Metro

A minap a városban császkálva az egyik metrómegállóban különböző városok metróinak a posztereivel találtam szembe magam. És természetesen ott volt Magyarországé is. :) 

Tudtad, hogy az európai kontinensen a mi kedves kis sárga földalattink volt az első metró?, És hogy az angolok után mi büszkélkedhetünk Európában a legrégibb földalattival, sőt a világon is a negyedik legrégibb a kisföldalatti.

De vajon melyik az első három? Wiki segített a válaszban: az első (mint fent is említettem) a londoni Underground (1863), a másodikat New Yorkban építették 1870-ben (ami egyébként a legtöbb (422) állomással is rendelkezik), a mi földalattinkat pedig még a chicagoi "L" előzi meg, 1892-ben.

Mint sokan tudják, a mi földalattinkat 1896-ban építették a milleneumi ünnepségek alkalmából (többek között a Hősök terével és a Városligettel egyetemben). Az átadás Ferenc József jelenlétében, május 2-án történt (eredetileg a költészet napján, április 11-én lett volna, de műszaki okokból ez nem sikerült.) 

A cél az volt, hogy a város szívéből - a Deák tér, Vörösmarty térről - a milleneumi ünnepségek fő helyszínére, a Hősök terére szállítsa a belföldi és külföldi vendégeket.

A földalattit 2002-ben az Andrássy úttal egyetemben a Világörökség részévé nyilvánították.

The other day while strolling in the city, I found some interesting posters at one of the metro stations: it showed the different metros of several cities and countries. Of course, the Hungarian was among them.

Did you know that the Hungarian metro was the first in the European continent? And that it was the second in all Europe after the London one. Furthermore, it is the 4th oldest metro in the world!

And which ones are the first three? Well, as I mentioned before, the first (oldest) metro in the world is the London Underground (built in 1863), the second was built in New York in 1870 (which by the way has the most stations (422)), the third is in Chicago (1892).

The Hungarian metro (foldalatti or M1 as we call it) was built in 1896 for the millenarian festival of the county`s foundation. (The Heroes Square that is so popular among tourists was also built for this occasion.) The metro was inaugurated on 2nd May, 1896 by Emperor Franz Joseph. (The original date was 11th April (the day of poetry in Hungary), but had to be delayed due to technical complications.)

The aim of the metro was to take the visitors from the heart of the city (Deak and Vorosmarty Square) to the Heroes Square, the main location of the festivals.

The metro M1 was declared a World Heritage together with the above running Andrassy Avenue in 2002.

Hurricane Irene

Although, Mexico City is about 300 kms from the coasts of the Mexican bay, hurricane Irene had an impact on us as well.
Since it is the rainy season (from May/June until October/November), I got used to the rain every day, but what we had a few days ago...! It was some storm!
It is said that the rainy season has several patterns here: in some years, it showers only a little, but almost all day; in some years it rains cats and dogs, but only for a few hours. This year seems to be the latter pattern: it starts raining at about 5-6 o'clock every day, only for a few hours, but during the rain, no umbrella helps.
However, the rain (storm) on the other day was something to mention. It was very heavy storm for 2 days, just when the Irene approached this area. The storm started about 7 in the evening: first it was just a huge black cloud coming. Then the lightning and thunders started and suddenly it started to pour. Because of the huge black cloud, it was already pitch black and the lightnings made the surrounding so light for a second, just as in daylight. And the amount of rain: I`m not a meteorologist, but after about 30 minutes that it had started, we went to the supermarket and there was a good 10 cms water on the roads already! Of course, the entrance of our apartment and the supermarket (and I guess almost all buildings) had leaks, the supermarket was full of buckets on the floor...

The terrifying thing is that Mexico City with its 2200ms height, sometimes gets the storms in the middle: I mean, usually the clouds are above you and the rain pours down, but here, the storm clouds go through the city. It`s like in the movies when you fly through a storm cloud when you are on an airplane.

So, today`s advice: Don`t forget your umbrella!

Rain curtain...

For comparison: the view during the rain....

...and after it.

Spanyol nyelvlecke / スペイン語プチ講座

Ma egy kis spanyol nyelvleckéről lesz szó. Mindössze két szó, de sok mondani valója van.

Az első szó: la esposa. 

A "la" a női névelő ("a, az"). A főszereplő pedig az "esposa" szó, ami első jelentésében "feleség"-et jelent, de ugyanúgy használják a "bilincs" szóra is.

Ez azt jelentené, hogy a spanyol ajkúak szerint a feleség bilincsben tartja, megbilincseli férjét??? Bár magyarul lehet egy másik változat is erre a szópárra: a feleség LEbilincseli férjét. Friss házasként, én inkább ezutóbbira szavazok. :)

A második szavam is a házasság körül forog: "casado" (házas, férjezett) illetve "cansado" (fáradt) szavakat csak egyetlen ici-pici "n" különbözteti meg.

Vajon tényleg ennyi választja el a hulla fáradtságot a házasságtól...?

今日はスペイン語のスピード講座を行いたいと思います。お教えしたい言葉は2つだけですが、意味深い言葉でしょう。

一つ目は：La esposaです。Laはスペイン語の女性定冠詞です。そして、Esposaというのは、一般的に｢妻、奥さん｣と訳されるが、｢手錠｣という意味もあります。

従って、スペイン語を母国にしている人々の頭の中で、｢妻は夫に手錠をかけている｣（？）ということになっているのでしょうか。

二つ目にcasado と cansadoの違いについて。Casadoという言葉は｢結婚している｣という意味です。しかし、casadoと一文字だけ違うcansadoという言葉は｢疲れている｣という意味。

結婚生活と疲労は本当に一文字違いだけですか。

新婚の私にとっては悲しいスペイン語のレッスンでした…

Diving in Los Cabos

（日本語は最後のほうにあります。）

Los Cabos a sporthorgászat és a golf mellett a búvákodásáról (és bálnanézésről) is híres. 

A Los Cabos körüli vizek nagyon jók búvárkodásra, mert itt ér össze a Csendes-óceán és a Cortez-tenger, ami a víz hőmérséklet keveredés miatt sok halat vonz. És erre vonulnak a bálnák is tavasszal (január és április között) a kicsinyeikkel észak, a planktonnal teli tengerek felé.

Los Cabosban azt mondják, híresek az ördögráják, ha szerencséje van az embernek, láthat cetcápát, pörölycápát és úszkálhat fókákkal vagy tengeri teknősökkel.

Mi végül az egy hét alatt 3 nap merültünk, napi két alkalommal. Ötször voltunk a Land's End és Arch környékén (pontok nevei: Pelican Rock, Land's End, Neptune's Finger), ami motorcsónakkal kb. 5-6 perc, egyszer pedig egy "külső" pontra mentünk, az ún. "Blow Hole"-hoz, ami az öböltől kb. 3O percre volt.

Sajnos a láthatóság (visibility) nem volt a legjobb, kb. 1O-15 méter volt mindegyik merülésnél, bár 3O méter is szokott lenni állítólag. A víz nagyon meleg, 29-3O fok, ezért egy shorty  is elég a merüléshez. Mivel a víz nagyon sós, a normálisnál több súlyra lehet szükség.

Halakból nagy volt a választék, és bár sajnos elszalasztottuk a cápákat és az ördögráját, láttunk egy kb. 1 méter átmérőjű ráját (diamond stingray), és sikerült az utolsó merülésünkkor a fókákkal is találkoznunk a vízben. Természetesen rengeteg trópusi halat láttunk: papagájhalat (parrotfish), sárgafarkút (yellowtail), vitorláshalat (king angelfish),  különböző gömbhalakat (pufferfish) stb. stb.

Yellowtails

California sea lion

Pufferfish

Another pufferfish

ロスかボスは釣りとゴルフの他にダイビングの天国と言われています。この辺でコルテス海が太平洋と合流するので、魚が豊富に見られます。さらに、鯨も子供を連れて、プランクトンで豊富の北の海へ向かうところ、毎年春ごろこの辺を通るそうです。

鯨のほか、運がよければジンベイザメやハマーヘッド、マンタ、海ガメ、アシカとも出会えます。

私たちは１週間の滞在中結局３日間、２回ずつ潜りました。５回はボートで５分ぐらいであるLand`s Endの辺り（Pelican`s Rock, Neptune`s Finger, Land`s End）へ行き、１回はボートで約３０分のところのBlow`s holeで潜りました。

透明度は残念ながらこの季節のと比べて低くて、１０－１５メートルでした。（３０メートルもあると言われている。） 水温は非常に暖かくて、２９－３０度もあったので、Shortyのウェットスーツでも十分です。コルテス海の海水は非常に塩分が高く、通常よりウェイトが必要かもしれません。

ダイブスポットのどこでも魚が豊富でした。ジンベイザメとマンタは残念ながら見えませんでしたが、径約１メートルのエイを見ることができ、最後のダイブの際、アシカも一緒に泳いでくれました。そのほか、トロピカルフィッシュももちろんたくさんありました：ぶだい、イエローテール、ふぐやハリセンボン、うつぼ、ロブスター、海栗、オニヒトデなどなど。

Yellowtails

Yellow jacks

Parrotfish

オニヒトデ

Stingray

Los Cabos

Last week we spent a week in Los Cabos.

Los Cabos is in Baja California peninsula, about 2 hours from Mexico City by plane. (Be careful, because there is 1 hour difference between Los Cabos and Mexico City.)
Baja California might seem small on the map, but it is actually about 1600 kms from North to South, almost the same length as Japan.
Los Cabos (The Capes in English) is located on the very south tip of the peninsula and refers to two small towns, Cabo San Lucas and San Jose de Cabo and endless beach hotels in between.

The climate is mild to hot all year long, with a 26 degrees average temperature. The mild "season" is from October to April, when the highs are about the average 26 and the lows goes below 20 degrees. The temperature in the other months are over 30 in the days and 24-25 in the nights. The stormy season is said to be around September, October which brings the most of the 25cms annual rain.

We had beautiful weather, with 34-36 degrees, although we were "lucky" to experience the rare rain in that area as we had two cloudy, rainy days. (It was said that it hadn`t rained since last September...)

Due to the small amount of rain, the surroundings are desert-like with many many cactus and small bushes.

Los Cabos` main economic factor is undoubtedly tourism. I guess, over 90% of the tourists here are from the U.S. which means that US dollar is widely accepted and English is understood everywhere.
The main attraction is "The Arch" rock which was declared a natural world heritage by UNESCO. There are brown pelicans and California sea lions around these rocks not to mention the thousands of tropical fish below the water. Therefore diving, snorkeling are very popular around that area.
Also sport fishing in the open sea is well known - it is said because of the meeting of the ocean and sea, these waters are one of the best for sport fishing in all around the world.
And finally, many tourists are visiting Los Cabos for the whales - they are passing along these waters with their babies from January to April heading to the North. It is said that at some points, you can see whales by 98% probability! Also, as there are no rules regarding whale watching, the boats can approach the whales close enough to pet them. However, it is said that sometimes these giant creatures approach the boats by themselves for some pats and strokes.

In Los Cabos we stayed at "The Corridor" and went to Cabo San Lucas from time to time. (This is where "The Arch" is.) As there is no competition, the taxi is very expensive - 300 pesos to take us to the city (about 15kms). Therefore I recommend the local bus, which is not only cheap (19 pesos for a ride) but fun as well - there are always music on the Mexican buses, there is natural air conditioning with the open windows and doors, and sometimes these buses are so old, you`d think they should be in a museum... instead, they`re still running!

The center of Cabo San Lucas is the Marine - a beautiful small marine, surrounded by luxury hotels, amazingly delicious restaurants and shopping malls. It is not at all Mexican (excluding the uncountable souvenirs in the shops) - English is spoken here, it is safe (!), the streets are smugly clean (!!)... which is not bad at all! Unfortunately, because tourism is the main job for most of the Mexican there, people inviting you to a restaurant, to a snorkeling tour, to fishing etc. can be quite bothering. Else that that, the Marine is a beautiful location, and I strongly recommend to try sea food in Cabo - the fish are always fresh and amazing! My personal favourite was the fish tacos in Tiki Bar. A must if you go to Cabo!

The World Heritage "Arch" can be reached only by boat, one from the Marine. It is about 4-5 minutes, right next to the Marine: next to the Arch, there is Pelican`s Rock (with many pelicans on it - just as its name says), and Neptune`s Finger (a finger-like, slim rock). The sea lions can be seen at Land`s End, the very end of the rock formations.
There are tons of boats going there for snorkeling, or just to take people to the Lover`s beach from about 20-30 dollars. However, I recommend diving - in that case you did the sightseeing on the boat, snorkeled (or better) and could see the sea lions and pelicans. But about diving, let me write later...

"The Arch"

Turquoise blue sea...

...amazing landscape...

...beautiful sunsets...

...just like Paradise!

Pelicans everywhere!

Our lizard friends in Hotel Marbella

Sea lions in the water....

....and on the rocks.

For more pics, just click on the title above. Have fun!

Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico

Last weekend we took a night at a nice, tarnished hotel in the heart of the city: Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico.

The Hotel itself was built in the beginning of the 20th century in art nouveau style. It is told that the hotel was renovated from 2003 until 2005. The main feature of the hall is the Tiffany stained glass on the ceiling which is just amazing! A huge chandelier greets the guests in the main entrance and if you are still not in the romantic mood, you will certainly get by the many cute birds (canarias) singing in two huge cages right in the side of the hall.

The rooms are also very stylish, not the usual simple modern style. You can feel like you have time traveled a century, just staying there.

The surrounding is beautiful as well: the hotel is on the main square of Mexico City, Zocalo. It faces to the Catedral and the National Palace, which gives a beautiful view especially by night. It is a (if not "the most") famous tourist site in Mexico City, so the surrounding are safe, the streets are with good atmosphere and full of souvenir (especially gold) shops.

The main hall with panorama elevator

The famous Tiffany stained glass ceiling

The main entrance

The main hall

Bird cage in the hall

Live music by the canarias

Romantic rooms