Cologne's Top Ten!!

1) Random meetings are a fun part of life. Remember I mentioned we bumped into someone from the U of M while inside the Dom?? Well, later on during the day, Carolyn and I had a bit of a close call with a double decker bus (he did not slow down as we crossed the street....and we almost died. Not really, but it was closer than I would have liked!), this same person was on the top deck of this bus watching us dash across the street. He later informed us of this on facebook. So strange to run into him the first time, and even funnier that he witnessed our near 'one-with-the-pavement' incident.

2) We must have a thing for rivers. Every city we've visited thus far, and even including Maastricht, has a river running through it. I suppose this can go back to when civilizations sprung up...around rivers for the transportation ease...but still I think it's fun that we always get to walk by a river in every city we visit. In Cologne it was the very wide Rhine.

3) If you get really excited about a food, even if you don't necessarily care to eat it, the food will indeed taste good! Nougatbrezels, which I briefly mentioned in my post about Cologne, was one of these such examples. We were hungry after our train ride, and really wanted some fun snack...and Nougatbrezels was not only a fun word to say, but also a strange food item we had never before seen. We were suddenly extremely excited to consume some, and well, I think I enjoyed the taste of my Nougatbrezel more because of this particular excitement. Note the picture. :)

4) Chocolate, while being my favorite food, is also something that can be overwhelming at times. In the chocolate museum, every room we entered had some scent that would overpower you, whether it be the spices that can be mixed into the chocolate, or simply the scent of the chocolate being mixed up and poured down to the next machine (see picture). I felt like I had chocolate seeping into my pores (which I was very much okay with) but due to this overwhelming smell, I felt like I had already eaten my fill of it. A bit strange, but by smelling so much of the chocolate, it gave the same feeling as if you had already eaten a lot of chocolate. Not sure if I'm just really strange and over-analyzed this smell vs. eating thing (probably, yes) but I found this to be rather interesting. Moving on...

5) A beer isn't a beer unless you can drink it in a stein! Carolyn and I really wanted to find ourselves some steins while in Cologne, and I was very excited to find the perfect one! Every store imaginable sells them, and they're all different shapes and sizes and colors. It took awhile to select the perfect one (and the most affordable one) but my shelf in Maastricht is much happier with the stein on it. I have yet to try it out - but will inform you of the wondrous experience that it is, when it does happen.

6) Organs are beautiful to look at when in the huge cathedrals we've seen so far on our travels...but when the organ is actually PLAYED = AWESOME! We were lucky enough to be inside the Dom when the organ started playing, as there was some sort of service going on at the time. It was a beautiful, full sound that bounced off of all the walls and gave you the illusion that you were surrounded with sound. It was wonderful, and I now wish we could have had the same experience in the other huge cathedrals we've seen - especially Notre Dame. Either way, hearing music played inside that church was truly awesome.

7) When one owns a camera, it might be to one's advantage to fully learn everything that the camera is capable of! I found out while in Cologne that my camera takes video...and audio. Cool. So glad to have discovered this after Paris and all the other cities I've been to!!! Argh...so currently researching EVERYTHING my camera can do, so that perhaps I can take some neat videos while I'm here. I will keep you posted on the success of said videos.

8) Running through a train station is actually a good time. We've done this a fair amount, at least once in every city we've visited, and we discovered it's like claiming how important you are to everyone in the station. Not in a boastful way; but when you see someone running, you move out of the way and stare at them as they run past, wondering about what they're late for and how important it is. So, even though we knew we'd missed our train home, we decided to run through the train station just in case, and mainly for the hell of it. We both were laughing as we ran, dodging people, small children and dogs, holding our shopping bags and running as fast as we were able. Good times. (We indeed missed the train...but running in the station was worth it.) So - if you ever want to feel really cool, take a run through the train station. People will stop and stare and wonder about where you're dashing off to. :)

9) I have discovered it's quite fun to take pictures of as many dogs as I can in the different countries we go to. I think I may compile a book when I'm home about the 'Dogs of the World' and I'll give it to Ellie. Either way, I always try to grab my camera when we pass a puppy on the street, and Carolyn has dubbed me the "PETaphile." I've passed this awesome Basset Hound twice while out walking in Maastricht and have yet to take it's picture. I'm tempted to bring my camera whenever I leave my room now, just in case I run into this Basset Hound. At any rate, it's fun to look at all the different breeds that are common in the different countries. And here, the dogs can come on the buses and trains (as long as they're behaved)...which is fun! Picture above is from Cologne...and of a very furry Dachshund, which is appropriate as the name Dachshund is German in origin!

10) Dunkin' Donuts is the cool place to be in Cologne. It was attached to Subway (our cheap, quick dinner) and we were amazed at how many people were waiting in line for donuts. It was also the first Dunkin' Donuts I've seen in Europe. Apparently donuts are a rarity, which actually makes sense, as donuts like bagels, contain the hole in the middle - and neither are easily found in Europe. This Dunkin' Donuts was only the second place that I've seen that was selling bagels (along with donuts), the other being in Prague. Apparently Europeans don't find the hole in the middle of their bread or pastries that necessary. I like my bagels and donuts. But, I have come to appreciate the pastry that doesn't have that hole in the middle...as usually that means a good filling is inside!! So...bagels...are an American thing I've come to realize. Fun fact of the day.

Eau de Cologne

Cologne, Germany was the destination for the day - one Carolyn and I set out for early. We left the Guesthouse at about 7:30 AM as we headed down to the train station. It was quite brisk outside, which was a bummer as it's been gorgeous weather all week! No big deal - we just dressed in layers, and the walking warmed us up a bit too. We got to the train station at the perfect time - our bus arrived within 5 minutes. We then rode the bus to Aachen, Germany. This was supposed to take a little under an hour, but we accidentally rode the bus a few stops too far, OOPS, and so had to get off and wait for a bus to take us BACK to the original stop. We both had a good laugh about that one!! Once we successfully got to the Aachen train station, we realized we had time to kill until the next train, so we grabbed some lunch and just relaxed.

Our train pulled in and I was excited to see it was a double decker train! We rode a similar one in France when we went out to Versailles, and I thought it was so cool. We, of course, took seats on the top level! The train ride went pretty fast and before we knew it - we were in Cologne!

We had both decided that the Cologne Cathedral (called the Dom in Germany) and the Chocolate Museum were a main sites to hit for the day. We grabbed a map and headed out to explore the city! As we neared the doors to exit the train station we both started laughing. Looming right outside was the Dom. No exploring necessary. We could have taken pictures, and good close ones at that, from inside the train station. Ha - of course, we didn't, but that we could made it quite amusing. We went out to catch a closer glimpse and take pictures. We wandered inside to escape the wind and found a VERY tall ceiling and wonderful architecture. The outside is extremely ornate, and the inside is the opposite - gorgeous in it's simplicity. We were just turning to head back outside when this guy stopped us and asked if we went to the U (University of Minnesota). We said yes (confused) and he said he recognized us, as he went there too! What a coincidence! We all started to recognize one another from classes and chatted with him and his family for a bit. What a small, small, SMALL world!

After the Dom we headed down into the main shopping streets. We saw a display of pretzels, one that was covered in wonderful little goodies and the other in the normal salt. I OBVIOUSLY picked the good one - with the little goodies all over it! It was called a Nougatbrezel, which became the insult for the rest of trip for anything and everything. :)

With our snacks giving us a little boost of energy, we continued on walking towards the Chocolate Museum. We walked along the Rhine (which is HUGE) until we spotted the Museum in the distance! It's on it's own little island, and looks like a mixture of a modern day factory and an ancient stone house. We were both extremely excited - as we both have quite a lot of affection for chocolate.

The 'tour' starts with a little history of the cocoa bean, and what ancient cultures used it. The process of how the cocoa bean came to modern society as well as how chocolate is actually made were explained as well. My favorite part was when you actually get to go up to the machines that are making the chocolate, and get see what's happening through little windows. You get to walk along the whole little assembly line of chocolate making as well as the assembly of the chocolate into little wrapped bags that get sold in stores. I felt like I was watching an old Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood episode, where they explain how different things are made. There was also a wonderful view across the Rhine in this part of the museum as well, so we stopped to take in the gorgeous view! We even got to eat some wafers dipped in chocolate from their infamous chocolate fountain - and yes, we got seconds! :)


The WHOLE museum smelled like chocolate, which almost got overwhelming. We needed something to eat/drink to quench the chocolate need, and we both decided hot chocolate would be the perfect thing. It was indeed delicious and extremely rich. Rich enough that the chocolate gift shop really didn't seem all that appealing afterward, and we both bought nothing. We had already had our chocolate fix for the day!

We headed back into the city, and the sunlight now, for a walk around Cologne. We found lots of neat churches and shops that we explored. We even were able to take the picture we'd been planning out all trip - one of "Eau de Cologne". Cologne, a city with a 'scent' all it's own! Ha!

We both wanted to look for some gifts for family and were indeed successful. After some cheap dinner and more pictures in front of the Dom, we needed to do something 'German' before we left. Beer! We found a beer hall right by the the Dom and sat and enjoyed the fun atmosphere while sipping on some Kölsch beer, the Cologne specialty brew. (Picture on the right). Feeling like our Cologne experience was now complete, we left on the next train.

It was a great city to wander around in, with great shopping and great food wherever you went. We didn't walk around the WHOLE city as much of the main sites are more churches and museums, and we've decided the BIG churches are wonderful and if we happen upon a smaller, neat church, that's enough for us. It's just fun to walk around and take in the atmosphere and the people, not to mention the food as well! A real fun trip; Carolyn and I both enjoyed ourselves and got some unique gifts as well! :)

Budapest, Vienna & Prague's Top Ten Fun Facts

Alrighty - so I wanted to save some of the funny tidbits for the Top Ten...hopefully you'll enjoy!

1) Changing currency is harder than you think. Not only are we now FINALLY used to thinking in euros (though we always convert back to the American dollar) but now we had to think in forints (Budapest) and in korunas (Prague...and yes, like the beer.) Forints are hard to calculate in your mind because 1 euro = 270 forints. When making large purchases you're handing over thousand forint bills. I was freaking out the first time, calculating and then recalculating...as I've never paid for dinner let alone ANYTHING with a thousand bill. We never got used to it and were very excited about Vienna, where we could again use our euros! But, in Prague we had korunas, which were a bit easier to work with - 4 euros was about equal to 100 korunas. Easier on the brain to calculate. BUT - in all, we were so excited whenever we could use our euros, not only was it easier, but cheaper as the money exchange places really didn't have the best rates. At all.

2) Lofts are the best way to go! As you read and saw in pictures - Budapest had the coolest loft ever. No idea why, but you feel like a little kid who won the bet for getting to sleep in the best spot at the top. There weren't any guard railings, so I was EXTRA careful as my bed was on the side of the railings. Thank goodness I'm not a roller. We would have had a problem. Carolyn is - so we made sure I was by the railing. Took one for the team! Vienna also had a cool loft - and was the coziest little nook I've ever slept in. We had little curtains to pull to hide us from below, and even the rest of the loft. Theresia and I shared one little part of the loft, and we both slept better than EVER! As did Carolyn over on her side. If Prague had a loft option - we would have taken it. Hands down. Lofts = a good time. Picture shows a view from my bed from the loft in Vienna.

3) Packing your bag for the way there should be focused on keeping it light. Not only if you have to put your purse inside your bag like we did, but because you may buy things that take up space on the way home. I actually was impressed with how light I packed - as my parents would tell you I love to bring along everything and the kitchen sink normally. BUT, not light enough. On the way home on the plane - I was wearing two tank tops, two shirts, my fleece, my biggest scarf and my pea coat...and leggings with jeans on top. I still barely had enough space and I was pretty uncomfortable and large looking on the plane. Haha - noted for next time, must bring EVEN less.

4)Helmets are extremely necessary when caving. The people in front of me and behind me could hear the loud CLANG of my helmet on the roof of the cave REPEATEDLY followed by some appropriate choice words from me. I would just start laughing eventually because I hit my head so much. And NO ONE ELSE DID! What the heck was my problem, I have no idea. But it was pretty entertaining to hear CLANGS every three minutes and me shouting at myself loudly afterward. Haha...providing humor to all.

5) Coffee is never served in a huge mug. Or even a normal sized mug for that matter. It's like each restaurant wants to compete to see who can have the smallest cup. I could have brought the cups from my old tea set at home and they would have fit right in. I must admit, the coffee is pretty potent, so it doesn't need a huge mug, but it still made me chuckle when I'd get my coffee. We also noticed, the more chocolate mixed with the coffee - the mug got bigger. (Fine by me!!) See picture, where we each got something different. Hot chocolate for me (the BIG one), a coffee and chocolate mix for Carolyn (the middle one) and a coffee for Theresia (the baby one).

6) Train conductors are not happy people. If they can yell at you for ANYTHING, they will. Do not anger them. At all! We discovered this on the way to Bratislava as we had our feet resting on the edges of the chairs in front of us. Where NO ONE was sitting. The train conductor came over and asked if we were sick and needed a doctor. Confused we of course said no. He then started yelling to sit up straight blah blah blah. I felt like I was being lectured for punching someone. We both were silent for a bit (sitting up straight as possible) before we started to giggle. To make matters worse, most people on the train heard him, and the majority of these people understand English. Not helping the 'stupid American' image with that one. Noted - shoes are not to be put on the seats. Not acceptable.

7) Food is just as cool if not cooler than walking around and seeing the sites of the city! But, I'm sure you already gathered that from my previous posts describing in detail my meals and pastries. I tried to take pictures of my meals as much as possible, and of course of as many pastries as possible. I feel like QUITE the expert on pastries at this point. If the pastry has chocolate, it'll be better. If it's frosted in something, it'll be better. If there is some sort of filling, it'll be better. If the filling is also chocolate then you're in for one heck of a pastry. And finally, powdered sugar on top does look nice, but doesn't add much to the taste, and just ends up all over your clothes. Below are some of the pastries/cakes from the trip!


8) Hershey doesn't exist in Europe. What does, is Milka. Milka bars come in a variety of delicious flavors and are a snack of choice when a pastry isn't possible. Our go-to flavor is chocolate and hazelnuts, and it's the perfect size to split btwn three people. We had more Milka bars on this trip than I dare admit, but since we all LIKE them, why not?!?! I may have to take a few for when I come back to see what you all think. You would like that right?? :)

9)Ear plugs ARE a good idea. We dealt with a fair share of snorers this trip as well as people who were banging around at 4 AM when they got back from a night out. Carolyn DID have ear plugs and rarely heard any of these noises. Theresia and I could describe them for you in DETAIL. My favorite was when someone dropped the lid to a metal trash can in our room in Budapest at approximately 4:18 AM. That was a lovely sound to jolt awake to. So fun. I had my iPod on blast a couple of time to block out the noise, but the iPod juice had to be rationed, as I don't have a wall plug-in to charge it. ANYWAY - ear plugs for next time will be a worthwhile investment.

10) You know when we are all infants, we cry when we're hungry and when we need to go the bathroom. Well, not much changes when you're old. No tears, but mood swings DEFINITELY. I am guilty of this, ha, as my fellow travelers will note. When one of us would start to be snippy, it meant they either need food or the bathroom 90% of the time. Mood swings through-out the day truly followed how often we ate, plus, as you eat you're usually sitting down - so it's a foot-resting time as well. Either way, found that to be hilarious, especially with myself. Cranky until fed. And I think I'm okay with that. I DO like to eat, remember?

Well friends, that's all the fun tid bits from our big trip. There are always things to learn - things to remember to pack next time or that you DON'T really need. Always things to remember about planes vs. trains vs. the metro. Always things to remember about hostels. And biggest thing learned from the trip, which is actually...

11) Always give your parental units a detailed schedule of your entire trip. Including train rides, plane rides etc. with exact times. That way, when there is a HUGE train crash, they will know you were not involved. Also - make sure your phone works internationally so when the above happens, you can contact them. I had one of those completed and one not...so for next time...must make sure both things are covered. Always good.

I will write either another later today or tmrw to catch up in total with a summery of the last week and this weekend for you all. Then I'm no longer behind. FINALLY!

Sending love from to Holland to everyone back home!

The Musical City: Vienna

It's been a crazy week of travel recovery and homework, but I want to try to pick up where I last left off with Vienna!

Our train from Budapest was early in the morning, so we weren't up too late our last night. Up early (...which we got quite good at...and those that know me well know that it's not my favorite thing to do. At all.) we found the bus that would take us to the train station. Our train left from a station of the far East side of Budapest...but we arrived earlier than anticipated thanks to the bus. We wanted to get rid of the last of our forints (Hungarian currency...will be explained in the Top Ten to come...) and bought some fresh fruit and snacks for the train. And of course pastries! (You should know by now that pastries and I have a SERIOUS relationship.) We found our train, and climbed aboard. Much to my delight, you sat in compartments on this train! For all you Harry Potter fans out there...you know what I'm talking about. It was a long train ride...about 3 and half hours, but thanks to some naps, it didn't take too long.

Once we arrived, we followed the directions to our hostel. All of us were uncomfortable with our HUGE backpacks...and not from the weight, but the awkward pull backpacks seem to have on your shoulders. Anyway...it was wonderful to get to our hostel. We were a bit concerned at first...as we had to buzz ourselves in, then walk down this dark hallway with renovation happening on all the walls...up this little staircase...down another hallway with tiles that weren't all secure in the floor...and found our hostel. At this point we thought we were in for a crappy hostel...but once the door was opened - SURPRISE! It was lovely! All the walls were white, with natural, light furnishings to make it seem hip, comfortable and homey all at the same time. The hostel owners greeted us warmly, showed us our room (another loft! YAY!!!) and around the hostel. She even had laminated maps for us with all the best spots highlighted and explained. I was blown away. We all were completely rejuvenated from the train ride after chatting with her and hit the streets of Vienna!

First on the list was lunch..as we had only our snacks and breakfast. We found a Cafe on the edge of central Vienna, right across from the Volkstheatre. The waitress was extremely kind, very smiley, and very helpful. We all orded some form of schnitzel...mine was swimming in gravy. And it was awesome! We also tried some Radler beer, at the suggestion of Theresia. It's half beer and half pop, so it tastes very light and almost sweet. Was quite refreshing and worked well with the heavy meal.

I was also able to get the cell working after we crossed into Austria, so called the parental units to let them know my whereabouts and that the cell was working. After the train crash in Belgium, we wanted to make sure phones were working internationally!

Full and content we headed out to see the sights. We walked by the National Museum, which became a point of reference as it was on the way back to the hostel each night. We headed in the direction of the Austrian Parliament. The building was very much Parliament looking and had a beautiful statue in front. We admired the statue more than the building itself! We briefly glanced inside before heading over to Town Hall. Town Hall is a HUGE building, and much more stunning than the Parliament building. We were in awe and took lots of pictures. Out in front of Town Hall was an outdoor skating rink! It was also huge, with lots of rinks connected by paths. It reminded me of a lazy river that connects different pools. We planned to go ice skating the next evening after seeing the neat layout! (This sadly didn't end up happening as our poor feet needed a break before we went to Prague.)

We wandered away from Town Hall and the rink towards a huge church we saw towering in the distance. It was Votiv Church and we realized once we got close that it was undergoing a renovation on the entire front facade. Not a lot of great picture opportunities, but I was able to take a few of the sides and the towers on top.

We wandered back down towards Town Hall, but on the other side of the rink to see the Imperial Palace! We found it, and also found out that it's really a bunch of different museums now. We weren't in the museum mood, so glanced around the lobby and pressed on.

We had planned on going to the Opera that night, so headed to the Opera House to buy tickets! We were bummed to find out the Opera wasn't performing that evening...but the Ballet was! It was pretty cheap, so we decided to get tickets. We didn't recognize the title: Dies Flandermaus, but figured we'd understand as the Ballet happened. We needed to kill time until it started, and we needed a little caffiene, so decided to head to a tradional Vienna coffee house! (Note: coffee house means something completely different in Holland, this was an ACTUAL coffee house. Just to clarify)

We found the perfect place just a few blocks from the Opera House. As our hostel owner had promised, it was a classy place! The waiters are wearing tuxes and the decor makes you feel like you should be in an fancy dress! But - the prices are really cheap and the food and coffee is to die for. We intended to just get some coffee, but after reading the menu, decided the cimmamon and nutmeg flavored hot chocolate sounded divine. We also were in full view of the cake display. Well, we all know what happened there...but the fun part is my cake was called the Mozart Bomb! Haha...I thought that was hilarious, and didn't even care what the flavor was (pistachio and chocolate). It was actually quite tasty, as was the hot chocolate. Warm and full we decided to wander around for another hour until the ballet.

Wandering involved looking at souvenirs and we found scarves! I had really wanted to get one in Paris, and regretted not. So, once we found this shop with the scarves on display, I halted the group and started browsing. I ended up buying two...a pretty red one that matched my coat, and a classy looking black and white one. Carolyn and Theresia also bought scarves and we all wore them as we headed to the ballet!

We felt a bit underdressed in our tennis shoes and fleeces (under the coats) but no one said anything...so we wandered upstairs to take pictures and find our seats. The Opera House was beautiful, with paintings and sculptures everywhere! We had seats in the 'partial viewing' area...which we didn't fully understand until we sat down. We couldn't see Stage Left, really, at all. We all got really good at craning our necks and leaning forward to try to see what was going on if the dancers happened to be on our blind spot. The ballet itself had wonderfully talented dancers...but the story was a bit strange. The Reader's Digest version is that a couple is unhappily married and for some reason, the husband turns into a bat at night (don't ask me why...NO IDEA)...the husband goes out to bars basically looks to cheat on his wife...his wife is being seduced at the same time by their children's tutor who wants to show the woman what her husband is doing so he turns the women into a beautiful enchanting stranger...the tutor takes her to find her husband at this bar and the husband is completely head over heels with her...the tutor gets jealous that she didn't fall for HIM and has her husband thrown in jail...in her disguise the wife cuts visits him in jail and cuts off his bat wings (again...NO IDEA)...the ballet ends with the husband happily with the women he thinks is a stranger but is really still his own wife. The End. Confused????? SO WERE WE! The above synopsis was only able to be regurgitated because of Wikipedia. Moving on...

We headed home to rest up for Day #2! Carolyn and I headed to Bratislava, Slovakia for what we thought would be a cool day trip. (It's only an hour away!) We thought it would be easy to find a train there...or a bus...but spent almost two hours on the city's metro, trying to find the train station and then trying to find the RIGHT train station. It was exhausting, but we eventually found a place to get tickets. We set out on the train...with a pastry of course! We arrived in Bratislava and were greeted with a very dirty train station...unhelpful people...very little English speakers who could figure out what we wanted (directions to the downtown) and we soon felt very uncomfortable. Sketchy would be an accurate word. We didn't go far from the train station...as we didn't know where we were going and our train back was in a hour. (We had been told that we could see all of Bratislava in an hour or two). We saw only the area next to the train station. We then walked back...we tried to find lunch in the station (a microwaved hamburger for me...which was not real meat I don't think) and then were overjoyed to be back on our train to Vienna! Our summed up thoughts about Bratislava...we came...we saw...we left. (The picture above captures how ready I was to leave...after being there 10 minutes.)

Once we arrived back in Vienna we met up with Theresia (who chose to hang out in Vienna that morning and skip the Bratislava trip. Smart girl!) at the Hall of Music. It's an interactive museum all about music and the famous musicians of Vienna. We were all a little fried so we didn't really retain a lot of what we were doing. We enjoyed the museum, but I wish I had been a bit more mentally aware to take it all in. There were lots of creepy mannequins that represented the famous musicians. Above is one of Mozart.

We grabbed some grub afterwards...as well as some souvenirs...and then headed home to the hostel. We caught up with some Olympics that night, some emails and then hit the sack. Our train to Prague was early the next morning...overall Vienna was wonderful! A very classy, cultured city that I'd love to go back to. Budapest I saw as an adventure and full of history. Vienna was also full of history but had this class in the air. I discovered you can love two cities...in two different ways. Bring on Prague!

Buda...Buda...BudaPEST!

I'm currently mid-way through my trip (in Vienna!!) and figured I should do my blog about Budapest while everything is still fresh in my memory!!

We left from Maastricht on Monday around noon, excited and ready! But, as we were mid-train we heard about a big train crash that had happened that morning in Brussels! We didn't know all the details, but that it happened around 9 and there were quite a few people killed. Our train route wasn't going to be around the crash site, but the concern was about our families back home who may not know the details of our route. After phones weren't working to call home once over the Belgian border, we had to wait until we arrived at the hostel that night to email back home. Noted for the future...let the rents know the exact route of our trip (thank goodness I had done that!!). Our travel that day was hindered a bit...we ended up having to switch trains when our driver didn't show up, possibly due to issues with the crash so we took two trains instead of one. We still made our flight okay and even had time to relax a bit before. This flight didn't allow a purse AND a carry-on, so we had to shove everything into our backpacks. Haha...we looked a little ridiculous going through security, with our huge backpacks...but made it through successfully! Our flight was only about two hours and we all got a little nap in...once we arrived we took a short train ride into Budapest and had a short walk to the hostel.

Our hostel was really neat...we entered in this big iron gate...then walked up two floors where the hallways and stairs were actually outside facing a courtyard. Our hostel itself, inside, was really neat. We shared a room with five other people, and Carolyn and I had this SWEET loft all to ourselves (see upper left). We needed some grub so headed to this great little Hungarian fast food restaurant (which our hostel guy suggested ONLY because it was cheap) and we actually loved it! Rice with a beef stew on top...perfect as it was warm and filling. We headed to bed early, and were excited to explore on Tuesday!

Up around 8, we were out the door by 8:45...bought our train tickets for our train to Vienna (lesson learned from the Paris trip) and then were out exploring for the day. We walked down to the Danube, which separates the city into the "Buda" side and the "Pest" (our hostel was on the Pest side) and followed it down to Parliament. Took lots of pictures, but weren't allowed even into the parking lot. No big deal to us...after some pictures we headed down to the Chain Bridge and crossed over the the Buda side to visit the Castle District. We were quite surprised as Parliment looked more 'castle' like than the actual Castle, but both were beautiful buildings in their own right. We had to climb a fair amount of stairs to make it up TO the castle...so were in need of a place to sit and grab some lunch. We wandered down the little streets and found this cute little cafe tucked into a back alley. There was one little table and three little stools...but the food was great! Little pizzas and then some flaky pastries for dessert. Mine was poppyseed flavored, but didn't really taste like poppyseed at all and looked more like chocolate. It was interesting, and one of those things I'm not sure if I liked or didn't like...but it was a pastry. :)

We did a little souvenir shopping and then headed back down the stairs and back over the Chain Bridge. We walked over to St. Stephen's Basilica, which was beautiful inside! Much bigger and more ornate than Notre Dame inside...we took quite a lot of pictures. The moldings were so complex and there was gold everywhere. I was in awe. Caught myself with my mouth open a couple of times, haha. We wandered across the street afterwards to grab some coffee and regroup.

Next up was the Terror Museum, which is a museum dedicated to explaining how Hungary dealt with the Nazis and the Russian Communist movements. The museum is in the same building that these groups used as their headquarters, and we toured the rooms that were once their offices. The tour ends in the basement, where many innocent people were tortured and murdered for acting out against these regimes. It definitely gave me the hibbie jibbies but was really informative at the same time. We don't learn a lot at home about how countries REALLY dealt with the Nazis or Communism in Europe, other than the Holocaust. I had never really learned much about the Communist labor camps or any of the other activities that went on in Hungary. It gave me a great appreciation for my life, and for living in the times that we do. BUT we needed a pick-me-up, so headed up towards Northern Budapest for the baths!

After walking through Heroes' Square, and through the parks at the North end of Budapest, we made our way to the outdoor, hot-spring heated, Szechenyi Baths. It was the perfect way to end the day, especially seeing the steam in the twilight. We had gotten in when it was still light, but left after it was dark...just like at the Eiffel Tower, it made the experience so much cooler! The water wasn't hot-tub hot, but perfectly warm so you weren't chilled even if you stopped moving. The best part was this circular part of the pool, where everyone would swim/walk in a circle when the bubbles turned off (every 15 min or so) and it would become this suction vacuum! It was impossible to swim upstream, and even difficult to get out of the 'whirlpool' area. We had a lot of laughs attempting it ourselves, and as we all bumped into people and they bumped into us mid-whirlpool. We headed home that night, ate the leftovers from our fast food the night before as well as some groceries from a local supermarket.

Budapest Day Two had us sleeping in until 10 (YAY!!) and then just wandering around the city. We walked over to the Synagogue, which is one of the biggest in the world apparently. Took some pictures of the neat architecture and then walked over the this old train station (at least inside it looked like one) where a market is every day. There was fresh fruit, fresh cut meats, and souvenirs galore. We took a look through-out the whole market before grabbing some lunch. Theresia and I both got a pasta with cooked cabbage and split this wonderful smelling sausage while Carolyn had some fresh bread and Brie. (Yes Dad! I ate cooked cabbage voluntarily and liked it!! I was as surprised as you!). We walked back to the hostel to relax for an hour or two until we went caving.

Yup, that's right, caving! Remember the hot springs that heated the baths? They also created these wonderful caves below Budapest, and we took a tour of them, led by some expert 'cavers'. We all wore these really attractive jumpsuits, to protect our clothes...helmets and each had nice head lamp on them. Because I was short, I got one of the smallest (width wise too) suits...which proved to be really fun while trying to crawl and move about in the caves, haha. This was hands down the coolest thing we did...crawling on our stomachs, our backs, our sides through little tiny tunnels and passages. We went in a line (there were about 9 in our group) and our guide was out of my view, so I simply watched what Carolyn did in front of me and listened the instructions that were relayed back from the front of the line. We hit the hardest part at the end of our 2 hour tour, where you have to crawl through a particular way, with your chest and legs up towards the ceiling as you lean and pull forward with only your left hand, then turn a corner and crawl on your stomach to shimmy under and out. Confused? Yeah, try doing it! You end up stuck, forcing yourself to not panic, and then just heave your way through. The picture at the top is me at the end of that 'hard part'. Lots of sassy words being said, as you can imagine, as that picture was being taken. We had some sweet bruises and scratches to show for our adventure!!

We ate one last time at our fave Hungarian fast food with some new friends we had meet while caving from Switzerland. I was amazed at how many people travel alone, especially females, many of whom we met while caving. We relaxed that night...chatting with the other great people in our hostel, doing emails and even catching some Olympics.

We successfully caught the train this morning to Vienna...and THAT is where the next post shall pick up. My apologies that this is so long...but it felt like we did SO much in Budapest. Vienna has been great...so get excited for the next post! Cheers!

Fortification and Exploration!

Today I took a tour of the fortifications (tunnels) that surround Maastricht. The city was a great location to cross the Maas river, so enemies tried to invade the city frequently. We toured the tunnels and got a bit of a neat history lesson. The tunnels were built as far back as the Roman empire...and have been expanded on for centuries as the city grew. We toured the tunnels that were built more recently - in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were even used during the World Wars, as safe havens during air raids. They were also used during the Cold War as bunkers to hide in from chemical weapons etc. Was very neat! The tunnels were about 5'5" high, so everyone was ducking - haha, except me! Yay for being short!! I've included a picture from the tour.

Then, my friend Carolyn and I (she goes to school with me at the U) decided to explore Maastricht a bit more. We wandered around, glancing at the map only once. We went in lots of the little shops, including a pastry shop. She got a delicious waffle that's covered in powdered sugar, and I got a round puffy pastry with chocolate on top. As I bit in for my first bite, I discovered it was FILLED with cream, as it basically exploded. Had cream and chocolate from my chin to the bridge of my nose. Haha, not hard to picture. I'm sure to all the other customers I must be quite the amateur. There has got to be an easier and less messy way to consume a cream filled pastry. I just laughed and continued to eat, having to stop frequently to wipe the cream and chocolate from my face. But it was worth it.

We explored a bit more, looking into some shoe shops, some floral shops, and a cheese shop. We asked for a tasty Dutch cheese and got a few slices to take with us. We also stopped in a bread shop and got a roll for each of us - to eat with our newly purchased cheese. We walked around a bit more, but as it had started snowing (and we were pretty chilled), we headed home.

We met some more exchange students in the lobby of our dorm building where we'd hoped to eat our little dinner. We ended up learning how to play euchre - which was quite fun. We lost, but I feel it may be the first of many games to come. It's very similar to pfeffer or hearts, with two teams of two who sit across with one another. I then headed back to my room to relax for a bit. [Still no roommate.]

The plan is head out to a pub later tonight for a few drinks with some other exchange students...but as many people have been out for the past few nights, tonight should be pretty relaxed. More to come tomorrow - as I'm attending a traditional Dutch buffet dinner. I'm sure I'll have lots to report about the food, and pictures of it possibly too.

**Sending birthday wishes to a Miss Marcy Koch back in Mankato, all the way from Holland! :)