Picturesque Paris

Day One
We arrived in Paris from Dortmund in the evening. We found our hotel, a very nice boutique hotel in the Latin Quarter called Hotel Odeon. We dropped our bags off and during this process I accidentally broke the flower head off the stem of Nathan's souvenir Dortmund flower, much to our distress. We then went for a delicious Moroccan dinner and walked around the student district. 

Day Two
On the second day we did a sort of walking tour of Paris. Since we had both been to Paris before, Nathan and I didn't really feel pressured to go into all the tourist sites and museums. After a long trip of days crammed full of touristy stuff, we decided instead to just enjoy our time in Paris.

Eiffel Tower

So we walked from our hotel to Notre Dame, the bridge with locks, through the louvre gardens, up the champ élysées, the Eiffel Tower and then stopped for lunch (we didn't go into any of those places). After lunch we walked along the river to the Musee d'Orsay, which we went into and spent time looking at the art. After that, we had wonderful Lebanese wraps for dinner then ended the evening by eating crepes and relaxing down along the Seine. 

Day Three 
Since I accidentally knocked Nathan's Dortmund flower off its stem, we decided to look for a way to preserve the flower so Nathan could keep it as a souvenir. We didn't have the time to press or dry it though, so we decided to look for resin to put the flower in. We had looked for silica gel the day before to dry the flower, but didn't find any so looking for resin was our mission for day three in Paris. 

We started off the day by going to promenade of plants, which is a tramway that was turned an elevated garden/park. It was really cool and we walked along it for a bit. Then we looked at two craft shops for resin- no luck. We took a break at the Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed a brownie sundae. We then popped into Lacoste and found the specific green polo Nathan is always looking for but managed to lose his sunglasses in the process. Whoops. We had more luck at the next shop and found resin, even though it sounded like it was just as likely to kill the flower as preserve it. 

After dinner at a "traditional French food" restaurant back in the student area, we gave the resin a shot.

Rodin Museum

It smelled like toxic death and I felt a little like a bizarre sort of scientist. While the resin was setting we escape the noxious fumes by heading out to the busy streets filled with young people enjoying their evenings. We got ice cream then sat down at a cafe for a bit before heading back to check on the flower. It seemed to have been a successful attempt, but only time will tell whether or not the flower will rot later. It was fun to have a project for the day and go to non-tourists parts of Paris. 

Day Four 
We met up with my cousin Harry on the Champ élysées. He was in Paris visiting a friend for the weekend so we had ice cream and crepes together. It was great to see him and catch up for a bit. After we parted ways with Harry, Nathan and I went to the Rodin museum and then tried to go to Sainte-Chapelle but it was closed. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and people watching at the Luxembourg gardens which was full of people enjoying the beautiful weather. 

We then went to a nice restaurant called Pouic Pouic which was recommended by the hotel. There we had a delicious dinner to celebrate the last night of our trip. Later that evening we rushed to the Eiffel Tower in hopes of getting there once the crowds had left but before it closed. We didn't realize that the tickets and elevators closed way earlier than the actual tower closed, so we were too late to go up. I was sad, but I'd been up before and Nathan didn't have a great desire to go up. While hanging around the tower we made friends with a couple that were our age and chatted with them for a while about their trip before catching the metro back to the hotel.

Bastille day paratroopers

Day Five
Our last day of backpacking! It was also July 14th, which is Bastille Day. So we packed up in the morning, went back to visit Sainte-Chapelle with its gorgeous stained windows, then headed towards the city center. We saw the fly over and some of the military parade, but were too late to see the main events down the Champ Elysées. Massive crowds though and lots of disruption to public transport, so it took us a while to get back to our hotel area. We sat down for a last lunch in Paris, then grabbed our bags and headed to the train station. Nathan's train to Montpellier left from a different station, but he came with me to the Eurostar entrance and waved me off. It was really sad to say bye and end our trip, but it was exciting to be heading off to cooking school. 

A mean customs lady and a couple of train rides later, and I was stepping off the train in Castle Cary, Somerset, England. Time to go spend 3.5 weeks living with strangers and cooking all day! 

Conclusion:
Paris was wonderful. It's a city that's loved by people around the world because it's romantic and beautiful with delicious food, historic buildings, famous art, walkable streets and much more. It's the city of light, and although I find that it's easy for Paris to be bit of a cliche, it was still a lovely end to our backpacking trip. It was nice to just wander around and soak up the city, not to mention staying in a nice hotel was a bit of a luxury. And overall the backpacking trip was better than I had ever hoped for. I had looked forward to going backpacking ever since Selina went and to finally be able to go was amazing. Getting to travel to cities I had never been to with Nathan who was practically the perfect travel companion was incredible. My family trips are always fantastic, but the experience of traveling light and being independent without a set agenda was lots and lots of fun. The perfect way to kick off my gap year! I can't wait to go backpacking again.

Day Trip to Dortmund

We made a stop on our way from Prague to Paris to visit Dortmund, Germany. Dortmund is home to the Borussia Dortmund soccer club, Nathan's favorite team. It was his special wish to visit the city and stadium, so we got off our night train early in the morning, left our bags in the station, and enjoyed a day in Dortmund. 

Logo of flowers

We started off by going to a giant park called Westfalen. Puma had revealed the new jersey design for the soccer club by making a giant version out of flowers. After a certain date, people were allowed to take the flowers. We arrived the morning after the flowers were free for grabs, so some were gone but quite a few remained. We took photos and grabbed a souvenir yellow marigold. We then went to downtown Dortmund to have breakfast and look around a little. We didn't have time to see much, but it looked like Dortmund was a nice city with a cathedral in the center and a busy pedestrian main street. We then went to the stadium, where we first looked around the museum (or borrouseum as they call it) then went to the souvenir shop. After that we took a stadium tour. Unfortunately, the tour and museum were all in german so I didn't get much out of it, but Nathan loved it. The only bad thing was that we didn't have time to get Nathan's name printed on his new Dortmund jersey that he bought, but besides that it was a good visit. We then got on our train for Paris!

The hallowed grounds of the stadium

Partying Prague

Day one:

Lennon Wall

We arrived in Prague from Bratislava. Our hostel, Sir Toby's, was quite out of the way. At first I was disappointed to see that we were so far away from the city center in a quiet, uninteresting neighborhood, but the hostel itself turned out to be very nice and bustling. It was also close to a club that had a lot of good reviews so Nathan and I decided to check it out. Our only real "night out" of the entire trip seemed to be appropriate in Prague, a city famed for its social scene. The club turned out to be a really cool place that consisted of a whole bunch of rooms with interesting decor, the lower ones having music and more of the club scene but the rest being a restaurant. We popped into the club part and couldn't stand the electronic music so just hung out for a bit on the multileveled deck which was packed with people. We're not exactly party animals, so we headed back to the hostel after relaxing for a bit.

Day Two:

We started off by visiting the castle area, which had the palace and cathedrals. It was quite an extensive set up, but we got to see a lot of it. After taking Euro History, it was fun to see where the famed Defenestration of Prague occurred in the palace (throwing Catholics out the window and starting the Thirty Years War). We then looked at an art collection, the senate house, St. Nicholas Church, the Lennon Wall (I added my own cliched mark), the Kafka museum, Charles bridge, Charles bridge museum, and walked around the old town district. We stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe and then grabbed a sausage dinner from street vendors. 

View of the Tyn church from the clock tower

Day three:

On the third day we started off by looking at the municipal building (famous for its art nouveau) and watching the famous clock in the town square strike the hour with its moving figures. Then we went to the Jan Hus monument, St. Nicholas church (a second one- confusing, I know), toured the town hall, climbed the clock tower, visited synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, and then went to Vysehrad Park which is in a old cliff top fortress. There we snacked and napped so we could have a quick break from touring. Then we continued again, going to Wenceslas Square and the Museum of Communism. The museum was quirky and interesting; I really enjoyed it. After a delicious food stall dinner (the roasted ham is sooo good), we watched the sunset over the river and ended our evening with a drink at the famous Americky Bar in the Municipal House, apparently one of the oldest bars in Europe.

Early morning on the Charles Bridge

Day four:

Our last day in Prague. We got up super early to pack and check out then rushed to Charles Bridge so we could see the bridge nice and empty of tourists. It was really cool to see the city before it filled up with masses of foreigners. We wandered around until restaurants opened and then had breakfast, after which we popped into Tyn Church. We then spent the afternoon walking around and enjoying the city without a rush to go see things. The last thing we visited was the Veletrzni Palace, a massive modern and contemporary art museum. It was too big to see everything, but we did get to see some of it's giant collections. We then had dinner, got our bags from the hostel, and got on our night train.

Touching this statue means you'll return

Conclusion:

Prague was one of my favorite cities. It seemed to have a lot more tourists though, definitely more big tour groups. Lots of Americans too which hadn't necessarily been the case elsewhere. Prague is famous for its partying scene, which we didn't really experience on this visit, but you can definitely get the party vibe from the city- lots of young people and energy. Interesting historic sites, pretty city on a river, and an extensive yet walkable city centre/old town area made Prague a great place to visit. Definitely need to go back at some point.

Briefly in Bratislava

Our day trip to Bratislava wasn't very exciting. We got there, climbed up to look at the castle, wandered around the old town, had lunch, and then killed some time by looking at statues before getting back on our train. To be fair to Bratislava, we didn't look particularly hard for museums or hidden sights, but on a quick visit for just a few hours not much popped out. Even Ljubljana has more to look at and was prettier. The old town was fine and the castle was a castle, but the river and rest of the city wasn't particularly appealing. The Soviet built apartment buildings across the river were particularly unattractive. Sorry Bratislava, but I can't say I'd ever want to return.

Statue hunting for entertainment

Bratislava Castle

Visionary Vienna

I call Vienna visionary in my title because as the seat of the Habsburg rule and center of the Austro-Hungarian empire, for years Vienna was one of the intellectual and cultural centers of Europe. It attracted visionaries from all fields, though perhaps most famously those in the field of music. Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss and many more brought to life their musical genius in Vienna. Hyper-romantic images of grandiose ballgowns and graceful waltzes are still linked to the name Vienna. These were the images that filled my mind as we pulled into the station in Vienna. Though not as well versed on the Habsburg empire as I perhaps should be, I still have that widely found girlish longing for the bygone age of balls and operas, and that was enough to have me excited for Vienna. 

Day One

Hostel Ruthensteiner was located conveniently close to the train and metro station, though not the city center.

Stras with Strauss

A three day transport card fixed that problem though and I enjoyed the busy atmosphere at the hostel. Unlike our past hostels, people sat around in a casual bar near the entrance and chatted and drank in the evenings. Though Nathan and I were basically out all day and crashed right when we came back, it did add a nice buzz to the place and it was amusing to witness the flirting and friendship making. 

Once again, we only had two nights so as soon as we dumped our bags we headed out to catch some of the recommended places that were still open. We went to the Leopold Museum in MuseumsQuartier (the former royal stables) and saw a lot of Klimt and Schiele art, along with other famous Austrian artists. We then went to the Kunst Historisches Museum and saw a temporary exhibit on art with two figures and their collection of "kunstkammer" objects, which were exotic objects that Habsburgs and nobles collected to display in their palaces. We then visited St. Stephen's Cathedral in the city center, which is named for the same saint as the school in Austin (the Budapest one was named after a Hungarian king). It was too dark to see the detail though so we decided to come back some other time. 

We then enjoyed a very nice but expensive meal (oops) at a nearby restaurant before catching the metro to go to Prater Park and the famous Wiener Risenrad. The Risenrad is a big, old Ferris wheel which is part of a mini amusement park inside the city park. It wasn't very busy when we went so we had a cabin to ourselves and enjoyed the night view of the city. After the Ferris wheel I was determined to find a place to celebrate the Fourth of July with fellow Americans so I searched for American bars or restaurants on my Vienna App and found one in the city center.

Habsburg Summer Palace

Unfortunately "Nightfly's American Bar" turned out to be a swanky, deserted place that was very nice but with no sign of holiday festivities or Americans. Since it was late and we were worried about the metro closing, I had one symbolic celebratory drink and we headed back to the hostel. 

Day Two

We started off our second day by heading out to the place on our "to see" list that was the furthest away- Schönbrunn Palace, the Habsburg's summer residence. I really liked it, it was like a smaller version of Versailles. The interior wasn't nearly as ornate as Versailles but the gardens were wonderful. We then went to the Naschmarkt, a food market which was nice but kind of awkwardly positioned on a narrow divider between two streets. Next we went to the Belvedere Museum specifically to seen Klimt's "The Kiss." It was impressive to see how big and sparkly it was. After that we went to the main palace in the city center, the Hofsburg Palace. We went into the royal apartments and the Sisi museum. Sisi was a Habsburg empress who was super beautiful and vain but was assassinated and was turned into a bit of myth. I found her very interesting. In fact all of the royalty I learned about sounded like something out of a book, their lives were so dramatic. 

We finished off the day by revisiting the cathedral in light, going to Stadtpark to see the Strauss statue and ending off the evening with a classical music concert that showcased composers that lived in Austria, ballet and opera. It was a very touristy set up but still quite interesting. 

Concert in Stadtpark

Day Three/ Conclusion

We decided to cut short our last day in Vienna. Overall, it was a pretty, historic town but not super exciting. We thought we would add in another stop to our trip. We left Vienna to catch a train to go to Bratislava, Slovakia for the day.

Buzzing Budapest

Day One 

After a six and a half hour train ride, we arrived in Budapest. It was difficult to find our hostel as it was not well marked and a little grungy from the outside, but HappyHostel turned out to be a comfy and clean home base. We didn't see much of the other guests, but the owner was very useful and loaded us with information, offers and advice. From having looked at our Lonely Planet guide, we knew that there was a ton of stuff we wanted to do and we only had two nights to see as much as possible. 

Since museums were already closed, we decided to walk around and see what Budapest was like in the evening. We strolled down the main pedestrian street, Vaci, and into Erzebe Square which fills up with thousands of people hanging out and drinking at night.

Sunset over the Chain Bridge on the Danube

It was quite a scene. We stopped to buy the mandatory pins at Hard Rock Cafe and ended up having dinner there as ribs just sounded too good to pass up. After dinner we walked down to the Danube and over the Chain Bridge. At night all the bridges and big buildings along the river are lit up and it creates a magical scene. After a quarter of a day in Budapest, I already knew I liked the city a lot and there would be no way to see it all in two nights. 

Day Two

Big touring day! So much to see, so much walking to do. I'm pretty proud of how much we covered, but we still couldn't do everything. We went to the biggest Synagogue in Europe, explored Castle Hill with its many old bullrings (including going into the National Gallery in the old palace), toured the Hungarian Parliament building, took in the view from the top of St. Stephen's basilica, visited a bath (not enough time to go in), went to Heroes' Square and Andrassy Avenue, enjoyed a nighttime river cruise and wandered around the famous ruins pub area but were too tired to stay out. 

Fun Hungarian Patterns in St. Matthias Church

Most of this was done on foot and I really enjoyed walking the city streets. I can see why they call Budapest "the Paris of the East." It's not at all what I expected. I think of Hungary as being more rough around the edges and with more of an Eastern/gypsy feel but that's not how Budapest was at all. With grand old buildings, wide tree-lined streets, and a bustling population the city has a sophisticated, historic vibe but with a modern and well-maintained aspect as far as quality of transportation and public spaces.

Nothing like the chaotic feel of Istanbul. The way it's set up on the Danube contributes to the romance of the city because the river with its many bridges is definitely stunning. I also really like the Hungarian style of colors and patterns. My favorite place we visited was probably St. Matthias's Cathedral on Castle Hill. The inside was completely covered with a code variety of patterns and colors and I loved it, especially since it was so different from most churches I've visited. 

Day Three

Because we loved Budapest so much, Nathan and I decided to take a later train so we could fit in a last visit to the Central Hall Market. It's a bunch of stalls inside of a big building next to the river. We wandered through the food stalls and got some pastries and fruit for breakfast. I was sad to leave Budapest and will for sure be coming back. To do in Budapest wish list: baths, opera house, house of terror, hospital in the rock

Conclusion:

House of Parliament

Budapest was an unexpected gem. It's funny how completely wrong an uninformed idea of somewhere can be. It was a reminder of how delightful it can be to travel to new places and to always have an open mind about unknown destinations. The other cities I visited on this trip I felt like I got to see most of the main tourist sights but not quite so with Budapest. I'd love to go back and stay for a couple of weeks. I can not understand a word of Hungarian because it could be an alien language, but luckily we haven't had any issues with language barriers. I'm constantly impressed with the people who we interact with who can communicate in four or five languages. Guess that's part of living in Europe and working in the tourist industry. We've seen travelers from all over Europe, they're lucky how close countries are! I wish it was as easy to travel to places from the U.S., I absolutely love the Eurail system. Train travel is the way to do it. Next stop- Vienna!

Hurray Hrvatska

Day One 
We arrived in Zagreb, Croatia (called Hrvatska by Croatians) in the afternoon. Stepping out of the station, I was pleasantly surprised by a small green park with a statue and important looking building. It was a good first impression of Zagreb, and I looked forward to seeing more of the city. We located Hostel Chic easily, as it a was super close to the train station. It lacked some of the amenities and common spaces of the hostel in Ljubljana, but was clean and comfortable and colorfully painted. We headed out right away to change money and see some museums before they closed.

However, that day was not a normal day in Zagreb. Police stood on every corner, the streets were closed off, fancy people filled the Sheraton and the entire museum district was off limits. This was because at midnight Croatia was going to become the 28th county in the EU and lots of politicians and important people were taking part in the ceremony in the main square.

St. Mark's Church with the classic checkers

Although we were bummed we couldn't go see the museums as the area was closed off (I'm guessing for private viewings for visiting dignitaries), Nathan and I were excited at our excellent timing. It seemed that we had come to Croatia on an exciting day. 

We walked around a bit, had dinner, then went back to the hostel. Croatia joined the EU at midnight, and we didn't think that we could make it through the celebrations without a nap. So we headed out to the main square a little but after 11 and joined the big crowd. There were some interesting cultural showcases of presumably famous Croatian singers and dancers, but mostly a lot of speeches. We couldn't see the fireworks and even after midnight the speeches were continuing and people were leaving. I'm assuming people were partying in other parts of the city, but not too much excitement where we were. It had been cool to be part of the crowd at a historic event, but in the end mostly anticlimactic. We got ice cream, went back and watched some of the post-event musical show (electric violinist and cellist) and then returned to the hostel. 


Day Two
Our only full day in Zagreb was filled with trying to fit in all the museums and places we wanted to visit. It was difficult though as it was a Monday and most of the museums were closed, leaving us with very limited options. The Museum of Broken Relationships was quirky with its donated items accompanied with personal stories. St. Mark's Church stood out with its Croatian red and white checkered roof. The Croatian History Museum was disappointing as it was relocating and only had one exhibit about a shipwreck open.

EU flags everywhere! Welcome Croatia

The Dolac Market was also a miss as we arrived too late (even though the guidebook said it should be open) and most of the stalls were gone. Zagreb Cathedral was tall and gothic. We found a club jersey for Nathan, ate a Croatian lunch of roasted lamb, took a mandatory afternoon nap at the hostel and headed back out.

We tried to go to an art museum but the line was insanely long so we bailed on it. At this point most of the museums were closed so we wandered around the city. Tkalciceva is the main pedestrian cafe street of the area, so we relaxed at "History Club Caffe" and did our research for Budapest and wrote in our notebooks. We then walked around the city center and had dinner, which included trying one of the national dishes, which was pasta filled with cheese. I liked it, except for the icky sauce which felt like eating sand. 

Day Three
We had a morning train to Budapest so we popped into a grocery store for breakfast and snack supplies, changed our leftover money back to euros and caught our six and a half blue train to Hungary's capital. 

Conclusion:
Yay for Croatia! Very exciting for them to be joining the EU, even though many Croats were less than pleased because Croatia is suffering massive unemployment and economic issues and some Croats felt that joining the EU would make it worse. 

All ready to head to Budapest!

However, even the EU celebrations couldn't make Zagreb very interesting. In just two nights, I felt like I saw most of what Zagreb had to offer. At least as far as the city center/tourist area goes. It's bigger than Ljubljana, with more people and more to do, but for some reason it just wasn't very interesting. It's hard to pick a specific reason but Nathan and I just weren't very enthusiastic about the city. I didn't really get a feel for it's history (maybe because our lack of museum options) and I also felt the city didn't have much personality or charm. Of course, first impressions aren't fair and we were there for a short time so I should give it a second chance. But as is, no real desire to return to Zagreb. I hear the Dalmatian Coast and Dubrovnik are where it's at though, so hopefully 
I'll be back to Croatia. 

(I only saw one Dalmatian dog the whole time, maybe they're all on the beaches?)

Lovely Ljubljana

Day 1 

We arrived in the afternoon in Slovenia and took the bus from the airport into town. We were left at the central bus station to find our own way to the hostel. Luckily for us, as we would soon find out, Ljubljana is an easily walkable and navigable city. In fact, it feels more like a sleepy small town than a proper city. It was gray and cool with a slight drizzle, but we quickly made our way to the Tresor Hostel. This was our first hostel stop, but if anything it was more like a cute boutique hotel. A former bank, the place was nicely decorated with quotes about money and was clean with lots of amenities such as a game room and reading corner to make it a chill place for backpackers to hangout. I was surprised to see not only backpackers, but also much older people, even one with a small child, staying at the hostel. 

Picturesque Ljubljanski River

Tresor Hostel was very conveniently located, situated between the main street of the city and the tourist filled, historic old city district on the river.

It was also just down the street from the main park, Tivoli. Basically everything we could want to see was within a 5-10 minute walking radius. As it is already getting late, we decided to just walk around and orient ourselves. A walk through Tivoli Park (which included trying the local favorite of a horse burger- not recommended), a quick peek in at the Contemporary History Museum, a thorough exploration of the river area complete with ice cream sampling, a brief checkout of what the main street looked like at night and then doing laundry at the hostel concluded our first day. 

Day 2

Our one full day in Ljubljana was spent visiting all the essential tourist sights. The day turned out to be blue skies and sunny weather, great for wandering around. First we visited the open air market located behind the cathedral. I bought cherries and quickly devoured them- delicious. Gotta love cherry season! Then we went up via funicular to the most distinctive landmark of the city, the Ljubljana castle. We walked around the walls, tower, chapel, jail and information displays, enjoying the view from the highest point in the city. We visited the City Museum to learn more about the history of Ljubljana and walked through the small but ornately painted cathedral. 

After ice cream and a quick nap to energize us, we went on a river cruise for an hour (we were the only two on it). We splurged a little on a nice dinner at a traditional Slovenian food restaurant and then walked out of the tourist area to Metalkova, an army barracks turned free-living commune. We were too late for the galleries and too early for the alternative club scene, but it was an interesting set up with art covering every surface.

Dragon Bridge

Besides some more museums, we had basically covered all the main tourist points of Ljubljana. Although there wasn't much to see, the city definitely has an appeal with its quaint, old Europe charm. Cafe filled streets, old stone buildings painted pretty colors and a pretty river scene gave the city a very relaxing vibe. A nice place to hang out for some peace and quiet. 

Day 3

Our last morning in Ljubljana we packed up and checked out, leaving our bags at the hostel until our afternoon train ride. We started off with a visit to the Museum of Modern Art, then rented bikes. Ljubljana is extremely bike friendly with bike lanes painted on sidewalks and streets. Since everything is so close by, we biked around the old town, through the park, into the suburbs and then back to town all fairly quickly. It was a nice way to get a last view of the city. We grabbed lunch and one last Slovenian ice cream, then caught our train for Zagreb. 

Conclusion: 

Such a contrast to Istanbul! Going from the chaos and vibrancy of massive Istanbul to the mellow and cute town of Ljubljana was quite a change. It was a great start to our actual backpacking though as we had a nice hostel and a city that was easy to see with only two nights. I get the feeling future cities will be a bit crazier. Ljubljana was easy to handle with everything close together (all walking, we didn't need public transport), no traffic or huge crowds, and not so many things to visit. I could see myself coming back if I wanted a pretty location to relax and get some quiet time sitting next to a river in a square. But besides that, not much more to do in Ljubljana.

Embracing my inner prehistoric woman in one of Ljubljana's museums