My wicked world Head in the clouds, feet on the ground, mind on food and heart on the road!

This traveling experience began with spending New Year’s at my friends’ place in Hungary, as well as being reunited with some great friends from the US : Karen and Joelle. That NY was a memorable one, especially when we went to the hot baths at night with our friends and their friends, entered the steaming water while our towels were freezing – literally.

Then came another adventure : me and the girls (Karen, Joelle and Viki) went to see the old town and the river (Tisza that is). The bank of the river was frozen, so after gliding a couple of times on the ice, Joelle comes up with the bright idea “if you guys give me 10$ i’ll run into the water”. Of course, not being one to pass an opportunity to be a retard, I say “me too”… in the end, all of us got into the FREEZING COLD river, dressed only in our underwear – i was the only one to go neck deep. Getting back to the house was an experience to say the least, and after washing our feet (the climb up to the car had to be done on the muddy bank side) and taking a well deserved HOT shower, took a nap – we were entitled, wouldn’t you say?

After the NY party, our friends’ parents came home and brought the amazing idea of seeing Vienna. So far, my european experience consisted of seeing Budapest. Thus, the next day we hopped on the highway and off we were to see the home of the wiener schnitzel and Mozart chocolate. Finding a parking spot is harder than spotting a star on the sky in broad daylight, but the task was managed. 
I found out that our visit had a purpose – we were going to a museum *happy dance*. At said museum (don’t remember the name) we say the exposition of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, a well known french painter who depicted “la vie boheme” of Paris at the end of the 19th century. His work is mostly made up of drawings (at least that is what we saw) and though it doesn’t compare to the classics, it definitely holds its own charm. I later came to find him as a character in the movie Moulin Rouge!, alongside Satine (Nicole Kidman), Christian (Ewan McGreggor) and Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent). After the museum visit the time came for some sightseeing – during our walk Viki tried to teach Joelle how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are called in Hungarian.

We got to St.Stephen’s Cathedral, located in Stephansplatz (Stephen’s square – original, no?). We got inside, marveled at the imposing structure, climbed all the way to the top, bought some souvenirs – a beautiful snow globe that met its tragic end by the hands of my little cousin. After this, we wandered around the square, and i got in contact with a window. How you ask? Simple. I was checking out a crystal collection displayed in one of the windows and I got closer..and closer…and closer…BOING – the sound of my forehead against the glass. Genius, no? In my defence, I would have to say the window was so damn clean you couldn’t even see it. 

In the afternoon we said our goodbyes to the parents and done some bar-hopping (or rather pub hopping), tasting different (delicious) wines, listening to music, writing funny messages on coasters, so basically enjoying ourselves. Our last stop was at McDonalds, where i got a battery running deer named, you guessed it, Rudolph. He is really cute and he sings- the kid in me was happy.During this little trip I became acquainted with Dan Brown (not personally of course). Karen, being the avid reader she is, told me about this fascinating book called The DaVinci code. By coincidence, she had the book with her, and after telling me the general aspects of the book, I bought it from her. Since then, I’ve been hooked on Dan Brown’s books, although I have to admit I liked Angels and demons better.

On our way back, we sang and danced (believe me – although Karen’s knees will never be the same after this trip) in the car and recounted different events of the summer (2003 – waterpark life). The night was spent in Budapest and the next day I got on the bus, waving my friends goodbye with a heavy heart, promising to see each other soon. It turned out to be sooner, as my papers were being processed to be part of the lifeguarding team once again in 2004.
So, in the next episode….summer (that never was) of 2004!