Happy Easter!

Servus!

Wow. Easter was amazing! Going to three countries, spending three nights in each city and travelling with some pretty amazing people resulted in such an enjoyable holiday getaway! There is so much I could write about, because every city has so much history and so many amazing attributes but I wont bore you with history lessons, so I will give you my personal highlights instead!

We started our journey in Vienna, Austria. I loved Vienna so much, I could definitely see myself living there (if life takes me in that direction). Since we were six people, we rented a flat for the three nights which was super cheap and SO NICE. Staying there was like staying in a penthouse suite coming from my campus dorm room. Seeing all the beautiful history of the city was quite amazing, like the Stephansdom and Belvedere Palace. We decided to save our money for the Shönbrunn Palace, which was definitely worth it. This palace was gigantic. Let me say that again... GIGANTIC. We were there for about 4 hours and we didn't even see parts of the palace grounds. We did a tour inside the palace and then walked around the gardens, bush type mazes (three in total!), and then to the top of the ground at the gate. The view from there was spectacular. Able to see all of Vienna with the palace in the foreground. This Palace also has a zoo in it...just sayin.

Above - A section of the Vienna Schönbrunn Palace gardens, and the building you see is just one side of the palace.

Above - The view from the top of the gate at the top of the hill in the Palace quarters. The gardens shown in the first picture are on the right side of the Palace. You see a beautiful landscape of Vienna, including the Stephansdom in the background. 

We did a lot of other things in Vienna, such as visiting the Naschmarkt (similar to a farmers market), went to the Prater which is the amusement park, all the other typical tourist sites that you would find in a travel guide, and copious amounts of beautiful parks. I think that is why I loved Vienna, all the parks were so green, spacious, well kept, and just simply beautiful. I had an overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness when walking through the parks. It was bliss! We even found two gentlemen playing the accordion wearing horse masks. So I think it's safe to say... Vienna was awesome!

Two men casually wearing horse masks while playing the accordion in one of the beautiful parks in Vienna. You don't see that everyday! And yes, I did give them money. 

Next stop... PRAGUE! 

I can't keep saying that every city I visit is amazing, but it's hard not to. They are all incredible because...well, its Europe. But Prague was unique in its own way. The second we got to Prague I just became so happy, it was a very easygoing and relaxed atmosphere with a "hakunah matata" feel to it.  Our first night was interesting, as we were looking for a place to eat that was outside of the typical tourist zone. We found a restaurant that looked alright and went inside and soon realized that it was a place that tourists don't often go to. There were about 10 tables, one man running the whole place (drinks, food, payment, etc) and I don't think I have ever been looked at so strangely in my life.  The restaurant patrons aging around 35-60 years old (mostly men) and almost all of them have a beer on the table, cigarette in hand and some even playing poker...and when a group of five students walk in that clearly aren't from Czech (instead we were Finnish, Spanish, Swiss, Sri Lankin, and Canadian)... you are guaranteed to get some weird looks. But the weird looks and long wait for service was well worth it! The food and beer was amazing, and I was able to get a big bowl of pasta and one litre of beer for almost 6 euro. SO CHEAP (beer is cheaper than buying a bottle of water...).

The next day we did the Free City Tour, taking us to all the historical sites of Prague and providing some history along the way. Our guide told us that a Czech person drinks 108L of beer annually. That's per person and just beer. After the tour we headed to the Prague Castle via the Charles Bridge, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The bridge is astonishing, so big and intimidating and really stands out with its Gothic design and architecture. The walk to the castle was an uphill 25 minute endeavour on cobbled narrow streets...so picturesque. After quite a long day of walking and touring the city, we all thought we deserved to relax and have fun. So what better way to do that than to join a Pub Crawl! Wooo!! Starting off in the first bar, the pub crawl gives you one hour of free unlimited Czech beer, absinthe, vodka shooters and wine (Just in case you want to chase absinthe with wine). Needless to say, I tried absinthe for the first time...not my favourite! The pub crawl ended in Prague's famous club, Karlovy Lazne, that is five floors with each floor a different style of music.

Above - Me in front of the Charles Bridge in Prague, a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Above - At the Prague Castle, overlooking the fantastic city!! 

The next day was a relaxing day (wonder why...), so we went to the south of Prague to Vyšehrad, which I learned was also a UNESCO World Heritage site. I don;t know much about Vyšehrad, but it was a beautiful place to lay in the grass and enjoy the sun!

Above - Just one of the amazing views from Vyšehrad, in Prague

Last but not least...BUDAPEST 

Because of my family heritage, I had always wanted to go to Hungary. Unfortunately I only made it to Budapest, and was unable to go to my Grandmother's home town of Kislod, but no problem - I am going back in June! Budapest was very beautiful, and it was very interesting to hear the history of the city on the Free Tour. With Budapest being split by the river, our hostel was located on the Pest side, and all the cool attractions were on the Buda side, so we spent a lot of time in Buda. Our first goal was to get traditional Hungarian food, like cabbage rolls or goulash and it was all sooo good. Taking the first night pretty easy (after a very long train ride), we decided to go big the next day! Did a beautiful hike to the top of the hill with the Liberty Statue, with outstanding views of the city. We brought some wine with us, so after the hike we found a peaceful park that was perfect for a wine picnic!

Above - One of the views as we hiked up to the Liberty Statue in Budapest

Above - We made it! The Liberty Statue in Budapest. You can see this statue from almost any point when in the city.

Something really cool happened during the Free City Tour though. I found out that there was a fellow Canadian on the tour (which is the first Canadian I have ran into on these free tours) and we got talking, turns out we have a mutual friend in Kamloops! Small world hey?! She is from Whitehorse and I go to school with a girl that she grew up with. How crazy is that! After the tour, we walked around the city a bit more and headed to the Parliament building, which is massive and oh my goodness, so beautiful! After, we took the metro to Heroes Square where we went to a flea market, and were greeted with some unpleasant weather...pouring rain in a flea market is not the best scenario. There was a man at the flea market that had a huge boa-constrictor around his neck and you could hold it and take pictures (for a price of course). But I did not go anywhere close to it!!!

Above - Another view from the hike. So many bridges! The one in the middle is the Chain Link Bridge - an icon of Budapest. 

Man oh man, this trip was pretty unreal. It has made me so excited for my summer travels, but also realize that I don't have much time left, I guess that means I have to come back!
I think my next stop is Munich, since it is only 1.5 hours away and I have a four day weekend. Thanks for reading everyone!

Much love,
Tschüss! 

Quick update!

Servus!

It's been a while since my last post...it seems to get harder and harder to post regularly, especially when I don't have anything interesting to write about! This is just going to be a really quick post, as nothing too exciting has happened since the last time I wrote. But I will be heading to Vienna tomorrow to kick off the Easter holiday travels!!
First going to Vienna, then Prague and ending in Budapest. Spending three nights in each city, and will be going with friends from school! I am super excited to explore more of Europe!

School has kept me pretty busy. Coming to study abroad, everyone told me "There is no work, just play" and "Oh I did like 10 hours of work the whole semester" and so on.
So I had pretty high expectations to do nothing haha... but that has changed! With most of my courses being group work, I have to buckle down and contribute. But hey, at least I am learning something, and it's fun!!

But check back in a couple weeks, I will definitely be writing a longer more interesting post when I return from Easter break :) I can hear the adventures calling me!

Until next time,
Tschuss!