Hungary for some Budapest

It was coming down to the last weekends, and me and some girlfriends decided we needed to fit in one more weekend adventure...and what better place to go than Budapest Hungary?!
We left Maastricht early on Saturday, hopped on a small 'WizzAir' plane and within an hour and a half, we were stepping foot in Budapest.
Our hostel was noted for having funky themed rooms, and we ended up staying in the 'Space Room'.  With a disco light, planets on the ceiling, and dark walls, we felt ... cool :)
After freshening up at the hostel, we made sense of our map and headed to the St. Steven Basilica to meet a free walking tour of the city.  We took advantage of the free city tour in Prague, and they are very educational and funny as well.  Our tour guide first showed us around the Basilica and the Jewish Quarter.  She showed us the old communist housing, which still looks very plain and concrete.
It gets dark so early, so as the sun was setting, we got to walk across the Old Chain Bridge and caught the most gorgeous view of the Danube river at sunset.  The lights from the Parliament Building and the buildings on Castle Hill were simply breathtaking. 
After befriending some Australians on the tour who were traveling Europe for 3 months, we made the hike up Castle Hill to see the city at night.  The pictures can't do justice to how beautiful it was.

Love Locks...apparently the tradition started out in Hungary!

Castle Hill from the Danube River

The Chain Bridge and the Castle

My girlfriends and I on the Chain Bridge

Part of Castle Hill

Parliament from across the river.

After our tour, we passed by the Four Seasons hotel and could not resist taking a few Christmas pictures of it's gorgeous architecture and festive lights.  We indulged in some Gluhwein (mulled wine) and 'Tornadoes', which are similar to churros, only in the shape of a, well, tornado!  There were about six different Christmas Markets, so explored a few!  After the markets settled down, we went to explore the nightlife.  After hanging in a lounge with 23 different rooms, we decided to end our long, but amazing day.

Christmas Tree at the Four Seasons

The Four Seasons

Gluhwein! YUMM

St. Steven's Basilica & Christmas Market

Having so much fun at the market

Day 2 BUDAPEST
Another early day to start off our adventures!
We headed to St. Stevens Basilica square for a Starbucks and were greeted with the most beautiful Christmas Carols being sung by the church choir on the steps.  We took a peek inside the church before mass began and I was blown away.  It was definitely one of the prettiest churches I have been in.

Stunning

So Ornate

Before Sunday Mass

Then we made our way to the river to see some sights.
The first was the Memorial for the Shooting of the Hungarian Jews in 1944.  They were shot into the river, but first they had to remove their shoes, since they were valuable at the time.  It was definitely a touching memorial.  Sitting by the river was also a nice time to relax...yes our life is SO hectic ;)

Very touching.

Me along the Danube.  Parliament in the background

My friend Olivia & I.  I'm going to miss her when we all leave!!

We walked around the Parliament, abiding by the rules, since the Hungarian policeman was watching us out of the corner of his eye...we weren't doing anything wrong!!  Suddenly, we came upon some traditional Hungarian dancers.  It was one of the highlights of the trip to see them dancing and singing their traditional music.

Parliament

Traditional Dancers

Afterward, we headed to the Hungarian Opera House.  It was so beautiful and so ornate.  We tried to see the Nutcracker Ballet, but we were only a few days off.  We did however, get to see a miniature concert, where I was so fortunate to 'dance' with the opera singer.  Me and my friends could not stop laughing.

Exploring the Opera

hahaha...

Beautiful!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Within the past week, I have done my fair share of traveling while balancing the huge amount of school work I have for the end of the semester.  Last week, my Dutch Art History class went on an excursion to The Hague to view some famous Dutch masterpieces.  It was very fun to go on a field trip and take a train to our destination...no yellow school buses here!  We arrived in The Hague, were treated to a Dutch lunch, and then went to the Maurithuis Museum, where countless pieces of art from the Flemish masters are kept.  Countless paintings by Rembrant, Van Eyck, and of course my personal favorite, Vermeer.  In the summer, I read the book Girl with a Pearl Earring and from that moment, I was really into the painting, probably because the novel gave me an imagination of the masterpiece that others may not have.  I was so excited to see the painting, and of course, it was much smaller than I expected, but just as glorious as I had hoped.  I enjoyed thinking in 'my own world' for a moment while the rest of my classmates wandered through the museum.  Unfortunately, no photographs were allowed in the museum, so I only have my lovely memories.  However, I do have a fancy postcard with the girl on it to remember the day. 
After the Martishuis, we went to another museum to view a panorama exhibit.  It was SO cool, but so hard to explain in words.  Basically, the exhibit was based in a life sized gazebo, and all around it in a 360 degree room, the artist had painted a landscape of the ocean, the beach, and the surrounding village.  It looked so incredibly lifelike and made you a little dizzy when focusing on figures. 
The city of The Hague, or Den Haag as the Dutch call it was very modern and upbeat.  Not surprising since it is the home of the International Criminal Court!  

The Martishuis Museum

Represent!

Den Haag.  Old & Modern & so functional

A few days later, I went to Heidelberg, Germany to see my friend Lukas again.  It was a pleasant journey, despite the difficultly with the Belgian trains and their lack of being punctual.  Once I got there, we ate dinner and made Gluhwein, also known as mulled wine, a big German Christmastime tradition.  We hit the town and met up with some of his German friends and enjoyed a Friday night with the locals.  The next day, we went bouldering at a nearby climbing gym.  I needed some rock climbing in my life and now I have the climbing fever yet no where to climb!  That night, we made a delicious German meal:  Schnitzel, Spatzael, and sauce.  We went out after to the Christmas Markets and my dreams of being in Europe at Christmastime were fulfilled.  Everything imaginable was there;  mulled wine (of course, bratwursts, crepes) and of course presents upon presents.  I even spotted Santa Clause handing out oranges to the little ones.  It was a fabulous trip and I was so happy I was able to experience a taste of Germany at Christmastime.  

Homemade German Quality

One of the Christmas Stands in the market.

Still waiting for a little dusting of snow over here!

Also, it doesn't seem true that I have two and a half weeks left here.  I am still trying to get a grip on that and no matter how hard I try, it seems unreal.  I made a bucket list of everything else I want to do before I leave.  I'm only here once, and I will hopefully get it all accomplished!
 

Berlin - Be There

When I would ask locals where they would suggest traveling to, they would always always always tell me that Berlin was their favorite city.  That got me very excited to experience it for myself!

Fortunately I was able to use up the last couple days on my Eurail pass and got to Berlin in a breeze.

Our hostel was absolutely amazing.  It was located in East Berlin, right next to a subway stop, a restaurant and bar downstairs, big room---the whole enchilada!  The first night we got there, we ate dinner at a lovely Cuban restaurant, where the waitress was speaking a combination of Spanish and German and English.  It was a nice change to get some Spanish spices back in my life!  Later, we went to a club that had three different dance rooms.  One of them had a band playing from Portland, so we enjoyed the set and danced the night away.

The next day, we went out on the town!

We started at the Brandenburg Gate, which is the last surviving gate of Berlin's old city wall.  The gate was the beacon of Prussian Berlin that showed how divided the city was.  Street artists and postcards all flaunt this structure, but nothing does justice more than seeing it in real life.  It was touching to recall the struggles for freedom that the gate has seen all throughout history.

***Unfortunately, my photo application on my computer shut down when I was uploading my photos, and they were deleted.  I am sure they are somewhere within the world of my computer, but I am still trying to find them.  These are picture I borrowed from my friend's camera.  At least I still have the priceless memories :)

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

After some lunch, we walked down toward the Berlin Cathedral.  On our way we passed the Birkenstock shop and that made my day :)  Oh how I miss my birks!!  The Cathedral was bombed in 1944, and I have the most incredible, yet eerie picture on a postcard from the bombing.  Today, it is decked out in gold and beautiful sculptures.  Here is a glorious picture of it today. 

The Berlin Dom

Back up the main street, we passed Humboldt University, Museum Island, and came upon the German Parliamentary Building.  Unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn't go inside, but the outside was glorious in itself.

Deutsch Parliament Building

Near the Parliment building, we found the Memorial for the Murdered Jews.  I had seen countless pictures of the amazing memorial and heard great things about the museum.  I was blown away by the quality of the museum and was touched by the letter that were displayed from children in the Holocaust written to their parents.  As if the museum didn't cause enough emotion, walking out into the memorial was breathtaking.  Being in the middle of the huge cement blocks took away all of he noise of the rest of the city and really offered reflection time.  It became very eerie once the sun went down, but a very humbling experience overall. 

The memorial.  So quiet.

That night, we went to a delicious German restaurant to fulfill our cravings for schnitzel and beer.  After, we went to a hole in the wall hotel that was hosting a small band.  It was one of the most 'hipster' places I have ever seen.  I loved that in the lobby they had accumulated hundreds of books from past customers.  I enjoyed reading coffee table books about America's National Parks and Budapest's sights while we sipped on cool beer and listened to cool jams.  How Berlin of me. 

The lobby of the hotel where the band played. 

 On our last day, we took a trip to Potsdam to see some of the Berlin Wall.  It was very moving to see such a big part of history with my own eyes.  I enjoyed imaging myself back in history and how life would have been different if I lived there.  Now, hipster artists have expressed their peaceful and forward opinions on the wall trying to inspire viewers.

I loved this quote.

Yes, I DO Love Berlin!

The Luckiest Weekend Ever

As you all know, last Friday was 11/11/11.   Ever year, Maastricht and cities throughout Europe throw a major festival and party celebrating the countdown toward Carnival.  Since it happened to be 11/11/11, the party was 11 times more amazing than usual years.  At exactly 11:11am (the time of day when you are supposed to make a wish) confetti flew into the air and everyone in the city enjoyed wishing for anything and everything for a full minute. 
I had heard about carnival before, but I never really thought too much about it.  From February 19th through the 21st, there is a massive party full of costumes and drinking for all ages.  I was bummed I wasn't going to be here to experience that party, so being here for the grand opening celebration was just as good and so much fun!  The entire Vrijtof square was closed off and full of costumed people.  The restaurants had cleared away their normal outside seating to make room for the hoards of people that were coming in from around the Netherlands and surrounding countries.  Apparently Maastricht has the best party in Holland :)  I'm not surprised!! 
The music that was playing was all American songs, but they were sung in Dutch!  We would recognize the song and expect to hear English, but it was so fun to hear it in a different language and dance with everyone.  During the day, the town of Maastricht was as busy as I have ever seen it...only this time it wasn't full of German's doing their shopping sprees, but rather a bunch of crazy looking people drinking and eating and having a great time.
Later at night, it was just as crazy.  I have never seen Maastricht so dirty or so wild at night.  Every single bar and club was packed full.  We enjoyed bar hopping and celebrating with locals.  

The huge stage looked so out of place in the square.

 

 

Some costumed gentlemen.

My friends and I celebrating...just because!!

Post Carnival.  A little dirty :)

Not many people can say that they have been to three major cities in their country in just one day...but now I can!  Last weekend, me and three friends decided to use a day on our Eurail Pass to explore the Netherlands some more.  We started out our day on the train to Rotterdam.  The train ride went by quickly, as we caught up on some reading from my Netherlands travel book.  Once we arrived in Rotterdam, we decided to go to the Delfthaven windmill along the water's edge.  The town was very charming and much quieter than Amsterdam, yet it still had the charm with the canals and boathouses.  We enjoyed a picnic of take out Chinese food and sat by the canals and basked in the sunlight.  I am so satisifed I finally saw a windmill up close.  How could I not if I live in Holland!?!  It was MUCH bigger than I expected and looked quite roomy inside. 

In the capital of Delft Pottery

Dutch Houses.  Straight Up!

Delfthaven Windmill

Beautiful Holland :)

After exploring the Rotterdam area, we hopped back on the train to Utrecht.  With a population of 40,000 students, the city is definitely built to maintain a scene for rambunctious kids.  It reminded me so much of Maastricht, only it was a little bigger and it had canals.  As we walked to the big church in town, Black Pete(s) came marching out of the church handing out 'kruidnoten' to little children.  Black Pete is Sinterklass' helper and he has a black face because he goes down the chimney and gets dirty with soot.  It was fun to experience this Dutch Christmas tradition in person.  I will also say that the church was beautiful, even though we couldn't go inside.  It was very gothic and was accompanied by a sky-scraping clock tower. 

Black Pete(s)

St. Martin's Cathedral 

 

Even the cats here are so Dutch

A night scene of the canals in Utrecht.

It is starting to get dark SO early here, but we weren't finished traveling for the day.  Since Amsterdam is only about 25 minutes away from Utrecht, we decided why not go for dinner!  We enjoyed delicious dinner pancakes at the famous pancake and crepe restaurant right down the street from Anne Frank's house.  It was very fun to be back in the city and know my way around.  After dinner, we took a walk down the shopping street and visited a favorite coffeeshop for some cappuccinos to keep us awake for the ride home.  A quick stroll down the red light district (since one of the girls with us hadn't seen it yet) and I definitely won't have to visit that part of town any time soon! 
With only 5 weekends left here in the Netherlands, I am realizing that there is still so much I want to do and so little time!  I will keep you updated on how I spend the rest of my time here :)

Visit from Moeder en Vader

As some of you may know, my lovely parents came across the Atlantic last week for 9 days of fun filled Netherlands adventures!
It was so much fun to turn the corner in the city square and see my parents sitting at a table waiting for me to come sit down.  They looked like locals and we had such a fun time exploring the city and surrounding areas.  Having friends and family in town gives me a great excuse to go tour the city myself and find surprises I even I have never seen before!
It is convenient that I only have class three days per week, especially when I was trying to spend time with my family that of which I hadn't seen in months!  The first few days we spent exploring my town of Maastricht.  I have said it before, but Maastricht is a much bigger city than it appears!  Tours of the Catholic church in town, boat trips, tours through caves, and exploring the old town wall kept us busy.  Of course, we still had time to grab some great meals and sip on some refreshing brews.  Favorites were Bavaria Beir and Leffe Beer accompanied by a nice plate of frites (french fries) and mayonnaise.

We got so lucky with the great weather!  Photo credit:  Dad

Lunch outside in November.

In the Roman River Lookout Tower.

Mama and I in the park

Daddy and I in our new scarves.

The delicious bakery at the market.

Strolling in the charming city park.

Maastricht, being such a hub for traveling allowed us to take a day trip to Bastogne Belgium to see the area where the Battle of the Bulge was fought.  Of course, dad enjoyed the WWII history and feel of the entire town.  We searched around town and took a minute to remember that the entire town was in ruin when the American's liberated Belgium.  We found a fabulous museum with incredibly lifelike wax figure dioramas as well as touching photographs from the war.  It was interesting to compare pictures that the museum had on display and pictures of how the town looks now.  There was certainly a lot of clean up and reconstruction that occurred!

Mom and I enjoying Belgium beer, ham and chocolates.

It was a little confusing getting there...

Dad and I in Bastogne.

 

Overall, it was an amazing 9 days and it was so magical having my parents here in Europe experiencing the city and country I have been living in.  They made friends with bartenders and hotel managers and all raved, "how different they were than most Americans".  What a nice compliment!  It was also a plus to get to eat 'real' food for some time.  Pasta, chicken and bell peppers gets a little old after a while.  Thanks mom and dad!  I was definitely proud to say that that English speaking couple were my parents :)