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...

dohany.synagogue.budapest

the weather has turned cold quite significantly, autumn is definitely here and i need to dig out my autumn clothing soon.  work and life is a little balance this week, we are planning a new trip soon (a long weekend so to speak).  For now, i bring you the summer story...

twenty fifth august

the weather cools down a lot. now it is in the midst of pleasant 26c or 27c! no sun glass or contact lens, your nikon is giving you a lot of problems today, your netbook also decided to call a day off by graphical interface failure. 

you take tram 4 to a synagogue at dohany street. 

the dohany synagogue is also known as the great synagogue is a very pleasant church/cathedral style synagogue in byzantine-moorish style, apparently it is also the largest synagogue in europe.  you bought your ticket, you stand in the queue, the security is strict, you have to go through a thorough search and x-ray.  not so welcoming, you don't expect treatment like that...

the white and red brick along with a wealth of ceramic decorative elements are attractive

and two onion-dome towers are quite impressive too

the interior is a little unusual than the other synagogues that i visited in madrid, this looks like a church really....

there are plenty moments for photography, simply because the use of light, colors and stained windows are the best parameters to capture artsy photos....

inside the 'church', this place really reminds me of the church that i used to attend when i was living in shanghai, the international church (国际礼拜堂) at hengsan road (衡山路).

there are a number of guided tours and you opt for english tour, all the tour guides are jewish or with Jewish blood.  later you realize that almost every visitor here either has jewish blood or related to jewish background, that makes you the only one who came in just in the name of the architecture.  the people in your group asks a lot of questions but not really relating to this monument but rather how the jewish lived or survived the second world war. 

although your spirit is a little heavier due to the history that this synagogue has witnessed and a few photos you saw where the dead body is lying on where you are now standing.  you are not put off by the historical element, you try your best to appreciate this synagogue from a different perspective. 

another nice spot for photo moment

and playing with aperture...

the guided tour finishes at the back garden where there is this stained glass work by a famous artist with a title that relating to flame to remember the suffering and the sacrifice of the jews during the second world war period

and this metal tree with metal leaves are impressive, each blade has a name engrave to it for every jew that died in this tragedy.  it is very sad indeed although the interpretation of the sadness is nicely done through the art work so that the lesson and history is known to the future generations...

as usual, every synagogue has a story to tell and this one certainly has a sad one (God bless them).  one last look at this 'tree', and you leave the compound from the back door.

from jewish quarter, you hop on to a tram and transport me to a place where I lost myself in between the cities…

gillert.bath

well, another week, another monday. i sort of finished with the 'send' dissertation and now back to my travel story, i am still stuck in budapest (not physically) and i actually wonder if i will ever get my summer trip to madrid ever posted here.... let's see how it goes...

hungary is famous for its thermal bath due to its soil and the choice is plentiful in budapest alone. my first bathing experience is at gillert bath, just at the foothill of miss liberty. so as a natural itinerary, i visited gillert thermal bath to soak my weary feet and rejuvenate my body.

the medicinal spring here was already famed in 13th century. the entrance of the thermal bath, quite a (neo) romanseque looking entrance

the spa is decorated with a wealth of original art nouveau furnishing, artistic mosaics, stained glass window and sculptures.

i am impressed by the interior decoration as well...

i changed and ready for the splash. i go to outdoor thermal pool, the sun is too fierce, the water is too warm.. i am swelling away under the sunlight and the heat of the hot spring water.

i leave the medicinal pool and take a walk, the facilities and the number of pools impresses me. there are so many different pools just at the outdoor complex, let alone the various pools they have indoor....

i followed this sexy lady and wonder where she is heading to....

the next thing i know is she is enjoying herself under the unbearable sauna room. this is a a heavily ottoman influenced outdoor sauna area, but it is really too hot for me... so i go indoor, there are more pools waiting for you

i opt for a swim in a normal temperature swimming pool in a cathedral, yes, in a neo-classical cathedral, that's when i wondered if i have been teleported to an ancient roman time...

and yes, i swam in a cathedral-like pool with some fancy columns, lion's head statues surrounding the pool....

when i am done with my bath (a rather lengthy and elaborated one), i had my late lunch at a restaurant just next to gillert bath cum hotel. my host recommended me this place as a 'authentic hungarian' restaurant.

i ordered a fruit soup which is a complete bogus or rather it is from the can mixed fruits with it syrup (as soup) and a splash of cream. this is the yuckiest soup i have ever had.... the main is a plate of catfish in capsicum sauce, which taste rather hungarian but i am not impressed at all...plus this russian lady sitting opposite me at the window is completely stressed out and all she did is complaints about the menu, the food, the waitress and the service... all these really deteriorate my hungarian dining experience further...perhaps i have come to the realization that the hungarian authenticated cuisine is not every body's cup of tea...

a.date.with.miss.liberty

[finally another friday.  i really had a terrible week at work, not only that i was busy all week and making long hours, today we also moved from one room to another room.  the atmosphere at the project site and  among the projects are not very good. people shouting to one another, the three letters and four letters word are used in writing and in spoken.  the negative energy is creeping into everybody.  people are demotivated. i had another late night yesterday attending the farewell dinner for my practice where the practice lead is leaving us for another company.    all in all, it is a roller coaster week and i need to take the weekend to rest and recover well.  that's all about the reality but for now i am going to introduce you to lady liberty]

twenty fourth august

another day in budapest, today you start off by conquering another hill a little southern than buda hill.  you took a tram that stop you at elisabeth bridge just opposite to gillert hotel.  there is a spring water fountain where many people are here to wash or drink from the source...

it’s only 10:22 and the temperature is already 32c. you still have a hill to climb for you have a date with her.  Her name is liberty – lady liberty, a hungarian version.  she is awaiting you right there.

you see her already from the foot of the hill, she is so near, yet so far away. it’s another tough walk and a steeper one compare to the buda hill hike.

as you walk toward gillert hill, you have a up close and personal meeting with elisabeth bridge on your right, the green steel bridge is name after the hungarian most beloved sissi of bavaria.  the wife of franz josef

you are half way up the hill, the sun is so fierce that you are almost exhausted for such a short but steep hike up hill.  the path is not clearly signed, you have to look at the surrounding view to orientate yourself.

you walk, you stop, sometime you feel that you lost your way but the passer by confirm that you are in the right direction to meet lady liberty, and suddenly you arrive!

she is 14 meters high, raised in the memory of country’s liberation. at her foot there is an allegory of progress at one side and the other is a statute that fight against evil.

miss liberty is holding aloft the palm of victory looking up to the sky, she is a little tired and weary, is about time for her to put on a new clothes

miss liberty from another angle, another perspective but still equally elegant.  you salute and amaze by her will  to carry the loft of palm in her hands for eternity, for as long as she is there....

not far from her, there is this citadel that apparently never fight a battle, like her counterpart prince charming that standing at the other hill, the buda hill.

at the souvenir stalls, you spotted the old reproduction portrait of sissi and one with the whole family.  you know why sissi is so famous here in hungary but you didn't expect to see her being mentioned everywhere and when hungarians speak of her, they are always full of passion and admiration.

when you are up there, she shows you the view of the city, you see more from this peak, your perspective of budapest enlarge.