Hello! Okay so this is going to be part 1/4 of the week-long vacation that I got back from last Sunday! It was honestly the trip of a lifetime and I'm so grateful I was able to experience all of the beautiful cultures, architecture, and history that I did. I traveled with three other girls named Emma, Lauren, and Sydney and I'm so glad that I've gotten so close to them! They're da best.

Our first stop was BUDAPEST, Hungary. We left the night of July 3rd and took a night train from Iasi to Bucharest. Our flight didn't leave until 4 pm the next day, so we had about 8 hours to kill haha. We ended up hanging out at a weird shopping center for a long time on some couch. After our 2 hour flight, we had a 2 hour layover in Belgrade. I'll be honest, none of us knew what country Belgrade was in haha. It wasn't until we landed, got off the plane, and saw "I love Serbia" stickers at a vendor when we figured out where we were. After that, we had an hour flight to Budapest. Pretty much the longest day of travel ever and worst fourth of July ever too. Whoop whoop! Oh well. It was worth it.

We ended up staying in Airbnb's for each city that we traveled. This was really nice and we felt safer because we had our own little apartment with our own key. The location for our Budapest apartment was so good! It was right on this really busy street and close to everything. Our first day, we walked down this little side street that had a bunch of vendors selling some really cool stuff. To be honest, Budapest wins coolest souvenirs out of all the places we went. If I was able to, I would've bought SO many things. I loved them all! After that, we went to the Parliament building. That was so cool to see! I loved it. After that, we walked over to the St. Stephan's Cathedral and went inside. It was so pretty and intricate inside! For lunch, we went to this Hot Dog place. Oh another thing, Budapest wins best food too. They have a bunch of quick places to eat and excellent food. After eating lunch, we went to this well-known place called Gelarto Rosa where they shape your gelato into a rose sooo yeah of course we had to go. The rest of the afternoon consisted of walking around and trying not to die because guess what Budapest also wins at? Being the hottest place on THE PLANET. Okay probably not. But I've honestly never been so miserably hot in my entire life haha. Anywaaayzzzz. That night we went to a really good restaurant called Paprika for dinner! Our host had recommended it, and it was a traditional Hungarian restaurant. The inside of it was so cute and the food was sooo good. Probably one of my favorite meals of the whole vacation. Funny story. I was the last to order from my group and having a hard time figuring out what I wanted. Everyone else had chosen the same meal, and after feeling pressured to choose something I just told the waitress that I wanted the same thing. She practically freaked out and begged me for like 30 seconds to choose something different haha. I eventually chose something and it ended up being so good! I'm glad I took her advice. After dinner we went to these thermal spas. It's something that Budapest is known for, so of course it was on our list. And it did not disappoint. There's probably nothing better than going swimming in a nice, cool and relaxing pool when you've been sweating your butt off all day haha. We stayed there for a few hours and it was the best money I've ever spent! 

Parliament Building

Inside St. Stephan's Cathedral

Thermal Hot Springs

The next day, we decided to go see everything on the other side of the river. Before we walked over the bridge, we went to this indoor market place recommended by Sydney's brother-in-law. It was such a cool place! They sold a lot of fresh produce and some really cool souvenirs. Hungary is known for it's chiles and paprika, so each of us got a little bag of it that came with a cute painted spoon. Because why wouldn't you need a cute lil painted spoon in your life?? After that, we walked across the bridge and walked over to the Buda castle. To each of our joy, that day was even hotter than the day before. So by the time we walked there and climbed up to the castle, all of us didn't care how cool it was because we were trying not to pass out haha. After a little break, we walked around and then made our way over to the St Matthias Synogogue. This was probably one of my favorite things to see because of how gorgeous the architecture was! It was amazing. Afterwards, we had to get back to our apartment because we had to check out by 2 pm. We were taking a night train that night, so it didn't leave until 8 pm that night. We hung out in a coffee shop for a while and then walked to the train station and hung out there for a few hours until we left! Ps. There is some good people watching in that train station.

St. Matthias Synogogue

The cool indoor market!

I'm not quite sure why more people don't visit Budapest because it's one of the COOLEST places I've ever been. The architecture and food was so so good and I definitely want to go back in my lifetime. Just maybe when it's a little bit cooler. 

Kara