Welcome to the most beautiful (small) country in the world

This is the message the is shown to you first when you step into the arrivals room in Prestwick airport. And it is true!

Scotland is a place of great wonders of nature. Changing weather, steep cl ifs, lochs with fresh water and myths, mountains with snow on their peaks, an atmosphere of peace and solitude. The scenery is amazing.

I am so happy that I had the opportunity to come and see the Highlands. I'll definitely come back one day soon.

Probably the best team in the world

5 minutes. Only 5 minutes left on the clock. I didn't think it was possible but the guys wearing red t-shirts all around this country believed that a miracle can happen twice. It didn't. The team that plays the ugliest football on the face off the earth was crowned champion of Europe. We didn't deserve that title to be honest , Barca, Chelsea and even ManU are better than us. I just thought that if you win against them you can lift the cup. It was not true.

The sea of red t-shirted supporters is going home still singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".

After all it's just a game, Liverpool is still "probably the best team in the world".

I didn't vote

It seems that Basescu had 93% against it's suspension from Romanians leaving outside the borders of our country. Is it me or it seems that it's easier to vote from here for an uncertain future ?

Burst of posts

I have not wrote here for almost 4 days but many things, good and bad , happened in this period of time:

- On Friday i was part of the front row crowd of another great concert OMD . I just felt translated in time , to be more precise in the 80s. Listening to 50year old boys singing about Joan of Arc and entertaining a crowd full of people that 20 years ago had my current age :)

- On Saturday morning, i missed my first flight of my life. I was sun, beaches, Italy, Sardinia ... but everything was ruined because i woke up 3 hours after the clock was supposed to ring :(.

- Saturday was the big game of the year. I can't believe how important can FA Cup be for British people. I just realized it 2 days ago. Chelsea-Manchester was not a great game, it was rubbish. I hate both teams but i enjoyed the game in a traditional pub in South Clapham with a bunch of Australians. This was part one of getting to know a normal Saturday in London. The second part was a house-barbecue party in South London. I was surprised to see how many people are interested in Romania , would like to visit it and think that is a wonderful place. I just can't understand how stupid we are by not "selling" our country for tourism as our fellow Bulgarians neighbors do. :(

- Sunday was not a day of relaxation. After discussing the politic situation in Iran with the barber and the possibility of traveling in Romania (damm..one more) i guided a friend for an 8 hour tour of what London has to offer at it's best on a sunny Sunday afternoon.



This post was supposed to end in another way. Something more like : I love Sardinia! It's beautiful place were i would like to go again. Instead off, it will end without the "again" plus "London is a city where you can have fun unplanned" :)

London : The Biography

I am currently reading a book that is developing into one of the best radiography of a city I've ever come across. It's called simply London: The Biography. An 800 pages long bible of what London used to be from its beginnings to the modern times. The author , Peter Ackroyd , manages to capture every aspect of the city's furious history, making you part of the birth of this capital, the rise and the spectacular display of its beauty.

The book is a must for every one who wants to understand London much deeper than the DK travel guide.

A friend's view of Romania vs UK

Dust versus rain, obstructing noise vs pleasant noise, lack of security vs a trustful police warden.

Those were subjects of discussion while trying to compare life in London with life in Bucharest with a friend who visited the city today. Don't need to tell you which one was the most praised. I guess you all know that already.

I still believe that London can surprise me each day and it does.

Snow Patrol finally...

It's the year of concerts. It's so easy living in London: you get the chance to see your favorite bands playing in a venue around this beautiful town and getting a ticket is not that easy as you might believe it.

The Killers
Keane
OMD
Pet Shop Boys
Travis
The Hours
Muse
The Guillemots
and finally Snow Patrol

Is that i lineup or what ? I've seen or I'll see them live in the next couple of months.

Apart from these i would fancy a live performance from the following bands: Coldplay, U2, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party. Hardly any chance of seeing them live without a ticket in hand now, but i can say that I'm pleased with what i got already.

Unbelievable

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

I just wrote a post regarding this company but it keeps shocking me everyday. They just released today a new promotion : you can fly for free !!!! Off course it's just between Monday and Thursday, off course there are only several destinations available but the total cost of the ticket is 0.02 pounds.

Unbelievable !!!!

Heathrow Queue

Some people hate it and believe that it's one of the worst big airports of the known world. I personally like it and here is why:

- I like to stand in queue with other airplanes to get a departing slot on the run-way
- I like the rush of people that run to the corridors to get a smaller queue at the passport control
- I like the faces of indians, muslims, chinese people that are searching your bags on departures for some mysterious object that you want to "export" from UK and the same people that look at your passport picture scan it and tell you : "Welcome to England". :)
- I like the omnipresent queue of vehicles rushing on M4 straight in the center of the city (Hammersmith and Fulham)

Maybe queue is a second word for Heatrow but maybe it is for UK also.

Bloging at 33000 feet in the air

I realised that my time flying is far more interesting if I write some lines offline about Europe as I see it from high above the worries and the smiles.

The funny thing is that it almost looks the same either in Hungary or Belgium from here. It all depends on the way you fell and I just wonder how on earth did BA won the "Best Airline of the Year" if they are the first on loosing luggage worldwide and if their attendants are rushing on service the poor sandwich to have some spare time at the end of the flight. Makes you think when will they start to sell food and beverages just like the low-cost companies.

Budarest

Yes, I felt sad again. Don't know why I try to compare each time the capital of Hungary with Bucharest. The first one always wins. Every time I get around here for the last 7 years I just wondered on the way they know how to "sell" in a good sense their city to the tourists, how they have a city that is so linked with it's history and that is packed with beautiful sites.

I believed that recently the Hungarian economy was in a less good shape than the Romanian sister is but it doesn't feel like this from the Fisherman's Bastion city viewpoint.

My only hope is that they have a great city, a true capital but that's all : they don't have the Black Sea coastline, they don't have the Carpathians, they don't have the Monasteries, they don't have Transylvania. And this is why I'll always think that in a whole Romania is a better place than Hungary.

More flights, less money

For me low-cost revolution is the thing of this period of time. It's like the steam engine or the transatlantic ships previously. I don't know the exact figures and share of low-cost out of total flights but I reckon it's booming.

Flying to Oslo for 10 pounds or to Rome for 15 it's very cheap. And this is London only. Several low-cost companies emerge also in East Europe to break the routine of a normal 200 euro flight from Budapest to London. Good thing for clients on one side bad thing to the planet on the other side.

Where will this end up if Ryanair is offering seats for 10 pounds to almost any destination in their peak season July-August???

Ipods and security

It amused me recently that IPods became a way of life while listening to a safety procedure on a BA flight to London "We ask you to switch off you electronic devices including IPods until the pilot has turned off the seat belt sing"

On some other flights they even add "..and Blackberryies". The world is switching for sure. Gadgets become a part of the normal life.

I always wondered what can an iPod do to prevent a plane from landing safely ?

Anyone for fish and chips ?

TOP 10 places i like in London ,2nd issue

1. St Paul's Cathedral
2. Camden Town
3. Greenwich Park
4. St James's Park
5. St Katherine's Docks
6. London City
7. Hampstead Heath
8. Trafalgar Square
9. Tower Bridge
10. Notting Hill

Manchester did it

It's not a team i support at all, it's not a team i like but they won today the English Premiership and this thing must be praised.

Vama Camden

Camden Town is a place where i felt today like in Vama Veche, on the beach. It has water (London canals, it has different people, it has DJs playing loud music on the street and consumers of this kind of music who dance on the tables, it has beer..lots of beer and it has a youthful vibe.

A kind of job

Did i tell you how weird is London ?

You get people on the streets holding small advertisements that point you to the "best Indian restaurant in town" or to "McDonald's" that sit for hours on walkways. Quite a thrilling job i can say. Sometimes they get bored and things turn pink for them. Today i saw such an person who must get "Exceed"on his performance appraisal: he managed to talk in a beautiful girl to replace him for a couple of minutes while he went probably for a beer.

Isn't it weird ?