Life in Switzerland: April 2013

Budapest, Hungary

My last post was from Vienna, but I forgot to tell about a very important and scarring story.

In Switzerland, in order to be allowed to drive on the highway you have to buy a high way pass for your car. We thought that it was just a Switzerland thing since they are so strict and love rules. So, we began driving along from our house to Vienna, only worried about having to park at the hotel (my moms biggest fear is parking in Europe. It is actually quite challenging since the parking spots are limited and are made for tiny smart car-like cars). When we crossed the border into Austria, my mom and I were like "WOHOO AUSTRIA!" and having our own little party/celebration. About 5 minutes later our celebrating came to a halt when we reached a checkpoint where the Austrian police told us to pull up into a line of cars will other cars were being allowed to continue on the highway. My mom and I were confused for two reasons: 1. Because everyone was trying to talk to us in german, and 2. Because this wasn't border control because we already crossed the border. Needless to say we had no idea what was going on until a guy came and spoke english to us, informing us that we were being fined for not having Austrian highway stickers. We were being fined 120 swiss francs for a highway pass that only cost 8 francs. So, our road trip started out with us being fined by the Austrian police.

Regardless with our mishap at the beginning, the trip was amazing and I think that everyone needs to go here at some point.

Fisherman's Bastion
This is the biggest monument for Budapest, like the Eiffel Tower for Paris.

The pictures don't do it justice because I couldn't get far enough away for the whole thing to be in the picture.

I tried to get farther away but it wasn't much better.

A side view of Fisherman's Bastion

One of the towers.

Some of the steps going to the look out points.

The opposite side entrance to it.

This picture kind of makes it look like it is just a hill down, but those are actually steps.

The statue behind Fisherman's Bastion

My mom

The statues in the arc before going down the steps.
I just noticed that the one farthest to right is creepily staring at me...Good thing I didn't notice that when I was there, I would've booked it out of there so fast.

From the look out points we were able to see amazing panorama's of Budapest

Looking across the river at the Parliament building.

One of the coolest Parliament buildings that I have ever seen.
Then again, I haven't seen many Parliament buildings.

Budapest used to be composed of three separate cities: Buda, Pest, and Old Buda, before combining into Budapest.

Over 80 percent of the buildings on the Pest side were destroyed in World War II.

The Danube River runs between Budapest, which used to separate the cities of Buda and Pest.

A better picture of the river.

It was really hot out, so I thought that it was necessary that I roll my jeans up, however, they were skinny jeans so they could only roll up about three inches.

The hilly side is the Buda side and the flat side is the Pest side.
Fisherman's Bastion is on the hilly Buda side, which allows for such great look out points.

St. Matthias Church was right behind Fisherman's Bastion.

The walkway behind the church.

The roof on this church was amazing! Much like the amazingness of St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna.
The cathedrals and churches in Europe will never cease to amaze me.

The Statue in between the Bastion and the Church.

The inside of the church was all HAND painted....insane.

Some pretty cool stain glass windows.

Even the ceiling was hand painted!

It was a royal church where the kings went.

Every single wall was covered from top to bottom.

It was so colorful and beautiful!

While we were there, they were in the process of restoring it.
People were sitting there hand painting over the old paint to make it the exact same.

The Balcony.

Standing on the balcony, looking down.

Even the doorways were amazing.

My mom on the stairwell.

No matter what church or cathedral I am in, I will always take a picture of the organ.
Even if it is covered in plastic.

A statue of Queen Elizabeth, also known as Izzy.
She is so famous here for being the Queen, and also Vienna for being the empress.
Both places adored her and talked about her all the time.