Londontown

London is without a doubt one of the most bustling cities in the world and I love it. Immediately after checking into our incredibly lovely hotel, compliments of one Derek Lindberg, we headed to the nearest pub crawl. Again, great experience! The traveler mentality is amazing and everyone is so kind and interested in you and your story as well as sharing their own. Waking up the next morning a bit groggy, we found our first food, fish and chips of course. Next we headed out to some of the greats; Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, crossed the bridge to a classic hipster coffee shop, but my absolute favorite was Hyde Park. So many runners I can't even describe it. It felt like home! Later that night a little touristed out we grabbed some pho soup then looked up what we should do this night that didn't involve drinking. We landed on the Warner Bros London Harry Potter studio tour and oh holey moley it was love at first site! It was the actual studio they filmed in filled with props, costumes, sets, makeup, hair, mechanical devices (broom sticks), creatures, literally everything! I'll have to add an extra post of all of those pictures because there's just too many! The next day we enjoyed a delicious full English breakfast as well as steak and ale pie! Then we saw Trafalgar Square, Covent garden, the British museum, and St. Paul's Church. We enjoyed some delicious Earl Grey tea with a few patisseries and that was about all we had time for before sadly packing our packs one last time and heading to the airport. The post trip sadness has set in but it was one hell of a trip! It seems like we just arrived, these 3 1/2 weeks flew by but everything we saw and did and all the people we met have been incredible!

Love,
A&M

Amster(damn)

Alright, great, good, and ugly of this city... The walking tour as always spot on. The guide led us through the history of Amsterdam as a corrupt religious city built around the water. We saw the Old Church stationed in the center of the red light district, where sailors could sin and then quickly be forgiven before heading back out to sea. The red light district is awkward at best, sparsely dressed women staring at you out of their windows. First question, are they allowed books in there? Can they be on their phones? What do they do with their time outside the window? Apparently the women are very protected, belong to a union, pay taxes, just like everyone else! Cheers girls! Next we saw the oldest Dutch West Indies trading building, heard the Reformation history, heard a bit about the Anabaptist rebellion and their hellacious slaughtering, saw one of the most gorgeous buildings in town... An old post office, we heard about the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam and how it impacted the Jewish population, including Anne Frank and her family. We saw the bookstore hiding their safespot and were reminded a little of her history and her father's decision to publish her diary. And all day long were dodging the extremely assertive cyclists. Pedestrians have the least protected rights in this city. We went to the Heineken brewery tour, the Van Gogh museum which was incredible! We also ate insane delicious Dutch cuisine and went on a very weather heavy canal tour! We are almost finished with the trip finishing up in London for the next few days!!!

Love,
A&M

Munchin in München

Munich has been amazing! I think we have been loving it so much we've neglected to post, sorry, sorry! But the hostel we're staying at has been such a great jumping off point to tours, meeting up with people, and it's very own bar has been our main night life spot. The walking tour again was perfect, you see and hear so much from the guides. We met the coolest people who we've hung out with every day since. A couple of super lovable Canadians, some rowdy Australians, an Irish military officer who had us rolling on the floor laughing, an incredible ukele player and singer from Sonoma county surprisingly, who invited us all to watch her perform at an open mic night, so much fun, and two girls who go to UT but are on an exchange in Milan! All new lifelong friends for sure. We went and saw the surfers in the English gardens, those people are nuts, I stepped on the devil's footprint in the devil's church, we have eaten and drank so much German beer and food, I think my German roots took full force here! Oh and we stumbled into the weirdest art museum which unfortunately we have zero pictures of however, it was the strangest experience either of us has ever had, we'll leave it at that. Also the Munich science musuem blows any in the States clear out of the water. It's 6 ginormous floors with the most insane displays, they were all hands on and so crazy visual. It would take a full week to see every they have to offer there. We also decided we were having such a lovely time, to stay two extra nights and it was worth every second. We have danced and laughed so hard, partied in the Hofbrau House which was such an experience. Also I am sad to say Dad, Derek, Mom...my attempt to take a trinket with me, was foiled! Chaz will have to try next. We are sad to go but excited because Amsterdam is up next!

Love,

A&M

Crawl so hard...

While staying at Maverick City Lodge we decided to take full advantage of their organized nightly events, the first being a pub crawl. Going in we knew we had an early flight out the next morning so very responsibly set 10 alarms. Well due to Paulinka and Unicum, both Hungarian spirits, the alarms didn't quite work the next morning... However, we managed to refund some of our tickets and switch up the trip only slightly so all is well! We've also had the opportunity to meet and drink with some awesome travelers with the extra nights in Budapest and of course swim around in another of the baths. Tomorrow we fly to Munich, Germany!

Love,
A&M

Bathing in Budapest

Our BlaBla Car ride into Budapest was perfect! We were so lucky to ride in Eva and Luka's car. They are a young married couple who live in Budapest but drive to and from Croatia every week! They were very fun to chat with and provided us with tons of info and ideas for our stay in Budapest. Once we arrived we checked into our first hostel which was one of the oldest in the city, then went to find our first local fare, Goulash. Bomb dot com. Meaty, potato, veggie papkrika soup. We had already missed the walking tour for the day so decided to do a bit ourselves. We walked over the White bridge crossing the Danube river to the Buda side of the city. Then proceeded to climb many, many stairs to reach the top of Gellert Hill overlooking the whole city. Every single person by the end of the climb was down to the bare minimum of clothing, sweating, but amazed by the view, ourselves included. After climbing down Michael needed a little more Hungarian soup so we found a sweet little spot and indulged. Walking from here we strolled through Jewish district finally landing in a very popular ruin pub. This place was insane. Old ruins filled with tons of bars, strapped together with what looks like makeshift circus tents, and odd ball decor all around. Old cars, park benches, pommel horse, gnomes on swings... You name it. After a few drinks we befriend a solo traveler, Mate. He works for the UN, speaks six languages and had just finished his previous assignment in Turkey! Amazing guy. Talking with him was very enlightening but also a bit sad hearing of the current state of the world from his very hands on perspective. However he remains positive and believes the best way to deal with issues we really have little control over is by remaining a good person yourself and eliminating negative actions and speech from our own lives! After leaving this bar Michael was able to find our way back to the hostel with a quick stop for late night pizza! Seriously he is the greatest person to travel with especially due to my complete lack of directional sense! No shame in my game. The next morning, being this morning for us, we wake up grab a quick bare bones breakfast at the hostel and head off to the free walking tour! By this point the rain was coming down pretty hard but determined we stuck with it! So worth it. The tour guide was amazing, we saw so much of the city and heard a ton of it's history. We also tried our next delicious local dish, langos. Basically a funnel cake type pastry but topped with sour cream and cheese. Again, amazing! After the tour we were a little cold and wet so to the baths we went! What a treat, outdoor bath with a sauna and cold dunk tub. We felt nice and relaxed for our walk back through the rain. We just arrived at our next hostel for the night, Maverick City Lodge. Definitely recommend this one. Quick nap then back out for some more ruin pub night life. Cheers!

Love,
A&M