Budapest, Hungary!

Wow who would have thought that Budapest would have been my favorite trip so far. As a European country that was rain by the soviet union and is so close to Asia and the middle east, Budapest is the most intriguing culture. It is truely a mixture of Asian, European and Indian cultures. The food is amazing, there are natural spring that are transformed into large "baths" where you can relax in 110 degree natural water, there is a fortress, great night life, and so much history.
The beginning of the trip was not very smooth. Actually is was really scary at the time and funny now. We had to take a night train because it was a 12 hour trip. We had two transfers and then got on our last train (which was 8 hours) and finally fell asleep. About and hour into our rest the ticket guy woke us up and when he looked at our ticket he said, "Where are you going?" we said budapest and he said we were on the wrong train. We couldnt figure out how but then we realized that the train we had been on slpit into two trainsin salzburg and we were on the wrong half. Needless to say it was 3 in the morning and we had to figure out a new route to budapest and sit at a run down old train station. Luckily it worked out but boy were we nervous and SO SLEEPY!
We stayed in a loft style youth hostile and were treated really well. It was a nice hostile for only 12 euros a night! We had dinner the first night and I can not get over how good their food is. WOW! If you ever see a hungarian restaurant go!!
The next day we explored the whole town. The opera house was beautiful and huge. There was a castle and we tried to imagine being princesses hahaha. We went on a walking tour where we learned a lot about the history of Hungary and Budapest. They have a really sad history of a horrible monarchy and then being taken over by Nazi germany and then "saved" by the soviet union. It wasnt until 20 years ago that they were free from oppression.
Saturday night we went on a bar crawl and hung out with some people from england. When they heard it was the american independence day they said "oh thats the day we gave you the colonies" i said gave us oh no you mean we fought and won them... there was a short history lesson and then we were friends. :) it was cool listening to them talk with fake american accents and talk aout steorotypes of eachothers countries. I had a blast.
Really budepest was amazing and a suggest it to anyone!

Miss you all!

Salzburg Austria... The sound of Music Tour!!

Salzburg was AMAZING!! I was astonished by the beauty in Austria and how green and gorgeous everything is! We had a little hostel trouble (they lost our reservation) but my mom taught me well and needless to say i ended up getting us a private room worth way more for the price of the dorms. :) We arrived in Austria pretty late for our first night we just went to sleep as soon as we settled in. We woke up the next morning bright and early for the sound of music tour. It was so exciting. We were singing songs on the bus (which was decorated with sound of music pictures) and our tour guide was so funny. We learned a lot about the true story of the family and the filming process. The funniest thing i learned was that everyone loves the sound of music but the Austria's. Actually, they hate the movie because it is not true to the real story and it was "a rip off" of a movie they originally made. Also the front of the house is a different building than the back and the inside is actually a hollywood sound stage. We saw a lot of buildings that were in the movie including the cathedral from the wedding scene. It was as extraordinary in real life as in the movie... SO BEAUTIFUL! The Maribel Gardens (where they filmed Do a Deer are astonishing. We walked through them for a long time just taking everything in.
In Salzburg there is also a fortress. From what I understood, until last century Salzburg was its own country and not part of Germany. Its a very independent and proud city. The fortress was really cool. Salzburg is also where Mozart was born and raised. :) There is lots of Mozart memorabilia throughout the city. I was able to see his houses! I was sad to go but we saw so much and I suggest it to anyone that comes to Europe.