The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel

Early morning before finals week started I figured it was time to go and see the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. As soon as I went I discovered that not only me but thousands of tourists were also there because there was a papal audience that day making it nearly impossible to get anywhere. But at long last I did get into the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Also, when I went to pay the nice man at the ticket counter let me go in for only 8 euro instead of the full 16!

The day was absolutely gorgeous and the streets were filled with beauty, the above picture is the Tiber River while the one to the right is just a random street with a vespa and pizzeria.

Another view along the Tiber

Inside the Vatican Museum there were lots and lots of paintings and gifts from artists or painters or wealthy people that were given to various popes throughout the years. The ceiling in the museum was even very intricately decorated.

One of the various paintings

This is one of Jesus ascending into Heaven

This was not a painting but a tapestry, the detail on the clothes was fantastic 

Although I went inside the Sistine chapel I did not get a photo of the famous paintings that were in there. It was apparently forbidden, and I was so close to trying but there were so many people and the people who took pictures got caught and kicked out by the angry Italian guardsmen. But what was cool about the Sistine chapel is that everything in there looked life like and 3D. The curtains looked real on the side walls if you were to look at them at the right angle. The ceiling was very intricate and their were an abundance of people all over the place with clothes that looked like real gold robes and satin and silk.

View of the basilica from inside 

The Map room in the museum

One of the very detailed paintings in the museum, although I am not sure what it was doing there

The Madonna and Child stain glass gift to the pope

A picture or painting of the Vatican in the museum

Budapest, Hungary

 When we landed in Hugary the first thing we had to make sure to do was get some of their currency. Hungary is not on the Euro, which is nice because at least for me it was much cheaper than most of the other places I've visited! This is 10,000 Forint which looked like monopoly money to me but it was still pretty cool nonetheless.

 I also really enjoyed breakfast here because it was the largest breakfast I think I've had since coming to Europe. Eggs with BACON! That is something that is not easy to find, and the bacon was cooked to perfection as well. I have also become quite accustomed to mixing my foods all together which in the U.S. I was not so keen on but they taste great together, especially the bread, eggs and tomatoes.

On Friday we were going to take a free walking tour but there was no guide in sight at the meeting point so instead we just decided to walk around the city for ourselves. Not knowing exactly what to see was an adventure because there were things that we just stumbled upon.

Budapest rests right on the Danube River and has 3 main bridges that connect the two sides of Buda and Pest.

We met for the tour at St. Stephen's church but there was no guide that showed up so we just continued to walk around and explore all of Friday. The two pictures below are from inside of the Budapest Opera house, unfortunately we did not go and see a show while we were visiting.

We did walk past Heroes square which was large but looked to me like a smaller version of everything that is right here in Roma. It was still pretty amazing to see! This weekend it was also surprisingly hot, in the 70's all weekend!

Kelly and I in Heroes square

We stopped at a nice park to sit and rest because we made a huge loop around the city, and the weather was so hot it was a must. While we sat there we got to see some cute baby ducks!

Traditional Hungarian dinner - I am not exactly sure what it is but it was pretty good not too much flavor though.

Of course the next morning I also got some eggs, this was apparently the traditional 'English' breakfast. At this point I really was in the mood for eggs and toast. Later on this day we went caving under the city of Budapest! We had to put on these ridiculous looking jumpsuits which I was actually happy to have after we were done. There was so much slippery clay 50 meters under the ground that it was almost impossible to not get dirty. My shoes were filthy after the trip. We had to climb through and under small cracks/holes in the rocks and caves. At one point from so much movement my suit pants ripped...

Caving Crew: Me, Alec, and Kelly

Nevertheless it was quite the adventure and I had worked up a pretty good sweat for being so far underground. We were also completely exhausted after the 3 hour tour of the caves that we went home and passed right out after getting dinner at the only place that was open near us, T.G.I. Fridays...

Parliament building - it was under construction

The next day before we left Kelly and I tried to get into the large indoor market but it was apparently closed on Sundays. So the next thing we did after waking up Alec, or as we called him 'Sleeping Beauty', we went to the thermal Baths.

Thermal Baths

These were so pretty and picturesque the only thing that was pretty hysterical to watch was all of the older Europeans in their speedos walking around the place with drinks in hand.

Kelly and I before we decided to go into the water

Ich liebe München, Deutschland!

I arrived in Munich, Germany on Thursday early in the morning where my friend Kathrin picked me up in the city center Marien Platz. Kathrin got out of work around 2 pm and we headed to get some coffee and cake which is a traditional thing to do whilst hanging out with friends in Europe. I of course got some traditional German cake called "Schwarz Wald" or Black Forrest. After a long day of traveling we walked around and caught up. Then we went to the grocery store and bought some traditional German meat and Bretzels for dinner.

The next morning while Kathrin was at work I decided to hop on a tour of Dachau. I felt that this was something that was a must see while in Germany. Of course it was a very sad place but a place that I believe everybody needs to visit at least once in order to not repeat the horrid history that happened here. The picture on the right shows the symbolic gate that is the entrance to Dachau. Dachau was also the first concentration camp and was open for 12 years. "Arbeit macht frei", literally translates into "work makes free" which is what this place was. This place was a free labor force and people were thrown in here for all sorts of things, only later did it house Jews. Mostly this was for political prisoners or people who spoke out against Hitler.

This is a memorial of only some of the arm bands that the people were required to wear around the camp at all times. These were their identifiers, some people even had to be kept alive based on their patch. This place was very moving and there were only certain parts that I really felt the sadness overcome me and that I could really tell this place was real.

A tribute to all of the people in the camp

"Never Again" written in 5 languages 

 After my long day at Dachau I enjoyed a much needed Döner Kebab. I had heard so much about these and I was finally able to taste one for myself, and let me tell you it was worth the wait! They were delicious, I also got to practice my German a little while ordering.

 There is a castle by Kathrin's house called Schloss Nymphenburg, so we decided to take a stroll around it and chat. It was a bright and sunny day outside and there were bunches of swans as well.

One of the few German flags I saw flying. 

Just posing in front of the castle

 This castle used to be far outside of Munich in the country and there was a large forest that surrounded it. There also used to be a large gate to keep out the wild boar that lived in the woods. Now since Munich has expanded there are neighborhoods all around the castle.

The countryside was so pretty

 On Saturday morning while Kathrin worked again I hopped on another tour, this time to Schloss Neuschwanstein home of Ludwig der Zweite, die Märchen König (Fairy Tale King). The train ride there was beautiful because technically this castle is not in Munich but outside about 2 hours. The train ride took us right through the alps where the castle is situated.

I was hungry so I got a traditional German Wiener

Another picturesque view

 Here it is, the castle that Walt Disney designed the Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty castle's from. Even though it had only 1/3 of the rooms finished it was a masterpiece on the inside. There was not expense spared and it is what I truly envision a fairy tale castle to be.

The next morning Kathirn took me sightseeing around Munich. We first climbed up the St. Peters Kirche (church) to get the spectacular view of Marien Platz and the Frauen Kirche and the rest of Munich from the top.

The New city Hall (NeusRathaus)

Kathrin and I at the top

The weekend was fantastic because I was able to see my long time friend after so long as well as getting to speak, or at least understand the German people around me!

Me in Marien Platz

After walking around Munich for the whole day and seeing all of the necessary things Kathrin and I enjoyed a nice stroll through the Englischer Gartens where there was some surfing taking place on the Eis Bach (Ice River).

After this we went to a traditional HaufBrauHaus so that I was able to experience that part of German life as well which was delicious. This is basically a traditional German meal with a lot of meat cooked to perfection.