Netherlands

In Den Hag. The b&w pictures fit perfectly to express the late autumn mood. In the morning we spent time walking at the beach. There was a park with simple but meanigful statues. Some photos from there.

In other words, 3 breathless guys stearing at the sea

Netherlands 1st day

Early morning found me in Amsterdam. Last night party in club till 5. Miss TTU beauty competition in Club Parlament (Tallinn) took its time. After a 45 min sleep I made a zombiwalk to the airport. Anyway, seems I really like to sleep in the planes. The morning in Amsterdam was rough. According to the plan meeting Gabi and Aneta only in the evening until this moment I had blenty of time to walk and shake around the city.

Welcome... symbolic welcome picture.

Opened windows leave an impression that also people are more opened. Feels kind of fresh and positive

A statue next to some school. Finally I don't know why I made this picture.

"mich we remember u" Probably one of my favorite pictures, on the paper it is even better.

I have also some B&W photos from this weekend, soon I'll try to get them uploaded aswell. The funny thing is that I have these dates in the blog, but actually I am filling the blog more than half a year later... then I have these dilemmas of how to express myself (in real time or as a eye peek to the past). Finally the overall idea of this blog is to share some of the pictures I like with my friends.

Orienteering in Viitna

Special greetings to Hele! :)
The only Rogain I did this year. In the team we had Hele, Kristjan and me.



An old landmark


Marsh without Hele


... with Hele

Tartu MTB Marathon

In the morning, some hours before the start.

Waking up at the country side, setting the mood for the race

25. Aug - Stuck in Stocholm

Stocholm, why the hell I am getting always stuck in this city. Three years ago I spent a "nice" night under the tree near the harbour... seems today I will do no better.
Lucky that Josefin is here and can host me, but still, after 3 weeks of travelling I dreamt of getting finally home.

Stocholm bus transportation still manages to surprise. When I was here in late winter this year, I had no problems getting to Kapelskär. Today, when I run from Arlanda airport to Stocholm Central Station to take the bus, the information girl gave me without blinking her eyes an ansewer that there are no buses today to Kapelskär... f... I have a ferry going from there in less than 2,5h... how can it be possible?!?!?!

Anyway, what is gone that is gone. So second search: to see if it is possible to get there tomorrow. Indeed it is possible: metro + bus + another bus. Great isn't it?! How the hell I have managed to take a direct bus before?

In short: I am f...ing angry here

23. Aug - Back to Budapest

I am getting tired of being on the way... have had just one more night in the train.
I am back in Budapest.
I had a nice chance to visit a friend from the first SC I have seen/organised SC2000 in Tallinn.

Then in the evening SC Budapest and nighlife. OZ party = participants were divided in groups and they had to perform one act. And then in pubs.

I guess I made also one friend among organisers, when steping into organisers room at night with an intention to go to sleep on the table and there is the girl with freshly found boyfriend from SC :) But I didn't mind :) She probably minded.

20. Aug - Iulia's & Tony's wedding

I'll add smth here upcoming in the future.
In short, it was great, Romanian traditions, Romaniana mountains, 230 wedding guests including 50 BESTies.
So party finally turned out like one good party has to be :)

17. Aug - Bulgaria

Well, this all came out from what happened 1 year ago... in august 2004 Stjepan & Nico ended up in Bulgaria, with no money only passports and maybe also a towel with them.

So we wanted to repeat their journey this year.
19 of us were divided in groups of 3 (in average) and we started our walk to Bulgarian border - this is only 2 km from Vama Veche.

Border was like it has to be - no probem to spend there around 1,5-2 h.
Finally we hitched a minivan that took as to the first town, 23km from the border.
Auch, there is almost no life under the hot sun - only some animals on the streets.
And strange A4 posters on the fences and electrical poles - all of them had a face and some text. First thought, missing persons, but how can there be so many of them.... everywhere?! Taking a closer look, these were commemorations to the ones that have passed away. With different dates: "We have been living with out [name] for 3 month" or "It has been 11 years since [name] passed away"
The town that cannot let go the dead people.

Finally destination was a small restaurant where we planned to have a huge party - and it turned out huge - eating and drinking for 4 hours, Juanma and the bar owner dancing on the table (where else :) ), Bulgarian dances. The restaurant owner being shocked when seeing girls dancing with girls and boys with boys :)

We made it back to Vama Veche around midnight after some more fun at the border.

15. Aug - Vama Veche - drinking coma

In the morning, just before the sun rise. The long shodow is caused by the lamp at left. The guy (girl) sleeping on the table looks so natural, that I even didn't notice it at the beginning.

The bar

Long day deserves also a longer night... so after being interested of vine in the hotel.
We needed to see the sunrise... as according to our calculations the sun had to rise directly from the sea.
Around 5 in the morning we went for the last beer to the bar in front of our hotel - like a regular bar in Vama Veche - opened to the sea, roof built of everything you can find after a storm from the coast - fishing nets, wood, straws etc, of course no floor.
So taking a beer resulted that the barman was and art student from Bucharest, he told us about the most expensive artist in the world - Romaniana one of course, who's works are now in Paris. Unfortunatley I cannot recall his name at the moment. And the village he is from is really different from Bucharest, people drive there Ferraris and Hummers.

Well for this story Nicolas just told, that he'd like to pee on Hummers. Well this was kind of a shock for our art student, so he started to put shot glasses on the bar table - exactly 4, and pour in 4 different alcohols in each glass. He told this is coma - first shot is ok, after the second one coma arrives. He is telling it to us, old BESTies?! :)
It was good!

Then he made one other coctail, the name of this one I don't remember anymore. Also I don't remember sunrise, I guess the sun didn't rise, it just went lighter.

15. Aug - Vama Veche - the beach

View from the hotel, the highest building around

Waves - there is not that much wind, but the waves they are taking me.

As Josh said, now she knows why there are so many topless girls around, there is no point to wear tops - the first wave just undresses you. Some girls on the beach are funny, when sunbahting then wearing a top, but for swimming just getting rid of the disturbing top and going in the water :)

My first contact with the sea was good - the first wave just came and made me move, although I didn't plan, 5m back to the beach. No problem, lets call it a getting-to-know-wave.
Second one was a bigger one, so it meant that I was not just going back to the beach, but also being rolled, hit against the bottom and scratched my hand and back. Something new! :)

Anyway in the beach the dress code is: less is more. Whenevere I look around, there is at least one nude, around 20-30% girls are topless. And among Romanian girls it is really common to wear string bikinis.

So it turned out, that the day was really busy, had to rent the beach chairs and just to investigate around - as the waves were really big, we just needed to have our eye all the time on the beach, to make sure that nobody drowns. My Belgian friend (no names at this point :) ) had a huge book (u know one of these 2kg brick kind of books) in his lap... nice way to pretend of being seriously digged in reading. But, demn he made a fatal mistake, during the whole day he forgot to open the book... ;)

14. Aug - Vama Veche

Romanian bohemian paradise - Vama Veche

It took just a deck of playing cards, a night in a Budapest-Bucharest train, half a day in Bucharest and by the time darkness we have arrived to paradise.

First look at Vama Veche - yes, it is exactly like on the photo I got one week before starting the trip - people walking barefoot, there is only one street in the village - dusty, no asphalt, horses, tractors, Dachas (famous Romanian car, famous for its design: it is really hard to distinguish the front and tail of the car) and pedestrians sharing it.

This is bohemia :) Something for me

Majority of the old BESTies are already here, so it goes. Party on the beach... vine ... beach clubs/pubs - these are just amazing.
The foam of waves reaching the bar, people dancing on the sand, some girls just going crazy and dancing in the waves and getting wet.

12. Aug - Budapest day 2

Second day in Sziget, yes I had to come back

This day begins with some super famous French group - it would have been good to understand some French there, as the words seemed to have important role. Anyway all the French in front of the stage understood, so they went mad.


The Brand New Heavies (UK). They are late, but I want to hear them - cause, as I am sure, they cannot do anything else than some good old Britt pop. First song... hmmm... - this band if far from Britt pop - usually I can listen this kind of music when going to a club. Anyway it is acceptable, especially when they play the song I know: Revolution. Then I left, just afterwards heard, that they have a song which is more famous than Revolution.

Then 90 degree turn and Hammer Rock Stage with 69Eyes from Finland. This is hard, it has been long since the last time jumped with smth like this :)

Next year I have to be back here and then for a longer period. It is just so amazing how you can be all the time lost on the island... new stages, new music.

11.Aug - Budapest

Last coffee in Poland



Sun and rain together, the colours were just amazing

The morning found me in the Keleti train station in Budapest.

What to do?! My host arrives to Budapest in the evening... what what what?!

Walk to the river Danube... from train station it takes around 2h.
But it is worth, to sit in the park by the river and enjoy boats passing by.

When the infrastructure of the city was planned then there was made a small mistake: at Best side there is river, then a street with high traffic and then a park. This steet with traffic unfortuantely cuts away the riverside from midday wonderers in the park.

Well, to meet a BESTie is always good, especially when bored of being alone... so at one moment guess what, Szilard from LBG Vezprem is there waiting for a girl from French LBG. To show her around in Budapest.
So this is how it goes: it is still not more than 2 o'clock afternoon and we are in underground pubs of Budapest getting drunk and discovering places that are even hard to imagine - big halls, walls full of graffit, bar table somewhere in dark corner, furniture collected from the streets, birds flying around...

Sziget - the music festival on the island in Budapest
Well here I got to know where I will be in August 2006 - on the sziget (Engl: island) here in Budapest.
Tents everywhere, many with music - inviting people to dance, to get high, to find new. And then smaller tents where people will collaps, when they are dead tired. After all, the event is 7 days and nights long... at some moments it is nececary to close eyes.
Music: rock, metal, hip-hop, techno, religious and so on so on, if tired then just go to circus or crash in a cinema tent to relax with movies you can understand or not, depends of our Hungerian.

09. Aug - Polish mountains day 3

Today there is no rain! Sun :)

So now is the time to enjoy the mountains in the Bieszczady national park.
First going up hill in the forest, but then the meadows at the top of mountains start - views to the other mountains, small walking paths along the mountain peaks, really nice. Small cabin at the top of one mountain to take a cup of tea, it was just the right moment - felt that the wind has almost undressed me and it was not that warm anymore. ... but it is still sunny! :)

This place - Bieszczady - seems to be a place where every Polish is obliged to make a pilgrimage - the narrow walking path is full of them, at some moments feels like being in a queue. Suddenly everybody is super polite, saying "Tchest" (Engl: Hello) to everybody. I think I have said this word like 500 times today.

08. Aug - Polish mountains day 2

Yesterday made it to the mountain house, this place is run by Polish students. They provide you a water and it is possible to put the tent next to the house.

Demin it is hard to find a flat place in mountains... so the tent also has a nice angle now. It gave a perfect feeling at night when all the time feeling that the slippery sleepingbag is sliding somewhere.

At night it started to rain. Anyway during the night the angel of the tent gave a helping hand and all the water was nicely colleced in the lower part of the tent.
Around 7 in the morning it was impossible to sleep having all this water everywhere around.
It was the very last moment to evacuate to the mountain house!
The rest of the day was pleasure to enjoy the mountain views through the window, as it really didn't want to stop raining.

07. Aug - Polish mountains day 1

First day in mountains:
As a true traveler I have a huge rucksack with everything needed for 3 weeks in Europe: tent, sleeping bag, clothes for going out in the evening etc. And as a true hiker wearing sandals as the hiking shoes.

Hiking is fun -
you go up hill 2h - walking in the forest like in Estonia - but just up hill
you go on top of the hill 1h - walking in the forest like in Estonia
you go down hill 2h - walking in the forest like in Estonia - but just down hill

After this long walk the mountain house is not far, just across the river. And this is fun... first trial without a bag to see if it is possible to cross the mountain river. And then with a bag using all the 4 "wheels" to make sure nor me or bag will be taken by the river.

06. Aug - Lodz, Poland

Lodz is famous for its main street - ye ye ye... I guess this is like 10th time here :) - and again I am walking on this street... this time just to go for a cup of good coffee.

Today we have some kind of football game going on, mostly you can see it by the presence of huge amount of riot police around the football court.

Once again they are seen in the train station, what a luck the football fans are taking the same train with me, locked in the last wagon. This means that police is everywhere in train station and then continuous chain around the last wagon of the train. Wearing helmets, riot shields and machine guns.

Traintrip goes rather smooth: only time to time somebody running in the train corridor. The train was stopped twice in the middle of nowhere by emergency break - when looked out from the window, just some screams. Of course from the direction of last wagon.

In the morning the train is already in the very South-East corner of Poland. So far that one day in the mountains my phone even SMSed me and welcomed in Ukraine, some minutes later welcomed SMS me in Slovakia. Yeah, it is pleasure to travel at the speed of SMSes :)

05. Aug - The start of my frist real long vacation

Vacation trip with BESTies in August 2005 - visited places: Bieszczady mountains in Poland, Sziget Island festival in Budapest, one week at the Black Sea in a bohemic village in Romania, Bulgaria

The plan has been made and I am on the way. Jumped in the bus straight from work. The plan is:
1. a week in Poland - mountains near Ukrain and Slovakian border
2. day or two in Budapest. Going to Sziget festival
3. week by the Black Sea in Vama Veche
4. Iulia's and Tony's wedding in Romania
5. two days in Budapest - parting with SC people

... and almost no time to rest ;)