A Travel Writer's Travel Blog

Being a tourist in your own city…

cs_dima — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:06:37 +0000

…since I’ve been exploring the countries near mine I seemed to have forgotten about my own city. And wasn’t until the other days when I took a walk on the main boulevard that I discovered some new statues and i told myself “wow, i forgot all about how beautiful Arad can be”…so i’m hoping to rediscover the beauty of the town, to walk more, to take more photos, to enjoy the colors of the autumn, although it’s downright cold as in the winter…

Latin inscription on Hofburg…what does it mean?

cs_dima — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:20:57 +0000

EH? Have you ever asked what that

His Aedibus Adhaeret Concors Populorum Amor

meant on top of Hofburg? Still curious? Here’s the translation:

In this building I reconciled the love of the nations (peoples)

PS: it has taken me a while to find the transaltion myself and my Latin knowledge from HS didn’t help much (to my shame)

Missing Vienna already?

cs_dima — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:49:45 +0000

Apparently yes…I was working this AM and , stupid me, started to browse the channels when I took a break. And ended up on a Romanian one which featured…Vienna…ahhh I saw the places we just visited cpl of days ago and missed Vienna already…awww nothing can beat the days spent in a new city, exploring everything and by day 4 feeling like you sort of know the places near-by.

What can I say? Cannot wait for the next vacay which probably will be around May next year. My plan is to visit Greece between Orthodox Easter (which is in mid April) and the start of the season.

A bit of Vienna..one of the many photos we took

cs_dima — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:51:26 +0000

With my husband, Ady; Schonbrunn Palace in Back.

Last day in Vienna…

cs_dima — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:04:44 +0000

sadly we are leaving today….somehow I am not convinced I want to leave or want to get back home. Although my work has already been behind b4 I left. So probably I am doing myself a favor to actually go back home.

Hello from Vienna

cs_dima — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:49:17 +0000

We have already been here since Sunday Aug 17 but today is the first day I actually found the time to stay and write a blog entry.

Sun was a bit weird because pretty much everything was closed but we did walk in the city center in the evening. Vienna is just great at night.

Mon was the day dedicated to the Zoo. The pandas were nice but the baby was sleeping in a tree so we did not see much of it…argh. I was a bit dissapointed by the Zoo and the hefty price.

Tue was city center time and taking the tram round the Ring. Really worth it but only if you have a ticket pass for 24, 48 or 72 hrs. Otherwise prepare to pay 1.70 euros for a metro ride and 2.20 euros for a bus ride. In the PM we went to Prater and spent some money on funny rides.

Wed was back to the palace and going up to the Gloriette to watch the sites. It was raining though but not too much. Then Prater again for the Giant Wheel. Again bit dissapointed because it was really expensive. Gah. Danube Tower goes hand in hand wt that abt the being expensive part. We spent abt 30 euros for 2 persons to go up in the wheel and the tower….should I have known what clothes are on sales I would have passed that part and spent money on clothes. Oh well.

Thu is shopping day. So far we got 3 items for 13 euros. Now we are off again to check on stuff.

My next post will probably be from home.

Arad’s Days Aug 18-24

cs_dima — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:23:46 +0000

I’m missing the annual “Arad’s Days” (Zilele Aradului, Ro).

What will be up? Concerts, events, parades…among the singers: Nicu Alifantis (on 18), Viennese music (how ironic is that?! I’m going to Vienna! lol), traditional Romanian music (yuck!), AMADEUS, ANALIA SELIS, SIMPLU, 2 UNLIMITED, NERI PER CASO(Italy), HOLOGRAF, PUYA, ANDREI, FLORIN CHILIAN, CELIA, BLAXY GIRLS, BERE GRATIS, DAMIAN@BROTHERS, AUREL TAMAS, OANA SARBU, TEODOR CIUCUR-BIHOR, CRISTIAN POMOHACI, …

We’ll be back on 22nd so I’ll see the cars in the square right in front of our apartment.

Leaving in 6 hrs…

cs_dima — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:11:27 +0000

I know, I should be sleeping…well, I cannot. Backpack is packed, I only have to add the toothbrushes and the toothpaste plus our perfumes. I pissed b/c my fav Adidas t-shirt i got last year from Bucharest has a stain on it and I cannot get rid of it which means I will have to buy something from Vienna right? lol

I did a bit of research and here’s the map for what we are up to.

View Larger Map

We plan to buy a map and then plan the days once we get there. We’ve got 4 full days - not counting Sun and Fri - to explore the city. Although on Sun there’s free admission at several museums so that should be worth a visit.

Packed and ready to go

cs_dima — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:08:17 +0000

Yup, I packed the backpack for me and hubby. Decided to buy the toiletries in Austria so we’ll only be taking clothes and some medications (including my BCP and anti-allergy pill). I still believe I packed too many clothes — especially jeans — but , oh well…

We’ll be leaving tomorrow at 4-5 am and should be Vienna before noon (their time).

Travel Insurance for Vienna

cs_dima — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:13:07 +0000

Yup, we finally bought our travel insurance for Vienna; 7 days and 22 RON (US$9.2).

I always buy travel insurance when I leave the country although so far - knock on wood - I haven’t used it.