Graz, an Italian city in Austria 

View from the window

We arrived some days ago to Graz. We used carpooling to get here. It's a really good site to reach your destination cheap. The trains are extramly expensive in Austria, but if you know long before where you wanna go, they have cheaper tickets too or they have shared tickets, but carpooling is still cheaper.

Alps on the way to Graz

The first day was amazing in this little city (compared to Vienna, cause its actually the second largest city in Austria). Vienna felt so heavy after a while with all the turists and people in it. We're staying with a friend of ours who showed us around Graz. The buildings seem very Italian cause the the city was designed by italian architects. It's like a mediterranian city in the begining of the Alps.

Center of Graz

River Mur

We went up on the hill to the Clock Tower and saw the best view of the whole town. Far far away we still could see some snowy peaks of the Alps. It's breathtaking. Later we went to a little pub where we played a bit of piano:P

Graz

The next day the busking wasn't that great. In the begining the weather was nice and hot, but after a quick shower of rain the clouds stayed above us and made the air chilly. Totally we made 15 euros in a bit more than an hour, but we still hope that the next days we'll get luckier...

Busking in Vienna

(Update! click here)

We spent the last week in Vienna and tried to find nice places to play on the street though the weather was windy, rainy  and cold most of the time. We got bad and good luck too, but all in all it was a nice experiance. And now we'll try to give you the full image about busking in Vienna.

Valentin playing in Stadtpark

Rules:

In the center of the city you need a permit to play. They have a quite clear system for it. You have to go to a certain place at the last monday of any month and you have to pay some money for it. They give a limited numer of permits so the performers go there earlier and wait in a long line. If you go to a policemen he can give you the exact data where and when to go.

But if you just travel through Vienna you can find legal free places as well. Like Karlsplatz, Stadtpark, Mariahilfer strasse(under the clock, next to the metro stop), Museums Quartier (in one place but we heard it's not the best) and so on. The rule is that you can play an hour in one place than you have to move. But later you can go back.

Finding a good place:

First of all it depends on when you play and what you play. In the center(Stefansplatz) you have to be unique. People want shows. After 13:00 o'clock every 5-10 meters there's a busker or groups of buskers. So I recommend for bands to try it out in the center, or places where people don't expect bands like the free places. they react really good for unusual things.

Buskers close to Stephanplatz

If you want to play without a permit, it's hard to find a place and probably after 30 minutes the police will come and ask for your permit. I don't think so that they will fine you at the first times, but they have the right to do that and also if they're really pissed they can take your instrument away. But they're not violent. We tried it once at around 6-7 pm it wasn't bad but after half an hour we decided to go home cause we tried to avoid any kind of fines.

On Karlsplatz, there's an underground pessage where you can play right before the line(the rest is metro area and you are not allowed play in the metros) you have to be careful with the time, cause the police station is close by and they really check it how long you play. But most of the time they are just bored cause they have nothing else to do so they're "harressing" buskers, but they're still talking nice and polite. The criminality is much lower in Vienna than in Budapest.

Karlsplatz

The similarity is that you find everywhere Hungarian and Romanian gypsies or just simple Hungarians and Romanians playing their robotic music on accordion, or any other instrument. And usually they don't care about the law. We went to talk with one of them about how long he wants to play and he said till he makes enough money (the same answer as in Budapest). And of course they're changing eachother so they occupie the free places for the best hours. And if you play sometimes they start playing almost right next to you... It's sad!

In Mariahilfer strasse we heard that the best time is around 5 pm, but if you want to play there you must go there an hour earlier(or more) otherwise it's taken. We were actually there around 3 and a accordionist gypsy guy was already sitting there, waiting for 5 o'clock to come. So you need to be there one or more hours earlier and wait till 17:00, and if anyone else comes than tell them you are allready waiting for the place.

Sometimes we got lucky and get the places without any problem but sometimes it happend that we walked more than one hour in the center to find free places to play.

Best places:

In the center is the best free palce is Stadtpark, close to the clock (made out of flowers) about 50 meters away from the Strauss statue, close to the entrance to the park. A lot of turists walk by to see the statue and a lot of parents with their little kids. Even if they don't pay the children's reaction is always adorable. :)

Cute audiance :D

On the bridge

The other mantionable place in Stadtpark is the bridge. Not as good as the other place but still it's worth to play there.

The best place what we found in one week was Florisdorf(metro station U6). We made 25 euros in close to half an hour. The best time to play there is around 7, cause people come from work or going to the center. That place is always busy. The acoustic is really good under the passage and the music is much more impressive. I personally really enjoyed playing there.:)

Florisdorf

So the final conclusion about Vienna is that it's a huge city full of possibilities and if you are good and lucky enough you can make a lot of money:P

It's raining but that doesn't stop us :)

Yesterday we went to Albertina (a Museum close to Stephansplatz) And saw an exibition of Impressionism and much more. :P After that we went to Stadtpark and found a better place to play until the rain started, but that didn't stop us:P And the photo is the proof of it :)

The first days in Vienna

Two days ago we arrived in Vienna. We found a place to stay for the whole week through Couchsurfing. It's a really good site and a brilliant idea to make your trip cheaper. I recommend sending as many couchrequest as you can and as soon as you know where you want to go (around a week before). This way I think you have a bigger chance of finding a couch.

We actually got lucky cause somebody(Sabine) offered us a whole flat where we can stay for a week.In the begining the weather seemed good but yesterday it was really cold and rainy and Valentin got a cold too (I hope it's nothing serious). Today is a lot warmer, but the busking is not as succesful as yesterday.

Though the weather was bad we managed to make close to 30 euros in an hour but we couldn't play more cause our shoses got really wet. The place where we played called Karlsplatz. One of our friends showed us the place. The best time to play there is between 12.00-15.00 and maybe 17.00-19.00.

Playing in Stadtpark

We tried Stadtpark too. It's a nice park in the center and a lot of kids are playing there with their parents. We played  next to the bridge. It wasn't that bad but could've been better :P

Next week when we'll get to Graz we'll write more clear cause unfortunately we don't have internet in Vienna and the free wifis are slow.

Busking in Szeged

Yesterday and today we finally tried our luck at busking in Szeged. It wasn't at all bad as we expected since it's a small city. Actually it's, from what we can tell, as good or almost as good as Budapest, given that the average amount we made in the two days was 2000 huf/hour(7 euros). 

Here is the first video that we made. Sorry for the relatively low sound quality but I was a bit far.

This video was made on Kárász street (the main shopping/walking street) in the center. We haven't really tried any other places yet but we might not have enough time to play somewhere else in the City. But I am quite sure if you play in the center somewhere like Dugonics square, Széchenyi square or anywhere in the center you can make the same as we did(depending on what you play,the weather,the people and so on).

We met with some other buskers and they said that for the big squares you don't need a permit but for Kárász utca where we played it's kinda banned, but if you don't annoy old people, nothing bad will happen:P

Valentin on Kárász street

Savane on Kárász street

We will try to busk more these days and try to "paint" a better picture of busking in Szeged.

Earrings

When we were at Timisoara Valentin's friend, Ildi gave me some earrings that she made and I really like them. She told me how she makes the earrings, so I got really psyched to make my own "jewellery":p. I will probably try to sell them on the road , but I still have a lot to learn and practice how to make them.

Colorful earrings thanks to Ildi

 I tried to make earrings in different styles and I hope I will be able to sell them. I really enjoyed the time that I spent making them :) These are from the first series and probably they will be followed by better ones.:P I hope Ildi doesn't mind that I used her technique. Thank you very much!

Here they are!:)

For more click here!

Last oil paintings for a while

Unfortunately on the road I can't paint with oil. We bought some smaller canvases (30cm X 40cm) and almost every two, three days I paint something. It feels so much better when I'm painting than ever before. When I 'm working on something I am unstoppable :D. Nothing can distract me from what I' m doing.

These paintings do not have deeper meaning. They are the result of the expression of my passion, which by definition is what art is all about. I do not want to sound smug and selfproclaim myself as an artist, but in my opinion when you do something and you're a 100% focused in doing it, and you recieve joy and love from whatever it is that you are doing, you are creating art.

still life-oil on canvas

My sister, studying-oil on canvas