Budapest and Vienna

BUDAPEST

So what a wonderful city!! So far so good. Upon arrival, after my 14 hour train ride, I took the bus to my wonderful hostel. It sleeps like only 15 people and is run by this cool American/Hungarian/Italian/Spanish dude. Super cool and super nice. The first day I toured around Buda by myself and saw the city’s castle, St. Mathews Church, and the citadel on Gellit Hill. I don’t remember all the information about these places but that’s okay because we can discuss in more detail when I get home. The next day I went around to see some of the Pest side with some really nice people from the hostel. I saw the Parliament building, the Basilica, the Opera House – which I’m attending tonight – and Hero’s Square and the City Park. It’s a really beautiful city here… I wish I had more to say but I’m tired and lazy. Today I took it easy and went to a huge indoor market, 2 square acres, walked around and got a good feel for the local cuisine and lots of pickled stuff… pickled peppers! I had an amazing lunch of hummus and falafel with a huge salad and gigantic glass of lemonade. Unfortunately I ran out of Hungarian money ☹. I ended up paying in euros. FOOD IS SO CHEAP. It was 6.40 euros for a hell of a lot of food. Money in da bank! That’s it… I’m sorry for skimping on the blog but I hope it’s still enjoyable even if there are no more pictures or fun commentaries. Oh yeah… I also went to an awesome Hungarian punk rock concert. It was really funny because I read about this outdoor festival with concerts every night. When I walked by it, it was just a bunch of punk ass teenagers waiting to get frisked by security to get in. I was intrigued. I couldn’t help myself so I went in. The crowed ended up being mostly converse and studded belt clad teenagers but the was really cool.

VIENNA

It’s as if the hills are alive, with the sound of… music. The city so far has not proved itself öber exciting but its pretty and the museums are out of this world. Yesterday after I arrived I spent the afternoon at the Schonbrunn Castle that used to be the palace of Maria Teresa and is where Mozart when he was 6 years old. It was beautiful because the grounds had huge and incredibly well kept gardens. Today I did stuff around the center of town/ Ring Strasse. Kivanc references everywhere!! It’s nice. Tomorrow I’m finishing up some stuff in the city center and two more museums before I catch my overnight train to Berlin. I leave at 7:58 pm and arrive at 8:01 am. I’m excited because I will meet my friend from Venice, Imke, and then meet up with Alli. She and I will be traveling together for the rest of the time.

Peace.

Super Fast and Expensive Post

In a cafe. I leave Venice in 8 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh it's terrible!! Last week was great. The fam (or at least some of it) was here in Venice and although their enthusiasm was difficult to detect, they had a good time and got to see a lot of stuff and eat some pretty decent food. Tom and Jess have now moved on to Israel while I got to spend my last 36 hours in Venice locked up in my apartment writing a paper. I now only have a few hours left before I leave.

First stop BUDAPEST. Write again soon.

Who's counting down my return!? Interobang

A Milano

Provo scrivere in italiano. Ti scherzo!

Much has happened since my last post. As you can imagine, my internet situation is lacking and certainly not favorable for someone as internet dependent as myself. I cannot wait to return to the United States and my unproductive days of sitting in front of the computer for hours. That sentence contains no sarcasm.

Upon my return to the wonderful city of Venice (from Dublin) I had two days of lessons and messing around town with my friends and my teachers. I am really going to miss this city in every way. The people I have met and the friends I’ve made, from the wonderful to the freighting, and the things I have scene, from the sparkling reflection of the canals on the undersides of bridges to the sunsets of endless beauty over the Giudecca Canal seen from the Zattere. I must return. Anyway, back to the interesting stuff.

On Friday, the influx of visitors began with the Florence crew. Alli and Megan, each visiting for their third time, and Kelly for her first. ß the previous sentence is terribly structured. I am so happy when Megan and Alli return because it means that they like Venice. I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE LOVE VENICE, and I love it even more when people can appreciate it for what it is, more that a stop on a European Cruise. It makes me so happy to see my friends enjoying the city the way I do. With Kelly, and the other first time visitors from Paris who arrived on Saturday, I tried to show them as much that I could in the short amounts of time that they were here. That’s a hard thing to do because all traveling is done on foot. We ran around the city all day Saturday from one sight to the next. What I really mean is I dragged them around the city… but it was worth it. On Saturday night, the Florence group left and the Paris group (Josh and his four friends Kim, Jess, and Lauren) and I went out to dinner with our mutual friend from the US of A Rachel. My fellow American in Venice. On Sunday we did some other touristy things and ate dinner in my apartment. I cooked for Paris almost the exact same thing I cooked for Florence two nights earlier. With the help of my guests, both home cooked meals went smoothly. On Monday the Paris crew left to meet up with the Florence peeps in Florence while I had my last history lesson (cry) and met up with some friends that I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. For most of the rest of the week I just tried to absorb as much as I could during my last few days in Venice, had one of my final art history classes, and began working on my papers (more crying).

Now I am in Milan awaiting the arrival of Dad and Jessica for our week together in Italy. I know that new photos are long past due but I’m doing my best.