March 15, 2007
Viena
Oras pe care, in cateva cuvinte l-as descrie ca monumental, opulent si putin cam rece ca si atmosfera generala.
Sambata am nimerit intr-o zi ploioasa si friguroasa dar totusi am vazut tot centrul care contine majoritatea cladirilor impresionante, destul de recente comparativ cu Praga bunaoara. In Viena nu sunt stradute pitoresti, inguste din evul mediu, sugrumate de turisti dezlantuiti ca aici. In shimb sunt bulevarde largi cu piete intinse si cladiri demne de o fosta capitala de imperiu.
Dupa cum banuiti probabil majoritatea cladirilor de genul celor de mai sus sunt fie muzee, palate sau institutii care pot fi vizitate. Nici nu vreau sa ma gandesc cate bogatii sunt pe dinauntru daca pe dinafara fac o impresie monumentala. Oricum n-am fi avut timp sa le colindam.
Cred ca una din cele mai vechi cladiri este biserica Sf Stefan, care dealtfel a fost si una din cele mai impresionante cladiri pe care le-am vazut.
Mi-a placut ca nu era asa puzderie de turisti ca in Praga si ca lumea vorbea engleza bine cam peste tot. Si ca tramvaiele sunt suspect de line, cele mai line din cate am vazut pana acum, in totala opozitie cu alea din Bucuresti unde tre' sa te tii de bara si cand stai pe scaun ca sa nu zbori pe geam. Metroul avea in componenta si vagoane de tramvai uneori si lua aer destul de des, iesind la suprafata din loc in loc.
Dunarea mi s-a parut neimpresionanta ca si amenajare, parca eram la Galati (no offense domnu Adi - apropo au si ei un turn din ala chiar lg Dunare in care probabil ca mult mai scump decat pe plai moldovinesc), la modul ca n-am auzit sa fie nici poduri spectaculoase, nici amplasamente dragute pe malurile ei, desi poate ma insel.
La metrou, destul de multi drogati cereau bani fara jena cu politistu care manca gogosi la 10 m mai incolo. Aveau aia niste fete nene de-ti ingheta sangele in vine... Kind of a cultural shock there... Vio povestea cum intr-un weekend au vazut pe unu in curu gol, ciuruit de seringi, alergand de nebun pe la metrou.
Sambata seara am zis sa experimentam o cafenea vieneza, atat de specifica locului. Am identificat una dragutica in drum spre casa si am purces. Inauntru, pustiu. Ne-am asezat noi putin cam contrariati de ce e asa gol sambata seara. Eu am incercat un atat de specific snitel vienez, o cafea 'scurta' care am sperat sa-mi aminteasca de cafeaua din Portugalia dar n-a prea reusit, si o prajitura despre care am citit ca ar fi iarasi celebra si specifica, Sacher torte. Bune, n-am ce zice, insa locul, desi arata destul de bine nu era tocmai tipic vienez. Asta din cauza ca meniul era in mare italian, personalul era ceh (ce mandru am fost sa identific limba asta binecuvantata de consoane) iar muzica era de la radio (ceva comercial) cand ar fi fost dragut ceva clasic vienez.
Caminul Violetei pare facut de romani, este nou-nout, arata foarte bine insa ii lipsesc detalii insesizabile initial dar care fac o diferenta destul de mare: n-are fereastra la bucatarie, si nici hota, un frigider miiic-mic pt 3 persoane, vesela canci, rafturi de cacao in care nu incap bine lucruri, samd... totul pentru o suma destul de frumusica platita in fiecare luna. In schimb, are cel mai rapid lift cu care am mers pana acum, creca face 10 etaje in mai putin de 10 secunde...
A doua zi am vazut palatul Schonbrun care pe vremea asta arata cam dezolant cu gradinile alea chele dar impunator nevertheless. Erau destul de multi romanasi pe-acolo, suprinzator turisti si nu capsunari-betonisti, dar ne-suprinzator printre turistii astia romani, ghiolbani care puneau mana pe niste sani de statui si pipite de bani gata care se conversau in gol pe teme total neinteresante si-si plimbau fundurile in mertane cu numere de B.
Cea mai interesanta atractie a fost casa celor 100 de ape, o cladire foarte ciudata in care locuiesc oameni. Cladirea e in trepte si are terasa cu gradina si copaci pe fiecare nivel, podelele sunt ondulate si ferestrele sui. Trebuie sa fie cel putin interesant sa locuiesti acolo.
Viena se preteaza la vizitat intr-un weekend si chiar intr-o zi intreaga daca esti harnic si grabit, m-as fi asteptat sa fie mai multe de vazut si ne temeam ca n-o sa avem timp. N-am vazut chiar toate chestiile, logic dar am acoperit mare parte din chestiile turistice.
Cel mai frumos, am ajuns eu sa cred, e atunci cand locuind in oras, descoperi locuri izolate care au ceva special numai pentru tine poate, nepoluate de turisti si care ajung sa-ti placa mai mult decat locatiile ultrafolosite, de parca turistii tocesc frumusetea locului cu toate privirile lor avide. Am devenit constient de asta aici in Praga, unde sunt incredibil de multi.
Sunt convins ca sunt si in Viena locuri din astea pe care n-am sa le experimentez niciodata probabil. Dar ca si impresie generala, mi se pare un oras pentru oameni bogati si conservatori, nostalgici dupa imperialismul apus. Praga mi se pare mai calduroasa si mai joviala prin dealurile ei, poduri, castel si orasul vechi.
Albumul cu toate pozele e aici.
Posted by
Florin
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23:50
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Labels: travel
March 9, 2007
Despre accesibilitate, civilizatie si cat de norocosi suntem
Aseara cand ieseam de la metrou mi s-a intamplat din nou sa vad un nevazator care circula pe cont propriu prin zona, ajutat fiind, la prima impresie, doar de un banal baston.
Cand ma pregateam sa urc scarile rulante el dadea sa urce pe cele obisnuite, si in timp ce urcam am auzit o voce care spunea ce iesire este si, probabil (nu stiu chiar atat de bine ceha cu tot cu lectiile pe care le iau la firma) si faptul ca iesirea are scari rulante, asa ca tipul s-a indreptat spre scarile rulante.
Acum, oricat de bine este dotata statia de metrou banuiesc ca trebuie sa ai si un echilibru foarte bun ca sa te urci pe scarile rulante fara sa vezi nimic. La capat m-am gandit c-ar fi bine sa-l astept si sa-l ajut insa tipul a pasit foarte increzator folosindu-se de baston ca sa simta sfarsitul scarilor.
Iesirea era spre o statie de autobuz unde asteptam si eu, tipul a identificat panoul unde sunt trecute autobuzele si s-a asezat imediat langa el.
In momentul in care a sosit un autobuz, ma asteptam sa intrebe pe cineva ce numar e, insa tipul a scos o mica telecomanda din buzunar iar din autobuz, vocea care anunta statiile si faze din astea, i-a spus ce numar e si pana unde merge.
Eu unul am ramas destul de impresionat de infrastructura pentru persoanele dizabilitate care exista in Praga, unul din motivele pentru care vad destul de multi oameni dizabilitati avand o viata activa.
La inceput chiar ma intrebam daca cehii au asa multe probleme in general, pe cand de fapt problema e ca la noi acesti oameni sunt prizonieri in propriile case, in lipsa oricarei infrastructuri care sa le ofere un cadru mai bun pentru mobilitate.
Si cand exista intentii din astea, sunt implementate complet idiot, gen rampe pentru carucioare in unghi de 45% (poate am exagerat, dar oricum unghi impracticabil) samd...
Iar intamplarea de-aseara m-a facut inca odata recunoscator pentru faptul ca inca am toate simturile in stare de functionare si ca deobicei nu dam 2 bani pe asta. Poate daca am fi constienti de asta si de multe altele nu ne-am mai plange asa mult de toate celelalte neajunsuri care par glume fata de astfel de probleme.
Weekend placut tuturor ;)
Posted by
Florin
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15:45
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Labels: issues
January 16, 2007
First entry
This is much better than the dreaded yahoo 360, or so I've been told.
The older posts are migrated from here.
Posted by
Florin
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14:58
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Labels: info
January 12, 2007
Cracovia - Yo-ho-ho, merry new year! (II)
The following days (27-8-9) me and Cristina visited Cracovia. For those who don't know she's my lovely girlfriend
Krakow is a really nice historic city, less tourist crowded than Prague, kind of an Iasi situated in a better context. The whole center is surrounded by a park giving it a pleasant look. I think there was the biggest square I've ever seen, 200x200 sq meters. Other than that, the castle, of course with a view over the river (I guess this is repeating itself a bit everywhere) and a really nice inner yard(repeating again everywhere there's a castle in a way or the other), a church inside the yard (!!!) and everything you'd expect to find by now in a castle. Don't think I wasn't impressed by it or anything, it was really beaauuuutifull. It's just that old cities in Europe tend to look very much alike by my mind.
The food was also quite similar to the czech ones. I admit it tasted a bit better. We were in a really nice restaurant, half 'rustic' half really elegant right in front of the theater. Beer's twice the price as in Prague btw :p.
On the 28th there was Ioana's birthday, we went out with the trainees from Krakow to a club where they almost didn't let Cristina in because of id checking, I guess she didn't look 21 to them
On our last day we visited the jewish quarters, the getto and Schindler's factory. For me it was quite emotional having known that all I've seen in the movie actually happened right before my eyes some 60years ago. The getto was looking very grim, all the buildings seemed to be left to crumble on purpose. The really cloudy, gloomy day also added to the effect after 2 days of bright sunshine.
The jewish quarter though had plenty of good looking buildings, fancy narrow alleys and synagogues. We also had the traditional kind of polish pizza, the zapekanka or something like that, cheese, mushrooms and spices on a loaf of toast bread with butter with salami or other kinds of toppings. Interesting stuff, good especially if hungry :)
For the drinks, one shouldn't miss the Zubrovka (Jubrovca), traditional polish vodka, very aromatic and with a herb inside :) The combination of that and apple syrup (Juberek) is totally irresistable to girls (or so I've herd) :p
We had a really good time in Kracow and i totaly recommend it to everyone :) especially if u have friends living there (unfortunatelly the Ions -Ionut+Ioana- ended their stay there).
So until they'll post their side of the story on our visit there, take my word for what i said was very close to the truth
Posted by
Florin
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00:40
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January 9, 2007
Yo-ho-ho, merry new year! (I)

Since it's been quite some time since my last post I'll be mixing some of the events that just happened in some kind of wintery tale which is actually not so wintery (it rained a lot these days).
For you own good I'll split it into smaller chapters so that it's easier to digest.
Part I - za bighining
Being my first x-mas without my family and also in another country I expected I'd get less into the atmosphere but actually it turned out to be quite nice. It all started with the x-mas decorations from Ikea, very nice and cheap. Having the decorations we had no excuse for not getting a x-mas tree. In the search for the tree we ran into some guys that were also selling the traditional x-mas meal to-be: the wonderful carp! They were selling it right next to the x-mas trees so there was a high chance we'd get a slightly different smell than we would expect in our living room. We found then another place where me and Raluca got a really nice one. They were nice enough to chop the bottom to fit in the support as well and nicely wrapped it in a net. The tree was a hit! It's still vigorously pointing its branches towards the ceiling.
Then there came the visitors, 10ks of maize flour for the long craved 'mamaliga' which will last probably the whole year, fried home-made sausages in lard, hard-core sheep cheese, smoked cheese, 'belly' cheese and all other kinds of such romanian x-mas delicacies. And what would x-mas be without the magnificent sarmale? Well we had to make them so they brought the appropriate leaves :D and they turned out to be delicious. For those of you whose mouths are already watering as you're reading, I apologize but I really felt like sharing this . To the others, well you've either had them recently or you don't know what the f**k i'm writing about in which case you need to come to Romania :D
So having ended the food paragraph, I'm moving on to the x-mas morning. We had nice presents under the tree in the morning and then we had lunch again which was thoroughly quenched by Jidvei, Cotnari and such other kinds of Romanian wine :p
Having ended the drinking paragraph (for now), I'll get to the next days in the next post.
Posted by
Florin
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03:34
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