The Paris of the East

A long week end in Budapest was a nice mid-winter break (not to mention a brief honeymoon!) 

Budapest is a city over the Danube river - its unification goes back to November 1873. Buda is on the west bank of the river and Pest is on the east bank.

We could taste a lot of nice hearty and food at the Christmas Markets on Vörösmarty square - I think this is a pork skewer with some cabbage!

This is the Hungarian Parliament Building (I took a picture while "cruising" on the Danube) - it is the largest building in all of Hungary and the tallest in Budapest. 

 My favourite part was absolutely the Széchenyi Thermal Baths - only a few minutes outside the city centre... the water comes from 2 different thermal springs. The outside pool is 38°C and the outside temperature was about 4°C - you can get massages, go into the Finnish sauna and run ice on yourself before you go back to the the hot pool!

 

Night view from the Danube River

Bologna love

Just spent a few days in my hometown, Bologna. 

Sometimes I forget how pretty it is... and then I remind myself there must be a reason why I am getting married here next year!

This is the Basilica of Saint Petronius - the first stone was laid in 1390 and it is an impressive landmark in Bologna city centre. The front of the church has been undergoing massive restoration works and it has been hidden for the last 3years. It looks stunning now!

Another thing that keeps me coming back here is my amazing friends and family... 

Always there for me, no matter what the distance and all you need is a pizza order to get together and act like this! I love them.

Flying back to the UK this afternoon - with a suitcase full of cheese and heartful of love! 

Tudo muito bom

Spent just under a week in Portugal. 

Lisboa is a really nice city, lovely and sunny walks along the sea front. 

Not to mention the coffee - they really know how to rock it in continental Europe (soz UK!) 

The city has still got some of his medieval flavour - the Alfama quarter constituted the whole Portuguese city during the times of the Moorish domination.

And you can hop on the bright Tram 28 - it goes up very narrow street, with very sharp corners so hold on tight!

And this is Rua Augusta Arch, to commemorate the city reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.

She was a day-tripper!

Summer is pretty much finished - weather hasn't been great for the last week or so, already caught my first cold of the season... But I had time to do some day trips here and there while the sun was still shining on the British Islands. 

Me and my dad went for a day out in New Brighton - just across the river from Liverpool. The wind was really strong but we had a nice day out on English beach, with all that involves: fish&chips, lots of sand blown everywhere by the wind and a pint in the beer garden!

The lighthouse at New Brighton beach ... the water was cooooold!

Also took a day trip to York - only got to spend a few hours there but loved it. Old pubs, old cobbled street and the York Minster, the old Cathedral dates back to 1220 and it reminded me of the churches on the continent....  

The last trip of all was a week end in Edinburgh, in occasion of the Fringe Festival. It's the largest art festival in the world, with more than 300 venues and show going on until late at night ... the comedian of the one we saw at 00:45 am started  the show asking "how dirty do you want this to get?" The city is beautiful but it gets even more lively, busy and intense over the month of August when the festival is on. Managed to see 12 show in 3 days, we really packed it but I had a really nice time and I cannot wait to go back for the third round next year! 

The Edinburgh Castle, built on a volcanic rock

Suitcases

On a whim, my uncle and his family - who were in London on holidays, came to see me in Liverpool. A long bus tour from the capital but the city presented them with some sun (!!) and I was very happy to see them.

I have been away from Italy for over six years and, the way things are now, chances are I am not going to go back. Your family goes on without you and you learn to live without them - but the love and the feeling that you have that something you are always going to share with them knows no boundaries.

It was so lovely to have a chat with them and talk about memories and people with all know. We also went to the Beatles Museum, had fish&chips, visited Chinatown and went for a walk on Albert Dock :)

And this is us: sitting on John King's 1998 sculpture, A Case History - in Hope Street, Liverpool. It's a group of various suitcase and luggage, all in concrete and scattered on the side of the road. They belong to known people linked with Liverpool - but to me it's more like an analogy with my life. Away from home but trying to make a home and feeling at home.  

English gelato... why not?

The 99 is an ice cream cone, made with soft ice cream with a Cadbury Flake bar inserted in it and it's very popular during the British summer (!) - it's a vanilla-flavoured ice cream and you can get chocolate or strawberry syrup on it.

The ice cream van goes around and plays its little song so that the kids come out and get some ice creams... I have heard the ice cream van until 10 pm in some areas, but that is a different story... 

This is me having a cheeky little 99 in Victoria Park, London - it was nice! And apparently, it has got a little bit of Italian history attached to it... 

Ask.com says that: 

A 99 ice cream was so called to appeal to the Expat Italians, who dominated the UK when the ice-cream was created. According to them, anything special or elite was named 99 after the monarch king of Italy's guard which comprised of 99 bodyguards. The ice cream is usually made of ice-cream served in a cone with a flake 99.

Wikipedia, instead:

Another possibility, is that it was named by Italian ice-cream sellers (many from mountainous areas in the Veneto, Trentino, Bellunese, and Friuli) in honour of the final wave of conscripts from the First World War, born in 1899 and referred to as "i Ragazzi del 99" - the Boys of '99. They were held in such high esteem that some streets in Italy were named in honour of them. The chocolate flake may have reminded them of the Alpine Regiment's hat, with a long dark feather cocked at an angle.

Day out in Venice, "the Queen of the Adriatic"

On a flying visit from the UK to Bologna, we took a day out to go to Venezia, Venice, Venedig... The city built on 118 different little islands, famous for the canals and the gondolas.

The view from the bridge just outside the station of S. Lucia

I had been there before and I clearly remember the feeling of walking out from the station, right onto the canals and to think that this city was something special. We only had a few hours to explore, we went to the most famous Piazza San Marco and had a look at the Palazzo Ducale.

We walked around until we reached the "Ponte dei Sospiri" - the Italian for Bridge of Sighs. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells.

Il Ponte dei Sospiri

On the Ponte di Rialto

Tourists in the 'Pool

Two of my best friends came all the way from Bologna this week end, including a flight in the early morning which means they are leaving Liverpool tonight at 2:30 am and that I appreciate... I had to do my best to make them enjoy their visit!

So we went for a typical roast dinner in the pub on Sunday - with roast beef, broccoli, spuds, Yorkshire pudding and gravy (the gravy and the broccoli did not go down well!) as well as a walk around the city.

Liverpool is one of the few city that has got two Cathedrals: the Metropolitan one, Catholic and the Anglican one. 

The Anglican is 189 mt long and it's the longest cathedral in the world; in terms of overall volume, Liverpool Cathedral ranks as the fifth-largest cathedral in the world. Believe me, it's massive - inside and out!

Here we are in front of the Catholic Cathedral, built in the 60's as a result of the the Catholic population of Liverpool increasing under the Irish influence. Ultra modern church that can accommodate more than 2,300 people - very different from all the churches we are used to in Italy so well worth a visit.

Photos by Michele - grazie! :D

When mother came to visit

Ryanair has kindly opened a new route: Manchester to Bologna! This has made me really happy and made it a lot easier for people to come see me in the UK...

First one to take this opportunity was MAMMA: she jumped on the plane, ready to cook and clean (thanks!) for a whole week for me and just to say "thanks" I bought ourselves some tickets to go and see "Let It Be - The musical"

They had people up and dancing in the whole theatre and it was a really good gig - they featured over 40 Beatles songs and, being in  Liverpool, it was no surprise everyone was up and singing! Thumbs up for the "Sgt. Pepper's lonely hearts club band" bit when they wore the full clothes the Beatles had! 

Me and the mother posing in front of the poster in the Empire Theatre

Spring at Albert Dock

Liverpool is a really nice city to live in - and when the weather is nice, it's even better.

You can go for walk down at the Albert Dock (which I keep calling "Pier" after the one in Ireland but anyway...) - Wikipedia says:

Today the Albert Dock is a major tourist attraction in the city and the most visited multi-use attraction in the UK, outside of London. It is a vital component of Liverpool's UNESCO designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City and the docking complex and warehouses also comprise the largest single collection of Grade I listed buildings anywhere in the UK.

... and we believe it :)

The sunset was stunning last night and I can really "smell" the spring coming...
Hope it's a good 'un!

The central part of the docks, where ships used to load and unload

The view from the Mersey onto the Wirral peninsula, just on the side side from Liverpool

I am Robin Hood

Was meeting with a friend halfway through the UK:
me: Liverpool - she: London - us: Nottingham, for the week end.


We were busying ourselves with: 

visiting the castle, having a drink in the oldest pub in England (the "Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn" established in 1189AD), having a nice Thai dinner (not so old), having another drink in a studentish pub , visiting the Old Gaol (really nice interactive museum, were the guides tell you stories and you are pretending to be a convict! if only they really did send me off to Australiaaaaa), having a drink in a magnificent church that has been turned into a bar!

An auld door at the Castle

The Church-bar 

Happy New Year (of the horse)!

Yes, I know... December is long gone but the Chinese come round in their own time.

Went down to celebrate Chinese New Year in Liverpool - which is allegedly the oldest Chinese community in Europe.

Saw the dragon, smelled the fireworks (I am really short), ate some siu mei (well, I think...) and browsed around the Asian supermarkets in city centre.  

Now I fancy some seaweed pringles. 

the Chinese arch in Liverpool 

and the dragon!