what we brought from Budapest

Hi there!

Last year I told you that spending money while being on holiday is my weak point. Well it certainly is. Not in a way anyone would think. Hungary was no different. I tried to spend money wisely. We bought essentials (and wine of course) and at last started to look for extra stuff, like keepsakes for our families and little treats for ourselves too :)

Once we were back in my apartment in B, we got everything out on my bed and I photographed those little souvenirs thoroughly. We came back with:

- a letter from hotel's manager Kate, which was a nice addition to the whole stay (a drawing of a dinosaur came along with it, which was a personal request of A)

- maps, transport tiquets, all sight-seeing info.

- a fridge magnet for my sis

- national gallery stuff, postcards of Budapest and art, a notebook that will be my new diary

- A brought a Tokaji Aszu (4) fairly famous Hungarian wine

- some plum Palinkas (which are sweets filled with their 60% vodka, pretty serious stuff, I am telling you...) for our friend P, who lent us her bag for the trip and some marzipan treats as well.

- I brought 6 films with me, which left me with dozens of memories of that beautiful city

And last, but not least, just when I was left with about 1/2 of my budget, we decided to go to a Lush store that we spotted sometime during sight-seeing. Lush is a cool brand with eco-friendly, not animal tested, cosmetics which I always wanted to try but could not, since it's not available in Poland. Not to go into details, we got two bathing bombs (used them both already!) and got familiar with the rest of their products, thanks to a lovely and English speaking sales girl.

Damn, I have no idea what happens, but when I am abroad I am definitely not a spender and in my everyday life it's just so hard to stop buying. Seriously.

What is a thing that you always bring from your journeys/vacations? :)

Danube, opera and house of terror.

 

The Banks of Danube hold one of the most beautiful memorial sights we have seen in Budapest. It honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank. Look, contemplate, photograph.

Ferrania Solaris 200

Opera and its surroundings is a beautiful spot both at night and during the day. On one of the mornings we took a stroll down the Hajos street, crossing streets of Lazar, Ó and Zichy. Budapest is excellent for little strolls in the sun, admiring the architecture and deciding where to eat.

Fuji Superia 400

 

House of Terror, located at Andrassy street is a well developed memorial for crimes of both Nazi and Communist parties during World War II. It's situated in the walls of a huge building which was the headquarters of both aforementioned organizations. In the cellar the killings were executed. Touching piece of history, a must see. I would recommend getting an audio-guide in English, because we did not, and unfortunately most of the exhibition was in Hungarian.

You know how they always show you the pictures of the victims. One of the last rooms included the photographs of the killers. Astonishingly dreadful experience to be looking into the eyes of murderers and their proteges.

Fuji Pro 400H & Fuji Superia 400 

Liberty Square.

Fuji Superia 200

delicious times in Budapest.

Every time I am travelling, my love for Italian cuisine blossoms. Maybe it is because some pasta is always a safe choice, therefore perhaps I am boring like that. I am so happy that we managed to get away for a little dinner on our first day. "Most" bistro was an accidental found, and only after our return to Poland we actually realized that this place is pretty popular in Budapest. Three course meal for a pretty fair price and the most delicious gazpacho ever. Now I am pretty motivated to finally do a proper gazpacho by myself. Maybe the other meals were nothing too fancy, but I found the amount of food to be perfectly measured to meet my needs at that point. Ferrania Solaris really suprised me and produced some cool, warm colored tones. Too bad I don't seem to be able to find it anywhere online :(
 

We of course made a stop at Starbucks and had a big frappe with whipped cream topping, totally and overwhelmingly sweet. We made stops for coffees and drinks, finding some unique places where the service level varied from nice to awful.

Ferrania Solaris 200

Fuji Pro 400H expired

Another stop that deserved a couple of photographs was Gelateria Lavanda close to St Stephen's basilica. As we visited it on the first day, I was still in the "let's save as much as I can, so I do not end up starving" mode which always leaves me with 50% of my money on the last day of the trip, so my order included only a nice freezing cold coffee.

Fuji Superia 200

And of course, I couldn't forget about our little breakfast at Muvesz, with coffee, orange juice and omelettes with bacon and cheese. Sorry for totally blurring those pictures :)

Fuji Pro 400H

the essence of Budapest

First of all, three days in Budapest are not sufficient, and this is what we all felt when we had to depart. I'd say our pace was pretty fair, spending about 12 hours exploring the city each day, yet we did not manage to see everything we were supposed to. It was all about choosing what we wanted to see the most.

second rendez vous with ilford

I am back from Budapest, but I still have not developed a thing, so in the meantime I am going to show your some photographs made before my little vacay. I got two rolls of Ilford FP4+ 125 iso for my birthday. Black & white presents different esthetics that what I create in my daily life, mostly because I find it hard to let go of the color, feeling like I miss out on something whenever I load up a black & white roll of film. 

from B, with love.

This is the last post before my departure to Budapest. We are both scared and excited, as travelling always includes both of these emotions. We have arranged everything by ourselves and on Sunday every little detail of our trip, that we had planned, is supposed to "click". Hopefully it will :) Before Budapest I will make a one day stop in my beloved Bialystok to hold some hands and kiss some lips. Then I'm off to new adventures.

Bstok has loads of new places for us to explore: kaffka bistro & a nóż widelec bistro. That's what tiggers like best. Light cuisine and new inspirations.

Walking down the park is easily one of my favourite activities. I do it in winter, when I have to get to another class, I do it in spring for the same reason and also for leisure. More of my winter stories are featured in once upon a jan. Summer is beautiful and I don't want it gone too soon, but I caught myself wondering what it would be like to feel the snowflakes on my cheeks again. One is sure with B, winter will come and once it comes and makes itself cosy around us, it will try to get into our hearts and once again we will have to warm each other up to make it through. 

Tudorcolor XLX200 really suprised me this time. Sun did its job and lightened it up to some beautiful tones this time! I am finally through with my second black & white roll, which was Ilford FP4 125, it was actually the first time that I shot a film with iso that low, so I am curious how it's all going to look. I will show you some photographs once I'm back from B, and then there will be a couple of Budapest posts, like the essence (something like the essence of Prague last year). Of course if my films don't get fried with the X-ray.

Speak soon! 

Kasia