Life Update

I realize my posts have been a bit less frequent than they previously were. I'm happy to say that's because more of my time has been taken up with new friends and researching new trips! After the frenzy of summer European travel dies down, I plan to start getting back into my UK weekend day trips and continuing to explore London.

But next on the travel calendar is Italy! I leave Sunday (very early in the morning) to travel to Rome where I will meet up with my tour group. From there we will drive all over Italy - Rome, Florence, Pisa, Sorrento, Cinque Terre, Venice, Bologna, etc, etc and back to Rome! I will have a roommate for the trip (hope she's nice!) who I won't meet until Sunday. I will be gone for 12 days and hopefully 7 MBs of camera memory is enough!!! I am excited to try this new form of travel and especially excited to experience all there is to see and do and TASTE in Italy.

Tonight I just booked a ticket for Athens to go visit friends (hi Jess!) who will be there in July. We're hoping to get out of Athens and experience some of the Greek Islands on this trip and "play in the Mediterranean" as Jess so aptly put it. After Greece I think I'm going to have to stay in or close to London for awhile to save my £££. All of this travel is fabulous and exciting, but it does come with a price tag!

On the work front, I've been busier than ever before this summer. I am working on a couple big and challenging clients. I have learned so much since I moved here and I'm really excited about the rest of this year work-wise as I take on more responsibilities and prove myself at a place that still feels very new to me.

I guess that's about it for now. I just wanted to let you know I'll be pretty quiet for the next couple of weeks, but expect a slew of posts toward the end of the month. Arrivederla!

Budapest

Last weekend my friend Ben came back to London to visit me and to take a trip to Budapest with me. Ben came with me when I first moved here and loved our travels so much, he decided to come back! We had a fabulous time and since we travel well together and appreciate the same things, we had a great time exploring the city and eating really great food all weekend!

This is the Basilica of St. Stephen, Budapest's cathedral. It was surrounded by a nice square with a few restaurants. The weather was so nice the whole time we were there!

This is the Chain Bridge, which connects the 2 cities of Buda and Pest. There is a lot of political history between the 2 cities, but suffice it to say they are connected now (by MANY bridges), both physically and politically. This is the view from the top of the Siklo (uphill tram-type thing) we rode to the top of the Buda hills.

This is the Buda side as seen from the middle of the Chain Bridge.

Parliament, on the Pest side of the Danube River

This is one of the cafes in Franz Liszt Square. There were so many pretty cafes there and as a pianist I enjoyed the shout-out to Mr. Liszt and the piano playing coming from the nearby Liszt School of Music.

Budapest is especially beautiful at night. The architecture was amazing and even though it's seemingly a bit simpler than other cities I've visited, I liked it so much because there was a constant style throughout the city and it was never overbearing. Just very pretty.

The roof in the lobby of the Scheznyi (sp??) Baths. If you're from Colorado, think Glenwood Hot Springs. There were several of these baths around the city from different hot springs and we enjoyed an indoor and outdoor soak at these to relax our tired muscles. And I slept so well that night too!!!

Another thing we noticed in Budapest was the pride they took in their city. All of the windows were spotless, silverware was polished even on outdoor patios and everyone was friendly and welcoming. We never had a bad meal and we tried lots of things. If you are ever in Budapest, just remember that you can make a hearty meal on soups alone! Another area we went (but I don't have pictures of...) was Margaret Island which is a 2.5 mile long island in the river between Buda and Pest. It is all park and we had a nice long walk around and through it one afternoon.

It's been awhile!

Hey everyone, sorry it's been awhile since I posted. I guess life has been getting in the way! I have been keeping busy at work, at least busier than I normally am this time of year. And last weekend I had a great time spending time with friends and in the countryside.

Friday night I caught up with my friends Sam and Sarah at their house and slept over in my "old" bedroom (where I stayed when I first moved here) so that we could get up and go shopping Saturday morning. Sarah drove the two of us to Bluewater, which is the biggest shopping center in the UK. There aren't too many American-type malls here, but this is one. The only difference is that it appears out of the middle of nowhere and doesn't have the massive, sprawling shopping centers around the outside of the mall like you would see in the US. But, there was some fantastic shopping! I even got a hat to wear to the Royal Ascot horse race in June...they are more expensive than you would think!

After Sarah brought us back to London (via a long detour because of a closed tunnel), I headed out to a farmhouse in Essex. I rode on a train for about an hour and then took a taxi for 15 minutes to a beautiful farm. It belongs to the parents of a friend of friends and so I hung out with my friends there. The farmhouse was so old and classically English! When you walk in the main door, the flagstones on the floor are sunk in different places and have obviously been there for at least 100 years. We stayed the night and woke up to the sounds of sheep and horses in the barnyard.

This coming weekend I head to Budapest for the bank holiday. My friend Ben is coming from Denver to join me and we are both excited to explore a new place! Everyone have a great Memorial Day/bank holiday weekend and stay tuned next week for pics of Budapest...

Bank Holiday Weekend

This past Monday was a holiday in the UK. So I made the most of my long weekend by catching up on things in London and taking two short trips. Thankfully the weather has been AMAZING since Saturday, including the whole week, so that makes everything easier.

Saturday I had an adventurous bus ride (only because it was much longer than I expected) to IKEA to get a few more things for my kitchen. I also got my hair cut and went to dinner with friends. But that's all boring stuff.

Sunday I made my way to a small town called Winchester, southwest of London. It was in my day trip book and a smaller town than I had visited before. There were a few sights to see and also some beautiful parks and hilly areas that I spent most of my day in.

Monday I went to Hampton Court Palace, which was used quite a lot by Henry VIII and also several monarchs since his time have spent considerable time and energy (and money of course) revamping everything and adding amazing gardens. The weather was so lovely, I wish I could have stayed all day! Plus the lilacs are in bloom everywhere now so it is a lovely sight and smell (when I'm not sneezing or something from all of the pollen flying around!). I came back to London in the afternoon and met up with friends to enjoy the lovely day together.

I have now been on 5 of the 25 day trips that are suggested in my book!!! Where should I go next???

London Eye

The London Eye is a big part of the London skyline. I'm glad I went on it with my friends and enjoyed the views. It wasn't quite all I hoped or dreamed and I'm not sure if it was worth the £14...but I've done it! Enjoy the views!!! :)

Lisbon

Don't believe people when they tell you that Portuguese is just like Spanish - it's not!!! There are a few similarities, but mostly it's different and the pronunciations are VERY different. Just a warning!

Lisbon is similar to Barcelona in some ways - hilly (although Lisbon more so), by the water (although Barcelona on the Mediterranean and Lisbon on a river that flows right into the Atlantic) - and very different in others. For one thing, there are far fewer Americans in Lisbon!

Since I went back to back on the same trip, people keep asking me which city I liked better. I would have to say Lisbon but only by a tiny bit. They are actually very hard to compare. The people in Lisbon were much nicer in general (although the Spanish were very friendly, so nothing against them) and seemed extremely happy that you were visiting and trying to speak their language. In Barcelona it almost seemed as if they expected visitors and were actually somewhat overwhelmed by them. Which is understandable given the sheer number of tourists there.

Tile (like the ones above) are traditional in Portugal. There are whole buildings covered in patterned tiles and sometimes they put them together to make pictures. There is a lot of seafood to be eaten (yummy!) too. My favorite part of this trip was the beach at Cascais (pronounced cash-kish (long i) I think). There are several beaches all strung together with a boardwalk, but our favorite was the first one from the train station.


The city had a broad avenue running down the middle. We stayed right off this, so got to enjoy it every day. It had garden areas in the medians and beautiful sidewalks. I imagine they'd be pretty slippery when it rains, but thankfully we didn't have to find out!

Lisbon has a statue of Christ similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro. El Cristo Rei overlooks the city of Lisbon from across the river and was erected in thanksgiving for Lisbon escaping WW II. We took a ferry across and then a very hot bus trip and then an elevator ride to the observation platform. As in any city with hills, there are lots of great view spots, but this one was my favorite in Lisbon.

We had time for one other day trip to Sintra. There are a lot of palaces and elaborate houses there. Also, the gardens around some of the houses are like tropical forests! I loved wandering through and seeing how dense everything was and so beautifully put togehter. It actually reminded me a lot of Colorado, even though it was manmade.

View of Castelo de Sao Jorge at night

Barcelona

Last Thursday (almost 2 weeks ago now!) I headed to Barcelona with two of my friends from Denver. Two more of my friends joined us there and we had a great time. The weather was mostly nice, although sometimes rainy. My favorite part of the trip was the bike tour we took. It ended up being a private tour for the five of us as no one else showed up!

Barcelona is a city with lots of beautiful architecture. The most famous architect in Barcelona was a man named Gaudi. He designed many houses, a park and a church. The church is called La Sagrada Familia and has been under construction since 1882! It is not scheduled to be completed until sometime around 2030...or so...

La Casa Pedrera - one of Gaudi's houses which you can tour inside

The roof of Las Casa Pedrera - so cool!

The streets of the Old City are small and cobbled

Biking along the boardwalk

Park Guell - one of Gaudi's parts of Barcelona. There is amazing glass work and tiling everywhere. The park overlooks the city from a high hill - quite a climb!

La Sagrada Familia - I went up in one of those towers. There are a lot of great places for views in Barcelona, but this probably the most fun!

From the top of the tower!

Part of the market