Blog

For those of you who don’t know me, I have a best friend and her name is Amanda. Like all of my roommates Amanda was subject to my many requests for photo projects all through my college years. On rare occasion she will ask me if we can do some photos for fun, just for her, and I get so excited for these times we get to spend exploring together. I love you to pieces Mandy, you are the most beautiful human I know, inside and out.

Monday April 14th

We parted ways with Austria early monday morning and were in route to Hungary for most of the day. Budapest was a place well-known for it’s beauty, and it was as close to the middle-east as we’d get to go. I’m sad we couldn’t go on to Turkey even as far as Jordan, but those places were left for another adventure. We spent the first day in Budapest exploring on our own. It was so peculiar how the thought of a 40 minute walk had become so nonchalant. Here in America if I told someone, “Ya, it’s only 40 minutes! We can totally get there before sunrise!” I think people would look at me like I was crazy. I dearly miss that mindset. We got settled into our hostel for the night and walked around town until sunset.

Parliament at sunset.

Tuesday April 15th –

The next day we got up before sunrise and walked the 40 minutes to the Fisherman’s Wharf. Normally they charge to go up on top of it’s wall, but because we were there before anyone else was awake, we mayyyyy have snuck up for some photos without paying.

Fisherman’s Wharf

After the Wharf we walked down around the town.

We stopped back by our hostel for a quick breakfast. Cereal in pots because we are poor backpackers. haha.After some rest we got ready to meet up with a few friends. We planned to have some people show us around since Budapest had so many things to see. One person was the brother of a girl we went to University with back in Indiana, and the other was from the couch surf we did in Paris. Though she lives in Paris now with Luc, Lea is actually Hungarian, and was visiting family in her hometown of Budapest on the same day we were visiting.This is the market in Budapest, and the same architect that designed the Eiffel tower designed the interior of this market.Lea was a fantastic guide. She knew so much about Hungarian history.Lea could only spend a little time with us, so after saying bye, we climbed the stairs to St. Stephen’s.My dear friend Andrea from Munich told me that there was gelato in the shape of a flower just outside of St. Stephen’s, so we made sure to get some. It reminded me of the flavors and way they give you gelato in Paris.

The last thing we saw for the day was the oldest subway in all of Europe, according to Lea. As the sun went down we headed to bed early because tomorrow would entail all-day traveling to Slovenia.

Wednesday April 16th,

Bright and early we set off for Slovenia. 1 bus and 2 trains led us through the beautiful Austrian countryside, and we ended up in Ljubljana, Slovenia at dusk.

I’m taking a break from my updates of traveling to show you the cooking skills of my dear friend Susan. She and I met freshman year of college in our dorm unit. At the beginning of school Susan was studying design, so we had a few classes together since I was also studying art. After about a year she changed her major to biology, because she loved to know how things work. Then towards the end of school Susan finally settled on business administration to finish out her IWU degree. Her senior year, Susan started “Saturdays with Suz” a time when she baked for all her friends in her dorm kitchen. Now that we are both graduates, Susan is pursuing a culinary degree to add to her business education. She is able to combine her artistic talents with her craving to understand how things work, and use her business knowledge to one day start her own bakery. For now, she is getting an internship and works at a local Indiana bakery. I asked Susan to slave away for a few days in her kitchen in exchange for providing her some portfolio photos in a large mass, to add to her already beautiful blog. Below are the final shots of all her goodies with their names,  for the recipes check out her blog at www.suzbakes.com!

1. Soft Italian Bread

2. Infused Chocolate Chip Cookies

3. Baked Lemon Doughnuts

4. Lemon-lime Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

5. Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts

I know it’s been forever since I’ve updated, and for those of you who are so so kind to keep up with my blog, I’m so very sorry! BUT! I have better wifi now! So, here is a post about my time in Austria.

Friday April 11th

Today we woke up early and hopped on a train to cross into Austria. Salzburg was our next stop.

All the little houses and mountains were a nice change of scenery, I’d been in so many cities, I had almost forgotten I was going to see mountains!

Salzburg and all of if cute glory. I would kill to be here at Christmas time.

Looking down on the city from the castle

Taking a look over the city from the castle wall

More inside the castle

After touring the castle a bit, we wandered through the town back to the train station. Only a few hours were spent in this charming little town, and I wish so badly I could go back to see all of the other castles and mountains that it has scattered about.

Linz, Austria

We got to Linz that evening, where my friend and fellow photographer Anna lives. She showed us around her town and then took us home for some rest after a full travel day.

Saturday April 12th

We woke up this morning and Anna told us about a castle they have in town. She said it was maybe an hour walk, and since we’ve been walking so much, we decided that would be an easy morning excursion. After Anna making me some coffee worthy of being in a cafe, we set out for the little castle on the hill.

Anna and me at the top of the castle!

And then we tried Apple Strudel. My dear friend Barbara who I adventured with in Scotland, is originally from Austria, and she raved about this treat. So, Anna took Michael and I to a place where we could have it warm with vanilla sauce. Let’s just say, it lived up to the expectations Barbara set upon it.

That evening Anna took us with some friends to her hometown, Rohrbach. It was nice to be in a car, rather than a bus or train where you are trapped until the ride is over.

Anna’s took us to her house and cooked us a head of spaghetti for dinner. Anna is yet another kind and hospitable person who opened not only her home, but her coffee-making skills, food pantry, and her heart. OH. And she refused to take her bed, but instead slept on the floor so I could have a bed. ANNA YOU ARE SO SWEET. I’ve only met Anna a few times at photography meet ups, but the way that she ran to me and greeted me with a giant hug and smile at the bus station yesterday, you’d think we’d been friends forever.

We spent the evening with some of Anna’s friends in her hometown, then headed back to Linz.

Sunday April 13th

Today was a day I had been looking forward to for many years. Lukas is a photographer from Austria, one of the first I met when I made my Flickr account to share my photos years ago. Lukas messaged me about photography and we kept in contact after that. I think that we have known each other’s work for about 5 years now, and we have talked about visiting one another for some time. Well. Today that plan would finally be executed. Today I would meet Lukas! AND on top of that, in the past year he had started dating an adorable little photographer from Norway named Silje. So obviously I would be taking lots of photos of them. So, I did most of my documenting of the day with them as my models. Michael and I left Linz very early and got in to Vienna early afternoon. When we came up from the subway, we found that there was a marathon happening. Somehow we keep finding ourselves in cities right on the one day of the year that there is a festival or marathon, or something of the sort. We headed to our hostel to put our backpacks away and then wait for Lukas and Silje.

Marathon in Vienna

So many painted eggs for Easter time. They hand paint real eggs. There had to be thousands of them around. Austrians don’t mess around with their Easter eggs.

Lukas

Lukas & Silje

Silje is so beautiful. Not only outwardly, but in her heart. She was so very sweet from the moment we said hello. Loads of photographers that know Lukas and Silje talk non-stop about how sweet and nice they both are, and let me just jump on the bandwagon and say, they are the sweetest couple you will ever meet.

By the horse racing arena.

We met up with another photographer and friend of Lukas & Silje later on in the day. He had that lavender and balloon on him all day. 

And then we tried Schnitzel. I mean, we’re in Austria.

Towards the end of the day we all decided it would be fun to see that palace. Apparently it’s like Austria’s own Versailles.

Vienna Palace

Not only are they the sweetest couple ever, but they are the most photogenic couple ever.

Spring time flowers

We all watched the sun go down on the hill at the palace, then had dinner and said our goodbyes. Lukas is moving to Norway with Silje soon, and they invited me to visit. I can’t tell you exactly when that will be, but I can say that I will most definitely be taking them up on that offer sometime.
I will be posting photos from Budapest next! In just a day or two. And for those of you curious, I am currently in Greece.

Wednesday April 9th –

We said our teary-eyed goodbyes to Sima and her mom, then Sima took us to the bus and we were off to Munich. The world needs more hearts like theirs. Michael and I arrived in Munich a few hours later, and we were picked up by another photographer named Laura. We dropped off our bags at her flat and then she took us to walk around Olympia park where another photographer friend, Andrea, met up with us.

BMW building details

Laura

Laura

BMW building details

BMW building details

As the sun went down we all explored the massive Octoberfest Grounds then had a yummy traditional meal together, which to me, tasted like fancy macaroni. That night, Michael and I would find our way back to Laura’s flat alone. Since she had left for the nights we would be there, in order to give us both a place to sleep, she parted ways with us at the subway. We didn’t write down any directions because both Michael and I remembered, you just get off the subway and it is on the left right by construction. Well. We got off the subway and found ourselves re-walking the streets for about an hour. At that point we decided okay, we must be in the wrong place, it was RIGHT off the subway when Laura had shown us earlier. Neither of our phones worked without wifi, and Germany isn’t too keen on having free wifi. So we set out to ask some locals if maybe they knew where student housing was located. I spotted two friendly looking women outside a cafe and did my routine of, “Pardon, do you speak English?” They both smiled and said yes, then I proceeded to explain the situation. Their third friend came out of the cafe about that time and they filled her in, so they were trying to explain where they thought we needed to go, then they said, “okay just follow us!” So we did for a few blocks, then we let them know there was no way it could be this far. The woman offered to call my friend, but Laura’s number was on a message on Facebook, which I needed wifi to access. After searching for a few minutes for a cafe that was still open, one woman remembered she could make a hotspot with her phone. After doing that, I got Laura’s number and one woman handed me her phone to make the embarrassing call. I handed the phone over to the kind woman and Laura explained to her simple directions. We had taken the wrong exit out of the subway, that’s why everything was so unfamiliar. With warm smiles the three woman received our thank-you’s and we headed for the subway. Once we emerged from the proper exit, we immediately knew where we were. A few hours later than expected, but we were glad to finally be back at the flat.

Thursday April 10th –

We got up early to spend a little more time with Laura before her classes, then spent the rest of the day with Andrea exploring the remainder of the touristy parts of the city.

It started to drizzle first thing in the morning, and I was pretty okay with it. Call me crazy, but I like a light mist of rain.

Because there are so many bikes, they have their own traffic light.

I snapped this of Laura as we said goodbye. So sad to see her go! She had been so kind to host Michael and I. Her apartment is rather tiny, but she handed us the key and went to stay elsewhere while we stayed at her place. I can’t wait to see this lovely lady again in Vancouver this summer!

Andrea, me, and Laura. SOOO so happy to finally have met these talented photographers.

We went to the food market for lunch, where Laura told me I had to try the soup. So, I tried the soup! It was amazing needless to say. I love all the markets in Europe. It provides a cheap and fresh place for food always.

German local goodies. Andrea loves pickles just as much as me! so naturally we had to get some after lunch.

The University.

More of the University

Andrea walking through the stairs at the University in Munich

I know what you’re thinking. It’s what I thought when I saw a guy with a surfboard in the subways of Munich, Germany. There’s surfing? Yes. There apparently is. There’s a river that runs through the park in town and just under a bridge there is a constant wave where locals like to practice their surfing. They jump in and ride for a few minutes then bail into the water behind them to let the next guy have a turn.

At the end of the day we walked back to Laura’s flat where we were staying to pack up and be ready to leave early in the morning. The next few days would be even more busy. I keep thinking about how bizarre this ritual had become of quickly meeting people, instantly being befriended by them and even taken care of, then just as quickly I leave. Grateful is just the surface of what I feel knowing I have the ability to keep in contact with all the people I have met and will meet on the rest of my trip. People can be so caring, even to complete strangers. I know I keep saying it, but I really cannot get over how amazing that truly is.

My next blog post will be from Austria. For a current update, I am now in Croatia!