The tale of when my parents came to visit

My parents have left the building and only missed one flight to get back!! Hurray!!
I don't have too many photos from their first few days here or from when we went to Budapest. The lack of Budapest photos result from the fact that is was raining and windy pretty much alllllllllllllllllllllllll the time which wasn't the best motivation for me to want to look up at buildings or take any sort of photos. Also, my dad may or may not have documented every single place we went or every single thing we did with taking a picture (hint, he totally did) so if need be I'll just snag those from my parents.
After our return from soggy, chilly Budapest we arrived to a slightly less chilly and almost not at all rainy Vienna. So yay for that!! The first day back (Monday 17th) I couldn't really take them to see things since I had an exam so I just took them to my uni so they could see the campus. However, my prof didn't show up so me and my classmates just sat in the room for an hour before leaving a note on the board. Later we all got an e-mail from him saying that he was there, but we weren't, so the common theory is he just forgot or fell asleep or something (as he is oldish). For the rest of the week activities included showing them around the city to marvel at all the buildings with statues (there are quite a bunch), see Bepa's house, wandering through the two main markets, going to Mariahilferstrasse, Museums Quartier, a comic book store (of course, a requirement for my padre), and eating a tasty Austrian meal courtasy of Rebecca.
Oh yeah, we also went to the Museum of Natural History which turns out to be AMAZING!!! It's increadibly big and I'm definitaly going to return to view all the exhibits, maybe even this week (since my friends want to come along). An amusing anecdote, was that my mom was more impressed by how old the display cases looked than by all the lovely shiny things within (we were in the mineral display). I chuckled greatly at this.

Most importantly, there were...

Dinosaurs!!!

How some dinosaurs may have actually looked. Feathered fury

On Thursday we departed for a 5 hour train ride to Prague, but we didn't get in till like 10.00 so we just went straight to the hotel. The next day we met up with some friends of my parents (odd I know) who happened to be in Prague the same time as we were. First thing first, we journied to the castle district which has, (brace yourself this may come as a shock) a castle!! Though the thing which makes the whole area so photogenic is the church.

The drop-off led to Deer Moat, because a ruler was too lazy to leave the castle to go hunting.

After the castle we strolled over the Charles Bridge which is constantly under construction but also is where several (see many) artists sit to hawk their wares (which are all pretty awesome looking). Most of it was jewerly, but there was also things like magnets or photographs or painted pictures or just random metalwork. Oddly, the people selling the items weren't necessarily the people who made them. I could tell because each stand had a permit with a photo, and said photo did not always match up with the seller. But I guess if the stand owner is good enough, why not hire extra help?

Mom rubbing a plaque on the bridge that is supposed to bring luck. There's another plaque that's also all shiny but only because some locals buffed it up to make a joke.

After the castle area we went to this big square in the center to grab a drink and get some sitting down time (for the oldies :-P). At the square there was this fancy astronomical clock and since it was near the hour we paused to admire its intricate movements. These consisted of statues appearing in the window and then turning away. Also, a trumpeter (a real person) trumpeted at the top of the tower. Then we chilled at the Hilton (where my parent's friends were staying) before it was off to dinner. This restauraunt was ULTRA fancy. I could tell because the food was presented all pretty-like. Also, it was super tasty.

This just seems totally awesome to me

The next day we took part in a free walking tour, at which point we were supposed to meet up with my parent's friends, but we weren't able to locate them.

Our lovely guide James

The tour was actually really really good and we got to learn a lot of history about the area. Which led to my decision that my most favorite thing about Prague is, the word "defenstrate" is in great usage throughout their history. We went all throughout the main part of the city, including the Jewish Quarter which was pretty neat to see, considering there was an ultra old synogague.

Powder tower

Oldest functional synogogue in Europe.
Also, the Golem of Prague is located in the ceiling.

After the free walking tour my parents and I decided to go on the castle tour, also led by James, so we could learn a bit more about the district. We didn't actually go inside any of the buildings (but we had done that yesterday) but we got to learn more about the actual history and just how bad-ass the Czech people are (apparently it is very).

Famous pissing statue

A guard, keeping it real

Overlooking the city

The next day we were walking back along the Charle's Bridge so we could actually get something from one of the artists when we stumbled upon an extremely odd looking individual.

Aaron clone!!

On the Charle's Bridge. I totally got seperated from my folks and had a brief moment of "uh-oh"

Apparently marrionets are pretty common around here. I dub this one very pretty.

Concert in the Spanish Synagogue

View of the church and castle district

Back in Vienna we only had a day so I just took them to Naschmarkt again (they loved that place) and then to the Manner store so mom could get her pink umbrella. After going to a restaurant that is named after some kind of big black bird (but I don't think it's a crow or raven so I have no clue) I left their hotel since they were leaving at 6 in the morning and didn't want to take the last tram at 12.00 to the airport (since the trams stop running from 12.00 till 5.00) so they ordered a kind of cab. I however, am planning on kicking it student style and will probably be spending the night at the airport (since my plane leaves at 8). So, whoever wants to keep me company that night is welcome. :-D

Visiting Times: Brother in Budapest

Aaaaaaaaaaalright now it time for updates!! And look at that, I'm not even a month behind. What glory.

So my brother arrived in Vienna on March 7th and the timing went wonderfully so that I was only waiting for a few minutes before I saw him exit the gate and then proceeded to sneak up on him and attack him with a hug (I was just a little bit excited to see him). Taking the trams back to my place I only made one stupid mistake and got us out at Schottenring instead of Schottentor (after I finished explaining to Aaron how I always confuse the two). For Sunday evening we pretty much just chilled in my room with Aaron trying to stay conciouse and me being super excited over the fact that he brought me chedder cheese, cadbury eggs, and mac n' cheese (I have such refined tastes). After being informed of an event at a heurigen (traditional wine tavern) I was able to track down the address with the marvels in the internet and we went there for dinner. We didn't stay long because of a certain someone's sleepyness :-D, but we were able to get some local wine and Aaron was able to get a humongous piece of schnitzle. So an authentic Austrian dinner in general.
The next morning we left bright and early to go and get a bus to Budapest. We traveled on OrangeWays, which was not only cheap but pretty awesome. They served free hot drinks and showed a movie. Granted it was in Hungarian and was The Proposal, but I know in his heart of hearts Aaron loved every minute of it.
Arriving in Budapest it took us a little bit to figure out how to get into the city part, since we kept heading for a sign that we thought said "tram station," but as it turned out it meant "exit." It was the picture that threw me off, really. I also discovered that our guide book lied when it said that German was very common and would be understood. Turns out that was totally wrong as the ticket lady looked at us in confusion after I tried German and then Aaron tried speaking in Hungarian. Hurray for English though!!

I just thought all the graffiti was kinda neat

Our hostel was kinda ultra awesome, not only for it's cheapness, but also because the beds came with linens and we could get a free drink that was part of the hostel. I think I would have been 100% ok with staying there for longer than we did, but Vienna beckoned.
Remarkably close to our hostel was the largest synogogue (outside of New York City) and we were able to get a tour of that as well as see some pretty awesome Jewish artifacts. Stupidly, I didn't take any pictures of the actual outside of the synogogue, but believe you me, it was huuuuuuuuuugggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Seder plate

This menorah kicks all other menorahs butts in terms of being magestic

This little alcove where people left coins or stones

A holocaust memorial. All the leaves are people's names

That's right. A pulpit in a synogogue

The ark, with I think like 28 Torahs. My favorite bit in the eternal flame that's hanging in front

The red sign in back of me says Hannah. Curse blurry photos

After looking at the museum and the tour we were chilling on a bench outside as Aaron perused the guide book to find us a tasty place to eat. I mention this only because a lady walked past with an absolutly adorable cocker spaniel puppy. And, unlike Viennese dogs, it was ultra friendly and adorable!!!!! This has no real relevence, but it had to be said.

So, after finding a few likely locations, we began trudging towards them. As it turns out, a guide book that is 8 years old is not the best source of information for finding restaurants. Our failure for that evening was kinda how the rest of the trip turned out, food-wise. However, for dinner this evening we found a lovely Israeli place which while clearly wasn't authentic Hungarian, was warm and yummy. We also managed to get "lost" which as it turns out was a ploy of Aaron's to see the fanciest McDonalds in Budapest. It was pretty swanky, no waiters though.

I don't know what this is, other than pretty
It was a giant ice skating rink!!After dinner we quickly swung by the hostel to change and went down to the bar to get our free drink. However, the mood was less than awesome so after that we hit the streets for a night of quality sibling schenanigens.

Teddy Roosevelt? Some kind of Hungarian dude? You choose.

Don't be fooled, Aaron quickly decided that buying a kebab of that quality was a poor choice.

In the morning we checked out of the hostel and each grabbed a quick and delicious pastery to fortify us for the travels ahead. Now, here's where I become a horrible storyteller because I can't really remember where exactally we went. I think it was the Palace, but don't quote me on that. Anyways, thanks to Budapest's wonderful transportation (no sarcasm, it is really nice) and Aaron's mad map reading skills, the tram ride to the palace was both fast and painless. To get up to the palace/old city there is the option of taking the long and winding staircase or taking these little tram cars up. Being young adults in the prime of our youth, we took the cars. And then, once we got to the top we looked down on all the old peopel walking up the stairs. :-D
The palace itself looked nice, but what grabbed our attention was the art museum inside it so we bought some tickets and whiled away an hour or so in there. Then, having fed our minds but not our bellies we began the long search for foooooood.

That's the Parliment across the river

They are either fighting over the fish or fighting for it

Changing of the guard

A nice view of Buda

There were sooooo many vendors trying to sell random stuff on this wall

It took a while but eventually we just went to a mall and got food in the food court, although Aaron did get a Hungarian dish of chicken livers, which smelled, interesting. After that we quickly stopped by this famous market thingy that was apparently much closer to where we were staying that either of us had realized. Upon trying to find the market we first went in the wrong direction and after a few blocks wandered into the little square that had that statue Aaron posed with the night before. But, going in the other direction we did find the indoor market which sold mostly touristy things and food. Aaron decided it wouldn't be worth it to get foi grau since he couldn't take it back to the States, same with the decicion to not get horse sausage. I however, bought a dill and cheese strudel which we both agreed was pretty delicious.

These amuse me greatly

Then it was off to the baths!! The one we went to had 3 outdoor baths all of increasing temperatue. I think the hottest was 38 degrees C and the "coldest" was 30 degrees C. As a bonus, they didn't really have that stinky sulfery smell that I thought all hot baths had. I probably could have fallen alseep in those, what with the warmth, steam, and fountains one could use to massage one's back. Speaking of massage, Aaron went to get an aromatic massage, which apparently was just sorta meh. But it sounds ultra swanky doesn't it?
Inside the bathhouse were all sorts of whirlpools and, more importantly, saunas!!!! Aaron was able to find one that was 80-90 degrees C which was awesome in only the way sitting in an extremely hot room can be. It was also conviently located right next to a pool of 16 degrees C so people could go to the sauna and get super hot and then jump in the freezing cold water. It felt wonderful.
However, we had to leave around 7 to make sure we would get the last train back. Also, my fingers and feet were SUPER PRUNEY. But, I guess that's the price one pays for soaking in water for hours on end. :-D
At the train station we got the tickets, no problem, and only had one extremely creepy encounter when a strange man came up to us and asked if we needed a hostel. Hmmm, ok out of context that doesn't sound so creepy I guess, but it was o_O.
Since our train wasn't gonna leave for an hour or so we hit the streets to search for food but unfortunatly Hungary shares Austria's view on closing stores ridiculously early and since it was after 7 most places were closed. We finally resorted to going to one of the cheap, low-quality Chinese places that are all over Budapest. Aaron was less enthusiastic about this, but for me having acces to cheap Chinese food sounded like an awesome idea.

Mmmmm semi-goodness

We then quickely ran into a grocery store so we could preform the crucial test of whether or not Hungarian chocolate is yummy (it is). Also at the train station Aaron decided to continue experiments on of the the most liquidy pieces of baklava ever. Turns out those were delicious as well.
On the train everyone got their own compartments so we got to travel in relative peace. That is until the next compartment started blasting pop music.

This is what Aaron did for the entire 3 hour train ride back, no joke.

So then we were back in Vienna, where I decided that despite the fact that we got home past midnight, I would go to my single class the next morning (but it wasn't really that bad).
P.S. Fun fact. Did any of you know that Budapest is actually called that because the city on one side of the river was called Buda and the other side was called Pest (they joined way back in the late 1800s)? I sure didn't.