Cait in Europe

So like I said I went horseback riding yesterday!!! I also ate more home-made food. Actually as I write we are cooking gulyas (goulash) in the traditional style: in a big pot over an open fire!!! I also learned how to make some pastries. But while we are waiting for the food to cook I will update!

But earlier today we went to Austria to visit a cousin.

Welcome to Austria!!!

On the other side of the road is Hungary. It was kind of creepy because there is no longer any border patrol, but all the buildings are still there.

The road up into the hills....

They have really cool signs for the villages!

Okay so yesterday we drove into those mountains to a tiny village to go riding.

A village in the mountains on the way to the village where we went horseback riding. The village is in Hungary, but the mountains are technically in Austria.

Almost there!

The horse I rode, Vilma. She has to be the biggest horse I have ever ridden o.O

She was very sweet but also very fast!

LOL there were little barn kitties running around everywhere. Can you see how HUGE Vilma is?? All of the horses were registered Hungarian Warmbloods, so they are very big and pretty (and worth a lot of $$$ in the US!!)

I was helping my friend's cousin with his horse since he had never ridden before. She was also very sweet, her name was Ariel. I really like this picture ^_^

Our guide tacking up an older horse, Cicus. Our guide spoke only really heavy Hungarian but was a really good guide and rider. He rode Cicus' son who was a little spooky.

I couldn't take pictures while we were riding because if I let up a little on the reins Vilma tried to take off XD So this is me saying goodbye!

Saying goodbye to the barn kitty. He was also very sweet <3

Okay that's it for now!!!

So after Amsterdam my friends and I drove across the Netherlands, through Germany, through Austria, and to Hungary. Right now we are staying in the small town where my Hungarian friend Eszter is from, and in a few days we will be visiting Budapest. So far we've just seen the town and eaten a LOT. Her family will certainly make sure I'm completely full all of the time!!

The mountains in Austria on the way to Hungary.

We drove THROUGH rather than OVER the mountains. Which was very expensive. We paid over 15 euro in tolls o.O

Whew, mountains!!!!

Welcome to Hungary!

The first night in Hungary we went to a great restaurant. My dessert was on fire when I got it!!! LOL they're like Hungarian crepes. Stuff is priced great here though, five of us ate full meals and had dessert and had sodas and it was only around US$50.

The next day Eszter's family cooked for us. We had three different types of noodles, one of which was plain noodles with poppy seeds on top. Sounds weird, but soo yummy!! Tastes like noodley dessert.

And we walked around the town center.

So pretty ^_^

I got a really cool shot of the sun setting over the church.

Some friends of Eszter's family breeds Hungarian Pointers called Vizlas and their dog just had puppies!!

They also make moonshine which they made me try. I only had five sips but its like over 100 proof so I actually got buzzed @>_<@

Baby puppy!!!! They were only around two or three weeks old. They could barely walk =3

Grandmommy, mommy, and babies <3 They were the sweetest dogs I've ever met.

I was trying to hold as many as I could at one time XD

Today we went horseback riding on Hungarian Warmbloods in the mountains near the Austrian border, but I haven't been able to upload them yet. I will in the next few days with whatever else I do!!!

Okay I haven't updated in a while because internet has been hard to get. On Saturday I packed up and left Berlin. My friend Eszter, who I met in Berlin, is from Hungary and I have been travelling with her since she has a few weeks until she goes back to Berlin for an internship. We went to Düsseldorf to see a friend and when we realized we were only two hours away from Amsterdam, we said let's go!!!

I didn't realize the buildings were going to be so beautiful o.O

I didn't realize there would be so much water!!!

Old and cool.

Shrooms!! LOL I stayed FAAAR away from that crap.

Yeah, reeeaaal smart o.O

There were so many people chillin on boats!

I thought this was funny because the sign looks like it says "Jupiter." LOL, I'm home so soon!

This is one of the most famous "theaters" in the red light district.

So that was Amsterdam!!! After that we drove through Germany and Austria to Hungary. We will be going to Budapest in the next few days. Afterwards we might be going to Vienna and definitely to Munich since I am flying out of there. I am going to try to convince my friend to go to Schwangau near the Swiss border so I can see the Cinderella Castle.

Until next time! Please be patient with me because now I can only go online where I can find free wi-fi.

Yesterday I went back to Wannsee but didn't go to the beach. Instead I visited the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) and then to Potsdam. Potsdam has many, many castles/palaces but I only had time to see part of one, Sansoucci. It was soooo much bigger than I imagined so I couldn't see much. Really, castles here aren't just a castle. They have acres of parks and forests and fountains and many other buildings. So here are the pictures I took:

Some of my friends, David and Dana, walking to the S-Bahn station.

The front of the S-Bahn station at Lichterfelde (the closest one to my place). I really like how old it looks (and actually is).

On the ferry from Wannsee Island to the Pfaueninsel.

The Pfaueninsel Schloss. It was originally just a quaint little villa but then it was bought by Prince Frederick who commissioned the architect Schinkel (who also built the Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor) to rebuild it.

The view from the Schloss.

This is some old church on Wannsee Island that I could see from the Pfaueninsel.

Another building on Pfaueninsel. There were quite a few, so I'm not sure which this is one is. I think it might be the "secret laboratory."

Closer to the "secret laboratory."

Oh this was some random Roman Temple thingy!! There are a lot of these in Germany. It must be part of the Neo-Classical thing.

The dairy. When the prince lived on this island it had a fully functional dairy and farm and stuff. I didn't see any animals because they were restoring the aviary and everything.

I swear the trees were a few centuries old!

This was pretty much the only picture I could get my friends to take of me. It's in front of the fountain Pfaueninsel.

After walking around the Pfaueninsel, which had more old buildings and a fountain, we took the bus from the Pfaueninsel through Wannsee Island to Potsdam.

We walked from where the bus left us to get to Sansouci. Not cool. But this picture is the view of one of the many castles of Babelsberg from across the sea.

Did I mention that all this old stuff is in the midst of modernity? An Aldi is a discount store.

The Potsdam Gate!

I think this is now a restaurant or hotel or something.

This is kind of like the Brandenburger Tor, but much smaller. It is called the Jaegerstor (Hunter's Gate). It is like right in the middle of all these shops and restaurants.

I have also seen a lot of these Egyptian Obelisk things around Germany, especially in Potsdam. I don't know what they signify.

This is the first structure you see when walking into Sanssouci. I have no idea what it is. The Palace itself was started in 1747, but structures were almost continuously built up until 1900.

The view of the main garden path. It's magical ^_^

The view of Sanssouci from the main Garden Path. There were so many of these paths, and you can easily get lost. I guess that's why King Frederick named it Sanssouci, which means "without worries" in French. I guess you're supposed to just wander about and enjoy the sights.

The main garden of Schloss Sanssouci. Can you see it up there, so tiny on the hill? King Frederick purposely had it built without the basement so it was an expression of beauty rather than power.

The main fountain! It was so nice because we sat on the edge of it and when the wind blew the right way we got a nice moist breeze~

Beautiful Sanssouci~

Sanssouci with the fountain...

You can see my friends sitting at the fountain, David has the green shirt on. He's from London ^_^

The Chinese Pavillion.

This is called the new palace, although it is only 20 years newer than Sanssouci. King Frederick had it built as an expression of his power (he was also called the Soldier King).

After the New Palace it was getting kind of dark. And we were tired from all the walking so we went home.

Today I did homework and now I only have a few days left!! I will definitely update again soon~

OOOOKAY so I have so much stuff to talk about, I'm just going to dive right in with some pics.

Here is a map of Berlin and where I've been there.

First, last weekend I went to Wannsee.

This is the the path to the beach at Wannsee.

This way to the beach!

Isn't it beautiful? The beach is on the lake Wannsee, and is surrounded by forest. Berlin--well, all of Germany--has lots and lots of forest.

Welcome to the beach! I love the quaint old style of all the buildings.

This was the first view I had when I entered.

I had to walk down the stairs to get to the actual beach.

It's sooo big!! Hard to believe it's a lake, huh?

No palm trees here.

I met up with some friends who live in Berlin and they were brave enough to splash around in the water. It was way too cold for a Floridian like me XD

After the beach I went wandering around via the bus on the large island of Wannsee. I found a creepy forest o.O

I took the bus instead of the S-Bahn (train/trammy thing) back home and there were tons of beautiful homes. I grabbed a pic of one from the bus.

Okay then last week I went on a field with my class and I stopped by the Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag (Parliament) building.

Horse-drawn carriages on the Unter den Linden~

There were cute little birdies on the Souvenir shops sign XD

Can you see the Tor in the distance?? It is so much bigger than expected!!! There was some kind of festival/sports thing going on so they were setting up for it.

It's really big o.O The statue on top is called the Quadriga.

I think this is the German embassy? It's some embassy. Pretty fancy, eh?

The Reichstag!!! It's really old and used to have a stone dome thingy on top, which Hitler had burned down to have excuse to go after Jews. It was rebuilt after the fall of East Berlin, so now it's a modern glass dome.

That's the Fernsehe Turm (TV Tower) in the background! It's the biggest structure in Berlin.

This is the chancellor's building. Germany's chancellor is a chick ^__^

Okay so after the Tor we continued our field trip. My class is called "Islam and the West: Transcending the Dichotomy" so we've been learning a lot about Islam and how Islam and "The West" intersect. This picture is in front of a museum thingy which had a hidden Indian Tea House. It was very good! Afterwards we went to the Berlin Opera House to see a concert played by young Turkish and German musicians. It was really neat because they played compositions--both old and new--by both Turkish and German compositions. I forgot to take pictures though!

And then later in the week I went to KaDeWe, the Kaufhaus des Westens. It is the largest department store in the world at over 160,000 square feet!!! I didn't buy anything but it was definitely awesome to see Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaDeWe

Me in front ^__^

Cool angle

Today I went to Wannsee again but to go the smaller Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) to see a Schloss and some other buildings. Then my friends and I went to Potsdam to see some more Schlossen! We had only enough time to see one, but I took some great photos. I will have to upload those...maybe tomorrow?

Well thanks for reading everyone, sorry I haven't updated more!! I am leaving Berlin on Saturday so I will finish updating by Friday.

Love Cait