finally

it was so wintery for so long.

i didn't blog.

it felt so wrong.

snow was here,

snow was there.

snow was even

in the town square.

snowmen and snowballs

made it fun at first.

soon that was over, though...

and then came the worst.

piled high,

day and night.

sometimes it was

quite a sight.

flowers were planted

and so was hope

i don't think i ever really

learned how to cope.

i waited and waited

and waited some more

sure that spring was

knocking on our door.

it was a long time coming

longer than i care to say,

but now i see spring everywhere

every

single

day!

terraces came back to town

all is green that was so brown
the ghost town days have gone away

hungarians came out to play!

tulips brighten every corner

there is no better street-adorner

wedding processions all through the city

grooms so smitten, brides so pretty
cafes are open, fruit abounds

laughter and talking

are the springiest sounds

the thing i missed the most last season

was enjoying an ice cream for next to no reason

fagyi is back, back in full swing!

is there anything better that announces the spring??
morning or midday,

cone or cup

any time, any place

just lick it all up.

the thing that is most nyiregyhaza,

the thing that made white feel so black

was the fountain i love, right by my house

BUT LOOK! the fountain is BACK!!

i heart spring in hungary.

scotland - the royal mile

in edinbrugh there is a castle and a palace about a mile apart. the distance between these historic places is logically named "the royal mile." michelle wanted to take me there, so i obliged.

on the way up the hill i noticed the architecture changing...

we got a great parking spot on george street (michelle was excited) and i even saw an american flag! it's a rare site for me these days, you realize...

there were scores of older looking taxis advertising to the best of their abilities

make no mistake, irn bru was not to be outdone!

when we got close to the mile we hiked up some stairs

(i was just grateful it wasn't a hill or mountain)

then we were there: atop the royal mile at last

it's really quite a pretty place, though there are masses of tourists and touristy shops

around the middle of the mile there is a great cathedral. we went in and snooped around, but didn't PAY THE FEE to take pictures. google it if you wanna know!

the day went from sunny to overcast to gloomy over the course of two hours, but i was able to see through the gloom and notice the uniqueness of the place

despite the sometimes inclement weather, there were people enjoying themselves all over the place (michelle and me included)

the steeples in europe are sometimes so ominous looking...

i even caught a few glimpses of spring... though in my mind "spring" equates to "pretty flowers"

one side of the sky was blue, the other scary gray

scotland is covered with hills/mountains that decorate the background of everything. notice the snow... in april... aye aye aye

when we got near the castle and saw some phone booths, i couldn't keep myself from going in one. i'm a tourist at heart sometimes, i guess :)

from the castle wall i could see pretty buildings everywhere

the view from castle hill

after the compulsory tourist walk, we went shopping. no matter that it was easter day, as no one even seemed to realize that it was the resurrection day in the UK. all the shops and restaurants were open, people were bustling to and fro, and i didn't see a single egg, bunny, or cross.

whatev, we shopped.

i picked up some scottish stuff for a few friends in hungary and tried on a piece of scotland myself.

there was a bagpiper, niel, who was a kindly gent. he tolerated my questions and seemed to really enjoy his job. i didn't let on how much i dislike the sound of the silly instrument, but rather requested 'amazing grace' and listened to him blow his bag.

look how presh! it sounded just like i imagined/remembered. no need to post a video.

actually, i'll post THIS video instead:

Ross Playing the Bagpipe + Bloopers (HILARIOUS!!!) - The best video clips are right here

scotland - new lanark

there is a world heritage site near edinbrugh, so when traffic was too bad to go to any noteworthy lochs, we hit up New Lanark instead.

it was a bit wintery still, but green was starting to spring up in places....

(found this online) there is a working waterwheel there

there were some rad cobblestone buildings

there was a trail all around the place and to stay on it you had to follow this little fella

look how cute their "rubbish bins" arejust saw this stuck on some ford. the harrison ford mobile, lol
hehehe, i cracked up at a lot of signs
the whole place was very old school and traditional looking

outside of the site, in Lanark, there is a cool church (adorned with a clock as almost every church i saw in scotland was) near a famous gas lamp post. it was used by provosts (the scottish equivalent of a mayor) back in the day and it still pretty cool looking nowadays.

we stopped at "Inn on the Loch" for a lovely lunch on the way home

it overlooks a cute little loch (lake... idk why they use other words for things there)

with TONS of swans! yay! they are vicious, mind you. so hands off! then we saw some buoys. i say "boo-eez" while brits say "boyz"... though there already is a word called boys. whatev.

see how pretty?

there is some farmer with a good sense of humor who dyes his sheep red (or blue, i heard) for pretty much no reason at all except to entertain the people on the highways. people like me.