Photo Diary: Budapest & Prague

Such beautiful places why not make the main part of the blog about showing off their beauty with some photo?

Budapest, Hungary

Day 1:

Who knew this sign existed? Started our afternoon off by taking some fun photos - and we even got the sign to our selves at one point! This was Hero's Square which is a large square filled with monuments dedicated to the founding of Budapest.

Just a short walk away was one of the bath's the Budapest is known for! Budapest was built on land rich was thermal pools and this public bath house, Szechenyi Baths, gathers water every morning from thermal sources in the ground. Fun evening with friends trying out the different pools and even did some 'Winter Bathing' (moving from a sauna to a dip in freezing water) in central Europe.

Day 2:

Today was our day to see all of the main sights in Budapest! And we started it right by stumbling into this church during a service. Even the view outside the church doors (looking towards the river) was breathtaking.

Climbed up the Buda castle to catch this wonderful view! That pretty white building with the dome in the middle? That's the parliament building.

Did you know that Budapest is actually made of two parts on different sides of the river? One is called Buda and the other is Pest!

Now on the Pest side of Budapest we found the memorial of "Shoes on the Danube Bank". This memorial is made up of sculptures of shoes to symbolize Jewish people who were shot and killed during the Holocaust on the banks of the Danube. The Jews were told to remove their shoes before standing silently on the banks to be killed.

Our last sight to see before catching our flight to Prague was getting up and close with this beautiful building - the Budapest Parliament! And with that it was a picturesque end to a beautiful new city.

Prague, Czech Republic

Day 1:

After spending the morning enjoying the Easter markets in the Old Town Square and walking up to the castle I was able to meet up with my friends Sena who is from St. Olaf but is also studying abroad with DIS. We haven't been able to see each other a bunch in Copenhagen so being able to meet up with her in Prague was so fun! And we got to go paddle boarding in the river and got incredible views of Prague from the water.

That night in Prague I got to do something with my roommate who I was traveling with that I will never forget! She is Jewish and was going to a Passover Seder meal in Prague so I joined her. This is a photo of the 150-year old Synagogue we had the Seder in. I did not know much of what to expect at all before going into the meal and ceremony but had such a good time experiencing an important aspect of another religion. Although it was almost all in Czech, we met new friends, ate good food, and had a wonderful time!

Day 2:

This morning I set out early on my own to explore parts of the city I didn't get to yesterday. I started out the morning with a walk across the Charles Bridge and bought tickets to walk up one of the towers! There was hardly anyone at the top and it was incredible spending time alone looking out at this beautiful sight. wow.