Buddy-system: Deactivated!

Josh and I have said our goodbyes and gone our seperate ways! Yesterday was our finally day in Prague, and I must say I was happy to go, the frigid weather had made us forget it was still August! Josh will be leaving to go back home TONIGHT, so he caught a train to Berlin yesterday afternoon. Around that same time I decided to head back to Austria and spend a week with the good friends I have (and have made) here! Josh and my adventure is just about over... cant say it was anything less than fantastic.. but all good things must come to an end. Probably not bad timing either, as fatigue was creeping in and sleeping kept seemily like a better and better way to spend our days lol
We have seen a lot of cities and people these last three weeks, its hard to believe we have really done all of this in such a short period of time. It seems like months ago that we arrived in Istanbul, hot, sweaty and completely exhaused! Now we are finished, cold, shivering but still, completely exhaused! I was trying to remember all the things we have done so far on this trip, and it has proven to be a challenge just to remember all we have done, and everything we have seen! The mosques in Turkey, the endless train rides, the midnight cruise in Greece, the Beerfest in Serbia, the Palaces of Austria, the bath houses of Hungary, and the Museums of Prague! Not the mention the different beers and wines we got to taste along the way, and all the wonderful people we got to meet and converse with throughout the trip. I dont have enough good things to say! Not once did I feel scared or frightened on our journey, even in the sketchiest of places, the people were nice and welcoming.. a testament to humanity and kindness that binds all people of the world.
Since this may very well be the last blog of bjeurotrip2010.. lets recap what we have learned on this trip:

New York: Josh does not like subways.. something about the germs\crazy people\crowdedness, or something like that!! haha
Secondly, Josh does not like humidity.. his first experience with it was not the best, which probably wasnt a good sign considering we headed to Istanbul next lol
Third, the Seinfeld Restaraunt is really NOT that cool.. besides the baby sized cups of OJ the give you!
Istanbul: Is hot and humid!! Hookah is amazing, and josh is an expert at it, while I am most definitely a light weight! Beaches in Istanbul are quite 'rockier' than what we have in California. And most importantly that we are thankful for being American... at least for the fact that we have real toliets!!!! haha
Greece: First thing we found out was that Greece is the hottest place on the face of the planet!! haha and that 42 celcius is ridiculously hot!! Right after we figured out that, we discovered that Greek has AMAZINGLY beautiful women!!! Wowww! and that the men are kinda.. not so nice to their ladies, which made us look remarkably charming ; ) We also came to the realization that sleeping in a room with no AC is definitely NOT ok! However, there is a certain amount of adventure in trying to sleep while literally feeling sweat seep out of every pour on your body.
Serbia: there is absolutely NO drinking age in Serbia! It is suprisingly beautiful and green! The Danub River is hugeee! and that even the creepiest, sketchiest hostels can provide an amazing experience!
Hungary: Is absolutely beautiful!!! The people are wonderful, the food is good, and the beer is cheap!! Bath houses are officially our new favorite thing! Hungarian men are not so bashful, and also not so in shape! The lights of the city a night time are absolutely enchanting! and that Budapest has the cheapest pub crawl ever!.. not that we know for experience lol
Austria: Austrian people are wonderful! So kind, and lovely. Vienna is the cleanest city I have ever seen, and possibly one of the most beautiful! Goulash is extraordinary, and i cant believe it took me 21 years to try it! It was also about this stage in the trip when we realized that all of europe eats SOO much bread!! Such a tease, and it all looks soo delicious! Going out of Vienna, we realized that Austria is just as beautiful as we had imagined it (sound of music). Oh, and we found out that Austrians dont even know or like the Sound of Music!! Imagine our suprise!!
Prague: A beautiful city, but apparently not so secretive a place, as the tourists are out and about! Found out that food prices dont really include the WHOLE price.. sort of frustrating! That beer and wine is cheaper then soda, which is how it should be! Museums are AWESOME, communism and torture musuems, pretty cool! Northern Europe really is MUCH colder than the South! And most importantly, we realized that we have traveled a longgg way! : )
All in all, we have learned much.. and experienced much. But let it be noted, that not once did we get on a wrong train or get lost (with a minor exception in Belgrade)!

From both Josh and I:
Tesekkurler (Turkish)\Danke (German) \ Dêkuji (Czek) \ Köszi (Hungarian) \ Efcharisto (Greek)\ Hvala lepa (Serbian).... THANK YOU! (English)

Prague! This whole trip we have been hearing about how beautiful Prague is, and how we just MUST go there.. Well we can officially say that, this place is worth the hype! What an extraordinary city! The old buildings are without a doubt some of the prettiest we have seen since being in Europe. Each one just seems to be seeping with culture and history. Not to mention the wide array of colors! White, blue, yellow, green, the buildings seem to make their very own rainbow here. A rainbow.. Perfect segway into the weather, which has been raining and cold! Such a change from all the other cities so far. But the change is kinda nice, gives us a chance to bring out our hoodies and jeans. The weather hasn't stopped us from seeing this great city though, today after a nice continental breakfast here at our... Big, somewhat dirty, full of character hostel, we treked through the sprinkles and up to the top of a hill where we came to the Palace. We forgot the name of it, but it's quite famous, and for good reason, it's beautiful! We then decided to get our 'art' fix by stopping in at a museum, The Museum of Torture ; ) it was quite educational, yet somewhat grotesque lol we then wandered a little more before coming back for a nice nap.  It was evening by this time, so we headed out for a little dinner,  and wouldn't you know it, we ran right into a little festival, the international folklore festival! Josh was so excited he could hardly stand it!  : ) we got some cheap sausage and pop corn, and grabbed a few bears and listened to the music! A great day here in Prague. Oh, I almost forgot something worth noting. One of our dorm
mates is a fifty year old man, lovely fellow, but he enjoys sleeping in the nude... So Josh, with all his luck, was fortunate enough to wake up to this guy crawling off his top bunk, butt naked!!! Needless to say, just wasn't all to enthralled with a full moon at 7am lol
anyways, that just about does it for today... Our trip is winding down, but don't fret, we still got plenty of adventure left! 

Just another day in Austria

First off, let me just say I hope you all enjoy the photots.. sorry for the delay in getting them up, but finding a computer to use for any duration of time has been a challenge up until this part of the trip. Anyways, lets get back to the good stuff.
We had an AMAZING day in heidelberg, austria today. It started off with our host, Birgit, making us an incredible Austrian breakfast feast. With meats, cheeses, breads, fruit, jogurt, nutella, and a wonderful expresso! Great way to start off the day. The sun was out and the weather was hot, so we went on down the a group of local lakes to cool off and swim for the day. Little did we know that Austria does 'laking' way different than we do.. and its pretty awesome, or as our Austria kids say 'super'!! The lake was this huge complex of FOUR lakes, all with different purposes 'skiing, swimming, fishing' and not to mention the coooooolest park, obstacle course, gymnastic area we have EVER seen!! So we let up shop at one of the lakes and started to work up a sweat playing some beach volleyball. After that it was into the water, for some jumping of docks and high platforms. After that activity had been adequately exhausted, we moved onto the rope swing. I dont care what anyone says, you are never too old to enjoy a rope swing! We then moved onto the obstacle course, with contraptions I cant even explain, but we did shot put, balance logs, tight rope, trapeeze where you run and jump and its practically like your flying!! Gosh, so many fun activities! ; ) Then getting a little tired we went back and layed in the sun for the remaining hours. After taking a small walk Josh and I realized Austrians are much less conservative in their lake attire... I think you guys know what I am talking about. After a few more swim sessions we were thoroughly exhausted and headed back home where we were treated to another feast, this time a bbq! Completely stuffed, and sunburned (pretty bad) lol we had a few glasses of wine out on the deck with the Alps in the horizon and the sun setting behind us. A perfect day in Austria, sad we are leaving this place tomorrow.. but the show must go on! Early wake up tomorrow, off to.... well we arent sure yet, but we'll find out soon enough!

Heidelberg, Austria... Beautifulll!!

Vienna.. even more!

Vienna!!!

Budapest.. so much to see!