Christine's Home and Travel Adventures: Shopping

Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Budapest, Hungary, Aug. 2015

It's been a while since I blogged about my travels, so do not be surprised if I am blogging about a trip we took in August of 2015. I just realized it is easier for me to find pictures that I want by searching on my blog, but of course they have to be there first. So, since I am staying home due to the Covid 19 pandemic, I know I have more time to blog. I am therefore, restarting to blog about travels, my intent is to archive my travels and travel photos so I can easily access them. They will not be in order, I hope you don't mind.

We were so fortunate to be there during their most important and popular holiday, St. Andrew's Day, who is their patron saint. There were people everywhere, just walking around. Vehicles were blocked so we were able to walk around safely. Festivals were everywhere, food, parades, processions, music, entertainments, you name it!

We took a Viking River Cruise on the Aegir stopping at various countries and Budapest was our last stop. where we checked into the Marriott's Hotel overlooking the Buda Castle across the Danube River, and stayed there for 2 days. The city is breathtaking, I thought I was looking at another Paris.

John and I traveled with family and friends, particularly my sisters Fe and Tessie and nephew Jonjet and his wife, Lourdes.

Below is St. Andrew's Church where John and I posed.

We walked around leisurely with my sister, Tessie and a friend from Hawaii, Judith.

How I miss the time when John could still walk fast and we did not have to haul an electronic scooter with us, where ever we went. But we are very thankful that we are still able to travel.

This was a place where a lot of eateries were and we had lunch almost across that big Budapest sign. Of course, we had to take pictures first.

We must be approaching the hotel since I see the Buda Castle.

I am so in love with their famous exquisite china, Herend. Nope, not buying this time. Our 4 luggage were all already up to the weight limit that I had to leave our toiletries behind.

Beautiful view at night

Spectacular view to wake up to every morning while having my coffee.

We toured, ate and shopped at the Marketplace, so huge and so crowded!

The Marketplace is behind us and my sister Fe can't wait to go inside, lol. She is a shopping addict.

Of course, we had to visit the famous Hero's Square, noted for its iconic statue complex featuring the 7 chieftains of the Magyars and other Hungarian national heroes.

Good thing we brought our Marriott elite member card and we were able to upgrade our room to a high floor and we had access to the top floor which offered free snacks and an open view of the city. We took advantage of that during their awesome display of fireworks. We were even able to bring my sisters up there.

Chain Bridge showing the Parliament in the background.

We enjoyed the fireworks at night

I hope you enjoyed a mini tour of Budapest. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe always!

Friday, May 27, 2016

A Bit of Provence on My Table

We just arrived from a 14 day Mediterranean cruise which ended with a 3 day land stay in Barcelona. I was part of a group of 58, which consisted of relatives and friends and some newly found friends. We all had a blast.

One of our stops was the port of Marseilles, which is what inspired me to create this tablescape.

Unless we take a tour specifically for shopping, tour guides never give us enough time for shopping. Luckily, they had booths selling stuff just outside the ship, so as soon as we got back on the ship, with a few hours to spare before the ship sails away, my sister and I went out again. I saw this tablecloth and bought it. It had "Provence" and its views stamped all over it.

Here is a picture taken at one of the places we visited. They gave us 20 minutes to walk around, eat and do our shopping. One advice I can give you is that if you see something you like in one of the stores, just buy it and never mind thinking about it, because there's not enough time for that. I saw a pair of sandals that I liked, tried it on and it was very comfy but did not buy it and kept walking. I wanted to go back to get it but before I knew it, it was time to get back to the tour bus so I lost my chance. Shucks! I am still kicking myself to this day.

Anyway, let's start tablescaping now. As you can see, I used the Provence table cloth as the topper.

Did you notice some changes in the dining and living area? I added the Persian rug that we moved from our MS home, under the table and you will see various furniture placed all over. John said nobody would ever think I could fit all the moved furniture in this house, which was already furnished to begin with, lol.

And my décor is turning back to traditional.

Since the table cloth was mostly lavender, I picked a set of vintage Bavarian china with that color that I found on Ebay a few years ago, as I was searching for purple transferware. They really aren't transferware but they came up so it must have been meant to be.

They are vintage and labeled with "Edelstein, Bavaria, made in Germany, Maria Theresa, Sunset" in the back of each plates.

It's hard to tell but my flatware are deep purple in color.

Olive colored stems for all the many olive trees all over Europe. I even planted 2 trees in big pots on our back porch. I love the color of their leaves and how they can be shaped into beautiful topiaries. I will just have to wait for the leaves to get fuller.

I was opening boxes in the garage when I spotted the faux topiaries and thought they would be perfect for my table. They are very frenchy, aren't they?

Notice my hall wall turned into a Salvador Dali gallery? I am out of wall space so under the beds in the guest rooms have become storage for frames, paintings and pictures. And this is after I sold and given away some. Someday, I will blog about how this area turned out.

The bust was already on the table, before I even started so I just worked around it.

I think she is very frenchy too.

I even managed to find a pair of olive salt and pepper shaker. I already had it and found it on the garage shelf.

I also found this tea set in one of the garage bins. It was labeled "Frenchy tea set" so what could be more perfect than that? Little by little , I am discovering and uncovering my table items. Now, if I could only have enough room in the house to store them!