a dry fresh white wine,
hárslevelű ("linden-leaf") 2005, medium sweet white wine,
hárslevelű 2006 - late vintage, medium sweet white wine,
szamorodni, an other speciality of the region: the regular berries and dried raisins are processed together as they ripen. Depending on the sugar content of the must – and the amount of Aszú raisins – the wine will be dry or sweet after fermentation.
aszú 3-butt,
aszú 6-butt.

My favourite was the hárslevelű - late vintage, as it has a mild, fruity taste.

Hárslevelű - late vintage 2006

For more about Tokaji wines, see the link: http://www.kfki.hu/~rw2003/bor.html
Visit the cellar we spent a wondeful evening: http://www.evinor.hu/

Bucharest / Bucureşti

2007-11-04T10:04:00.001+02:00

Bucureşti... is the Romanian capital city.

I had loads of prejudice when I was told to go there for evaluating the final exam papers. I had some bad memories about Bucharest, as I was there only once, in the darkest period of the communist era and all my fresh information I got from the news and TV. Therefore I was anxious to see how it is in reality.

The Royal Palace

I have to tell you, after getting down from the train at the Gara de Nord, my first reaction was... wow... Am I Gara de Nord, in Bucharest, in Romania? Or I am dreaming? Is this that notorious train station? It was... but it was beautiful, welcoming, neat and clean... As every main train station should be anywhere in the world!

Gara de Nord

Leaving the building the next shock was not as pleasant, as it was extremely hot outside... as usually in Bucharest during the summer. I had to pour the water what was left in the bottle on my neck and head to survive while we were going to the car. It was around 42 C (108 F), but there were hotter days this summer.

The traffic is always busy, with traffic jams during the day, making a nightmare to travel by car or by up-ground public transport in the hot summer days, the underground is cooler, but also busy.

In a traffic jam

Later in the evening all is going back to normal and it is a pleasure to drive on the wide boulevards around the city. Bucharest is amazing by night, all the streets and the most important buildings have beautiful lighting.

The Atheneu

I had the chance to see during my short visit lot of interesting and beautiful places in Bucharest as our host took us for a walk every day. Yes, for a WALK, as we walked nearly all the way, more than 15 km a day! We walked all around the center, and thus I had the occasion to see a lot, not only the main boulevards with rows of block of flats, but also some pretty little streets with beautiful old houses that succeed to survive the destruction of the old Bucharest during Ceauşescu's rule.

The University Square

Lipscani, the old commercial district

Covered street

Caru cu bere

Cismigiu Park

Cismigiu Park

I visited the Palace of Parliament, former House of the People, one of Ceauşescu's megalomaniac ideas. The building and the surrounding buildings are situated on an immense area, where 30000 houses were demolished (old and new as well) to make place for this "house". It is the biggest building in Europe and the third in the world. It is massive and scaring... as you approach it is as mountain, it grows and grows and when you are near it, you can't see the top, having 86 m up-ground.

See this link for details. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Parliament

The House of Parliament

Colorful fountains

It worth to see and appreciate the quantity of work and materials used to build it, and if you see through the pompous decoration and immense dimensions of the halls and rooms, you will see all the suffering, struggle, sweat and sacrifice that the Romanian people endured for decades to complete such a monster.

Candles

Considering all, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted about Bucharest, as in the past 17 years a lot of work and money were invested in to transform in a European capital city. Usually the news presents the rear side of Bucharest, with bumpy roads and poor outskirt neighbourhoods, but all the city is in a process of changing in better, and you can see the results of this: newly paved boulevards, old monument buildings under restoration, new office buildings, new public transport vehicles, new commercial areas... Of course all need money and loads of suspicion are around corrupt businesses and blackmail, but... the city is developing, changing in better, better for the country and for its inhabitants, as well as for its image, and this is important.

New bank building

Calea Mosilor

Bucureşti... is a European capital city!

Timisoara - Temesvár

2007-09-22T15:46:00.008+03:00

Timişoara is one of the largest cities in the Banat region, in Romania, an important economical, cultural and university center of the western Romania. It is also called "Little Vienna", because the city belonged to the Habsburg Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and its architecture is dominated by majestic buildings built in this period, which reminds us of the old Vienna.
Timişoara is the first city in Europe to have electric public lighting on the 12th of November 1884.
Timişoara is the place where the Romanian Revolution of 1989 begun, after a small group of people gathered on 16th December 1989, in front of the Church to support the Hungarian reverend Tőkés László against his deportation by the Securitate (Secret Police). The next day, on 17th December 1989, a massive popular revolt began in Timişoara against the Communist regime and its leader, Ceauşescu. The meetings spread rapidly in the city and in the country and Ceauşescu's rule came to its end a week later.

Timişoara is also the place where I was student at the Univeristatea de Vest, Faculty of Physics. I lived there for 5 years and I have beautiful memories of those times. :-)

View of the Dom Square

My favourite place in Timişoara is the Dom Square - Dóm Tér - Piata Unirii, with beautiful old buildings and pretty cafes all around the square. There is a rule, that only white umbrellas are allowed for the open-air cafe terraces, not to destroy the atmosphere of the square.

Dom Square by night

Dom Square with the fountain

Dom Square with pigeons

Dom Square

White umbrellas and the Baroque Palace in the Dom Square

Dom Square with the surronding buildings

Brighton

2007-08-24T21:57:00.004+03:00

Brighton is in the south coast of England, being one of the most famous seaside resorts of the U. K.

In Brighton it is always windy and the sea is cold but it is a pleasure to breath in the fresh sea-air on your walk along the pebble-beach.

Actually the sea was VERY cold... But I wanted above all to salute my good, old friend. And the sea, as well, wanted to give me a hug... So I succeed to get wet instantly...

The Brighton Pier is the famous landmark of Brighton, with roller coasters, restaurants and a fantastic view on the sea. The seagulls glide in the air using every little breeze and fill the air with their sad song.

Here you can see the most beautiful green colour in the world, as the sea has an amazing green colour when it is sunny! The Brighton green.

The Royal Pavilion is an other attraction in Brighton, built at the beginning of the 19th century by King George IV, in an exotic, oriental style. There is a large park around the Pavilion, where people can relax in the grass.

The Laine is a shopping area in Brighton, with narrow streets, hundreds of boutiques, tiny shops, pubs, bars and small restaurants.

I wish I were there now...

Békási szoros - Cheile Bicazului

2007-08-18T15:26:00.015+03:00

As I promised in my previous blog, the next place I am going to take you is the Bicaz Gorge (Békási szoros in Hungarian or Cheile Bicazului in Romanian).

This is one of the most stunning places in Romania, situated in Harghita and Neamt counties in the Hăşmaşu Mountains (Nagyhagymás) in the Eastern Carpathians.

As the small Bicaz (Békás) stream fights its way through the calcareous rock an amazing landscape has formed with steep cliff and narrow canyons.

Békás stream

The road is twisting and turning between the rocks with huge altitude differences and incredible hairpin bends.

Serpents

You need horsepower here!

The entrance of the gorge is marked by a new tunnel, that is wider and higher than the old one, allowing heavy traffic to go through, as this road is the main passage that links the two Romanian provinces: Transylvania and Moldova.

Oltárkő / Altar-rock and the gorge

The Altar-rock has 1154 m and guards the region with a huge cross on its peak.

Oltárkő / Altar-rock

As you walk through the gorge, you are fascinated by the giant vertical cliffs that trying to reach the sky make you feel so tiny, insignificant and mortal.

In the gorge

In the gorge

If you have the chance to visit the place several times, you have time to notice amazing details and undiscovered aspects. Here, in the Bicaz Gorge, if you are attentive and lucky, the landscape offers you strange surprises. Looking upwards, suddenly, near the edges of a rocky wall, a familiar figure appears, well known from the renaissance sculpture: Madonna with the Child.

What is up there?

Nature, with the power of the wind and the purity of the rain and man, with the imagination of his mind, create a masterpiece: Madonna of Bicaz Gorge.

Madonna of Bicaz Gorge

The last part of this blog is a translation of my text that is in the on-line newspaper Cotidianul, where my photos and text were posted

Lacul Roşu - Gyilkos tó

2007-08-14T16:28:00.009+03:00

The Gyilkos tó (=Killer Lake in Hungarian) or Lacul Roşu (=Red Lake in Romanian) is situated in Romania, in the Easter Carpathians, in the Nagyhagymás / Haşmaş Mountains. It is situated at 983 m elevation, it has about 12 hectares total surface area, an average depth of 5,5 m and maximum depth of 10,5 m.

View of the lake

The lake is a natural dam-lake, which formed in 1837, due to a massive landslide, when limestone rocks and clay from the nearby Gyilkoskő (Killer stone) Peak rolled down in the valley and blocked the watercourse of a small stream, forming later a lake. Nowadays you can see the remains of the old fir trees, hundreds of tree trunks stand out all around from the water, as the calcareous and iron oxide rich water preserved the wood.

Fir tree trunks in the water

Several small streams and drift waters flow into the lake, carrying a reddish alluvium that has been deposited on the lake bed during the years and slowly bank up the lake. People try to save the lake by building dams on the small streams to filter out the alluvium.

The lake is frozen in the winter and it is covered by a massive ice-layer. During the summer its temperature can reach 22 C. In the lake there live several species of fish, like trouts and crabs.

Boating on the lake

Tourists have opportunities for boating and fishing in the lake, walk around the lake, mountaineering, as there are several tourist routes to the Cohárd / Suhard Peaks, Gyilkoskő (=Killer-stone) Peak, or even rock climbing in the nearby mountains.

Kis-Cohárd / Suhardu Mic Peak - 1352 m

The water of the lake flows into the Békás stream that leads us to one of the most spectacular places in Romania, the Békási szoros / Cheile Bicazului / Bicaz Gorges, where I will take you in my next blog.

Brighton green

2007-08-04T16:00:00.002+03:00

The most beautiful green color I have seen is the color of the see at Brighton, from the Pier.

The Lion King - musical

2007-08-02T11:35:00.006+03:00

The Lion King - The award-winning musical at the Lyceum Theatre, London

You may have seen the Disney's cartoon, The Lion King, so you know the story... You may think that it is impossible to adapt for the stage... But it was possible and the cartoon is nothing in comparison with this live performance!
There are no words could describe properly the atmosphere created during the show, but colours, sounds, movements, rhythm, feelings and emotions...
The actors' and dancers' costumes are inspired by African patterns and colours, the masks and puppets they carry create an amazing effect. The human figure continues and melts into the puppets or the masks, working and moving together. The actors' makeup is sometimes decorative, sometimes figures out the personality of the characters.
The choreography includes African dance elements, with fantastic rhythm and energy, that move through the bodies of the dancers, but also imitates the movements of the wild animals.
The music, composed by Elton John, has again African influence and adds a theatrical touch to the show.
The scenic design is absolutely amazing, you feel as you are in the middle of the African Savannah. Imagine the African sunset, with silhouettes of gazelles jumping across the landscape or the huge giraffes walking along in the horizon, imagine the African sunrise with thousands of birds singing and flying in the air, imagine the Jungle with mysterious shadows and luxurious vegetation... And all this on the stage...
Oh, and not to forget the child-actors, they do an exceptional work, singing, dancing, moving puppets... fantastic for their young age!
I wish everybody could see this musical, as it is absolutely amazing!

Here you have some images from the Internet, to have an idea, as no photography is allowed during the show.
http://www2.disney.co.uk/MusicalTheatre/TheLionKing/abouttheshow/productionphotos.jsp

Az oroszlánkirály - a londoni Lyceum Theatre díjnyertes előadása

Valószínű láttátok a Disney rajzfilmet, tehát már a történet ismerős... És azt gondolnátok, hogy ezt lehetetlenség színpadra átvinni... De lehetséges volt és a rajzfilm eltörpül a színpadi előadás mellett.
Szavakkal képtelenség leírni az előadás hangulatát, inkább színekkel, hangokkal, mozgással, ritmussal, érzésekkel és érzelmekkel...
A színészek és táncosok ruháit afrikai motívumok és színek díszitik, a viselt maszkok és bábok együtt nagyszerű hatást keltenek. Az emberi alakok folytatódnak és egybeolvadnak a maszkokkal vagy bábukkal, együtt mozogván velük. A színészek maszkja néha díszítő jellegű, néha meg a szereplő személyiségét formázza.
A koreográfia afrikai tánc elemekre épül, a táncosok testén átáramló hihetetlen ritmussal és energiával, ami a vadállatok mozgását is utánozza.
A zenét Elton John szerezte, szintén afrikai hatású és az előadás hangulatát az egekig emeli.
A diszletek és a szinpad megtervezése lenyűgöző, úgy érzed, mintha az afrikai Szavanna közepén lennél. Képzeld el az afrikai naplementét, amint gazellák suhannak át a tájon vagy hatalmas zsiráfok sétálnak el a horizont előtt, képzeld el az afrikai napfelkeltét, amint ezer meg ezer madár énekel és repked az égen, képzeld el a dzsungelt, titokzatos árnyakkal és buja növényzettel... és mindezt színpadon!
És ne feledjük a gyerekszereplőket, akik elképesztő munkát végeztek: énekelnek, táncolnak, bábokat mozgatnak... fantasztikus az ő korukhoz képest!
Kívánom, hogy mindenki megnézhesse ezt az előadást, mert lenyűgöző!

On the homepage of the show, where you can have a sneak preview:
Egy kis betekintő az előadásba, a műsor honlapjáról:
http://www2.disney.co.uk/MusicalTheatre/TheLionKing/downloads/videoclips.jsp

Leeds Castle

2007-07-16T22:19:00.027+03:00

Leeds Castle is situated in Maidstone, Kent, South East England.

The first castle was built in the XIIth century by a descendant of William the Conqueror, later it passed in royal hands, being held by medieval widowed queens. Queen Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII lived here and Elisabeth I was imprisoned in the castle before her coronation. Later the castle passed in private ownership, the last owner of the castle was Lady Baille, who established the Leeds Castle Foundation. It was opened for the public in 1976.

View of the Castle from the hot-air balloon... yes, I was flying up there... :-)

The Castle is a gem: it is beautiful, elegant and friendly with amazing rooms, beautiful decorations, interesting paintings and lovely flower bouquets in the windows. You can see different epoques as you go around, starting from the Norman wine cellar and going through the old castle and than passing to the new castle, ending with the last owners drawing rooms.

The moat

Inside the castle

There is a beautiful park surrounding the castle, with interesting plants, trees and flowers.

In the garden

As Lady Baille loved the birds, she asked garden designers to create a duckery where now hundreds of wild birds live, as white swans, Canadian geese, ducks and black swans, the symbol of the castle, imported from Australia by Lady Baille.

Swans

The Aviary house different species of exotic birds, as parrots, toucans, ibises, cranes...

Parrots in love...

You can also see a falconry display, with majestic predator birds, like vultures, falcons, owls, eagles and hawks. The demonstrations give a fantastic insight into these wild birds life and behavior.

I got it!

Beautiful eyes...

You can also try to get lost in the maze and the grotto or to see the dog collar museum or the vineyard or just walk along the pathway and enjoy the sight of the small stream and the giant rhubarbs...

Giant rhubarb

or to admire the smell of the the giant magnolia...

Giant magnolia

or to follow a duck family swimming and to see the reflections of the sky in the lake ...

Reflections in the lake

Old Weapons - Régi fegyverek

2007-06-24T09:44:00.005+03:00

Today at the local Museum was the opening of an interesting exhibition presenting old weapons, armours and shields. These amazing artifacts belong to the Sekler Museum of Miercurea Ciuc, they were kept in secret during the Communism and were restored only after the 1989's revolution. The exhibition presents swords, sabres, small swords, knives, different sort of guns, pistols, riffles, shields, helmets and armours dating back from the XIVth to XIXth century. Some are relatively simple, these were used in battles and combats, some were specially made for jousts, but the most beautiful pieces were used as a wall-decoration or as a parade weaponry.

Ma a Múzeumban egy nagyon érdekes kiállítás megnyítóján vettem részt, ami régi fegyvereket, pajzsokat, páncélokat muttat be. Ezek a csodálatos műremekek a Csíki Székely Múzeum tulajdonát képezik, a kommunizmus alatt elrejtve tartották és csak az 1989-es forradalom után restaurálták őket. A kiállításon kardokat, szablyákat, tőröket, késeket, különféle pisztolyokat, puskákat, pajzsokat, sisakokat és páncélokat láthatunk, amik a XIV - XIX században készültek. Egyesek nagyon egyszerűek, ezeket csatában használták, másokat lovagi tornákra készítettek, de a legszebb darabokat csak falidísznek szánták vagy parádékon viselték.

Here you have a slideshow, presenting the most interesting weapons, enjoy the tour!
Ime egy néhány kép a legérdekesebb fegyverekről, jó szórakozást!

Last bell...- Kicsengetés...

2007-06-15T12:16:00.022+03:00

Once our school was the only grammar school in the town and year after year the last bell ceremony for the leaving students marks the end of the school year in our town. During the years a familiar scenario evolved transforming the ceremony into a beautiful event. Generations of students left the old Alma Mater following their predecessors footsteps, walking out into the real life singing the same old melodies. I had the same ceremony years ago, right after the revolution, when our class gave the copper bell to the school, that has rung every year ever since to salute or to say good-bye for the pupils.

Valamikor az iskolánk az egyetlen líceum volt a városban és a kicsengetés éveken keresztül a tanév végét jelentette a városban. Az évek során kialakult a megszokott forgatókönyv, amely az ünnepélyt egy csodálatos eseménnyé varázsolta. Végzősök százai hagyták el az ódon Alma Matert elődeik lábnyomát követve és ugyanazokat a dalokat énekelve léptek ki az igazi életbe. Nekem is hasonló ünnepélyben volt részem évekkel ezelőtt, rögtön a forradalom után, amikor az osztályunk az iskolának adományozta a réz harangot, ami azóta is rendületlenül köszönti és búcsúztataja a diákokat.

The bell ring and the Last Bell Ceremony begin for the 2007 graduate students in the Orbán Balázs Grammar School. All the pupils enter the school yard and take their places on the walkways waiting for their older school fellows.

Megszólal a csengő és kezdődik a kicsengetési ünnepség az Orbán Balázs Gimnáziumban. A tanulók bejönnek az udvarra és felsorakoznak a sétányon, várva végzős diáktársaikat.
"Gaudeamus igitur
Juvenes dum sumus
Post jucundum juventutem
Post molestam senectutem
Nos habebit humus..."

The 12th grade classes students walk along for the last time under the old trees of the school yard singing these verses. They carry the school flag, representing a horse chestnut leaf, the symbol of our school.

A végzősök utoljára sétálnak el az öreg fák alatt a Gaudeamus... sorait énekelve. Hozzák az iskolazászlót, amin egy vadgesztenye levél látható, iskolánk szimbóluma.
The head teacher and other officials greet the students.The leaving students bid farewell to the school, teachers and school fellows, followed by the traditional "Honour to..." poem, written for the school by a former student for its 175 years anniversary.

Az iskolaigazgató és más meghívott vendégek köszöntik a ballagókat. A végzősök búcsúznak iskolájuktól, tanáraiktól és iskolatársaiktól, majd hagyományosan elhangzik a Tisztessék adassék... című vers, amit egy volt tanítvány írt az iskola 175 éves évfordulójára.

The students thank for the teachers for their work with flowers.

A diákok virággal köszönik meg tanáraik munkáját.

The year tutors present the results of the students, giving various awards and prizes, listing all the activities and competitions they were involved in.

A végzős osztályok osztályfőnökei ismertetik a diákok eredményeit, díjakat, jutalmakat adnak át, felsorolva a tanulók összes tevékenységét és versenyeken elért eredményeiket.

The 11th grade students dressed in traditional costumes give the embroidered "pack", a traditional and a symbolic gift, "containing" their best wishes for the leaving fellows and all the memories related to the years spent in school.

A székelyruhás tizenegyedikesek átadják a himzett batyukat, ezt a hagyományos és jelképes ajándékukat, ami "tartalmazza" jókivánságaikat és az összes iskolához fűződő emlékeket.

The youngest pupils give flowers to their senior school fellows, this is the sweetest and the most touching moment of the ceremony.

A legkisebbek virággal búcsúznak a ballagóktól, talán ez a legmeghatóbb és legédesebb pillanata a ballagásnak.

The school flag is handed over for the 11th grade students, for taking care of and to preserve it for the next generations. All the audience rise to salute the school flag leaving the yard.

A végzősök átadják az iskolazászlót a tizenegyedikeseknek, hogy vigyázzanak rá és megőrzizzék az eljövendő generációk számára. A nézősereg felállva tiszteleg a zászlónak.

The 12th grade students leave the school yard singing a good-bye song...

A végzősök énekelve ballagnak ki az iskolából...

Munkácsy in Transylvania - Munkácsy Erdélyben

2007-06-06T14:59:00.006+03:00

Yesterday I went with my Mom and some other friends and colleagues from school to Miercurea Ciuc, (the capital town of our county) to see the Munkácsy in Transylvania art exhibition.

Tegnap Csíkszeredába utaztunk Mamival, még néhány barátunkkal és iskolai kollegákkal, hogy megtekinthessük a Munkácsy képek Erdélyben kiállítást.

The exhibition presents the works of the well known Hungarian painter, Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900), who lived and worked in Paris and earned his international fame with his genre pictures and large biblical paintings. He won the Gold Medal of the Paris Salon in 1870 with The Last Day of a Condamned Man, that brought him appreciation and fame.

A kiállítás bemutatja a híres magyar festő, Munkácsy Mihály (1844-1900) képeit, aki Párizsban élt és dolgozott és nemzetközi elismerését a zsánerképeinek (szalonképeinek) valamint hatalmas méretű bibliai támájú műveinek köszönheti. 1870-ben elnyerte a Párizsi Szalon aranyérmét a Siralomház című festményével, ami elismert és ünnepelt festővé tette.

Munkácsy Mihály

The exhibition presents 47 paintings, personal objects of the artist and several photographs taken by Munkácsy as study for his works. 29 paintings are belonging to Imre Pákh collection, a Hungarian businessman from New York, the personal objects and 2 paintings come from the Munkácsy Museum of Békéscsaba (Hungary) and 16 paintings from the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest.

A kiállítás 47 képet, a festő személyes tárgyait és számos tanulmányfotót mutat be. 29 kép az New-york-i magyar üzletember és műgyüjtő, Pákh Imre tulajdona, 2 festmény és a személyes tárgyak a békéscsabai Munkácsy Múzeumból érkeztek és további 16 festmény a Magyar Nemzeti Galéria tulajdona.

These are some of the masterpieces presented in the Gallery.
Ime néhány mestermű a kiállításról.

Ásító inas - Yawning Apprentice 1868

Apa születésnapja - Father's Birthday 1882

Sétány Park Monceau-ban - Promenade in Park Monceau 1882

Ballada - The Ballade 1888

I was impressed by the vivid colors of the genre paintings, the soft light, the reality of the textiles (the velvet, lace or silk dresses look awesome), the expressivity of the faces, gestures.

Engem a leginkább a szalonképek élénk színvilága fogott meg, a lágy fények, a textilanyagok valódisága (bársony, csipke vagy selyem ruhák csodálatosak), az arcok és gesztusok kifejezőképessége.

Unfortunately he used a sort of dark asphalt-bitumen base for his paintings, that is unstable at temperature variations, and it is melting and absorbing the colors panted over it. Therefore a lot of his works are turning black and fine details or even large surfaces are vanishing for ever. (See the Yawning Apprentice)

Sajnos sötét aszfalt-bitumen alapozást használt a müveihez, ami a hőmérséklet ingadozást nem bírja és ha olvadni kezd elnyeli a ráfestett színeket. Ezért számos műve besötétedett és apró részletek, sőt egész nagy felületek tünnek el örökre. (lásd az Ásító inast)

Here is the official site of the exhibition.
http://www.munkacsy.ro/

Here you can have a virtual walk in the Gallery.
http://www.munkacsy.ro/seta.php

Swallows

2007-05-08T22:52:00.006+03:00

Last spring a pair of swallows built a nest in the top left corner of my window.
All the summer I enjoyed their lovely companion.
First I witnessed their effort to build a neat home, arranging it perfectly in the corner, with the entrance in the inside top of the nest.
Later I observed some tiny fluffy heads looking out from the nest and peeping for food. The little swallows were so sweet, with their little grey fluffy heads, tiny-shiny black eyes and yellow mouths. I was watching as their parents fed them. But summer passed , the small birdies grown up quickly learned to fly and with the first cold wind they moved away.
The autumn winds and rains damaged their nest and I thought that they won't come back to live in it anymore.
But few days ago they appeared again. They inspected the nest and noticed the hole on its side. After a rainy day, they found enough mud and started to renovate their home. Now the hole is nearly filled and the nest is ready to host the swallow family again.

Tavaly tavasszal egy fecskepár fészket épített az ablakom sarkába. Egész nyáron élveztem az aranyos társaságukat.
Először megfigyelhettem, ahogy gondosan megépítik a fészküket, ügyesen elhelyezve a sarokba, befele nyíló bejárattal. Később észrevettem, hogy bolyhos kis fejecskék jelentek meg a nyílásban és ételért csipogtak. Nagyon aranyosak a kis fecskefiókák, kis szürkés pihés fejecskéjükkel, apró csillogó fekete szemükkel és sárga szájukkal. Néztem, ahogy a szülők etetik őket. A nyár eltelt, a kis fecskék gyorsan felnőttek, megtanultak repülni és az első hideg széllel el is költöztek.
Ősszel a szél meg az eső megrongálta a fészket és azt hittem, hogy már nem is fognak bele visszaköltözni.
De pár nappal ezelőtt megjelentek. Megvizsgálták a fészket, megállapították, hogy lyukas az oldala. Egy esős nap után, amikor elég sarat találtak, nekifogtak megjavítani. Most már majdnem teljesen betömték a lyukat és a fészek készen áll, hogy újra otthona legyen a fecske-családnak.

Fülek - Filakovo

2007-04-30T22:01:00.013+03:00

I am going to relate about my journey to Slovakia. I went to an IT competition with a group of kids from the school, with their IT teacher. She asked me, if I wanted to accompany them. The competition lasted for 3 days, 2 days we spent in Filakovo, Slovakia and one in Sajgótarján, Hungary.

First of all, this was my first trip abroad after Romania joined the European Union. We passed quickly all the borders, showing only our passports or our identity cards to the officers.

Filakovo is a pretty little town, near the Slovakian-Hungarian border. The town is inhabited by both Slovakians and Hungarians and other nationalities.

View of Filakovo from the fortress

There are few remarkable sights of historical interest: the Castle of Filakovo, the Roman Catholic Church with a Franciscan Monastery, the Herold's Manor House, which is now the Gymnazium (grammar school), and the Town Hall with the watchtower.

The Castle is situated on the top of a volcanic crater, the bases of the walls are carved in the volcanic rock. The fortress had an important strategical role in the middle age, during the Turkish invasion, but was blown up in 1682, losing it's importance. Nowadays it is under reconstruction, using EU fonds.

Arch

View

The Catholic Church is decorated in Baroque style and has a low tower, situated unusually on its north-eastern side.

The Catholic Church

Inside the Catholic Church

The Gymnazium

Old and new

Apart from these touristic information, that you can find everywhere, here you have my personal observations. In Filakovo you can find the best ice-cream ever! It is a tongue-twister, to ask for it in Slovakian language, but it is worth the effort!

ZMRZLINA = ice-cream in Slovakian

The local beer, the CORGON is very good, smooth and tasty. You can buy also excellent juice at the local markets, black-currant with hip juice and strawberry with banana juice. They are awesome!
The local wine is not very good, as our tour guide explained, when Petőfi, the famous Hungarian poet visited the town, he was complaining about the wine and said: "If the Turkish invaders had tried this wine, they would have left the town immediately."

Salgótarján

2007-04-29T09:11:00.015+03:00

Salgótarján is a modern city, the capital city of Nógrad county, in the north of Hungary. The development of the town began in the mid 19th century, when a brown-coal mine was opened nearby. The ambitious project to create a modern city centre begun in the mid-sixties, having all the aspects of the architecture of that period: rows of modern blocks of flats, high buildings, open squares. The city was the first to receive the János Hild prize in 1968 for achievements in city architecture.
Personally, I don't like this architecture style, as it reminds me the communist architecture in my country.

"Socialist-realistic" statue in Salgótarján

Square

As Salgótarján is surrounded by hills, during the expansion of the town, a lot of hills were leveled and now half of the city is built on the hills, having hundreds of stairways. It is fun for the first time, but when you have to climb up and down several times a day... you get very fit at the end!

Stairways

The coal mines have been closed years ago, leaving the city with high unemployment rates. Today visitors can see the remains of the mining industry by visiting the Coal Mine Museum, which is located next to the main entrance of the mine. While you are going down to the mine, you can see the specific activities that miners used to do, while extracting the coal. There are live-size gyps figurines, presenting the miners in different working situations, and in the darkness of the mine, they look like real people. In some places the tunnels are so low, that you can hardly squeeze through. The guide, a former miner explains all the activities and shows everything around. Sometimes it was a bit scary, when he told about the danger the miners faced every day or when presented the ventilation system and turned on the pumps that were extremely noisy.

Down in the mine

Outside the mine it is a park with old machines, you can climb on them. Of course, I tried all!

Hey, stop the train!

Bees and flowers - Méhecskék és virágok

2007-04-15T22:41:00.002+03:00

Yesterday I was walking in the cemetery, which is like a nice, quiet park. There are awesome blooming trees and bushes and beautiful spring flowers all around. And bees... Here I show you some... They were not very keen on posing for me, they were more interested in searching for flowers and their nectar, but I succeed to take some photos of them.

Tegnap kint jártam a temetőben, ami olyan mint egy szép, csendes park. Most tele van csodálatos virágzó fákkal és bokrokkal és szebbnél szebb tavaszi virággal. És persze méhecskékkel... Íme egy néhány... Nem igazán álltak modellt nekem, sokkal inkább érdekelte őket a virágok keresése és nektárgyűjtés, de azért néha sikerült őket elkapni.

Here you can see some, having a feast in the flower.

Itt is van egy néhány, éppen lakmároznak a virágban.

Violets - Ibolyák

2007-03-20T17:47:00.004+02:00

In the garden of the Reverend the violets are blooming, it's like a violet-field. Every spring a part of the garden turns blueish - violet and it is surrounded by the adorable smell of the flowers. I went there this afternoon and asked him to let me in the garden to take the pictures. I don't know which photo to post, as I took about 30 and I like all of them. Maybe this one... Or maybe an other one... I don't know... :-)

A református pap kertjében kinyílott az ibolya, egy egész mezőnyi. Minden tavasszal a kert egy része kékes színben pompázik és körülötte csodálatos illat terjeng. Délután odamentem és megkértem a papot, hogy bemehessek a kertbe, hogy lefényképezzem az ibolyákat. Nem is tudom, melyik képet tegyem ide ki, mert lett vagy 30 és mindenik nagyon tetszik. Talán ez az egyik legjobb. Vagy mégse... Nem is tudom...

The white sparrow - A fehér veréb

2007-03-18T17:20:00.002+02:00

Finally! I took pictures of the white sparrow. I was watching it all the winter, and now, here it is, hiding in the bush. It was tricky to take the pictures, when I was approaching the bush, all the sparrows moved to the other side of it, as I walked around, they moved forward. So we were going round and round the bush for several times, I was chasing them, they were hiding and laughing at me. It seems that they don't like paparazzi. At the end they flew up to a balcony and then vanished from the sight. But I succeed to catch it twice.

Végre! Sikerült lencsevégre kapnom a fehér verebet. Egész télen lestem, és most, íme, itt van, bújkál a bokorban. Elég nehéz volt lefényképezni, mert ahogy közeledtem a bokorhoz, mind átköltöztek a túlsó oldalára, ha meg körbe mentem, akkor ők is mentek tovább. Így kerülgettük a bokrot néhányszor, én kergettem őket, ők meg bújkáltak és kacagtak rajtam. Úgy látszik nem szeretik a lesifotósokat. Végül felszálltak az erkélyre, majd eltűntek a szemem elől. Azért sikerült kétszer lekapnom.