If you were interested, here's a link to my Amazon wishlist...
WARNING - this doesn't take you through to my personal wishlist apparently, so you'll need to search for my name or certain key words.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
The photos are here!
I've mastered the technology and my photos are now posted on flickr - so just click on this photo to access them!
Applied Arts Museum, Budapest
Exterior of Applied Arts Museum in Budapest. Sadly it was closed, so I had to content myself with photographing the exterior!
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
The final chapter!
Went to see that final Star Wars Film "Return of the Sith" last night and really enjoyed it. Bits of it were sad as we expected, but we really enjoyed fighting Yoda as well as repeated sightings of the cloned Temuera Morrison!
Slovenia Day 7
After packing up and checking out, headed off to the Modern Galerija Ljubljana, the Slovenian Modern Art Museum. The museum is housed a in a pretty ugly building and the exhibits were kind of mysterious but it was good to see what Slovenian art was like! The main exhibition was a retrospective on Peter Weibel, who had some multi-media displays, moaning rocks and videoes of him getting blood drawn from his arm. Might have meant a bit more if I was Slovenian!
Had a wander around the city - there was some kind of bee festival at Stari Grad with some Slovenian musicians with giant wooden saxophones. So I bought some Slovenian honey!
Headed off to Ljubljana Airport with enough time to check it, sit in the sun and eat a sandwich and an icecream and drink a beer, as well as get a bit sunburnt. Also had a chat with an Australian woman who had been on the bus with me from Bled to Ljubljana.
Arrived back in London to find out that the Stanstead Express wasn't working, but they were charging the same ridiculous amount (£13.40 Stanstead to Tottenham Hale) for a replacement bus service!
Had a wander around the city - there was some kind of bee festival at Stari Grad with some Slovenian musicians with giant wooden saxophones. So I bought some Slovenian honey!
Headed off to Ljubljana Airport with enough time to check it, sit in the sun and eat a sandwich and an icecream and drink a beer, as well as get a bit sunburnt. Also had a chat with an Australian woman who had been on the bus with me from Bled to Ljubljana.
Arrived back in London to find out that the Stanstead Express wasn't working, but they were charging the same ridiculous amount (£13.40 Stanstead to Tottenham Hale) for a replacement bus service!
Friday, May 20, 2005
Slovenia Day 6
Caught the bus at 10.30 this morning to take me to Ljubljana. Took about an hour and a half, but was better than train which calls at Lesce Bled, about 4km away from the lakeside (had to catch a taxi from the train station the other night as I couldn't work out the buses!).
Arrived in Ljubljana, but couldn't check into hotel room as it was too early. So I walked through town and then up to the castle. It was quite a hike (again!) but also well worth it. There was quite a good 3D presentation of Ljubljana through the ages, giving computer renditions of how it looked and looks now. Also climbed to the top of the tour which gave a fab view of the city.
There was a bit of an event that I just missed by about half an hour - the city's high school graduates dance a quadrille in the streets of the city every year, joining up with other schools around the country. So I missed that, but then there have been students around town all day dressed in their orange and black tshirts and blowing whistles!
Did a bit of a tour of the city, using the guide book as a guide. The city's centre is quite old, most of the building are about 300 years old. The buildings themselves are actually quite similar to Stockholm, Tallinn etc., but there is also a river that runs through the city with different bridges, the Dragon Bridge, the Three Bridges and the Cobbler's Bridge. It was a lovely sunny day with loads of people hanging out.
Checked into the City Hotel and at last I had a hotel with MTV which meant that I was able to take part in Simon's interactive show, Wishlist!! He is the moderator for this show which means that people send him text messages requesting songs or just telling him how cool he is, he responds and this all gets printed on screen as the videoes play. He takes on the persona of the 'Hiya Horse'. It was all pretty cool and I got a couple of messages on screen as well as a couple of responses from Simon and his workmates.
After that I walked through the Tivoli Gardens to the Museum of Modern History of Slovenia which told the story of Slovenia in the 20th century.
Arrived in Ljubljana, but couldn't check into hotel room as it was too early. So I walked through town and then up to the castle. It was quite a hike (again!) but also well worth it. There was quite a good 3D presentation of Ljubljana through the ages, giving computer renditions of how it looked and looks now. Also climbed to the top of the tour which gave a fab view of the city.
There was a bit of an event that I just missed by about half an hour - the city's high school graduates dance a quadrille in the streets of the city every year, joining up with other schools around the country. So I missed that, but then there have been students around town all day dressed in their orange and black tshirts and blowing whistles!
Did a bit of a tour of the city, using the guide book as a guide. The city's centre is quite old, most of the building are about 300 years old. The buildings themselves are actually quite similar to Stockholm, Tallinn etc., but there is also a river that runs through the city with different bridges, the Dragon Bridge, the Three Bridges and the Cobbler's Bridge. It was a lovely sunny day with loads of people hanging out.
Checked into the City Hotel and at last I had a hotel with MTV which meant that I was able to take part in Simon's interactive show, Wishlist!! He is the moderator for this show which means that people send him text messages requesting songs or just telling him how cool he is, he responds and this all gets printed on screen as the videoes play. He takes on the persona of the 'Hiya Horse'. It was all pretty cool and I got a couple of messages on screen as well as a couple of responses from Simon and his workmates.
After that I walked through the Tivoli Gardens to the Museum of Modern History of Slovenia which told the story of Slovenia in the 20th century.
Slovenia Day 5
Was a beautiful day when I woke up in Bled - not hugely hot but nice all the same. Walked through the town and then up to Bled Castle after breakfast - it's quite a hike! The castle is set on a rock which is surrounded by woods and there are quite a few ways up. Thank goodness I inadvertently chose the easier one and saved the steeper one for my trip down! Spectacular views from the top of the lake, the mountains and villas and houses dotted around the countryside. There's a museum there that wasn't very interesting but there was an old printing press in another section of the castle. There was little printing museum and a man was printing examples for us - he'd put your name in and he even got me to turn the wheel on the press - difficult! So I have a little souvenir of Bled now.
Walked down the cliff face and then walked around the lake which is about 6km in circumfrance and took a couple of hours including stops. It was truly spectacular - took loads of photos, pretty much all of the island in the middle of the lake! There are quite a few expensive looking villas dotting the surroundings. The villa where Tito used to host summits is now a 5 star hotel, Villa Bled.
Back in town, I caught a gondola (I think they're called Pletna) out to the island in the middle of the lake which has a church and a few buildings on it. I shared the boat with a group of very giggly Austrian pensioners! They couldn't speak any English so conversation was difficult. The gondola was powered by one man rowing - and there were 14 of us on board! Journey took about half an hour each way. St Mary's church on the island is designed in a Baroque style and has a 'wishing bell' in it - ie you ring the bell and wish! It was actually quite difficult - it felt really heavy to ring! One of the Austrian dears, who must have been about 4 foot 10, nearly got carried away!
The lake is absolutely teaming with fish - they were jumping out of the water all over the place! It's also a very popular lake for rowing regattas and there were crews training in the morning and late afternoon. No motor craft which made the whole place feel really peaceful. Settled down for a beer after all my exertions and wrote some postcards!
Walked down the cliff face and then walked around the lake which is about 6km in circumfrance and took a couple of hours including stops. It was truly spectacular - took loads of photos, pretty much all of the island in the middle of the lake! There are quite a few expensive looking villas dotting the surroundings. The villa where Tito used to host summits is now a 5 star hotel, Villa Bled.
Back in town, I caught a gondola (I think they're called Pletna) out to the island in the middle of the lake which has a church and a few buildings on it. I shared the boat with a group of very giggly Austrian pensioners! They couldn't speak any English so conversation was difficult. The gondola was powered by one man rowing - and there were 14 of us on board! Journey took about half an hour each way. St Mary's church on the island is designed in a Baroque style and has a 'wishing bell' in it - ie you ring the bell and wish! It was actually quite difficult - it felt really heavy to ring! One of the Austrian dears, who must have been about 4 foot 10, nearly got carried away!
The lake is absolutely teaming with fish - they were jumping out of the water all over the place! It's also a very popular lake for rowing regattas and there were crews training in the morning and late afternoon. No motor craft which made the whole place feel really peaceful. Settled down for a beer after all my exertions and wrote some postcards!
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Budapest - Slovenia Day 4
Got up super early to catch the 8.45 Venezia Express from Budapest to Ljubljana (if you're wondering how that's pronounced, it's loo-blee-ah-nah). Journey was supposed to take about 7 and a half hours but they ended up running about half an hour late. Never mind! The train was super comfortable and I shared the compartment with two Croatian guys. One was about 50 and lived in Budapest. The other was from Dalmatia but was actually born in Melbourne (to a Croatian family) and had moved back to Croatia when he was six. So that was interesting to have a bit of a chat to them. We actually travelled via Zagreb which I didn't realise at first but now I guess it makes sense geographically. Scenery wasn't very exciting until we left Croatia and entered Slovenia. Landscape then started to get a lot hillyer with lots of little towns and tiny churches up the top of mountains etc.
Arrived in Ljubljana and then had about an hour til my train to Bled. Bled is about an hour out of the capital and is beautiful - a picture postcard place! There's an island in the middle of a lake with a church on it, and a castle on the hill overlooking the town. Really looking forward to exploring tomorrow! I'm staying at the Hotel Trst and I have a room that looks over the lake - so exciting (that's my room in the top right-hand corner)!
Just had dinner at Restaurant Okarina - it's the asparagus festival here at the moment so I did have some!
Arrived in Ljubljana and then had about an hour til my train to Bled. Bled is about an hour out of the capital and is beautiful - a picture postcard place! There's an island in the middle of a lake with a church on it, and a castle on the hill overlooking the town. Really looking forward to exploring tomorrow! I'm staying at the Hotel Trst and I have a room that looks over the lake - so exciting (that's my room in the top right-hand corner)!
Just had dinner at Restaurant Okarina - it's the asparagus festival here at the moment so I did have some!
Budapest Day 3
Decided to wake up early and get to the train booking place early. It was pretty painless and I got my ticket for the train from Budapest to Ljubljana tomorrow (Wednesday).
I then found my way down to the Museum of Applied Arts which has an excellent collection of art nouveau objects and is itself housed in a specially designed period building. However it was closed because of the holiday yesterday. I was gutted! I was so looking forward to seeing it that I must confess I stamped my foot in frustration! Oh well. Took some photos of the exterior.
So I found my way down to the brand new Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art (I was getting to be quite an expert at the transportation system by this time) which is in a new area for museums and theatres, none of them very attractive from the outside, but quite interesting inside. There was an interactive centre where one could do their own interpretations of art by Hungarian artists. There was even one where the web cam took your photo and then presented it hung on various Budapest buildings.
Stopped in at the Central Market for a look around - it's a huge building with fresh produce and meat on the ground floor and souvenirs (chiefly lace and ceramics - very nice but really not my style!) on the upper levels. The produce all looked like great qualitz and there were loads of different varieties of salami for sales - it's just shame that I'm not going straight back to London today!
Went for a tour of the Hungarian parliament building next. As an EU citizen I got in free - result! Parliament buildings were very ornate with lots of painted interiors. Parliament was actually in session but we weren't allowed to go in.
Back at the hotel I decided to have a massage at the baths which was a very interesting experience! There were about eight women all getting massaged in the same room with the therapists (who were all about 60) chatting away over us. Certainly not the serene experience I'm used to! Was great therapy for my legs which were aching after walking around so much!
Met Heike for dinner again. After a detour to Cafe Gerbeau to buy some chocolates we had dinner at Fatal Restaurant which was a lot cheaper than last night. Huge portions though! It was great to meet Heike, who's a teacher who lives in Berlin.
I then found my way down to the Museum of Applied Arts which has an excellent collection of art nouveau objects and is itself housed in a specially designed period building. However it was closed because of the holiday yesterday. I was gutted! I was so looking forward to seeing it that I must confess I stamped my foot in frustration! Oh well. Took some photos of the exterior.
So I found my way down to the brand new Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art (I was getting to be quite an expert at the transportation system by this time) which is in a new area for museums and theatres, none of them very attractive from the outside, but quite interesting inside. There was an interactive centre where one could do their own interpretations of art by Hungarian artists. There was even one where the web cam took your photo and then presented it hung on various Budapest buildings.
Stopped in at the Central Market for a look around - it's a huge building with fresh produce and meat on the ground floor and souvenirs (chiefly lace and ceramics - very nice but really not my style!) on the upper levels. The produce all looked like great qualitz and there were loads of different varieties of salami for sales - it's just shame that I'm not going straight back to London today!
Went for a tour of the Hungarian parliament building next. As an EU citizen I got in free - result! Parliament buildings were very ornate with lots of painted interiors. Parliament was actually in session but we weren't allowed to go in.
Back at the hotel I decided to have a massage at the baths which was a very interesting experience! There were about eight women all getting massaged in the same room with the therapists (who were all about 60) chatting away over us. Certainly not the serene experience I'm used to! Was great therapy for my legs which were aching after walking around so much!
Met Heike for dinner again. After a detour to Cafe Gerbeau to buy some chocolates we had dinner at Fatal Restaurant which was a lot cheaper than last night. Huge portions though! It was great to meet Heike, who's a teacher who lives in Berlin.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Budapest Day 2
Well I´ve finally made it to an internet cafe in Budapest. It´s actually a holiday weekend here in Hungary this weekend (Whit Monday) so lots of stuff is closed. But not the important touristic stuff of course!
Flew in here on Saturday night and I´m staying at the gorgeous Hotel Gellert which is actually a bit of a city landmark. It´s mainly famous because of its gorgeous pools. There is an outdoor pool and an indoor pool and then thermal pools which are segregated for men and women. The whole pool complex is gorgeous! It´s all art nouveau, with lovely mosaics and decoration. Someone said that it´s like swimming in a cathedral and that´s pretty accurate. Luckily I get free access to the whole complex which was a big factor in me parting out the extra money to come stay here. The rest of the hotel is ok, my room is pretty small but never mind!
Yesterday, I did a bit of a walking tour of the city. Caught the funicular from the river up to Castle Hill which is where the Old Town is. Spent the afternoon up there, including visits to Fisherman´s Bastion and the Budapest History Museum. The History Museum was actually fab. There are loads of rooms cut deep into the hill (the hill was formed by the thermal activity) and so there were lots of nooks and crannies to explore. You could even go caving if you wanted but I wasn´t that keen!
Today I went on a tour out to Statue Park which is where all of the communist statues are now displayed. I joined a tour which was a Spanish woman and I, who were taken around it by this Hungarian man. He was really interesting. We could ask him about anything to do with Budapest so it was great to get a Hungaran opinion! We also went to an apartment where they had recreated a communist era home. They even had a Hungarian version of Monopoly which wasn´t about capitalism and buying stuff at all but about being nice to old ladies and saving money. Hilarious!
This afternoon I walked up to Hero´s Square which is where all the old rallies, May Day parades etc were held. Also, I took a tour of the Budapest Opera House which is probably the most gorgeous theatre I´ve ever been in! Sublime decoration.
As it was a beautiful day I went back to the hotel and had a swim and a bathe in the gorgeous thermal baths. As it was a national holiday, there were loads of holidaying Hungarians.
After my soak, and with a very red face from all the heat, I met Heike, a German woman I had got talking to at the baths for dinner. She had organised for us to go to Kaszu, recommended Hungarian restaurant. As it was recommended bz the hotel, it wasnćt the cheapest but it was certainly memorable! The food and service were excellent, apart from the ever present violinist and pianist who played cheesey classic and pop hits all night, taking requests from the guests rich enough to tip!
Flew in here on Saturday night and I´m staying at the gorgeous Hotel Gellert which is actually a bit of a city landmark. It´s mainly famous because of its gorgeous pools. There is an outdoor pool and an indoor pool and then thermal pools which are segregated for men and women. The whole pool complex is gorgeous! It´s all art nouveau, with lovely mosaics and decoration. Someone said that it´s like swimming in a cathedral and that´s pretty accurate. Luckily I get free access to the whole complex which was a big factor in me parting out the extra money to come stay here. The rest of the hotel is ok, my room is pretty small but never mind!
Yesterday, I did a bit of a walking tour of the city. Caught the funicular from the river up to Castle Hill which is where the Old Town is. Spent the afternoon up there, including visits to Fisherman´s Bastion and the Budapest History Museum. The History Museum was actually fab. There are loads of rooms cut deep into the hill (the hill was formed by the thermal activity) and so there were lots of nooks and crannies to explore. You could even go caving if you wanted but I wasn´t that keen!
Today I went on a tour out to Statue Park which is where all of the communist statues are now displayed. I joined a tour which was a Spanish woman and I, who were taken around it by this Hungarian man. He was really interesting. We could ask him about anything to do with Budapest so it was great to get a Hungaran opinion! We also went to an apartment where they had recreated a communist era home. They even had a Hungarian version of Monopoly which wasn´t about capitalism and buying stuff at all but about being nice to old ladies and saving money. Hilarious!
This afternoon I walked up to Hero´s Square which is where all the old rallies, May Day parades etc were held. Also, I took a tour of the Budapest Opera House which is probably the most gorgeous theatre I´ve ever been in! Sublime decoration.
As it was a beautiful day I went back to the hotel and had a swim and a bathe in the gorgeous thermal baths. As it was a national holiday, there were loads of holidaying Hungarians.
After my soak, and with a very red face from all the heat, I met Heike, a German woman I had got talking to at the baths for dinner. She had organised for us to go to Kaszu, recommended Hungarian restaurant. As it was recommended bz the hotel, it wasnćt the cheapest but it was certainly memorable! The food and service were excellent, apart from the ever present violinist and pianist who played cheesey classic and pop hits all night, taking requests from the guests rich enough to tip!
Friday, May 13, 2005
Monday, May 09, 2005
Dad at Wedderburn shed
Dad at the famous railway goods shed at Wedderburn, during a recent trip around the Maniototo. The shed was made famous by Graham Sydney who immortalised it in his 1975 painting 'July on the Maniototo'. There's a good article on the Graham Sydney website from the Listener in 2002 about the shed.
Mum & Dad at Dansey's Pass Hotel
Friday, May 06, 2005
Fiona at Tate Modern
Fiona in the turbine hall, Tate Gallery, February 2004. We went to the Tate to visit 'The Weather Project' installation.
The explanation
If you're wondering what's going on with the new posts and photos appearing, here's what I'm hoping to achieve. No luck so far with sending photos from my phone via Flickr to my blog, so I might try to use Blogger mobile instead.
If you have any photos you would like to see on the blog, please email them to me (at normal email address)!
And yes I am going on holiday soon, hence the interest in blogging again. More details soon...
If you have any photos you would like to see on the blog, please email them to me (at normal email address)!
And yes I am going on holiday soon, hence the interest in blogging again. More details soon...
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