Una Casa Abruzzese, and Two Aussies - Crossing Borders

1 to 9 Apr, 2022 - Bari, Budapest, Szentendre - (Italy, Hungary)



The stories are generally captured with the photos. With my birthday coming, we decided to head for a foreign celebration. Caught a train down to Bari, for one night, before flying out the following day.

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Seafood Dinner, Bari
Not quite warm enough to dine sans layers. But a nice evening in Bari. Check that octopus!


Fresh Produce Stall, Bari
Fruit and veg for sale in the old town of Bari.

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A solid week in Budapest, for my birthday. Marina and Akos, who cat-sat for us in Richmond a number of times in years gone by, very generously housed us in their apartment, taking time where possible to show us one hell of a good Hungarian time. (Note: reference to hell not entirely random - keep an eye out for their palinka, soon to be available in Australia, marketed under the name of "Pergatory".)

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Morning One in Budapest
Arriving in Budapest, we were graciously hosted in the apartment of Marina and Akos. They said snow was in the forecast, and we woke to the fresh layer. This will probably be our last snowfall for this winter.


Wood-fired Stove on an Old Train
Marina and Akos planned a wonderful Sunday for us. The cold and snow only added to the atmosphere and overall enjoyment. - We walked from their apartment to a point where we caught the children's railway - a train service staffed by children, who rotate in teams to keep the system running. Finding a lit stove in our carriage was a nice bonus.


Young Ticket Inspectors
The children come through, performing their duties of checking and punching our tickets. In broken English, and using Marina and Akos to translate the rest, we learn about the duties they perform as volunteers on the railway. How often they work, and how much they enjoy being involved in the gyermekvasut. Truly, this was a memorable ride.


Striking Out for our Walk
Fresh snow about, Richard and Akos, heading through suburban streets, to get to the walking trails through the forest.


Jo and Marina, Busy with a Selfie


At the Fisherman's Bastion
The Danube river, and Budapest Parliament, from Fisherman's Bastion, Buda.


Akos Brought Us to One of His Lunch Haunts
Meat, pickles, bread. Cheap and easy. What more do you need for lunch?


Wine Bar
Not what you might expect, when using the name wine bar. The majority of wines here cost a pittance, and are ladled from pots into jugs for easier pouring. The barman is also the chef, and has been running the establishment for many years. Akos used to come here in his university days.


Posh Coffee Stop
Our third time in Budapest, and our third visit to Café Gerbeaud. Full of style and character that spans scores of decades, it is a highlight treat to stop in.


Inside the Budapest Opera Building
Akos still has friends working with the recently renovated opera house, and through those connections, we were given tickets to see Mefistofele. Second row, centre, in a magnificent world renowned venue. Amazing.


Foyer, Budapest Opera House


Statues in Hero's Square
The rear part of Hero's Square is lined with statues of notable Kings, and plaques depicting memorable acts they are remembered for. Acts of service or benevolence, or power and strength, but all seen as contributions to what Hungary is today.


Vajdahunyad Castle, Budapest
Housing a couple of museums, an interesting castle to visit and walk around.


Church Entry in Vajdahunyad Castle


Inside Parliament Building, Budapest
We can't believe that we did not do a tour of this building until this trip. It was a worthwhile visit indeed, despite needing to do it in Spanish. The Italian tour was full, and the English ones were at inconvenient times.


Assembly Hall, Budapest Parliament


Brunch - So Good, We Thought We were in Melbourne
A Budapest birthday brunch. We have been missing this sort of morning dining experience, and so, for my birthday, jumped at the opportunity to have a mid morning slap up.


Leaving the Rudas Baths Complex
We visited the Rudas baths (Rudas Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda) for a few hours of relaxing and soaking at various temperatures. In most of the historic bath area it is forbidden to take photos, so a memory photo as we left will have to do;


Dinner at Stand25
Dinner at the Michelin restaurant, Stand25, for my birthday. A fantastic modern take on traditional Hungarian cuisine.

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We squeezed in one day trip out of Budapest.

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View Over Szentendre, Hungary
Not far from Budapest, and easily reached by train, Szentendre made a great day trip.


Play Time
The school was facing on this area outside the church, and we can only assume that it was play time. The kids kicked balls, and enjoyed games of "chasie", and a couple of weary looking adults, presumably teachers, watched on.


Langos
Essentially, Langos is fried bread topped with sour cream, garlic, and cheese.


Chimney Cake
Imagine a light dough, wrapped layer by layer in a long spiral on a fat piece of wood, cooked over charcoal, and sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar. There you have it, chimney cake.

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Una Casa Abruzzese, and Two Aussies - Ending Winter

24 Jan to 31 Mar, 2022 - Bomba (and surrounds), Pennapiedemonte, Capriglia, Rivisondoli - (Italy)



Winter. As aluded to in the previous blog entry, the weather for winter was far from bad. Although short, the days for most of February and March were sunny, alowing us to fill them with various outdoor activities.

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Interesting Rock Carving Along the Way
Not far from Pennapiedimonte, on one of the main walking trails, this fantastically detailed rock carving pays tribute to the locals and their lifestyles.


Jo and Patrick
Lunch stop above the snow line.


Heading Back Down to Pennapiedimonte

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We spent nearly two weeks on the other side of the valley, house sitting for Sue and Sean. Well, not so much about the casa, but way more about the pets. Sam the dog, and four cats (Ella, Sienna, Sangro, and Florence). It was a delight to have them all over us, and on more than one occasion, we had pangs of wanting feline dependents in our lives again.

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Trying to Work without Upsetting the Cats
While pet-sitting for Sean and Sue, we loved the attention that the animals would give us - to the point where we wouldn't even move them when they were uncomfortable or in the way...


The Dogs Join us for Coffee In the Morning
Sam, Sue and Sean's dog at the foot of the bed, joined by Bella, Tim and Katie's dog, who came for an overnight visit.


The Crowded Bed
Two people, four cats, and a dog. It was rather crowded most nights at Capriglia.


Feeding Time


Strike a Pose

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Yet more visitors from Aus. Flying visit by Giovanni and Chrysi. Really, we appreciated their effort and taking time to come down to Abruzzo. We hope the meal was sufficiently wonderful to justify the trip, if anything more than our company was required.

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Giovanni and Chrysi
Dinner at an Agroturismo, with course upon course of amazing food.


With Chrysi and Giovanni in Bomba
So nice to have visitors from Aus.

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And finally, two more reveals. I know they are long awaited, but when the renovations are not urgent or pressing, it becomes easy to push them back and delay, time and time again. The kitchen was done in a few smaller bursts, by ourselves. The bathroom was dictated by us, but the hard efforts were outsourced to the tireless Ilir, who smashed (quite literally at times) through the majority of tasks in about a week.

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Kitchen Before and After
Early on, we began the kitchen improvements with the new fridge and stove. Three walls of the kitchen have now been painted yellow - and Jo could not resist putting some glitter in the paint. That happened close to the end of last year, while I was in the USA. She decided to choose the time of least resistance. That said, when I came home and saw it, I was quite impressed with how it came up. The cupboards were next to get their face-lift with a lick of paint. And finally the tiles. All the painting was done by Jo - walls, cupboards, and tiles, but we did the tile stickers together. At least I can say I contributed.


Bathroom Transformation
Unlike the kitchen, the bathroom remodelling was only partly done by us. We did the planning, and chose everything, but our workhorse, Ilir, provided the manpower and expertise. Our chief objectives - larger shower that did not flood the whole bathroom, more space and a fresher look. The curved shower was a perfect fit with existing features that could not be moved. Putting the toilet on a slight angle with the high mounted cistern meant we didn't have to re plumb the sewage. Removing the bidet and putting in a compact corner basin bought us space, and mounting a new horizontal hot water service made it feel more open in there. We are rapt with the tiles we chose, although we had to do so under a bit of pressure. "Ilir, you'll need to have the tiles soon, won't you." "Yes, but no hurry. I won't need them before tomorrow." We rushed to a nearby bathroom clearance outlet with a limited, yet diverse range. Maybe because of this smaller number of options, we surprised ourselves by agreeing after only a single visit on which tiles would be best. Finally, we added tap-ware (including a snazzy little waterfall faucet), lighting, cabinetry and mirror, shelf, hooks, toilet roll holder, and so on.

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On a random walk close to home, we made a curious find, and inside that, we unearthed an even more intriguing treasure.

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Abandoned House in Bomba
Many villages in Abruzzo have abandoned and seemingly forgotten houses. Bomba is typical, with most streets having a smattering of buildings in various states of disrepair and ruin, interspersed with homes that are cared for and obviously loved. Of course, most ruined and abandoned buildings are entirely empty, or limited to 2 or 3 broken large pieces of furniture. One March day, we noticed a door ajar, and decided an explore, in our customary manner. This is what we found - a home with no sign of anyone being there since the late 1980s. Old television and fridge and scales, light fittings,, and cupboards full of crockery. But dating it was easy. The table was covered in letters and receipts, papers and magazines, most dated 1987 or so. The kitchen still had pots and pans, and the shelves upstairs still had shoes and clothes. The bed had a bedspread, but is now ruined due to the gaping hole in the roof and years of rain and weathering. We have our theory - when the owner passed, a relative has come and gone through all the papers, possibly searching for the will. Intending to return to take care of the property, they locked and left and for whatever reason, never came back.


And Amongst all the Papers...
So, in the abandoned house, on the top of the mess of papers from the 1980's, we found a "pocket map" of Melbourne with tourist attractions and useful numbers! How random!

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Finally, we got to have a few days in the proper snow. We had planned this for last year, but rolling lockdowns shelved those plans.

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Selfie on the Slopes
Skiing at Roccaraso. Home trail, last run.


Loving our Snow Trip
Jo, part way down Roccaraso. It's been a few years since we have been on the skis, but it seemed to come back quicker than even we thought it might. Like riding a bike…

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Una Casa Abruzzese, and Two Aussies - Time Apart

28 Nov to 13 Dec, 2021 - Manchester Center, Bennington, North Adams, Hartford, Norwalk, New Haven, New York City - (United States of America)



With the USA opening its borders in November, the opportunity arose for me to visit Vermont and Connecticut, for work. I spent two weeks at two customer sites, but got to see a little of both states, as well as some of Massachusetts while driving through, and a few days in New York City on my way out.

When planning the trip from JFK airport to my first site, in Manchester Center, Vermont, I had been looking at Maps so I could arrange a check in with the Bed and Breakfast. Given the arrival time, and the amount of distance to be covered, I made a forecast in my head that had me at my accommodation by 20:30 or thereabouts. Events were to conspire against this. None of the forecasting had taken in to account that it was the end of the Thanksgiving break. Chaos reigned through the airport, particularly in the rental car pick up, where I had to wait over 45 minutes for my vehicle to be ready. Yes, it was booked, and yes, I was on time for when it was booked for. The chaos continued, on the roads, gripped in traffic snarls, where it took me an hour and a half to drive the first 15 kilometres away from the airport. By this time, it was apparent that my Italian phone roaming was not going to activate, so coupled with the lack of any map in the car, I was now on the way north, driving from complete memory.

When it became clear that 20:30 was not going to be achieved and my arrival was going to be in the order of 23:30, I pulled in to a couple of service centres, in the hope of finding a phone so I could call them. This failed twice, and I was becoming concerned about spending more time looking for a phone than covering ground. So, I figured I would have to wing it on arrival. Driving in the dark, with snow falling, not even 100% sure I was on the right roads, I must confess I was becoming concerned I would not find the accommodation until the next day. So, it was a significant relief when I saw a turn off to Manchester Center, and drove in to the carpark of my residence for the first week.

The adventure was not quite over. The owners had sent me an email with details about my room and check-in, but sans data, I had obviously not received this critical data. I wandered through a couple of the buildings in the complex, and I eventually found a room with a key in the door. I felt this was the best I could do, so upon establishing the room was indeed vacant, I moved myself in. You have probably already guessed, the next morning I found out that I was in the wrong room. Thankfully, not a big issue, given the low number of guests, but both the management and myself appeared to show equal amounts of embarrassment.

The first week was all in Vermont. Working Monday to Friday, in Manchester Center mainly, but I got up to Middlebury one day to visit the operation up there. On Saturday, I drove down to Connecticut, stopping in Massachusetts on the way, and visiting Mark Twains house in Hartford before getting to my hotel in Norwalk.

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Morning 1, Looking Out
Vermont, Day 1. Waking up and walking around pre-breakfast, taking in just how "stereo typical" New England it all felt.


Along the Road, Vermont


A Vermont Covered Bridge


Driving Through Massachusetts


House of Mark Twain
Coming through Connecticut, I diverted to Hartford to visit one of the homes of Mark Twain.


Art Gallery, Yale Univesity

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Week two had me travelling to a number of locations through Connecticut.

Friday and Saturday night were spent in New York City before my Sunday flight.

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NYC Skyline, from Hunters Point


New York City Ice Skating
Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Center seems so iconic for New York in winter.


Skyscrapers Disappearing
Cloud engulfs the higher parts of skyscrapers around Central Park.


911 Ground Zero
Memorial pool (South Tower) where the World Trade Center Twin Towers stood.


Inside the Oculus, Westfield World Trade Center


American Utopia
David Byrne's (of Talking Heads fame) Broadway show. American Utopia.


TWA Hotel, JFK Airport
A pre-flight drink at the very retro hotel, TWA. The bar on the Constellation was, unfortunately, closed - possibly due to covid?

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