vacation photos

ok, as promised here are the photos of my vacation... I warn you, this is going to be a long post. :D

On my trip I went to vienna, budapest, lake balaton. The plan at first (and halfway during the vacation too) was to go to italy too, but we decided to skip it and just stay in hungary at some festival.

In vienna we just walked through the city a bit and went out, the city is REALLY beautiful, I wish I had more time to take pictures. The first thing we came across was this really beautiful church: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/viennachurch.jpg
It was really big so I had to take several photos and later put them together with panorama factory, it's a bit wavy in the middle, i'll sort that out later.
On the church was some kind of shield: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/vienna.jpg

after vienna we drove to budapest, also a breathtaking city along the donau.
Here is where I shot most of my photos.

The first night we were there we went to some bar and got a bit drunk, so I tried things with my camera I never did before. http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/bar.jpg this photo for example, I tried to capture the mood in the bar/club. The more we drank, the more serious our conversations were (well, atleast thats what we thought) so my friend looked really serious on this photo. http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/quinten.jpg
After all the booze and the long talks we went home, and outside I shot this (remember! I was drunk!) http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/abstract.jpg once home I pased out in my bed: http://www.visualjoy.com/2506/sleepingportrait.jpg

the day after we went downtown and I shot these photos:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/cafe.jpg (beautiful place to drink coffee)
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/castleguard.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/castletowers.jpg (from the cafe you saw this)
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/shield.jpg

On this day we also climbed a hill to get the best view ever! On top of the hill there was some kind of castle or something, with lots of statues:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/statue1.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/statue2.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/statue3.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/statue4.jpg

this was the view you saw from the hill: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/budapest.jpg

To get to the hill you had to cross the donau, so on the way back I shot these photos: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/borderofthedonau.jpg
and http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/boats.jpg

all the bridges over the donau are really beautiful, just like this one:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/pedestrianbridge.jpg
A museum in budapest: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/museum.jpg.

Some other day in budapest we went by train. On the station I decided to take a picture of myself: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/selfportrait.jpg
and the tracks: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/tracks.jpg.
At budapests central station it was getting late, so the shadows got longer and that made for a nice photo: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/nicelighting.jpg (I hate the guy thats in the background!!!!) When we went out, I shot this palace door: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/palacedoor.jpg

After budapest we went to lake balaton, a lake where all the tourists go in hungary. It was really nice, though I didn't like the place we were staying. I was surrounded by dutch people!!! so weird, you drive 1400 kilometers and still you can speak your own language, not something I appreciated.
photos of lake balaton:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sunset.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/balatonlake1.jpg (we actually ate in a restaurant that had this view, it was perfect!)
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/balaton2.jpg

We got tired of all the dutch and german people pretty soon, so we went to this festival more to the north of the lake. It's a festival organised by 5 little villages, and there are only hungarian people visiting. You can hitchhike between the 5 villages and just put up your tent in everyones garden, it's a really cosy festival.
Right behind the garden we were staying in there was this acre:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/acre.jpg
Every town I visited I saw these showcases: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/showcase.jpg
What they mean or why they are there I couldn't find out, since most hungarians don't speak english.
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/alley.jpg (some dark and scary alley on the way back to our tent)

We visited the festival for 3 days, and somewhere along we ended up in this huge partytent with 4 hungarian girls. There was this band playing called: the sonnies. They played rock and roll from the fifties, elvis style. It was really good music and hungarians sure know how to start a party. Some photos of the band and the suits they were wearing:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sonnies1.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sonnies2.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sonnies3.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sonnies4.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sonnies5.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sonnies6.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/sonnies7.jpg

When the festival was done we were all so tired and hungover we had to get some rest. We knew a guy who knew a guy who lived in hungary, in the middle of nowhere, so we visited him. The little town he lived in was a bit weird, they didn't really have roads, just paths made of sand and with big rocks in it. It was like we were going on safari. I guess the people living there appreciate their freedom. In the center of the village there was this church kind of thing: http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/church.jpg
Close to the church was this little shed with holes in the roof:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/shed.jpg
The guy we were staying with cooked some traditional hungarian goulash for us on a little fire in this yard, http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/fire.jpg
The taste was excellent.

These were the last few days of the trip, and me and a friend found this abandoned factory type of building and we decided to inspect it. The photos I shot there:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/telephonepole.jpg
then we climbed inside this thing:
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/factory.jpg
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/abandonedbook.jpg (this book layed on a desk in that abandoned building)
http://www.visualjoy.com/vacation/window.jpg

well, these were the first photos I sorted out... maybe i'll find some more soon.
The vacation was really great! You should all visit hungary some day, you won't regret it.

That was a nice reading with my coffee, thanks alot for that :D

Looks like you had a great time. You took some great shots too. I won't say wich I prefer, cause there're too many, but your panoramas are beautiful. Hope to see some more later

oh and welcome back

nice pics Minse - glad to hear you've had a great vacation. Welcome back

the "panaromas" you have are really nice. Thanks for sharing all that.

NICE PICS MAN...i hope i can one go there one day ...

thank you all for your positive feedback, anyone else perhaps?
I found another shot tonight...

www.visualjoy.com/vacation/church1.jpg

there it is!

Plain sexy shots, nothing I don't like about them. Great story to, that was definatly a good read. :D

I love the panoramas the most.

"Overview of lake Balaton" ( balatonlake1.jpg / balaton2.jpg ) and "Acre in Vigantpetend" (acre.jpg) are my favs.

Good post!