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!