Budapest, Hungary "The Night Ashley Hurt Herself"

After riding in a train overnight from Salzburg we finally arrived in Budapest, Hungary. The day had been a rough one so we decided to get all dolled up and treat ourselves to dinner. We were looking for a specific restaurant in our guidebook but found this neat little cafe instead. The menu was amazing (see pictures below) and we decided that because fois gras was so cheap we should have it for every meal while in Budapest. Mmm... fois gras is yummy...
































Here is where the meal took a turn for the worst. We had this great Hungarian wine that they call "Bulls Blood" so we decided two bottles would be adequate. Mix that with a sweet wine they brought us to go with the fois gras and shots of Palinka, a hungarian liquor we were told could be used as an apertif and digestif and the night got a little ugly. Please note that we are not very big girls. Ashley did not feel very well the next day.

Salzburg Sightseeing

Christmas is apparently a pretty big deal in Austria. We came across a couple holiday stores but this one was by far the largest. I took a few pictures (mainly to show my mom) but thought I'd include one to show everyone. It was five floors of packed rooms like this one. It took all of my willpower not to go completely nuts in there. I had to keep telling myself "you will have to carry it on and off trains..."




There was a large festival going on while we were there. This was the screen that we saw a very strange Mozart Opera that included a song sung to a shoe the size of a baguette. Yeah, we didn't get it either~










I can't figure out how to rotate this picture so you will just have to look at it sideways. I took this to show what most of the day looked like for me. That is to say that Marianne walks a lot faster than me so I was consistently a good 10 feet behind her the entire time. I consider myself more of a stroll-er, I like to take in the scenery a bit slower than most people.





This is part of the walk up to the Salzburg castle. Why did everything have to be built on top of a hill? I was passed up more than once by a woman wearing high heels. Those European women are crazy!

Sound of Music Garden (Salzburg)

Some of you may remember the outdoor scenes from the movie "The Sound of Music." These are all pictures from the gardens used in that movie. More than once you could here people breaking out in their own personal renditions of "Doe a Deer..." I'd be lieing if I told you that Marianne and I didn't sing it while we were there.

Salbzurg, Austria YoHo Youth Hostel Aug 10th


After our fantastic dinner we stopped in at the pub in our Youth Hostel. It was a really neat place to stay and the bar was fairly crowded.











This was one of the guys staying in the same dorm room as us. He was from Scotland but had an English accent. Huh? We think he was just going to school in Scotland but we're not sure. He was a lot of fun and the three of us managed to stay past closing. Oops!









Marianne's expertise in fish came in handy that first night. This was the night manager for the hostel and he had a major fish phobia (What are goldfish going to do to you anyway?). She helped him clean the tank and he hung out with us in the bar after it closed. I also played soccer with him down the hallway for a bit but I, unfortunately, do not have a picture.







Umm, lets just say this happened after the bar closed. I'm not sure that I remember the logic exactly behind it but I do remember that the flowers were fake. Sigh... beer...

Salzburg, Austria


This was our first dinner in Salzburg. It took us forever to find the restaurant that was located in our guidebook. As it turns out it was actually located on the same street as our hostel. This marked the first and last day Marianne was allowed to read the map. Okay, maybe it wasn't the last day but I was close to restricting her altogether...





This is Marianne pointing to what I ordered on the menu. We still aren't sure what it was called but it was tasty enough for me to want a picture so that I could savor it later.


That's right, I actually took a picture of my dinner. Let me describe it for you: gnocchi style potato dumplings, pan fried in bacon fat and covered in a meat cream sauce. Or shall we just describe it as... heaven.

August 10th (Leaving Heidelberg)


Here is proof that the restrictions for train travel in Europe are not the same that we see in airports. This vendor in the Heidelberg train station sold nothing but giant scissors, knives, cork screws and other miscellaneous items one could stick in their eye. No running with those bad boys...







This is Marianne with all of our luggage and let me tell you it gets to be a pain in the butt to cart around all of that stuff. Next trip I am taking a small bag with a few pairs of underwear and a toothbrush. Who needs to smell good? We're roughing it right?

Heidelberg, Germany:


This is the biggest keg I've ever seen and was located inside the castle. I suppose this picture doesn't do it justice but it holds over 221,000 litres!



This is a picture for Kristin and Johnny I wanted to give them an idea of how I hoped my backyard hedges will look when I get back. Good Luck!



Marianne and I climbed up the hill to see the castle in Heidelberg. It was a very pretty view although my photography in this picture doesn't quite do it justice. Its hard to hold the camera at arms length for a good picture...




This is a view from the castle gardens. Can you say picturesque?




The Heidelberg castle. It was bombed during the war and never built back up again. The side is literally sitting where it fell years ago.