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October colors (Helsinki, October 2015)

Today I took an early morning walk at Arabianranta and Lammassaari looking for Autumn colors. The Sun just started to rise so I cought those first beautiful rays. I took some pics on film too, can´t wait to see them printed. Any suggestions for a good lab in Helsinki? :)

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Midsummer fog (June 2015, Helsinki)

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Tartu, Estonia (June 2015)

Last weekend we took a short trip to Tartu, Estonia. H used to study there for three years and he visits the city every year since he graduated. It´s a lovely little university town with beautiful sites, large green areas and a very lively city centre. Somehow I never really understood his enthusiasm about Tartu, so I always thought I should visit it to see why it´s such a special place.

I have to say I was surprised how cool this city is! There are a lot of little pubs, restaurants and cafes where you can get drinks and food for a reasonable price that even students can afford. You kinda have the feeling that everywhere you go you bump into friends and you can always find something really fun to do. The last weekend, for example was all about sports. They built up a beach volley field in the middle of the centre, and they had the colour-run competition.

H showed me the Cathedral, The city library, the two bridges along the huge city park. We walked to the cute railway station and wondered around the wooden houses in Supilinn (the area is famous for its streets named after soup ingredients).

If you want to eat well, you should definitely go to the Dolce Vita, the pizza is just amazing!! And if you want to grab a beer and just chat with friends, try Illegaard. For those who like a bit more stylish places, the Meet Market is the bar to go! It has a minimal, very nice, stylish interior. Oh, try some fantastic cocktails there! In the morning, one of the best cafes to have that wake-up coffee and fresh pastry, is the Verneri (Verneri Kohvik).

All in all, I really enjoyed the city. “There is just something about it...it sticks with you” - as H says. ;)

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Tartu, Estonia - Botanical Garden (June, 2015)

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Weir (Helsinki, April 2015)

Today we took a long walk in Arabia - Vanhakaupunki. I´ve seen this weir several times, I´ve taken several pictures of the water rushing down. Still, today it looked different...

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Shelter for the nights: ryokan and capsule hotel (Kyoto,October 2014)

We booked one night in the capsule hotel (9hours hotel) just to get the feeling...we were not brave enough to spend more time there. Actually,I was pleasantly surprised. It´s cheap, it´s clean and it´s comfortable for an average height-woman. For the men, well...I´m not so sure. The place is futuristic. You leave all your belongings at the reception, you have to fit all valuables in a tiny locker and the rest is just left at a common area. Women and men shower and sleep on separate floors, there is absolutely no possibility to interact. There are even separate elevators. Showers are funny, because they are designed in a way that even though they open from a common place, the shower and the changing room is for one person only. It´s like the changing rooms in shops: 1 corridor with several little cabins. The capsules cannot be locked, so it´s quite tricky to fall asleep. Basically you hear everything happening on the corridor. I had a quite alright sleep, but apparently in the men´s section there was some horrible snoring going on...:)

Another night we spent at a traditional ryokan. It´s over 100 years old building, and it is run by a family. They are really nice and polite people,who welcome guests with home-made sweets and green tea. After a long, very tiring day it was nice to relax a bit in the traditional Japanese bath. First you take a shower and then you lay in a big bamboo tab filled with very hot water. It´s the Japanese sauna. The tatami for me was a bit too hard surface to sleep on, but honestly I was so tired I didn´t really mind it. To top the traditional Japanese experience, we were offered breakfast in the morning with miso soup, green tea, fish, egg role, rice and pickles.Very delicious!

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Arashiyama (October, 2014)

It feels like I could post at least 50 posts about Japan. During our stay, I took over 2000 pics, out of which I selected about 800 for photo books and print. I know, it is a lot. But I simply couldn´t be more strict and decide what to show and what to leave behind. Here is how it works for me: if I take a digital photo and not print it or not set it in a photo book (and then print it), the photo most likely just ends up on one of my hard drives and it can be years without me looking at them again. So I made a resolution some time ago: I print some of them, I make photo-books with the stories and memorable moments. When it´s printed, every now and then I notice them on the shelf and it feels good to browse through the pages. Or show them to guests.

But that is another story...

So, Arahiyama. The district belongs to the North-Western part of Kyoto and it is famous for the beautiful bamboo groves, the scenic train path travelling through the wooded hills and the incredible moss everywhere. I was very excited to see all of this. Unfortunately the district was completely packed with tourists, so it was a bit of annoyance (especially being the part of the problem;)). However, I can´t complain, because I got to see the groves at their best. There was a little wind, which made the thin, tall trees swaying back and forth, having the feeling like there is a huge green carpet flying above you.I especially liked the Gio-ji Temple on the Arashiyama hill. It is a tiny Buddhist temple with a magnificent moss garden well hidden from the main walking street. You find several moss types in this garden laying all around it.

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Kyoto (October, 2014)

If Tokyo is the center of sky scrapers, everything high-tech and everything weird, then Kyoto must be the home of culture,  art, Japanese gastronomy and spirituality. The zen gardens are designed in amazing ways, so the visitors can enjoy every part of them in every season. The Philosophers´ path is full of little art stores and studios, so if you are interested in Japanese handicraft, you should definitely visit them.

There are so many shrines, gardens and so rich history to them, that Kyoto definitely requires several days to walk through. For me, Gion was a very interesting district. It is packed with restaurants, pastry shops and ochayas (tea houses), where geikos and maikos entertain in the evenings. The tiny, traditional wooden houses, the machiya merchant houses are built with very narrow facades, because of an old property tax law. At the front side of the house, small flags mark which tea house owns it.

The Kinkaku-ji is one of the most beautiful zen temples in Kyoto. The top two floors are completely covered in gold leaves, making the main temple look like a little shiny golden box surrounded by moss, rocks and trees.

The Fushimi Inari shrine is like a fairytale site. There are thousands of red torii gates leading to the main shrine on top of a hill. It´s a bit challenging to walk up thousands of stairs, especially on a hot and humid day, but it´s worth it. Not because of the top, but because of the way...it´s foresty, mossy, rocky, with little water falls and sculptures. I really enjoyed the way up and down. The shrine is dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice, tea, sake, agriculture and industry. His messengers are believed to be foxes, therefore if you want to wish for prosperity in your life, you can pray and leave the wish written on a wooden fox-shaped board at the shrine.

The Ryoanji temple is an interesting site in Kyoto, mostly famous for its rock garden. Honestly, first I didn´t understand the meaning of the perfectly raked sand and gravel with the rocks. I learnt, that the rocks imitate the essence of nature and they help the visitor to meditate and find the true meaning of life. The sand waves symbolize water. Altogether there are 15 rocks laid down in this garden. However, from each point of view, there is always one rock hidden from the visitor´s sight.

For me, besides all the zen temples, shrines and generally the beautiful gardens, the best memories from Kyoto are the incredibly cute school kids who tried to chat with us. Apparently, it´s a school homework for each of them to have a little discussion in English with a foreigner. This is how they practice the language and learn a bit about geography. They showed us their note book with a complete conversation-scenario written down. I loved the idea: it was super-cute and very smart! And of course the kids were so nice...:) incredibly shy but polite and curious.:)

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Hiroshima & Itsukushima-island (October, 2014)

Hiroshima marked its name in the history books for the worst reasons. However, it is amazing how it managed to recover after such a disaster. There is a pretty park and bridges over the Ota River delta. At the memorial park at the Sadako Sasaki´s statue, we saw a group of school kids bringing origami cranes on strings to advocate peace. Sadako was a victim of the bombing suffering from the effects of radiation. She started folding paper cranes, because she heard - based on a Japanese tradition - that if you fold 1000 cranes, you´ll be granted a wish. She wanted to heal. For her memory, today school kids from all over Japan bring cranes to her statue. The city honors the memory of the bombing in a dignified, beautiful way. Still, you don´t have the feeling of sadness around. It´s more of the hope and strength to start it all over again.

Itsukushima-island

This island is simply the most beautiful, most memorable place for me from Japan! Seeing the torii gate getting slowly under the sea (there is a strong tide) when the Sun is setting down in the background, is just one of the loveliest miracles of nature I´ve seen. The whole island is considered to be sacred and pure. God's messengers, the tame deers are roaming free everywhere, just like in Nara. 

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Kamakura, Nara (October, 2014)

Kamakura is only about 50km from Tokyo, yet it feels like you reached a whole new world. Calm, relaxing, like a vacation paradise with sandy long beach, restaurants and small taverns. It´s almost surprising to find one of the oldest and tallest bronze Buddha statues there, close to the shore. It´s fascinating, that it survived natural disasters: earthquakes, tidal waves, fires and typhoons.

Well hidden in the woody hills you find some very nice shrines with interesting history. I really loved the Kencho-Ji Temple, which was founded in 1253 by a Chinese Zen master. Browsing through the printed guide one of his recorded sayings caught my eye: "...If you have lost your true self, all phenomena bring you nothing but annoyance. If you discover your essence of mind, you can follow nothing but the true path..." How true...

Nara was one of the most beautiful places that I´ve seen in Japan. The history, the culture and the nature are in such harmony and peace. The day we visited there was cloudy and rainy, which I really loved. As the fog appeared, it made the landscape look like there were milky curtains in front of the mountains. So nice to take pictures of the rainy gardens. =) 

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Japan II. (September-October, 2014) - A little bit of Tokyo

As the Madventures guys say, when you go to Japan, no matter what type of tourist you are, you´ll find everything and really anything you can imagine. Seriously, anything. So, whether you are a “culture snob”, a “chilled out traveller”, an “adventurer” or a “complete freak”, you´ll be in paradise. I think you can be a little bit of all…or, well an open mind certainly helps.;) And Tokyo is indeed the city the try different things and visit odd and unique places: the maid cafes, the famous robot restaurant or the largest anime shops in the world, just to begin with...

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Japan I. (September-October, 2014)

There is something you notice everywhere in Japan: politeness. I know, it is a cliche. It´s beyond saying “sorry”. It is a very strong combination of respect, tradition and self-control, I think. And it´s beautiful, pure and elegant.

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"Mökki-time", Finland (July, 2014)

They always say, if you come to Finland, you should definitely try the "mökki-experience". It means that you go to a little cottage to spend some time cut off from your "everyday-life". You are right in the middle of nature, where you can enjoy some peace and quiet.

When you are at the mökki, you trade office work to chopping wood, collecting berries and mushroom or making smaller repairs on the aitta (garner). At the end of the day you enjoy a good sauna and a swim in the crystal clear lake. Sounds like a good trade, doesn´t it? ;)

This Summer, for the first time I got to visit His grandparents´old cottage. I´ve seen a lot of pictures of the place and heard numerous stories about it, so I was more than looking forward to visit there.

His Grandpa built this cottage with his uncles in the 70´s. It´s on a steep rocky hill surrounded with beautiful trees. He has so many memories from his childhood here. Pictures, kids illustrations of fishing trips, origamis and little artwork from brothers, sisters and cousins all made here at this cottage. As I saw the walls and all these decorations, I imagined generations spending time here together.

So lovely...:) 

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Esztergom, Hungary (July, 2014)

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Visegrád castle and citadel, Danube Bend (July, 2014)

Visegrád has so much to offer to the adventurous traveller. The castle tells about majestic times with kings and queens, wars and peace treaties and the renaissance. The hills and forest guide you through the wonderful nature here.

And the panorama from the citadel...it is breathtaking.

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Paris (September 2013)

Autumn slipped into Paris yesterday,

came silently down Boulevard St Michel,

In sultry heat, past boughs sullen and still,

and met me on its way..." (Endre Ady)

When you have only one day in Paris, you want to see as much as possible. Of course you must climb the Eiffel Tower, take a stroll on Champs Elysées or visit the Notre Dame. But in the end you might just run from place to place and forget to really look around.

So I just took another approach and decided to walk a little bit to breath in a little bit of "air Parisien". 

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Colors (2013, Szeged)

Garden. It is never constant and it reflects your commitment. You cherish it and in return you witness miracles.