Budapest, Hungary

My family left Thursday morning last week to go home and I left Thursday afternoon for Budapest. I met my friend Natalie, who is living in Prague, there and we spent the long weekend exploring. Like a lot of the countries in central Europe, not only do these places have history from the Holocaust, but also Communism. We walked around the city looking at a lot of the sites in the freezing cold, but we also visited the House of Terror museum (dedicated to both the Holocaust and Communism), the Great Synagogue and ate at a great vegetarian restaurant to stay warm. So, the first picture is of the Hungarian flag that has the Russian emblem cut out during an uprising in 1956; it's now just the stripes. The second is me in Buda with Pest in the background (the city use to be 2 seperate cities Buda and Pest, but it is now just Budapest). The next is inside the Great Synagogue followed by Fisherman's Bastion. Then there's me and Natalie freezing our faces off and a picture of the Danube River. I think you are able to see the Parlaiment building in the back there as well. Then the last is me in a secret doorway, or whatever you want to call it.

When the family came to visit

My mom and dad and brother all came to visit me!! woohoo! I did my best to keep them busy and show them everything I could in 3.5 days, which is way too short anyways. As soon as they got off the train we went straight to the Liestal fire parade. It was insane and I don't really know how to describe it in words. There were people carrying huge bundles of wood that were totally ablaze on their shoulders while others were tugging what were basically huge bonfires on wheels. There were ashes everywhere and the fire was so close to us, we had to duck sometimes. It was something that would never be allowed at home and so it made it all the more exciting.

The next couple of days we went to Basel's Fasnacht celebration. It's a festival that last for 3 full days and starts at 4am on a Monday morning. Zac and I went to the 4am kick-off, where they turn off all the lights in the city and then at 4, all the little groups of people, known as cliques, start parading around with their lanterns and playing their pipes. The city was so packed you couldn't even move. The next couple of days was filled with parades that had people in elaborate costumes and throwing confetti all over the places. They threw out everything from candy and stuffed animals to cabbage, onions, and oranges. I loved Fasnacht and all the excitement it brought to the city. You couldn't leave downtown without confetti down your shirt and in your socks.

We also went skiing for a day, well I went skiing, Zac went snow boarding, and my parents hung out at the lodge and did a little sledding. On our way back home from skiing, we stopped in Luzern for a short walk around. I thought they'd enjoy the picturesque city.

Our one last exciting adventure was a hike up to the castle in my "backyard", Château de Landskron. It as quite a hike, but we made it after a bit of complaining! The castle is actually in France, so crossing the border was rather exciting for them. I was excited too, but I guess I've started to get use to it.

So, though they were here only a few days, we did a lot and I'm glad they came.

Bern Baby Bern

This past Saturday, Sarah, Kristina, and I took a day trip to Bern in Switzerland. We had nothing to do so we just jumped on a train and we were there in an hour. Bern is the capital of Switzerland and I went there when I studied abroad a few years ago, but it was just a couple of hours stop over, so I didn't see all that much. Anyways, the first picture is of the bears they have by the river that protect the city. The name of the city is from the German word for bear, so their mascot is a bear and it is all over the city. Then there are a couple of landscape shots and then a picture of me with Kristina and one with Sarah. The next picture is the main street that runs through the city and the last is a statue of some crazy guy eating babies?? So, it was a fun day trip and it even sleeted while we were there. I only know it was sleet because Sarah, a Canadian, is an expert in her precipitation classifications.

a weekend in Portugal

Not this past weekend, but the one before, me and some friends went on a weekend trip to Lisbon. It was a great place to escape from the cold for a few days and see the ocean again. I hadn't heard a lot about Lisbon before I went, but what I did hear was that it was beautiful. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect.

The first picture is the arch in the old town, second is some of us posing in front of the many statues they had. The next two are from the LOVE exhibit they had in the city. There were statues of 0-9 and then the LOVE statue in a variety of different ways. They also had AMOR at the opposite end. The exhibit was called "Love in Numbers". We spent a few hours in the new part of Lisbon as well, where we rode a cable-car over the water and played in the park some. Two things I really liked about Lisbon were the skyline with the red roofs and the ocean in the background, and the sidewalks. All of the sidewalks had awesome designs laid in the stones. Lisbon was amazing and I would definitely recommend it.