Throwback Thursday {Budapest}

I was looking through my Europe pictures, as I do frequently, reminiscing of the perfection I experienced this summer. Every bone in my body aches to go back to Europe and my desire to travel all around the world has only been kickstarted. I look through my pictures, read my travel journal, and watch my Europe video (and Mack's!) at least three times a week. (I watch the video even more) When I think back to Europe, I remember each day, so so specifically. It was the greatest experience of my life that I am so grateful to have had. So since today's Thursday, it only seemed appropriate to do a little Europe throwback.
Let's throwback to exactly 7 months ago, the day we arrived in my favorite city in the whole wide world... Budapest. (Hey Riley, what country's capital is Budapest? ;))

What I remember about June 16...

• We drove and drove through Slovakia and I sat next to Maya. Slovakia is such a beautiful green country!
• We stopped in the side of the road to have this strange cheese, made from sheep's milk. It had an interesting flavor, but I liked it!
• We saw a castle that I believe belonged to a Romanian prince 
• We ate lunch at a little ski resort in Slovakia and had the richest, most delicious macaroni and cheese.
• It rained that day, but while we were on the bus. The weather was sort of overcast when we arrived in Budapest, but it was actually SO warm.
• We got dropped off at this park/city center in Budapest. It was super neat.
• WE WERE STARVING
• Our walking tour seemed to last an eternity because we were so hungry.
• I was quite impressed with how clean the city was and not jam packed with tourists.
• On our way to dinner, there was a group of women and girls singing outside an apartment building. A lady had just had a baby and was standing on her balcony with the baby as the ladies sang to her. It's some Hungarian tradition that I thought was neat.
• We finally got to go to dinner and it was great!
• Afterwards, there was a little park we 'played' at. The slide was the coolest part.
• We went back to the hotel, a trusty Ibis. I roomed with Maddison
• We got to go out and explore the city.
• We split into two groups- I went with a group to find the Gellért Baths and Spa on the Buda side. The baths of Budapest are of great renown so we wanted to see what they were like!
• Once we found the Baths, we learned all information about them and made a plan to go the next day!
• With some time left, we decided to hike Gellert Hill. Man was I regretting my decision of wearing sandals by the time we got to the top.
• We got to the top and at that moment, I fell in love with Budapest. The view from the top of the hill is something embedded in my brain forever.  A group of other tourists heard us speaking English and we began to talk to them. Two were from Boulder, CO! They were so kind and took our picture. 
• We realized we were running out of time and went down the hill as fast as possible. But as soon as we were crossing the bridge, we slowed down and took in the beauty that surrounded us. 
• Communication with the rest of the group got sort of jumbled so we ended up sitting in the subway station for a while. But Peter and Brenden kept us entertained with their singing.
• We finally were reunited with our group and we went back to the hotel to hang out and end the day.
• Brenden, Peter, Matt, Jimmy, and Carly came in me and Maddison's room. There, the night ended with Brenden, Matt, and Peter singing some song from The Hobbit and dancing with swim caps on their heads to Bohemain Rhapsody. 

Ugh take me back.

slovakia, green slovakia

the castle

sheep cheese- smoky, different, but overall, delish!

practically a painting

ugh the architecture <3

LOVE. ps- jack told maddison they were going to get married while I was taking this picture

surreal

sunsets slay me

dang attractive at the baths

we made it to the top of gellért hill!

be still my soul

crying because of how beautiful it is

me: not so hot // the background: amazing

my favorite place in the world

love these people.

vertigo inducing escalators at the subway station

my hawt roomie

yeah, high schoolers are weird I guess. but we're also a ton of fun.

 My heart is forever in Budapest.

xo
Hannah

#budapestisthebest

PS: if you want to see more of the best places on Earth, do enjoy these videos!

Europe Day 8- Budapest

Budapest, Day 8: 6/17/2013

Today was probably one of the best days of my life. I went to bed at 5:45am, got up at 7:00am, and had three shots of oh so wonderful espresso. We took a bus tour with some walking for a little over three hours and saw more phenomenal views of Budapest, mostly from the Buda side. Fun fact- Budapest is actually split into two sides, Buda and Pest. They are separated by the Danube River. After the tour, it was time for the Baths! We went to the St. Geller Baths, which are some of the best in world. The mineral water left our skin SO soft! We went to the wave pool, hot, hot thermal pools, ice bath (it was about 40 degrees Farenheit!, steam room, sauna, champagne bath, we did it all! It was such a great way to escape the heat and just relax and have a good time. Alex, Maddie, Brenden, Jimmy, and I decided to get massages because, heck, how many times do you get to say you had a massage in Hungary?! Plus, the prices were great;) We had some scheduling conflicts that ended up in a bit of a mess (that I can now look back and laugh about). So the massages were for two people in one room at the same time. This information was not told to us until eight minutes before the massage. By Alex and Maddie. Oh and you know, I was scheduled to have my massage with Jimmy. (Background info- Jimmy was my freshman homecoming date. So yep.) So I had a couples massage with Jimmy. Oh that's a memory that won't fade. It was alright though, I still got a great massage! We called the teachers and got permission to skip dinner and do something on our own so we could spend more time at the baths, but meet them in time for the riverboat cruise. Sophie, Brenden, and I got tomato, basil, and mozzarella paninis before the cruise and they were heavenly. We got on the riverboat cruise and that was amazing. The views of the city at sunset, and then lit up were breathtaking. I love everyone on this trip! We went back to our trusty Ibis hotel, and had a little goodbye party for the Oklahoma people as they were leaving and not going to Austria. It was a very fun night!! Maddison and I talked till 1:15am, and my favorite day of the trip came to a great end!
#ihadacouplesmassagewithmyfreshmanhomecomingdate

hero square

our awesome group

pretend i don't look so awkward

on the buda side

so artsy;)

we mastered group selfies

looking over the danube and pest side

stunning

my main girl maya

mack and i. locker buddies take europe 2k13.

parliament

peter, maddison, jimmy, and yours truly

lighting up!

looooooovvvvveeeeee

BEAUTIFUL <3

xo
Hannah

Europe Day 7- Budapest

Bratislava and Budapest, Day 7: 6/16/2013

Today we covered a lot of Europe! We traveled a ton. We left Krakow at 7:45 and stopped in  Slovakia for a quick lunch. Bratislava is a cute little town but it WAS so hot! We had margaherita pizzas the size of the sun for lunch and gelato. We went and saw a crypt and that was SO cool! We got to Budapest around 3:45 and THIS is my city. I am in love. I know I've thought that about every city but THIS city is the BEST! We had a delicious dinner of potatoes, chicken, and Hungarian salad with yummy chocolate cake for dessert. After dinner, we went to the city and explored. I went with Jimmy, Alex, Maddie, Katherine, Carly, Sophie, Peter, Brenden, and Marika to find the famous St. Geller Budapest Baths. We got there, and as we thought, it was closed. But a man still in his shop and was very helpful. We got all the info for the next day at the baths. We still had a little under two hours so we hiked up to the liberation shrine. It was the MOST gorgeous view of the city. We were literally left speechless. There was some train confusion, but we found everyone and got back to hotel in a timely matter. Some weird stuff went down in me and Maddison's room. It was like a mystical spiritual moment that involved Bohemian Rhapsody. Some things just stay in Europe I guess;) Maddison and I were having a heart to heart when Rabbi Brenden came into our room for snacks. Long story short, he stayed in our room until 5:45 and we watched the sunrise. It was really great. We just talked about life and such. Basically he's me in boy form, more or less. I slept for maybe an hour, and soon it was time for the next day in my favorite city!
#budapestisthebest

budapest

budapest-- we hiked up to that thing!

the beautiful danube river

ze hippest and ze modernist people

oh brenden

enamored.

major incline

rabbi brenden at sunrise

xo
Hannah