Delft

Welcome to the city called Delft! This city is mainly known for it's "Delft Blue" coloring. Ok let me be more clear. You know all those pretty ceramics plates and cups that have a blue painted picture, usually of a little girl on a swing and a boy holding flowers? Well that "blue" color was invented in this city called Delft. It's a small remote town, with Amsterdam like architecture, and canals stretching throughout the entire city. Also, there's a courtyard with two churches which house the tombs of some Holland King and Queen.



Ya ok ok... Enough with the culture and on with something more exciting... Well, from what I was told, this is a college town. There are a bunch of good universities, therefore mainly students live here. It's cool... We walked around and there were so many cafe's with university students all around. ohh and shopping? YES YES YES! me like :)



But I do have one complaint. Aside from cars, bicycle riders, trams, busses and motorcycles... walking is NOT SAFE! I thought I was going to get run over like 10 times. HEY PEOPLE ~ PEDESTRIANS HAVE RIGHT OF WAY!



Pix:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=ixridti.cbfawuga&Uy=ks109l&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone!!! I wish you all love and happiness.

Unfortunately I couldn't spend this day with my boy so what's a girl to do besides sitting home, getting drunk, and pigging out on chocolate?

BROADWAY! Yep... i went to the New Luxor Theater of Rotterdam. It was Elizabeth and I and we saw "The West Side Story." IT WAS THE PERFECT LOVE STORY FOR V-DAY.



But that's not all.

See, I couldn't think of the right way to name this blog. These were my choices: A.) Valentines Day B.) Luxor Theater C.) Bicycle or D.) To the theater by bike on Vday!

OK OK i think you get the hint. I did the MOST Ghettoe think ever (even for me). I bycicled to the THEATER!

Here: i have proof :)

So there you have it... I'm officially a BIKER CHICK!

Zanse Schans and Den Haag

This weekend, I had the TOTAL Dutch experience. It was kind of a random event but on friday ( 10th) I ended up in a very remote touristy town called Zanse Schans. It is known for it's very old Wind Mills. yes, if you can believe it i took a tour of a wind mill. THERE CRAZY HUGE! 3 stories high, and strong enough to grind flour and other grains. Oh and a little useless fact: if you get hit by one of the wings, it can kill you :)
















Then after playing a typical tourist, the a bunch of us met up for dinner at this great Turkish/Medetiranian place called Bazar. It was so unique. The entire place looked like a market with fruits and vegetables all around as decorations. And we ordered dinner what consised of a bunch of meat and fish which was SO DELICIOUS ( "lekker" in Dutch.)

(Elizabeth- LA, Ella- Singapore, Fahra-Turkey, me)













(Cindy- Hong Kong, Isabella- France/Holland, me, Natasha- Moscow, Anna- Germany, Ella- Singapore)

Today was another tourist day. Ella, Rene ( a dutch school friend) and I took the train and ended up in a city called Den Haag. This city is known for all the government stuff, the parliment, and queens house. The parliment courtyard is called Beninhoff ( or something like that lol) and we also hit a museum that housed many Dutch painters works. I saw the live portrait of Vemeers "Girl with a pearl earing." And after watching the movie about the painting, it was a reality check.


But the highlight of the day was "MADURADUM!" This is where a miniature model of the entire Netherlands exists. It is awsome! There's a mini Amsterdam, a mini Rotterdam, mini Schippol Airport, and even the Erasmus bridge which i cross everyday is small enough to walk through in 5 steps.



This is mini Amsterdam. That mini statue in the middle that looks like... use your own imagination, is actually about a foot long at this place as opposed to ~ 4 floors high in real life.

So it has been a fun weekend. And now? Time to study. YES I DO THAT TOO :)

PIX:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=ixridti.2gfkg70a&Uy=emqc0g&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Budapest, Hungary

Eastern Europe. You would think that it is some poor run down country with nothing to show for. Afterall, it's been "raped" by both Germany and Russia during and after the WWII. But after spending 4 days there, I have fallen absolutely in love with this city. It is stunning! There's so much history, so much culture, and overwhelming pride amongst the people. The architecture is magnificent to say the least, and although I spent only a few days there, I would love to share with whomever is reading this all that I was able to capture.

The first night we checked into a Hostel called "Agape Guesthouse." It's in the center and the rooms are very nice. We droped off our stuff, and went out to explore. It was so COLD! much colder than Rotterdam. Check out the architecture:





Don't you just love my funkey "Russian Princess" Hat???!!!



We then had dinner in a fancy restaurant called "Menza." Actually in 4 days we went there 3 times! That place is incredible!!! Cheap prices and outstanding food.



The menu is interesting though. In Hungary the currency is "Forint" and everything is in hundreds and thousands. basically, 250 Huff ( forint) = 1 Euro = ~$1.25 so for a good dinner we cashed out like 2,000 HUFF. The ZERO's were driving me CRAZY!!!



The next day we took a city tour and saw so many beautiful sites. During our time there we visited Hero's square, Parilmant, Royal Palace, Statue of Liberty, Opera House, St Mattias Church, St. Stephen's Bascilica, and many other places.



We visited "The House of Terror" which was crazy. It's a place where after the WWII the Communist party tortured and killed people who opposed the rule. There were dungens and gallows where people were hanged. It was a bit disturbing.

I think St. Stephen's Bascilica impressed me the most. It was stunning. So many paintings and sculptures. Everything was gold plated, there were tons of candles and many people were praying. I took pictures but they don't even depict 1 % of the beauty of the place.



We also visited a Turkish bath house "The Gellart." Apperantly Budapest is above natural hot springs. This particular place is so old! There were ancient moisaic frascoes all over the walls and I felt like a princess in a bath. It was a great experience.



Ofcourse we did have a bit of fun in the night life. We went to a club called "Alcatraz" and they had a salsa night. It was so cool to watch, now i wanna learn to be as good.

And Finally, we finished off the trip with a visit to the Hungarian Opera House. We saw "Othello" and again i was taken away with how great the opera was, but more so with how beautiful the theater was.



Anyways, I can go on and on about how beautiful the city is. But unfortunately I was a bit dissapointed as well. I seems to me that amongst the history and beauty all around, people are not happy. They especially weren't too thrilled with 2 American girls and 1 Singaporian wandring around. People dont speak much English there, and it was difficult to communicate. We were also cursed out and flicked off at a cafe when we ordered lunch and they said they didn't have anything. Go figure. All in the experience I guess.

I loved to visit, but I learned that after life in Los Angeles, I can never stoop to a different kind of lifestyle again. I don't think i'm better but i'm deffinately different. They don't like American's much. Yet as much as I pride my Russian roots - I'm an American Girl. So deal with it!


Side note: We saw this on the way to the bath house... i don't think there is a need for an explination :)



Want more pictures?
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=ixridti.8kmfiklm&Uy=6udtu6&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

It's SNOWING!

It was an ordinary day: I woke up, got dressed, called my boyfriend, had breakfast and went downstairs to get my bycicle. YES I GOT A BIKE! ( this is as close as it gets for my motorcycle dreams) but i'll show you the bike a bit later. So i unlocked my bike, rode it outside and to my surprise i see



No I didn't end up riding my bike. It was pretty slippery.



It's been 14 years since i've felt snowflakes. The whole neighborhood was covered in white. I love it. Remembered being 5 years old and walking in the snow ( in my cute little fur coat) to kindergarden. I just thought i'd share it with you.



So as they say " Toto, I don't think were in Kansas anymore." It's deffinately not Los Angeles.