Vienna, Austria

We arrived in Vienna and decided to take a chance on the sushi. Somehow it seemed more legit than in Berlin. This entire plate was only 4 euro! And it was delicious!

The first night out we just walked around the main area which has the best shopping ever! The weather was really nice; it was great not to have to wear a heavy coat.

We really wanted to buy these ridiculous heels...

...all the women in Vienna dressed so stylishly and wore heels during the day!

The next morning we had a walking tour of Vienna.

This is a really old church that has hundred of catacombs beneath it. Back in the day prisoners were forced to muck out the catacombs when they started to smell...yuck!

Oh you know, just hanging out in Vienna!

Like I said, the shopping there was unbelievable. Just look at the facade of this H&M! There were 3 H&Ms on one block...

Doing the tourist wave...

This picture of the last supper was created for Napoleon Bonaparte. It is actually a mosaic!

This is the tomb of Maria Christina, a Hapsburg princess who was the sister of Marie Antoinette. She was the only child that was allowed to marry for love, and when she died her husband made this symbolic and artistic tomb.

This pizza was soooo good...you know how much I love corn!

People spend the day in parks like we do the beach. They picnic, lay out, play music, play sports, and have a great time.

Next to the park was this greenhouse butterfly garden. It was so cool!

It was really relaxing to chill out in the park...we did it a few times that trip!

Vienna was SUCH a great place to people-watch. Nicole and I sat here for about 2 hours eating, drinking, and creeping on people haha

This is the museum quarter that kind of reminded me of Balboa Park, SD.

We went to the Natural History Museum, which was a refreshing change from paintings and religious art.

Our second day at the park.

The last day in Vienna we decided to rent bikes. Biking is really popular there, and there are bike paths that go all around the city. It was so much fun!

I ran into PJ and Nick, looking like typical hick Americans...

But they took a photo-shoot of me riding my bike in Vienna looking super cool!

Budapest, Hungary

Last week my entire program went on a trip together to Budapest and Vienna. After a 12 hour train ride we arrived in Budapest where we were led by the fearless Dirk (our program director) who kept us busy with museum trips, walking tours, cultural experiences, and more.

This is the House of Terror in Budapest, where the communist regime tortured and killed thousands of innocent people. The cellars of all the houses on this block were connected to form cells and torture chambers.

Here is a literal interpretation of the figurative Iron Curtain that divided the east and west during the Cold War.

We went to a Hungarian folk dance concert that was really cool!

We loved the excuse to dress up...

The dancers were really talented. My favorite part was the live music that they danced to.

After the concert we took a private boat tour on the Danube river. It was beautiful!

The girls!

The next morning we did a walking tour of the city. This is a monument to past Hungarian kings and philosophers.

This is the Parliament, which is the second biggest Parliament building in Europe after England's. Joe and Nicole are so cool...

Here is a church on top of one of the hills in Budapest. It was so nice walking around in the SUN!

This is at a castle on the same hill. The view was incredible!

I was jealous of their jumping picture so I had to get one as well.

I have special friends...

This was at a Hungarian folk fair in the middle of the city. This meat was soooo salty and delicious! All the homemade crafts were cool also.

We were rolling in g's.

This morning we were bused out to a "park" where communist-era statues had been collected and deposited. The statues were so weird!

Notice PJ's hat and sunglasses on this statue...

This traditional Hungarian meal was soooo good...chicken with ham, cheese, and pineapple!?!

The pastries in Budapest were seriously on steroids. They were waaaay too big!

Budapest is actually divided into two parts, Pest and Buda, which are separated by the river. Our last day we walked (hiked!) Buda, which is basically a huge hill with a monument on top.

This is the view from halfway up...

We finally made it to the top!

You can see the city of Pest behind me. This was the best view ever!

This is one of the castles in Buda. It was more like a fortress because of its location on top of the hill.

The view of Buda.

This is a part of the castle. It was so pretty lit up at night!

That night we went out to a typical Hungarian restaurant that basically exists for tourists. The menu had so many good things to choose from, but my veal, broccoli, and potatoes ended up being the best.

The girls again! Of course I sat at the head of the table.

Delicious dessert!

This was a fabric store in Budapest...I thought of you mom!

Traveling in a pack of 100 Americans is quite hard. We had a few mishaps like people missing the trains, getting left behind, jumping off at a "stop" only to have the train leave them behind, losing tickets, getting yelled at by the conductor, taking over the hotel lobby/bar until Dirk had to come down to yell at us at 3 am, and generally wreaking havoc wherever we went.

Luckily no one in my group had an (serious) mishaps in Budapest...next stop, Vienna!