Summary of 2015

2015 undoubtedly goes down in history as the year of great travels. I was in 6 different countries and so reached more great places than ever imagined within a year.

Started in Amsterdam, Holland with the usual ISE exhibition including a gorgeous trip to the countryside as a bonus. Holland was followed by Denmark. Billund was the base of a nice family vacation with my sister's. Zoli made it damn good and comfortable and so became unforgettable. And then Italy came next. As a result of a cancelled girlish holiday Italy was still calling so I obeyed and went to Napoli and Pompei with my mom. After this, the eagerly expected incredible India was next in line. Beautiful experience followed by horrible shock when getting home. By that time (it was early September) I needed to face the fact that my new superbike was stolen from the garage in my absence. 

My heart was entirely broken and still shooting if I'm thinking of it. The second instalment was due upon my arrival. I paid the money and no bicycle any longer. I received this info from my dad at the airport upon arrival. My boss got me home and remember well the crowd of immigrants being stationed very close to my house. They were just blocked at the town border before marching through Budaörs. From that time I feel antipathy about the whole immigrant misery which is not over yet and who knows what and when will be the real end of this story. Roughly a month after India we packed again and flew till Dubai, UAE. Last trip of the year was dedicated to my son: Disneyland, Paris, France. Two weeks after our arrival, the media reported about a brutal terrorattack in Paris that required numerous human livings. The news spread as wildfire worldwide and we're just guessing where is next.

Some new measures were introduced by the government in the year of 2015. These changes were not solidly welcomed but they needed to be accepted and resigned. One is the opening hours of the shops. They have to be closed on Sundays. As for me, this is absolutely uncomfortable because of more reasons. I needed to reschedule my weekly routine and cannot go shopping when I desire. Although, mostly it was Sunday. This is one thing but the most serious thing is that subsequently all people need to arrange shopping till Saturday and so this generate double crowd at the weekends. I hardly believe my eyes when seeing the twisty line of cars even well in front of the parking area - and not to mention the queue inside. Other unfavourable measure was the regulation of the use of highways. County-based vignettes are available now. Budaörs had a unique position in this regard. However our mayor was fighting really manfully against it so that Budaörs avoid the transit traffic that is an accompany of this change. No success and the result can be experienced by everybody: multiple traffic any time of the day, no way to calculate with those turnarounds you applied within the city before. In other word: Budaörs became impassable... 

Another two things that 2015 brought into our life. First, new dimension in Internet: I introduced wi-fi at home. Second, new dimension in the treatment of waste: we received selective dumpsters, so now I have 3 big waste container, although, the existing one was never full neither. 

In August, I managed to drum together almost the two-third of my exclassmates because of the 20th anniversary of leaving primary school. 

Regarding my physical education, 2015 made it completely clear that muscles must keep surprised. :-) Not enough to do the same exercises day by day. No use to train hard without any change. All in vain because your body gets accustomed to the exercises and although you are training on the same way, you cannot see the result of it, what's more... So the the muscles love not only regularity but also surprises or tricks in the spirit of development. Enikő remained but another way (anyway she started her Zona Movement in English: https://www.facebook.com/zonamovement/?fref=ts) and I still take the opportunity to move as much as possible to stay as fit as a fiddle.

Regarding Dominik's physical education, he has the ski pass to the nearby artificial ski-truck for the whole season (from September till May) and he really does it with the greatest pleasure. They have P.E. lesson on each day except one day when he has a faculty of robotics. Once a week they also swim.

2015 gave life to two new babies in the family: Kitti and Dani. By now, there is exactly 10 kids altogether and we keep on celebrating Easter and Santa together, although with a bit more extended giftlist. :-) (In below picture on the right Andi & Erika changed their babies.)

 

 

Fall in Paris

Venturesome undertaking, bold decision. This is how I describe our trip to Paris at the very end of Oct and the very beginning of Nov. To buy flight tickets and book a room, to hire a car and arrange entrance tickets to Parc Asterix and Disneyland and to set out into a world city so that we can spend a couple of days and Halloween in the French capital are those things that a mother can do for the sake of her son who came to envy his mother's travellings by air and wish to fly, too.

What is a daring deed? Orientate ourselves in a foreign country without GPS but with the help of a simple paper map and find the right way based on the signs. Is it? Or is it rather anachronistic? How many of you wanna try the same in the recent world? I proudly present that I haven't been lost in France, found all those places very well that I wanted to, using neither GPS nor mobile apps. Intentionally? Partly. So to tell you the truth, this trip easily could go into nightmare because of lack of orientation support and money. But I was always smart enough to find solution and to trust myself and my smart little boy's great help and I wasn't shy to ask for the neccessary instructions from local people. Everything went well but I didn’t expect to leave a huge amount of deposit at the car rental company upon arrival.

Unfortunately, this wasn't calculated into our budget, so I definitely needed to be very careful with handling our money. Additionally, they tried to persuade me to upgrade the cathegory and to use accessories that I did not want to. Finally, I firmly made them understand that I did not want to pay more than I had already paid in advance. However, this rental company is one of the biggest ones around the world but it seemed that this attitude is the normal.

We arrived in the evening and found our hotel after a while which also made me disappointed. At least it was clean and regular and they did not want me to pay more than already paid at the reception. Dominik really enjoyed the bunk bed. My girlfriend told me afterwards that she knows well such kind of hotels from her childhood with good memories and that reminds her capsule hotels in the Far East. Looking out of our window I saw the lights of the Eiffel Tower in the distance - about one and half hour drive from us and thought that this would not be the night to go there. I just wanted to fall asleep.

Our first morning was chilly but with richly coloured sky and the airplanes came close above us since we were quite close to the airport. Packed in, ready for the first two adventures for that day. Our car was a brand new little one with only 400 kms drive as shown on the dashboard. It gave me absolutely pleasant driving experience. We reached Plailly well before the park opening hour, so had time for breakfast and reserve the best parking area ever. After getting in, it was still a bit cold but the much to see started to warm us up. We dropped in the eagerly expected world of Asterix and Obelix involving 6 different worlds (Egypt, the Roman Empire, Gaul, The Vikings, Ancient Greece and Travel through time).

Nice figures, buildings and rides, somewhere Halloween style. My personal favourite was the Village Gaulois where the only task is to look around and enjoy that you can feel yourself just like you are part of the real Gallic life. Dominik's favourite was the Le Défi de César where Caesar was recruiting spies and after a strange photo booth you become a legionary and can try how it feels when the boat is turned over by Obelix. Parc Asterix is a bit cheaper than Disneyland and seems a bit older, opened in 1989. It is good to be aware of the story and the characters when you visit.

Some imperfectness could be discovered (in comparison with Disneyland who surely does not allow to happen such defectivenesses or would be amended immediately) such as faulty displays that could be disturbing in an attraction where it would be important to have perfect visualization. The park was as just much OK that we were able to leave it before the complete close.

And the next turn to drive into the downtown of Paris, very probably during the rushing hours. No problem, we had time, Dominik could sleep in the car. My only duty was to find the right and shortest way while having endless patience, and avoiding even the smallest accident. Wow, what a challenge! Even one of my cousin who is an international forwarder driving all over Europe says that he hates driving in Paris because of its complexity and steady traffic. Although, it was not India but do not wish to enter so often the roundabout around the monument of Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile for example. What a mess! It can be dangerous not to indicate the lanes in a roundabout, so you have to be very cautious when enter and also when leave it.

I strictly followed my handmade itinerary and was awaiting for La Tour Eiffel to pop up. It did. And it was wonderful. I excelled in finding the most suitable parking place close to the tower that at first sight could seem to be a difficult effort aaaand wow, in the other minute we were amazed at the foot of the iconic symbol of Paris. And hardly could stop looking up. Then we took a look at it from the direction of Trocadero. Thank God Dominik was grateful for not going up, otherwise we had had to wait hours for entering. We were waiting for the first play of lights which could be seen in each hour and then left. The way back to the hotel was not less crowded and successful as coming there. I was so so proud of myself. Coping with the streets of Paris with my own resources was a very good achievement, honestly.

And Disneyland on the following day was the icing on the cake. Both of us were full of great expectations after Disneyland California. I was wondering before how similar it should have been or whether it must have been the very same. And we weren't disappointed. Disneyland Paris (formerly Euro Disneyland, located in Marne-la-Vallée, established in 1992) made the very same impression like in America.

Once entered, we found ourselves on the Main Street, U.S.A. just like in California. Definitely tried and compared those attractions that were tried in America and found that they are equal in every detail, even the entrance of Star Tours and even the real restaurant and the length of counting while sliding down fast and the hair on the shin of a sitting pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbeans. I was very happy with this recognition. We got on most of the rides that were said not to be missed. Once finished, we hurried to the other park, the Walt Disney Studios. 

And what we definitely needed to experience and became unambiguously our favourite: the Ratatouille. 4D experience, shrinked down to the size of Remy and duck, dive, dodge and scurry to safety in a dazzling chase across the gigantic kitchen of Gusteau’s famous Parisian restaurant. Although, we had to queue and wait 80 min, but we could not leave Paris without this treat because the cartoon itself takes places in Paris, too. So this was our last ride and I think worthy end of the day and also of our trip to Paris.