"Miles from Budapest"

I have now been in Austria for just over 2 months. Part of me thinks the time is going by super fast and I can't believe I have been here 2 months, while the other part of me feels the time slowly ticking by and I am anxiously awaiting my arrival home on June 30th. Don't get me wrong, I am loving every minute that I spend in Europe, but if I have learned one thing in my time away it is that Natasha and I can not live more than driving distance apart, I miss her way too much. I have found that the best way to combat missing my sister and being homesick is to keep busy. The best way to keep busy, travel. During the week, I am busy with my school work, group projects, and readings but, on the weekends I have endless free time. This weekend I am taking it easy due to the fact that I was so exhausted last weekend from all my traveling. Unfortunately, it's only Friday and I'm already running out of things to do, I wish I was traveling somewhere. Hopefully I can explore a little more of Linz. I do have plenty of trips coming up, Stuttgart to visit distant family next weekend, France to visit a friend from Truman, and Italy in May. 

The past weekend, I had a chance to visit Budapest with a group from school. Budapest was beautiful but I would have to say that I enjoyed Prague more. The first day in Budapest the group got a semi tour of the city where we saw the Parliament building, some churches, the Danube river, and enjoyed the nice weather. After the tour, we went to a restaurant The Sir Lancelot, The restaurant was a medieval themed place, they didn't even have forks! I wouldn't recommend it. One, the food was not very great and two it was somewhat expensive especially for being in Budapest which is cheap compared to the rest of Europe. 

Met Ronald Reagan in Budapest

After eating the group left to go check out the nightlife of Budapest, I would say it's pretty alive. I stayed out the latest I ever have in dancing, Budapest has some pretty good places to dance. Even though I am an awful dancer I did have a lot of fun. Although, as many of my friends can tell you I am not one to stay out late. I became the first out of the group wanting to find my way back to bed!

The next morning we made our way to the Central market Hall. This place was huge with tons of food stands and craft booths. Although a lot of the stands sell more or less of the same thing, I enjoyed looking at all the different foods and even bought some homemade paprika!  After the market hall I made my way with a few friends towards the Castle of Buda and Matthias Church. The journey to these two places was a little of a walk/climb but completely worth it. The church is absolutely beautiful and the view was even better! If ever in Budapest, if you visit Matthias church be sure to visit a nearby cafe. 

my delicious cake!

The Ruszurm, which claims to be the oldest confectionery in the city has wonderful cakes. I can recommend the Eszerhazy torta, a specialty in Budapest, Dobostorta, and the "Ruszwurm" Torta. All delicious and worth the climb to get them! After enjoying our cake we made our way back towards the Pest side of Buda where we were staying. If you are not aware Budapest was actually once two different cities Buda and Pest and when describing where you are, you still would say whether you are in the pest side or Buda side. Our hostel happened to be on the Pest side. The hostel we were staying had a nice location and was also clean, I would recommend staying at the Wombat hostel. After resting for a bit we journeyed back into the city and fell upon a really cool street market with some musicians, tons of delicious looking foods and some really cool looking trinkets and such. Budapest is a great place to find street markets, we probably went to three in one day! That was by far my favorite part of Budapest.

St Matthias Church

After finishing our shopping we headed to dinner at Zsakbamacska, this place I can recommend. The food was delicious and the entertainment was even greater. Throughout the dinner we were entertained by some traditional music as well as dancers! Nothing better than dinner and a show!. After dinner was finished we journeyed once more into the Budapest nightlife. Having enjoyed enough of the nightlife the previous night I was ready for a good nights sleep. The last morning in Budapest I spent it wandering around the streets and falling upon yet another street market. I love street markets. I returned home from Budapest exhausted from my 3 weeks of travel with little rest but, content.
I don't know if I will ever return to Budapest but, I defiantly think it is a place worth visiting. It's hard to believe that I only have 2.5 months left in Austria, part of me ready to return to Kansas City and my family, but the other part wants more time to enjoy Europe and all its wonders.  

I'll leave you with yet another quote,  "Wherever you go becomes part of you somehow" -Anita Desai

Love, Alex

The Luck of the Irish

Just enjoying Ireland

On the journey from London to Dublin, I was very much questioning if the Luck of the Irish was on my side. Everything started out fine, I made it onto the first train that left central London and headed toward the town of Crewe, where I would then transfer to another train to the port town of Holyhead. Only, about 45 minutes into the journey, it became clear that the journey would not be a smooth as I first thought. With some problems arising with the tracks, we were paused for a good hour. We didn't reach our first stop until at least an hour and a half later than expected. This meant that we had missed our connecting train to Holyhead. Now, our ferry didn't leave until 2:40am, so there was still a little hope. Unfortunately, a coach bus did not arrive to take us to Holyhead for about 45 minutes. We reached Holyhead at 3:00 am just 20 minutes short of the departure time. I would of made it to the ferry if the time had not jumped forward at 1am. So, I spent one night of my journey in a very cold train/ferry station. I did not get much sleep due to the fact that it was cold. At 8am the next morning I finally got onto a Ferry to Dublin. The ferry ride lasted 4 hours and I couldn't tell you much about it due to the fact I slept the whole time. When I finally reached Dublin 7 hours after originally planned, I was ready to check into the hostel and eat food other than chocolate bars. Well Ireland is celebrating there 100th Easter Rising this year. This is a celebratory event marking the independence of Ireland from England. I knew this celebration was happening before going of course, I had just planned to get there in the early morning to miss the crowds. Instead, I arrived in the middle of a 3 hour parade. This meant my friends and I had to walk completely around a huge parade. On top of this, it started to rain, and it really came out of nowhere because on one side of Dublin it was sunny but on the other rain. About 5 minutes from the hostel, I was wet, hungry, and convinced in a past life I must of made a leprechaun mad, the rain stopped and I was greeted with one of the best rainbows I have ever seen. 

The rainbow!

I stopped walking, closed my eyes and remembered it was Easter, on this day I celebrated the fact that Jesus had died on the cross for my sins. This rainbow reminded me of the promise God made to his people that he would never flood the earth again. When we reached the Hostel 5 minutes later, I felt rejuvenated, yes my day had been bad, but I didn't just spend 40 days in the desert without food, no I was traveling around Europe... I was in Ireland for heavens sake! After that point, my luck definitely began to change for the better. 

one of main bridges in Dublin

Standing in front of St. Patricks Cathedral 

Unlike London, I didn't really know what I wanted to see or do. In fact, I really had no plan at all. The first day we were most concerned about eating food, and finding a church to go to Easter mass at. We ended up stumbling into a small restaurant on the main street. Here I had a traditional Irish Sunday roast, which was delicious! After dinner, we made our way to a catholic church for Easter mass. Now, I'm not catholic, but as it was Easter, and like 90% of Irish are catholic, my choices for types of churches were limited. Therefore, I went to catholic mass. This actually was not my first mass, considering 2 out of 3 of my swim friends were catholic, I had attended a few with them before. After mass, we explored the streets some more and then called it an early night before our adventures the next day. Our first full day, we took a free guided tour where we saw some famous churches, Trinity College, and learned a little more about the history of Dublin. 

Enjoying my pint at Guinness

After the tour, we headed to the Guinness Store House. This was really fun, we got to go through a museum and learn the making of Guinness as well as learn how to properly taste beer, and smell it. This was actually not my first time touring a brewery, I have gone to Budweiser in St. Louis with my family, but it was my first time tasting a Guinness. The room where you get your "free" pint is a circular room with a panoramic view of Dublin, the perfect place to drink a beer. Unlike my mom, I actually enjoyed the darker beer! Overall it was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone. 

In Dalkey

The next day, we ventured a little into the country and visited the town of Dalkey. This was just a 30-minute train ride out of Dublin and well worth it. The town has a very nice park where you can climb up pretty high and have an amazing view of the Irish Sea. The luck of the Irish continued to increase because although the weather called for rain, it never rained once that day! 

Stopped in town of Kinvara on way to cliffs

Bottom of Cliffs

The last full day was by far my favorite; on the third full day we took a trip to the Cliffs of Moher. On this day, it was clear that our luck had really changed. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and blue skies. Not many people can visit the cliffs when it is sunny and blue skies. Usually, it is really cloudy or rainy.  Due to the beautiful weather the tour group was actually able to go on a boat and see the cliffs from the bottom. If you ever visit the cliffs and it is a nice enough day to do this, I 100% recommend. 

Top of Cliffs

Once reaching the top of the Cliffs the beauty blew me away. It's times like that, seeing some part of nature that is unbelievably beautiful that I know without a doubt in my mind that God exist. How lucky am I to get to enjoy all of his beautiful creations. Unfortunately, we had to leave the cliffs but one day I hope to go back and once again bask in their beauty. Hopefully I will have as great of weather as I had that day.  Overall, my time in Ireland was pretty great. I enjoyed the city of Dublin but I don't know if I would ever visit again. This being said, I would defiantly visit Ireland again because I absolutely loved the Irish countryside.

The Cliffs of Moher

Some Tips for Ireland:

1. Experience the countryside!

2.They are very proud of their country and heritage and have the Irish Flags flying everywhere. (This reminded me a lot of the US where there is at least one flag on every street. In the other countries I have visited I only maybe see 2 or 3 of that countries flag)

3. In Dublin, Temple Bar is where a large amount of bars are, but they are full of tourists and very crowded. This is a good place to go eat, I recommend The Quays Irish Restaurant. I ate here and it was delicious. I had Guinness stew! 

4. If you want some good Irish music while you drink a pint, I recommend The Cobblestone. This bar was down the street from our hostel and off the so-called beaten track. It was crowded but not just with tourists, there were many locals coming to hear the music. 

5. The Queen of Tarts is a great place to stop in the afternoon and have a sweet homemade treat and drink some tea. I enjoyed some delicious chocolate cake and tried a great fruit tart. 

6. Finally bring a rain jacket and umbrella; I doubt you can stay in Ireland without it raining! 

Amsterdam

Reunited with Rego

After leaving Dublin I flew to Amsterdam where I met up with one of my high school swim friends Regan and her dad. They were gracious enough to let me crash there father daughter trip. My feelings towards Amsterdam are so so. I loved the architecture of the buildings and the canals in the city were beautiful. I also loved learning about Amsterdam's rich history. As for the overall feeling of the city, I didn't really care for it. The city was a little dirtier than the other two I have visited and the roads were pretty small making the car look very out of place. 

Biking in Amsterdam, it's a miracle I survived

The bikes on the other hand fit right in. Amsterdam has so many bikes, in fact they have more bikes than people and an estimated 30,000 are pulled out of the canals each year. I actually witnessed a barge going through the canals and cleaning it of bikes! I had the chance to take a bike tour, it was one of the scariest things I have ever done, with cars and bikes whizzing passed you, it's basically every man for himself. I actually witnessed a person riding a bike get hit by a car. Everyone was fine, but after that moment I was happy to never ride a bike in Amsterdam again. Overall, I enjoyed my time in Amsterdam but, the city might of been just a little to liberal for me! I would like to go back to the Netherlands and visit the countryside though!

Enjoying some fries with mayo, a Amsterdam specialty

Observations on surviving Amsterdam:

1. The guy to girl ratio is like 3:1 I would not feel comfortable walking around the city by myself

2. A Coffee shop IS NOT A PLACE TO GET COFFEE, it's to smoke weed

3. Public smoking of  weed in Amsterdam is okay. The odor of it in the air is prevalent,  so don't be shocked.

4. Prostitution is legal, so ditto #3 on the "don't be shocked" part.

5. WATCH OUT FOR BIKES, they are crazy drivers!
 6. Enjoy the lovely architecture

Standing in front of the main canal

My Easter travels were beyond wonderful, with only a few bumps a long the way I returned to Linz tired, pockets empty, but rich with new cultural experiences. I once again am beyond thankful for the amazing opportunity's I have. My next stop is Budapest! Where overall things will be much cheaper then the cities I visited over Easter. Thank God. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes about travel.
 "Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else"-Lawrence Block 
Love, Alex

London Calling

The perfect spot to get a telephone box picture

I am the first to tell you that I would never live in a city, in fact my friends and family can most likely affirm that I said this. My reasons include lack of nature, the noise, the smell, and the fact that in movies where something bad happens people living in the city are the first to die. This being said, I absolutely loved London and honestly I could imagine myself living there. Now, I realize only having spent time in London for 5 days really doesn't mean you will enjoy living there, and this may be true. Often, when visiting a city there is a glamour about it and you think it's better than it really will be. I've visited cities before in Chicago I said I'll never live in a city after the first two days, in DC the first two hours but, in London every day I spent there just made me want more, I wanted to be a local and know all the places to go. I'm not saying I'm gonna move to London, the weather, the distance from KC and the cost are pretty big negatives for me. So don't worry mom and dad I'm coming back at the end of June and I'll be staying there for a while. The question you're all asking is why do I love London so much. Everyone has that one city, the one city they dream their whole lives about. For a lot of people it's NYC or Chicago maybe Rome or Barcelona. For me, that one city has always been London. As a child my two favorite book series/ movie series were the Harry Potter series and the Narnia series, then in high school my love for the boy band One Direction fueled my want to go to London even more. Lucky for me I only had to wait 19 years. I was very nervous (and of course excited) on my trip to London. I had been dreaming about this city for so long what if I was disappointed? I was not disappointed. My first glimpse of the tower bridge affirmed all my hopes and dreams about the city. Within just a few short hours I had pretty much mastered the tube and buses. I loved taking the buses although a bus gets you to your stop slower than the tube, you're able to see the city sitting in one of those famous London double decker buses. 

London Bridges Falling Down, except this is actually called Tower Bridge

The first day, I went to the Tower Bridge, which was absolutely gorgeous, then in attempts to walk along the river Thames to the millennial bridge we walked the wrong way. After about 20 minutes we realized we were in a pretty much residential area ( this is where I first imagined my self living in London) we took our first bus in the right direction. We ended up seeing the millennial bridge in the dark as well as St. Paul's cathedral. 

Statue of Queen Victoria, My favorite British Monarch

Standing outside the Palace

The next day in London, with an early start I went to Kings Cross Station platform 9 3/4. My hostel was actually 2 streets away from Kings Cross, something that happened by just chance. After my Harry Potter dreams came true, we left for Buckingham Palace, Westminster, parliament building, clock tower, and the London eye. All of these are in walking distance of each other. By far my favorite was the clock tower it is absolutely gorgeous. After this we walked to Trafalgar Square, we had to see the lions!, Leicester Square( all the major movie theaters are here as well as the largest m&m store in Europe, Covent Garden(a large market areas with lots of street performers), and Piccadilly Circus( basically an 1/8 of Times Square) to end the day we went back to the London Eye so that we could see it at night and ended in Soho with a pint of beer. I have got to say that London is beautiful in the day but stunning at night. I loved going back to the places we saw in the day at night. These usually loud and crowded places were suddenly quiet and clear of people. 

The London Eye

At the Large M&M Store

Living out my Harry Potter Dream

At Seven Sisters

The third day, I took a trip to Brighton which is about a 2 hour bus ride, here we walked around the small city as well as going to Seven Sister, basically a minor version of the Cliffs of Moher. Brighton is a smaller city and has some really cool antique shops. I slept the entire journey home exhausted from all my travels. 

Standing in Trafalgar Square

Millenium Bridge

My last full day was probably the best, on Good Friday and man was it a good Friday, the weather was beyond perfect. We started the day going to Camden Market. This is basically a huge market with tons of different shops and antiques. Lots of handmade jewelry and leather purses. There was also food from all over the world served out of food trucks and stands. For all my readers in Kansas City who love first weekends, you will be blown away by the Camden Market. While I was here I defiantly felt a little homesick mostly because the one person I know who would thrive in this market was my sister Natasha. One day I for sure want to take her there! After the market, we traveled back to the Millennial Bridge and enjoyed some caramelized peanuts, something you can buy in almost any touristy place. Another snack item that was popular was waffles, not only a breakfast food in London but also a nice treat with Nutella. Wanting to enjoy the weather even more we found a bar called The Alexandra ( I know how cool) and enjoyed some drinks while basking in the afternoon sun. We finished the day going to one of London's many musicals, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I enjoyed this so much more than I ever enjoyed the movies. My last day in London the weather decided to be typical London weather, rainy. We spent our last day at the British museum as well as a coffee shop.

Outside British Museum 

The Best name for a pub

I'm am going to truly miss London and vow to one day go back. My favorite parts about my trip included just walking around on the streets, being completely fine with taking some wrong turns because I was loving every second. I hope to type up the second half of my trip which was to Dublin and Amsterdam later this week, unfortunately "things do start to pile up when you've been gone for 100 years." -Santa Clause (The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) In all seriousness I do have a lot of homework to do before going back to class on Monday. I will leave you with some tips in mastering a trip to London.

1. They drive on the left side of the road in England, do not get hit by a car because you look the wrong way1
2.  London is expensive but their are ways to be conscious of your wallet, the best tips include...
1. Get an Oyster Card, you pay 5 pounds to get it and then you put money on the card, the best part about it is it works on the underground and the busses and it has a max of 6.50 so once you hit the 6.50 mark the rest of your rides are in a sense free.
2. When using the oyster card you can use the buses which are double decker, this being said their really isn't a reason to pay for a hop on off tour because if you ride the public transport busses enough you'll get the tour in a cost effective way. 
3. There are a lot of free attractions such as the British Museum, visiting all the landmarks, going to the markets, and all the amazing parks
3. Walking is Always good for you
4. See the City at Night
5. Eat a waffel or roasted peanuts
6. Finally Chocolate is always good

Just to make sure

London At Night

Roasted Peanuts

I am once again so blessed to have the opportunity to travel to the places of my dreams, thank you to all the people reading my blog and stay tuned for part two of my Easter Travels where I decide if I have the Luck of the Irish on my side."A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions"-Oliver Wendell Holmes “

As Always, Love Alex