Secrets of BVI

British Virgin Islands: our favorite Port of Call, another Paradise on Earth (just like Phi Phi Leh on the other side of the world...) Our ship docked in Road Harbour, the Port of Tortola:

From CARIBBEAN - BVI

... and we headed off to explore the island. First, Cane Garden Bay (or was it Kindrgarden bay?), which is THE tourist beach on Tortola. It is stunningly beautiful with overhanging palm trees, powder soft sand and, pretty rough waves:

From CARIBBEAN - BVI

The 20-minute-ride to Cane Garden Bay was worth the excitement itself, with gorgeaus views from the top of the hill all around the island...

From CARIBBEAN - BVI

... and Road Town, dominated by OUR cruise ship docked in the harbour, which seemed to be higher than any building around:

From CARIBBEAN - BVI

Next, we took a ferry over to Virgin Gorda, having very high expectations towards The Baths, described in our guide book as "the island's best beach with the most enticing turquoise waters you'll see outside the South Pacific". Well, the beach indeed was really beautiful, but also packed with tourists as most cruise cruise ships run shore excursions to this "number one attraction of BVI":

From CARIBBEAN - BVI

Luckily there are not too many adventurous tourists on such cruise ships who decide to explore the island themselves (after all, it is easier and more comfortable to simply rely on the recommendation of the shore excursion agency, pay the fee and have everything arranged for your excursion to 'the best' beach). We chose however (as usually) to take our own way and walked down on a hidden path...

From CARIBBEAN - BVI

... to finally reach a Robinson Crusoe-style haven, a SECRET beach surrounded by palm trees and powder soft white sand, which we found THE MOST BEAUTIFUL beach all around. There were no tourists, no restaurants or gift shops, nothing around, just the nature... and us.

From CARIBBEAN - BVI

Thus we decided to keep the exact location of this place in secret - we may only disclose it upon exchange for a similar candidate of the "Top 10 most beautiful and untouristic places on Earth" anyone may be able to recommend. Feel free to comment and send us your "proposals", we can make a good deal! :-))

You can visit here our entire Album on BVI (Tortola & Virgin Gorda).
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Horseback riding in the Dominican Republic

Couple of weeks before the 2010 Haiti Earthquake ... on the other side of the island, in the Dominican Republic: local people have been welcoming us singing and dancing their traditional ritual as we reached the port of Samana with our tender boats. Nobody was thinking about the coming katastrophy yet distroying the lives of hundred thousands of people living on the island.

From CARIBBEAN - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

In Samana we decided to go horseback riding into the jungle, to the El Limon waterfall which was said to be one of the most spectacular ones.

From CARIBBEAN - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Our horses were small, but luckily in a good shape and managed to encounter the very rough terrain up the mountain ... the last 1/2 mile we had to climb down to the waterfall on very very steep terrain, which wouldn't have been a problem if our guides weren't convinced that we were in a hurry (which was due most probably to our poor Spanish skills as we told them "to run" instead of "let's go"). So the descent was a little challenging, but it was worth it. The waterfall was really beautiful and Zoli had a lot of fun swimming in the pool, while local childern were jumping in from very high up...

From CARIBBEAN - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Before returning to our ship late afternoon, we made another stop at a nice beach to have a little rest after our adventures in the jungle.

From CARIBBEAN - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

You can visit here our entire Album on the Dominican Republic.

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Our Caribbean Cruise on the Norwegian Dawn

Wow! That was our first impression when we embarked the Norwegian Dawn in Miami with a welcome champagne in our hands. No wonder, we entered the ship on deck 7 and the first we have seen was the Grand Atrium with its glass-domed ceiling and Christmas-decoration, which offered a pretty stunning view:

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

This was our first ever cruise and may not be the last, thanks to NCL. We have booked a 9-day Southern Caribbean cruise sailing out of Miami on the 1st of January (an excellent start for the new year, isn't it?) with 3 days on the sea and 5 Ports of Call in: Samana (Dominican Republic); Tortola (BVI); Antigua; Barbados and St Kitts.
(Reviews on the Port of Calls will follow later in our next blog entry...)

Let's start at the beginning: we had an amazing sail-away from Miami with one of the most beautiful sunsets we have seen:

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

There was a lot to explore on our first "sea day": plenty of restaurants, bars and lounges, a fitness center and spa, a Broadway-style theater, casino, pools & jacuzzis (not to mention the library, art gallery, jogging track, etc, etc) ... we ended up spending the entire day wondering around with huge open eyes and trying to cope with the type of luxury we aren't really used to (e.g. we asked the roomservice to serve our breakfast in the cabin, but woke up earlier the following day and didn't have enough patience to wait until the breakfast actually arrived) So we headed off to explore our over 2,200-passanger-capacity ship...

The two main restaurants were Aqua and the Venetian, both with very nice interior and top quality service.

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

What do we actually mean by top quality? Well, how many times do you think it is "normal" to have a waiter coming to your table (either bringing or taking away something or simply just asking whether everything was all right) during a three-course dinner? WE stopped counting at 20 ...

Garden Café was the place to go for buffé breakfast. They had lots of things to choose from from fresh fruit (including MY favorite watermelons) to Zoli's daily on-demand scrambled eggs "with everything" prepared by an Indian cook in front of our eyes and, last but not least, OUR daily Pecanbons (the only food we've been missing from the US since we left in 2003)

We also tried one of the specialty restaurants, the Salsa Tapas Bar, offering Tex-Mex specialities - their tacos, fajitas and Sangria were out of the world! Well, have to admit that we are not very familiar with the Tex-Mex cuisine, so no idea how an 'original' salsa was supposed to taste like, but our food was really delicious.

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

Our favorite place however was Gatsby's Lounge, which was in fact an Art Deco piano and champagne bar having a regular piano-entertainer playing well-known hits. The atmosphere at Gatsby's was really pleasant, which is why we have spent some time in most of our evenings onboard here. 

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

To be fair, the ship had so many entertainment options (parties, shows, karaokes, etc) that we have not even come close to experience them all. The focus of the ship's entertainment though took place in the elegant Stardust Theatre, a Broadway style, over 1,000-capacity theatre,

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

where we could enjoy a variety of performances ranging from Magician and Comedian Shows to India’s Bollywood and even a Show presented by the International Crew of the Dawn.

The Oasis Pool was a nice place to relax with a refreshing cocktail when we got tired of running around the ship (not on the jogging track, of course, just from one show to the other ;-))

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

Overall, what we found amazing on the Dawn was the resort-style experience. Like we were really in a 5-star floating hotel/resort. We did WHAT we wanted to do, WHEN we wanted to do it and IF we wanted to do it, and there was plenty of "WHAT" to do. Besides, all services have been offered at premium quality (we weren't quite sure why was it important to make our bed twice a day and exchange the towels every time, but really appreciated our room steward's efforts to still find San Pellegrino for us even though they 'officially' ran out of it...). They even put away Gulliver neatly in his place every day!

Speaking of Gulliver, he also had an awesome time on the cruise ship, most of the time just comfortably relaxing at our balcony on the 9th floor or wondering around and introducing himself to Captain Paul:

From CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

And now, ATTENTION! GAME-TIME. We have a game and we have a prize:
Guess what was Captain Paul von Knorring asking from Gulliver ??? The funniest and most authentic "guess" will be rewarded with a real Caribbean prize! Game is open until the 31st of Jan, we expect your responses by posting a comment (no emails).
Have fun! (or rather, WE are looking forward to have some fun)

Again, if you would like to skip our stories and just simply jump to the pictures, you can find here our full album on the Dawn:

CARIBBEAN CRUISE - Norwegian Dawn

Winter escape in Sunshine State

Hi all!
As briefly mentioned already in the previous post, we flew to Florida to spend the last days of 2009.
We first picked up our car, a Sebring convertible which according to the rental agency is a "Mustang or similar". Well I said it also has 4 wheels, but the similarities end there. Anyway even though as most US made cars it was made 99% from cheap plastic, it was fun having a convertible for a change.

Then we headed exploring Florida (see the linked map for the rest...best view fullscreen, press F11)

If you are getting tired of reading our boring stories again, simply jump to the pictures:

USA - FLORIDA

P.S. Hold on, another map and other, even more amazing pictures from our Caribbean cruise will follow shortly (I love these vague relative terms).
And don't forget: there will also be challenging quizzes with real prizes to win!

The Everglades

Upon our return from the warm Caribbean, Florida welcomed us with literally freezing temperatures. This did not stop us from going on our planned airboat tour in the Everglades:

From USA - FLORIDA

To warm herself up, Emese gave a hug to Jack, the alligator:

From USA - FLORIDA

Miami Beach

We enjoyed Miami Beach a lot, spending some time
- cruising on Ocean Drive lined all way long with palm trees

From USA - FLORIDA

- admiring the view from our room:

From USA - FLORIDA

- and the most obvious: the beach:

From USA - FLORIDA

After a few days spent in Walt Disney World and Florida Keys, we returned to spend the New Year's Eve on South Beach, enjoying the great atmosphere and the fireworks:

From USA - FLORIDA

Key West

After the incredible ride on the overseas highway, we reached Key West, just in time to catch one of the most amazing sunsets we have seen:

From USA - FLORIDA

And to enjoy the so-called "Sunset celebration" that followed:

From USA - FLORIDA

The next day Gulliver took us to the Southernmost point of continental US (the second Southernmost point within a year after Sentosa) posing for a picture with his belly still full from all the Cuban food from the restaurant last night (see his belly sticking out under his shirt?)

From USA - FLORIDA

We continued the day with an adrenalin-packed, 2h jet-ski tour around Key West, experiencing both the smooth surface of the waters of the Golf of Mexico and the rough "Mother Atlantic".

From USA - FLORIDA

Overseas Highway

Driving to Key West on the Overseas Highway is an experience by itself, a lot more then just getting from A (Key Largo) to B (Key West).
On some occasions you feel like the road is taking you onto the ocean:

From USA - FLORIDA

the highway connecting hundreds of small islands like this one behind:

From USA - FLORIDA

...just to continue again floating above the waters:

From USA - FLORIDA

Gulliver in Walt Disney World

We have long been promising Gulliver to take him here, he was so anxious...
He met all of his friends, from Mickey and Minnie,

From USA - FLORIDA

to Pluto

From USA - FLORIDA

Donald.....

From USA - FLORIDA

and Goofy:

From USA - FLORIDA

But the highlight of the day was getting his picture taken with the "old man" holding Mickey's hand and with the Cinderella castle in the background:

From USA - FLORIDA

A few hours later at the same place we all enjoyed the fireworks:

From USA - FLORIDA

Downtown Miami

Exploring Downtown Miami was great... after we managed to park the car:

From USA - FLORIDA

We took the so-called "people mover" which was great not only because its free, but also because it offers the best views:

From USA - FLORIDA

From USA - FLORIDA

The mix of palm trees and skyscrapers reminded us of Singapore last year.

From USA - FLORIDA

A nearby neighborhood, Coral Gables seemed to us just like a place perfect for a little house to buy for spending the winter months:

From USA - FLORIDA

Unfortunately when we returned to Miami after our cruise 10 days later, the weather changed "a bit", actually we kinda' froze...

From USA - FLORIDA

Over 9000 kms and 40ºC from Christmas to New Year

As usually, we spent our Christmas at home in Romania, together with our families and friends. A completely white scenery and -10ºC has been waiting for us when we landed at the airport in Cluj... we were hoping for a white Christmas, but unfortunately most of the snow has melted before x-mas day.
We spent the whole week with Christmas dinners, family visits and meeting friends ... it was a really busy, but very pleasant and enjoyable week. As we were planning to leave on the 25th, we started the x-mas celebrations a little earlier this year, with a dinner at my parents' place:

From 2009 - Karacsony Szilveszter

From 2009 - Karacsony Szilveszter

The Christmas Eve we spent at Zoli's parents' house, in an even bigger family circle, together with our parents, brothers and their wife/girlfriend, cousins, aunties, uncles... there were so many people talking at the same time that sometimes it became nearly impossible to understand what one was saying ;-))

From 2009 - Karacsony Szilveszter

We had a very hard time keeping ourselves away from the tons of food and drinks we were offered (for some strange reason everyone thinks that in Switzerland we do not cook and eat, therefore we need to eat for the whole coming year when we are at home...)

Before flying back to Zurich, we had a few drinks with our friends, former colleagues (at least we only had to 'organize' one gathering with our classmates as both Zoli and me attended the same class in the high school) and another Christmas supper at my brother's place ...

We had a great time, but we were already very excited about our New Year's Eve celebration in Miami. We only had one day in Zurich to pack out and repack our luggage, leave the cold and snow behind and fly off to the 'sunshine state'. Waiting for our connection in NY JFK we had the chance to meet our long-seen friends, Manyi and Csongor - it was great catching up on the past 5-6 years we haven't met each other on.

From USA - East Coast

AND FINALLY: we have arrived to Miami on the 27th and we had a fantastic New Year's Eve celebration at South Beach, enjoying the fireworks over the beach and palm trees on Ocean Drive, knowing that a Caribbean cruise was waiting for us on the 1st of January.

From 2009 - Karacsony Szilveszter

I would say, our start of the year couldn't have been any better (see our next blog posts for some amazing stories and photos on our holiday in Florida and the Caribbean)... the last relaxing days before the hard work starts, especially for Zoli studying for his patent attorney exam in March. So I guess building our career is our main goal for 2010 ... plus the ZMP (intermediate German exam) waiting for both of us in automn (and, of course, continuing to enjoy our life in Switzerland, do some nice trips and travel around).

You can see here our full Christmas and New Year's Eve Album.
Finally, we would like to wish a great 2010 to all our friends reading this post!

Christmas markets 2009

It's that time of the year again ... when Christmas markets open up all over Europe and you can barely walk 5 steps without running into a Gluehwein hut ... and you suddenly find yourself having the urgent need of shopping, eating or drinking something. This is however not the case in Zurich, where the entire Christmas-market, including the Christmas tree decorated by Swarovski crystals is hidden within the main station. Very practical set-up, no snow storm or sudden rain can ruin the 'business' ... but: there is no Christmas spirit either.

So we decided to visit some 'real' Christmas-markets in the last couple of weekends. This year we booked our room in Strasbourg early enough (in August already) as we found out last year that there is no chance finding a room several weeks in advance for any December - weekend within 60 kms radius around the city. No wonder there are so many people visiting Strasbourg this time of the year. It is called "la Capitale de Noël" – the Christmas capital ... the entire old town is one huge Christmas market with hunderds of little shops selling a huge variaty of toys, candles, Christmas-deko, crepes and vin chaud ... and thousands of people wondering around and enjoying the holiday-spirit. The only thing missing from turning the place into a real winter magic was the snow (looks like someone forgot to 'order' it from Santa this year :-))

You can see some of the photos we took in Strasbourg in our album here:

From EUROPE - FRANCE -Strasbourg

Strasbourg was however not the only (and first) Christmas market we visited this year. One week earlier we had a weekend trip to the Netherlands and Germany: first a housewarming party in NL with Krisztina's colleagues, then the Weihnachtsmarkt in Cologne. We had the feeling that german Christmas markets are all about eating an drinking (you can find here tons of tradional food, showing the many different nationalities living in the country) and of course, plenty of Gluehwein. See some of our photos here:

EUROPE - GERMANY - Cologne_by Christmas

Santa also arrived to our home in Zurich, bringing nice presents not only for us, but also for our little friend Gulliver.

From 2009 - Karacsony