Oh our lovely Torley sparkling.... Our most touching experience of the trip was yesterday at the State Opera House. We went to see the ballet Romeo and Juliet. One word - Breathtaking! Today the morning was sunny and warm. We headed towards Gellert Hill to see the Citadella and the view over Budapest. Strongly recommended!!! And the tip of the day: the buss nro 27 takes you to top and it leaves from Moricz Zsigmund Korter. We got to enyou the sun for a few hours until the rainy clouds... We headed back to our Hotel via Westend shopping mall. We had some sparkling and a light snack before taking a metro to another shopping mall at Buda side, Mammoth I and II. We also want to recommend a good dining place near these malls. It ... read more

Thanks to Hikoro we had a unique opporturnity to enjoy Japanese hospitality at Jorengein Temple (http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/orion/eng/hstj/sakyo/jorengein.html) up in the mountain of Ohara, close to Sanzenin Temple. It is a very peaceful and beautiful place offering total relaxation to your body and mind. Jorengein Temple is located about 20 minutes walking up-hill from Ohara busstop. It is surrounded by forest and there is a small river running down the hill. It is a sub temple of Sanzenin Temple. The place has gorgeous garden and there is also a bellhouse in the garden. We took the opporturnity to ring the bell early in the morning. It was fun! The deep sound echoed in the woods and in the garden. We were the only guests staying over night and enjoyed fully the quiet temple. Our hosts were very nice ... read more

Hello, Moved to Osaka the other day. Today and yesterday toured around in Osaka City. Yesterday we went to see floating garden at sky building (www.skybldg.co.jp). It was raining but the view with drinks was marvelous! Also did some good shopping. We were pretty tired when came back to the hotel, Weekly Mansion Osaka at Otamae. Today was a good day for tourists. Nice and sunny day. We are close to the Osaka Castle and went to see it today. Also did some shopping and hade a nice dinner. So much fun at downtown Osaka!!! Tomorrow we will go to Himeji and Kobe. love, Assi and Pekka... read more

Romania Day 2 - Brasov We woke up to a rooster's crowing and dogs barking. I guess a typical country style wake-up call! :) It was a gorgeous summer morning. We had some breakfast at our balcony and enjoyed the warm morning sun. About 10 am we headed to downtown Brasov. Brasov has many interesting places to see and visit. We started by walking along the pedestrian street (Republicii) towards the council square. Along the street there are several small stores and restaurants. Good places for shopping and relaxing. The council square is big and surrounded by beautiful houses. One of the interesting landmarks of the town is The Black Church. This Lutheran cathedral dates back to 1477 and is the Gothic style monument of the town. The church was partially destroyed during a great fire ... read more

Romania, Day 1 We started our road trip in Romania July 30. The flight from Helsinki, Finland, took off at 10 am and about 2 hours and 30 minutes later we arrived at Bucuresti. We had rented a car, a true Romania "automobil" Dacia Logan 1.4 MDI, from Active Rent a Car (www.active-rentacar.ro). It wasn't a sports car but served its purpose and had an AC, the most wanted accessory during this hot summer season in Romania! We headed out from Otopeni airport towards Brasov. We followed the highway 1 (E60) and tried to get use to Romanian way of driving! It could be characterized as reckless, crazy and risky. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Temperature was reaching 30. The AC was truely needed! The landscape was nice; neverending weat fields, green hills and high ... read more