Eastern Europe

After leaving Prague, we drove through Slovakia to get to Budapest. Slovakia has pretty much no forms of life. See picture left. We spent the entire time looking for any form of life. We once saw a bag blowing in the wind and got excited because we thought it was a bird. Slovakia was also really windy because I believe there aren't any animals to block that wind. The roads started to get nicer and smoother. The grass turned green and the sky became bluer. Turns out we were in Hungary. While in the border control, we noticed all the slovakian truck drivers squatted outside their trucks. From there the slav squat was born.



Budapest


Budapest is a city I would go back too. Budapest was actually two cities(Buda and Pest) divided by the Danube River. When we first arrived we went to a look out point with a fort and freedom statue, that ironically looked like it was made from the soviets. We had some goulash and then did a night river walk. We went to this famous bridge for a photo op, and ended up taking a picture with random people sitting in the park. Pretty nice for a first night, I think.

On the morning of the second day we say the Hungarian Parliament, which is based from the West Minster in London. On the way there we saw a homeless lady picking trash out of the trash can and from there the gypsies were born. After the parliament, we went to the St. Mathais church and climbed up for a great view of the city. Went to a dive bar for lunch and got this great typically stew dish and drinks for a total of six euros. When we finished lunch, we met back with Rotex, and we climbed to the highest point in Buda. From there, we drove 45 minutes into Pest to this famous spa complex, Szechenyi Furdo. It was a relaxing day in the sun with a few saunas thrown in.

On the morning of the third day, we went to our last stop, A Budapest market. Things in Budapest are surprisingly cheap, really cheap. I found that I liked Pest better than Buda. Buda is on the left and Pest is on the right side of the river.

Vienna


Going to Vienna was one of the best feelings because we can finely speak german again and understand the locals, a little. We got into Vienna and went first to the 100 water house. That night we got to our hostel and then went to a sports bar, which was also a great first night.

We only had one day in Vienna. We started at the Schoenbunn Palace. It was interesting. After that we went into the city to a market. Then saw some of the city. Esther, our Rotex tour guide for the day, took us to the city center and we received free time there. After free time we went to dinner and had schnitzel because it is originated in Vienna. There were also spicy peppers at dinner, and I was able to eat more than a mexican. No one else would try. One of the proudest moments of my life.

On our way back to the hostel the group of exchange students lost Rotex in the subway station. As they were walking to the wrong exit, I noticed it wasn't right, so that James, Jack, and I turned around and headed to the other exit. We found Rotex hiding in a platform entrance. Then as the group of exchange students started to come back we ran up the stairs to the platform to hide from the others. It was crazy night, running threw the station hiding for the giant group and then meeting them out front because they didn't remember how to get back to the hostel.

I wish I had more time in Vienna because it was a pretty chill city, that I would have liked to see more of. It was also a beautiful city. Here are all the exchange students in front of the Schoenbrunn Palace.

I Didn't Forget About The Blog yet...

I have been gone for the last three weeks touring Europe. An experience that brought us as exchange students closer together as one giant family, and was the greatest vacation of my life,  I am not sure how I will split up the cities because there are 11 of them, and I am sure it will too long for one blog post.

I didn't go with my Rotary club on their Deutschland Tour because I wanted to the Europatour, and I didn't have the money for both. (The Deutschland Tour was 800 €; so don't get crazy Frau.) I kind have wish I did do the Deutschland Tour, after becoming closer to people I only knew threw Rotary weekends. Europa Tour was a 22 day Prague to Paris roller coaster of an adventure.

So that brings me to Prague. Prague was one of my favorite cities. In fact I loved eastern Europe in general. I thought I wouldn't like as much as western. There was one thing that I thought was weird about Prague. You are not allowed to drink on the streets, only in bars/restaurants.

After driving the 13 hours from Duisburg to Prague, Prague was exactly what I expected it to be. We pulled into a parking lot under an expressway in a ghetto part of town. After walking a few minutes, we found our hostel in the heart of the old city. Our hostel was in the strangest part of town. It was a completely safe part of town, but next to the hostel was a smoke shop/ liquor store, next to that was a strip club, and on the other side of the street were bars and souvenir shops. The economy from Prague pretty much thrived on Tourist shops.

On what was left on our first day, we got stopped by German Embassy security guards after a ballon went of the fence of the embassy. The best part of that was seeing the male security guard jump more than the female when the balloon popped. Then we did the Czech Parliament.

The second day was my birthday. As we met in the courtyard that morning, Rotex (our tour guides) made me stand on a flower bed while everyone sang, and then they gave me a Czech T-shirt and a card everyone signed. It was a cool way to start the morning. After being shown around the city a little, we got 5 hours free time. We ended up going to a communism museum that was actually pretty interesting. After that we found a beer garden behind the Museum that had two euro liter beer. On our way back to the meeting point we saw this girl literally strip to her bra and panties and strut down the Carl's Bridge. That night Rotex took us to a bar to celebrate my birthday. It was a pretty chill night.

My only regret with Prague, is that I didn't try absinth. I Think I will just do a city a post for now on because they are pretty long. Here's the skyline of Prague.