Heaven’s gate

August has been passing by slowly and nicely, I have to say. After a quite rainy start into the summer, the last weeks have brought quite beautiful weather also up here north of the alps. Reason enough to explore some more mountains – this time in my home region.

Himmelspforte (Heaven's gate)

Together with my friend Hans I hiked up to the peak of Schafberg via the route passing the Himmelspforte (Heaven’s gate). As we reached the top we realized somewhat surprised, that the hike that was signposted to take 4 hrs had only taken us 2.5 hrs. After an even faster way down we relaxed a little in the beuatiful lake (Mondsee) that you can also see on the picture. However, the result was that the following days I was walking like Robocop because it was not possible to move or even bend my legs without any substantial pain.

Below you find the link to the whole album, it also includes some impressions from Hans’ parents’ farm house and gardens in Baum… this is as typical upper austrian farmland as it gets.

Schafberg and Baum

And there is also a little video that gives an impression of the nice panoramic view from up there!

On the mountain

A week ago the very reduced MBA summer mountain crew got together in the quaint village of Klausen/Chiusa to climb nearby Mount Schlern/Sciliar. Sadly we lost one expedition member already to the public transportation systems of Italy or to a slight lack of preparation how to deal effectively with these systems…

Schlern / Sciliar in morning clouds

Anyway, on a beautiful Saturday morning after fixing some individual transportation system problems we started from the Seiser Alm plain at roughly 1.800 mts towards Mount Schlern with 2.584 mts. The first view was quite impressive and it really looked like a very far off and hard to reach destination.

But any we continuously climbed our way up, past the “Letzte Tankstelle”, through hordes of wild animals (and some hordes of tourists, to be honest). And after about 3 hrs uphill the goal was close!

So the joint Hungaro-Austrian expedition crew was able to have a nice sandwich up in the clouds to celebrate – and look down on the beautiful Dolomiti landscape all around.

But as always, watch the full story in pictures on Picasa… (Click below!)

Hiking on Schlern

And in case someone wants to follow our footsteps: Here are some Links to…
- our accomodation on a farm
- the beautiful village of Klausen/Chiusa
- the alpine area of Seiser Alm / Alpe di Siusi

And as a little reward for all who kept reading until here: the attack of the free running pig…!

Linz 09

Last weekend I went home – to my parents’ place in Linz. The city is, as I mentioned in an earlier post, Europe’s cultural capital of this year (click for link). The most interesting art feature IMO in the city center at the time is “Höhenrausch”, an art park on the roofs of some houses (including a museum) in the very center of the town. That also includes a ferris wheel on top of the O.K.  (Link to my full picture gallery here!)

Ferris wheel on O.K. - Höhenrausch!

And after the culture and an aperitivo I relaxed in the Donaupark, while waiting for my friends to go out together…!

Sky over Donaupark...

A trip to Puglia

In my last week before going to Munich I treated myself to discovering a part of Italy I had not been to before: Puglia and especially the Salento – the “heel of the boot” (Link to Wikipedia).

Salento coast

 On this trip I simply enjoyed the nature especially the beautiful coastline. And of course my navigator heart brought me to the place where two seas unite (the Adriatic and the Ionian) and that was named “finibus terrae” by the Romans – the end of the earth. Nowadays it’s called Leuca and hosts a sanctuary next to a big lighthouse.

Santa Maria di Leuca

And there were wild flowers, a smell of summer, a clear sea and so many more beautiful impressions that made this trip unforgettable … in the end it was very hard to say goodbye.

Summer colors

In the gallery below there are some more images – but you really have to go and see for yourself!!!

A trip to Puglia

What else happened in May

It’s Sunday May 31st (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRETA!) and I finally make it back to duetorri. These past four weeks have gone by in a rush that I find hard to describe – a lot of news and paths determined, a lot of things to do and a lot of emotions have kept me so busy, that I did not take the time to find the quiet moments that I need to write some coherent sentences on this blog.

In the week after my Rome trip we had a meeting where finally our exact locations and positions for the internships were disclosed. A bit more than three weeks before they are supposed to start. Hmm. Draw your own conclusions. And in the week after that the last set of exams has taken place. No big surprises there.

After the last exam we directly went for a weekend trip to Livorno to celebrate the time spent together and enjoy each others’ company without having to submit a teamwork report afterwards… and Radu and his wife Antonella were wonderful hosts in their city and their house – thanks again!!! In the gallery below there are some impressions – unedited, just as caught on camera… enjoy!

Livorno Weekend (Click for link to gallery!)

The final week started off with a visit to “the headquarters” in Milan. Some senior members of management gave some speeches (including, yes, Alex the Great), we had a nice lunch and then some more speeches and then we travelled back. Does not deserve a gallery, but a nice group picture:

The UniCredit MBA team (almost complete)

And finally three days ago we celebrated goodbye at Alma school with a barbecue in the “secret garden” and a chance to dance in the grotto. I only had my phone with me – but sharp, clear pictures are a nothing but a bourgeois concept!
I feel there is not really a lot I can write about. For all of you who were there you will recall the feeling, for all others I probably can not explain…

Farewell BBQ (Click for link to gallery!)

So my time remaining in Italy is six days and counting. Which I feel truly sad about even though I have much less entered into Italian life than I had hoped for in the beginning.

See (some part of) Rome in half a day

After some days with quite a bit of work for the university this last week left at least a little more space to do other things than just study. And as one my favourite free time entertainments is travelling it was a nice opportunity to join my friend Jelena and her sister Svetlana for a day in Rome.

The two girls had already done a one-day-race around the city in an effort to see it all but were still in suprisingly good shape to do with me the following route (and Rome insiders will know, what it means…!): Pantheon – Castel St. Angelo (incl. inside visit) – Piazza del Popolo (incl. visit to S. Maria del Popolo) – then by Metro to Piazza Barberini – Fontana di Trevi – Piazza Colonna (for a coffee) – Piazza Venezia – Colosseo – Circo Massimo – Piramide – Testaccio (for dinner). And to finish it off, drinks and walks in Trastevere… respect!

Roma in half a day (Click for gallery!)

Easter trip to Cinque Terre

After two days of evaluating weather forecasts back and forth I had made up my mind on friday to take a two day trip to Cinque Terre, a national park area and Unesco World Cultural Heritage region on the coast of Liguria.  And I certainly was rewarded for my decision! First, the weather was really good for hiking and secondly the place itself is really beautiful – especially now in spring.

Vernazza in Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is essentially a stretch of coastline with five villages – Riomaggiore-Manarola-Corniglia-Vernazza-Portorosso (from SE to NW) with the first and the last being the biggest with the most tourist infrastructure. I went there with the first train Saturday morning and walked the whole stretch of the five villages, with two out of the four parts of the route being very easy and the other two quite sporty. Overnight I stayed at the newly opened Youth Hostel in Corniglia (Link!).

On Sunday my friend Angel joined from Bologna for another day of hiking – this time not only along the coast but also up into the hills above the sea.

Cliffs on the way to Porto Venere

It was marvellous! Just the sound of the sea below us, mild temperatures and the smell of spring… below there is the link to my complete gallery…

Cinque Terre, Easter holidays 2009

…and to a short video clip that might give you an additional impression… enjoy!!!

And for all MBA participants who do not yet suffer from attention deficit disorder due to the incredible amount of information thrown at us weekly by Alma… I have two points, as N. would say… )

1) Thanks for reading until here – I really appreciate it!

2) Who ist this Doriana???

Signposts you do not expect when hiking

Amsterdam and beyond

Somehow this ended up to be a busy Easter week and the Amsterdam trip already feels like ages ago. One main reason for that might be that the subject of the week was the revelation of our whereabouts for the internship. But before we go into that: HERE IS MY Amsterdam PHOTO GALLERY (Link to Picasa in the picture).

Amsterdam excursion

So what about the BIG news: here come the new due torri….

Due torri @ Munich

Yes. Whoever finally took the decision has decided I should go and work at U**Credit’s local HQ in Munich @ HypoVereinsbank. What exactly I am supposed to do there and what part of the bank I should be with I do not know yet. So at the moment I feel a bit torn, on one hand I very much regret having to leave Italy, as I am just getting into the life (and the language!) here. On the other hand, some hints about what I should do there sounded very interesting indeed and therefore there might be some quite positive side to the story. Let’s see…

Members of the MBA class will be sent to: Milan, Munich – just me , Zagreb, Belgrade, Bucharest, Moscow, Istanbul – congratulations, J.! and some will stay in Bologna. From the geographic point of view I would say that 75% of preferences have been fulfilled by the program management, what everyone will do in their location we do not know yet.

Amsterdam excursion (A Preview)

Just to announce that some interesting inside stories from the first unofficial U**Credit MBA excursion team visit to Amsterdam will be posted here soon…

These stories might or might not have to do with…
* un-/expected non-/participants (now try to figure that one out!)
* banks (see picture)
* a stork (see picture)
* far-away countries (not on the picture)

Amsterdam, first insights...

But one question will eternally remain:

“SO WHAT’S NEXT???”

Break!

I just realized that I have taken a 10-day break from blogging. Re-reading my last post I think that might have been a good idea, I guess that was a bit of a weird mixture of thoughts in one post. Anyway.

Another reason for a longer break might have been the fact that I was fighting off a cold during the last days and did not feel so well. But don’t worry, no more medical stories. I self-medicated myself and am already quite close to ok again.

So what did I do with my time off – two short city visits… let’s see if you can find out where (For link to some more pictures and the solution – click on the images)!

A great piece of art done by a great master!

Gothic grandeur

Other than that I relaxed, read, went out with friends, worked on my italian skills…. and I can not believe that it is already Friday and on Monday the next term will already start.

Before I forget: me and András went to see a really great musician at Arteria – a solo guitarist named Paolo Sereno, who has a quite unique technique of being his own percussionist. I highly recommend checking his site if you like acoustic guitar music (and if you don’t yet, why not give it a try)!!!

Venice carnival

Now here is my lttle Venice carnival story… on Sunday morning we took the 09.00 train from Bologna to Venezia S.Lucia. Already in Bologna the train was so full that some people could only stand, and on the way in Ferrara, Padova and Mestre there were more and more and more.

Little surprise, in the city of Venice it was the same: People and more people! We fought our way into the heart of the city to reach San Marco, where most of the events were taking place and most of the people with very elaborate masks were promenading. We watched the competition for the most beautiful mask for a little while – I even captured the winner on a short video (Click for link, at 0:30 seconds)!!

Venice carnival impression

(Click here for the full picture gallery!)

I am glad that I went to see it, it was a nice experience although I don’t think I will become a Venice carnival regular.

The way back then proved to be difficult enough. We tried to reach the 18.00 train, but only came to the station five minutes before six. So we decided to have a coffee and go to the platform at 18.30 in order to get a seat on the seven o’clock train. What we did get at that time was a place in a big crowd in front of the platform, that was sealed off by police in order to keep people from storming the train, that was already packed with people. After the seven o’clock train had left, the police opened the platform for just some minutes so the people that would crowd themselves into the 20.00 train could stand there and wait…

Back to BLQ

As I am writing this, I am sitting at Vienna Airport waiting for my flight to Bologna Airport (code: BLQ). My routing has been changed from a Frankfurt connection to a direct flight – a delay on the VIE-FRA service could have stopped me at Frankfurt Airport and Lufthansa/Austrian obviously wanted to make sure they get rid of me tonight…

So now I have two more hours to boarding – the first one I have spent watching the Austrian triumph in ski jumping and sampling the business lounge food. Time enough for a little report on christmas holiday events.

The first days I spent in Vienna meeting friends, catching up with the latest events at my firm and of course christmas shopping. On I went to Linz to spend the Christmas days with my parents and family. Despite all wonderful food and cookies it seems I did not put on any weight.  Speaking about Linz – my hometown is European Cultural Capital in 2009 together with Vilnius in Lithuania. (Click for Link)

Linz 09 - European Cultural Capital

After that followed three great days of skiing in the Schladming region. Weather was marvellous!

Planai panorama

New year’s eve I celebrated with friends and friends of friends in a beautiful country house in the alpine lake region of Upper Austria. We had two funny, snowy and cloudy days (both in the nature and in our heads…) -  thank you again Ina and Martin!

Then back to Linz to meet more friends and to go for another day of skiing to Hinterstoder. Again clear but icy weather which decorated trees with a pretty ice cover.

Hinterstoder winter landscape

And the tour ended with one and a half day in Vienna that I spent mainly indoors in cafés and bars to avoid the frosty winter city…

So here I am, another hour and half to go until boarding, but I’ll think of something to do! Maybe work on my online skiing skills at the ski challenge…

Ski Challenge!

Venezia…

A realist, in Venice, would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him.
(Arthur Symons, English poet)

Broken...

Check my picture gallery for more…. click here + enjoy!

Due torri goes aquatic

Tomorrow I will take a day off and go to Venice, that has been hit by a major “acqua alta” last week. (Click and watch some amazing pictures, one of them below. Oana: thanks for the link!!)

Acqua alta

Weatherforecast is excellent, also the high water forecast is ok, so I hope my feet will stay dry!

Motorbike transfer

Yesterday I transferred my motorbike to Bologna. The first half of the route I used ÖBB’s Autoreisezug, the second half I rode down those highways for 380 km… not a too pleasant experience, only the first part through Val Canale was really beautiful, if a bit chilly.

I have one proof of the adventure: My bike in front of an Autogrill and with the beautiful mountains in the background.

Bike in Val Canale