Honeymoon in Switzerland

Let's switch back to English for a while as we wouldn't like to keep our English-speaking friends out of the loop for a very long time ... No-no-no, THIS insert is not about OUR honeymoon - as you can see from the previous pictures on the blog, we have been invited to two weddings this summer: first to my brothers wedding in Cluj, then to our very good friends' wedding to Budapest - and we had a great time at both!

After the wedding, my brother and Molly spent their honeymoon on a trip around Germany, Switzerland and Austria ... and we were very happy to welcome them at our place and enjoy some time together.
For the weekend we packed everything into the car and left to Ticino to enjoy the last nice, sunny summer days of the year. After a short stop on the Gotthard Pass -


we headed towards Lugano, where we enjoyed the sun, the boat trip on Lake Lugano and the view of San Salvatore from Monte Bre:

(Almost like Rio...? Well, let's hope one day we can compare them ;-)

K****a izgulok, avagy Lilla es HZS eskuvoje

Nagyon boldogak voltunk mikor megtudtuk hogy HZs elveszi Lillat, mivel mindkettojuket nagyon szeretjuk es emellett meg talalnak is nagyon egymashoz.
Eloszor is a hazassagkotes: hat az izgalmas volt... mindenki tudja, hogy mi is volt kimondottan kulonleges, itt mar inkabb nem is ismetlem, mert HZS szerint mar biztos uncsi (aki nem tudja, jarjon utana). Szoval nagyon edesek voltak es orulunk hogy ott lehettunk amikor elindultak a "nagy utra".

Ugyebar a "Nagy utazas" volt a tema. A meghivotol a buszozasig a vendeglohoz, az ulesrendtol a borond-tortaig minden reszlet erre utalt. A kilatas a vendeglotol szuper volt - allitolag innen lathani Budapestnek mindhet hidjat ... hat en eleg hamar 14-et lattam :-). HZS enekleset es a kettejuk gyerekkori vetiteset egyarant elveztuk. A beallo hideg ellen pedig "egy kis hazaival" kuzdottunk.
All-in all: HZS es LILLA: Sok-sok boldogsagot kivanunk Nektek.

Tovabbi kepek (© HZS es Lilla): http://picasaweb.google.com/emese.gyenge/2008HZSEsLillaEskuvoje#

The Godfather in Da House

A gangsta stilusu cimtol eltekintve: Keresztszuleim meglatogattak bennunket augusztusban es nalunk toltottek egy - remeljuk, szamukra is - kellemes hetet. Toluk meg varjuk a kepeket, de nehany kep a kozos Luzern-i kirandulasrol mar megtekintheto:

(Kilatas a Vierwaldstattersee-re Burgenstockrol)

M&ZS? Mo-Zsi. De ki a menyasszony???

Ugy dontottunk, ideje atterni es neha magyarul is irni - kulonosen akkor, amikor a bejegyzest leginkabb csaladjaink es magyar barataink olvassak (nem mintha ukran kolleganom nem figyelt volna mar fel a Picassan megjelent eskuvoi kepekre es kerdezte, ki ez a szep menyasszony...?)

Bar egy kicsit elobb tudtunk az eskuvoi tervekrol mint mindenki mas - na azert nem elobb mint maga a menyasszony es a volegeny... (vagy megis?) -, nagyon vartuk mar, hogy a ket "igen" elhangzodjek a templomban. Biztos, ami biztos, gondoltuk ;-)



Mikozben a Joisten is aldasat adta egy kis esovel (ami azert szerencsere nagyon sokat nem tartott) a botanikus kertbe vonultunk Sogorekkal fenykepezkedni, arra varva, hogy a nasznep felvonuljon idokozben az Aroma vendeglobe.


~ Eggyel tobben a csaladban... (Jo valasztas volt :-)

De leginkabb arra vartunk, hogy ket ev utan ismet egy igazan jot bulizzunk Kolozsvaron, egyutt a csaladdal es baratainkkal ... es ezuttal ne foszereplokkent, hanem foszervezokkent nezzuk vegig ahogy Zsolti es Molly megkuzd elrabolt parjukert -Molly, azert ideje megtanulni, hogy a ferjed nem a nok kebleit, hanem a feneket nezi meg eloszor es Zsolti, lehet hogy egy menedzser talan nem is tud dolgozni csak ki-osztogatni a munkat, de kivancsiak vagyunk, hogyan mukodik ez Nalatok otthon?
... es egyaltalan, kinek a keze van felul a tortan?


~ Oho, kemeny harc lesz meg itt! Talan johet egy Catan?

Az eskuvo veget egy tokeletes tuzijatek zarta, ami talan sehol sem lett volna szebb mint eppen ezen a teraszon.
Kedvenc kepeinket elcsentunk sajat albumunkba, ami itt megtekintheto (de a teljes valogatasert erdemes Molly Picassa Albumahoz kattintani
.

A smooth ride through Berlin

After relaxing at the tropical islands we took a day to ride through Berlin.

We had a great day riding our bikes:

• UNDER the Brandenburg gate

• BY the Reichstag

• THROUGH the new administrative neighborhood

• ALONG the Unter der Linden avenue

• AROUND the Siegesaule

• BELOW the Crown of the Sony Center on Potsdamer platz

• STOPPING for a silent moment at the Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

• ACROSS the old East-West border (a.k.a Checkpoint Charlie)

• and PARKING THEM to visit the Sandsation sand castle championship

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

Tropical Islands

This year's birthday present for Emese has been a trip to Tropical Islands.

What she did not know until we arrived there is that Tropical Islands is an indoor resort 60 Km south of Berlin, built in giant (108m high, could fit the Statue of Liberty STANDING) hangar.
From a distance she remarked "it's not even that big". Funny!
Well yes, if you call a building housing:
- a Bali lagoon with waterfalls

- a 350m beach

with Maldives style pontoon houses

- two campgrounds (where we also spent the night)

- a tropical rain forest with a more than a km long trail

- a hot air balloon (which we rode of course)

-an Angkor ruin city style spa

-an indoor aqua park

- and numerous thai-house restaurants and bars

"not that big" than I agree that it is indeed "not THAT big".
OK, I'll keep looking for a building to impress her. Even though I will have a difficult task, since (according to Wikipedia) this is the largest building by volume (without supporting columns) in the world (well illustrated by the size of the people on this picture)

All-in-all we have spent two wonderful days there, attending an evening show as well. In the meantime we enjoyed the pleasant constant 100% guaranteed warm weather and the beaches, pool, spas and numerous bars.
All pics:http://picasaweb.google.com/zoli.gyenge/EUROPEGERMANYTropicalIslands

Tosca - Bregenz Seebuhne

Better later than never, isn't it? Sorry that we are late with this post but a lot has been going on since.

So, my parents have visited us in July and my Mother's birthday present from us were tickets to Puccini's Tosca on the lake stage at Bregenz.
Puccini's beautiful music was anyway given, the setting, the surroundings and the atmosphere were great too.
Throughout the opera, the main setting, its focal point being an eye, has changed dramatically from a grand painting in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle

into symbolical representations of the Palazzo Farnese


and finally transforming


into the execution place of Cavaradossi, i.e. the Castel Sant' Angelo


The entire performance was an extraordinary experience and we all (all+7000+ other spectators) enjoyed it very much.
All pics:http://picasaweb.google.com/emese.gyenge/2008ToscaBregenzSeebuhne

Europa-Meisterschaft 2008 Austria - Switzerland

EM 2008, it was such a long preparation and it went by so fast. Not that I am a big football fan,but still a few games got me fascinated.
So to conclude: a lot of surprises (favorite teams for the title eliminated in the group sections, etc).

The atmosphere was sometimes really nice here in Zurich, mostly peaceful though. The fanmile was quite nice and the Hauptbahnhof was really set in the right mood by the huge statues of players (see picture below).


The end result? Well I consider that (at least based on their performance in the final) the Spanish deserved the title. And they surely knew how to celebrate.

I think I shouldn't write a lot more since there are probably thousands of people who wrote reviews of the EM, who surely know better what are they talking about. So just a few pics of the final from the perspective of the fanmile in ZH.

Holiday in France: the Loire Valley and Bretagne

Fairy tale castles, towers, turrets, drawbridges and landscaped gardens - the Loire Valley has it all, making it perhaps the most romantic region in France. The entire Loire Valley has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a tour of the valley is like taking a trip back in time …
At the beginning of July we spent one week in France, visiting the castles along the Loire and Bretagne. Each castle of the Loire Valley has its own unique style and appeal, therefore it is really difficult to select one as the "most beautiful" or "most impressive chateau". We also had to choose several favorites:

Chambord, the largest castle in the Loire Valley that served only as a hunting lodge for François I, with a fascinating double helix staircase:
Cheverny, an important estate for hunting with hounds, with carefully maintained lawns and remarkable trees such as the Family lindens, the giant redwoods and cedar trees from the Atlas Mountains, Lebanon and the Himalayas, which can closely be admired while taking a boat tour on the canals around the castle:
Chenonceau, built on the Pont de Diane over the river Cher, with its exquisite gardens and stone terraces, where visitors can take a romantic night walk and enjoy the shade and light scenes of the Chateau and the Gardens of Diane and Catherine while listening to the beautiful music of Corelli:
Villandry, a true Renaissance-inspired masterpiece with the most beautiful gardens of France. In the Love garden each clump evokes one of the following four feelings of love: tender love with hearts and masks formed by edges of boxwood, passionate love with bleeding hearts, fickle love with clumps shaped like horns and fans, and tragic love with knife blades. The Vegetable Garden is laid out over 9 completely different squares with a clever mix of 250,000 vegetable and flower plants that have only a decorative purpose today, but one of very high design.
Usse is a chateau of dreams ... which inspired Charles Perrault when writing "Sleeping Beauty".
Then we continued our way towards the Gulf of Saint Malo. Saint Malo is a corsair city in Bretagne with a unique atmosphere and breathtaking coastal sceneries.
Mont-Saint-Michel is a rocky, cone-shaped islet not too far away from St Malo, connected by a causeway with the mainland. The islet, celebrated for its Benedictine abbey, has small houses and shops on its lowest level. The feel as you walk up the narrow "streets" towards the monastery is like taking a step back in time to pre-medieval times. A certain breathtaking experience.
Visit our entire album on the Loire Valley here:

EUROPE - FRANCE - Loire Valley & Bretagne

Jungfrau - TOP OF EUROPE

We did wait almost 2 years for the perfect time to go up the Jungfrau, but it was well worth it (as you can see also from the pictures).

We started the weekend by spending half a day in Spiez, a small town on the lake of Thun. Then we went up to Lauterbrunnen to spend the night at a camping site just below the highest of the (alleged) seventy-something waterfalls in this valley.

The next day we (we meaning the three of us, since we took our little friend Gulliver with us too) set off for (so far) the most astonishing experience in Switzerland, going up to the Jungfraujoch (aprox. 3600m). All the way from the valley, the journey was fabulous with breathtaking views all around. After changing trains at Kleine-Scheidegg, we entered the approx. 10km long tunnel in the Eiger massif that leads up to the Jungfraujoch train station at 3454m altitude.

Along the way the train made 2 stops where the tunnel had windows where we could look outside:
- one of these stations was overlooking the Eiger Nordwand, also called Mordwand, due to the more than 60 alpinists who died while attempting to climb it since the 50s. The view out of the window (situated at about halfway up the almost 2000m Nordwand) was absolutely amazing:
- the second station was called Eismeer, a properly chosen name, since all around there was nothing else than ice. In form of glaciers, ice-crystals or icicles:


Based on these marvelous views we could only anticipate what was waiting us on the peak. Well it was all we have imagined and a whole lot more.

The train station at the peak is a labyrinth of tunnels leading to an

• ice palast,
• the Sphinx,
• to the adventure park (Tyrolean, ski, hiking, etc)
• to an open platform with magnificent views

The weather was great all day, at one point it was so warm (at almost 4000m!!!) that we even took a sunbath (see pictures).
We visited the above-enlisted areas in turn and enjoyed the marvelous views each offerred. It was the first time (except from an Airplane) that we "look down to the alps" and it was something truly special.
In the late afternoon unfortunately we had to take the train back, but we left with great memories and beautiful pictures:

Jungfraujoch Top of Europe