Friday, 31 July 2009
Drastic times...
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Night 18
Day 18 - Still in Alpine heaven.
The predicted storms didn’t come and its been perfect weather everyday so far. We have encountered fellow Brits for the first time on the trip. They pulled onto the pitch opposite us in a ‘beauty’ of a motorhome as we were having our evening meal. The satellite dish went up and automatically started scanning the sky, Olivia asked about it and was told by Stu that it was searching for a TV signal so they can watch TV in their motorhome. Olivia’s comedy pause was used again before saying ‘ well Dad, you should have brought a motorhome’.
More bad news for Stu, Olivia has befriended a boy – he is even referred to as her ‘boyfriend’. Really bad news is he is tanned, good looking and Italian – Stu is seriously considering burning the passports.
Admittedly we have fed the children some strange (to them) food in different colours and sizes to what we get at home, but that does still not excuse Eloise chasing up the path after a man carrying a 2-man yellow kayak shouting ‘ banana, banana’.
This place still has a Cummins family rating of excellent and its not even the ‘jewel of the Slovenian lakes’ that’s up the road at Lake Bohinj.
PS You will see Stu's not that far into his homework!
FOD:
After gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 and was the first ex-communist state to join the Euro currency in 2007.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Day 16 Lake Bled, Slovenia
Well we have found one of Europe’s best kept secrets. The Slovenian lake district is stunning. The pictures don’t quite do it justice as there is (yet another) storm brewing for tonight, but the forecast for the next 5 days is about 29C and sunny – perfect!
Got to dash, Stu busy on BBQ duty and there’s a (medicinal) G&T waiting…
Seem to be having a problem uploading photos but will try again tomorrow.
FOD:
The world’s largest ‘oceanic’ lake is the Caspian Sea, (143,000 Sq miles) the world’s largest continental lake is Lake Michigan-Huron (45,000 Sq miles).
Day 15 Zagreb
We are both really pleased we made this stop a 1 nighter. Zagreb seemed a bit disappointing after such beautiful cities previously. It is probably wrong of us to try and compare but it felt like in 1 afternoon and evening we had seen it all, unlike Budapest where 1 day just doesn’t cover it. We’re all citied out, I think, and everyone is really looking forward to tomorrow when we leave for 5 nights on Lake Bled in Slovenia followed by 6 nts on the Istrian coast of Croatia and then 7nts at an Italian beach resort north of Venice. Yes, we know, we are lucky!
From the pics you will see that Lewis was not the only Brit to beat Ferrari in Hungary as we beat the F1 team to the tolls (shame on you – those who are thinking ambulance jokes).
We told the girls that the bench was a statue of Grandad, hence the loving looks – creeps!
Funny of the day came from yours truly when I was reading the rules of Croatian roads to Stu and wasn’t concentrating and told him ‘you need 2 safety triangles, your dipped headlights on at all times and crash helmets for the driver and any passengers’. Think I may have wandered into the motorcycle section although Stu’s face was a picture. One princess slams his cooking one day and then another his driving the next!
FOD: The necktie was invented in Croatia and is locally known as "cravat".
Monday, 27 July 2009
Day 14 - Zoo pics cont.
Stu cooked some fresh pasta and made garlic bread for dinner and I remarked ‘who needs restaurants for fine dining’ there followed a comedy pause after which Olivia (age 4 ½) simply said ‘I do – this tastes funny’. We will eat out in Zagreb tomorrow.
FOD:
Although Budapest zoo was great it is not the worlds biggest, that is Berlin Zooligical Gardens that houses over 14,000 animals of 1500 species and has 2.6 million visitors a year.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Day 13 Budapest
What a fantastic city, what a fantastic day.
After the big storm last night (that our resident weather expert did not predict) it was a chilly wet start to the day but it soon warmed up. We started the day with a walk around Budapest’s food larder – the local market. Stu got a huge string of dried chillis for less than a pound. Then it was off to the ‘posh’ coffee shop (guide book speak, bit of a let down really after Betty’s). The girls thought they had died and gone to heaven with ice cream for lunch (see separate blog)! We walked off the stodge around Pest, the modern, edgy half of the city. Did a ‘blog’ stop in the sun before crossing over the Danube on the Chain Bridge to Buda and the castle district. Fortunately they had a funicular railway to the top. The guide books say that the walk heightens the rewards of the view but I think lazy people can be impressed too. A stroll to the ‘fisherman’s bastion’ best described as a fairy tale wall (our speak not guidebook) with a slightly Moroccan feel. We ended our day in the main pedestrian street in Pest, with a pre-dinner drink in the evening sun before a traditional Hungarian meal in an Italian pizza place! The dusk tram ride home was beautiful and made a wonderful end to a lovely day.
We’ve enjoyed Budapest so much that we are staying an extra day and taking the girls to the city zoo tomorrow. Unfortunately that means a really busy Monday with a drive to Zagreb and then straight into the city for an afternoon of sightseeing and an evening meal.
FOD:
The cheapest family ticket to the F1 GP tomorrow is 330Euros! Thats general admission with no seat! Gutted.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Day 12 Journey to Budapest
This morning we appreciated what a lucky escape we had had when the staff spent over 2 hours clearing the storm damage from the pitch next door to ours, including some big timbers that had fallen from directly above us but had landed about 2’ away! Our local weather expert (guess who?) says lightening doesn’t strike twice so he isn’t going to bother with the storm lashings anymore…I will keep you posted.
Our 3 hour journey to Budapest was uneventiful – we even paid the tolls (remote video sensing you see). We are staying about 5km out of the city in a campsite with pool and large water slide much to Olivia’s excitement. You know when your husband has harmed your child when she passes comment on a large American style motor home with (said in a Geoffrey Boycott style North Yorkshire accent) “Mummy, that is a beauty”. Stu sat her down with some quadratic equations later to see if that is passed on.
Tomorrow is forecast to cool down from the mid 30’s to the mid 20’s making it ideal to enjoy the sights – and coffee/cake shops of Budapest.
PS I have decided that I don’t like the job of picking out our pitch anymore, because I get it in the neck when the site is not level etc etc… this particular pitch is nice and shady but unfortunately our wheels are off the ground to compensate for the undulating ground…. My fault apparently!
PPS As long as my beautiful undemanding wife is happy, my life is complete.
FOD:
In 1938 Lassisiao Jose Biro, a Hungarian journalist invented the ball point pen ( In 1939 he was found dead in a washing machine – or does that just happen to my Biros?)
Night 11!
Having had a very pleasant evening self-tour of Vienna’s sights all lit up we returned with the most amazing electric storm lighting up the sky above. The local weather expert (Stu) informed us that it would not necessarily lead to rain. I think you will see what happened next from the photos! Stu said it was the heaviest rain storm he had ever witnessed, it actually hurt when it hit you – so I’m told. For me, it was a truly awful storm, I had to put down my wine glass to take pictures of Stu struggling to get the awning down before the storm did the job.