And yet another!

...sunny weekend, that is. This time it was colder, but the same preposterously blue sky.

The mountain was teeming with people, everyone breathlessly enjoying their favourite activities: climbing, paragliding, trekking, photographing... as if we knew it couldn't last.

And it didn't. As I'm writing this, the first snow of the year is already melting outside, thus welcoming the season of slush, cold and darkness.

But at least, for the next 3-4-5 months, I will have this to think of and remember: the prettiest village in the world, the loveliest November sky, the craziest begging dog.
He managed to get half of my sandwich, with his exercised cuteness and athletic skills.
May the winter be merciful with you! :)

Another sunny weekend

...sunny being the key word here. Anyone who thinks global warming is a scam, just look at the following pictures.

We went to Scarita-Belioara, a beautiful natural reserve we had been planning to visit for a long time. (that site is in German but it has some good pics). It was hang-head-out-the-car-window-squealing-in-delight beautiful! :D
Now, about global warming. November is generally the beginning of winter here. It's nothing unusual to have the first snow and the first frost in November. The colourful leaves are all gone (with small exceptions) ...
... and the scenery is preparing to start looking rather dull and quiet. That's why it 's highly unusual to spend a weekend in November wearing a singlet!

Not that I'm complaining, I love the sun and the heat, and the sky was the most amazing shade of blue! Only in NZ have I seen such a blue sky before.

And, however barren mountains may be in November, the sun still makes them beautiful:
The muckla seemed to think so too!

The 101st post

Yes, my dear hypothetical readers, I have thus far given you one hundred updates to my hectic, crafty, sunny and tough Transylvanian life! I never thought I would post so regularly, but I have really enjoyed keeping you up to date with my comings and goings. Let's have a virtual drink and toast to the longevity of my travel blog! For he's a jolly good social interaction mediuuuuum....

I'm tired as hell, I don't think I've had one whole hour to myself in the past month. On the upside, it seems that my life is heading into a new and thrilling direction. I'm curious to see how it will go and where it will take me. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted :>

Ok, now I guess it's time for an update to cover my 6 week absence from the world of blogs. The excuse for my absence? A new job (added to my previous 2). Can you guess what it is? Here, I'll give you a clue:
And before I got this new job, I had a month full to the brim with love. I don't know how else to express it better, except that I felt pure joyful love...
...for the people around me
...and the experiences we had together.
For the divine music we listened to...
...and the hungover exhaustion that followed.
For some indescribably beautiful places that are close to my heart...
...and the daydreams they usually bring to life in my overactive imagination.
For the unique beauty you can find on the dark side...
For simple things that never cease to awe me...
...and the liberating, tingling feeling commonly known as "being yourself".

This past period was everything I have ever been known to resonate to. It was fun, it was gothic, it was crazy, it was medieval, it was sunny, it was dark, it was tasty, it was me.

Omg... is it possible that I might actually be happy ?

Last days- Vienna and Budapest

Day 6 was long, grumpy and tiring, filled with quarrels, tension and disagreements which resulted in a failure to visit Vienna. We did at least see the Schonbrunn Palace from the outside. I wasn't impressed. It seemed to me it had sheer isze to compensate for its lack of beauty. Everything was huge... and just huge. But maybe my opinion had been different if I had seen it in a different state of mind.

Further frustated by the fact that the car couldn't fit in any paid parking lot with bicycles on top, we gave up and went on to Budapest. And the highlight of that tense day was soon to follow: my first visit to IKEA! Lovely :) I was also comforted by a serving of Swedish meatballs. Not quite the real thing, but worth a try.

The next day, I felt like a participant in The Amazing Race: very little time, very much to do, could not afford to get lost. But we managed to run from place to place and employ all available means of transportation with maximum efficiency. And this is what resulted:

The Parliament building. Wonderful piece of gothic architecture and recently renovated. I couldn't go too close because there was some official visit going on and everything was cordoned off for security reasons.
Holocaust memorial in front of the Parliament building. Bronze shoes mark the place where Jews were forced to take their shoes off, then shot and thrown into the Danube:
View from in front of the Parliament. Can you realise the insane concentration of sightseeing spots per square km? Yes, seen them all!
The chain bridge, one of the most famous bridges of Budapest, linking Buda and Pesta across the Danube:
And then, then it was the Buda Castle neighbourhood. It looked like it had come out of my sunniest medieval dreams. I could live there and walk those streets every day and not get bored.

The parliament building seen from the Castle:
Matthias Church:

Is this even real?! (yes, it was. In a very out-of-this-world-pretty kind of way)

In the distance here you can see what I called "the lady with the leaf", a kind of Hungarian Statue of Liberty. Very large and very much a trademark of Budapest. On the way to her, in the midday scorching sun, I promised myself that would be the last bit of uphill walking I would do this holiday.

And the view from next to the leaf lady:
That's all , folks! Hope you enjoyed the tour, and we'll see you next time! ;)