Outlandish

My jealousy has no boundaries... When the sun is shining and it's 30 degrees outside it feels like a crime to sit inside (unless you're working). So, I often go for a walk on Saturdays around Bratislava. As a capital it's quite a small city, but somehow I manage to find new places and things here every time. Like this time I found the artsy park behind the presidential palace. It's a garden surrounded with high stone walls and which is kept in a meticulous form. The grass there is cut in a very English way: smooth and precise. Flower arrangements are everywhere and there are fountains and statues varying in style everywhere.  The garden is absolutely perfect for picnics or for a little break on a tourist tour. The Grassalkovich Palace, which these days is used as the President's office, rather than accommodation, was built originally in 1760 for a Hungarian aristocrat who was a close friend of the Empress Maria Theresa. The Empress herself visit...

This was my 3rd visit to Vienna. I suggested to my parents to book the same hotel in the Mariahilf area where I've stayed before with my friends, because from there I knew how to navigate to certain places. The shopping street Mariahilferstrasse was right next to the hotel and the Schönbrunn castle a short walk away. I was checking the weather reports for Vienna every day for a week and the closer we got to the weekend, the worse the weather looked. But despite all the promises of rain we hardly had any. I went to meet my parents and my godmother and her husband to the Vienna airport. While I was waiting for them I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching people arriving and how their faces spread into wide smiles when they saw the people waiting for them. You can't help but smile yourself while watching these happy encounters. I hate flying but I do like airports. Because my parents had had to start their journey from Turku at 2am, the first day was a rather l...

What a perfect weekend. Yeah, I know, there is no such thing as perfect but last weekend was pretty damn close to it! How lovely it was to have my friends over and show them around my new home city that I've grown to like so much, Bratislava. We climbed to the castle and to Slavin and we pretty much emptied one of the shoe stores here but we also ate a LOT! I was myself surprised with the quality of restaurants that I took the girls to :D On Sunday we took the train to the neighbour city Vienna. I had one thing that I really wanted to see in Vienna and that was the Schönbrunn castle which was a very humble summer house of the empress Maria Theresa. One day I will have a summer house just as glorious.... or not. The castle is nicely situated in the city, unlike the palace of Versailles which is quite far outside of Paris. We got to the Schönbrunn castle just fine on foot. The gardens there are just as magnificent as the castle: they include a labyrinth, a zoo and acres o...

 I thought name days were a tradition only in the Nordic countries. But apparently they are even bigger deal here! Every now and then in the office I can see a team hugging each other and changing gifts and turns out, usually these outbursts of affection are about name days. On Friday a member of the Polish team had a name day and we headed to Slavin for a little after-work. Slavin is a memorial monument and a cemetary for Soviet soldiers who fell during the World War II. The monument is on a hill where one can find the President's residence and some of the most beautiful and expensive houses in Bratislava. We walked up the hill in just under 30 degrees celsius but we could've also taken a 'trolly'. It was definitely worth the climb: the view was amazing! And the monument was a perfect place for a little picnic. Speaking of names; I've always been under the impression that my name is probably the most international name ever. Everywhere in ...