Stress and the other stuff.

I haven't been writing for months now. Don't really know why as it used to be one of my biggest passions, my element , something I would definitely thrive on. I stopped reading books either. Sometimes I tend to detest people. It's really hard to explain why. It's a taxing world we are living in though. Sometimes I really get an impression it's all about money, sex and all of the other superficial things. But maybe it's about me though, maybe I'm surrounding myself with wrong people and to be honest it might quite be possible. Well not all of them are wrong for sure, I don't want to offend my friends, few of them but they are great people, the greatest I have ever met and I'm grateful about that. Anyway as of late the day I cherish the most happens to be Saturday. I wake up early I go to the Italian class, then to run or for a walk, with a good friend of mine and it constitutes a great help. to get over all of the bad stuff Budapest sometimes still reminds me of. The weather heralds the arrival of Summer, it was quite warm this weekend, and to be frank the rays of sun are always something beneficial. One of my great friends is visiting me in a week, and I literally can't wait for her to arrive in Budapest and rediscover all of the beautiful places in her company. Then in May I'm supposed to go on holiday to Madrid, Spain completely alone. I miss adventures I guess, still remind myself at times of my escapade to Istanbul. Beautiful times....And I promise I will be writing more and perhaps its the time now not later not tomorrow ... The time is now for my dream to come true / Monika start writing that damn novel :P. What a post full of melancholy, anyway tomorrow I will scribble something more about Budapest. Whatever good night folks.
 

Wien- die magische Stadt

The past week was fraught with attractions.  Firstly I went to the long awaited Emiliana Torrini’s concert. She is an Icelandic singer , that had lived for many years in London, but recently she has come back to Iceland.  Thus when I had been living in Iceland it was impossible to see her concert, as she was away. Then I came to Budapest last year in the summer and she was performing at Sziget Festival, but somehow outer circumstances thwarted my chance to experience it.

Eventually I did go to her concert and it was amazing. She is rather a diminutive woman, but very enchanting one. Actually at some point she embodies my life’s path. She is Icelandic – I used to live in her country. She is half Italian – and I lived for a little while in Italy and finally she loves Budapest, where I’m living right now. The concert turned out to be  cosy and intimate due to its location – a club on a boat called A38, nevertheless the concert room was full of huddling people, as there was not so much space left. Simply enchanting. 

 She sings with a lot of passion, sincerity and joy – being in her element. In one moment I shouted out loud – Takk fyrir in Icelandic and she quickly responded Takk somuleidis. Extremely pleasant experience –that’s what it was.

When the week had finished, I along with my Hungarian friend, we set off to Vienna. I was extremely rad indeed to just go outside Budapest. 3 hours and we were there. I booked a hostel in the city centre and we came over to the reception to pick up the keys to our room and then all of the fun had started. The hostel was called #The labyrinth hostel, along with picking up the keys you would receive a paper with instruction on how to get to your building as the hostel’s buildings were just scattered around. Unluckily the key to the main door fitted to every door, and in result we got stuck in the wrong building , almost loosing hope, we would ever find it. We did – after one hour….Maybe we are not the smartest people in this world, but we had been walking around Vienna continuously for 9 hours. I love that city it has perfect size, it’s posh – I mean that’s true but it also has this hard-to –be-explained charm. It’s like being transferred to another époque.  At this time of the year you can feel xmas atmosphere in Vienna, decorations everywhere, lights in different shapes and size being hang up in the air, all over the buildings. It was extremely crowded with tourists and hard to get to the line for hot wine. It was delicious and the fact that it was not served in plastic cups gave you an extreme pleasure to enjoy the pre-xmas spirit. Going back from Danube, we again lost the way to the hostel, a bit in despair we decided to have a dinner in an Italian restaurant we were passing by. Nevertheless if you want to have the best breakfast ever go to the place called Zanoni e Zanoni, it's an Italian gelateria run as the name says by Italian family, so if you ever feel tired after walking for 9 hours like us, just go there and grab a big breakfast that consists of rolls, croissants, juice, coffee, prosciutto and cheese. Yummy

 

On the way back to Budapest (and here again the funny part strikes in), there were two extremely weird women (actually one woman and one girl?) in our compartment. One after initiating a discussion with random men she had just met, claimed to be the most famous hairdresser in Hungary. Jesus she bragged about it continuously for 3 hours! Can you imagine? Well she also revealed some facts about her romance with a slightly younger guy, who as she said is extremely cute...Just for the record as she emphasized the kids don't have clue about the story.  On the other hand the other woman, had two Iphones and was retouching her photos from whitening her eyes, correcting eyebrows to enlarging her breasts .....ALERT ALERT weirdos on the train. :)

 

Big breakfast at Zanoni e Zanoni

Grazie mille :)

 

 

Indications on how to get to our room

Two always lost tourists

 

Magical Vienna

Emiliana Torrini's concert

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 months in Budapest

I don't remember when was the last time I actually wrote sth, a note, a letter, or just simply anything...I guess 3 months ago more or less. Yes, let's come to the 'anniversary point', as I have been living in the city of Budapest for 3 months now. It's not exactly the same experience as previously living in Iceland or in Rome. It gets bitter , at times it leaves a sour taste, nevertheless can be sweet as well. Anyway I still don't feel comfortable , when asked about the reason for coming here (remains silent).

During those three months, I had been moving already thrice until I finally found a place of my own. It's an extremely cozy and nice apartment, which I share with two girls from France and Australia. It would have been everything fine, if it hadn't been for the hole in the ceiling on the way to the kitchen and toilet, that became a sort of dangerous zone. Just imagine I have to pass the way to see the man about the horse (such a weird English expression is that...) couple of times a day fearing that some debris will fall down on my head. And alll of this happened because of  our wonderful neighbours upstairs, who decided to change floors in their flat, but i guess somebody was drilling too hard and voila here it is a profound hole in the ceiling ...My landlord even joked we should be taking umbrella on the way to the toilet...I'll skip that though.. The only positive thing of this situation that the rent has been slighlty reduced.

Anyway the political situation gets pretty crazy here, and its seems that the goverment who appears as a very narrow-minded one, wants to confine freedom of Hungarians, for instance implementing taxes on internet use. The other thing is that the same  goverment is trying to forge firm relations with Russia. I'm so looking forward to going to Poland for a vacation. Plus Vienna in one and a half weeks. Sometimes I feel as if i was in Poland here - I mean I go to a supermarket and find products with Polish labels, so at least I understand what I purchase without learning Hungarian :P.

Oh i forgot I went paint balling with folks from my work. I don't think I was made for running around and shooting people, but apparently almost everyone liked to shoot me. Unfortunately the intimate zones of my body were suffering a lot. Still was a great dose of fun. Yeah I do have nice colleagues. Lucky me

                   Just for the record has anyone of you ever tried a selfish salmon?

No clue how to title this post....

Once somebody asked me what I like about Hungary? After I had been racking my brains in order to find an appropriate answer I simply said : Hungary made me realize Poland is not such a bad country, moreover it’s much better. Since then I have started appreciating my country ....It might sound a bit offensive but it's true. However for a change I would like to say there are couple of things I'm actually chirpy about. Old Hungarian people are cute and sweet especially when they know some Polish words. I finally moved out and moved in later on to a new flat, which is cozy and located in a very nice area, although it gets loud at times. I've also met some amazing folks , whom I adore due to the abundance of help, trust and understanding I have received from them. It's extremely hard when you decide to move abroad only because of someone you had loved but suddenly it falls apart so that you have to wipe the slate clean and begin from scratch. Not a very pleasant experience but still valuable. I wish you all an exquisitely fabulous weekend.

I forgot to mention I’m in love with a cat of my ex flatmate, and he is an apple of my eye.  Cheers  

1. Sweet dolfi the cat of my flatmate

 3. The Nagymezzo street, where I live

Few words about living in Budapest

Writing has always been my passion, but somehow on the way I've given up to pursue this interest of mine. Anyway this year has been pretty tough on me, but it seems I got the closure eventually. I'm in Budapest now where I've started working in a multinational company, which is good to be frank. Well getting back to the novel thing ... In the moment where I'm now I reckon I've gathered enough of experience that could be valuable for my book, if i will finally write one. I mean I should , no let's not mention this kind of expressions as woulda shoulda etc. In this post I'm not gonna marvel at Budapest, I'm not gonna tell you how beautiful the Danube is, how cool parties gets here, how beautiful the people are.. In the contrary I will list all of the things that get on my nerves pretty often.


1. People don't know how to walk properly.
Well I'm not kidding seriously they cross your way too often, immersed in their thoughts so deeply in the morning bumping into people, walking as if they were sloshed the prior night. WTF?

2. The language
Certainly one of the most difficult in this world sounds like a mixture of Turkish, Finish, Swedish and whatever. But I just don't like it...

3. Girls
I don't know if its the same everywhere but I've been couple of places and I've never seen this kind of phenomenon where you get inside the club and they are just waiting there to be ....taken home by a foreign guy. Yes they are crazy about everything that is Italian, Spanish and so on. The more money you have the higher your chances get !

4. Food
I'm not a fervent fan of Polish cuisine but being here makes me love it to the core :)

Ok enough! Please mind I'm not trying to say Hungarians are horrible and everything. There are many good things about Hungary and so on, and to finish I will tell you a thing that befell me the first day I came here.

I was in front of the ticket machine trying to purchase 10 tickets and I realized it doesn't accept the 10 000 banknote and I was completely out of coins so I just basically wanted to cancel the operation, but nevertheless there was a little kiddo behind me and he took my finger off of the screen and put 200 missing forints. Apparently some parents know how to raise their kids! Hats off

Let's take up a new challenge even though you are just an ordinary person.

Since I've come back to my home country I would rarely go abroad. I went to Egypt in March, and to Budapest in February. I had been working as travel advisor for 7 months, but as a new challenge has come along the way, I'm willing to raise to thereof, and I'm moving to Budapest :)

When in Rome!

It was not love at first sight ...In the beginning I was rather overwhelmed with its size, clutter and significant number of immigrants all around the city trying to coax out money for silly and useless gadgets they sell. While listing its downsides I almost missed out on traffic jam , crazy drivers and people always on the run. On the other hand lately I have been immensely yearning to travel there again, what actually means I've become unflinchingly enamored with Rome. In this post I want to draw your attention to interesting places also the ones around Rome ,which in my opinion are must-see.


1. My favorite restaurant is 'La Pantera Rosa'. Far away from zones most frequently visited by tourists, with an authentic Italian atmosphere moreover priced reasonably. Especially if you get a hankering for pasta al salmone, don't hesitate ! I honestly recommend thereof, for it has been one of the best dishes I've ever eaten! Further information below :

Location : piazzale del Verano , 84, Rome, Italy (Tiburtino)
for more feedback check trip advisor opinions out here :
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d1028756-Reviews-La_Pantera_Rosa-Rome_Lazio.html

2. Il milite ignoto is a tomb that contains a body of unidentified soldier who lost his life during I world war and serves as a monument dedicated to all of those unknown military people that passed away during their stints. Not only the architecture of this building evokes splendid magnificence of the past but also only a ride by elevator up to the roof holds you back from seeing some of the most enthralling views over Rome.

3.  Ariccia is a little town located a stone's throw from Rome. Fraught with restaurants that are scattered around. Good spot to chill out a bit over the weekend.

4. Il pinco - A hill located north from Quirinale, beyond the area of Ancient Rome, but within the wall that had been built by The Roman Emperior Aulrelian.

5. Villa d'Este - A villa in Tivoli, wonder of architecture that was listed as UNESCO word heritage site. It was reconstructed on demand of such personages as for instance Lucrezia Borgia.

6. Pantheon - I happened to work there for one day selling excursions to the Pantheon. Unfortunately as the entrance itself is free, its extremely hard to cajole tourists into paying to hear the historical facts on thereof. I can't say that this monument drew my attention in particular, but definitely the environment  makes you feel as if you were Audrey Hepburn yourself on her ROMAN HOLIDAY.

7.  Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna was established in 1883 and contains the most significant artworks that had been created at the turn of 19th and 20th century by such Italian artists as Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Giorgio de Chirico etc. Enjoyable also for people like me , who totally lag behind in art.

8.The Giancolo - another hill that serves the best views overlooking Rome.

I'm not elaborating on monuments like Coloseum, St Peter's square or Vatican's museums because although I visited them all and more, simply I haven't found them spectacular - to each his own anyway :)