Vienna for the first time

Think of me, I liked it so much that I cannot help telling you some little secrets you might want to know. First of all, I proudly announce you I've been to Vienna with 100 Euros!
Well, thanks to Skyeurope and a ticket reserved with two months in advance, I made it at 30 Euros, place included.
Lodged, then, in the fresh Meininger hotel, opened in the Columbusgasse, 30 meters away from the Kepler metro station.(U3) Brand new, as I said, IKEA furnished, with an all-you-can-take breakfast (1ox for the lovely brown buns!) plus 10 minutes free internet for everybody in the room, if the reservation is made online.
What other expenses you should keep in mind: the CAT - train that takes you from the airport downtown...9 Euros/person. BUT! If you go with friends and you are 3, I suggest you reserve a cab, online of course, here. The price from the hotel I was lodged in to the airport was 25, 5 Euros, so less than 9 euro/person, if you are three. I had to take it in the morning, since my plane was leaving at 6 AM, I made the reservation in time, some one month before, and with no other phone call or email, ten minutes than the hour I was expecting the cab, the driver was there, waiting. For going around in the city, the 72 stunde (72 hours) ticket is the best, at 13, 60 Euros. It works on all buses, trams and underground trains, for 72 hours, as it is called.
Places to eat: accidentally we've had our first meal at Cafe Diglas, which proved to be in our guide, so our 6'th sense is still working.

Nice huge courses, choose a menu but only if you understand German, otherwise the waiter doesn't seem to keen to explain what it is all about. I had a potato-celery soup with thyme, and some ricotta ravioli, while my companions had a Kaiser schnitzel with chalots sauce with chestnuts and a Buchtel in vanilla sauce as desert, and some veal and mashed potatoes with beet and horse radish sauce plus a vanilla sauce over a baked apple stuffed with nuts and raisins.
*The menus were numbered, so the waiters dropped at our tiny marble table saying 1, 4, or 5 :).
The last day we dropped again at the Diglas, since it is very closed to the Stephan's Dome, for an apfel strudel. Very good, as we guessed watching on a wall screens how the people make it.

Sacher?

Of course! It was on my plan from the beginning. In a not so warm room, though atmosphere was cosy, *heat, people, the room, heat it!, we tasted the famous cake and watched the pictures on the walls. Keep in mind, the prices are high but any cent worth the hmmmm yummy cake with natural plain cream. Some 4 Euros a slice, 1 euro the wardrobe, and the 10% for the waiter, since in Austria service is not included on the bill.

Sissi!

Sissi is everywhere, in Vienna. So we decided it's the Schönbrunn Palace where we'll get to meet her better. As you can see on the Palace's website, tickets are available online. For those who don't want to spend their life in the small quite humble I would say palace (come on, I come from Becali's land!) there is an Imperial Tour, for half an hour in the most important rooms of the building. 9,50 Euros. For 12 Euros, the Grand tour take the visitors to another wing of the palace, important, as well, for history stands in small pieces, no?

Christmas!

Isn't it lovely to arrive in Vienna before Xmas? We loved the Christmas tree and market at the Schönbrunn Palace but we enjoyed more the Xmas market in front of the City hall. Plus the huge doughnut (I asked vanilla cream, got apricot jam, yikes) and the punch, yummy in a cold winter night.

For I forgot to mention: Vienna is really cold in november/december keep that in mind when you plan to see it during winter. But it's such a lovely place!

how you get to Scream

Montain Dew Ad

Agency: Graffiti BBDO

Location: Bucharest

Creative Director: Ema Prisca

Copywriter Dan Stanescu

Art Director: Cosmin Simionescu

hey

My Munch Scream obsession came again, while I was reading about the National Novel Writing Month in the US, a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing, whose goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Munch is one of the participants, horrified he didn't finish the novel. Drawn here

virtual Xmas list from a naughty girl

what would you ask Santa Claus to get to your little girl, this being the list?

for girls who travel

luggage mustn't always be dull, grey, black!

look here.

mine looks very much the same. not so expensive, though.

X things to know about Rome

Rome is a city of ruins, churches and baroc squares. the guides also speak about Vatican, Fontana din Trevi and other two, three maybe ten big touristic attractions. Thousands of other little things can make a trip to Rome richer.
Walking around the city. Rome is big for thousands of years. As the old romans, you could have a walk near the Imperial Fora, starting from the Colosseum and Constantine's Arch, to climb, then, the hill to Domitian's Imperial Palace. Look at the Circus Maximus. An amazing panorama! Don't forget about Via Appia Antica. So beautiful, by sunset!
Rome is the Vespa city but it's more beautiful if you see it by bike. With only 11 euro, uou can rent one for an entire day (more on http://www.ecomoverent.com/) and you can go from downtown to the outskirts, on the Tiber's banks.
No need to talk about the big piazzas, they are in all the guides. My favourite is Piazza di Spagna. The little squares, though, have a special scent. On my list: Campo dei Fiori, downtown, near Piazza Navona, from where, on a very narrow street you can get to Piazza del Fico.(now in refurbishments)

In that area too is Piazza di Pasquino, where you could go by day, to read what are the roman citizens complaints. For five hundred years, people come here to tell what bothers them, in verses or prose, on little notes called pasquinade which they attach to a statue. Conceived in the roman dialect, the little tirades generally attack the Pope and the governants.
Coffee, coffee and coffee again. Tip: if you drink it for the daily caffeine dose, you better ask for it at the bar. A ristretto vanishes in two seconds on the addicted's throat, so no need to pay almost the double price, just to sit at a table. Attention: the romans are drinking cappuccino only in the morning, so don't ask for it at noon or worse, in the evening. I am not claiming you won't be served, but in Rome we behave like romans, no? Ask for a cornetto near the coffee. Or for some aragostine ( filled with Nutella). For a richer sensation, I fully recommend the sorchette. They can be found near Porta Pia. The translation is vulgar, the pleasure not. A puffy dough with a chocolate and cream icing on top, the sorchette are famous around the students that spend the weekend nights in the clubs near Porta Pia. It is a real custom that before they go home, they fill themselves with these goodies, from the la Lambiase. A proof: the dozens of cars parked near the building.
(Lambiase Antonio Laboratorio Pasticceria Via Cernaia 49 A, Roma)
Rome is the city of angels. On the walls, on a bridge that is only theirs (Ponte degli Angeli), in the churches, everywhere you can see the beautiful creatures that are watching upon us.
Caravaggio without a cue. Possible! Just go to the Saint-Louis des Français church, between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Three works of Caravaggio, all consacrated to Saint Matthew cand be admired in the chapel that bears the same name.
You can discover another Rome if you go to EUR, the quarter the fascists built in the 30's. Few tourist know about it, but, if you have time, you can go there to see how the architects of the early XX century saw things, then. If you get there, you could see the Collosseum in a square variant.
At table: waiters in Rome are generally rude, so don't take it personally! You cannot leave Rome if you haven't tasted the Italian wines . If you want to try something not so expensive, go to the Enoteca Cul de Sac (73, Piazza Pasquino) and wait for a free table. To the ladies, I recommend a Braccheto d’Acquim, because it is sweet, bubbly, and not so alcoholic. The enoteca menu consists of hundreds of wines from all over Italy.

full article in Romanian here, in Timeout Bucharest.
all this wouldn't have been possible without Silvana, Andrea, Dana and Poliana. Mille grazie a tutti!

glamour at the HM

unexpected!

The fall collection has some Roberto Cavalli in it. Much, in fact. OK, Rome not, but Budapest or Vienna shops can open the doors for me. I'm just looking, of course!

after November the 8th.

HM blog!