birdcages

eng  I'm trying to find my own rhythm of life. I started being myself again. I book hotels, I go to caffes and spend tons on coffee. I take my camera out sporadically. My thoughts travel ahead with some enormous speed, as I postpone my obligations further and further away from "now". I think I am definitely someone who lives in the future. Hoping and wishing and wanting more. I am a bit worried of any routine entering my life. It gives me warmth at night to be thinking of us, but I want my happy ending to be here already. No doubts or additional questions. My life is now basically like a never ending stream of books, dumplings and pasta dishes, new music as in Isbells (whose 'Elation' gives me this warm fuzzy feeling inside, please give it a listen) and eating apples, so I will as healthy as possible. Leaves have this amazing variety of colors right now, but I am still stuck with a black & white roll and I curse the fact of owning only one slr :( Being in such a huge art gallery was definitely a big experience. For the very first time I decided to buy a photographer pass, which made me feel suprisingly good. I could photograph freely, find the angles that worked for me and enjoy this place more than I normally would.

pl Staram się znaleźć swój własny rytm w tym wszystkim. Znowu jestem sobą. Zabookowuję hotele, wydaję dużo na kawę. Aparat wyjmuję dość sporadycznie. Moje myśli wybiegają w przód z ogromną prędkością, podczas gdy ja odkładam swoje obowiązki dalej i dalej od "teraz". Zdecydowanie żyję w przyszłości. Mając nadzieję i chcąc więcej. Trochę się martwię jakąkolwiek rutyną wchodzącą w moje życie. Myślenie o nas daje mi ciepło w nocy, ale już chcę szczęśliwego zakończenia. Bez wątpliwości czy dodatkowych pytań. Moje życie jest teraz jak niekończące się pasmo książek, pierogów i makaronowych dań, nowej muzyki np. Isbells (ich 'Elation' powoduje u mnie takie ciepłe uczucie w środku, proszę przesłuchajcie!) i jedzenia jabłek, aby być zdrową. Liście mają te cudowne kolory, a ja nadal mam czarno-białą rolkę w aparacie, przeklinam fakt posiadania tylko jednego aparatu :( Bycie w takiej wielkiej galerii było zdecydowanie dużym przeżyciem. Pierwszy raz zdecydowałam się kupić przepustkę dla fotografów, która, co ciekawe, sprawiła, że czułam się dobrze. Mogłam fotografować, co chciałam, kombinować z kadrami i po prostu czerpać więcej przyjemności z tej wizyty.

roads to walk alone

Another season came and I am already struggling to find my place in this town. Every year I feel changed, like the reality that I had known and loved is gone forever. Every other day I find myself anxious. They say that fear comes from having something to lose and having a lot to live for. We are all afraid of something, but in the moments of sheer happiness we come together no matter what. Today I have a day off. A day of shamelessly not giving a damn about anything and everything. I am starting to wonder how crazy my 20s will eventually get. Life has surely many roads to walk alone, but it's been awhile since the last time I made a conscious decision to do something just by myself. Which way are we headed, huh? How to find time for so many aspects of my life at this point? How to stay motivated?

I want to keep posting, but I can already feel it's going to be tough. I haven't been photographing much, having the same roll in my camera for over a week now. This is why sometimes I will show you things from the past. If I manage to actually live between one sneeze and another, and somehow photograph my life outside of university, maybe this beautiful autumn weather outside of my window right now, then I will be back from time to time. I will try to make my sister finally develop the rolls she made in Greece this summer, so a little guest post is coming your way too! :) How are you holding on? Is fall treating you good?

I might finally give double exposure a try! Any tips?

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.