Hungry for Hungary

Today, at around 9:45 a.m, we arrived at the train station and were headed off to Budapest! We got here around 3 hours later (Nick had brought the DVD set collection of all the Mavs NBA Finals games from last year against the Heat and we watched epic game 2 which I had missed due to our flight to Russia then, so it was soo awesome seeing it). Their currency here is crazy...1000 ft here (not feet), is about $4 US money so when things cost like 2349 ft...the math just hurts. We ate a local place for lunch/snack, and I seriously had the BEST thing ever. It was a pancake type thing with queso, spinach, cheese, I added some hot sauce in there...yummy! Did you know that there is a bridge that connects Buda to Pest? Who would've guessed?! We took a cart deal up for a spectacular view, saw the parliament building (from the outside), and took a boat tour in the evening where we learned about Budapest's history. Even Sisi from Vienna (she was an empress) called this place her 2nd home. After going to the square, browsing around in stores, and eating a nice club sandwich for dinner (after we stopped by a "must go-to" dessert place), we're back at the hotel about to embark on whatever is in store tomorrow! Can't wait! 

Tour On- Day 2 & 3 in Vienna

I feel bad because I'm now doing catch up, but our previous hotel only had wi-fi in the lobby. Catching up on those 2 days in Vienna, we went to so many places. My feet maybe felt like there were about to fall off about 15 times or so. We went to Stephansdom, The Belvedere, Hofburg Palace, Mozart's apartment, a Mozart featuring concert, The Schonbrunn Palace, the national military museum, and too many cafes to keep count. It was really awesome to learn all about the emperors, empresses, and see their actual living spaces. Our daily routing is to get up around 7, get ready and eat breakfast, and we are usually out the door around 8:30-9. We don't get back until the hotel until 11 p.m or so, and by then, we are very worn out. Cobblestone is not the easiest stuff to trek on, especially when your feet are already sore. It's crazy that the drinking age in Vienna is only 16 years old, too! (I decided I don't like the bitter taste of anything alcoholic and bitter related.) We may have gotten lost a couple of times, but you live and you learn, right? Not YOLO...pulease. Anyways, read the next post, because we are now in Budapest!

Winning London and Austrian Affairs

Hello from Vienna, Austria! It has been a crazy and tiring 24+ hours, but it has been worth it. We started off for DFW around 2:30 p.m on Friday (the 25th), and flew off to London later that evening. The trip was a looongg 9 or so hours, and the seats were too cramped to find a comfortable enough spot to sleep in. I read most of Emily Giffin's "Baby Proof" on the way (she also wrote "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue"), and we had some nice lasagna for dinner along with a crossant for breakfast (gotta add in that ginger ale as well, best airplane drink ever). After arriving in London at around 12:30 p.m on Saturday afternoon (6:30 a.m in TX Saturday morning), we found Nick, my brother's classmate from home who is accompanying us on the trip. He had to fly out a couple hours before us and spent 5 hours waiting in London for us to arrive without Wifi at the airport. Then, it was like straight out of a movie. We may have gotten caught up browsing around at all the stuff at Heathrow, and then saw the sign for our gate and it said Gate Closing!!! So Kayla and I ran like there was no tomorrow, while the rest of the crew acted like there wasn't a worry in the world. We made it on the plane 15 minutes before takeoff, and a couple hours later, at around 7:30 p.m, we were here! It's 7 hours ahead now compared to TX. So, after arriving at our first stop, we went and ate some wurst sausages with bread, something called Lagos, which is like fried garlic bread tasting stuff, and then stopped at the cafe for some delicious desserts. The weather is so nice. It's like mid 70's all day, how perfect?! We ran across a fair type deal with a band playing outdoors (not like we could understand German), but now as it's 11 p.m, I think we are all pretty beat. Until tomorrow, auf weidersehen!

                                       

                                Before taking off to London 

The best sight to see after not being able to fall asleep on the plane

London!!!

Arriving in Vienna! 

Kayla and me outside our hotel

Where we ate our delicious wurst

Lagos. Nom!

ohh...that's pretty. 

Banana dessert with ice cream and waffle cone to top off the day! 

Keep Calm & Shop On

After peacefully waking up to the cleaning lady's vacuum (what a tough life), I had plans on going to lunch with Kayla, who's accompanying me to Europe this Friday, and heading to the mall to find something to bring on the trip. Mom, however, started seeing flashes last night and was afraid she'd need surgery again for a detached retina, so Dad wanted me to be an unselfish daughter and chauffeur her to Tyler. While this messed up my original plans, there's always another way. I asked Kayla if she'd come to Tyler (45 minutes away) with us and she agreed! We dropped mom off, headed to McAlister's, and after a nice southwestern grilled sandwich, salad, and sweet tea later, we were headed to the mall. I think it was a hit! Found some nice blue jean shorts, got a multitude of cute tanks, my very first pair of white skinnies, a black dress from old navy (can dress up or down), and the perfect pair of sandals. Back home in Longview, I'm about to order some pizza and it's movie night! We are watching something that has "incredibly close, extremely loud," something like that...with Sandra bullock in it, a young child? I'm awful at descriptions. Hopefully I will come up with more exciting stories, but the excitement doesn't really come until Friday! Woohoo! On to packing...eh, that can wait. Toodaloo!

$27 bucks from Old Navy! 

Gianni Bini...so in love with these. They're even cushiony! 

overload of the rest of my apparel. 

New and Not Improved

Approaching 3 am, and I decided that before I went to bed (had my alarm set for 11 am and everything), I should start blogging. The ideas I come up with before I sleep, geez. I always thought if I started a blog, it would be me rambling about things no one else really cares about hearing, but maybe there actually is someone, or multiples (say what?) who are interested in my conglomeration of thoughts and my daily, incredibly interesting (and need I say 'luxurious'? Kidding.) lifestyle. 


Well, for a bit of sparky excitement, my family and I, along with one of my friends and another of my brother's, are all headed on a European extravaganza to Hungary, Turkey, Austria, and the Czech Republic on FRIDAY! I am still trying to match up all the cities we're headed to with the country they belong in. Never was I a star in geography, but with this semester's Weather and Climate course under my belt, I may be improving. Slightly. Anyways, this is my FIRST blog ever, in my entire life, unless Xanga counts (oh middle school...bad memories) so if annnnyone is reading this, you're reading history being made. I feel myself going a little bit delusional, so I'll end this here and now. Catch y'all later!