Bad fashion, great ice cream, beautiful scenery

It's been almost three weeks since my travel break ended and I still haven't gotten around to writing about the second week of my break. I don't even have the excuse of having to do a lot of work because I've had a pretty mellow last three weeks with minimal to no work load and maximum hanging out, drinking Sommersby in the sun, and obsessing over the Madonna Glee episode. But for the sake of documentation, I'll back track.

Geneva: beautiful scenery
After I got back from Russia, I left the next day for Geneva, Switzerland where Cherin is studying abroad! She actually doesn't technically study or live in Geneva, but for sake of reference, I just say I went to Geneva. Erin lives in a town called Rolle that's about 20 minutes outside of Geneva by train, and her school is in Nyon, closer in towards Geneva. She picked me up at the airport and we headed back to her house for amazing lasagna that her host-mom had made. This was the view I saw walking from the train station to her house. It was my first glimpse at how amazingly beautiful Switzerland is.



The fresh, crisp air and breathtaking landscape were exhilerating and rejuvenating. We also lucked out with great, sunny weather the whole week. I've never realized more than this semester how much the weather affects your mood, or at least my mood. That first night we spent at home, catching up. The next day, we woke up to sun shining through the window and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. Erin and I made our way to Nyon, where her school classrooms are located and she showed me around. Our first stop was a castle that overlooks Lake Geneva and serves as a frequent pre-gaming location for her and her friends. We ended up just sitting there for what seemed like two hours because it was so warm and pleasant and the view was spectacular. Here's what we saw:



We eventually made our way down to the water and ate lunch at a cafe along the boardwalk. This was a standard lunch other than the fact that it was Easter Monday (the Monday after Easter is almost a bigger deal in Europe than Easter actually is) and there was a woman at the bar who was absolutely smashed at about 2 p.m. Not to mention she looked the epitome of a fashion faux pas in pleather leggings that revealed every piece of fat on her body, a bright blue racer-back tank top that further emphasized the rolls spilling over her waist band, and black heels that were probably bought at a porn shop. She kept going up to all the men at the bar and rubbing their heads and kissing them on the cheek. I was surprised the restaurant didn't kick her out. But it made for some interesting entertainment.

After lunch, Erin and I wandered down the boardwalk, bought some ice cream, and enjoyed it while sitting with our feet over the water. We sat and people watched...saw several adorable puppies and even more adorable small children running around. Other than to eat, our entire Monday was spent basking in the sun. That night we met up with some of Erin's friends and made Mexican food. It was fun to be able to meet the people she goes to school with and just hang out.

On Tuesday Erin needed to do work for her independent study project so we headed to the United Nations library. Did you know you can get a personal desk at the UN library? So cool. While Erin studied, I wandered around, tried to go to the Red Cross museum which is right across the street, but of course it's closed on Tuesdays. I stumbled upon a museum of glass and ceramics and helped an Irish couple find the entrance to the UN tours (I felt pretty cool being able to tell them where to go even though I had just been there myself for the first time two hours earlier). Unfortunately, there isn't too much to do in Geneva, and I resorted to lying in the sun in some grass in front of the Red Cross and listening to John Mayer. This is the view from the top of the Red Cross building:


The building in the picture is the United Nations

Later that day, Erin and I went on a walk around Rolle by her house, along Lake Geneva. The beauty of the mountains and the water in Switzerland never ceased to amaze me. It's so serene and relaxing. I could actually feel my mood get happier because the sun was shining and I was surrounded by so much natural beauty.



This was our view along the water.

Budapest: Bad fashion
Wednesday morning we left for Budapest together. We arrived to warmth that would stay with us the rest of the week. Budapest marked my first real hostel experience in Europe, and I have to say, it wasn't that bad. We stayed in a place called Leanback in the Erzsebet neighborhood on the Pest side of Budapest. I didn't know this before I went, but Budapest is actually divided by a river into the Buda side and the Pest side. The owner of the hostel was always around and extremely helpful. He pointed out numerous places on the map to go see. Probably the highlight of our hostel experience was getting to eat the cocoa puffs that were put out for breakfast in the morning. I'm lucky that I still get cereal to eat in Copenhagen, but Erin has been waking up to yogurt and muesli every morning since January, so this was a welcome and familiar change. We spent the first afternoon site seeing near Hero's Square. We tried to get into the zoo but couldn't find the entrance and ended up walking an hour in the wrong direction, contemplated going to museums but decided against it because we didn't want to pay, and found one of the open-air baths Budapest is famous for and really wished we had brought our swim suits so we could go in. The baths are a huge complex of open-air pools that all have different temperatures. They looked very inviting, but we were unprepared.

Being in Budapest marked my second visit to a post-communist country in two weeks, and I can tell you that the one thing Russia and Hungary definitely have in common is the worst fashion sense of anyone in the world. I've never seen so much jean on jean, tan pantyhose with open-toed heels, or just straight up hideous outfits in my whole life. I know it sounds like I'm being critical, but seriously, it was bad. I really wish I had taken more pictures of peoples' clothes and less of buildings I don't know the names of. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Vienna: great ice cream
Since we had so much time in Budapest, we decided to take a day to visit Vienna, which is only three hours away by train. Plus it was only $40 round trip. We got there around noon and immediately found a place to eat lunch. Then we tried to find our bearings and ended up going into an office to ask someone to point out to us where we were on a map. We were having difficulty figuring it out. Turned out we were right by the largest shopping street in Vienna, which we definitely proceeded to walk down. It wasn't long before we spotted an ice cream store that was very crowded and had to stop. Despite the fact that I had just eaten a custard pastry five minutes earlier, I indulged in another treat, and it was the best decision I made all day. That ice cream was probably the most amazing ice cream cone I had ever had. I got Nutella flavor sandwiched on either end with mango and raspberry in between. It was to die for. I don't even remember what Erin got but it was just as mind blowing. We continued happily down the street with our out of this world ice cream cones, the sun on our faces, and the feel of a bustling city all around us.

We basically spent the whole afternoon walking EVERYWEHRE around the city. The Museum of Art, Museum of Natural History, National Library, a beautiful park, the Belvedere, and everything in between. The architecture was beautiful and impressive. And the National Library was spectacular, in addition to the fact that I eyed several extremely attractive guys walking in and out to study. I don't have pictures of them, but here's the outside of the library:





This is the Belvedere Palace. Now it's a museum with Austrian paintings. Though, of course, we didn't pay to go in and see them...students traveling on a budget...food wins over museums.

On our way back to Budapest on the train, we were exhausted, but felt a sense of accomplishment in having conquered so much of the city in just a few hours. The sun was setting as we sped back, and we sprawled out on the seats and listened to music together. The train is such a pleasant experience. This was our view:



Back in Budapest: more great ice cream
Friday was spent doing major site seeing on the Buda side. We crossed the bridge and made our way from the Fisherman's Bastion to the Buda Castle (now a history museum) to the Citadel which sits at the very top of a huge hill and overlooks the entire city. It was warm enough that I wasn't even wearing my jacket most of the time and we were rewarded at the end with the massive view of the city at the Citadel and then a nap in a sprawling green park at the top of the hill.


Fisherman's Bastion


Buda castle, looking at it from the Pest side before we crossed the bridge


View from the Citadel

After relaxing in the grass for the rest of the afternoon, we made our way back to the hostel, and along the way, happened to find one of the most famous confectionaries in Europe. It's called Gerbeaud's and sits in a main square near the shopping streets on the Pest side. This was the ice cream sundae we splurged on:



We spent a very pleasant couple of hours sitting outside with our sundae and people watching in the square. For dinner, we ventured to a hummus bar near our hostel and it did not disappoint. It was exactly the kind of cheap, but amazing meal we needed. We even met some other American students who were studying abroad in Italy but on spring break in Budapest.

By the time Saturday rolled around, we were exhausted from a week of walking around three different cities and let ourselves indulge in back-to-back movies at the humongous theater inside the mall. We saw An Education and Dear John. Seeing movies in a foreign country is actually a really interesting experience. There are assigned seats as if you were going to see an actual theatrical performance and the commercials played before the movie starts are, obviously, all in a different language and for products that we don't necessarily have at home. The movies themselves are almost always in English with subtitles, but being Americans watching American movies in a different country, you're bound to laugh at parts that no one else thinks are funny, and then you start laughing harder because no one is joining you. Anyways, it was a relaxing afternoon. The next day we had to say goodbye and head home to our separate cities.

So, what did I learn?

Traveling on your own is EXHAUSTING. From the logistics of booking planes and hostels, to figuring out where to go once you're there and the cheapest way possible to enjoy a new city, your brain and feet hurt afterwards. That one week of traveling made me gain much more respect for a friend of mine who spent an entire year after high school traveling by himself in Africa and Europe. It's physically and mentally taxing, but an extremely rewarding experience. And there's something to be said for figuring it all out on your own. Erin and I were pretty proud of ourselves for trekking all over Vienna and Budapest, getting to all the major sites, happening to find two amazing places to eat ice cream, getting ourselves to and from the airport, and not running out of money. Plus now I can add three more cities to my list of exciting places I've visited.

I apologize for this post being so long, and completely understand if you don't even get far enough to read this apology. But there was a lot of ground to cover! Hopefully I'll be able to write about my last three weeks back in Copenhagen some time soon.

hej hej