Photography and Places

2012-02-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

The CN Tower and office buildings in Toronto, Canada.

2012-01-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

The Fred F. French Building on Fifth Avenue in NYC. It was erected in 1927 with a striking art deco facade contributing significantly to the international reputation of Fifth Avenue.

2012-01-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

Another image of mine in an ebookers.com email advertising. See it on iStockphoto.com.

2012-01-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

Colourful apartments along the Thames in London, England

2012-01-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

The Royal Albert Hall with the reflection of the Albert Memorial in its window, London, England

Transylvanian Alps, Transylvania

2011-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

The Moldoveanu peak in the distance in autumn, the highest peak of Romania, located in the Fagaras Range, also known as the Transylvanian Alps, Carpathians, Romania

See my portfolio or this image at iStockphoto.com

2011-12-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Rothenburg ob der Tauber and a quote on one of the old half-timbered houses

Hohenschwangau Castle, Germany

2011-11-30T08:03:00.001-08:00

Hohenschwangau Castle in Bavaria, Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who later built the famous Neuschwanstein Castle on a nearby hill.

Canon Commercial

2011-11-14T08:13:00.001-08:00

One of my images about Toronto is used in a Canon commercial

And the picture in question ishere

Tate Britain, London

2011-11-10T13:04:00.001-08:00

The Dome of Tate Britain, the art gallery dedicated to British art located in London, UK.

Europe Trip

2011-10-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Got back a week ago from Europe. I have been away for almost 2 months visiting mostly central Europe. I started working over my photographs, so with time they should be appearing in my iStockphoto Portfolio.It was a long trip, so I am glad to be back. The hotels, as in my previous travels, I booked at Booking.com. Still very much satisfied with them, no problems at all, though, the hotels were a bit more expensive than in 2010.

London Natural History Museum

2011-10-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

The atrium of the London Natural History Museum

Greenwhich, London, Painted Hall

2011-03-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

The baroque Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London.

The Painted Hall located at King William Court was painted by Sir James Thornhill (1675 -1734).

London St Paul's Cathedral Interior

2011-03-10T09:31:00.001-08:00

The nave of St Paul's Cathedral In London, UK.

Carcassonne, Barcelona, Valencia

2010-03-14T04:23:00.000-07:00

Caption: Paris, the roof of the Lafayette Shopping Center; Carcassonne, the castle; Barcelona, a Gaudi house in the Park Guell; Barcelona, Arco de Triunfo; Valencia, Catedral.

In Paris we stayed in the Jarry Hotel in a miniature room with an even more miniature bathroom on the corridor (you had to do some acrobatics to sit down and your knees were hitting the door, and we are not big people. There should be a warning when reserving the hotel room: 'the bathroom only for XS people').

Monday evening we found out at the train station that our night train to Carcassonne was canceled. So we got space in a different train which arrived an hour later than planned with a change in Toulouse. At Carcassonne the other news came: the road and tracks towards Barcelona are all closed because of the snow and ice. Fortunatelly (for some additional price) we could change our booking in Barcelona and found a charming-family run hotel (Hotel Pont Vieux) in the ice covered Carcassonne. The view of the castle was rewarding though after all the hassle.

Next morning the tracks were still closed but the roads were open already and after some additional adventures we found bus tickets from Narbonne to Barcelona with the Linebus company.

In Barcelona we stayed in the Pension Miami. The room was nice but strong cigarette smoke was coming in from the heating system (in a non-smoking hotel and room). Otherwise it is close to the center. We loved Barcelona, especially the Gaudi architecture and Park Guell, the facades of the old apartment houses are gorgeous. The weather is getting warmer, but the nights are still chilly.

We took a bus from Barcelona to Valencia. It was a Supra Economy ('first class') ALSA bus. The ride took 4 hours and it was excellent, they even showed a movie and gave us snacks all for 30 Euros per person.

We extended our stay in Valencia and decided to skip Granada and Seville this time. We are tired and there is no point to rush from one place to the other. The weather is pleasant, the oranges and lemons are ripe, the architecture is breathtaking. Valencia rocks! The Las Fallas festival is on and there are crowds everywhere.

London, Paris

2010-03-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

Caption: Paris, Square in the Les Halles area with the Fontaine des Innocents; London, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge.

We started our European trip on March 2nd. We arrived to London and then had an 8 hour 'joyride' by bus to Paris . We will spend some more time in London at the end of the trip. Paris seems much dirtier. We took a few photo trips already, going out everyday before sunrise and then later at sunset. The sights are beautiful and crowded.
Today we are heading to southern France and then to Barcelona. We just heard that there was 30cm of snow last night. We hope for the best.

2009-12-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

I just saw one of my photographs being used as a backdrop on 'Connect with Mark Kelley' on CBC News Network.

2009-09-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

The Cirque du Soleil tent on a beautiful evening in Toronto.

2009-09-10T07:17:00.000-07:00

A Great Grey Owl a second before hunting down a mouse.

2009-08-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

So here we are in Toronto again. We had a chance to rest a few weeks after the trip, and what a trip it was. We have traveled more than 21000 kms in this huge and gorgeous country. The vastness and richness of it is unimaginable. We have seen forests everywhere, for thousands of kms till the eye can see. We followed the path of long gone explorers, natives, voyageurs, fur traders... , tasted the Pacific and the Atlantic, crossed tsunami evacuation zones and avalanche areas, ate Partridge berry and Saskatoon berry jams, seen majestic places and heard the whales singing. And we have learned some more about native tribes, Metis leaders, French and English forts, Scottish regiments... We drank Chinese tea, saw the interior of a huge pipe organ and set down in a chapel built from bottles. And at dusk we waited for puffins to come back to their nests and in the morning saw otters playing in the surf... . Just a few magical moments in a magical country.

And our old little 91 Toyota Previa had a blast too. At 370000 km and counting it didn't have a single problem. Ok, we are lying, three light bulbs had to be replaced, but we could live with that :).

2009-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Captions: Quebec Parliament interior, exterior, Chateau de Frontenac, Quebec street at night, Quebec street, St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal,The Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World in Montreal,Montreal skyline,Place Jacques-Cartier, Notre Dame de Montreal

Day #84-88

Our next stop was Quebec City. The old town is wonderful, one of our favorites in all of Canada. We took the tour of the Parliament building and the citadel for the first time and walked around the nice old streets. It is our third time here and this time we skipped our 'traditional' triple fondue dinner which we usually had at La Petit Chateau. We had instead a nice meal in the The Aux Anciens Canadiens Restaurant (34, rue Saint-Louis) which is housed in the oldest house of Quebec (1675).

Approaching the end of our trip we are kinda in a hurry to get home :). Make no mistake, the trip was extraordinary, but of course tiring at the same time. And the tiredness is more psychological, probably coming from the absence of a stable home for such a long time, traveling to new places every couple of days. It's interesting to experience this basic human need.

We wrapped up our three month long trip with a short stop in Montreal. The skyline from Mount Royal is really amazing and we had a chance to savor Chinatown and the Jazz festival too. The Notre Dame is really gorgeous but it is more like a show business than a church already, with a $5 entrance fee and light shows for $10 more. Almost the same can be said about the St. Joseph Oratorium where they kindly ask you for a $5 donation.

84-88. Nap

A kovetkezo allomasunk Quebec City volt. Mar harmadszor jarunk itt, talan nem veletlenul :), hiszen Quebec egyik legszebb varosa Kanadanak. A belvaros Eszak Amerika egyik legregibb telepulese, 1608-ban alapult. A lassan mar hagymanyossa valt harmas fondu vacsora helyett most egy uj ettermet probaltunk ki Quebec legregibb hazaban (1675). Meglatogattuk a parlamentet es a varat. Sajnos itt minden csak franciaul van kiirva...

Az utunk vegere erve egyre jobban igyekszunk haza fele. Az ut csodalatos volt, de persze faraszto is. Inkabb pszihesen faraszto, ami valoszinuleg az otthon hianyabol ered. Az ut soran alig par napot maradtunk folytonosan egy helyen... . Erdekes atelni ezen alapveto emberi szukseglet hianyat.

Montrealban meg kevesebbet maradtunk. Megneztunk nehany templomot, setaltunk egyet a kinai negyedben es megcsodaltuk a varost a mount royali kilatorol. A Notre Dame fantasztikus belulrol, de mar inkabb egy uzleti vallalkozas mint templom. A belepo $5 es mar feny 'show' is van meg $10 -ert. A Szent Jozsef Oratorium is eleg hasonlo, ott kedvesen megkernek hogy adakozz $5-t. Montrealban volt reszunk megtapasztalni a francia vendegszeretet is. Egy belvarosi utcaban parkoltunk egy ugyancsak ontarioi rendszamu auto moge. Amikor visszajottunk vagy 10 zsak szemetet talaltunk az autonk elott, hogy mi se es az elottunk levo se tudjon tul konnyen kiallni...

2009-07-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

Our route from Sydney,NS to Charlottetown,PEI:
Utvonalunk Sydney-tol St. John's-ig es vissza es utana Charlottetown-ig:

View Sydney-PEI in a larger map

2009-06-29T09:08:00.001-07:00

Captions/Kepek: The Town Clock in Halifax/toronyora Halifaxban,Halifax street/utca,fox/roka,crab/rak,St. Mary's Cathedral in Halifax/katedralis,street/utca,St. Mary's interior/templom belso,soldiers in the Citadel/katonak a halifaxi citadellaban,Peggy's Cove/falu,fisherman/egy halasz,lighthouse at Peggy's Cove/vilagitotorony,together/egyutt,masts in Lunenburg/lunenburgi arbocok,Lunenburg Academy/lunenburgi akademia faepulete,at the Confederation Bridge/a Konfederacio Hidnal,Beaconsfield House in Charlottetown/Beaconsfield haz Charlottetownban,Fanningbank in Charlottetown/a kormanyhaz,Beaconsfield house interior/a Beaconsfiled haz belseje,All Souls Chapel at St Peter's Cathedral in Charlottetown/kapolna,The Legislative Building of PEI/Prince Edward Island parlamentje,Green Gables/Lucy Maud Montgomery emlekhaz,Shore at Cavendish PEI/PEI partjai,lookout/kilato,bottle houses at Cap-Egmont 1 2 3/uvegekbol epult hazak 1 2 3, flower/virag, St. John the Baptist Church in Miscouche/templom Miscouche-ban,The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Saint John/katedralis Saint John-ban (New Brunswick), pipe organ/orgona,flowers 1 2/viragok 1 2,Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton/katedralis Fredericton-ban,The New Brunswick legislative building/a frederictoni parlament,Government House/a kormanyhaz,Christ Church Cathedral interior/katedralis belseje

Day # 76-84

We arrived to Halifax Sunday evening. This week's forecast was mainly rain but when it stops the camera is out and we are off to work (often we shoot also in the rain with the help of an umbrella, but it's hard because the wind). The city made a good impression on us. Walking around in the Citadel was a bit spooky because of the fog. The people in costumes were friendly and knowledgeable.

After three days in the city we drove to Peggy's Cove, which is a much photographed fishing village. It's a wonderful place. The weather was a little crazy. By the time we finished taking pictures it was so foggy that we had to sleep at Peggy's Cove. Next day we visited Lunenburg which is a world heritage site. Nice place but again the wiring is as bad as in St. John's.

We left behind Nova Scotia and headed to Prince Edward Island. We got to the Confederation Bridge before sunset and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We reached
Charlottetown at dusk and was able to photograph the Beaconsfield house and the Government House. The Beaconsfield house was the luxury home of a 19th century shipbuilder who went bankrupt in five years after the home was built. Our next drive took us to PEI National Park. In Cavendish we visited the wonderful beach and Green Gables, the house which inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery to write the lovely story 'Anne of Green Gables'. There are many mosquitoes around these places but PEI is wonderful. The bottle houses at Cap-Egmont are worth a detour. These houses started out as a recycling project and the walls are entirely built of bottles.
After a short stop at Summerside we crossed the bridge again and now we are back in New Brunswick.

We stopped in Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton. In Saint John we met some nice people while walking on the streets. It a charming center with many red brick buildings which were built after the Great Fire of 1877.

For the last weeks it's overcast and rains here quite often. Some kind of monsoon season must have arrived...

76.-84. Nap

Vasarnap este erkeztunk meg Halifaxba. Egesz hetre esot josoltak, de sebaj mikor elall egy kicsit akkor fenykepezunk, sot ernyovel meg esoben is. Halifax kellemes varos. A citadelaban korhu ruhaba oltozott, jol felkeszult emberek fogadjak a turistakat. Meglatogattuk meg Peggy's Cove halaszfalut es ellatogattunk Lunenburgba ami a vilagorokseg resze. Hajogayarto muhelyeirol hires szep kis varos, de a kabelezes megint csapni valo.

A kovetkezo allomas Prince Edward Island fovarosa Charlottetown volt. A Konfoderacio hidhoz (13 km hosszu) naplemente elott erkeztunk es igy szep kepeket sikerult kesziteni. Charlottetown az egyetlen varos rangu helyseg a szigeten. Aranyos varoska, foleg a Beaconsfield haz tetszett ami egy 19. szazadi hajoiparos luxushaza volt es korhuen van berendezve. Egy faluban lattunk egy fiatal rokat ahogy atsetal az uton es leheveredik mintha o lenne a falu kedvenc haziallata.

Termeszetesen ellatogattunk Cavendish-be ahol Lucy Maud Montgomery megirta egyik hires konyvet az 'Anne of Green Gables'-t (otthon 'Anna' neven vetitettek).
Mar besotetedett mikor New Londonba ertunk igy Summerside-ot masnapra hagyva L.M. Montgomery szulohaza mellett toltottuk az ejszakat jo sok szunyog tarsasagaban.

Kovetkezo nap megneztuk az uveg hazakat Cap-Egmont-ban (soros, boros es egyebb uvegbol epult ket haz es kapolna...).
A hidon atkelve megint New Brunswickba erkeztunk ahol meglatogattunk Moncton-t, Saint John-t es a fovarost Fredericton-t. Kis, kellemes varoskak mind.

Az utobbi par hetben szinte allandoan felhos es esos errefele, talan a elkezdodott a monszun idoszak? :) Nem ilyenek voltak a nyarak regebb... .

2009-06-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Captions/Kepek: Table Mountain/hegy, St. John's Street/utca, cathedral/katedralis, cathedral ceiling/mennyezet,Quidi Vidi village/falu,the old Cape Spear lighthouse/az oreg vilagitotorony,together/egyutt, the new Cape Spear lighthouse/az uj vilagitotorony,St John's houses/hazak,houses/hazak,houses/hazak,Gannet colony at Cape St. Mary/szula kolonia, gannets/szulak, moose/javorszarvas, Trinity church exterior and interior/templom kivulrol es belulrol,wooden pattern/fa minta,Cape Bonavista/fok,Bonavista lighthouse/vilagitotorony,Bonavista church/templom,Blue Bead Lily/liliom,Ryan Premises Bonavista/regi hazak,shoreline/part,feather abstract/toll absztrakt,John Cabot's ship model 'The Matthew'/John Cabot hajo modellje,bunchberries/kanadai som,dead tree at Gros Morne/egy kiszaradt fa,bar on the ferry,bar a kompon.

Day #69-76

Getting close to 80 days of travel. Well it's not exactly around the world but if you think about it we passed cities like New Glasgow, Sydney, Stockholm, Uppsala, Steinbach... so it's pretty close :) and it does feel like traveling around the world a little bit ...and the best part is doing it without a passport.

We crossed the Cabot Straight to Newfoundland. It was a six hour sail so Arpi became little seasick :) We stopped for a cod dinner at Port aux Basque (unfortunately it was not remarkable, recooked oil). But the scenery is impressive. We planned to reach Corner Brook initially but we only made it to Stephenville.
Did anybody saw a van with a snowmobile sticking out of it's trunk?... well we saw that on the way... inventive people :).

The next day we decided to reach St John's which is on the other side of the island and we made it. We saw three moose on the way and the scenery was nice, first forests and then closer to St. John's it's more barren and rugged. It's visible that the winds are strong here and the weather not so forgiving. St. John's is kinda unique and antithetic with nice colorful houses and nice churches but awful wiring. There should be other ways to solve the electric network of the city. The roads are in a very bad state too. It seemed a very lively city, on a Monday evening it felt like on a weekend in Toronto. The weather was also extreme. One day it was almost freezing and than the next day very warm and sunny. The visit to Cape Spear was a bit windy and chilly again.

One night we parked in one street and prepared to spend the night there but we found ourselves in some crazy neighbourhood with loud, quarreling and drunk people. When one finished shouting the next began, then someone turned on the radio... so we decided to move on.

The visit to Cape St. Mary was magical. We went out there to see the Gannet Colony and we got more than expected. These places make you deeply feel that life is wonderful, they make you feel small and realize that your everyday problems are so negligible. There are thousands of birds and they are only about ten meters away on a cliff. We also spotted two whales. They have such a cute voice. Leaving the beautiful birds behind we spotted a young moose wondering around. Drove a few more km and spent the night at Placentia.

The next day we stopped at a visitor center and the lady there said that we can see icebergs along the shore of the Bonavista Peninsula so we decided to take a detour. We stopped at Trinity which has traditional Newfoundland style buildings and we could spot nice icebergs too. At Bonavista we went out to the lighthouse where we saw the Atlantic Puffin colony too. When we arrived the puffins were missing but fortunately a man told us that they are on the water during the day but come back around sunset... and they did, hundreds of them. Such funny and beautiful creatures. The harbor of the town is nice and they even have a smaller replica of John Cabot's ship, The Matthew.

Next day we headed to Terra Nova. We visited a beach and got a little tan. At the Interpretation center we had a chance to touch sea creatures, the water is icy cold.
In the evening we reached Gros Morne National Park. For the next day we planned a long hike to the top of Gros Morne but part of the trail was closed... . Many people (mainly from Ontario) did the shorter hike while it seemed that locals didn't gave a damn about the closure. It is sad that many of us travel thousands of kms to see this place while locals can do it anytime and then they are the ones who are not keeping the law. Anyway the place was beautiful and in the evening we hiked out to see the more famous landmark which is the Western Brook Pond. It's extraordinary.

The next day we took the ferry again, this time to Nova Scotia. The ride was nice and short. When we arrived to North Sydney the weather got rainy again so unfortunately we had to postpone the Cabot Trail for some other time. We headed to Halifax. It seems that Nova Scotia doesn't want to reveal itself to us.

69.-76. Nap

Lassan kozeledunk utazasunk 80. napjahoz .Nem fold koruli utazas ez, de ha figyelembe vesszuk, hogy olyan varosokon vezettunk at mint New Glasgow, Sydney, Stockholm, Uppsala, Esterhazy... az az erzese van az embernek hogy kulonbozo orszagokat latogat....es meg utlevel sem kell.:)
A minap lattunk egy autot ahogy a csomagtartojaban motorosszant szallit...lelemenyes emberek,nem?

Nova Scotiaban volt egy parbeszedunk egy benzinkutassal:

A:Nem tudod milyen lesz az ido?
B:Honap esos... holnaputan esos...
A:Mi Ujfundlandba igyekszunk.
B:Ja, ott valoszinuleg havazik, szep hely.
A:Azt olvastuk mi is.
B:Sok a javorszarvas arra... tobb mint az ember.

Az ut Ujfunfudlandba hosszu volt es Arpi egy kicsit tengeribeteg lett :).
Maskulonben Ujfundland tobb mint tizszer nagyobb mint Magyarorszag es csak 500.000 lakosa van. A javorszarvasok 1904-ben kerultek a szigetre es most mar tobb mint 100.000 van beloluk.

A keleti partok fele indultunk. Este erkeztunk St. John's-ba (a fovaros). Esett az eso es rettenetes hideg van. 0 fokot mondtak ejszakara, de persze a helybeliek rovidnadragban es strandpapucsban jarkalnak. A varos egyedi es szep, az epuletek sokszinuek, de a kabelezes csapnivalo es az utak szornyu rosszak (A batai foutca az otcsillagos autosztrada ehhez kepest). A masodik nap mar meleg volt es napos. Ugy nez ki sok az ellentet errefele. Ellatogattunk Eszak Amerika legkeletibb csucskebe, a kozeli Cape Spear-hez (csak 3.5 ora az eltolodas Greenwich-hez kepest). A partvonal nagyon sziklas es a tajon latszik, hogy az ido nem kimelte.

Egy jonak tuno lakonegyedben szerettuk volna tolteni az ejszakat, le is parkoltunk egy helyen es lefekudtunk. Aztan jott ket hangos reszegember... aztan elment. Aztan jott ket ferfi meg egy no, ok is bepialva... aztan ok is elmentek. Az egyik hazban uvoltozni kezdtek, aztan meg valaki az utcan duettet enekelt az autoradioval. Eddig birtuk es odebb altunk.

A harmadik nap utan magunk mogott hagyva St.John's-t St. Mary Fok fele indultunk madarnezobe. Egy tobb ezres Szula kolonia van itt. Nem sokkal naplemente elott erkeztunk meg, majd kisetaltunk a madarakhoz. Csodalatos hely. Az ilyen helyeknel az ember eszreveszi, hogy milyen kicsi. A mindennapi gondjai is eltorpulnek es a vilag megszepul. A szulak az osveny vegetol par meterre feszkelnek egy szirten. Ket balnat is lattunk es hallottunk.

Magunk mogott hagyva a madarakat, lattunk egy fiatal javorszarvast a naplemente szineivel a hatterben. Placentiaban toltottuk az ejszakat, ahol valamikor a franciak epitettek erodot.

Nyugat fele haladva megalltunk egy turista kozpontnal ahol mondtak , hogy ha Trinity fele indulunk akkor jeghegyeket lathatunk. Ugy dontottunk, hogy akkor elvezetunk Trinity-ig es meghosszabitjuk utunkat Bonavista-ig is. Sikerult is egy jeghegyet eleg kozelrol lefotozni. Trinity jellegzetes ujfundlandi halaszfalu.
Bonavistaban a vilagitotorony mellett egy lunda koloniat kerestunk, de hult helyuk volt. Szerencsere osszefutottunk egy ferfival aki elarulta, hogy napkozben a tengeren vannak es napnyugta utan jonnek vissza a feszkekhez. Szoval vartunk es naplementekor tenyleg megjelentek szazaval. Edes, pingvin kinezetu, pocakos madarkak es ugy repulnek mint egy buvarkodni keszulo helikopter.

Masnap Terra Nova Nemzeti Park fele indultunk. Az informacios kozpontban volt egy sekely vizu akvarium ahol vegre kozelrol lathattuk es meg is tapogathattuk az ocean nehany erdekes elolenyet. Meg furdeni es napozni is sikerult.

A kovetkezo allomas Gros Morne Nemzeti Park volt ahova este erkeztunk. A masnapre tervezett 16 km-es turanak csak egy reszet tudtuk megtenni, mert az utvonal egy reszet lezartak a sarki nyulak es hofajdok vedelme miatt. Szomoru , hogy a lezaras a helybelieket nem igazan erdekelte es megmasztak a teljes turat. Tobben voltunk pl. Ontariobol akik betartottuk a szabalyt. Delutan meg egyet turaztunk a vilaghires Western Brook Pond labaihoz. A valamikori fjord fantasztikus, nem hiaba a vilagorokseg resze.

Sajnos csak a masnap reggeli hajora tudtunk helyet foglalni. Az ut ez alkalommal kellemesebb es rovidebb volt (csak 4.5 ora a 6 helyett). Amikor megerkeztunk Nova Scotiaba megint eso fogadott. Ugy tunik Nova Scotia nem akarja megmutatni magat nekunk. Ugy dontottuk, hogy az eso miatt kihagyjuk a Cape Breton Nemzeti Parkot es Halifaxba vezetunk.

2009-06-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our route from Saskatoon to Sydney/
Az utvonalunk Saskatoon-tol Sydney-ig:

View Saskatoon-Sydney 2009 in a larger map

2009-06-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

Captions/Kepek:Old Church in Sydney (1785)/regi templom Sydneyben, The Logue House/haz,Sydney Church/templom,Sydney Cultural Center/Kulturhaz,sunset/naplemente,Louisbourg Lighthouse/vilagitotorony,Louisbourg gate/varkapu,kitchen/konyha,lacemaker/csipkekeszito,street/utca,houses/hazak

Day #64-69

Spent two nights in Toronto in our comfy bed. What a luxury :). It started raining but we decided to go further anyway. We drove through Ontario and the next day through Quebec spending the night in Edmundston, the third day through New Brunswick and a part of Nova Scotia. Still rainy but beautiful. There are forests till the eye can see everywhere.

We got stopped by police in New Brunswick because of a burnt out front light. The guy asked if we have liquor, weapons, drugs, tobacco... he missed asking for the dead body in the trunk....OK just kidding.:) New Brunswick's largest waterfall, the Great Falls and gorge were spectacular. Then we got stopped again in Nova Scotia, this time it was a burnt out tail light.....Are we just burning out?...:) They even told us about a 'secret' waterfall which was quite nice.

We slept in New Glasgow and the next morning we headed to North Sydney. Still rainy and dense fog. On the bridge crossing to Cape Breton Island we couldn't see a thing. The scenery is quite nice of course when you have the chance to see it.

To get on the Newfoundland ferry was a bit complicated. We arrived at around 10.03 and the ferry was supposed to leave at 11.30. They were not sure if we will have space left because we didn't have a reservation. In addition if there was space left we should have paid $25 extra. After some further difficulties trying to book our ticket through the ticket agent and phone we decided that it's easier to book it online for Sunday. In this way we spent some time in Sydney and then the Saturday in Louisbourg.

At the Sydney Information Center we met a nice man originally from England. Inspired by him we bought a lobster at Sobey's and had it steamed... . Eating it in the van was definitely a one of a kind experience... .

The Louisbourg fort was absolutely amazing and we went out to Canada's first lighthouse too, unfortunately only the ruins of the original building exist but there is a newer one which is quite nice. Of course we dipped our hands and feet into the Atlantic Ocean and tasted the water. This has become a kinda ritual...

Today before leaving to Newfoundland we had just enough time to take a shower at the ferry terminal. Such a pleasant feeling...

66.-69. Nap

Ket napot toltottunk Torontoban... jo kaja, kenyelmes agy....tiszta lukszus :). Az ido esosre valtott de ennek ellenere tovabb indultunk. Keresztul vezettunk Ontario- n, a kovetkezo napon Quebec-en, az estet Edmundstonban toltve. A harmadik nap atvezettunk New Brrunswick-on es Nova Scotia egy reszen. Meg mindig esik, de a taj gyonyoru. Erdo ameddig a szem ellat.

Nova Scotiaban megallitott egy rendor (a jobb elso lampa ki volt egve). Megkerdezte, hogy van-e nalunk alkohol, fegyver, kabitoszer, dohany... a csomagtartoban levo hullarol nem erdeklodott... ok csak vicceltunk, habar elotte par nappal ott volt velunk a doglott indigopinty :). New Brunswick legmagasabb vizesese, a Grand Falls, es a szoros gyonyoru volt. Aztan Nova Scotiaban is megallitott minket ket rendor (ezuttal a jobb hatso lampank volt kiegve)... . Kezdunk lassan kiegni ? :). Azt mindenkepp meg kell emliteni, hogy a rendorok kanadaban rettentoen kedvesek es segitokeszek. Ez utobbi paros meg eliranyitott minket egy 'titkos' vizeseshez, amit csak a helyiek ismernek. Aranyos volt, erdemes volt megnezni.

New Glasgow-ban aludtunk es reggel Sydney fele vettuk az iranyt. Vegig szakadt az eso es ehhez meg atlathatatlan kod is parosult. A taj gyonyoru, mar ha kibujik a kod alol.

Az ujfundlandi komppal valo atkeles kulon mutatvanynak bizonyult. Azt ugye senki sem mondta a turista irodaban hogy csak helyfoglalassal lehet feljutni es ha nincs foglalas, de meg van hely, akkor extrat kell fizetni. A jegyvetel a jegyarusnal es telefonon sem sikerult, a vegen a neten bonyolitottuk le es sikerult foglalni vasarnap reggelre. Igy legalabb volt ket napunk hogy megnezuk Sydney-t es a szomszedos Louisburgot is.

A louisburgi erod kulonleges elmeny volt. Az erod nagy reszet es a falut ujjaepitettek es korhu ruhakba oltozott emberek meseltek az 1740-es evekrol.
Aztan meglatogattuk Kanada legregibb vilagitotornyanak a maradvanyat, ami nem volt sok, de az uj torony nagyon szep.Belemartottuk kezunket az Atlanti Oceanba es megkostoltuk a vizet. Ez lassan szertartassa valik.

Sydney-ben, a turista kozpontban, megismerkedtunk egy kedves urral aki Agliabol szarmazott. Altala jott az otlet, hogy parolt homart vegyunk vacsorara ... . Egy ilyen joszagot kocsiban enni nagyon erdekes mutatvany.

2009-06-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

Captions/Kepek: abstarct/absztrakt,flower/virag,Kenora City Hall/varoshaza,Thunder Bay Casino/kaszino, Thunder Bay church/templom, Lakehead University/egyetem, Lighthouse/villagitotorony, Lake Superior/Felso to, flower/virag, Agawa pictographs/indian sziklarajzok,Agawa bay/obol, flower/virag, Longhorn beetle/cincer,Sault Ste. Marie-Ermatinger house/haz,church/templom,Queen Street in Sault Ste. Marie/belvarosi utca,flower/virag

Day #58-63

We stopped in Kenora. This beautiful little city is already in Ontario on the shores of the Lake of the Woods .... home sweet home...ok...almost...:) just 2000km away.

Next morning on the way to Thunder Bay we saw an interesting add: "Wanted weatherman with warm forecast!" - Yeah, we can totally relate to that. After a stop at Ignace's Library to write to our blog we arrived to Thunder Bay. The city has an older part with nice buildings and churches. From Hillcrest Park there is an awesome view towards the mountains of the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and Lake Superior.
In the afternoon we went to a Chinese Buffet and then headed further.

We stopped at a few lookouts and after a detour to Red Rock we settled in Schreiber to sleep. Next morning we filled our tank and we had a little chat with the pump guy. He said that interestingly they have dryer winter than in Toronto and hence it's milder. He mentioned that unfortunately tourism has declined because of the economic downfall.

After a few scenic stops ( Aguasabon Falls, Scenic High Falls and the very interesting Agawa Pictographs) in the evening we arrived to Sault Ste. Marie. It is almost mid June and we could still spot snow patches here and there. The north shore of Lake Superior is stunningly beautiful. It's one of the best scenic drives so far.

Downtown Sault Ste. Marie is more like one long street, but very nice indeed. The nicest heritage building is probably the Ermatinger House.

We had some bald plans to do a record drive and reach Montreal but being realistic we always stop at every 10 km to take pictures for half an hour or longer, so we can call 400km/day an accomplishment.

Heading towards Sudbury we just witnessed a hit and run. Dominika stopped the car and Arpi ran over to save the little bird (a gorgeous indigo bunting), but it was too late.
Now the van looks like a real house. We have rescued a cactus and we named him Huba, he is our pet. We have Lilly of the Valley in a small container and now a dead bird. Awesome isn't it? :) And today's newest twist is that we are heading to Toronto. That means we can unload all the extra stuff and backup all the pictures to the computer. Dominika called her mom and she almost cried after the news. We arrived in the evening, had dinner, chat a bit and headed home.

Dominika's Corner:

For long I felt that I really want to work with disadvantaged kids. I was watching documentaries and reading articles. We bought a National Geographic and on one of the pages I saw an advertising from Smile Train. They have been around for ten years now, traveling around the globe and offering free operations for kids with cleft lips and cleft pallets in poor countries. So the next day when we went to the library to write our blog I went on their website and made my first donation. It felt so good I made my next one quickly. There is a documentary which won an Oscar this year called Smile Pinki, it is about a little girl who has cleft lips. I didn't get a chance to see it yet, but I would love to.

58.-63. Nap

Megerkeztunk a kicsi, aranyos Kenora-ba ami mar Ontarioban van...otthon edes otthon...ok, nem egeszen :) de mar csak 2000km.

Masnap Thunder Bay-ben volt a vegcel, a Felso To partjain fekszik. A varosnak van egy oreg resze szep epuletekkel es templomokkal es a hegyrol gyonyoru a kilatas, tobbek kozott lehet lani egy szilkas szigetet amit Alvo Oriasnak hivnak es tenyleg ugy is nez ki.

A kovetkezo napokban elertuk Nipigon-t, Red Rock-ot es Schreibert ahol az ejszakat toltottuk. Erdekes hogy mar lassan junius kozepehez erunk de meg mindig lehet foltokban havat latni. Estere megerkeztunk Sault Ste. Marie-ba. A Felso To eszaki partja csodalatos, eddig az egyik legszebb ut volt.

Sault Ste. Marie belvarosa konkretan csak egy szep es hosszu utca. Az Ermatinger haz kulonosen szep volt ejszakai megvilagositasban. Egy 1814-ben epult koepuletrol van szo, amit egy szormekereskedo epitett.

Volt egy vad otletunk hogy a kovetkezo nap levezetjuk az utat Montrealig de ha jol meggondoljuk ez a mi esetunkben nem igazan realis. Szinte minden 10 kilometernel megallunk egy orat fenykepezni szoval napi 400 km mar komoly teljesitmeny nalunk.

Masnap utban Sudbury fele tanuja voltunk egy cserbenhagyasos gazolasnak. Dominika gyorsan megallt a kocsival, mig Arpi kiugrott hogy megmentse az elutott kismadar eletet (egy csodalatos indigopinty)... sajnos mar nem sikerult. Aztan arra gondoltunk elvisszuk kitometni.
Lassan a jargany ugy nez ki mint egy igazi lakas. Van egy megmentett kaktuszunk amit elneveztunk Hubanak, van gyongyviragunk es mostmar van egy doglott madarunk is....hat nem fantasztikus? :)

A mai nap fordulata, hogy ugy dontottunk teszunk egy rovid kiterot Torontoba. Mikor hazatelefonaltunk es elujsagoltuk a hirt a szulok majd sirva fakadtak. De mar szuksegunk volt egy jo pihenesre.

Gondolat Sarok:

Mar eleg hosszu ideje gondolkozom azon hogy mennyire szeretnek hatranyos helyzetu gyerekekkel foglalkozni. Neztem sok filmet, olvastam sok cikket ebben a temaban, de aztan itt mindig abba is maradt. A minap vettunk egy National Geographic-ot es abban lattam egy hirdetest a Smile Train-tol(mosoly vonat). Ok tiz eve alakultak es jarjak a vilagot, ingyenes mutetet nyujtva azon gyerekek szamara akik nyulszajjal es farkastorokkal szulettek. Szoval az elso adando alkalommal felmentem a web oldalukra es kisebb osszeggel en is segitettem, ami olyan jo erzessel fogott el hogy gyorsan meg is ismeteltem. Sajnos meg nem volt idom ra de nemreg megjelent egy dokumentum film ami iden Oscar dijat is nyert. A cime 'Smile Pinki' es egy kislanyrol szol aki nyulszajjal szuletett.

2009-06-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Captions/Kepek: Historic Grain elevators in Inglis/Regi buzaemelok Inglisben,Ukrainian churches/Ukran templomok,a Great Grey Owl/Nagy Szurke Bagoly,a creek in Riding Mountain NP/egy patak a Riding Mountain NP-ban,Moon lake in RMNP/ egy to a RMNP-ban,cute house in Brandon/egy szep haz Brandon-ban,church in Portage La Prairie/templom Portage la Prairiben,The Pavilion in Winnipeg/winnipegi Pavilion,downtown streets/belvarosi utcak,The MTS center/hoki stadion,Manitoba Legislative Building/manitobai parlament,The Esplanade Riel and downtown/hid es belvaros,St. Boniface Cathedral/a Szent Bonifac katedralis,The Forks/belvarosi piac,St. John's Cathedral/Szent Janos anglikan katedralis.

Day 54-58

We visited the old grain elevators in Inglis and in villages (Oakburn, Sandy Lake) along the way to Riding Mountain National Park we discovered quite a few Ukrainian churches. They are gorgeous.

Riding Mountain National Park is quite different from the prairies surrounding it, a big forest with a few scattered lakes. In 1931 Grey Owl (the writer and conservationist) spent six months here in a wooden cabin. We started to hike out there but turned back midway, we must be some lazy hikers and the 18km return trip would have taken quite some time. But we met a nice couple from Alberta who did the trail on bike and they showed us photos of the cabin. We also witnessed how a small ant was dragging his caterpillar pray among the grass jungle.

We stopped in Brandon which is the second largest city in Manitoba. It has nice turn of the century buildings. We spent the night at Portage la Prairie. We find a bit strange that there are many small towns which have extremely wide streets. With narrower streets these towns would have much more charm.

We started out from Toronto on April 7th when it was still snowing. Now after 10000 km, almost two months later we are in Winnipeg and we need to put on all our winter apparel to not to freeze. There was a big thunder storm yesterday which brought in some really chilly weather.

In Winnipeg we checked out some mobile homes again (same price,a bit nicer design) and it was awesome to relax a bit at the YMCA Aquatic Center.
There are lot's of historic sites and attractions, we managed to see a few of them: St Boniface Cathedral (it burnt down in 1968 but the reconstructed structure is awesome) and cemetery where Louis Riel the leader of the 1885 rebellion is buried, The Grey Nun's Convent, The Forks (where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet), St. John's Cathedral, Manitoba Legislative Building, St. Mary Cathedral. The Forks was also an important first nations meeting place. It has a beautiful park and a market too. In the downtown area there are beautiful old buildings but they are somehow scattered all over with large gaps in between.

Dominika's Corner:

So as I promised here is how I met Arpi:

The story starts with a good friend of mine, Judit. She used all sources/forces to make me go to one of the Hungarian get-together at Cosmo (used to be a Hungarian restaurant on St. Clair which closed since). I tried to resist saying that it is probably for old people, but Judit kept bugging me so I finally gave in. I said I will only go once, than don't ever mention it again. So I went, and I saw a skinny guy with a cute ass (everybody has a week spot ,right? :) ) After the party which by the way was awesome we saw each other twice (with friends) and than came his birthday (June 4th). No I did not jump out of the cake....but oh boy...that cake... (whoever was there knows the story :) )
Next morning we said goodbye and Arpi said:"I will call you." Well today is (June 4th) my husband's birthday, so thanks girl.

54.-58. Nap

Esterhazyt elhagyva Manitoba fele igyekeztunk. Egy par ukran templomot fedeztunk fel utmenti falvakban, szebbnel szebbek (rengeteg ukran telepules van).
Megalltunk a Riding Mountain Nemzeti Parkban. A hegy egy gyonyoru "szigetet" kepez az ot korulvevo prerin. Osszefuggo erdoseg van itt elszort tavakkal. 1931-ben Szurke Bagoly (tobbek kozott a "Ket kicsi hod" iroja ) elt itt rovid ideig. Elmeny volt latni egy Nagy Szurke Baglyot ( madar :) ) amint elkapott egy egeret.

Aprilis 7-en indultunk Torontobol, ahol meg havazott. Majdnem ket honappal kesobb, 10000km megtetele utan megerkeztunk Winnipegbe es majd megfagytunk (triko, polo, pulcsi, toll melleny, kabat mind rajtunk volt). Szerencsere csak ket napig tartott.
Winnipeg Manitoba fovarosa es a varosban sok a tortenelmi latvanyossag, amibol nehanyat megneztunk. A varos a 18. szazadban alapult es erdekes tortenete van, angolok es franciak hasznaltak tamaszpontnak ahogy a nyugatot igyekeztek meghoditani. A varosnak ma is van egy nagyobb francia kozossege. A belvarosban szep szazadfordulo korabeli epuletek vannak, de sajnos nem alkotnak osszefuggo egyseget, igy a varoskep nem valami rendezett.

Gondolat Sarok:

Ahogy igertem, ime igy talakoztam Arpival:

A tortenet egy kedves baratommal Judittal kezdodik, aki minden fegyvert bevetve megprobalt elcsalni egy magyar osszejovetelre (kaja, zene, tanc...). Hiaba ellenkeztem, hogy ez biztosan csak nyugdijasoknak van, Judit addig eroskodott, hogy a vegen beadtam a derekam. Mondtam, hogy egyszer elmegyek, de utana ne is emlitse tobbet. Szoval elmentem es lattam egy vekony sracot formas fenekkel (mindenkinek van valami gyengeje... nem igaz..?) A buli utan meg ketszer talalkoztunk (haveri korben), aztan jott Arpi szuletesnapja (junius 4.-e) ... . Nem, nem ugrottam ki a tortabol (megjegyzem a torta igazan egyedi volt...aki ott volt tudja :) ). Masnap reggel elbucsuztunk, Arpi mondta: "Majd hivlak." Ma junius 4.-e van, a ferjecskem szulinapja, szoval koszi csajszi. :)

2009-06-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Our route from Vancouver to Saskatoon:
Az utvonal Vancouvertol Saskatoonig:

View Vancouver-Saskatoon 2009 in a larger map

2009-06-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

Captions: Downtown Saskatoon, mall in Saskatoon, Saskatoon skyline, South Saskatchewan River and bridge, St. John's Cathedral, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Grain Elevator on the prairies, Downtown Regina, flower buds, Cornall Centre in Regina, "The New Lt. Governor of Saskatchewan", the interior and exterior of the Saskatchewan Legislative Bldg., Downtown Regina at night, entertainment district, First Nations University, the vegan guy, pelicans at Wascana Lake, a young man, Romanian Church near Fort Qu'Apelle, dry leaf, St. Michael's RC church near Lemberg, ant dragging its prey, Kaposvar historic site in Esterhazy, historic Esterhazy flour mill

Day # 52-54

We didn't stay for too long in Saskatoon, but we were pleased with what we saw. It has a pleasant and small downtown with beautiful churches. From across the South Saskatchewan River the skyline is beautiful and the Delta Hotel reminded us of the Chateau de Frontenac in Quebec City.
The Wanuskewin Heritage Site north of the city was well worth the visit. The site was a gathering place for native tribes for thousands of years and being there you could somehow feel the spirit and connect to the land.

Heading to Regina we stopped a few times, and we discovered a couple of unwanted guests. They were dying to stay but we said a firm NO. Two huge ticks tried to sneak in into Arpi's pants ignoring the 'No Trespassing' sign. We were dead tired but around midnight we reached Regina.

The next day we did our laundry, walked around downtown a bit and were lucky enough to catch one of the last guided tours to the Legislative Building which is awesome from inside and out. The marbles in the building are from 24 different countries. The surrounding Wascana Park is beautiful too.

Next to the University of Regina is the First Nations University of Canada. The building is an absolute masterpiece designed by Douglas Cardinal who also designed the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. Surprisingly this building is not advertised enough under Regina's attractions but we were blown away by it.

The area is basically flat but we found a mini hill which provided a perfect view while eating our lunch and in this way we discovered some pelicans resting on the shore of Wascana Lake. On Regina's mountain we discovered a nice guy too. He had an interesting character and we couldn't resist not to take his picture. He looked like twenty years old but he was actually 50. Lots of exercise, he said...

We headed towards Esterhazy. On the way, close to Fort Qu'Apelle we found a beautiful Romanian church with a friendly church keeper.

Esterhazy as the name suggests has some Hungarian roots and we wanted to check it out. Count Paul Esterhazy helped settle 35 Hungarian families in the 1880s founding the colony of Kaposvar. We visited the Kaposvar Historic site which has a beautiful stone church and cemetery with many Hungarian names.
Today Esterhazy is the "potash capital of the world" and the creek running through the town is still called Kaposvar Creek. It was interesting to visit the town and think about the past a bit.

52.-54. Nap

Nem maradtunk tul sokat Saskatoonba, de az idonk kellemesen telt. A megszokott elfoglaltsag mellett (varos felfedezese es fenykepezese) meglatogattuk a Wanuskewin parkot, ahol a 'hurrikannak' tuno szel egy kicsit elbizonytalanitott, de megbirkoztunk vele. A park evezredek ota indianok gyulekezo helye es az o kulturajukat mutatja be. Jo volt ott lenni es aterezni egy picit a mult szellemet.

Regina fele vettuk az iranyt, ami Saskatchewan fovarosa, persze meg-megalltunk fenykepezni. Egyik ilyen megallo alkalmaval nem kivanatos stopposok tapadtak Arpi labszarara de hamar megszabadult toluk es kinyirtuk oket. Hatalmasok a kullancsok, de igy legalabb erezni lehet ha rajtad maszkalnak.

Regina is aranyos. A Parlament epulete nagyon tetszett, sikerult belulrol is meglatogatni. Az Indian Egyetem epulete elbuvolo. Egy indian szarmazasu epitesz (Douglas Cardinal) tervezte kulonleges stilusban, keverve az indian motivumokat a modern epiteszettel.

Megtalaltuk Regina egyik magasabb dombocskajat ahonnan szep kilatas nyilt a varos kozpontjara es tavara, ahol pelikanokat fedeztunk fel. Ugyanitt talaltunk egy erdekes
sracot akirol azt hittuk, hogy indian, de kiderult hogy a Fulopszigetekrol jott es otven eves, habar 20-nak nezett ki. "Sok sportolas...", mondta. Maskulonben tenyleg sok indiant lattunk a varosban.

Regina utan Esterhazy fele indultunk. Minket a neve vonzott :).
Utkozben erdekes helyekre tevedtunk. Talaltunk egy roman templomot ahol elbeszelgettunk egy, mar Kanadaban szuletett, roman oregurral.

Esterhazyban meglatogattuk a Kaposvar emlekparkot es temetot. Nagyon szep kotemploma van amit 1906-ban epitettek. A varosrol megtudtuk, hogy egy alitolagos Eszterhazy grof az 1880-as evekben 35 magyar csaladot telepitett be. Az emlekpark nagyon szep es sok magyar nev volt az emlekoszlopon es a sirokon, de sajnos magyarokkal nem talalkoztunk. A varoson atfolyo patakot ma is Kaposvar Pataknak hivjak.

2009-05-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

Captions: festival guy in Edmonton, St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, a few abstracts, the cupola of the Alberta Legislature, the interior of St. Joseph's Cathedral Basilica , Churchill Square with the Edmonton city hall, Saint-Joachim Church, wood buffalo in Elk Islands National Park, Red-necked Grebe in EINP, Astotin Lake in EINP, the "Pysanka" in Vegreville, the "Barr Colony" church in Lloydminster built in 1904, grain elevator in Saskatchewan, American Avocet

Day #46-50

Some pickup truck drivers in Alberta drive quite aggressively :) We got the feeling that we should change our slogan from "only 90km/h, saving money on gas" to
only 90km/h, saving our ass".

We spent a few days exploring Edmonton. We were in downtown Friday night after 8pm and you couldn't spot a single soul, but later we were told that we can find the lost people a few streets further on Whyte St. And indeed it was quite a loud crowd there.

Saturday we checked out the Farmers Market and the Old Strathcona district which is quite nice, then we spent the afternoon in the West Edmonton Mall which is like a small city with roof. There is an indoor "beach", aquarium, hockey and skating rink, casino. One can enjoy a hockey game or watch a seal show, which we did. It has it' s own Chinatown with a small pond and bridge, amusement park for kids, chapel and we could go on and on... . It's a nice thing to have in the city, especially that the winters are long and hard here.

In Edmonton the animals crossing the streets are rabbits, but not regular ones.
Just for the record they are like kangaroos and they run like and are as big as mid-size dogs. No kidding!

After almost 9000km our beast needed a boost so we went to the Canadian Tire for an oil change and then we headed to Saskatoon. Our original plan was to drive up to The Yukon, but we decided that we leave that route for next time in order to be able to visit the Atlantic Provinces now.

On the way we visited Elk Island National Park. This place is a must see! The main attraction for us here were the bison, which we could enjoy from only a few meters away, even a few calfes. There are aspen, birch and spruce forests here and on the plains wood bison and plain bison are grazing.

In Vegreville we stopped to see the world's largest Easter Egg (a rotating sculpture). We thought it will be something kitsch like but we were surprised by it's special and beautiful design.
We were asked at the local Wall Mart to leave our backpacks behind. Arpi's reaction was: "I don't think so". Finally we could convince the lady to let us in with our packs. I (Dominika) was just wondering that I can't go in with my fully packed backpack(small) while all those city babes with their gigantic sized purses can.

Now we are in Saskatoon. The city was a pleasant surprise and it is absolutely lovely.

46. - 51. Nap

Egy par napot Edmontonban toltottunk. Pentek este 8 korul a kozpontban alig lattunk embert, de baratsagos jarokelok elarultak, hogy az emberek ilyenkor a varos regi kozpontjaban verik el idejuket, ami az Eszak Saskatchewan folyo tulso oldalan van. Es tenyleg ott az Old Strathcona negyedben nagy ricsaj meg zenebona volt. A Whyte utca a szorakozohelyek es a boltok utcaja. Szombaton is nagy az elet itt, utcai muveszek zenelnek, enekelnek, kulturalis esemenyek zajlanak es a kozelben van a regi piac. Ezen a szombaton eppen kozepkori jatekok voltak es pancelos harcosok vagtak kardjaikat egymasnak.
A tavasz csak most erkezett meg ide es a fak meg csak most bontogatjak leveleiket, ezert talan nem is csoda, hogy egy fedett kis varos talalhato itt amit West Edmonton Mall-nak neveznek. Van itt minden: kinai negyed, strand, vidampark, akvarium, korcsolyapalya, kapolna, kaszino... . A foka bemutato nagyon tetszett.

Edmonton kozeleben van az Elk Island Nemzeti Park, ahol bolenyeket lattunk egesz kozelrol , pont most van az elles ideje es kis bolenyek is rohangaltak a prerin. Az ember gondolna, hogy a preri unalmas, de egyaltalan nem. Az eg csodalatos es a naplementek gyonyoruek. Saskatchewan rendszamtablajan a szlogen: " Az elo egek foldje". Rengeteg erdekes vizimadar lathato a kis tavakon.

Megerkeztunk Saskatoonba, ami Saskatchewan legnepesebb varosa 233000 lakossal. Kellemes meglepetest okozott.

2009-05-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Captions: flowers and an ant, a mini chapel in the Rockies, sunset in Vernon, fountain pillars in Vernon, Vernon courthouse, street in Revelstoke, kung-fu fighter Red Squirrel, Columbian Ground Squirrel, Wapta Falls and Dominika, Natural Bridge and the Kicking Horse River, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, Johnston Canyon, Herbert Lake, The Van, Mt. Athabasca, Bighorn Sheep, together in Jasper NP, Edmonton skyline

Day # 40-46

Our next stop was in Vernon in the northern part of the Okanagan Valley. We encountered another fast developing town. It seems that luxury became the normal here in recent years. More and more huge houses are being built on hillsides overlooking the downtown. The park in front of the courthouse has a fountain in an interesting style with huge textured concrete pillars.

After a good nights sleep in Vernon we headed further. Slowly the semi-arid hills changed to forest covered mountains and we arrived to Revelstoke. We took some time off and relaxed at the Aquatic Centre. It was nice to experience that at the pool they use salt instead of chlorine to keep the water clean. We engaged in a little chat with the lady at the front desk (Ingrid). It was encouraging to hear that she also did a couple of road trips in her twenties (3 moths in Europe, 7 months in the US and Mexico) and slept in the car.
The people are super friendly here and the town is very nice and quiet, we both liked it a lot.
In the evening we tried to play cards, but had to realize that we don't remember the rules for a single card game.....but it's OK we can pretend that we know what we are doing. Oops we almost forgot to tell you that we visited Crazy Creek Falls. We met people from Australia and New Zealand who waited patiently while Arpi took some pictures of the cool suspension bridge. Close neighbours eh? :) When we are on a photo ramp Arpi looks like a pro with his "20 kg" weight tripod meanwhile I look like some crazy person who just escaped from the psychiatric ward crawling on the ground searching for the beauty of the micro world.

The trip is an awesome experience but also very trying. Reaching the end of our first month we were thinking if we don't divorce after this little trip than never. But it's ok we are fine :).

Dominika's Corner:
I decided to dedicate this little section to share thoughts, feelings, information.
So, for you who just happened to read our blog, but doesn't know us, here is a little info about who we are:
Arpi is from Transylvania who strangely become a full time photographer after he got his Ph.D. in physics and I am (Dominika) from Hungary who graduated as a photographer to become a secretary than jewelery maker and finally maybe a real photographer.
Next time I will share with you how I met Arpi.

Revelstoke is a gateway to some of Canada's most beautiful National Parks. Unfortunately the Meadows in the Sky road is open only from mid July so we headed further and stopped in Yoho National Park. The weather was rainy and cloudy so we thought the best thing to do is to visit waterfalls (the best time to photograph them). The first one was Wapta Falls. We had to hike a bit to reach it but it was worth it. Then we continued with the Natural Bridge where the Kicking Horse River flows under a naturally carved rock formation. It started it's life as a waterfall than the river forced it's way through the cracks, opening another passage, than the top rock fell off creating a natural bridge. Our next stop was the stunning Emerald Lake. In the evening just when a storm started we arrived to Field ( pop.250 ).

Next morning leaving Field we saw a road sign broken into three. This is what the storm left behind from last night. We went back to Emerald Lake to hike to Hamilton Falls, which wasn't too special, but we enjoyed the lake once again and found a nice souvenir shop.

Heading south we visited Johnston Canyon with it's 6 waterfalls, witch was a short 5km hike. We saw a way too friendly squirrel. The little guy was begging for food and checked out my backpack from inside :). We could have easily zip it in. We spent the night at a Petro gas station, parking right beside a towing truck.:) On the truck was written: 23 and a half hour service.:)

The next day we headed towards Edmonton, of course stopping at many gorgeous places. Herbert Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, Athabasca Glacier, Parker's Ridge... . It is still winter here, sometimes snowing, the lakes are still frozen, but the scenery is magnificent, one can not describe it. At about 11pm we reached Edmonton.

Around lunch time the next day we checked into the HI-hostel. Nice place but the mattress could be better though. We relaxed in the afternoon and took some pictures in the evening of the amazing jewel like skyline and the North Saskatchewan River. At dinner we met a friendly guy from Ottawa, Matthew Raymond Alexander, who works as a journalist/English teacher while traveling the world.

It seems that we are chasing the Spring again. It was quite cold in Edmonton, and we heard that before we arrived it was snowing and -6. But today is much better and the Sun is shining :). We are at 8600km.

40. - 46. Nap

Legkozelebbi megallonk Vernonban volt, ami szinten a szaraz Okanagan volgy eszaki reszen fekszik. Ugy nez ki, hogy a luxus itt mar az atlag, mert egyre tobb luxus negyed epul fel a varost korbevevo dombokon. Az Okanagan to maskulonben 135 km hosszu es feluletileg kb fele a Balatonnak.

A kovetekzo par napot a Sziklas Hegyseg nemzeti parkjaiban toltottuk. Visszaerkeztunk a telbe, havazott egy parszor, hoemebert is csinaltunk. Bamulatos helyeken jartunk, szavakkal nem igazan lehet leirni: kristalytiszta, turkiz szinu tavak, hatalmas hegyek es elkepzelhetetlen kiterjedesu fenyoerdok... . Revelstokban talalkoztunk egy nocivel es batorito volt hallani, hogy a huszas eveiben o is sokat utazott a ferjevel es ok is autoban aludtak (3 honap Europaban, 7 honap az Egyesult Allamokban es Mexikoban ). Jo tudni, hogy nem vagyunk annyira csodabogarak ezzel az uttal.

Ahogy elhagytuk a hegyeket enyhult az ido es ma mar, itt Edmontonban, 21 fok van (hallottuk, hogy itt is -6 volt, meg havazott mielott megerkeztunk).
Edmonton Alberta fovarosa es eloszor jarunk erre. Nagyon sok ukran telepedett le a kornyeken a mult szazad elejen es nyomaikat mindenfele latni. Ukran falu muzem is van, ahova tervezunk elmenni. A belvaros tiszta es gyonyoru ejszakai megvilagitasban. A hetvegen pezseg az elet es rengeteg az utcai muvesz. Itt is kaptunk tanacsot, hogy ejszaka ne jarjunk bizonyos helyeken es lattunk egy par furcsa alakot. Utunk soran ugy tapasztaljuk, hogy a varosokban eleg sok a ketes es elhanyagolt figura, ami sajnos a turistanak egy kicsit ilyeszto. Torontoban is van utca, ahol hontalan menhelyek vannak, de megsem ilyen az osszkep, Quebecben sem volt ilyen tapasztalatunk.

Gondolat Sarok:

Ugy gondoltam (Dominika), hogy a fenti cimen csinalok egy kis sarkot magamnak.
Szoval eloszor is egy kis bemutatkozas, hogy kik is vagyunk:
Arpi erdelyi szarmazasu, Torontoban fizikat vegzett es most foallasu fotos. En mint fotos vegztem (... de most nem fizikus vagyok :) ... ) , hogy aztan titkarno, majd egszerkeszito es most talan tenyleg fotos legyek. Legkozelebb megirom, hogy hogyan talalkozott a magyar leany a szekely legennyel Torontoban.

Magyar valtozat hamarosan kovetkezik.

2009-05-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

Some of you have asked for a route map, so here is our route till Vancouver.

Itt van az utvonalunk Vancouverig. Folytatas kovetkezik.

View Larger Map

2009-05-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

Pictures: plants, Fort Langley Town Hall, lamb lunch time, The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Mission, floating logs in a slough, the Fraser River, a highland cattle or kyloe, Harrison Hot Springs pier and bench, a peak, old truck, Chilliwack museum, Chilliwack downtown, California Quail, Okanagan Lake and Penticton from Munson Mt. , Church in Penticton, orchard near Summerland, okanagan sunflowers, Trout Creek Canyon Trestle near Summerland, Kelowna condos, Benvoulin Church, Father Pandosy Mission

Day #35-40

Our first stop after Vancouver was Fort Langley which is a small tourist village. As the name suggests there is an old Hudson Bay Company fort here, which just closed when we arrived. Sorry no pictures :), but we saw some cool old cars and got an offer just in case we want to buy one. They have awesome gelato on the main street, which seemed the only business open till 8pm. We spent the night in Abbotsford.

The next day we checked out Clayburn (an old part of Abbotsford), Mission and Harrison Hot Springs. Harrison Hot Springs is a beautiful resort town on the scenic shore of Harrison lake, worth the detour. We spent the rest of the day in Chilliwack which has a small but nice downtown. The surrounding mountains are beautiful with clear lakes and rivers. Bridal Veil Falls is definitely worth a visit, one of the nicest falls we have seen.

We headed towards the Okanagan Valley and we stopped in Keremeos, Pentincton and Kelowna. We saw lots of orchards and vineyards, the apple and pear trees are blossoming. In Keremeos ( the fruitstand capital of Canada) we bought apples and some samosas and parokas, interesting combination :) . In Penticton Munson Mountain is just a few minutes drive from downtown and the view of the Okanagan lake and surrounding mountains are beautiful. The lands are pretty dry here and fruits are grown through irrigation only. The local plants are well adapted to the dry climate. We saw cactuses, ponderosa pines, big sage, arrowleaf balsamroot (okanagan sunflower)... .

Just for interest we checked out a manufactured home in Penticton. A 924 sf would cost around $60-70 thousand. And the land for it would be around 200 -300 thousand.

In Summerland we checked out the Kettle Valley Rail bridge and canyon.

Kelowna has a beautiful, luxurious waterfront with new condominiums. It has a lively and noisy nightlife ( note that we are in our thirties... ) The heritage buildings are worth a visit. We liked especially the Benvoulin Heritage Church and the Father Pandosy Mission, which was the first white settlement in BC (in 1859).

35.-40. Nap

Elso megallonk Vancouver utan Fort Langley volt, pici turistafalu. Sajnos az erodot (ez is egy Hudson Bay Company erod volt) nem sikerult megnezni, mert az orrunk elott zart be, de lattunk egy par szep, oreg autot. Az egyikre kaptunk is ajanlatot ha esetleg meg szeretnenk venni.
A faluban az egyetlen kesoig nyitvatarto bolt az a fagyis...hmmm es micsoda fagyis.

Megjegyezendo, hogy egy 1923-as lepukkant muhely emlekmunek szamit es sok helysegben hasonlo regisegu helyek emlekmuvek. Ezt otthon is erdemes volna atvenni, mert rengeteg regi, erdekes hely van otthon ami nincs kelloen ertekelve. Es tenyleg erdekes volt olvasni a muhely torteneterol, az alapito eleterol. Itt minden falu buszken hirdeti, hogy o az egyik legszebb hely a vilagon.

Az estet Abbotsfordban toltottuk es masnap megneztuk Mission-t es Chilliwack-et. A varos hegyekkel, tiszta vizu tavakkal, folyokkal van korulveve. Masnap az Okanagan volgy fele vettuk az iranyt. Megneztuk Keremeos-t, Pentincton-t es Kelowna-t. Mindegyik gyorsan fejlodik, ugy latszik sokan kedvelik a meleg es szaraz eghajlatot. Kanadanak ez a volgy a gyumolcs es szolotermeszto kozpontja, amit persze ontozessel ernek el, mert a talaj csontszaraz. A helyi noveny es allatvilag erdekes (meg kis katuszok is vannak). Kelowna-ban van a Pandosy atya emlekhaza ami azert kulonleges, mert ez volt az elso feher telep British Columbiaban 1859-ben.

2009-05-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

Pictures: Daniel serving tea, boat, Granville Street Bridge, plant abstract, gosling, the world's narrowest building, Haida Totem pole figure, berries, ship at English Bay, flowers, Queen Elizabeth Park, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Science Center, Yale Town restaurant, Lion's Gate Bridge, Church

Day #29-35

We spent quite a few days exploring the city, while we had our fair share of rain. A few places we have been and worth visiting: Queen Elizabeth Park with it's waterfall and flower gardens; Stanley Park, The Museum of Anthropology which is on the beautiful campus of The University of British Columbia; English Bay with it's Inukshuk, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown. There are nice city views from all the three bridges of False Creek.

We visited again our favorite tea and gift shop 'Arts de Chine' (northeast corner of Pender and Columbia) where we had a Chinese tea tasting session, courtesy of Daniel. If you are in town and are interested in the tradition of Chinese tea making, just visit this tea store and ask Daniel to initiate you. It's a special experience. At the end we bought a brick of Pu Erh tea, which is similar to wine, in the sense that it appreciates with time.
We found a pastry shop on Davie Street called 'Transylvanian Traditions'. Boy, the kutoskalacs was awesome!
Another interesting experience was Kent's Kitchen on Keefer Street (also Chinatown). It is one of the crappiest places but with the best food, a portion is $4.50 and enough for two.

We spent three mornings on Granville Island enjoying the market and arts and craft shops and did some shopping at BC Wood Coop. Check them out.

29.-35. Nap

Tobb mint egy hetet toltottunk Vancouverben. A kinai negyedben meglatogattuk kedvenc tea boltunkat, ahol megint reszt vettunk egy kinai "tea ceremoniaban".Erdekese vilag ez. Vettunk is egy csomag Pu Erh teat, ami a borhoz hasonloan, idovel nemesedik.Szoval meglatjuk milyen lesz 50 ev mulva frissen kiveve a kisparna alol. :)

Felfedeztunk a vilag leglepukkantabb etkezdejet is ( Kent's Kitchen a kinai negyedben), ahol a kaja viszont 5 csillagot erdemel.

A hat fenypontja viszont a kurtoskalacs volt, amit a 'Transylvanian Traditions' nevu erdelyi cukraszdaban vettunk. Mar nyolc eve nem ettunk ilyen csemeget. Bozse ettem a nevedben is.:)

2009-05-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

Pictures: Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park in Vancouver Chinatown, ospreys ( Pandion haliaetus) building their nest, Vancouver cityscapes

Day #26-29

We arrived to Vancouver on Saturday morning. Our first stop was at Chinatown. Unfortunately next to Chinatown the Hastings Street area wasn't a pleasant welcome. The streets are full of multitudes of homeless people. We haven't seen anything like it anywhere we have been. (though we had close experiences in the fall of 2007 in Calgary, this spring Calgary was much better, maybe it depends on the season ?? ).

Otherwise we like Vancouver. It has 'style', one would say, and a beautiful setting. Vancouver Chinatown has a lot of charm too with vendors selling everything edible, raw or dried. Chinese bakeries are a must try. There are boutiques with beautiful Chinese style fashion clothing (we shopped at OCHI , and they have nice, good quality clothing).

We tried to photograph the cityscape from Stanley Park but a rainstorm stopped us in our plans, the next day though we had more luck.

One morning while eating breakfast at the shore in North Vancouver we discovered seals and a pair of ospreys building their nest.

Finally we had our share of heaven taking a room at the Hi Hostel at Jericho Beach (a beautiful old building which which served as a military residence). Our plan is to stay in the city for a while, especially that the rains came in and the photo opportunities are limited outside.

26.-29. Nap
Szombat reggel megerkeztunk Vancouverbe. Elso utunk a kinai negyedbe vezetett. Sajnos a kinai negyed kornyeke tele volt hontalannal. Hasonlo tapasztalataink voltak Calgary-ban 2007 oszen, de ekkora tomeget meg ott sem lattunk (erdekes most tavasszal Calgaryban mar nem nagyon lattuk oket, talan evszaktol fugg? ). Valahogy felfoghatatlan, hogy Kanadaban ilyen is van. Ettol fuggetlenul nagyon tetszik a varos, valahogy van stilusa. A kinai negyednek is van varazsa. Az arusoknal hatalmas a valasztek, minden van ami eheto, legyen az nyers vagy szaritott aru. Amit muszaly megkostolni azok a kinai peksutemenyek. Erdekes, hogy hazai izekkel talalkoztunk. Vannak aranyos ruha boltok, ahol a hagyomanyos kinai stilust vegyitettek az uj modern igennyekkel (OCHI).

Este a varost probaltuk fenykepezni, de sajnos az eso megakadalyozott ebben (maskulonben az eso eleg mindennapos Vancouverben). Fokakat es halaszsasokat lattunk masnap reggel es este sikerult a varost is lencsvegre kapni.

Vegre megszalltunk egy diakszalloban megint es megpihentunk egy kicsit. Mar ideje volt, nagyon jol esett. Egy par napig a varosban leszunk, kulonosen, hogy esot mondanak a hetre es igy nem lehet kint fenykepezni.

2009-05-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

Pictures: Cathedral Cove rain forest, Little Qualicum Falls, Comox pier and harbour, David's Maple bark, abstract, ant, Nanaimo - Horseshoe Bay ferry ride

Day #24-26

From Port Alberni we headed back to the east coast of Vancouver Island. On the way we visited Cathedral Cove old growth forest where we saw gigantic Douglas firs and cedars again (800 years old and 85m tall). We saw a gorgeous canyon and falls at Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park. Then we headed north to Courtenay and Comox. They lie besides Strathcona Provincial Park in a beautiful setting.
We were impressed by the beautiful villa style architecture and cleanness of Comox especially.
The Filberg Park and heritage buildings were well worth the visit, where we were considering shooting each other, just to be able to finish taking pictures.

After spending two weeks on Vancouver Island we decided to go back to the mainland, taking the ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay - Vancouver.

We are experiencing a whole new world of crankyness and exhaustion :) so a good night's sleep in a hostel will be marriage saviour.

24.-26. Nap

Port Albernibol kelet fele vettuk az iranyt megallva egy csodas esoerdo mellett, ahol megint Douglas fenyoket (800 evesek es 85m magasak) es hatalmas cedrusokat lattunk. A sziget keleti partja menten eljutottunk Courtenaybe es Comoxba. Comox szep varos, gyonyoru a kikotoje es van egy kulonosen szep parkja, ahol meg ozek is barangolnak.

Ezutan ugy dontottunk, hogy visszaterunk a kontinensre es Nanaimobol komppal Vancouverbe utaztunk. (az ut masfel oras, a lathataron magas hegyek lancolatai magasodnak egymas fole.)

A nyugosseg es faradtsag eddig szamunkra ismeretlen szintjeit eljuk at :), egy puha agy es egy jo meleg furdo egyenlo a menyorszaggal.

2009-04-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Pictures: White Fawn Lily (Erythronium Oregonum), HBC Bastion in Nanaimo, dutch wooden shoe violin, rainforest, several shots from Pacific Rim National Park, bald eagle, hummingbird, Steller's Jay, first nation petroglyph at Sproat Lake Provincial Park, black bear

Day #18-24

Nanaimo is a small city with a nice harbourfront. It is developing fast, which is noticable also in the increase in home prices in the last few years. We did our laundry and took showers at a good budget hotel called "Painted Turtle Guest House" which also operates as a Hi hostel, it made a good impression. One of Nanaimo's noteworthy structure is the old Hudson Bay Company Bastion, which was built in the 18 hundreds for the protection of the trading post.

We headed towards the west coast of Vancouver Island , stopping midway at Port Alberni, which started off as a 'lumber town'. At the port we met an interesting missionary who was playing a rather peculiar violin, which he made from a dutch wooden shoe, according to some story he heard from a musician: that you can make a violin from anything as long as it is hollow inside. So somebody threw a wooden shoe at the musician and made a bet with him... .

The same day we took a very scenic drive to Ucluelet and Tofino which lie right next to the Pacific Rim National Park. Both towns are tourist centers with beautiful cottages and scenic views of the Pacific, rocky islands along the shore, and rain forest covered mountains. Whales can be seen here. We spotted a few gray whales from a distance. The sunsets are amazing and we were thrilled to see bald eagles, hummingbirds, ocean creatures. Dominika just loved beach combing and she probably gained 20 pounds filling up all her pockets with shells. We spent around three days here and then we headed back to Port Alberni, we saw two black bears from a safe distance ( around two meters, from inside the car :) ). We stopped there again and spent the day photographing water falls and first nation petroglyphs. We visited an interesting human made fish ladder at the Stamp River Provincial Park,, which was built so that all kinds of salmon can (cheenook, coho, steel head, sockeye) go further upstream.

Meglatogattuk Nanaimot, egy fejlodo kisvaros, szep kikotovel. A Hudson Bay Company eredeti, fabol keszult, vedobastyaja lathato itt ( A Hudson Bay Company az 1670-es evekben alakult a nyugati kereskedes kiaknazasara). Elindultunk Vancouver Sziget nyugati partjai fele, erintettuk Port Albernit, Uclueletet es Tofinot. A Pacific Rim Nemzeti Parkot latogattuk meg. Gyonyoruek a naplementek, lattunk szurke balnakat, kolibriket, sasokat, narancssarga es bordo tengeri csillagokat.
Egyik nap megint elofozott rizst foztunk. Masnapra is maradt. Arpi beleszagol.
A: Szerinted ez meg jo?
D: Biztos, kulonben is a rizs nem a jo szagarol hires.
Arpi belekostol.
D: Na milyen?
A: Olyan mint tegnap ... Szar ... .

Utban visszafele ket fekete medvet is lattunk test kozelbol, persze az auto biztonsagabol. Port Alberniben szalltunk meg megint, indian korajzokat es vizesest neztunk meg. A vizesesnel egy erdekes 'hal letrat' epitettek, hogy ne csak a legerossebb lazacoknak legyen eselye a szaporodasra hanem a 'selejtnek' is. :) Igy tobbet lehet majd zabalni beloluk.

2009-04-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Day 14-18

We spent 5 days in the greater Victoria area. We put our hands in the Pacific, tasted the water and guess what it is salty indeed :) . We discovered interesting tiny creatures in the ponds of the shore: hermit crabs, fish, plant looking stuff :) which move if you touch them. Beacon Hill Park is a natural area downtown Victoria facing the shore. We spent a lot of time there photographing flowers and fighting over who is going to use the macro lens (the fight ended without blood). There were some flowers which back in Hungary and Transylvania can be found as well and in a way are special: chocolate lily (Fritillaria lanceolata), pasque flower (Pulsatilla).

We cruised the coast, visited Ocean Drive where painters come out in the morning and hiked at Thetis Lake Regional Park where we saw forests with Douglas Firs, some of them 70m tall and older than 500 years.

We visited two churches: Made pictures of the nave of Saint Andrew's Cathedral and at Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church we had the pleasure to meet with the church officer who showed us around and even took us upstairs to have a peek behind the pipe organ. It was a great and adventurous experience. Thanks Grant!

Yesterday we visited Royal Roads University where we walked around Hatley Castle and Hatley Park. They have a beautiful Italian, Japanese and rose garden... and we saw a hummingbird. We continued our tour with two lagoons: Albert Head and Witty's Lagoon. At the latter we saw the Sitting Lady Fall.

Victoria is clean and it makes a wonderful impression with it's turn of the century architecture, villa like houses with tasteful colours and surrounding scenery.

P.S. Pictures: Map of Vancouver Island BC, chocolate lily, pasque flower, surfers, Italian garden at Hatley Park, Hatley Castle, bridge poles, great blue heron, Douglas Firs, pipe organ, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Grant the church officer, St Andrews Cathedral, totem poles and native house, mile 0 of the Trans-Canada Hwy, painter, western skunk cabbage, grape hyacinth, some bulbs, Craigdarroch Castle, mollusk abstract

14.-18. Nap - Ot napot toltottunk Victoriaban es kornyeken. Belelogattuk a kezunket a Csendes Oceanba, a vizbe is belekostoltunk es tenyleg sos :) . A part melletti pocsolyakban erdekes, apro elolenyekre bukkantunk (rakok, halak, tengeri szerkentyuk). Nagyon szep parkok es kertek vannak, ahol kulonleges viragokra talaltunk (Erdelyben es Magyarorszagon vedettek a kockas liliom es a kokorcsin). Meglatogattunk ket kastelyt (Craigdarroch Castle es a Hatley Castle, az elobbit egy szen magnas epitett a masodikat a fia a szazad fordulon). A Thetis Lake Parkban pedig douglas fenyo erdoben setaltunk. Egyes fenyok elerik a 70 m magassagot es 500 evnel idosebbek. Victoriaban volt szerencsenk egy gondnokot megismerni (aki mellesleg magyar szarmazasu) felvitt a helyi prezsbiterianus templom orgonaja moge, ami igazi elmeny volt.

2009-04-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

We are in Nanaimo, everything is fine, we are just short on time, post soon to follow about the previous days.

2009-04-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Day 13 - We decided to go straight to Vancouver Island. We caught the Ferry at 11 AM and got a springy welcome in Victoria. The gardens are full of flowers, the fruit trees are blossoming. We checked in at the downtown HI Hostel ... and guess what, we have a private room...ok it is not like a suite at the Hilton, but the place is nice and the people are friendly. In the afternoon we checked out a street art market and the downtown area to take some pictures. The evening light was perfect for photography and the Victoria Legislative Building is a jewel. We love Victoria. Now the plan is to savor the island a bit, till now we were in a hurry to reach the warmer west coast, finally we are here.
P.S. Pictures: The Gulf Islands, our car on the ferry, Victoria

13. Nap - Ugy dontottunk hogy egyenesen Vancouver Szigetre megyunk. A kompot eppen sikerult elcsipnunk, szoval delutan egy korul meg is erkeztunk Viktoriaba. Itt mar viragoznak a gyumolcsfak. Vegre tavaszban van reszunk. Megszalltunk egy diakszalloban (HI Hostel), szerencsere meg volt kulon szobajuk. Tiszta, kenyelmes hely, konyhaval, jatekteremmel, olvasoteremmel, konyvekkel felszerelve. Delutan korbejartuk a belvarost: parlament, kikoto...azt hiszem a kepek magukert beszelnek. Eddig siettunk a tavasz fele, most egy ideig a szigeten leszunk. Ha a terkepre ranezel ugy tunik, hogy egy kicsi sziget. Kanadaban kicsinek tunnek a tavolsagok, de a valosagban hatalmasak. Viktoriabol (deli resz) fol a sziget eszaki reszebe van 500km.

2009-04-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

Day 12 - We slept at Kamloops at the very spot where Billy Miner robbed a passenger train in 1904 and made $7000. The lands around Kamloops are very dry and that is visible on the plants too. We never anything like it before. We explored the city a bit and discovered a local art exhibition where we really enjoyed the work of Bernice Armstrong. We decided to head to the west coast in the afternoon. Driving through the canyons of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers was quite scary sometimes because of the depth, the curvy roads and the long tunnels. We drove across the lands of the gold rush and then spent the evening in Chilliwack.
P.S. Pictures: The old courthouse in Kamloops, "Magnolia" by Bernice Armstrong, the dry lands around Kamloops with a mine shed probably from the times of the gold rush, coyote, tunnel in the Fraser valley.

12. Nap - Az ejszakat Kamloops-ban toltottuk pont azon a helyen ahol 1904-ben Billy Miner kirabolt egy szemelyvonatot, 7000 dollart szakitott aznap. A kornyek nagyon szaraz es ez a novenyeken is latszik, fuves meg bokros foleg. Novenytermesztes csak ontozessel leehetseges. Nem lattunk meg hasonlo tajakat korabban. Korbejartuk a belvarost es felfedeztunk egy helyi muvesz kiallitast, aztan a nyugati partok fele vettuk az iranyt. A Thompson es Fraser folyo szorosain keresztul vezetni neha felelmetes volt a melyseg, az eles kanyarok es az alagutak miatt. Az aranylaz videkeit jarjuk. Az ejszakat Chilliwack-ban toltottuk.

2009-04-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

Day 11-Today we drove to Lake Louise, another famous spot in the Canadian Rockies. The weather was beautiful, but the lake is still frozen so we took some pictures on the ice. After spending a lot of time in the car we thought a hike would be quite beneficial :) so we started out on the trail besides the lake, but some clouds came pretty quickly and it started to snow heavily, so we turned back. But the fresh mountain air, the smell of the fir trees was awesome. By the way, yesterday we had our first meal, we cooked ourselves: some instant rice and smoked fish, yummy. The rest of the day: driving again, this time to Kamloops. It's a beautiful drive below the sky reaching peaks of Yoho National Park, Glacier national Park - the mountains around Golden, Shuswap Lake scenery... (Shuswap is the name of the largest native tribe in interior British Columbia). And we hit the sack again.
P.S. Pictures: a horse in Kananaskis country, Canmore historic mounted police cabin, Mount Rundle - Banff, Lake Louise, Shuswap Lake.

11.Nap-Ma megerkeztunk Lake Louise-hoz. A to meg be volt fagyva igy a jegen csinaltunk par kepet, aztan turaztunk egyet a to korul. Mire a tura ut felehez ertunk a szep napos ido pillanatok allatt massziv hoesesbe valtott. Azt elfelejtettem irni hogy tegnap fogyasztottuk elso altalunk keszitett meleg ebedunket (elofozott rizs es fustolt halkonzerv :) ). A nap hatralevo reszeben elvezettunk Kamloops-ig. A taj elmondhatatlanul gyonyoru.

2009-04-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Day #9-10 It was too late to leave the city, so we stayed for one more night, taking pictures of course. In the morning we headed to Canmore (one of the most expensive city's in Canada). The city is clean, the people are friendly and the architecture is very tasteful. We checked out a photo gallery with Jason Leo Bantle's work, he uses 35mm film and manual camera only (www.bantlephoto.com) to capture wildlife. We saw a tiny store for sale (wish we would have the money to buy it). Here you can buy a 5 bedroom house for about a million dollar, or more :). There was another store which we liked 'Buhran' (www.buhran.ca) with beautiful woodwork and art from Afghanistan and other parts from Asia.
Now we are writing from Banff's Starbucks (God bless their wireless internet) and planning to spend the night here. Beautiful town as well and gorgeous mountain scenery. At the crosswalk you can see pedestrians and whitetail deer crossing as well. :)
P.S. Pictures: Bighorn sheep , coyote along the way

9.-10.Nap-Maradtunk meg egy ejszakat es reggel indultunk Canmore-ba (Kanada egyik legdragabb kisvarosa) . Tiszta, szep hely; izleses, hegyi kisvaros. Korbejartuk a kozpontot, beneztunk par boltba. Talaltunk egy szep fotogaleriat (www.bantlephoto.com). A fotosrol annyit hogy csak manualis geppel dolgozik, foleg allatvilagot fenykepez. Ha itt akar az ember hazat venni akkor egy 5 szobas megveheto kb. 1.000.000 dollarert.
Canmore utan Banff fele vettuk az iranyt. Ugyancsak hegyi kisvaros, de szinte kifejezetten turistaknak. Az ozek is jarnak-kelnek az utcakon.

2009-04-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Day # 8-9-Instead of leaving we took a shower at the Hi Hostel and then checked out Calgary's Chinatown. The Chinese Cultural Center has an interesting ornate dome. In the Eau Clair market we stopped at The Bean Stop
which is a tea and coffee shop and had a little chat with the owner, a very friendly and humble man. We have to note that the tea was very good, worth to try and choose from some 125 different flavors. For the night we stayed in Calgary and today in the morning it was a good time to do the laundry and recharge our batteries.

8.-9.-Nap-a terv az volt hogy magunk mogott hagyjuk Calgary-t de megis maradtunk. Megneztuk a kinai negyedet (kicsi, de az epuletek szepek). Bementunk az Eau Clair Market-be ahol egy kave/tea boltban osszeismerkedtunk a tulajdonossal. Beszelgettunk, teazgattunk, Arpi kozben keszitett par portret rola. Megkerdeztuk tole hogy Calgary-ban szuletett-e, mire o azt felelte: "Csak negy ember szuletett Calgary-ban." :)

2009-04-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Day #7-8-Easter Monday was very quiet at Medicine Hat. We took some pictures and said goodbye to the city. On the way we finally we could take pictures of the prairies fastest animal the Pronghorn and approaching Calgary the snow covered peaks of the Rockies started to appear. The prairie was huge, but it was beautiful. Two years awe digo d not have very good memories about Calgary (downtown was full of homeless and shady people in September 2007), so we had mixed feeling entering the city. And wow what a positive surprise.
Today Arpi is planning to buy his new toy (a camera) and we plan our second shower... and no we don't stink. Last night and Today morning we had freezing rain and some snow.

7.-8. Nap-Calgary fele vettuk az iranyt es vegre sikerult lefotozni egy csapat amerikai antilopot. Lassan a Sziklas Hegyseg hoboritotta csucsai is elobujtak a tavolban. A preri hosszu volt de megvan a maga varazsa. Mikor ket evvel ezelott Calgary-ban jartunk (2007.szeptember) a varos koszos volt es hemzsegett a hontalanoktol. Most sokkal tisztabb es nagyon tetszik
Ma meg egy ideig itt vagyunk Calgary-ban, aztan irany a hegyek fele. Tegnap ejszaka es ma reggel havas eso esett.

2009-04-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Day#6-In the morning we checked out downtown Regina, it made a nice impression. We stopped at the Legistlative building to take some pictures and we saw a couple of prairie dogs (cute and extremely hyper creatures). We just calculated how much gas we use and it come up to 9.6L/100Km, and on a highway one full tank is enough for about 700Km. We love our car! Calgary seemed too far so we stopped at Medicine Hat (another nice city). In the afternoon we checked out Saamis Tepee which is a 20 story high native monument and it was built in Calgary for the 1986 Winter Olympics.

Hatodik nap-Reggel megneztuk Regina belvarosat(szep,tiszta hely). Megalltunk a parlamentnel hogy keszitsunk par kepet. A parkban ratalaltunk egy edes prerikutya parosra (igen eletrevalo urge fele allatkak). Calgary-t mar nem ertuk volna el igy Madicine Hat-nel alltunk meg, aranyos varoska, az indianoknak volt egy fontos kozpontja. Megneztunk egy 20 emelet magas, femszerkezetu, indian sator, emlekmuvet. Az 1986-os teli Olimpiara keszitettek Calgary-ban.

2009-04-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Day#4-5-We reached Manitoba's capital Winnipeg. We had our first shower...hooray...The city is dirty and it really needs a good face lift. In the morning we did our shopping, people were crazier than around Christmas. Then we started off towards Regina. Now for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers everything is flat, we reached the prairies. It is like driving through the Hungarian Great Plain, only a bit longer. :) We reached Regina at 2838 Km. And now we are going to hit the sack. Happy Easter everyone!
P.S. The city in the picture is Winnipeg and the river is the Red River which reached some dangerously high level because of the melting snow and piling ice.

Megerkeztunk Manitoba kozpontjaba Winnipegbe. Az elso tusolas mennyei volt. A varos nagyon koszos, raferne egy alapos takaritas es renovalas. Winnipeg utan Regina fele vettuk az iranyt. Arpi elvezte a prerit, lattunk szarvasokat, prerifarkast, boleny farmokat de en kicsit belefaradtam a monotonsagba. Olyan mint a Nagyalfoldon vezetni, csak "kicsit" tovabb tart. Eddig 2838 Km van mogottunk. Kellemes Husvetot mindenkinek!
U.I. A varos a kepen Winnipeg es a folyo a Voros Folyo ami a kiontes veszelyevel fenyeget az olvado ho es a felgyulemlett jegtablak miatt.

2009-04-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Day #3-Pine and birch trees for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. We arrived to Thunder Bay and had a short stop at the Terry Fox monument. Reaching downtown we looked for a Starbucks Coffee to use the internet-but our guy told us to go to the Public Library instead. We finished the day with a hot meal in Dryden. I was thinking maybe we should put a sign on the van because it seems everybody is going faster than we do:

90Km/H-saving money on gas
(got laid off)

P.S.-picture#1-Terry Fox monument
- picture#2-awakening

Harmadik nap-Tobb szaz kilometeren keresztul nem latni mast csak fenyo es nyirfa erdot. Thunder Bay-be megneztuk Terry Fox emlekmuvet. Roviden rola:Fiatalon rakos lett es 18 eves koraban le kellett vagni a jobb labat,ennek llenere elhatarozta hogy atszalad a kontinens keleti feletol a nyugati feleig labprotezissel,s kozben penzadomanyokat gyujtott a rakkutatas tamogatasara. Idokozben a kiujult rak nem engedte hogy befejezze a kituzott celt. Kanadaban nemzeti hosnek szamit.
D
U.I.-kep-1-Terry Fox emlekmu
-kep-2-ebredes

2009-04-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

Day 2- The scenery is breathtaking (we had a gorgeous sunset), though the weather is still cold. There are very few cars on the highway and the locations are quite far from each other. You definitely need to fill up the tank when you see a gas station. And better to do that in a bigger city or they might rip you off. In White River the gas was 99 c per liter plus paying for 30L we got around 20L (of course we noticed this later). We drove about 800Km's today.Before Nipigon the road was blocked by a police car...waiting for us maybe?...Arpi rolled down the window with a frozen look on his face, but they weren't after us after all, an accident down the Hwy.
P.S. Pictures - By the way we just found out that Winnie the Pooh was based on a real bear cub originating from White River.
- Dominika standing at the shores of Lake Superior.
- and the other picture- Arpi!-when you gotta go you gotta go.

Masodik nap-A taj lelegzetelallitoan gyonyoru,de meg mindig eleg hideg van.Az autopalyan alig latni autokat,es a telepulesek is eleg ritkak. Nipigon elott egy rendor auto blokkolta az utat, (de ezt megusztuk, nem Arpit kerestek... ezuttal ... ). Ok, egy baleset volt.
U.I. -White River-rol kiderult, hogy innen szarmazik az igazi medvebocs aki a Mici Macko tortenetet ihlette.

2009-04-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

Day1 continued - we left in the afternoon, it was snowy and a bit sunny sometimes. After the start of the official spring everything is still frozen and snow covered (couldn't find any wild flower patches). We didn't reach Sault Ste. Marie till the evening, so we stopped at about 9 pm at a 24 hours Tim Hortons/Truck Stop. Shower- forget it. Seemed the right spot, unfortunately we slept only about 3 hours, enjoying every truck passing by right beside our van. The temperature in the van was +3, outside -5. This is how a well managed chaos looks like.

Aprilis 7-en elindultunk kanadai autos korutunkra. Kb. 600Km utan egy benzinkutnal kellett megszalljunk, ami eloszor jo helynek tunt, de egesz ejjel kamionok "koroztek" az auto korul. Mindenhol ho es hideg.
Betti!-Itt tenyleg elkell a tundrabugyi. :)
Bozse!-Ne aggodj jegeralsot is hoztunk...es csak -5 van reggel. :)
Peti!-Kaptunk egy Petro Canadas terkepet a kamionos megallokkal-minden info benne van ami kell.

2009-04-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

April the 7th-The real day #1.We had to postpone our trip because of the freezing rain and snow we had the last two days.Today is a mix of snow and sunshine, and we are ready to go. Arpi took some pictures:our temporary home inside and out...
The plan is to reach at least Sault Ste. Marie,which is about 600km.We will take turns driving.

Mike! I am registering at the Toyota's newspaper to be able to upload these posts.They have this competition for old Toyota's with great stories-we might win. :)

2009-04-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

So this is how things looked a day before Day 1...or should I say also a week before.Anyway finally we finished packing.For the next three months we are trading our spacious 1 bedroom home to a much cozier place,which is our van.It is about 40 sf,but believe it or not it feels a lot bigger.If you pack your gear smart it is really not that bad.We are starting our long and hopefully adventures trip Monday morning,and here I am writing this entry at almost midnight.Did I mentioned that our van is already passed it's sweet sixteenth birthday?. D.

Preparation

2009-03-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

We are leaving in two weeks. The car is ready, we did the checkups and repair. We bought a laptop, the Asus Eee 1000HE with 9.5 hours battery life, that's something . Pretty neat and works great.
I am reading books, preparing for the travel. I still have to buy my camera, probaly in Calgary. But I am thinking of buying the Fuji F200EXR as a small pocket camera. It has good reviews and I checked some sample images which looked great considering that it's a point and shoot camera.

Canadian Roadtrip

2009-03-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

I think I haven't written about our plan to cross Canada from Toronto to west and back to east. I would love to increase my Canadian photo portfolio. We are planning to start in April. I am very much looking forward to it.

Victoria Parliament Building

2008-10-30T10:17:00.001-07:00

We have been to British Columbia for a week between the 9th and 16th of October. The weather was nice for 4 days but a bit cold already, the other days rained. The temperature was aroun 11 C degrees during the day. Stayed in nice hotels. Five days in Vancouver at the Drake St. Best Western, which was a really nice experience. Two days in Victoria at the Harbour Towers, which was just ok. The landscape is gorgeous and the places beautiful.
We booked through Sunwing airlines and the flight together with the hotels was around $800 canadian per person. I think that's a pretty good price. Plus we spent around $350 per person being there.

Here is a photo of the wonderful Victoria Parliament building and a panoramic shot of Vancouver from Grouse Mountain.

Toronto

2008-09-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

Another panorama from Toronto made from stitching two pictures together. Shot from the islands with around 15s exposure time.

Bon Echo Provincial Park

2008-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Another picture from Bon Echo. Having fun with Dominika :)

Bon Echo Provincial Park

2008-07-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

On the July the 1st long weekend we visited Bon Echo Provincial Park. We didn't book a tent place, just got there around 11 am ( from Toronto it takes around 4 hours to get there, 280km). We got a place up on the Hardwood Hills campsite. It wasn't the best because the place was full of mosquitoes but at least we got something. During the day we went down to the main campsite where Mazinaw Lake is. No mosquitoes there. It was awesome to swim in the clear water and sunbath a bit, especially on the western side of the Narrows. On that weekend we went to Ottawa too (to buy a sofa-bed) and on the way back I wasn't attentive so we 'missed' the exit to highway 7 from 417. So we took another route back to Bon Echo. The distance was the same and highway 41 is amazing (actually the whole way from Renfrew to Bon Echo). I haven't seen anything like it in Ontario till now. It reminded me of the Carpathians. If you have the chance it definitely worth a drive there.

2008-06-10T19:21:00.001-07:00

A panorama of Toronto, ten images stitched . Taken from the west side one evening. On the right side the Islands are visible. Also visible the multitude of trees - kind of forest like - in the foreground. Toronto is Green.

Royal Ontario Museum

2008-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the new Royal Ontario Museum Crystal in Toronto, which I took the other day.

Distillery district

2008-05-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

Today I went out for a photo tour to downtown and the Distillery District. The weather was awesome. Now is the time to visit Toronto. It's not too hot and humid and the leaves are out already. It is beautiful.

2008-04-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

For my Istockphoto portfolio I work in average around 1 h per picture. Unfortunately this is just a guess, I haven't been keeping track, so I don't know exactly. This includes shooting, editing, uploading, keywording. Now I have 1647 pictures and have been doing it for four years. Now I am at the stage that my earnings are equal to my investments into the photo equipment. It's awesome.

Hagia Sophia Mosaics

2008-04-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of March I went down to Istanbul. I took the bus from my hometown Tg. Mures (Romania). It took around 19-20 hours to get to Istanbul. The bus was in a good shape and it belonged to a turkish-romanian company. Unfortunately the good shape wasn't really helpful when I realized that the back of the bus was a smoking section and people hardly finished one cigarette they lighted up the new one. Of course the whole bus was full of smoke .(smoking section in a bus??, duh ). Whenever the bus stopped for a break I quickly ran out to breath some fresh air. I hope there will be a ban or something also in Romania and Turkey on this real soon. Anyway next time I will take the train (as I did when coming back), it is cheap and relatively comfortable.

Istanbul is a pleasure for the eye. It's beautiful. I didn't know what to expect and it was a pleasant surprize. It was clean, the weather was sunny and pleasant already and the architecture is stunning. The setting is gorgeous too, with the hills surrounded by water everywhere.

So today I am posting a picture I took of the Deësis mosaic ( from 1261) from the Hagia Sophia , which is phenomenal. I love it.

Here again

2008-04-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

So here I am again after a long while. I have finished my Ph. D. since then and I have finally more time. Presently I am a freelance photographer, selling my photos exclusively at Istockphoto.com .
If you are in the business of buying photographs, illustrations, videos then you might want to check them out. They are cool. Besides this I started to trade a bit more seriously with foreign exchange. So far so good. We'll see.

To celebrate my freedom I took a long trip at the beginning of the year to Europe. It was awesome, with lots of pictures, experiences. So let's start already.

Fagaras Mountains, Romania 2004

2006-12-13T13:35:00.000-08:00

With my brtother Zoltan we did a fast tour of Fagaras Mountains, We planned to climb
Moldoveanu peak 2544 m (8349 ft.) but our time was too short. So we had to turn back.
It was gorgeus though. We had very minimal backpacks - just light clothes and food, light tent. We slept two nights at around 2000m, started off at Lake Balea

Algonquin Park 2003, Canadian Thanks Giving

2006-12-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

We will be posting here our traveling photographs, diary ... Enjoy!

The first will be Algonquin Park, Ontario, 2003 Canadian Thanks Giving

Crazy Dave, Tzahus Pondericus, Yasmin, Louis

Tzahus resting

Beautiful creeks