More Budapest, Bratislava and Day 1 of Prague

Hero's Square

Since we only had one full day in Budapest, our schedule was pretty full of sightseeing and tours. We started off very early in the morning after a delicious breakfast with a bus tour around Buda (one side on the Danube) and the Pest (the other). Our tour guide was Hungarian so she gave us really great insight to the attractions, the history and some aspects of Hungarian culture. We started out first with the Hero’s square.

A large square in the middle of the city surrounded by statues of important Hungarian citizens and monuments to some important events in Hungarian history. Our guide was able to describe and tell us stories about some of the statues which was pretty neat. We then drove around the city seeing sights such as a large amusement park, a modern art museum on a man-made lake (pretty interesting) and one of the main mosques of Budapest.
 After driving to one of highest points in the city, we saw some of the old fortifications and monuments to the Communist and Nazi regime that are now focused on the remembrance of these dark times. It was a beautiful view of the city, and interesting to see some of the old artillery and statues. After exploring up there for a while, we then went to the castle of which was really beautiful and some very interesting architecture. It was one of the palaces of the Austrian Hungarian Empire, ajoined by Saint Stephens church. Walking around near the castle we saw the president’s house, a hawk-trainer who offered for the hawk to sit on my arm (not interested) and a horse statue who you were supposed to rub the ahem male part of the horse for good luck… and no thank you.

We had a quick break for lunch so as a group we decided to go to McDonald’s. Unfortunately the people there did not speak any English, and I ended up ordering this really gross sausage burger, but that happens sometimes unfortunately. After a quick lunch break we went to the terror museum, which was housed in the Nazi and then soviet headquarters of Hungary. Most of the descriptions were in Hungarian with some English descriptions, but much of the rooms did not necessary need any to communicate the message. It detailed the torture practices, who, when and why they deported millions of people and many of the horrible atrocities committed by both the Nazi and the Soviet Communist party.

IT was sometimes hard to see, but I think that it was important for to better understand the Hungarian culture and all of the hard times that they went through. I have a whole new appreciation of the Eastern Block then I did before I traveled abroad. After the Terror museum, some of the students went to the biggest Turkish bath in Hungary.



Terror Museum

It was like a huge gym/pool/massage facility except for the fact that it was very old! We went outside because it was a pretty warm day and hung out at the pool for a couple hours. There were some very old men playing chess and some of my classmates joined in… very interesting to watch. It was nice to see a different side of Hungarian culture and soak in the sun for a couple hours, something that I never did in France.

Turkish Bath

After the bath (although more like a pool) we got ready for dinner. We went to this delicious Jewish/Hungarian restaurant that also served as a small concert area where this very traditional Jewish band played for about an hour. Although I couldn’t understand a word, it was a lot of fun and I was clapping and fake singing through much of the songs. It really made me feel like I could have been in the early 1900’s by the way the band was singing and dancing, but the audience loved it and most knew all of the words to the famous songs. After the concert, we had a delicious dinner of a side of goulash, a glass of champagne and then a yummy tomatoes pork dish. We had our own little area which was nice, and a live piano player that played a couple Edith Piaf songs so I was happy. That night most of us went out, and got pretty lost trying to find a fun bar near the main district in town. We went a couple places to get some drinks, and all around had a great night. I would not recommend walking around by yourself at night, especially if you are a girl. Luckily we had a big group of guys that took care of the girls so we were fine. It also didn’t help that we were in not the best part of town as well.

the tradional jewish band in Budapest

We had an early start (as usual) as we made our way to Bratislava, Slovakia. I’m sure if you have seen Euro Trip then you have a pretty bad image of Bratislava, but it actually was a really nice and charming place. We were able to take a little mini-tour from our professor and then we did some exploring on our own. There were many cute shops, restaurants, and also a couple neat museums and churches. After some exploring we had some lunch of chicken cordon bleu, some beer and a delicious mushroom soup. It wasn’t typical Slovakian obviously, but still good of course. I saw the US embassy, some fancy hotels, and then we were off the Prague. We were only in Bratislava for about 4 hours, but I would definitely recommend it as it is a nice and charming town to spend the day at. However, I heard there isn’t too much to see past the old town, but it would be nice to try.

Bratislava

Sadly we hit some horrible traffic on the way to Prague, which made our 4 hour bus ride into about 6 ½ hours. But we finally made it just in time for dinner and to explore on our own. I went to Tecco, a huge hypermart with 2 of my friends to buy some snacks and some drinks for the nights ahead. They had a huge variety of stuff, similar to a Wal-Mart but with about 3 floors and higher quality stuff.  We bought some absinthe (classic in Prague) and some pretzels to self curb our hunger. We were feeling something a little different so we went to this small Italian restaurant that accommodated a huge group of us. I ordered a mussel and artichoke pizza, which ended up being delicious but it really was one of the weirdest pizzas I have ever had. I enjoyed some Italian wine, and shared some funny stories about USC.
 We decided to go out in style and go to one of the most “famous” things about Prague, a 5 story club with a different theme on each floor. It was a lot of fun as we hung out on the chill floor, electronic, and of course the oldies which consisted of songs such as “Tearing Up My Heart” and the “Macarena.” It was a great night and probably ended up being one of my favorites in Europe (I had a couple of those) There were a lot of Americans as well so that made things pretty interesting and we were there until the early morning.

exploring the Austrian countryside and first day of Budapest



Inside the Melk Monastery cathedrale

The next day we had an adventure to the countryside of Austria after a fun couple days in Vienna. We started off with an hour drive to the Melk Monastery. It was pretty huge Benedictan monastery which included a giant library, artifacts, famous paintings and musical manuscripts, and a beautiful chapel. We had a tour guide that really helped us understand the monastery, that was created in 1089. It was one of the most famous monasteries in the world and somehow escaped being destroyed through the World Wars and during Emporer Joseph's reign in the late 18th century. My favorite part was the view and the library (reminded me of Beauty and the Beast.)

After the tour, we took lots of pictures of the beautiful view and then ate at a delicious restaurant where I had Chicken Cordon Bleu (not Austrian haha) beer and apple strudel then we were on our way to the medieval town of Durnstein.

Melk Monastery

It was even further into the countryside near the Danuabe river, and we passed some awesome houses with vineyards built into the cliffs.  That is one of the traditions in that area of the Austria.
 In Durnstein we walked around the town and up the cliffs to the Durnstein Castle. It was used as a prison and actually held King Richard the Lionhearted (of the Robin Hood Story) in the 11th century. We had some of the best ice cream sundae I have had.... vanilla ice cream with apricots, apricot schnapz and fresh raspberries. It was amazing and a great way to compensate for a long walk up the cliffs. I bought some souvenirs including some Austrian schnapps, postcards and a bizarre chocolate bar with mustard and ketchup, apparently it is supposed to be delicious though!

Me at Durnstein Castle.. overlooking the Danuabe

Town of Krems

We then went to the small town of Krems were we able to explore some of the shops, Churches, and parks. It was so beautiful and it was nice to see a nicer/quieter side of Austria. Krems was a little more modern than Durnstein but there was a medieval church that had statues of Stations of the Cross outside. We went to one of the most famous bio-dynamic farms after some exploration, who is run by our Professor's wife's sister. (look up bio dynamic, its a really interesting concept.)

biodynamic farm

It is basically organic growing on steroids haha. It is all about the energy of the sun, the cow whose manure is used to grow the grapes etc etc. We took a tour of the vineyard and then had a great night of wine tasting and eating some authentic Austrian food. We tried Blood Sausage, Pork with Sauerkraut, carrot salad, Weinerschnitzel, sweet jam spread among many others and drank lots of wine... I even bought a bottle :) That night we took it pretty easy but we still went to our favorite bar of 1516 and their awesome drink specials, although we knew the next day we got to sleep on the bus for a while.

We woke up nice and early to make our way to Budapest. We had to make a pitstop at another bio dynamic farm on the Austria/Hungarian border because someone got sick. But after some issues we finally made our way to Budapest and got there about 7 p.m. We walked around by the river and got a delicious Hungarian meal, of beef and veggie goulash, dumplings with chicken, tomatoes sauce, bacon and garlic. It was really good and we followed it up with a Hungarian beer. The pedestrian street where we walked was lined with shops, bars, restaurants and of course a McDonald's. I decided to stay in for the night as it was Zach's birthday, we skyped instead :)

Maymester Adventures.... exploring Vienna!

I arrived in Austria late at night so I decided to just take a taxi into the city to my hostel.  I stayed at Wombats which is a chain of hostels but it’s really nice, cheap and was filled with people so it was nice.
 It even included a bar but I had some homework to do so I just hung out in the lounge.  I don’t know any German so it was pretty interesting to try and communicate and read all the signs. I tried to ask someone if they spoke English, in German and I was laughed at haha. The next day I was able to figure out the metro and made it to the hotel that I was staying at with my group for school. The metro or U-bana uses the honesty system where you don’t need to scan your ticket in which I wasn’t used to since they are so hardcore in Paris. It was in a really nice area and was even next to the Opera in the shopping district.

Vienna is a relatively new city in terms of buildings because most of it is destroyed during WWII. Our hotel is really nice compared to all the hostels I have been to and luckily everyone spoke English. I am roommates with Mary, a girl from USC and who went to ABS with me last semester. We even have a bathtub which is amazing compared to my little shower stall in Paris. After I got back to the hotel I went to meet with everyone in our Maymester. We have about 25 people from USC, mostly IB majors, an IB advisor and a retired professor from USC that now lives in Vienna with his Austrian wife. They are going to be our tour guides for most of the trip and the language barrier shouldn’t be too much of a problem. We had discussed our itinerary for the next couple days and introduced ourselves to the group. In addition to a paper we have a group presentation about a selected topic pertaining to Central and Eastern Europe. 

After meeting for about 2 hours we went on a City walking tour held by Gertrude, the wife of our professor Dr. Ricks. She was able to give us an awesome tour and give some in-depth history about some of the sights in Vienna. It was a little rainy outside but it wasn’t too cold and luckily it was the only rainy day of our trip so it wasn’t too bad.  Some of the sights that we saw included Saint Stephen’s Cathedral which is an amazing Cathedrale built in the 1100s. It has this awesome mosaic roof that was beautiful. Some of the other sights that we saw included the Hofsburg palace Complex which once was the winter palace of the famous Hapsburg family. It included the Vienna Boys Choir, the Augustin church, the Spanish Riding School with the famous Lipizazzaner horses, and the Imperial Apartments. The horses were pure white and beautiful, and the complex was very ornately decorated with courtyards and gardens.

We took a break to go to this upscale grocery store that had some of the strangest/gourmet items, some of my favorites were the really bizarre chocolates. They even had a ketchup and banana chocolate? Oh well. We saw some other sights such as St.Rupert's Church, the oldest in Vienna, Mozarts house, and a cool astrological clock. After our walking tour around Vienna we went to Bretzels, which is a very authentic Viennese restaurant in a wine cellar. I had a pork dish with sauerkraut, a cream sauce and dumplings, and a local beer combination called Radler. Its beer with lemonade, which sounds weird but it is actually really delicious. After dinner I met up with some of the people from our group and we decided to go out for the night. We first went to this bar called 1516 then an Irish Pub called Flannigan’s. It was a fun night and we actually met some US Marines that were stationed at the US Embassy. They were so happy to see some Americans that we hung out with them for some of the night

Crown of the Hapsburg Family (Holy Roman Empire)

The next morning we got to sleep in a little bit before we had some group presentations at our Professors house. I didn’t have to meet my group until 12 to work on our project so I decided to walk around and explore for a while and I decided to go to the Imperial Treasury. It discussed the Hapsburgs, the ruling family of 700 years for the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and all of treasures that they accumulated throughout their rule. There were some amazing treasures including intricate crowns, crosses, robes and also some religious relics. Meeting with my group afterwards, we got lunch at a food stand near our hotel where I ate a huge slice of pizza with artichokes, mushrooms and tomatoes. It was really delicious and I definitely frequented that stand during my time in Vienna. On the way to our professor’s house, he showed us the Belvedere Palace, one of the Prince's houses. It was similar to Versailles with the architecture and flower gardens.

Belvedere Palace

After exploring we went to his house to start our presentations. Our presentation was “Should Austrian Banks have invested so heavily in Eastern Europe.” I learned a lot from our presentation and also from the other groups as well. We were at our professor’s appt for a couple hours going then we went outside of the city limits to a restaurant/vineyard called Heuringen. It was a buffet style with traditional food such a spinach strudel, vegetables, wienerschnitzel

OPEC

The next day we had an early morning as we had a very busy day. We had breakfast and then we had a meeting at OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.  The headquarters is in Vienna so it was a great experience. We got the see the official conference room, hear from the Press Relations woman and also get some cool free stuff.  I learned a lot about OPEC as an organization, the members, and also about the Oil industry in General. After OPEC we ate a restaurant near OPEC where I ate a delicious veal dish with gravy, special mushrooms only found in Austria,and of course dumplings. I also had a beer called Sterq with my meal.  After lunch we took the U-bana to the Shoenbrunn Palace. It is the biggest Hapsburg palace located about 15 minutes outside the city center.

We got to walk around the beautiful gardens and see the famous Neptune fountain, zoo and labyrinth maze. After the gardens we had a meeting with the CEO of the palace who discussed some of the business strategies in making a profit in managing a tourist attraction. It was interesting but the best part was being able to tour the castle and see all the rooms/hear the stories. It was really awesome to see the furniture, original paintings and artifacts from the times of the Habsburgs. For dinner we got to explore Vienna on our own so I ate dinner with some people at a delicious Italian restaurant on the main walking street... I have to say the Italian food in Europe is much better than it is in America. That night we spent a lot of time walking out with our "group" walking around trying to find a place to go out.

We finally spent some time at this tiny bar where we were pretty much the only people, so they played whatever we requested including Toni Braxton, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, etc. It was a really fun night with lots of dancing and living up our youth hahaha. On the way phone me and my friend Kaitlyn stopped at a McDonalds where we tried some of their AMAZING waffle fries, literally the best I have ever had :)

 I was pretty sad when I woke up the next morning because I knew it was my last day in Vienna, although I was excited for a fun adventure.We started out taking the train to one of the United Nations headquarters even though there are 3 others: NY, Geneva and Kenya. 

We had to go through lots of security and then we had a a tour guide from Slovenia give us a tour of some of the UN Departments and explained in detail what they were. It was really interesting, especially since Vienna is the home of the International Atomic Energy Association to see what was going on after the aftermath of the Earthquake in Japan. After the tour we heard a presentation about world trafficking by this French woman who worked for the UN. It was very interesting and gave me a lot of inside about the hidden world of trafficking although at times it was very hard to watch. After the presentation we had a quick lunch break and I ate at Smokey's which was a delicious burger place, except with a twist.

 I got a burger with garlic aioli sauce and sweet potato fries, and of course a huge beer. Austrians drink beer pretty much for lunch and dinner every day so its not unusual. It was probably the best burger I had while in Europe. We then met to go to one of the biggest banks in Austrian named Raiffeisen Bank and we were able to have a meeting in a beautiful business room with floor to ceiling windows on one side... it was great to be able to see the view of Vienna. The meeting was very interesting, discussing the bank's strategy, investing in Eastern Europe, goals for the future and he answered many of our questions. It was cool and we got some snacks too so that definitely helped. On the way back to the hotel we walked through this beautiful park with sculptures, really cool play areas for kids, and the first drinking fountains I have seen in Europe. Yay! I ate 2 slices of Delicious peperoni and corn pizza... don't knock it unless you try it!!! I took a short nap and got ready for the Opera.

The Vienna Opera house is very famous obviously because the influential music that was composed in Austria by names such as Bach, Mozart, Liszt, etc. We got all dressed up and walked around the Opera house for a while until it started, and we took our seats that were pretty high up. The Opera was Manon, and it was in French which meant it was a little bit easier to understand, but luckily there were English subtitles to help. At intermission we got a glass of champagne and toasted to a great time in Vienna. After the Opera, I got ready for a fun night out. We ended up going to Salin's again and had a pretty crazy night. We basically were the DJs and were able to control all of the music. We danced to some of our favorite songs of our childhood and some recent ones as well. It was definitely one of the best nights I have had in Europe and lets just say I have some pictures to show for it. The next day we were off to the countryside of Austria, but I will cover that in my next entry :)

Last couple weeks in Paris

The last couple weeks in Paris really felt like a blur. I had a couple finals and projects to turn in but mostly I just enjoyed my time hanging out with friends and exploring Paris. I haven’t been keeping up with my blog too much so I don’t know specific days but I can remember a lot of the stuff that I did!

One night (Tuesday I think) I went to the famous bar La Perle where the famous designer got in a huge fight and ended up getting kicked out. It is probably the nicest/classiest bar I have been to in Paris and I went with my friends Valentina, David, Olivier and some of their French friends. It was a good night getting to mingle and hang out with some Parisians, many of which are abroad for the semester in America.  Wednesday I had to turn in my international relations logs which was not fun at all…. 10 articles about different topics along with some of the topics we studied this semester. After I turned in the logs I went to eat at a Chinese restaurant with my friend Brittany near school which was delicious.

Mosque near Jardin des Plantes

 Thursday I had a cookout at my friend Jean-Noel’s place and I arrived to find that I was not only the only girl, but the only American. It was entertaining to hear them go off in French about different things and me trying to focus on what they were saying and how to respond. We ate grilled vegetables, steak and fries which were delicious. After much peer pressure I talked to them in French which of course they said I was “really good at speaking…” I’m sure they were joking. After the cookout I attempted to go to the Jardin des Plantes again but somehow got lost and ended up in front of a mosque which is the first I had seen in Paris. After walking around a little more I somehow ended up on movie set in the Latin Quarter which were filming in one of the neighborhoods. Oops! 

Friday I didn’t have class so I was able to take a nap and then I went to the Eiffel Tower to eat and drink on Champ de Mars. It is pretty amazing some of the people that you end up meeting especially mingling with some wine. We had a pretty fun group going, including some ABS students as well as non-students. That night we wanted to do something but were pretty tired after hanging out in the sun all day so we just decided to go to one of my friends house to drink some wine and beer, and then follow it up with a delicious ham and cheese crepe. I am definitely going to miss the 24 hour crepe stands when I come home to the states. 

Dali Museum

Saturday I went to the Dali Museum in Montmarte. It was only a couple paintings from the king of surrealism but there was amazing drawings, photographs, and sculptures that explained many of his philosophies and works. Some of the stuff was very bizarre, but really made you think. I spent about an hour walking around the exhibit including some very famous works. I did some exploring and eating a delicious lunch in a cafe near the artist's circle,which is always entertaining as there is always street dancers, singers, artists and everything in between. There was this really cute woman who sand Edith Piaf songs so of course I was a fan. After lunch, I went back to my apartment to study for my finals the next week. I went to Jardin des Plantes and walked around, just looking at the rose gardens, botanical gardens and some cool fountains. Later that evening I hung out with some of my friends and we were going to go to a club. However we got really tired so we just decided to go to the Seine near Notre Dame and just relax with a couple bottles of wine by the riverside. It was really fun as we just talked and hung out for a couple hours. It was pretty crowded since it is a pretty popular French hangout.
Sunday night my friend Jean-Noel took myself and Valentina to "his favorite fondue spot. and I believed him since he lives in Paris. It was this small place of off Rue Moufftard with about 10 tables, but I can genuinely say it was the best fondue I had ever had.

Sainte Chappell

We split 2 4 cheese fondues and a meat fondue. I have never had the 4 cheese but it was awesome! It was a fun night of drinking wine, playing games when we we dropped some bread, and enjoying a good night. I can't remember all the 4 cheeses, but one was goat, emmental (Swiss), camembert, and I think brebis (goat cheese) but I'm not sure. Some of my favorite restaurants in Paris have been some that you need to search for, that is one of my recommendations for anyone who is traveling!

Monday I had a final in the morning and then had to take a really long nap because I was exhausted from the weekend. I had a long list of stuff that I still wanted to see in Paris so I decided to go to Il-de-la-Cite and see Sainte Chappell. It’s one of the most beautiful chapels in the world known for the stained glass. I had just kept pushing it off because whenever I tried to go the line was really long as between Notre Dame and Sainte Chappell

Tuesday night I spent a couple hours after class on the canal after having not one by 2 finals 2 hours apart. My finals weren’t very hard luckily because I didn’t focus too much on school haha. Drinking wine and hanging out in cafes, parks and by the Seine/Canal is one of the greatest things about Paris, just enjoying your free time and life! After some wine drinking I took a short nap and then met my friend Evi for dinner at Chez Paul, one of the best French restaurants I have been to in Paris in the Bastille. That night there was a huge music festival in the area around the Bastille so dinner was a strategic move J I had the steak au poivre aka the best pepper steak I have ever had and we split a bottle of wine. After we had an amazing dinner we walked to our friend Teresa’s apartment to get ready for the festival.

the bastille

We drank some more wine and champagne and were joined by a couple other people before we walked to the Bastille. It was packed and the gendarmerie (police) was in full riot gear preparing for the worst. It was a little intimidating but at least they were there for the safety of everyone. The Bastille was shut down, and the normal busiest round-about other than the Champs Elysee was closed to cars. We brought a couple bottles of wine and met up with some other students from ABS. I didn’t know any of the bands that were playing, but one was playing Michael Jackson remixes so we were pretty pumped. It was a really fun time just hanging out with thousands of people drinking wine and hanging out. I unfortunately had 2 finals the next day but I had to enjoy my last couple days in Paris.

drinking wine out of baby bottles!

After my finals I was exhausted, but after taking a nap we had a fun night ahead of us. We wanted to go to Queen so we went out to a delicious dinner at les Refuges de Fondue which has turned out to be one of my favorite restaurants in Paris because of the food, atmosphere and of course the baby bottles. We were there for about 2 ½ hours drinking baby bottles full of wine, delicious fondue and meeting some really cool people that were from all over the world. We went back to her place to hang out and pregame for a bit before we finally got to Queen. It was fun since it is a gay club but it was full of ladies for their ladies night and included some lifeguard strippers…. To each their own I guess.The club life in Paris is unlike anything I have ever experienced any where else. It was really fun to hang out and dance and there were lots of people from ABS there as well that we saw.

the pantheon

Thursday was my last full day in Paris so I wanted to make sure to do lots of exploring/hanging out with friends. I woke up relatively early with my guide and I decided to go to the Latin Quarter. I walked around the Sorbonne and the area around it. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and there are some really pretty parks and cute restaurants around there. After exploring the Sorbonne I went to the Pantheon because I had never been there before and it was right down the block. It was originally built as church to honor Saint Genieve, the Patron saint of France. However it was changed to a place that honors distinguished French citizens. It was very beautiful on the inside, with murals and statues honoring some of the major events in French civilization. The best part was underground in the crypt, where the remains of some of the most famous French were buried, including Voltaire, Émile Zola, Marie Curie,  and Louis Braille. There was a lot of information about all the people and I learned a lot about French civilization and some of the most important people in it.

After the visit I went back to my apartment to eat some dinner, and then I was off to enjoy my last night in Paris. I met some friends at the Trocadero gardens for a while, and then the  Eiffel Tower and we were there until early in the morning drinking wine, dancing, and just reflecting on some of the great times that I have had this semester. It was sad having to say my goodbyes to people knowing that I may not ever see them again..There as about 8 of us so it was a good group, and I had a great night (maybe a little too much fun :) ) I finally got back to my apartment very late, slept for a couple hours, and then I started packed.... shouldn't have procrastinated so much! Luckily my friend Khaloud stopped by to help me with some of the packing, and then helped me catch a taxi to the airport to catch my flight to Vienna.
I just wanted to thank everyone that I have met this semester... I have met some incredible people, had some lifechanging experiences (both good and bad) and learned a lot about myself and other cultures as well. It really has been a great semester :)