Budapest.

Budapest was a little....off. I don't know, I just got super weird vibes during my whole visit there. Which made me super sad because it was one of the cities I was looking forward to the most. First of all when we arrived into our room, we were staying at a super nice hostel called "The Hive Party Hostel." I've stayed in party hostels before. Yeah, they are loud and busy, but they've never bothered me. I usually enjoy them because there are a lot of people to meet. But this one was just....sketchy. First off, when we got to our room and looked out the window onto the little terrace, there was a used condom out there.....so that was lovely. Our room was super nice and cozy (our sleeping areas were shaped like little honeycomb beehives. It was cute!) But turns out, when we were out later that night and Madi, McCall and Annie arrived back before us, they got super badly harassed by some older Italian dudes who were also staying in that room. They were making advances on them, asking for sex, saying super creepy things, and watching porn in front of them. It was super scary for them! So we came back to them being super shaken, telling us that they switched us rooms, and that we now had our own room. Thank heavens! Poor girls. I felt super bad that they had to experience that. Once we had our own room though, we all felt a lot better. 

Earlier that day, when we went to the ATM to get money out, I ended up withdrawing......almost $500!! :( I was having a hard time figuring out their money while I was looking at the ATM screen. I thought I was withdrawing like $70, but no. Turns out the comma didn't mean anything, so it was really 2 extra zeros. So I was withdrawing 120,000 HUFS which equals to about $450 or something like that. I felt super uncomfortable walking around with that much money. It wasn't too big of a deal because I knew I could exchange it to Euros when we got back to Vilnius. But it actually came quite in handy, because I just borrowed some of it to some of the other girls and had them pay me back in Euros back in Vilnius, so that worked out well. 

We found a super DUPER cool shop called Szputnyk that sold quirky & vintage clothing. They had sections where they sold clothing with really neat designs and stuff and then they had a vintage section. I ended up buying a lacey black vintage tie shirt. It reminds me of the early 1900s. I wanted to buy everything in that store. We had dinner at a lovely little cafe called Zosko's that sold American pancakes. I ended up having a ham, brie & blueberry panini. It was very good! There was a bakery next door to us called "The Sweet" which had really delicious treats. We snagged some treats and a hot drink and headed across the river to check out the Parliament building, which is one of my favorite structures in all of Europe. It is so grand! 

The next day was Halloween. We started off the day by heading to the Szechenyi thermal baths. They were lovely, as always. Last time I came, I could barely sit in the hot sauna for more than 10 seconds. But Tim's family friend had a sauna that we would go to back in St. George, and with him being Finnish, he always made the sauna hellishly hot. So I think I got used to it, because this time around I was able to stay in that sauna for a lot longer! I think my favorite part was boiling in there for about 5 minutes and then jumping into the ice cold tub right outside. It was such an amazing, refreshing feeling. We stayed for about 2 hours and then explored the little castle park. 

We walked back to the hostel, changed and set out to find food. The thing about Budapest is, they have so many lovely little bakeries and shops and bars, but just plain old restaurants and cafes? They sort of lack that. So it was weird trying to find places to eat. We found this place called "The Hummus Market" which sounded really nice. I think Saffron & Katie really liked it but Rebecca and I did not.....I got pumpkin soup with pita bread and falafel. I had never had falafel but I always heard how great it was. And I've always liked pumpkin soup. Anyway, it was all super weird tasting. I decided that Greek/Middle Eastern food probably doesn't agree with my stomach because I got super sickly after the meal. I did drink 2 sprites, which also could have added to it. But I just sat in my bed back at the hostel with my stomach churning, trying to vomit. Nothing happened though. After I started feeling better, we went back out to cross the bridge again and see the Parliament and the palace and everything again. We got back to the hostel, and Saffron started on our Halloween makeup. I decided I would be a pin-up girl. She did my makeup so beautiful and perfect and I put my hair together and she did everyone else's makeup. The hostel was throwing a dance party and we were super excited!!! We go down to the bar/dance floor area and......Nickelback. They're playing NICKELBACK! And all of this other super crappy early 2000s music. I couldn't even believe it. The only song they played that you could MAYBE dance to was "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner. It was completely horrendous. There were 40 year old men getting so wasted, falling and tripping over everything. It was just an embarrassing mess. We did not stay there for long. We left, and followed the crowds outside to try and find another place to dance. But we had no such luck. I felt bad that Saffron spent hours on our makeup, just to have us have to take it off for nothing :( So Halloween, being one of my favorite holidays, was super duper lame this year....

The next morning we went to the Invisible exhibition. I read about this place on "Spotted by Locals." It is a fairly new exhibit. You pay about $9, and you receive a blind tour guide. They explain to you how the brail system works and show you how to use a brail type writer. That was pretty awesome. I have always wondered how brail works. Then they take you into the exhibit. You go through 6 or 7 different rooms, and everything is pitch black. You only have your other 4 senses to work with and guide you through. They are typical settings like an apartment, a fruit market, a museum, a garden, and a cabin. It was so interesting to feel around the apartment and try to guess what everything was. Our tour guide's name was Thomas, and he was beyond kind. I think the scariest part was trying to cross the busy street. They had sound effects playing that really sounded like a busy street. I almost tripped over the curb. Just all of these little things that you have to pay attention to! I think my favorite part was the museum room. There were like 7 sculptures that we got to feel. It was interesting to guess what the sculptures were. Apparently one of them was the famous Statue of David, and some were of Snow White and her dwarves. Ah! It was just so amazing! I wish everyone could experience it. Thomas was born without sight, so he has literally never seen anything in the world before. He offered us to ask him some questions after the tour, so Katie asked him what his dreams were like, since he can't see. He explained how his dreams are just sort of....feelings I guess. Like he mentioned that he has been trying to stop smoking, so sometimes he will have dreams where he is smoking and he can just feel himself getting the buzz and all of that. It is just completely mind-boggling to me. I loved every minute of it. It was definitely the highlight of my whole vacation! 

After the tour, we went to the Fisherman's Bastion and explored around there a bit. Then it was time to head to the airport and go back to Vilnius! 

Szechenyi Thermal Baths

Vajdahunyad Castle

My very pretty (but not so delicious) meal at the Hummus Market!

Buda Palace!

THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING in all its grandeur. 

Doing the little walk through maze outside of the blind exhibit with my walking stick. Way harder than you'd think.

Fisherman's Bastion!

I felt like I was playing on a giant sand castle!

St. Stephen's Basilica 

Vienna.

We didn't have much time in Vienna, unfortunately :( I really love Vienna, and had a lot of fun when I came here 2 years ago. Since the sun goes down at 4:30 now, we just had hardly any day light to see the palaces and all of the pretty sights. We ended up arriving already after dark, so we grabbed some dinner at a mexican shop which was super delicious and had really great guacamole! Then we all showered and just settled into the hostel and had a good night's rest. We had our own room for the 7 of us, and our own bathroom so it was SO great! I slept so dang good in that hostel.

The next morning, we started off by going to the Schonbrunn palace, a ways outside of the city center.

The Schonbrunn palace itself was nice, but I just really loved the grounds in the back! The trees were very yellow and there was a nice hill to climb up with ponds and pretty structures all around. We had a lot of fun just throwing leaves and climbing up the hillside.

After Schonbrunn, we headed back into the center to see the cathedrals and palaces. I also snagged one two Kasekrainer sausages because they are so yummy.

St. Stephen's Cathedral. 

Hofburg Palace

The Rathaus (town hall)

Even though we didn't have much time, I had a really great time in Vienna! If you'd like to watch my Vienna video, click here.

Prague.

WOO WEE! This was over a month ago. Let's see how well I can remember :)
Our first day in Prague didn't start out so well. There was a bit of a communication error when Madison typed in the name of our hostel on her navigation. Turns out there are 2 different "Arpacay hostels" but we wanted the "Arpacay backpacker's hostel" and I didn't know there were two options, so I just confirmed it was the first one without checking. Oops! So as we were heading along, I kept thinking "we should be hitting the bridge by now and crossing it. It's only supposed to take 45 minutes to walk there." Well an hour later I asked her if I could check the navigation, and we were indeed, heading the wrong way. My backpack was so heavy and Saffron & I were about to keel over at that point. We finally made it to the hostel after about an hour and a half and I was exhausted. Luckily the day was just starting, so we were able to rest for a bit. We had breakfast at the hostel which was quite positively delicious with a lot of different breads, cheeses and yogurts with many different granolas to choose from.
We started out by having a Trdelnik next door. Trdelnik's are these spiral cinnamon cylindrical snacks that they sometimes stuff with cream, strawberries, or chocolate. They are quite lovely. We walked up to the palace on the hill and watched the soldiers march and the switching of the guards.

Afterward, went to the Gingerbread museum. They had a lot of adorable little gingerbread treats. I bought a little gingerbread lady but realized at that moment, that I don't really like gingerbread that much. So I had one bite and let my friends finish it. We then headed down to the John Lennon wall. I love it there.

Katie's piece. She's a super great artist! 

We then had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant called Neb.o which was SO GOOD! I got beef pad thai of course. And this Raspberry lemonade :) 

The next day, we just wandered a lot. We played dress up and got some vintage photos taken.

We found this sculpture. Apparently, some art students from the university made this. It's 2 men peeing on top of a pond that is shaped like the Czech Republic. Sort of ironic. Bahahah!

The beautiful Charles Bridge! 

St. Vitus cathedral. A lot of people think this is the Prague castle, but it is not. The castle isn't as impressive, if you ask me. 

Playing with swans.

After we explored all day, we had dinner at this Vegan restaurant. It was called LoVeg. It was so good! I've only had Vegan food a few times in my life, at Courtney's house since her mom is Vegan! I got a coconut curry that was TO DIE FOR. I'm not kidding. Saffron got a quesadilla that was made with cashew cheese! I didn't even know there was such a thing. So cool. Back at the hostel, I decided to venture down to the common room to write on the guest wall. Surprisingly, I found my note that I had written when I stayed there 2 years ago! That was super cool to see.

Prague was super lovely and will always be one of my most favourite cities in Europe!

If you'd like to watch my video of Prague, please click here. It's super happy and fun!

Frankfurt.

Frankfurt was the first stop on our 9 day vacation. To be honest, Frankfurt is a bit too Metropolitan for me. I don't prefer it over Prague or Krakow or any of those more preserved cities, but unfortunately, the majority of Frankfurt was blown to smithereens during WWII. All of their Old Town is rebuilt except for this one building:

The one and only original building left in Frankfurt's Old Town.

Regardless of the lack of atmosphere, we still had a grand ol' time in Frankfurt. We ate at one of my favourite European restaurants called Vapiano. The pizza pasta & salad bar that I love so much. I had Carbonara pasta which was made to exquisite taste :) Very creamy, cheesy and Bacon-y. 

After lunch, Saffron, Katie & I went back to the hostel to shower and nap. We had left on our flight that morning at 3AM to head to the airport. I didn't sleep a wink that night. I ended up staying up all night with Saffron talking in our kitchen. So a nap was much needed. After we napped, we went out to the Old Town square. 

Their Old Town buildings are very charming. They remind me of what I might see if I were to be sucked into the "Beauty & the Beast" cartoon :) Saffron & I climbed up to the DOM cathedral to check out the view. 

It was quite misty, so it looked really magical from up there. My camera doesn't take very nice photos at dusk but it sure was beautiful. 

We found a fun little jazz band performing for these people on a boat cruise, and the band was playing the King Louie jam from The Jungle Book. It was so fun! 

Before we headed back, we stopped and listened to this street performer in the square. He had a piano that can fold up into a suitcase that he carries around. It was so interesting. The night was misty and cold and he was filling up the square with this soft, beautiful piano music. I wish I could explain it to you. He played "River flows in you" which really, is like the most beautiful song ever written. It was so magical, that I just sobbed right there listening to him. 

We headed back to the hostel and got a free pasta dinner! Free food is always a plus at a hostel!

The next morning we also got a free breakfast, and I was able to make a grilled cheese on their panini press. Boy, do I miss Grilled Cheeses. We weren't sure what we would do with our second day in Frankfurt since we already felt like we had seen everything on the first day. And also, with the time change, it was now getting dark at 4:30 PM. We decided to join this free alternative walking tour. I learned a lot of interesting things on this walking tour. Apparently during WWII, American soldiers couldn't afford to pay prostitutes, so they would offer them tobacco and gum. They didn't have tobacco or gum in Germany until then! Also, we got to see one of the most popular Brothels in Frankfurt. Outside, obviously. This brothel brings in 5 Million dollars per year. So crazy! It was such a strange feeling seeing how all of that is legal there. And also, drugs are legal. We saw people shooting up Heroin in the street right before our eyes. They even have these places called "Safe Consumer Houses" that are quite a new thing in Frankfurt. It is a place where drug users can go to get fresh, clean needles to shoot up their Heroin. It is their way of trying to keep people from getting AIDS by using dirty needles. It's just so nuts to me!! They also offer them therapy and rehabilitation if they'd like it. In a weird way, I think it's almost a good idea. I mean, if you can't stop people from using drugs, at least offer to help them keep it clean, I guess.
Our tour guide showed us a lot of cool things. He then offered to show us somewhere to eat after the tour. We found a place in the square and ended up joining a Canadian couple from the tour. They were so hilarious and lovely and they were on their honeymoon. It was a really great dinner and I just really loved the Canadian couple!

The Frankfurt marathon was in town!

There were 7 or 8 Spider mans hiding around the city.

If you'd like to see my little video I made of Frankfurt, go here.

Next stop, Prague!