Sista Sista Travels

After Iceland, Steph and I spent two short days in Amsterdam and then left for Prague Tuesday evening.  We were met by our hilarious AirBnB host who proceeded to tell us everything we could possibly want to know about the city.  We headed out into town for a late dinner and were excited to see an abundance of Christmas lights!

The next day we went on a three hour walking tour during which we learned about Czech history and culture.  One of the craziest things I learned on this tour was about defenestration, which if you didn't know, refers to the punishment of throwing people out windows, usually to their deaths.  Apparently this used to be a very common form of punishment in the Czech Republic!  We also were able to see the amazing astronomical clock which was very beautiful and complex.  After the tour we went to Bernard's Beer Spa where we literally bathed in beer (hops, yeast, etc.) which was a very funny experience.

Unfortunately, the next morning we woke up to the worst news we had heard in a while: Donald Trump was the new president.  We were both completely shocked and equally depressed, it was very hard to shake this feeling of dread throughout the day.  However, we did go to the John Lennon Wall whose graffiti about love and peace comforted us.   After this we walked across the famous Charles Bridge and were amazed by the view of the water and the city.  We also checked out Prague Castle and St. George's Basilica which were both incredibly impressive.  Although there was much more that we wanted to see in the city it was time for our next destination: Budapest.  

Up until this point I had never questioned if I liked a city as much as I like Amsterdam; it has always been by far my favorite.  But Budapest definitely made me question this coveted position.  The city was so amazing!  It was my first time seeing such large and impressive buildings with Middle Eastern influences; I really could not get over the architecture.  Our AirBnb was situated directly across from the beautiful parliamentary building, which was amazing!

We managed to squeeze in a lot of activities while in Budapest: relaxing in the bathhouses, boating on the Danube River, another historical walking tour, Christmas markets, a Sparty (party in an outdoor heated bathhouse) visits to the ruin bars, etc.  The bathhouses and the ruin bars were probably my favorite parts of Budapest.  We visited the Gellert Bathhouse which is the largest one in the city.  It contained many different baths, all heated to different temperatures.  There were also saunas, steam rooms, and relaxation cabins.  It was the perfect place to unwind.

On the other hand, there were the ruin bars.  They were definitely the most chaotic bars I've ever been to!  All of the ones we visited were absolutely huge, with somewhere between 10 and 30 different rooms (some of which were hidden)!  And the decorations were equally absurd: mannequins dressed up as bartenders, bikes hanging from the ceiling, vintage communist cars, old TV's playing various films...you get the idea.  I absolutely loved exploring these bars.