As I'm getting further into my trip I seem to be writing less often. I figured that's how it would go.... But I'll try to recap the past two days as best I can without any pictures. (computer is still kaputt).

Yesterday Kaylee and I went up to see the view of Lake Bled from Bled Castle and it was gorgeous. Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj are some of theist beautiful lakes I've ever seen. Just absolutely stunning. (yet another place where pictures would be lovely)

After we went to the castle we went canyoning!! It was so so so much fun! Canyoning is basically what is sounds like, you climb up a side of a mountain and then go down through the canyon. You go down by either repelling down the face of a rock or just jumping from the rock into the water below. Our guide's name was Joseph and he was very good and knew exactly what he was doing (don't worry mom, we made it out alive). It's hard to describe it more than that, other than the jumps range from 1 meter to 10 meters high. We bought waterproof disposable cameras (who knew those still existed?!) so hopefully we got some good pictures!

Once we got back to our hostel we showered and made dinner. While eating dinner in the kitchen a group of four guys and two girls invite us to play cards and drink shitty wine with them. So we did and it was lots of fun. Two of the guys and the two girls are from England and the other two are from New Zealand.

This morning we went down to the lake with the Brits and Kiwis.  We made the bold decision to swim out to the island that has the church on it. Now, it may look close, but don't let that fool you, it's probably about 600m away at least, of not further. And I haven't swam in years so it was a bit of a struggle. But we made it there and say around for a while then swam back. After we finished swimming we all walked back to the hostel. Kaylee and I had to get a bus back to Ljubljana in order to get a train to Zagreb. So we said goodbye and headed out to the bus station. We get to the train station in Ljubljana and we wait for the train to Zagreb. When it arrives we hop on the train and who do we find? None other than the Brits and the Kiwis! We sit with them (good thing too, they have an iPad and we watched blood diamond. Our train from Budapest to Ljubljana  would have been mich more enjoyable with them!!). When we get to Zagreb we say goodbye again. However, theyogjy be in Dubrovnik next week, so who knows, we may run into them again!!

Yesterday, we packed up our stuff from out hostel in Ljubljana and got ready to leave. (Thank goodness because those were the most uncomfortable beds I've slept on in a long while). But before we left, we stopped at the local bakery to get some food before we left. The men working there politely took out orders and when Kaylee asked what is their favorites are, they asked us where we were from (obviously not Slovenia because we were speaking english). She responded with New York, and they lit up. "New York!! Ooo! I'm only from Kosovo..." and then he gave us a free loaf of bread each. So nice! 

It had been pouring all morning at this point ad we walked to the bus station to catch a bus to Beld hoping it would let up, but it didn't. The whole hour and a half it took to get there it was pouring. It was upsetting. But we got to the hostel and settled in. We sat on our beds to read for a little hoping the rain would stop so we could go explore. Cut to three hours later, we wake up from a nice long nap. Neither of us expected to sleep, let alone for that long. But it was still raining when we woke up from our nap. So I like to think it was a rainy day well spent! 

Today when we woke up, it was beautiful outside! Cool and sunny, the perfect day to go explore! And I can officially say I love Slovenia, it is stunning, I really wish my computer was working so I could post pictures. We went kayaking on Lake Bohinj and the Soca River and it was so much fun!  it started out a little rocky. It was a tandem kayak and Kaylee and I kept getting stuck on the banks or running into the low hanging trees, or going backwards down the river. But about half way through we started to get the hang of it! There was a stopping point where we jumped off a 4m 'diving board' (it was a long wooden plank thing) into the river. 

I want a house in the Lake Bled/Lake Bohinj area, it's just so pretty and there's so much to do here. Forget a summer home or time share in Florida!! I'm aiming for something here! 

Unfortunately I can't figure out how to upload pictures that I took on my phone. It told me I had to download the google plus app so I did. But it won't let me put pictures from my google plus account onto here. Don't ask me why... I'm obviously not tech savvy enough for this. Sorry!! If any of you want, message me on WhatsApp or google talk and I'll send you some of the pictures I've taken on my phone. Other than that I apologize for not pictures, I know words are boring. 

Unfortunately my computer decided to not recognize that the charger is in it at all, even though it is there. Not even if I try to force it and tilt it at an angle, it just won't charge. So that means no more pretty pictures :( and I can't upload pictures that I took via my phone unless I have a certain app, and that may take a while for me to get up. I'll see what I can do. But for now I'll still do my best to write about things. I'm doing it on my phone though, so don't judge me if my iphone autocorrects a word.

I really like Ljubljana after exploring it today. It is such a nice city. Small, but big enough to still have things to do. It kind of reminds me of a European Pittsburgh (a small town that still feels like a big town at times). 

This morning we went walking trough the city and ran into some art booths for some kind of art fair. Local artist. There were so many cool booths and things. I got some food and I think it was like a pizza. It had a buckwheat crust and a cream cheese/yogurty sauce with some kind of seed on top (it reminded me about the stuff that's on the bottom of some bagels). 

Once we ate, we walked around a little more than went for a walk in the woods. We stumbled upon a little statue in the woods with nothing else around it. Then we came upon a wall/fortress. We were slightly confused until we realized it was the Ljubljana Castle. So we walk around and explore the castle and it has such a pretty view out of the tower, you can see the whole city and it's really beautiful (this would be a lovely time for pictures.....). 

After the castle, we walked around the city some more and looked at the churches and other cool buildings that are here. 

Then, we went to dinner at a place called Skof. It was very good. I got chicken with fried potatoes. The whole menu was in Slovenian so the waitress graciously translated most of it for us. 

We then went to a big house music festival/party in the park. It was for a charity and it only cost one euro to get in, so we figured it was worth it. And it turned out to be really fun! I'm glad we went, it was a really great people watching expirence! 

We finally made it to Ljubljana after what has to be the worlds longest and hottest train ride. Unfortunately there was no high speed train that goes from Budapest to Ljubljana, so we took a train that stops pretty much every place along the way. It was so hot, we had the windows open but even the breeze couldn't cool us off. We both had our giant 1.5 liter water bottles and I had to ration my water so I had enough for the whole train ride! (we got the water all week in Budapest for 119 forints, which is about 54 cents, best deal ever). 

While the train was still in Hungary the scenery wasn't that great, pretty much just flat farmland and maybe a house or two. 

Once we got an hour or two into Slovenia the scenery was much prettier, things like mountains in the distance and forests. But of course it was starting to get dark when we hit the nice scenery.

Let me back track for a minute so you can hear about our food situation. We weren't super hungry (I accidentally spelled that Hungary a few times before I got it right...) before we got on the train. So we got on the train and then around and hour and a half into it we both get pretty hungry. So we walk through the cars to see if they had food. Nope. Kaylee had a granola bar and some almonds in her bag and I had a Nutella to-go snack thing (some nutella and little cracker sticks). So we split a granola bar for lunch, had some almonds as a snack, and nutella snack for dinner. So if we didn't die from dehydration we were going to die of hunger. 

But we finally made it to Ljubljana, and the directions we got from the hostel aren't very clear. They were for a bus or for walking and we couldn't find buses anywhere. And we didn't find the street when we walked out of the train station either. Luckily, I just figured how to turn on my 3G today and I google mapped it to the Hostel (and I used about 18% of my monthly data allowance doing it)

Once we put all our stuff in the Hostel we trekked over to a bakery (it was the only thing open) and got ourselves some pastries to get something in our stomachs.

While walking around we saw a lot of people. It seems like cool place and I'm excited to explore it some more tomorrow!

(No pictures today, the train ride was a good photo op...)

Our last day in Budapest! (I don't count tomorrow because we're leaving the hostel around 9:30am to catch a train to Ljubljana, and that's going to be a longggg train ride, 9 hours ughh...) But I think we had a very productive last day. We walked all over and went back to the things we saw on our bike tour. First we went to St. Stephen's Basilica. It was gorgeous. 

This was the street I got lost on during the bike tour:

Then we walked all the way down Andrássy Avenue and ended up a Hero Square. 

After that, we walked around city park and ran into an old friend.

Oh hayyy George!

This guy wrote down Hungarian History. They don't know who he is though. But it's said that if you touch the pen in his hand, you'll become a great writer too (Can't you tell from my blogging skills that it's working??):

If this building looks a little disjointed that's because it is. Each different section is modeled after a castle from another part of Hungary for a big celebration a long time ago. It wasn't meant to be permanent but the people like it so much they left it: 

Once we walked all over City Park, we took the underground back to our hostel. 

Then Kaylee and I did what we do best: shopping!! Did you really think I would leave Budapest without getting a few new articles of clothing? I don't think so.

We then went to dinner and we finally found fruit soup! (We've been searching for it the whole time we've been here, restaurants don't make it everyday so it's lucky if you stumble upon one that has it made that day)
Ours was peach flavored and it came with almonds and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. It was definitely more of a dessert, but it was listed under soups so we ate it as an appetizer anyway.

My meal was Veal Goulash with Hungarian Gnocchi. (Not the same as goulash soup obviously)

Kaylee and I ate ourselves into a food coma ad then walked back to our hostel. We are exhausted because of all the walking around we did. Good thing we have a nine hour train ride to sleep tomorrow.

Even though I've been writing/posting photos here everyday so far, I don't know how well I'll be able to keep it up once I get to Dubrovnik. I'll do my best though. 

Today Kaylee and I walked only a block down the road and went to the Central Market Hall. It is this huge building that has so many fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats, as well as a lot of prepared foods.

 It also had a lot of little kitschy little stands with different souvenirs (when I say kitschy I mean it in a good way, like the kinds of things that you barter for, and there were so many purses and scarves and other things like that). 

So we walked around there for most of the morning and walked back to our hostel (it is literally a block away) dropped off the things we bought, and headed out for lunch. We ate at this little place not too far from out hostel and we both got Hungarian Goulash Soup. It was so good and it came out in the cutest little pots with flames underneath to keep it hot!

After lunch we went to another thermal bath in Budapest (so we've been to two of many), the Gellert Baths. Kaylee and I both agreed that we liked the Széchenyi baths better, but these ones were still really good. I mean how can you really complaing about lounging around all afternoon in water that's around 97 degrees? It's not as hot as a hot tub but not as cold as a regular pool. Speaking of regular pool, the main pool that was there was cold water and doubled as a wave pool! We had no idea what was going on when the waves started, but it was fun, neither of us have been in a wave pool in a long time.

After the baths, we had some excellent gelato, nutella flavored with hazelnuts in it. Sooooo good.

Then we went to a ruin pub, Szimpla Kert. Ruin pubs are bars that open up in old abandoned buildings. This one is the oldest ruin pub in Budapest. It was really cool!

On a more somber note, my netbook isn't wanting to charge! It's only charging if I have the part that plugs into the computer tilted at a certain angle... I talked to a freind from school and he said that it sounds like my power jack got pushed in and needs to be re soldered (that was my next guess after little gnomes messed with my things while I was gone). Hopefully I can find a place to do it when I get to Dubrovnik, and hopefully it will at least stay charged when I tilt it a certain way, otherwise, no more pictures to post!!

We went to Széchenyi Thermal Bath today. It was amazing! There were so many different pools, both indoor and outdoor. They were so warm, when the water comes out of the ground its about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, so they have to cool it down so people can get in and swim. The Széchenyi baths are the most famous, even though Budapest has a lot of them. And since it's a spa, obviously we had to splurge and get a massage to go with the medicinal bath!

After we relaxed an were pampered at the baths in the morning, we went on a bike tour of the city. I made a reservation with the tour company yesterday and it said to meet them at some church steps and we'll walk to the place with the bikes together because it's hard to find. When we get there we figured there would be more people, but it was just Kaylee and myself. As we were walking to the place with the bikes, I am getting slightly concerned because we turn into an alley way of sorts. We look at each other and we both have wide eyes. Kaylee whispers to me, "Fight or flight". But once we get our bikes everything is fine. Well, until the tour guide (who is young, cute, and very nice, just shy and I don't think shyness is a good quality in a tour guide) weaves in and out of people on the sidewalks, rides over big bumps, and speeds across intersections. We stop every so often and he would tell us about some buildings, like who built them, when and why they were built, and some cool little factoids about them. All is well until we're on a crowded sidewalk and Kaylee runs into a pedestrian. She tried to get out of the way, but he was oblivious and they collided (the tour guide was also oblivious). Everything was fine again for a while until I got lost. We were going trough a very narrow section of sidewalk. Half was blocked off so two people walking side by side could go through, but only one bike at a time. The tour guide and Kaylee make it through, but when I try to go,  stroller cuts me off so I'm stuck and have to back up. (Stroller people tend to be very impatient everywhere, and I'm sure Dad can attest to that). I looked away from Kaylee and the tour guide to move for the stroller and when I looked up they were no where in sight! I was panicking inside, I thought I was going to be lost in Budapest. I was so happy I at least put my moms packet of papers in my bag in the morning, because that has the address to the hostel on it. I ride a little further and still can't see them so I'm starting to panic a little more. I rode up a little further still and finally I saw Kaylee and I was the most relieved I've been my whole life. I wasn't lost in Hungary!!

Despite the mishaps with the bike tour, we still had fun. It was fun to see the city that way, I felt more like someone who lived there than if we would have done something like a segway tour.

(Sorry for no pictures, it was hard to take pictures on the bike and I didn't want my camera to get wet at the baths!!)

St. Stephen's Day

Today was St. Stephen's Day, a national holiday in Hungary. Almost all of the stores are closed so Kaylee and I just walked around for most of the day. We saw some really amazing buildings. There were a lot of food stands around so we tried something that looked really good. It is called a Kürtöskalács, which literally means chimney cake. It's a sweet pastry that is rolled onto a log, rolled in sugar, then roasted over hot coals. You can have it rolled in something else when you order it, like cinnamon or cocoa. I got mine plain and Kaylee got hers with cinnamon. (Gluten free, shmuten free! She decided a little tummy ache was worth it while we were standing in line to get one)

So delicious!

This is how they made them:

Just hanging out along the Danube:

Cool fountains:

Nothing says family fun better:

The liberty statue (not to be confused with the US's statue of liberty):

Parliament:

Fireworks for St. Stephen's Day: