Budapest, day 2

Though Hungary is part of Europe Union, it does not use Euro. I changed 100 Euro to 27000 Forint in France. In Budapest, there are money changers everywhere. The rates are all better than the one I had in France. I changed money 3 times in Budapest and the best deal was 100€ to 30500 Forint.

On the second day, after breakfast, we took the metro, a tram and then bus and then a small train to reach the Children's Railway. We wanted to try out the train ride run by children, driven by an adult, of course.

When the teenage train conductor came selling tickets, I only had a big bill. He told me to hold on and went to get an adult staff. I thought the adult was going to sell me the tickets. Instead, he gave me small notes to break down my big note. Then he left and I bought the tickets with the teenager. The boys enjoyed the ride a lot looking out at the hilly Buda and waving at the teenagers at each station.

After the ride, we headed back to Pest by tram and decided to try our luck at the number one restaurant in Budapest noted in Tripadvisor. We arrived at noon without reservation. The owner told us we could have a table of 4 if we finished by 1.30pm. I was delighted as I read in Tripadvisor that reservation was a must due to its popularity. 

The waiters were extremely friendly. The humble boss thanked us for finding our way there. The food was very good and the speakers were playing my favourite songs from Joe Dassin. We were given free entrées and free sorbet. The boys had chocolates to take away with. This place was not excessively expensive and it definitely lives up to its name "Comme chez soi" (just like home).  

We were seated not far from the open kitchen and the entrance. I could see many people got turned away. It pays to eat early.

After lunch, we took a digestive walk until the chain bridge and then walked across it to visit Buda. We came upon several statues in Budapest and they were all interesting creations.

In Buda, we visited the Fisherman's Bastion. From there, we had a great view of Pest and the Parliament building.

We went into St Matthias church and beautiful music was coming from the church organ played by a musican.

We strolled to Buda Castle and enjoyed the scenary. There were not many tourists and we were able to enjoy the peaceful environment in this area. We like this area a lot. Below is a typical post box. Isn't it cute?

We headed back to our hotel by tram and metro. The public transport were not crowded and some trams and metro trains were real vintage. They transported us back in time to the 60s. The boys loved to take the tram. 

For dinner, we had it late as we were still full from lunch. We settled at an Indian nearby our hotel. We arrived at 8pm and were told it was full. We were leaving when an Indian man at the table beside the entrance spoke to the waiter. The waiter then told us he had a table available for us. That Indian man had to be the boss. We ordered but could not finished our dinner. The boys found the food too spicy and they were dead tired. If you are looking for authentic Indian food in Budapest, you have to try Indigo.

  

Seb and I noticed that in Budapest, there were not many foreigners in the kitchens. This was so different from Paris. In Paris, almost all restaurants had Indians or Blacks as cooks. In Budapest, we saw only white cooks even in Asian and Indian restaurants. Kinda weird to see white europeans making sushis. Actually, there were few foreigners. The non-whites we saw were tourists.

Budapest - day 1

We spent 4 days 3 nights at Budapest last weekend during the school holidays. We brought umbrellas as the weather was forecasted with showers during our trip. Thank God we did not have to use the umbrellas and it was not much colder than in Paris.

We took the flight at 7.15am and reached Budapest at 9.30am. We left home at 4.45am and the boys were motivated to get out of bed at this early hour for their vacation.

Budapest is actually made up of 2 districts divided by the river Danube. The hilly Buda and the flat Pest. We stayed at Star Inn which was centrally located at Pest. We checked into the hotel at 10.30am and started visiting after dropping the bags.

We walked towards the Parliment and then along the Danube towards the "Shoes on the Danube". The shoes are a memorial for the people who were shot and fell into the Danube by Arrow Cross Militiamen (Nazis) in 1944-45. As shoes were considered as luxury goods, the victims had to remove their shoes before being killed. There was a crowd at this site but everyone was silent and reflective.

We continued our walk and stopped for lunch at Hungarikum Bistro. I did my homework for this trip and found that this place was ranked 12 among 2000+ restaurant listed in Tripadvisor. As it was thursday noon, we got a table easily. We had typical Hungarian dishes. The boys shared a plate of breaded chicken cutlets with potatoes. There wasn't many choices on vegetables. We realised that the Hungarians ate more meat than vegetables. Still, Seb managed to find a vegetarian meal.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to take a nap. In the late afternoon, we visited Miniversum. A miniature museum showcasting Budapest and a few other famous cities. There were interactive buttons and the boys had a great time chasing after trains. On the wall were information and photos of life under the communist.  There were so many details that we spent almost 2 hours here.

For dinner, we had Asian food.

We slowly walked back to our hotel and ended our first day with a good night sleep.

Happy new year

Better late than never. Wishing you a happy new year. May 2016 brings you success and happiness in all your undertakings.

I have not been writing but all is well. Everyday passes fast with the same routine. Boys are enjoying school and activities. Seb changed job since a few months. I am still the same. Except I have a new car.

With the change of job, Seb no longer had his company car. Living in a small village with limited public transport service, we both have to have a car each. I always wanted a small car. We have the VW Touran and Seb let me choose the car I want. I had been eyeing on Citroen DS3. When A2 told me he could buckle his seat belt by himself, I was thrilled. DS3 comes only with 3 doors and it would be troublesome for me if I had to help the boys buckle up each time.

We visited the second hand Citroen dealer and I found my car on the spot. An automatic gear, dark color with contrasting roof, 5 months old with 1600km. It was 20% cheaper than a new one. The day we went to get my 'new' car, we stopped for coffee break. I took the opportunity to take a picture.

Au revoir to the BMW 528 and bienvenue to DS3. I am satisfied with my small compact car. The boys like it too but miss the paranomic roof of the BMW. But well, we can't always have the best of both worlds.

TGV photo taking

In Sept, when we went to the open house for clubs and associations to sign up tennis lessons and karate lessons for the boys, I walked around to look at the other offers.

There was a photography club. I decided to sign up for their discovery classes. 7 lessons spanned over 10 months for 10€. I had been to 2 lessons and learnt how to use the aperture mode and the shutter speed mode of my camera.

During my trip in Florence, I focused mainly on using the aperture mode. To improve my skill with the shutter speed mode, the trainer organised a date to take photos of the TGV, the fast speed train that could reach 300km/h. There was a TGV track just 10 minutes drive away. We gathered at a car park on a foggy sunday morning and walked 100m to reach the best spot to have a clear view.

The trainer advised us on the settings to use and we waited patiently for the TGV. I had my lucky shots with the first train. Below are 2 of my best shots. Subsequent shooting of two other TGVs did not give good results. 

If the sun had cleared the fog away, the pictures would turn out clearer. But well, I am proud of my photos given that I am just a novice. 

At the end of the course, we were encouraged to submit photos for a competition titled 'Colors'. I have no idea what to present. All colorful ideas are welcome!

Paris attack

At 8am yesterday, our new dining table arrived. I had just woke up and was writing the cheque to pay the delivery guy while asking 'Why did you arrive so early? Wasn't it plan for 9am?'. He replied 'We have deliveries to make in Paris and it is a complicated day.' Seb and I asked 'Why?'. The delivery guy told us to watch TV. There were several terrorists attacks on Friday night. We have no TV at home. I switched on my mobile phone and saw many messages from concerned friends and family in Singapore asking if we were alright. I was shocked. I cried though I had not seen the news yet. My worse nightmare had happened. Innocent people were killed and injured by terrorists in Paris.

I spent a good half an hour assuring friends and family we were okay on social media. Then I started to read the news on internet. Public areas were closed. However, I had to drive a friend who had injured herself to work nearby Paris that evening. I told Seb we would be careful. After all, we won't be in central Paris. I called up Denise. I was supposed to bring her son's bicycle to her tomorrow when visiting Palais de Decouvert in Paris. We decided to avoid Paris with the kids for the moment.
Since I had to wait 2.5 hours for my friend to knock off from work, I suggested to bring the bicycle to Denise. She agreed. In the end, we met up for dinner before dropping the bicycle at her place in Paris. When we were deciding what to have for dinner, Denise asked if I preferred to eat out or do take away. I told her I preferred to eat in a restaurant. Doing take away to her place and having to find parking in Paris was such a chore. She asked if I was not scare. I had not thought about it. What she asked was justifiable. Just the night before, diners were killed randomly. Though we felt safe in Boulogne-Billancourt, it was so near Paris and crazy people could be anywhere. We both agreed that we should not live our lives in fear. We had a good catch up over dinner. We talked a bit about the Paris attack. She used to go to one of the attacked restaurants often as she had lived in that area.

There are atrocities acts happening in this world. Not just in Paris on friday the 13th. Still, this hits so near home. I used to live nearby the Stade de France where three suicide bombers killed themselves. We have to pray for world peace. Not just for Paris. My next fear is division in this country where people mistrust Muslims. Not all muslims are terrorists. And I doubt this would be the last attack. This is a difficult period for France.

Recycle my hair

Many years back, a friend posted on her FB page that she had donated her hair to http://recycleyourhair.blogspot.fr/ to make wigs for cancer patients who were losing their hair.

This beautiful gesture left a deep impression on me. Two years back, I decided to grow my hair long and donate it too. The min length is 25cm. With the cold days coming, I dread washing my hair and drying it with hair dryer. It took a long time to blow dry my hair.

I tried to keep my hair as long as possible though I knew since 2 months back that it had reached 25cm.  Two days ago, I cut my hair. It measured about 35cm at its longest. I went to the hairdresser and had my hair washed and dried properly before tying them into two ponytails. The hairdresser then snipped off the ponytails and I put them in a ziplock bag.

Now, I safekeep my hair in the drawer until I go back Singapore to recycle it. I am again keeping my hair long.....

Autumn forest

Autumn is here and the trees are dropping their colorful leaves. We often cycled in the forest on weekends and the last time, we decided to take another trail. There were mushrooms popping up here and there. The mushroom pickers had already harvested the edible ones. So I told the boys to look and leave these mushrooms alone. 

I love cycling with the family and the dog on a lovely sunny autumn day.

Valloire village festival

On the last night at Valloire during our summer holidays, it was the village festival. Once dusk arrived, a procession of decorated tractors strolled slowly into town. It was a sight for us, the Singaporeans and my boys. 

The villagers used their low budget creativity to come up with interesting decoration.There was music playing from most tractors-pulled wagons and local delights were handed out for tasting. The atmosphere was more than friendly, it was familial. A passing boy took out sweets from his pockets and gave some to A1 and A2.

 After the procession, we headed to a big tent for some traditional music and dance of this region. It was entertaining.

The highlight for that night was fireworks set off with the mountains as the backdrop. Just beautiful. What a treat we had to make this holiday unforgettable.

Fall is here

We ordered firewood for our winter. Our neighbour(the last house at the background) told me that this wood supplier provided good, dry wood. So we ordered 5 steres of 40cm wood which would fit nicely into our fireplace.

As the wood were cut smaller in size, thus lighter and easier to transport, everyone in the family helped out. In no time, we had the wood stacked up beside the garden shed waiting for the first cold night for us to start a fire. That shouldn't be long. 

On 19 September, we attended the Singapore 50th birthday event organised by the Singapore Embassy. Seb enjoyed the good wine served by a witty barman. The boys played with other children their age and at one moment, was sitting in front of the laptop which was projecting the National Parade. Somehow my boys loved the Singapore National Parade. When I showed it to them on Youtube on each national day, they could watch the whole program for a good two hours.

As for me, I met up with Singaporean friends and got to know new ones. I also met the new ambassador who was really friendly and approachable.

 Each kid was given a special edition SG50 lego set. My boys were lucky.

After a day in Paris, I joined my girlfriends to catch the night lights in Chartres. This yearly light show is ending in mid Oct. Though the light show was almost the same each year, I still enjoyed the ones at the Chartres Cathedrale.

We had a late dinner at a creperie which was full of humour. Just look at the wall decoration.

In the streets, there were living statues. With the chilling night, they had to be so cold staying so still with so little clothes on. We were hoping they won't catch a cold.

 We ended the night late and I reached home around 1am. It was a long day.

The next day, we had friends over for lunch. As it was the Heritage weekend, most museums and castles were opened for free. We headed to the Rambouillet Castle for a free visit and also walked to Laiterie de la Reine (The Queen's dairy). We understood that over here, milk were kept fresh if ever the Queen would want to come for a drink from Versailles.

We had a good stroll of almost two hours. The boys were complaining but they were good walkers. What a busy weekend. And this weekend was no exception. I shall explain that in the next post.

A beautiful day at Valloire

We spent a morning walking two donkeys with the boys on them. We were able to put our bags on the donkeys too. The boys enjoyed the rides a lot. As for us adults, we took turns to pull the donkeys. Most of the time, they walked nicely beside us. That was until they saw some delicious plants or flowers on the side of the path and stubbornly stopped and grazed. We could not make them moved unless they had a few bites of what they want.

We walked through the forest to reach an exposition of sculptured straws and hays. It was interesting what we could do with just some wire and straws.

 We took photos and fed the donkeys carrots as their reward. We then headed back to the stable.

When we were walking towards the uptown, we saw some climbers on the steep rock. That's real rock climbing.

After lunch, we headed to the pools. A1 tried the pool slide as it was for 6 years old and above. We told him to sit down before sliding down while we waited for him at the bottom. We waited a while for him and was starting to be worried not seeing him. Finally he arrived and told us the slide was not slippery at all. He had to use his hands to slide himself down. But he had fun and for the subsequent slides, he lay on his back and slid down faster.

After a few tries, A2 joined his brother. Seb and I took turns swimming. It was wonderful to be swimming out doors with the mountains in sight. What a change.