Tomorrow, Off to....

One of the main spas in Budapest
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...Budapest, Hungary!!!

   One day last summer, I was reading brief European country profiles. I came to Hungary and lazily read through the bullet points. The only times I had ever thought about Hungary was when I was 10 and making stupid jokes. But as I skimmed the points, I suddenly saw something that made me sit up straight. "Head underground. The Mátyás Caves can be found right under Budapest, formed by thermal waters gushing through thousands of years ago." And according to the guidebook, they aren't just the lighted caves with graveled pathways and staircases; they're actual caves. With a "Sandwich of Death" and helmets required! Actual caving? In Europe? Count me IN!!!
   Budapest is also known as the city of spas. And since we're finally going to a country that doesn't use the Euro (well, we did go to England, but the pound is even worse!), everything is cheaper! I'm not sure if we'll go to that beautiful spa above (and I'm quite sure it won't be so warm and sunny!) but hopefully we'll be able to find a nice place to relax after squeezing through some underground passageways!

Ticket Home

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   I finally bought it!
   And I will finally return to the US on Thursday, May 31!

 At first, I was worried that I would have to pay a really high price to go to Seattle or Portland. But then I stumbled across an awesome ticket that goes straight to Pasco! For about $200-$300 less! I still have to figure out how to get myself plus 2+ suitcases all the way to Madrid to fly to Pasco. But it should be fine.
   I can't wait to get home! The idea of driving my car, familiar stores, regular food, understanding everyone, using the dollar (!!!), seeing my dog... It all seems so distant and exciting. Was that really me who did all of that? Can I really do that all again? Sometimes I wonder why I find myself feeling like that was a different person in a long ago age. But then I realize that this year is definitely the longest I've been outside the US by several months, not to mention by myself! And I can't wait for all the adventures the next 95 days will bring me!

Salzburg, Austria

   A word of warning if you ride the train between Linz and Salzburg. Do not be surprised if the train conductor warns you that the car you're in isn't even going all the way to Salzburg, and you have to squeeze your way through narrow aisles and dozens of other people standing in them to find a car that is going to Salzburg. And then if you find yourself riding the whole way standing up in the cold luggage area at the back of the car... Don't worry. It's because you didn't pay the extra money to reserve a seat; you were miserly and only bought your €22 ticket. But it's only an hour and a half! ¡No pasa nada!

How we ride trains.

   Once we arrived, we took a deep breath before stepping out into the bitter cold and crowd of Asian tourists and backpackers. We quickly found the tourist information where a girl with only the tiniest hint of a German accent showed us exactly how to get to your hotel and sold us our bus passes. As we rode the bus through the streets of Salzburg, I couldn't help but feel that I was in a new country entirely. Looking back, I now realize that was our first time navigating a new city completely by ourselves. And although that first day was a little bit confusing, we quickly got used to it, and barely thought anything of a new city after that.

   We checked into our hostel and enjoyed a couple glorious hours of Wi-Fi while we waited for our room to be ready. And then in the couple hours before sundown, we wandered around the city a bit.

So excited to be in Salzburg!

Oh, and on the bridge's side, you can see a bunch of locks. Lovers write their names on the lock, lock it on the railing, then throw the key in the river, leaving the lock with their names.

   The next morning, when we got up and looked at the window, we realized... It had snowed!!! Finally!!! We had been afraid that we wouldn't have any snow at all for our Christmas in Austria.

   Maria's sister (Maria is the lady with whom we stayed) knew a tour guide in Salzburg. Before we left, she called him, and just like that, we had our own personal tour of Salzburg lined up! We were a little worried about how we would recognize Luther. All we knew from a tiny cell phone picture was that he was tall; which in Germany isn't as distinguishing as it is in Spain. But as we walked down the pathway next to the river, a man stopped and asked if we were Vanessa and Kalifa. I guess our self-description as "a short semi-Asian in a black coat and a short, black girl in a purple coat" was helpful after all!

    We had such a fun time! Luther walked all over the city with us, explaining history, food, & customs and showing us a lot of places we never would have known about.

   We had such an amazing time in Salzburg! Practically every day, we were greeted a light new blanket of snow. Although it was so cold that by 3:30 every afternoon, we could barely speak and returned to our hostel as fast as we could. But the fairy-tale like castle on the hill (once you got inside, it was actually more of a functional fortress!), bishop's residence, sweet people, Christmas markets, and the mounds of Mozartkugeln everywhere... It was amazing!

St. Sebastian cemetery

Grave of Mozart's father and wife. Mozart himself was buried in a common grave in Vienna, according to the tradition.

St. Peter's Cemetery

The old horse baths. The riders would ride their horses right down the steps into the fountain!

Why yes, I did think of Narnia!

Such a fairy-tale scene!

Salzburg has a couple dozen churches, if I remember correctly.

This was a lovely, isolated church in the hills opposite the castle.

At the Christmas market in front of the cathedral.

I believe this is the place where Doppler first detailed his physics theory.

BEAUTIFUL view from the Hohensalzburg (the castle above Salzburg)

I took this photo for my dad, who has always wanted to see the Alps! They ARE just as gorgeous as you think!

The castle courtyard.

Although it was mostly functional inside the castle, the residence area was beautiful.

It looks like a closet from the outside. But no, it's the only toilet! What a luxury.

We saw several of these in Austria. I'm not sure what they are... Maybe a solar clock?

My Pitiful Excuses

   First of all: I haven't posted in nigh on FOREVER. And I am sincerely sorry! The last weeks have been rather hectic.
  We finally arrived back in Spain and unpacked our backpacks (that had somehow gotten soaked in the plane). And then a few days later, I got a translating job! The University of Valencia asked our secretary (who is an American) to translate some documents, who then asked me to help her. It was wonderful and all (not least because I'm getting paid) but we had a tight deadline to translate that bulging folder. So that took up every spare minute for a couple weeks.
   And then the exact day we turned in our translations... The internet turned off! We were overjoyed when it came back a few days later; but then it proceeded to turn off every afternoon at 5:00 PM for more than a week. Since then, it's slowly been getting better, if glacial speeds count as improvement.
  So basically, it's been rather hard to process 100's of pictures. But I have a few ready for you!

Yes, the Alpine villages are as gorgeous and as freezing as you would expect.