That's October for You, Baby!

Today I woke up into a different season. Yes, it was snowing most of the night and morning! As the locals say, there's often three to four seasons within one day over here. You can see for yourself...
Then I went for a walk to see more and it was kind of funny how the very much fally world was caught up in the snow. Multi-colored trees in white. Green grass in white. And people changing tires on their cars in order to get out of the driveway:)Of course this post is much less surprising now, when you got snow over there yourselves but believe you me, it was quite a shock to be snowed under within the first week of October. And the snow stayed on for almost two weeks - with frost and hail and more snow almost every day! Now it's all over and we only have rain and clouds and more rain... So the world is back to normal I guess:)

Guess where I've been this summer... I

I will not attempt to post longish descriptions of the past months, just few pictures which I find either interesting or nice or something like that...

The first place to picture-visit is Pisa where we had a day layover on our way somewhere else. This very brief visit left me with an impression of a small sleepy town with a single attraction and the strongest coffee I have ever had.

First stop - Piazza Miracoli and The Tower which really is leaning a lot and seems to be broken around the middle.

Due to lack of time there were no other real stops, just a short walk around the place. This bridge connects the zone of locals (everything closed on Sunday) and the zone of tourists (street sellers and other annoyances).

Wall of an outdoor theater with a beautiful garden we didn't have time to check out from the inside.

Door that hasn't been opened or a while. (Click on the picture, you can't see cr*p in this size.)

And a bonus which my little (professional) deformation will not allow me to forget... Sign outside of the window of our room. If it wasn't for the fragile-looking wannabe balcony which made the meaning pretty obvious, I wouldn't be able to guess what they meant... Well, let's just all remember the good old "Italian man went to Malta" thingy.

Portrait of the Photographer

Originally, I started taking pictures because as long as I was holding the camera, no one could take a picture of me. Fortunately, as I grew out of the self-anxious stage of life (yes, I do think I have matured over the years;) I am not so picture-fobic anymore. So here come few pictures of me. Perhaps not the best ones, nor specially artistic, just something about me and what I've been doing during the past year...

Fall... I've been going for walks more then I used to. Just to get some fresh air, admire nature, enjoy the peacefulness. Usually alone so here's a self-portrait.

Winter... Has been cold but sunny at times. Here's one from a very nice shooting session with someone more talented (picture by A.T.G.)

Spring... Mostly busy taking pictures of one cute little person. But there's me in him too ;) Can you see me?


Summer... On the beach. Just for a half hour while waiting for a ferry, but I did go to the water despite the location in the far north (ankel deep, freezing cold).

And I do realize the dates don't make any sense now but that's just 'cause I started writing this two months ago but didn't have all the pics uploaded at that point and then never got back to it until now... Sorry :)

Strange Places, Strange Things

or

Few pictures with no particular artistic value but stories behind them

In the country where children grow on trees


And fancy people drive bumper cars


Where people actually wear "kroj" or bunad as locals call it

In those strange places strange things can happen... Cats can be car mechanics. This one was just checking something. Walking from car to car and sniffing first at the front wheel then the rear wheel. Making sure not a single car from the entire street has a hidden flaw:)

But even there people still screw up simple translation tasks in funny ways:)

In case it's not clear without context the upper line means "Please order at the counter." Picture taken at one very nice coffee house called Kafe Kafka where among other things hanging on the walls is a picture of an old railway station building from Prague.

Linguistic identity crisis

Since I've spent most of my days speaking English for the past year I now arrived at the critical point of considering switching to English as my blog language. (Not that I have posted so many items lately but I am working on it:) For a long time I was trying to stick to Slovak mainly so my family can understand what I am writing about and also cause I thought I needed some practice to keep that language alive in my mind but I guess it's like biking - once you've learned it you never forget it. So now I'm in the middle of a dilemma: to write or to pisat ;)

Do those reading this care?

Kniznice

Ked uz o tych knihach a knizniciach... (A kedze poniektori, ktori sa vobec nemaju co ozyvat ohladom updatovania blogov, ze David ;) sa stazuju na nesplnene sluby ohladom fotiek) Tu su dve kniznice, ktore mam mimoriadne rada a fakt by som si tam obcas zasla len tak posediet, ci sa prejst...

Kniznica prva - skvela prave citatel-friendly prostredim. Kopa kresielok a zakuti, kam sa da zaliezt aj na cely den. Jedina nevyhoda - pocas tyzdna, a ked sa blizia skusky tak aj cez vikendy a dlho do noci, je plna ludi, ktori nie su zvyknuti, ze v kniznici sa nerozprava... Ale zato ak ma clovek v usiach nejaku dobru hudbu, vyssie spomenute kresielka vsetky nedostatky vyvazia...

Toto su prosim pekne dizajnerske kresla od neviem koho, ale urcite niekto slavny :) Sedi sa v nich skvele na mnoho sposobov. Jediny problem je, ze clovek casto viac cuci von oknom nez do povinnej literatury...

Tieto mile male kresielka sa zrejme rozhodli, ze si takto cez vikend poklebetia, kedze inak nikde ani nohy...

A kedze sa tato navsteva odohrala v jednu slnecnu sobotu popoludni, ked je kniznica okrem citarne zatvorena (citaren je ale open 24/7 :) tak som sa mohla vyblaznit aj fotenim vselijakych blbosticiek ako napriklad tienov caz zavesy

Ci tych takych chlpatych paperiek z akejsi rastliny, ktore sa len tak povalovali na okne.

Poznamka 1: toto su vsetko uz pomerne stare fotky, ktore sa mi pripomenuli prave vdaka tomu nizsie spominanenemu rozhovoru, a teda su fotene este mojim starym fotacikom.

Poznamka 2: novsie fotky fakt raz pridu, len nejako v case pisania eseji a inych povinnosti nebol cas ani inspiracia sa k niecomu dohrabat... A tiez sa hnevam na svoj pocitac, ktory napriek mojej vsemoznej snahe odmieta nainstalovat photoshop a tiez odmieta nacitat moju novu 16GB kartu (lebo ze je vraj prilis nova a dobra a on si s nou nerozumie :P) takze akakolvek manipulacia s fotkami vo formate raw je komplikovana a potrebujem k tomu min. jeden dalsi pocitac a vobec... Ma uz stve potvora...

Kniznica druha je sice menej pohodlna co sa tyka sedenia ci otvaracich hodin, ale zato na nu mam mnohe nostalgicke spomienky. A aj ked nemam ziadnu vlastnu fotku, neda mi neponuknut aspon nahlad na jej krasu objektivom niekoho ineho... Snad nebude mat nic proti takejto reklame :)

Nasla som spriaznenu dusu...

Znie to ako uvod lubostneho romanu, ale v skutocnosti len marketingovy tah - totalne nesuvisiaci titulok ako reklama na dalsi zaujimavy rozhovor:) Aj ked trosku pravdy by sa v nom hadam aj naslo, kedze tento clovek mi v mnohom skutocne hovori z duse...

Patrne je pomerne znamy, vraj kdesi cosi moderuje, ale ja sa v tych domacich (=slovenskych) pomeroch uz pomerne dost nevyznam, takze neviem... Vola sa Dado Nagy a rozpraval o knihach, citani a kulture ci trendoch s tym suvisiacich. Cely rozhovor je tu.

A preco ho spominam? Poniektori ludia okolo mna sa divia, preco stale nieco citam, alebo preco sa chodim len tak prechadzat do knihkupectiev ci kniznic. Prechadzat prstami po chrbtoch knih, len tak si zalistovat, ci rovno nabrat plnu naruc a odniest si ich domov aj ked na ich precitanie nebudem mat cas minimalne do dochodku... Mozno som divna, ale knihy ma fascinuju. Ako take. Same o sebe. Obrovska kniznica plna knih. Len ten cas na ne chyba...

Anyway, co som chcela z toho clanku... No otazku v nejakej diskusii, aky je zmysel citania, odpovedal: "Mohol som im povedať iba jedno: neviem síce, aký zmysel má čítanie beletrie, ale mňa jednoducho ohromne baví. Mám z neho pôžitok a zábavu. Nechcem nikoho obviniť, že bez čítania sa stane menej hodnotným človekom, ja to mám jednoducho rád a preto nad zmysluplnosťou čítania ani neuvažujem. ... Človeku, pre ktorého je čítanie doslova životom, znie totiž totálne absurdne. Je to, ako keby sme sa pýtali, aký má zmysel, že vôbec žijeme."