Budapest

After a 7.5 hour train ride from Prague to Budapest stopping in Slovakia for a bathroom break we arrived in Hungary. It was similar to Prague but more commercial and less "magical" still very pretty but just not as amazing to me as Prague. I absolutely loved the parliament building in Budapest though, it was it's most beautiful piece of architecture situated directly on the Danube River with three bridges going across leading up to the cathedral and palace on the other side of the river.

It was pretty cool as soon as it got dark it was as if someone had a light switch and turned on the city, within seconds every bridge, castle, parliament, and church were glowing simultaneously, i would like to be the person to flick that switch. At the top of the hill near the castle was a labyrinth which was pretty creepy at night, they give you a lantern and you have to find your way through. Inside of the labyrinth are fountains that have wine from the earth flowing out that tasted pretty gross, like vinegar, but it was still pretty neat. The views from the top of the hill were magnificent.

The second day we were there we spent our day in the bathes which are something Budapest is known for. There were 15 different bathes inside this huge beautiful building and each one is a different temperature heated naturally from the earth. so some were freezing and some were like hot tubs. One of my favorites was a sauna that was at boiling point, 100 degrees celsius and you could really only stand it for a minute but as you enter they give you a snowball to rub on yourself while you're inside the sauna. There was also a very large heated bathe outside and even though it was pretty chill in the air the medicinal waters were amazing. And if you know me you know I love my bathes so this was of course my favorite part haha.

Prague

Prague was perhaps the most European city I feel like I have visited. It was like a fairy tale village or amusement park, every castle and cathedral blended to make the cityscape so picturesque. The old town was my favorite filled with so much history within the Jewish quarter, then we crossed the Charles Bridge which gave you the best view and you climbed up this hill to parliament and the palace it was really neat. We also visited the John Lennon wall which is the most famous graffiti wall in the world.

The second day we took a train outside of Prague to a town called Kutna Hora which is world known for its ossuary, which is a church made completely of bones. It is the only one in the world and a UNESCO world heritage site, at first the thought seemed a little morbid but the story has it that during the plague people were said to make it to heaven faster if they donated their bodies to the construction of the church and within 3 days their bodies would completely disintegrate to only bones. It was creepy, but really cool, I was glad we made the hour trip outside the city center not only to see this but just to see the Czech Republic countryside. It was a really beautiful train ride.

Barbeque American Style

Our good friend Sam held a BBQ with a few members of the Leuven Lions Football Team and some of us Americans. It was so great to have a BBQ in 80 degree weather-record high temperature for Belgium in May complete with ribs, kabobs, sausages, picnic salads, stella of course and a water balloon fight! We have gotten so close with this group of locals it will be hard to say goodbye at the end of the year, they are always so hospitable and make us feel so at home.