All Around Europe, and Back Again!

So, I already wrote about the flight from Budapest to Paris- time to back track a little bit, and actually tell you about my travels in Budapest, and then Paris as well. I write this now from my new home in Ishøj, Denmark. But of course, I'm behind on blogging, so you'll have to wait to hear about that :)

BUDAPEST
My flight to Budapest from Geneva was smooth as well. I can say this now, in retrospect (didn't want to speak too soon and jinx it!) but we were lucky enough to have no delayed or cancelled flights, which made travel pretty easy! It was cloudy when we left, which was disappointing, since we had hoped to see the Swiss Alps. I took my window seat (we've gotten pretty good at flying easyJet- there isn't assigned seating, so it's basically a mad rush to get in line to board, but we've been fortunate enough to make it on early enough to have a choice of seats), and proceeded to doze off. Luckily, I woke up in time to see 
that the skies had cleared, and we were flying right over the mountains! They were breathtaking! I hope to be able to go back, perhaps to ski.

Street in Budapest

We landed in Budapest and it was pretty dark and cloudy already (it was about 4:30 local time), and found our way to our hostel, which I have mentioned once already. If you are ever in Budapest, I definitely recommend Hostel Maverick- I can say with certainty that it was great for the entirety of our stay. The room was beautiful, kitchen and wi-fi were convenient, and Levi, at the front desk, was great!



Budapest itself was absolutely beautiful. We were staying in Pest; the city is broken down into two parts- Buda is the western side of the river, and 

Fisherman's Bastion, overlooking Pest  

Pest is the eastern side, so Budapest is the whole city. It was so picturesque, and the architectural style was very unique. We ended up trekking throughout the whole city by foot, of course! We saw St. Stephen's Basilica, the 

Fisherman's Bastion

Parliament Building, Margaret Island, in the middle of the Danube River, Fisherman's Bastion (picture a castle-like structure going along the top of the hills of Buda, overlooking the river and Pest- beautiful!), St. Matthais Church, Buda Castle, a church built into the hills (Cave Chapel), the Central Market (lots of fruit/produce, meat, crafts, and prepared foods for sale), and finally, the famous Chain Bridge at night, which was beautiful! It was a long, busy day, but we had to pack everything in!


For dinner, on Levi's recommendation, we went to (yes, a real meal!) Bali Restaurant, which does not actually serve Indonesian food, despite the name. 

Chain Bridge

Excited to try some Hungarian food, I had goulash and paprika chicken with buttered noodles- delicious! We also got free hot wine with our meal, a specialty of that part of Europe, or so I've been told. It was DELICIOUS (although I will admit that, for how much I enjoyed it, Danielle enjoyed it much more!), made with dry red wine, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and perhaps a few other ingredients, heated on the stove and served with a slice of orange. It was a wonderful treat :)

PARIS
After our long night, we slept in a little bit the next morning, before catching our flight to Paris, which I already described. We arrived in Paris fairly late in the evening, checked into St. Christopher's, our hostel, and in traditional Michelle-Danielle fashion, found a grocery store, where I purchased some food for the next few meals- a few carrots, 2 clementines, an apple, a large bag of sugar-glazed nuts (I don't generally like nuts, but the sugar made them great! and, protein filled!), and even a few turkey cold cuts! All for just over 4 Euro- such a good deal! We went back to the hostel to eat and plan our travels; the girls we were sharing the room with were extremely quiet (as in, we felt uncomfortable munching on our carrots, it was so quiet), so we went in the hall to plan our BUSY day of walking.

We certainly got a full day's worth of Paris in the next day! We woke up pretty early and had a FREE breakfast at our hostel! It was great- as many baguettes as we could eat, which was absolutely delicious. We took a few extra pieces to supplement our lunch, packed snugly in our purses, and began our journey.

We worked our way down towards the Seine and saw the Bastille, and then crossed the 

Notre Dame!

river and walked through the Jardin des Plantes, where we passed the menagerie, or, the zoo, and saw some cute wallabies. We then headed to the Pantheon, but on the way we stopped and got a chocolate eclair and a freshly made crepe with chocolate in it- nothing like a 10am snack! We saw the Pantheon (unlike the one in Rome, this was not free...so, we didn't go in), and then headed back towards the river to see Notre Dame. 

It was absolutely beautiful, and I took plenty of pictures.  

Arc de Triumphe

We finally got a few together- we discovered a few strategies to ensure our camera would not be taken- either asking a couple who also had a camera to take it, since we'd then take one of them, or asking someone who had a better camera than us. Haha. We then walked along the river (a long walk!) to the Lourve, where we stopped to take pictures, but then continued up to go see the Obelisk, and then the famous Arc de Triumphe. After standing in the middle of the street, more or less (by a crosswalk where cars weren't supposed to go), to get pictures, we headed for the Eiffel Tower, got some pictures, and continued to the nearest RER train station to go to Versailles.

By that time, we had been walking from about 8:45 until around 2 

Gates of Versailles

maybe, so our feet were NOT happy with us. Luckily, we had a short train ride to sit, rest our feet, and have some lunch. We arrived at Versailles not long after, and it was beautiful!! And we were even able to go in and bypass the usual 15 Euro fee, because we realized that EU residents ages 18-26 get in free, and we are currently legal residents, age 21, of Denmark! That was really exciting (and amazing!), so we wandered the palace and gardens until about 5, when it was getting dark.

Eiffel Tower at Night!

We then hopped on the train and headed to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night, making it just in time to see it sparkle. Of course, just as we were leaving to walk to dinner, it began to rain. Clearly we had rain coats and umbrellas (we didn't), so it was a very wet walk, and even a run at one point. I'm sure we were very entertaining. The place we wanted to eat at had closed, so we found a nearby restaurant that wasn't too expensive, but of course, the menu was all in french, and the waiter spoke no english. Ordering was interesting, to say the least. The food was good though, so it all worked out. We left just before 8 to head up to the Lourve (we also could get in for free!), and walked around the exhibits until closing, when they began to kick everyone out. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and many other amazing paintings and sculptures. I definitely wish I knew a little more about art and art history, but it was impressive none the less.

We then finally headed home, which was a VERY long walk after a VERY long day, and 

The Lourve

made it to our hostel. We didn't do much the next morning, just enjoyed our free breakfast and then headed for the airport, taking a metro and then a train. As mentioned previously, I received yet another pat down (because I look so suspicious, clearly), and then we headed back to Copenhagen.

My host family met me at the airport- Henrik (my host dad), Søs (my host mom), and Mads (my host brother)- everyone but Milo, my host dog, which was great! After a quick stop at the SAS desk to rebook my flight home, we headed to Ishøj, where my home for the next 4 months will be, about 20 minutes from the airport. That's all for now, but I promise I'll write more about getting settled in my next post- I'm sure this is long enough already!