1 Year

Yeap! 1 years since I'm Mrs. Balla. Hehheheh. Time flew...I can't believe that one year ago at this time of the day I was stressed out having my hair fixed and my make-up done....and back at home everybody was waiting desperatly for the bride to show up...
Phew! Beautiful, stressing (just before), elegant, colourful, exhausting (in the morning), delicious, a big YES and now moments to dearly remember. Anyway we had a great time! Here we are back then:





And here we are today (forbiiden under 18:)



Too bad you are not here to celebrate: Bro, Chris, Ioana, George, Anca, Stefan, Andre, Costel, Didi, Fish! These are the moments when I miss you the most and feel sorry you're all spread all round the globe!You should come back home to Cluj!

Construction site

This is going to be like our apartment again. We want to make some modifications and modernization to the bathroom and we want to change the interior doors with new ones more beautiful and more warm....at least this is what we have in our minds. Well as you all know when you're on a construction site problems don't stop to show up. For now we have only one the doors do not fit completely so we have to make a big mess and demolish parts of the walls. God how I wish all these things be more simple.
The truth is that I am very pretentious, I like everythig be in harmony, colourful but not showy, bla-bla. The truth is I'm a pain in the ass when it comes to some changes....
1. because i read and I'm interested in interior design;
2. because i have to see all the offers to make the best choice, from every respect.

I can't wait for the moment evething will be ready, set up and we can re-engage in our daily programme (not that it is a very special one).

Have a nice weekend!

Second master degree

YEs today i have presented my final paper in order to get my master degree in Management and Business. Is my second one after the one in Private Institutional Law. Well unfortunaltely the courses were not what I was expecting out of it... too general and not as serious I thought it would be...but anyway in the afternoon hopefully we'll have another reason to celebrate...
Anyway if any of my bosses read this post BEWARE cause I'm right behind you! Hehehehe.

PS: My brain is boiling at 35 degrees Celsius and keep rising. Gee how I wish these days Cluj was somewhere on the coast with view to a cold-blue sea. Keep on dreaming....

A must see in Italy - Amalfitana Coast

In our way to the south of Italy we drove along the Amalfitana Coast. Everybody told us is something to be seen in Italy and as it was anyway in our way to our final destination: FAR SOUTH we said we should give it a try.
Personally I have never thought man can build such amazing roads, but if someone j\knows how to do it than Italians sure do. The coast streches for 50 km along the sea and it is build at 100-150 m above the sea level and technically above the sea. It is practically suspended hanging over the blue waters and some huge villas of some rich Italian kamikaze (I would say). The Italians do enjoy to climb and build houses nowhere, but necessarily close to the sky.



It is simply splendid, only sea, blue skies and narrow sinuous road. The small towns along the road are crowded but very cozy and similar to those in Croatia and Greece as far as I 've seen in the pictures.





Here and there there are merchants near the road selling souvenirs and oranges and lemons directly from the trees. Anyway they really have a special taste...not like the ones in Romania.




Here is where I've seen the biggest lemons ever...a melon size. You eat one in a week or so I guess. The funny thing is that all the fruits are very expensive even if they don't pay any transportation fees. But they worth all the pennies.



The road trip was longer than we expected because of the road's narrowness and the fact that one should stop and let the bus pass or otherwise jam the traffic. Horrible to be a bus driver on those roads.

Here is a piece of the famous coast









These places are a really impressive piece of engineering and a gift of nature for the lazy Southern Italians...heheheh...not all of them...only the ones we met.:) But otherwise very nice people. To be political correct the are relaxes or working challenged people. Luckily they have tourism in the South.

Our Amalfitana Coast trip ended in the city of Salerno...a sort of Cluj-Napoca but with seaside. From here to Vibo MArina, the small town which will be our host in the South for one week we drove only on the highway. Spectacular! We drove through the mountains, near the sea and crossed thousands of tunnels. Italian are obssessed to prove how good they are in climbing the highway as high as possible.



The landscape is breathtaking as 2000 m high mountains rise directly from the sea. Just like Vezuvio and others.

Naples - city of contrast

Well, after 4 nights spent in Rome it was time for us to leave for South. Everything we heard about Southern Italy was that it is the Italian Mob's nest, the weather is hot, the people are poor and the only way they make money is from agriculture. Partly all of these proved to be true but the South has it's own parfume and rythm of life...and that is slowly and pleasantly. We drove about 250 km to Naples from Rome, but our destination was Maria del Cantone a small village near the sea in the Sorrento Penninsula about 70-80 km from Naples (not 50 as they were saying in the travelling guide). And the road between the big city and our accomodation was straight up the hill and then down to the sea...narrow, only curves to the right and then to the left but with spectacular views.
We reeached Villagio Nettuno where we booked our two night sleep at 9:00 pm a little tired and stresed by the road and the fact that we had already been wandering around on the streets without finding any clear road signs to our destination. Now that is Italians' major problem: They have plenty of roads: one near the sea, one 10 m above the sea level and one 20 m above sea level and a highway - all with the same destination, but they have very bad road signs, so if you travel by car get a local map, take an extratime and be relaxed...you'll sure get lost! The nice thing is though the Italians are very friendly and they explain to you where to go to and what is the easy way to get there. Phew! We were a bit tense that night.

Anyway everything got better in the morning when we woke up with this view.



We rented a chalet with two bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. It had a terrace too. Simply but incredible nice. Because it was not yet in the top season, there was peace and serenity everywhere!





The first day we planned to be lazy so we spent it on the beach sunbathing and doing nothing. Unfortunately the water was a bit too cold for swim, but as we were fascinated by the sea (which is actually very very ink-blue and clear - now I really understand the Italian "azzuro") we did it. Our swimming session was short though.



The relaxation continued with a special Italian pizza at the local restaurant. Well yes! it was on me as I was celebrating my birthday the day before. The pissa it's really good...they put all sorts of special mediteranean ingredients, unknown vegetables :) but very tasty. Anyway they say that Napoli is the birthplace of pizza. The services in the restaurants are very nice! The Italian know how to serve you and surely they know how to eat! (taking into consideration the time they spend eating and the courses they have - about 4 or 5 at noon).

Next day we were back on the road, amazed by the lemon and orange trees near the road full of fresh yellow and orange fruits. We looked but didn't touch! The trees were very well protected against greedy tourist like us! We headed for Naples. Vesuvio - the vulcano rises straight from the sea and protects the big city of Naples. In our way to Napoli, as they call it, we visited the riuns of Pompei, an old Roman flourishing city completely burried by the Vezuvio's lava in year 79 AD. Today is like a city with temples, sanctuaries, amphitheatre, roads, market places, big houses - well a interesting journey back in Roman history which wil ltake you about 6-7 hours. We resisted for 5 hours - and we walked like crazy.



It's a nice piece of history still in reconstruction and worth visiting.





Then, we drove to Napoli (I like the Italian name better than Naples:) and got a quick "image" of the city. It's really a city of contrasts. You walk down the wide crowded streets where you can see all the posh expensive magazines like Armani, Zara, Dolce&Gabbana and if you look to the right or to the left you see these narrow streets filled with strage unfriendly faces, with clothes hanging over your head.



Then you see great piece of art, like The National Museum or churches (great churches here too) and just across the street you see young people begging. They beg for a penny but for their dogs (they have 2,3 or 4 dogs)not for themselves (sic!). This image stroke me! I have never seen it! 20-25years old young people, living on the streets, probably taking drugs and drinking. And they were every 10 m. SHOCKING!

I have no comment about the bags (real mountains) of dirt on the streets. Every 50m!



They say nowadays Napoli is the home of the Black Camora (Black Mob) which is much stronger than the Sicilian one. Well don't know...couldn't recognize no Al Capone on the streets...heheheh.

In conclusion, we were not very much impressed by Napoli, maybe because we didn't have the time to visit its lovely parts and were exausted after visiting Pompei. Here our Napoli guide finding...hardly the right way back to our car.



We've heard that the National Museum it's worth visiting...we couldn't make it! But the Pennisula Sorrentina and the Italian coast it's simply superb! I'll tell you more about famous Amalfitana Coast in the next episode.


PS: I know the pictures are little (I've written this post from the office...ups! and coppied the pics from my album) but you can see them enlarged on my picasa web album.

Rome - the city to come back to

As I promised hundreds of years ago...I finally uploaded the photos from Italy and now I come with the story. The idea of a vacation in April and May was never in our 2008 plan, but while chatting and eating for 2007 Christmas Peter's aunt, a ballerina, invited us and Peter's parents to her house (rented) in Italy where she works as a ballet teacher for 2 years now. Everybody took it like a nice invitation never to be materialized. EXCEPT me! hehehehe. My step 2: I checked Wizzair's (low cost) flights to Italy and found a bargain for Rome during 23rd of April to 9th of May. I called Peter on the phone and next day our trip was booked (08.01.2008):).
Step 3: Tell Peter's aunt and parents that we are leaving for Italy, all four of us. Sorpresa, sorpresa for everybody but also a hidden joy I could notice in their eyes. Then I started planning the trip: 5 days/4 nights in Rome, 2 nights/3 days in Napoli and its surroundings and then all the way to the boot's bottom in Vibo Marina, a small fishers town in far South Italy. We were supposed to rent a car and drive to the south aprox. 650 km.
When the 20th of April came, in the morning I get a phone call to the office from my father-in-law: "Anca I'm not coming to Italy anymore! I'm not prepared for such a long trip to the "unknown". My decision is made 100%! I don't want to ruin your trip but I'm not coming!" Damn! First shock! The tickets and other reservations were already made for 4 persons. My mother-in-law: "Well me alone and you 2...I don't want to ruin your vacation (like we were in honeymoon)!...bla-bla."
All I have planned started to ruin so I called mom. "Mummy pack your bags in one week you're coming to Rome!" Total silence...but in the end we were 4!
The ladies enjoyed the flight like crazy...I was more stressed then they were! We reached Fiumicino airport, took the rented car (an Opel) and headed for our rented rooms. It was in fact an apartment in a very nice part of Rome, close to the center of the city.
The first night we took a subway trip and the first miracle we saw in Rome was this:





Breathtaking!

Then we took a walk down the streets and saw the Roman Forum (part of it - the one built by Roman emperor Traian) and Traian's Column - the one all the Romanians are proud of. Unfortunately because the site was under reconstruction we couldn't get any closer then this:



Rome by night was pretty cool as first impression what it is going to be like by daylight!
Next day fresh we had our coffee on the apt. terrace and left for adventure.





First impression was going to be confirmed and more. Rome is beautiful. Crowded in the piazzette and on the narrow streets, fancy on certain location, calm an refreshing with its hundreds of fountains and Tiber river and bridges. It has a certain special perfume and I don't mean here the smells on the streets. It's a bit dirty but it is in a way understandable with so many tourists. It is said to be the most visited city in Europe. Many foreigners and especially Americans to be seen and heard on the streets. Art and Architecture ancient or very modern combine perfectly in this city. It has a strong cultural appearance and an open-minded perspective. Vegetation (orange trees, lemon trees, fig trees and plenty of flowers are everywhere on the streets, gardens or on the top of private houses or blocks where everywhere you can see large sunny terraces.









The churches are amazing. Every corner of the street you can see a church and if you're curious enough to enter you will be surprised by its beauty. Many architectural elements but so well combined that you really are amazed. So if you visit Rome enter every church you see. It's worth it! Each one has its own history and charm!





Another particular thing about Rome is its road traffic. At first we said it's going to be hell, but it works better than in Cluj. Many small cars (Smart type) and millions of scooters. They run like crazy! It's scary to adventure on the streets with them. It's true on the other hand that 2 cars out of 3 were hit or damaged in Rome.





I'll tell you more about what we visited in Rome next time. More photos on my picasa album (bottom of page).

A rivederci Italia

...welcome Romania. we're back from our 2 weeks trip to Italy. We arrived at Cluj on Friday evening but we got used to our daily life again only today really. It was beutiful, a place to come back and to recommend even to my enemies. Rome is the best city adventure we had so far and we concluded with Peter that it's so far the city to come back too as soon as possible.
I will make a review of all the places we've visited and I'll post some pictures but first I have to sort them. We took abou 2.000 pics....heheheh...I surely beat any japanese on Earth! Long live my little CANON!
Soon to come on this blog one of the best vacation ever!...SO FAR :)