Reunion in Europe

A few months ago, my friend from high school, who is teaching English in Spain, posted that she wanted to go on vacation over her Spring break. I immediately jumped at the chance to also travel during that time and asked where she was going. When she responded with Prague and Budapest I was positive I needed to go as well. Turned out our travel dates were the same and we found tickets to meet in Prague, travel to Budapest and we would finish in Rome. It was my first vacation since arriving in Morocco seven months ago and it was absolutely wonderful.

PRAGUE
I arrived in Prague and had a few days to myself before my friend Amanda joined me. Since I wanted to explore Prague with Amanda I decided to explore the outskirts of Prague until she arrived. One day I also left the city to see Karlstejn Castle which was a cute little city about 30 minutes outside of Prague.

Once Amanda arrived in Prague we set out to see all the sights. The historic old town was beautiful and we were lucky enough to have an amazing tour guide for our walking tour. The city was also decked out for Easter and we enjoyed all the delicious food that was to be found in the Easter Markets. We spent an afternoon walking around Prague Castle which has amazing views of the entire city of Prague. The Castle grounds are extensive and its not a castle per-say as much as city enclosed by a wall. Charles Bridge was also fun to walk around, listening to music groups perform, watch artists draw caricatures and enjoy the overall atmosphere. We sat down at a cafe just off Charles Bridge and enjoyed some wine as we waited for the sun to set and see the city lit up at night. Prague is an amazing city and I definitely recommend it to others for a travel destination.

Budapest
I was most excited about traveling to Budapest as my grandmother was Hungarian. I was not let down one bit. Budapest is split into two cities by the river Danube. One side is Buda and is hilly and has excellent views of Pest. Pest is flat and is home to churches, thermal bath houses, city markets and lots of history. When we arrived we walked over to the Buda side and walked up to the top of Gellart Hill. Not only is Gellart Hill a fun place to walk around but it has phenomenal views of Pest. Our first morning we did a walking tour and explored more of Pest and the UNESCO world heritage site of the Buda Castle district. One of the coolest things I saw was a lock statue. It was a gate around a tree with hundreds of different locks on it. The story is this, when you find your true love, you should buy a lock and engrave your true loves initials along with your own onto it. Then you put it onto the gate and throw the key away into the Danube river. There were a few combination locks which our guide said were for those who have short romances. There were also a few huge locks with lots of little locks on it which she explained were for those who had many loves. I thought it was awesome. I really enjoyed learning more about Hungary's history and culture.

In the afternoon, we decided to further explore the culture by visiting a thermal bath house and spent a few hours enjoying the 20+ different pools available. It was a little piece of heaven for me. After the bath house, we met up with a very distant cousin of mine (a friend of someone my mom met who happens to have the same last name as my grandmother) who took us to the Citadel so we could see Budapest at night from above. It was absolutely breathtaking. Our final day we went to Margaret Island and enjoyed relaxing a bit in the park.

Rome
We were in Rome at a very exciting time as it was Easter weekend. We weren't sure how much we would be able to see but our first day was long and we saw over 20 attractions. Our first stop was the Colosseum and Palatine Hill/the Roman Forum. The line to get in was wrapping around the Colosseum and for a split second we didn't think we would get in. Lucky for us we were approached by a guide asking if we wanted to join a tour group. We jumped at the chance to be able to go in so a little later we were in the historic Colosseum. The Colosseum has been through a lot and because of that it is mostly restored and not much is still original. However, it is still a must-see while in Rome. Our next stop was Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Again, it is such an experience to walk through the remains of buildings that have been around for so many thousands of years. We could have spent hours walking the grounds but we still had a lot to see!

We weaved up and down streets for the rest of day walking to see different churches, archeological sites, fountains, piazzas and buildings. By the end of our first day we had seen most of the south western corner of Rome. Our second day was Easter Sunday and what else do you do on Easter Sunday in Rome but go to St. Peter's Square? That's what we did and by some miracle, we actually ended up in the square. We heard the Pope's address, we saw the hundreds of people watching from outside the square and in, and we enjoyed being a part of it. Afterwards, we found a small little restaurant and enjoyed a delicious Easter lunch. The rest of the day we spent weaving up and down streets again seeing some more of the sights like the Spanish Steps. Even though it was Easter, there was so much to see and do! For my short two and a half days in Rome I feel like I really was able to see it and experience all that the city had to offer.

This vacation was exactly what I needed. Right before leaving I was having trouble with my main job being teaching English. I am not a teacher and I do not really enjoy teaching enough for that to be my only job here. When I returned, I found out that I will have the opportunity to help out with Special Olympics at the end of the month, my AIDS awareness grant will be getting underway soon and I have a few other small things to keep me busy. I feel rejuvenated and refreshed and am ready to get back to work. So with that said, bring it on Morocco. Show me what you got. I'm ready.