la semana santa.

well, i am finally back in barcelona-- "home" from my "spring break." i know i updated a little bit from berlin but i figure an overview of each city will be easiest (if i can remember it all). i dont have the pics on my computer yet and i dont know if ill be able to post any on here (it takes forever) so i am working on setting up a good picture site. i dont really like snapfish so ill let you all know when i get on that :)

BERLIN
was really cold and rainy! but its a great city with a lot of history. we went on a walking tour in the rain for about 3 hours which was a nice, wet and cold overview of the city. a lot of berlin was destroyed during the war so its a very modern city. the next day, like i said, i went to the concentration camp by myself (on a tour). it was really interesting and was the only day we really had some sun. the next day we went to the pergamon museum which is a lot of ancient architecture (a lot of greek stuff in particular, hence the name), and we got to see an ishtar gate which is one of the gates from the ancient city of babylon. it was huge and beautiful! and of course, i got to eat my brautwurst and sing david hasselhoff many times.

PRAGUE
is like a fairy tale city! it is just what you would imagine a little european town would look like. there was an easter festival going on and so they had lots of little stands with arts and crafts and FOOD. i had a sausage and some delicious fried thing with nutella all over it! we went up in this clock tower to get a good view of the city and as soon as we got to the top, it started snowing... like blizzard, blowing in your face, now we can't see the city kind of snow. luckily it cleared up after a few minutes (but continued to snow on and off the rest of our time there). we went to the palace (or was it castle? i can never remember... is there a difference?) and found some cool bars/clubs at night. we went to an old convent and looked at really old religious art and ate some more of those fried nutella things! despite the freezing cold, i loved prague.

VIENNA
we were only here for one full day plus the days we arrived and left so we tried to shove in as much as we could! the first night we got in on the train and went to a museum. king tut was in town but cost about $25 so we went to a museum that had mummies and lots of ancient artifacts and tons of great paintings too. it was HUGE and by the time we made it half way through the art we were so tired and hungry we started to just glance as we walked by. we were so tired that night that i think i passed out before midnight! the next day we went to the palace and walked around the gardens, in the labyrinth, and ate apple strudel and authentic viennese food. delish! that night i had the greatest beer of my life. the man told us it was velkapopovicky (or something) but when we bought it in a store in budapest, it was not the same. all i can say is that it was like drinking sweet nectar from heaven... anyway, the next day we just walked around town and enjoyed the bit of sunshine and then caught the train to...

BUDAPEST
we kind of expected it to be like the tropical paradise to the end of our freezing cold journey but alas, it was just as cold and the forecast was more snow (though it held out for us!). the first day we just checked out some local bars and the next day was easter. i decided to go to church so i found one on the internet in english and went. it was nice. we sang mostly in hungarian (and by we i mean they) and the pastor was american but had a translator. interesting to say the least. then i had a nice easter sausage from one of the easter festival vendors. then we walked a LOT, went to the castle, looked at the danube, froze and then my legs decided they had done quite enough walking. we cooked some spaghetti and ate with some french guy in our hostel who decided to mooch off us (but hey, it was easter). the next day we went to the thermal baths! perfect ending to our trip. we had no idea what to expect but it turned out great. tons of people-- majority old hairy fat hungarian men in speedos but lots of families, old ladies, and tourists. we actually went outside in our bathing suits (mind you, we had just been in wool coats, hats, gloves and scarfs) and joined the party! we got in on a whirlpool where i got smashed against a wall by some 10 yr olds and almost crushed an old hungarian woman who just thought it was funny. then we hit up the warmer spas, the sauna and steam room (mmm the smell of steam coming off 20 of the previously mentioned men in a tiny little room...) and even got a little bit of a tan while basking in the "sun" outside. it was very relaxing and a good ending to say the least. at night we had some "authentic" hungarian food. they described some onions and potatoes that sounded delish and when i got it-- onion rings and french fries. haha. not to mention the guy talked us into a hungarian apertif that turned out to be 800 huf each (equivalent to about 3.5 euro... maybe 5 US dollars... and they were LITTLE!).

and then we headed back to barcelona early this morning and here i am! i managed to live out of a "weekend" north face backpack with 3 pairs of jeans and about 6 shirts for 13 days. haha. needless to say, i re-wore everything more than twice and today we weren't smelling so good. i couldn't fit a towel and some of the hostels overcharged (in my humble opinion) so twice i used a pillowcase to dry myself. folks, this is my life. and it is great.

i only have one more month here in barcelona and i can't believe it! time has gone SOOO fast (as it often does when one is having fun). my momma is coming to visit and then i think we are going to do italy! i am excited that someone gets to see and experience this fairytale life i've been living for the past 3 months:)

but of course, i miss you all and miss home too. when i come back it will be too soon and not soon enough, if you know what i mean.

ill let you all know about pictures!!!