Buda + Pest = Budapest!!!

HFun fact: Budapest is actually pronounced "BudaPESHT" :)

After two hour train rides, we were happy to discover that we all had the same connecting train to Budapest! We arrived into the city late in the afternoon, so we decided to scope out a restaurant as soon as we dropped our bags off at our Airbnb. We found a cute little restaurant and had delicious food and wine. Another fun fact: Hungarians LOVE wine! Since the famous Chain Bridge wasn't too far away, we decided to take a walk down to the bridge and what a beautiful sight it was! Since it was dark out, the lights on the bridge made even more beautiful! For those that don't know, Budapest is separated by the Danube River with Buda on one side and Pest on the other. We decided to walk across he bridge from Pest over to Buda. During our walk, we looked over and saw the gorgeous Parliament building! We decided to head back into town (Pest) and on our way back, we stopped at a Tiki bar where we each had unique cups for our drinks. Since it was late, we decided to head back to our Airbnb and call it a night. 

The next day was a rainy one, but that didn't stop us! We started off our day early and ate breakfast at a nice restaurant. We crossed the Chain Bridge and headed in the direction of the Buda Castle to find a Flea Market. Unfortunately, the flea market no longer existed. But, we were able to explore the castle which was HUGE! We wanted to get out of the rain for a while and stumbled across a WWI Propaganda Museum was it was very interesting. We stepped back out of the museum to have mini photoshoots in front of the castle, with Buda, Pest, and the Danube River on the background. We went back across the Chain Bridge to visit the famous Central Market Hall. The lower level sold local produce and wine, and the upper level was filled with local food vendors and lots of kiosk to buy souvenirs. We were there on a Saturday afternoon, and the place was PACKED! We then split up with - Crystal and Sarah went back to the apartment and Charnelle, Danni, and Anne hung out around the Central Market area to check out shops, drink coffee, and eat delicious deserts. We eat ordered different desserts and let's just say...all of the plates were cleared within a few minutes! Later on, we all met back up by the dock for an evening boat tour down the Danube. Since the boat was full, we had to wait another hour & 30 minutes for the next tour. In between that time, we found a cute restaurant to have dinner. After eating, we headed back to the docks and boarded our boat which was an amazing experience with such amazing views of historical buildings along the Danube along with complimentary glasses of wine which of course was a plus! It was a great end to our night!

The next day, we again traveled across the Chain Bridge to explore Buda. Crystal and Anne walked around along the Danube and Castle Grounds, and had lunch on the Pest side of town. Charnelle, Sarah, and Danni went to the Budapest History Museum where we learned more interesting facts about the city. Charnelle and Sarah also tried a traditional Hungarian desert called a "lango" fresh out of the fryer. A lango is a deep fried piece of flatbread that typically have sour cream and cheese toppings. We opted for a chocolate topping and it was soooo delicious! We ate it so fast that we forgot to take pictures. We then all met at the historic Hungarian Opera House to buy tour tickets. We then split once again to venture out to grab lunch, visit the Hungarian Parliment, and to see the Shoes on the Danube, which is a memorial to the Jews who lost their lives during the World Wars. Later on that night, we visited a bar called Szimpla Kert, which is a Jewish Ruin pub and it was a great expereince. It was a two story building that had approximately 6 separate bars. Fun fact: The location of the ruin pub used to be the homes of Jews, but they were taken away from them during WWII. The buildings were abdondoned for YEARS, and some genius came up with the idea to turn the space into a bar back in ~2006.

We truly enjoyed all that Budapest had to offer. Can't wait to share our Spring Break adventures!!!

Exploring Prague

Friday:

We arrived on late Thursday night to the beautiful city of Prague. We had a few hiccups in finding our air b n b but thankfully we eventually found it later that night. Friday morning we woke up and ate breakfast at a restaurant near our apartment. It was delicious and so cheap! We enjoyed being in a city where everything including beer was cheap! First on our itinerary was old town square. We walked from the restaurant to the square where we saw the astronomical clock. We waited until the top of the hour with a large group of people to see the clock ring.  It was similar to a cuckoo clock. Following old own square, Danni, Anne and Charnelle got Thai foot massages for 9.99. We all agreed that the massages were totally worth it after all of the walking we had done. A major bonus was that we got free tea after our massages! We then wandered around and Danni and Anne found a cute little coffee shop where ordering proved difficult since after asking if the barista took euros he pulled out a map and began speaking Czech. We were quite confused! We decided pull out our money and see how he reacted. He happily took our money and made us fabulous cappuccinos. While Anne and Danni were getting their coffee fix, the rest of the group found a church that had gorgeous gold statues and paintings on the ceiling. It was then around lunch time so Charnelle, Danni and Anne stumbled across a local brewery and shared a meat platter with cabbage and dumplings (more meat than we can name). It was incredible! J Crystal and Sarah walked back to the air b n b stopping along the way to eat a swirly donut/funnel cake with chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream inside. We’ve decided that Prague has the best and cheapest food so far! Later in the day, we walked over the Charles Bridge and found a castle and cathedral at the top of hill which overlooked the city. We watched the sunset from the top and took many beautiful pictures! (See facebook! J)

Saturday:

Saturday proved to be the most exciting day of the trip! We had a late/ relaxing morning that consisted of Anne and Danni eating breakfast at the same restaurant which was again glorious. We walked to the Cat Café and drank coffee while playing cards and petting cats. It was a fun and unique experience in which we got to wear slippers that did not fit Anne’s feet.  Afterwards, we walked across the Charles bridge and took pictures with the giant baby sculptures before having a photo shoot at the John Lennon wall. We then walked to a street fair and bought street food (meat and potatoes). Charnelle was ecstatic when she saw that we could walk around with beer and not get arrested. After getting Charnelle a beer, we walked onward to the castle where we ran into a parade and protest. It was very interesting to see the gathering of hundreds of Czech citizens. It was also amazing to see such a large group of people together with almost complete silence. There were Czech flags everywhere as well as signs in support of the protest. People seemed very invested in what was going on, however, it took us a while to figure out what was going on because of the language barrier. Thankfully, as we were navigating our way out we stumbled across the beer monastery which we had wanted to visit that evening. We ate food, drank beer, and had a jolly good time. The night we went to an Irish bar and met a Dutch football team with an overwhelming number of silver foxes. All in all, we were in the Czech Republic dancing to country music while hanging out with polish and Dutch people. It was a fun night!

We left Sunday morning but not before Anne and Danni ate a good breakfast and drank coffee. It was a fun weekend filled with lots of yummy fo