Madrid

Now after 10 days of traveling the logical thing would be to stay put for a while but nope not me. Got back Sunday night and was already heading of to Madrid by Wednesday. This turned out to be one of the funest most bizarre weekends of my life.

The weekend started of on a rocky note with me getting to Madrid and having my phone run out of money the second I attempted to contact Natalie and Christina the girls I was meeting up with.

If I were anywhere else I would have freaked out but since it was just Madrid I felt pretty good, so I took a cab to the apartment were we were gonna be spending the weekend. I get out of the cab and start looking for the building when I start hearing chanting and a sea of red start coming my way.

WOO I was in the middle of a mob/riot/protest !!! how exciting

It was at this point that I started to get a bit more nervous because I could not find this apartment to save my life. Thank god for I phones tho, I was able to use the internet to get in contact with Natalie and all was well.

The rest of the weekend can be summed up as such…

Palace. Gelato. Gardens. Gelato. Dinner. Tour. Gelato. Nap. Kapital. Cathedral. Gelato. Royal Gardens. Gelato.

10 diaz, 5 paises, Una Mochilita

Stage 3: Budapest Hungry

We arrive to Budapest bright and early and immediately changed our money into Hungarian huffs or as we liked to call them huffelpuffs. After doing so we took a nice little 20 min walk to the loft hostel, the place were we would be staying at for the next 2 nights.

It was at this point in the trip that I thought Cory, Madeline, Meg, Ryan and Ryan might murder me…because I had booked the hostel.

We arrived at the address of where our hostel should have been tired and cold and all we wanted to do was move in. So we open the door to the Loft hostel in immediately find ourselves on the set of a terribly low budget bad guy kills all the stupid teens horror movie.

The light is flickering as we walk in and in front of us is a courtyard that was in major need of some upkeep. The skies were gray which only added to the eerie vibe the building was giving off, there was not a soul in sight and all the plants in that courtyard were beyond dead.

To our right we see a little sign that reads “ The Loft Hostel 4^th Floor”. We had two ways of getting up there the stairs or a coffin sized elevator that seriously looked like it belong in a haunted house or tower of terror at the very least. So as we make our way up the run down stairs I can feel everyone starting to get mad at me for booking what we all thought at that moment was going to be our death…

the elevator had a 600lb weight limit... we crammed 6 of us in there and lived

Things didn’t get better when we got on the 3^rd floor. Again there we were greeted with another sign pointing toward the loft hostel. We then had to walk around the 3^rd level of the courtyard to the other side were there was another set of stairs.

These stairs were wooden and ridiculous run down and to make matters worse there was acreppy wooden door on this ‘staircase’ that led to nowhere. I though for sure we were going to be taken. I didn’t understand though how this could have happened. The hostel had a 98% approval rating and it looked great in pictures…

We finally made our way all the way up to the ‘4^th floor’ were there was a door at the end of the hallway that had Loft Hostel on it. We open the door and YES its not a hell hole. Its actually a nice place.. its actually

a really nice place!?!? With FREE cookies and nuttela andhot chocolate. YES

Once inside we got settled into our private 6 person room …were for the first time in a week we all had OUR OWN BEDS we made our way to Budda. (the other side of the river)

We did some sightseeing and climbed up a mountain to St. Matias church and the palace

(we would later find out that there were stairs)

After a couple of hours of walking around Budda in the snowrain we decided to go buy groceries and then head to the hostel and make some dinner.

Because the euro is stronger than the hufflepuff and because hungry is not an expensive country to travel within we were able to again get a ridiculous amount of food for close to nothing. It was also at this time that we discovered the most delicious thing EVER

For about 50cents you could get a fresh croissant that was as big as your head that was filled and dipped in chocolate. Naturally we all got one.

For dinner that day we decided to make breakfast omelets. Madeline and I made this and added one special ingredient to the mix. Wine. Turns out eggs taste better when they have been mixed with a bit of wine who knew?

After dinner we decided to have a chill night so we stayed in at the hostel that night and did what every American student in Europe should do. Watch Taken.

Day 2

The next day we got up bright and early and made our way to our free waking tour.

After the walking tour we went home and had some lunch and then went right back out because our walking tour guide had told us that this was a very special weekend in Budapest because there was a lot going on. Like a massive pillow fight in the middle of the town square were people write words on pillows and then have a pillow fight as a way of letting out negative feelings out in a positive way. Or at least that’s how she explained it.

So we get to this square eager to see this pillow fight and WOMP WOMP nothing. Nada. No one was there. It was at this point that we started to question everything our tour guide had told us.

Was Budapest really pronounced Budda-pesht by Hungarians or was that some joke they played on all the Americans? Was the market really the best place to eat? The list of doubts goes on….

After that letdown we headed home and made pasta for dinner.

Day 3

We got another early start to make the most of our last full day of break and walked around the famous streets of Budapest making our way to the Opera house and the Terror museum before finally making our way to city park.

After walking around city park for awhile we made our way the Hungarian bath house.

Which as home to more than 15 different indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna and spa. This would be the perf

ect way to relax after 10 days of traveling.

My favorite bath was the one that was outdoor. Although you nearly froze to death trying to get into it once inside it was well worth it the water was so warm and it was really nice just to be able to sit there and look up at the sky.

After spending a couple of hours at the baths we made our way to dinner. We had heard nothing but positive things about this little restaurant by our hostel that made great duck so we decided to go there.

The entire 30min walk back Madeline kept singing. Oh NOM NOM where’s my Duck. Once there Cory, Madeline, Meg and Ryan got the duck. I got steak which came served with a mountain of fried caramelized onion and French fries. NOM NOM

After a very satisfying meal we headed back to the hostel and got ready for the long day of traveling ahead of us

DAY4

We woke up bright and early having really enjoyed the past 9 days but more than ready and eager to be back home in Granada. We left our hostel and started making our way to catch a bus which would take us from Budapest to Bratsliva, where we would be flying out of to head home to Granada.

Were walking and walking, and we start noticing that were still not there and still not there. Meg looks at her watch we have 15min to get there. So we power walk and power walk and power walk

Still no bus station in sight

10min left on the clock….

The 7 of us start full on running. This was not at all an enjoyable experience. For one running in boots is not comfortable or practical and running with a huge backpack which at that moment felt more like an 50lb gorilla is never okay.

We ran for a while the guys were a block or so ahead and after running up a flight of stairs we saw the bus. THANK GOD ryan had ran ahead and stalled the bus because if it were not for him we would have missed that bus because the second the last of us got on that bus was moving.

Looking back we are so lucky to have made that bus. I don’t event know what would have happened if we didn’t. How we would have gotten home and how much that would have cost all of us.

Once in Bratislava it quickly became apparent to us why the movie hostel was filmed there and we were more than happy to just board and plane and head on home

10 diaz, 5 paises, Una Mochilita

Stage 2: Vienna, Austria

After a very nice bus ride, which included Free WIFI we arrived in Austria. It was noticeably colder than Prague and we again severely underestimated how much warm clothes we would need to bring. It was during this part of the trip that Ryan Mcnallys’ fingers would turn blue … Vienna would be our Valley.

We arrived in Vienna early and immediately met up with Matt N. a friend from school who had agreed to host us for the next three days. After buying our tickets for the U BANN ( the most organized and efficient metro system I have ever ridden) we mad our way to Matt’s place which was about 20 min away. After settling into a room that should never have more than 7 people in it ever. We went off to explore Vienna.

After a few hours of walking in the snow and McNally losing all feeling in his hands we decided that it was time for dinner. We arrived at this restaurant called centimeter which had been highly recommended to us from students past. The restaurant had a whimsical feel to it with odd paintings on the walls and metric rulers everywhere. Now this restaurant was a little out of our way but we HAD to go there to get this legendary sausage/bacon/fries/heart attack dish.

When we arrived we all ordered and finished this dish, which included; a mountain of French fries and three sausages filled with cheese and wrapped in bacon. I felt like I was on Man v Food.

After that meal all 7 of us where in no shape to continue walking.. or sightsee or do any form of physical activity for that matter. So we headed back to Matt’s place were we relaxed and played cards before going out that night.

Vienna Day 2

The next day we got off to a bit of a slower start than normal but we had an amazing breakfast complete with eggs, toast, nuttella and my personal favorite…COLD MILK!?!?!

(the likes of which don’t exist in Spain)

Now our plan for this day was to take a walking tour of Vienna, because up to this point we had done and loved that in every city we went to. Only problem was for some odd reason Vienna did not offer ANY free walking tours, the best we could find was a ‘free self guided tour’ online. So we decided to do this and explore the city on our own.

It was freezing out. Everything in Vienna is to spread out to enjoy in the cold. Ryan’s hands turned blue again. Our ‘walking tour’ was a fail. After a couple of hours of aimlessly wandering and a few good sights later we decided to seek refuge in an American institution…McDonalds

Now for those of you who have never had the pleasure of traveling to Europe and experiencing Euro McDonalds I have this to say to you. We in America are being completely ripped off. Euro McDonalds are 100 times nicer than American ones there menus are more extensive including curly fires and waffle fries and their food just looks better than anything you could order from McDonalds in the states.

But enough about that. After our little McD’s break and some hot chocolate we made our way to the famous Palace which we were sure would not disappoint because 1. It’s a palace 2. We were told it had gardens that were comparable to those in Versailles. We didn’t think this all the way through…

The Palace itself was huge and beautiful but the gardens… well … everything was dead. As it should be in the middle of winter, but it does NOT make for good sightseeing. After that disappointing adventure we decided to make our way back to matt’s but not before stopping at a hill we passed on the way to the palace because Madeline NEEDED to take a picture on the hill and recreate scenes from the sound of music .

the hills are alive with the sound of music

palace

For dinner that day we were lucky enough to find a little Euro ALDI were we purchased a ton of food for about 5 euro. We made ourselves some pretty delicious grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and then got ready to meet up with some U of I friends that were studying abroad in Vienna’s business program.

(which I would like to point out at this time is NOT a real program because 1. They have a total of 16 days of class2. They got 3 credit hours for going skiing for a week)

Vienna Day 3

We woke up to find another miserably cold day in Vienna.. so we again decided to take our time leaving the warmth of Matt’s place. We made another awesome breakfast and then left to meet up with Kelsey, McKenna, Breanne and Estaban fellow Granada U of I’ers.

Since it was so cold again. Surprise. We decided to go to some of Vienna’s famous museums stopping first at a famous chocolate stand. NOM. And then making our way to a music museum

After awhile at museum we made our way to a world market and did a little souvenir shopping in sub zero weather before making our way back to Matt’s for dinner.

The day before we had agreed on having pasta for dinner on this night but again we didn’t think it all the way through, after making about 3 pounds of pasta and burning some garlic bread we realized we had one little problem…

Utensils . Turns out Matt only had 2 plates. 3 forks. 3 spoons. And for some odd reason 4 knifes. There were seven of us…

We ended up enjoying our pasta on napkins, which we felt were a suitable alternative to plates and doing what we could with our silverware situation. Bottom line we were savages it was both hilarious and sad watching us try to eat that pasta. I honestly felt like I was on survivor .

To top of the night we played some cards and got to bed early because we had an early bus to catch to Budapest