meeting.sissy.at.budapest.opera.house

a busy day at work and the dutch traffic is driving me crazy! i witnessed three accidents just along a short drive from schiphol-rijk to my office at around 3pm, and two accidents on my home bound journey at 7pm.  these days i am tired of driving and traffic jam instead of tired from my work.  anyway, set asides the reality of autumn traffic and the fact that not all my rome photos are ready, so i decided to continue with one of the last few tales of budapest...

twenty fifth august

“you must visit the Hungarian state opera house” as your host jennifer told you.

now you are here, right in front of you is this famous opera house. it is a building that showcase of neo-renaissance architecture but with some elements of baroque.

along with it richly decorated details; you can just stand there and stare at the grandiose lobby for hours and hours.

let alone you haven’t get into the real inner beauty – the auditorium hall as yet. you came by to buy the ticket for the guided visit at 3pm. this is the only way you can have the glimpse of the horseshoe shaped auditorium as there is no performances on during the summer.

you waited in the hall way waiting for the tour to start, you walk the elegant stair case, up a few level and enter the velvet red and chandeliers decorated auditorium.

the guide says that this opera house is almost a replica of vienna opera house but only half a size smaller, as the hasburg monarchy didn’t want this opera house to be bigger or equal to their homeland opera house. you haven’t been to vienna yet, so it is not up to you to judge.

the guide tells the tale of franz josef and sissy whom you are quite acquaintance to due to the 3 movies that you have seen about sissy.

 it is lovely to learn about them and the love of sissy towards the hungarian people and vice versa. the whole building is decorated with various oornamentations include paintings and sculptures by leading figures of hungarian art of the time.

apparently sissy came so often that one of the room is named after her the ‘sissy room’, and the ‘royal room’ (which she only uses when franz josef is with here)...

modern.rome

we just came back from rome. from the sunny and  warm eternal city back to the grey and cold lowland. perhaps i just got the phd (post holiday disease).  lot of photos to sort out and of course many travel impressions to organise, again time is not on my side....

the rome trip is the replacement for paris trip.  the road trip became a short haul trip, but nonetheless is all about taking time to celebrate, to enjoy one another, and to cherish the moment.  i had quite a few impressions from this trip but for now i am just going to show you a different facet of rome, hopefully is the most untypical one, the modern, the arty rome.

maxxi is it!! not a bric a brac of ruins or broken columns and marble , maxxi is sleek and handsome, a creation and masterpiece of zaha hadid.  it is not the mainstream tourist attraction and located a little of the city center but still it attracts quite a bit of arty crowds on sunday morning...

maxxi is boast of architecture and modern arts. the building is in the serene white and good use of floor length glass and space like any modern design.

the long corridors interlink the various wings together make this museum a nice space to explore....

the half transparent roof top with good use of natural sunlight all in the name of green and sustainable living...  the other museum that give me the same impression is the one that i visited in kyoto last year, miho museum also gives a wow effect like this one...

there are quite a number of galleries with a wing dedicated to the architecture with the show models of futuristic buildings and sketches of  rome monuments with modern interpretations.  the other wing is all in the name of modern arts with good use of space, objects and light to convey a certain message or a intuitive way of expressing an idea, a value and impression. by the way, i love this sofa, although the futuristic design and silver color is not to my taste but it is super comfy to sit on....

a good reflection of object indoor, the sky and the cotton puff like cloud, and the surrounding environment...

and a good reflection of ourselves in this so called 'prison cell' with the illustration of 'extended space' using floor length mirrors.  the idea is not new but the human interaction aspect is quite intrigue and provides me an interesting way to enjoy art to the next level...

out there is sunny and pleasant, but since the museum is closed on monday, that leave us to visit maxxi on sunday regardless of rain or shine.  after all i have no regret as every moment is well spent indoor.  we also took the advantage to rest our feet outdoor at the chairs provided by the museum and i just admire the building so much that i couldn't help but do my humble sketches on my travel pink book.

maxxi is refreshing and stands out beautifully against his ancient rome rivals...

bonjorno.rome

greetings from the eternal city!!!

 autumn in rome is still as warm as dutch summer.  it's a relief to escape the cold for some pleasant warm weather.

till then, more travel tales on our roman holiday...

hero.square.budapest

well, my photos for the budapest state opera house are not ready for posting yet, so i will skip the story of sissy and franz josef for now and show you the hero square.  as far as my memory recalls, i walked from the opera house to hero square and beyond...  is a long straight boulevard with plenty of sights keeping me busy...  i arrived in the late afternoon and took a quick stroll around the hero square, a quick glimpse of city park and vajdahunyad castle (a vampire feel castle) before i soak in szechenyi termal bath .  all those will come in different posts....

hero square by day during late afternoon

the night view is completely different from the day scene.  it is quite breathtaking and still very communist even with the light illumination.

the left wing of the square

the middle tower

the right wing of the square

the hall of arts (műcsarnok)

there are two museums facing each other like a rival with the hero square in between that as if the hero square is acting as a peace mediator for both museums that stand at each flank of hero square

 

museum of fine arts

as i walked toward the bus stop to catch a bus back to my home, i have one last look at the hero square, he is quite a handsome square isn't it?

::muvesz::

[monday blue....i am not quite ready for work after a well fed weekends, but the reality is i am sitting in front of my computer. i have been doing good with the fasting, no tea or coffee so far, i am doing okay with plain water and vegetarian diet. for now, i will continue with my summer story of budapest...]

twenty fifth august

from new york caf�, you hop on to tram 6 to octagon. you are now ready to check out the opera house. well, not quite ready yet!

the opera house guided tour starts at 3pm, so you have plenty of time for lunch at m�v�sz caf� just diagonally opposite the opera house, has been around since 1898.

you enjoy your lunch there with a goulash soup as starter, this is the sort of goulash soup you like a dash of modernity not so hearty...

a m�v�sz salad that consists of cheese, duck meat, green, pine nuts and croutons. you like your salad, it is nice and refreshing even though the cheese is a little salty. when you are done with the savory fix, you make a quick tour inside the caf�.

you came across the cake stand at the entrance and you see the black forest cake, quite tempting but not tempting enough for you to have a piece...

more cakes on the parade...

some you don't even have the name for it but one thing for sure, you won't want another piece of cake after new york cafe. you walk straight in...

you like the chic interior that reminiscent of a 19^th century salon with gilded stucco, wall to ceiling mirrors, wrought candelabras and gilded picture frames.

now you are ready for the opera house.

high.tea.round.and.about.rotterdam

we both need a long overdue haircut so rotterdam is the destination!! after the haircut, since we didn't want to hang around in the city center so we thought of some arty fix and drove to the museumpark area.

this is a bronze sculpture nearby kunsthal, a public art

i asked him for this perfect pose... well not quite, perhaps i could do it better :)

with just slightly over an hour and a half, we first thought of going to kunsthal museum but on second thought it probably won't worth the rush before the next appointment.

so we just settle down at the kunsthal's cafeteria, each of us ordered a cuppa and a soup and say a little prayer of course!

then we decided to take a short walk to the other museum, the autumn view is evident and visible, and the low temperature (10c) and the chilled wind just confirmed that autumn is here while we walked from kunsthal to boimans van beuningen museum...

there, we just hang around the museum book shop, browsing, touching this and that and playing with gadget ...

life can have different perspective when you look at it through another lens. i quite like these images... then we take our stroll back to the car park and drive to hotel new york where we will have a high tea with a friend....

at hotel new york, it took us awhile before we are seated. the venue is crazily packed and the queue is long even for those with reservation like us.... we asked for a window table, so we got one at a not too noisy corner....

english dutch hightea for three... not too elegant, not finese either... english traditional hightea is not something that easily imitate by other country... nonetheless, here we have some huge sandwiches with tuna/cucumber, pompodori (sun dried tomato) and egg assortiments. some decent scones but dissapointing jam, the middle tier is alright, all sweet and/or sour bites...

me and S, and johannes of course as camera man....

then again, sometime high tea is not about eating but rather the rituals of drinking tea and enjoying the small bites and chatting away with good conversation....

i will visit ritz carlton london for a real english traditional afternoon next time when i step in to london again...

a.new.york.cafe.in.budapest

 you were told that new york café is a must in budapest...

so you make your way to this famous café for the sweet treat. this place has exists for more than 100 years, a café with a character. the exterior lives up to the expectation....

so you step in to the café, you look around you, it is like you are transported to some classical interior, somewhere in austria or to be precise vienna. then again you are hearing this new york jazz music playing in the background.

today is the “tell-day” where you need to make a few phone calls to your counselees informing them their performance outcome, salary increment and promotion if any. you sit down, make your order and start calling one by one, thankfully you only have four to call. likewise you have a missed call from your counselor informing you your performance outcome. you were rather surprise by the result that you still get a good banding considering you were sick for nine months last performance year. together with the news there is also a decent salary increment and a surprise bonus. you feel blessed, not over the moon but you are thankful.

your cake arrives. it  looks so pretty, like a piece of art, a masterpiece from a pastiserie chef, fresh from the kitchen.  however you are not impressed by the taste, perhaps you made the wrong choice. you don’t really like the texture or the taste. it looks beautiful, you must admit that but taste wise is rather primitive and textures more towards hard and dry. perhaps these cakes are just over rated!!!

nevertheless, you love the cappuccino and the ambience, you enjoy your time sitting in this café listening to the jazz music and let the interior design transports you to the past. you imagine how this café got its fame for the literary and artistic table societies and coffee house editorial group that met here from early 1900s.

you ask for the bill, it arrives like a book with the big imprint 'new york'.  this is where you got really confused!! you still wonder if you are sitting in new york (the name of the café) or in vienna (the interior classical grand design and the taste of the cake) or in budapest (where you are supposed to be this week)?

the next moment, you tell yourself, you are in budapest, sitting at new york café that has nothing resemble new york apart from the café name and the background music.  this place is heavily influenced by austrian like interior and you are here enjoying your cup and a sweet treat of hungarian invention that is heavily influence by austria

you step out for a reality check by going to the connected building which is the hotel lobby, so it's time to wake up and continue with your journey not in new york or vienna but right here in budapest...