Business trip to Helsinki

Thanks to the new project I've got involved to, I "had" to spend the previous week in Helsinki. The first 3 days we spent in business meetings, working hard during the day, and having dinner with my colleagues at local restaurants - trying out some tradional lapp food - in the evenings. We also took the opportunity to drop in for a short visit to the well-known ice bar La Bodega (you can't stay more then 10 minutes inside anyway).

Unfortunetly I didn't have enough time to visit Santa, but I was lucky enough to being able to extend my stay with an extra day to hang around and do some sightseeing. Surrounded by the sea, Finland's capital gives the impression of a modern city hosting plenty of shopping malls, business centers, restaurants and bars. Its central point is the Senate Square surrounded by the Government's buildings and the Lutheran Cathedral, the unofficial symbol of the city:

See all photos here:

Helsinki Photo Album

Autumn in Rome

Guidebooks say the best time to visit Rome is October: I could not agree more. We have had the best weather for sightseeing possible, constant sunshine throughout the day, but not hot to blow our heads up, and not too cold at night.

The first day was dedicated to the sights of the ancient Rome, ex. the Colosseum and the Forum.


On our second day we visited the Vatican city with its unique museum, the Sistine Chapel, the St Peter;s square and St Peter;s basilica of course.


We also spent great moments during our evening strolls through Rome by night, one such moment is well captured by the pic below.


Sunday's main attractions were San' Angelo's castle, a cruise on the Tiber and the fountains of Rome and the Spanish stairs.


The next day we went up to the Garibaldi square which had a great view on the city, then visited the Trestavere neighborhood, and various other sights around the city (see the captions in the album).



Our last day in Rome :-( we spend visiting a few missed sights in the downtown and then a nice golf cart ride around the huge park of the Villa Borghese.


And finally one panorama shot I could not resist not to put it up here:


All pics from Rome here

Pizol

I was thinking about calling this blog entry "yet another day in paradise" but I decided it would get boring and soon I would end up with too many similarly called entries. This latest trip we made was to Pizol, about one hour's train ride from Zurich. The hike itself, not a very easy one I have to admit, was between 1800 and 2500m above see level and offered a magnificent view of 4 glacier lakes. (Should have been 5 but we missed one by missing a detour). The weather, though quite cold, was gorgeous and the view....

Check out all pictures (sorry about quality but some of the photos were made with cell phone)

Oktoberfest

During a business trip to Munchen, I had a chance to have a quick glance to what the famous Oktoberfest is all about: a lot of beer, food, baierish people traditionally dressed eating and drinking in huge tents each the size of a medium sized sportlshall.

2007 - Oktoberfest - Munchen, Germany

Visit to Kolozsvar

After our weekend in Budapest, I spent a few days in Kolozsvar visiting my family and friends. It was a great opportunity to hand over to my brother and Molly their birthday presents - two flight tickets to Rome, which we are gonna enjoy together in two weeks.



I was planning to help Zoli's parents at harvesting the grapes, but unfortunately there were not too much grapes to collect this year and by the time I popped in, the grape juice was already being warmed up... so at least I took the chance to take some pictures of the beautiful garden:


See more pictures here

Weekend in Budapest

We spent a very pleasant weekend with family and friends in Budapest. We had a great time drinking bathing and playing (Catan) together. The photo below we made in the entrance hall of the Gellert furdo, probably the best known spa from Budapest.


We take this chance to upload a few photos of Budapest that we took this spring as well, these show, among a few other sights, the new Palace of Arts recently opened in Budapest.

All pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEHUNGARYBudapest

A Voyage to Lilliput

On our way back from Turkey, we “adopted” an Easy-Jet teddy bear called Gulliver, who will join us on our journeys and hopefully win some flight tickets for us ;-)

This weekend we spent altogether in the Italian part of Switzerland. After a scenic drive through the Gotthard Pass (over 2000 meters) and a short stop at Verzasca Dam (the highest bungee jumping place in the world) we visited Lugano, which is a typical Mediterranean-style town, very similar to the little Croatian towns along the coast.

(View from the top of the Gotthard Pass)

After spending the night in a camping by the Lake of Lugano, we started our journey in “Lilliput”, the Swiss Miniatur Park located nearby. It’s been an amazing experience, there are over 120 models of famous buildings (castles, cathedrals, town halls…) from all over the country, all placed in a very realistic-looking scenery: some of them at river- or lake-sides, others in the neighborhood of the Swiss Alps.
(Bundeshaus in Bern)

In this park, everything seems to be in a continuous motion: 18 railway models (running around on more then 3500 meters of rails), funiculars, rack-railways, cable-cars and boats - just like in reality!
More pics on the Gotthard Pass, Verzasca Dam & Lugano and theSwissminiatur Park.

Summer Holiday in Turkey

This summer's holiday we have spent in the "Gateway of the mystical east, Turkey".

We spent a few unforgettable days in Turkey's economical and cultural (but not political!) capital, Istanbul, probably the only large city that lies on two continents. This is probably one of the reasons Istanbul has a great atmosphere, filled with a flavour of mixture of different cultures.
We have visited here a great deal of mosques form the world renowned Ayasofya and Blue mosque to the less known, but nonetheless interesting Fatih, or Suleymanye. We also enjoyed a beautiful sunset, from the Galata tower, that provided a magnificent view of the inner city. We have also visited the two best known palaces, the older, Topkapi and the newer (the eighteen hundreds) Dolmabahce palace.


A mayor economical link (even nowadays) between the black sea and the Mediterranean see is the Bosporus, which is a splendid boat trip too:


After Istanbul we traveled to Kusadasi to have a few days of seaside-relaxation. The panorama below is taken from our hotel's balcony. Honestly not too much to say about this city other than it can offer some nice beaches, restaurants and that some of the biggest cruise ships anchor its harbor.


One trip we made from Kusadasi was to Pamukkale a mountain that due to calcium deposits of its springs is covered with a white layer that forms basins and other beautiful formations.


A great day we spent aboard a fishing boat that took us to a few less crowded beaches nearby and offered a great meal too.


Last but not least, a trip to Turkey would not be complete without a traditional Turkish night with all that such a night should offer (great food and drinks, belly dancers, etc)


So, in conclusion, we had a wonderful time in Turkey, and we came back with a lot of memories....
All pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/ASIATURKEY

Arosa: "Just another day in paradise"

This Saturday we made a trip to Arosa, a small resort in the Alps at about 1800m. We were stunned, it is just amazing, as U can see we made probably our best photos ever!!! (make sure you click on the panorama pictures to view them full size).

A view of the lake at Arosa with the Alps in the background:


The panorama from 2800m:


and the water show (actually the initial reason we went to Arosa):

more our photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/gulliver.gyenge/Arosa

Why is the 31st of July my favorite day?

Simply because that's my birthday and I love getting presents (who doesn't?). In Switzerland I am especially lucky to having it right before the Swiss National Day, thus I get an extra holiday to fully enjoy it!

My birthday started with a huge surprise: a wonderful bowl of flowers was waiting for me at the reception, when I arrive to the office – and no sign about the sender ! (Later on, I figured out that my brother surprised me with that, but the note attached fell down by mistake) Afterwards I received congratulations, birthday cards and small presents from my colleagues’ side.
In the evening, we celebrated with a nice dinner, a bottle of champagne and my favorite blackberry cake:

I could hardly wait to open my presents! Zoli surprised me with a beautiful watch and a ticket for a real adventure: paragliding in Interlaken, the most beautiful region in Switzerland! I was looking forward super excited to the next day ... luckily it’s been a wonderful summer day, sunshine and clear weather, just perfect to admire the landscape from a height of about 1000 meters. We’ve been flying in tandem, with a professional pilot, for about 15-20 minutes … it’s been reeaaally amazing, one of the greatest experiences of my life!!!

Feel free to enjoy all our photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/gulliver.gyenge/Interlaken… and I’ll try to be patient, since there are still 363 days to go until my next birthday :-)

Trip to Uetliberg

Yesterday we decided to discover the Uetliberg-region (one of the highest hills around Zurich, with plenty of hiking trails). We chose a short, but quite steep trail to climb up to the top, where we enjoyed the wonderful view on the city and the Zurich lake.

Red Bull Air Race 2007

On Saturday we experienced something reeaaally amazing ... the 5th leg of the 10-race Red Bull Air Race World Series, took place in Interlaken, one of the most beautiful mountain resorts in Switzerland. The world’s most talented pilots raced at speeds of up to 400 kph as they tackled a challenging obstacle course in the sky. Out of the 13 competitors, Hungarian favorite Peter Besenyei qualified on 3rd place.
Enjoy some photos and videos below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gulliver.gyenge/2007RedBullAirRaceInterlaken

Mom's birthday and Zuri Fascht

This week we had the chance to celebrate my (Zoli) Mom's birthday with a first fireworks of the Zurich fascht then a nice day with barbecueing by the Zurich lake and by enjoying the second day's fireworks.

Boat trip to Rapperswill

Last weekend we went on a 4-hour boat trip on the Zurich Lake with my parents, our destination being the so called “town of roses”, Rapperswill.

Rapperswill

I think it was the best season to visit this nice little town, since it’s been really full of roses everywhere, as you can see on many of the photos.

Mainau, die Blumeninsel

Mainau, an island we haven't even heard about a little time ago provided us with a great surprise. We can honestly say it is the most beautiful botanical (and not just) garden we've ever seen. As the name suggests, it is full of flowers. And when I say full, I means thousands of types of roses and giant dwarfs made of flowers. Along these one can see great water cascades and fountains, a palm house and last but not least a Butterfly house, something we haven't seen before and really impressed us.

OK, I guess this is already too much text about Mainau, better take a look at our pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/gulliver.gyenge/Mainau_Blumeninsel

Paris...beyond the Eiffel Tower

According to our travel guide, there are three things you need when visiting Paris: good weather, comfortable shoes and some money...well, the weather wasn't really on our side this time, yet we spent five unforgettable days in the city of love. From the Louvre to the Arc de Triomph and from the Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower, we visited all the touristic places in the city (there are quite a lot in Paris).
How is really Paris? Describing it in a few words only, Paris is huge, it's full of history and art and many-many tourists and immigrants from all over the world...

EUROPE - FRANCE - Paris

We also spent one day in Versailles, visiting the famous castle and its huge park - as you can see on many of the photos, the castle is full of precious art work (there is even a chapel and an opera house inside) and more then one thousand fountains are spread around the park, bursting into a two-hour musical water show every weekend day.

EUROPE - FRANCE - Versailles

Bye Bye ALF, welcome VUK

As we allready wrote, at Easter we had to say bye bye to ALF, our Laguna:




But we welcome VUK, our new Megane (2.0 16V Priviledge):

Weekend getaway to the French Riviera

This last trip was a great surprise from my wife. On my birthday all the information I had, is to pack my luggage since we are travelling to warmer places. I only found out where we are going on the airport, at the check in counter where it was already inevitable.

Thursday evening we landed in Nice, a very beautiful resort on the French Riviera.We have spent here the entire Friday and Sunday till noon. The weather was very warm, but unfortunately the water was still quite cold to swim.


















On Saturday we visited the glamorous Principality of Monaco. We arrived there in the middle of their preparations for the F1 Grand Prix. It is amazing that they manage to build the entire infrastructure of a racing circuit within a few weeks. We visited in turn the Marina region, the Monaco Ville with the Prince's Palace, and the Museum of Oceanography. After that we walked along most of the GP circuit with a detour at the Japanese Gardens, all the way to Monte-Carlo with its famous Casino and Cafe& Hotel Paris.


















On Sunday we spent a few more hours on the beach, after an unsuccessful attempt to go to Eze (a marathon in Nice proved to stop all buses in and around Nice, whose public transportation we found to be a total disaster thus we almost missed our flight).
In early afternoon we returned to Switzerland where we were glad to see that at least here all public transportation is reliable.




More pics:
Nice
Monaco

Easter 2007

After the long trip we've wrote about in the prev blog entry, we finally arrived home where our parents waited for us warmly.
We have had some pretty busy 4 days at home but we had a very good time at home with our family and partying with our friends. (one exception to having a good time was my (Zoli) visit to the dentist)
http://picasaweb.google.com/emese.gyenge/2007Husvet

Neuschwanstein Castle

So Easter is here and we head back home to spend some quality time with our family and friends, but not without making a small detour to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany. I have to admit: the postcards and photos on the web didn't lie, it is really place like no other. The castle of Neuschwanstein is situated in the perfect surroundings: on one side you have the high mountain peaks covered by snow on the other side the Bavarian plateau braking spring and in between a few waterfalls and a lake nearby.

















During the day we had a great time we visited both castles (the less famous but also quite nice Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein) and took a horse-driven carriage ride too, down from the castle to Alf, our car whom we had to say goodbye since this was our last trip with him (see last pictures).

The rest of the trip home was filled by traffic jams, accidents (not ours thanks G) and long long drives.

More pics : //picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEGERMANYNeuschwanstein

Flumserberg

Now that the winter came back (or just arrived...?) to Switzerland, we enjoyed yesterday the fresh snow on the top of Flumserberg, our favorite ski resort.
It's been the best skiing day in this season!!!

Grindelwald

Last Saturday we've been skiing together with the AIESEC guys from Bern in the beautiful area of interlaken just below the Jungfrau. After getting really tired of all the skiing we had a nice traditional swiss fondue down in Grindelwald.

More pics

Geneva Motor Show 2007

This Sunday we visited the famous Geneva Motor Show. The overall impression was WOW this plae is huge. It really is we walked around for like 7 hours and we still did not see it all. But we did see quite a lot of nice cars though, like the new M3 Concept from BMW, the Audi S5 or the Jaguar concept you see below.

On some pictures you might notice some nice ladies too (oops my wife is hitting my back).
Well that's all I could say about the show, the rest you're invited to see for yourself.
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/emese.gyenge/2007GenevaMotorShow

Rheinfall-Schaffhausen-Konstanz

After two weekends spent by skiing at Flumserberg (the ski resort with the nicest view we have ever seen), on Saturday we took a trip – together with our friends from Prague - to the Waterfalls on the river Rhein, Schaffhausen and Konstanz ... it’s been really nice enjoying the view and the sunny weather together and ending the day with a typical Swiss fondue.

Some more pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/gulliver.gyenge/RheinfallSchaffhausen

Carnival in Liechtenstein

We made a trip yesterday to Liechtenstein, one of the smallest countries in the world, which is only 1,5 hours away from Zurich. First we climbed up to the Castle of the Prince in Vaduz (on the first photo),

then we spent a few hours in Schaan (photos 2 and 3), the main sight of the Liechtenstein Carnival.