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GFY 12 Month Sabbatical
  • Lara Marich
  • Rudi Marich
  • Lara Marich
  • Rudi Marich

GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

A year long adventure through Europe and South East Asia - turning a crazy dream into reality. Read more
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  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    Budapest

    December 22, 2019 in Hungary ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    We have arrived in Budapest, our new home for the next month.
    Night views from our large apartment in District 6 Budapest

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical
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    Budapest

    December 28, 2019 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    Lara busting some moves on the ice

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    Szechenyi Baths

    December 30, 2019 in Hungary ⋅ 🌙 -1 °C

    An entire day spent soaking in the thermal waters of the Szechenyi Baths. Planned from 1868, completed in 1913, the spa is a neo-Baroque landmark and feat of water engineering. There are a series of indoor pools of varying temperatures, saunas and 2 large outdoor pools where the water temp was around 30 degrees whilst the outdoor temp was hovering around 3-5 degrees. The steam rising up from the surface of the water gives everything a magical quality and that sunset just topped the day off perfectly.Read more

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    City Park Ice Skating - New Years Eve

    December 31, 2019 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C

    When we visited Budapest 5 years ago in Summer, we visited this park but the lake was drained and we only saw photographs of the frozen ice skating rink but we were captivated by these images and vowed to return to Budapest in Winter to ice skate here.
    There are over a 1000 people skating on the rink and it really is quite terrifying to begin with (particularly with no handrail anywhere to hold on to) but we were determined to be brave and get out there. It was a magical experience - we felt super proud of ourselves and we all managed to survive without injury.    Read more

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    Budapest

    January 1, 2020 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    Day trip on the Children's Railway

    January 2, 2020 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C

    Mini adventure today taking the Children's Railway (Gyermekvasút) which was built after World War II, and originally called Pioneer's Railway. It is run by children under the supervision of adult railway workers. Children do various types of jobs, from selling tickets to traffic management.
    Getting to the railway involved 2 metro lines and a bus into the hills and was then followed by a short hike through the forest, a climb to a lookout tower, an old chair lift down the hill (passing over lovely old homes and gardens still covered in ice from the morning frost) , a bus back to the city and finally a short walk home!    Read more

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    Night bathing at Rudas thermal spa

    January 3, 2020 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C

    Tonight we drank a few coffees to stay awake for the 10pm to 4am night session at the Rudas baths.
    The original Turkish baths were built 450 years ago and it now has a panorama open air spa on the rooftop with gorgeous views along the River Danube and to the cliff face behind.
    It was so cold on the rooftop that the staff were scraping away the ice forming on the walkway but the temperature of the water in the spa was perfectly warm.
    The walk home in the early hours of the morning was freezing cold (minus 3 degrees) and foggy but the city buildings were still illuminated beautifully.    Read more

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    Lake Heviz

    January 8, 2020 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    We returned to Lake Heviz (the largest thermal swimming lake in the world) hoping to see it in all its winter glory (no luck with the snow this time). We visited five years ago in summer when all the trees were green and the water lilies were in full bloom.
    We spent two nights in a local hotel / day spa, with its own thermal spa and health centre.
    It was like being in a sanitarium and all the staff wore white medical gowns. I felt as though we were in a movie set for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" - the food and the room however were perfectly fine and ridiculously cheap.
    The lake itself was fantastic and we spent the day dipping in and out of the warm 'healing' waters.    Read more

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical

    Budapest

    January 16, 2020 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    The weather has been really cold for the past two weeks, lows of -7 and highs of 0 deg if your lucky.
    We decided to have another look around Gellert Hill on the way to the Gellert thermal baths only to find a winter wonderland.Read more

  • GFY 12 Month Sabbatical
    I still love the horse ear beanies1Vienna window displays are generally very classy but this was hilarious

    Vienna

    January 20, 2020 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 1 °C

    A wonderful stay with Verena and Albert in Vienna.
    We met this lovely couple in Italy many months ago when we started chatting in a restaurant. With great generosity and heart they gave us their details and invited us to stay in their apartment in Vienna, at any time. We were delighted to take up this kind offer and we were treated to an amazing home cooked feast. In fact we sat down at this table at 11 am and spent the next 13 hours talking, drinking and eating - such a memorable afternoon and evening with wonderful company.Read more