Budapest seem to be the part of the trip where we took things up a notch again. We were only in Budapest for 2 days so we had a lot to do in a short amount of time. On our first day we spent the day on the Buda side of the river. We started with a visit to Gellert hill and got some amazing panoramic views of the city. Our next stop was the Buda Castle. When we got there we were trying to decide how to get up the hill to go visit it and decided to take a hop-on-hop-off shadow. This worked out great! It was able to take us to not only the Buda Castle but some of the other places that we were wanting to see on that side of the river. Our first stop was the Fisherman’s Bastion and the Matthias church. Surprise surprise it was all so beautiful. Our next stop was Buda Castle why we did not go in it was still nice to see the outside of it and again get some views over the city. We also got to see the equivalent of the white house in Hungary. After a visit to the castle we went to the entrance of the castle gardens. They weren’t many visitors there so it made for some nice pictures and Scenic views. We then headed back over to the past side. We took a quick visit to the Parliament Building which is one of the main attractions in Budapest. It is is huge and so gorgeous! While we were visiting we also happened upon a little concert that started to go on. It was the Hungarian jazz orchestra that just happened to be playing at that time that we were going bye. So we sat down and stayed for a while to listen to the music and it was beautiful. After this we headed over to the New York cafe for dinner. It is one of the swankiest restaurants in the city so of course we had to try it out. The food was just ok and the portions were so small! But it was a beautiful place to have dinner so I guess that made it worth it. On day 2 we spent our day adventuring the pest side of the river. We started off going to the Central Market Hall. This is a famous market in Budapest that sells all kinds of different things. I bought a few souvenirs but we must see just looked around and took it all in. Our next stop was was in the old Jewish quarter. This area has what are called ruin pubs. They are little cafes and pubs that were converted after this area of the city was destroyed and abandoned. we went to a place called mazel tov. We both tried some traditional Hungarian food and neither of us was too stoked about it. For the next part of the day we went over to a park where we got so see Heros square as well as Vajdahunyad castle. Try saying that 3 times fast. Then we ventured over to the Szechenyi thermal baths. I never even attempted to say the name outloud. We spent a few hours there relaxing and trying not to think of foot fungus. We went back to our hotel to shower and then out to dinner. We had a late dinner but it was nice because we got to see the city at night with all the buildings lit up! We strolled along the river to get a look at the parliament building and the castle across the way. It was a perfect end to our trip in budapest!

Prague was such an amazing city to visit. Our day started off very relaxing as we were also exhausted from travelling that day. We took a stroll to a nearby Park after dropping our things off. We got a beautiful look out over the city at a place called the metronome. We headed back towards the place we were staying and got some amazing food and a place called curry Palace. Our second day was more eventful. We started off the day at an amazing breakfast place with crepes. The crepes were bigger than my entire face but they were so delicious that we were still able to finish them somehow. We strolled around in a church nearby of course they are everywhere and all them are so gorgeous. We feel little ridiculous taking pictures of all them because there are so many but they are just so incredible to see. We then went further into the city where the Old Town was an explored an area of the old Jewish quarter. We found a nice place to sit and eat and about a minute after we sat down it started pouring down rain with thunder and lightening! We were very thankful to be inside at that point. By this time we decided to just call it a day and head back to the apartment. On our third day in Prague we went into the old town again but this time we went to the main city centre. We went to the astronomical clock tower while we were in there there happened to be an English Tour that was just starting so we decided to join. At first we thought that it wasn’t anything that special but they soon realise that we were getting quite the tour. We got to go down underground to the lowest floor of the building and see original buildings from when Prague was first becoming a city. It was so need to learn about and see and walkthrough some of the oldest buildings in Prague. After our tour we hang around the main square and did some sight seeing. We walked over to Charles Bridge and crossed to the other side of the river. While on the other side we also took a quick visit to the Lennon wall and the most Narrow Street in Prague. On our 4th day in Prague we went to the Prague Castle. It was a pretty big area and there was a lot to see. While we were there we happened upon the cute little Christmas shop where of course I couldn’t resist getting an ornament. The castle was beautiful on with the churches that surrounded the area as well. After visiting the castle we went over to the petrin tower, which is basically a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower. However an interesting fact was that the top of the petrin tower is at the same elevation as the actual Eiffel Tower. After that we went back to the old city centre to get some dinner and then called it a night. Our last day and Prague we didn’t do very much I mostly walked around in look through some shops to try to find some more souvenirs and then we packed up to get ready to go to Budapest.

Our first day in Germany we visited a city called Cologne. We visited an old church (if you haven’t figured out they’re everywhere in Europe) and got to see some cute colorful buildings along the river. We also went to a bridge that is full of locks! This trend has been going on it many different places. The interesting thing about this bridge though, is that they aren’t concerned about the extra weight from the locks. Most bridges with locks get too heavy and the locks are cut off. This bridge however is able to hold the weight of all the locks! It was crazy to see every section filled the entire way down. The next day we headed to Berlin. Overall our time here was very relaxing and not quite the same pace as all the other countries. On our first day on Berlin we took a somber trip to Schehausen concentration camp. It was heartbreaking, eye opening, and completing devastating to walk through the area. We spent about 4 hours walking around the camp. We headed back into the city and decided to just walk around the area near our hotel. Turns out I booked our place in a good spot since everything we wanted to see was within about a mile radius. We saw the spot where Hitler hid in his bunker until he killed himself, we saw the Jewish memorial, the Berlin wall memorial, the Brandenburg gate, and the parliament building. It was a pretty quick walk around but by the end we were exhausted so we called it a day. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a German restaurant called Maxamillions. I had a classic Berlin dinner which consisted of a giant sausage and fries. Garrett and I both also had the local beer. We felt like locals. On our second day we finished our walking tour of the city. We saw the Berlin cathedral, the TVtower, and the Berlin Wall. It was SO crazy to read about the wall and see the original parts that were still up. All throughout the city you can see random lines of brick in the ground that show where the wall was. There were tons of stories of people escaping, or attempting to. Garrett and I were feeling very thankful for the lives we have after seeing all of this. On our last day in Germany I asked Garrett if there was anything else we should do or see. His response was “I think we saw it all!”. So with all the major attractions out of the way we took a quick stroll through Tiergarten park and then onto souvenir shopping and the Berlin mall. I felt very in my element. It was a nice change of pace in Berlin and we are excited to spend the next 5 days in Prague!

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Our time in Amsterdam was absolutely amazing we loved every minute of it. We enjoyed seeing the unique style of buildings and the the many canals that ran through the city. Our first day mostly consisted of catching up on some rest and getting a quick tour of the city on a canal boat tour. That evening I was looking at the different museums that I wanted to see over the next couple of days. One of the museums that I had been looking forward to was the Anne Frank House Museum. I did not realise that the tickets for this sellout months in advance. I was panicked! However, 20% of the tickets are sold on the day of, but there is a difficult waiting period online to get a ticket. So the next morning at 9 a.m. when the tickets went on sale Garrett and I both got on our phones to get the tickets. Unfortunately we were not successful after a very stressful hour of waiting in an online queue just to see that the tickets were not available. So we went on with our day knowing that we would get to see some other museums that I had planned, and try the Anne Frank tickets again the next day. We went to a little cafe at the end of the street where we were staying and while we were there I decided to check my phone to see if the Anne Frank tickets are still being released or not. Garrett decided to check on his phone as well and all the sudden he says “they’re available!”. We quickly purchased the tickets and I was about ready to cry because I was so excited that we managed to get the tickets. However since I did not expect to get them that day, I already planned to go to other museums. One of which (the Van Gogh Museum) we had a timed entry for at 2:45. Our Anne Frank tour had timed entry for 4:45. It was ok though because we still had enough time at the Van Gogh Museum before we needed to go to the Anne Frank House. It was a very sobering and eye-opening experience to go through the house where the Franks lived in hiding for 2 years. It was unbelievable. Our second day was not filled with museums and rushing around. It was a much more laid back place. We started off with a trip to the pancake bakery which is a famous bakery in Amsterdam known for…..you guessed it it’s pancakes. They were massive ! Garrett and I realised we probably should have split one, but we enjoyed them nonetheless. We then rented some bikes and rode around the city for a few hours. It was the most fun that both of us had had so far on this trip. We absolutely loved seeing the city on the bicycles. Our first stop was at a windmill and then on to the city centre. We saw Dam Square, the red light district, and vondelpark. We then went to get some food and hang around Dam Square again. While we were there, a street performer was doing a juggling/comedy show. He requested my help during part of the show which included me passing a baton up to him on a 7-ft unicycle . Fortunately I was able to throw it right to his hand and not into the crowd. We finished off walking around town, had one last look at Central Station lit up at night and then headed back to our apartment. Although our time in Amsterdam was short, it was well spent and we loved every minute of it. Now onto Germany!

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We didn’t think that our trip could get any better after Paris but we were proved wrong when we got to Barcelona. On our first day there we walked around a street known as Las Ramblas. It is one long street that has all kinds of shops on the sides and vendors throughout the center divide. Next we headed to La Boqueria market to get some lunch. I tried some seafood paella which was delicious. Although it did look like they grabbed shrimp fresh out of the ocean and put the entire thing on my plate(shell, claws, eyes, the whole thing), so it was a little difficult to get the meat out of the body. We continued walking towards an area called the Gothic Quarter. The architecture in this area was really beautiful. We got to see the Barcelona Cathedral and then headed over to the Picasso museum. It was really interesting learning about Picasso and seeing his work as he grew as an artist. We continued on exploring an area called Born and got to have a wonderful Tapas dinner. Tapas are small plates of different kinds of food. Garrett and I ordered some chicken fingers as well as steak tartare. We learned very quickly that steak tartare is raw meat, so that was an interesting lesson. We decided not to go for that part of the dinner but ate everything else and it was delicious along with some house made sangrias. On our second day in Barcelona we started out with an early morning in Park Guell. This Park featured amazing buildings by Antoni Gaudi. His architecture is the reason why so much of Barcelona is famous. After we explored the inside of the park, which was actually pretty small, we went over to Antoni Gaudi’s house where we got to do a quick tour. This was also pretty small ,but it was interesting to see where he lived. Once we were done at the park we headed over to LA Sagrada Familia which is a massive Cathedral near the center of Barcelona. Garrett and I got audio guides as we walked through the cathedral and learned so much about i. There was so much symbolism in every single part of the cathedral, it was truly amazing to learn about it. Gaudi wanted the cathedral to be just shorter than the nearby mountains because he believed Manson achievements should not surpass that of God’s. He also wanted the outer towers to draw people’s eyes up towards the heavens. There were so many amazing facts and details about the church, Garrett and I couldn’t get enough. Since Gaudi also designed most of this Cathedral it has become very famous and the architecture stands out for that reason as well. We were at the cathedral when the bells went off and got to hear the music playing from inside the cathedral. It was truly beautiful. This was probably the sight that Garrett and I liked the most while we were in Barcelona. Once we were done with dinner we got some food and then headed over to the magic fountain. This fountain during some nights of the year plays music and has a water show that goes along with it. It lasts for an hour and I enjoyed every minute of it! By the time the show is over we were both exhausted and ready to go to sleep. Finally day 3 in Barcelona came along and we started off cruising through the town and wandering into some local shops. While we were still in the heart of Barcelona, we went to a churro shop as well and had some amazing ‘churros con chocolate'(you dip the churro in what is basically chocolate pudding that is hot). I could eat them every day! We then headed over to the beach for some time to relax and ate dinner there as well. Finally we ended our night at the Palace of Catalan Music. A beautiful theater where we got to watch a flamenco show. It was a perfect way to end our time in Batlrcelona. The next morning we get up early and head to Amsterdam!

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This summer Garrett and I are traveling to Europe for the first time. We will be gone for a total of 5 weeks. Our first stop was Paris. Unfortunately our trip started off pretty rock for myself at least. During the flight I had to visit the porcelain (plastic?) Thrown on the plane and the fun didn’t stop there. I continued to be sick for hours until we got to our hotel room. Finally after some medicine and a long nap I woke up recovered and somewhat ready for the day. We decided to venture into the city that night to get some dinner and then go right back to the hotel to try to catch up on sleep. Our second day in Paris was much more fun for the both of us. We took a few hours to try to figure out what train to take to Versailles. After that endeavour we got on to the right train and headed out of the city. Once we got to Versailles we got to tour the inside of the palace 4 hours. It was absolutely amazing. The interior was gorgeous and it was fun to learn about the history of the palace. After the to wear on the inside we headed outside to the Gardens. They went on forever. We would have spent more time there had they not enclosing a little early for the day but we still got to spend about 3 or 4 hours wandering around the Gardens and seeing the many fountains. Once we finished at Versailles we headed back into Paris got a bite to eat and then back to the hotel. The second day was full of lots of walking. We started off at the Louvre, got lost many times, saw countless pieces of art, and realized we could be there all day. However, there were many other things on our list of sights. So we finished up at the Louvre and continued on to Saint Chapelle. From the outside it looks like a regular church and then we stepped inside and sore than Many Walls covered in stained glass. It was gorgeous to see period right next to the chapel we went to the concierge. This was a short walk through but interesting nonetheless. Once we had some food and as we were ready to go again. Our next stop was the Arc De Triumph. Another amazing piece of Architecture with amazing views at the top. This visit was also quite short because we had to get to the Eiffel Tower next. I had pre-ordered tickets online to get to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. However while we were in line and I told Garrett about this, he reminded me that we were in Paris, so how could we not go all the way to the top of the tower . I then rushed over to the ticket booth to get another set of tickets that would take us to the very top. Once I got the tickets I ran back to Garrett who was still in line and we got on an elevator that took us all way to the top of the Eiffel Tower . On our way up the sun was setting so we got some amazing pictures and the lights on the tower also went off while we were on the tower which was a really fun thing to see as well . We spent a total of about 2 hours at the Eiffel Tower admiring it and taking tons of photos of course. That was the end of our second day. On day 3 in Paris we started at the orsay Museum. It was so neat to see a museum that was once a train station now converted into a building for amazing artwork . We were getting pretty tired by this time in our trip so we headed off to the Luxembourg Gardens where we relaxed for a few hours. After that we got to go on a beautiful dinner cruise to see the City from the canal. The dinner cruise included a three course meal. During the appetizer part of the meal we got to eat foie gras d’oie which we found out is a French delicacy. Fried goose liver. I did not continue to eat it; however Garrett seemed to like it with his crackers. I left him in France, or at least thought about it. On our fourth and last day in Paris we were completely wiped out so we opted for a hop on hop off bus tour. We got to see the opera house, Moulin Rouge, and Montmarte. It was a great way to end our last day in Paris. We loved exploring this beautiful city and are so excited to continue seeing many beautiful places .

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This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
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• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

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