Sumi Turns Two!!

It's been two years since I took home this tiny injured fur ball. Who knew I could love this little guy so much! He has returned to his playful self since arriving here in Hawaii. We are very happy here. I am also including some baby pictures just in case anyone wanted to reminisce with me!

Vienna part one

My next stop was Vienna. I really love this city. It was so beautiful with amazing Roman and Gothic architecture, tasty chocolate shops, and fancy restaurants. After resting in the hostel for a bit, I walked around the neighborhood to explore. It was chilly again, and I was grateful Georgie lent me a scarf and dad’s ski cap before I left. I had weinerschnitzel a few times in Vienna, and they were all amazing. The first night I also went to an ice cream shop where they had a variety of parfaits and sundaes. I had the pistachio one. It had loads of whipped cream over ice cream, lots of pistachios, all covered in a pistachio sauce puree. It was delicious.
The next day, I went to Schloss Schonbrun. It is the summer palace for the Habsburgs. One famous daughter of Maria Theresa, was Marie Antoinette. I took a tour through the home with an audio guide. It was really interesting, and quite beautiful. There was a huge ballroom where Mozart played a concert for Maria Theresa when he was just 6 years old. The grounds were quite beautiful, but since it was the tail end of winter, not much was in bloom. I imagine in spring it is gorgeous. There were many fountains and trails all in the “backyard.” I encountered some friendly squirrels that were absolutely adorable with their large pointy ears. I think they are used to being fed, because they came right up to you. But, I was smart and didn’t pick any up for fear of being quarantined with rabies.
In the front of the summer home was a small Easter Market. Lots of school groups were visiting that day, and they were just as excited about the oversized Easter eggs, giant pretzels, and chocolates as I was. I really like looking at all the painted eggs as well. They reminded me of the ones mom made for Christmas. She is such a good artist! So is dad. What happened with me? Anyways, it was a fun trip to the summer residence. After that, I took the underground to the main part of the city.

Budapest part three

For my last full day in Budapest, I did some more walking around town. I saw St. Steven's Basillica, which was very beautiful. Then I went to the Terror Museum, which is the former headquarters for the secret police of both the Nazi and Communist governments right in the middle of Budapest. It was an interesting place. I don't know if it is categorized as a concentration camp, but it certainly was a place where Jews were exterminated. They had many videos of survivors, and one in particular struck me. It was of a group of women who were held prisoner for no apparent reason. Years later, they confronted the one woman who was their supervisor, and quite harsh to them. She kept saying that she didn't know why they were so afraid of her. She just didn't get it.
Then I walked to Heroes Square. At the square are statues of past Hungarian leaders, and some others that I found interesting. It was a Sunday, and there was some sort of ceremony going on where everyone was singing, and holding crosses. I'm not exactly sure what was going on, but it was fun to watch.

So I had to take a picture of the flushing mechanism for the toilet at the hostel. Yes, it is a pencil. And it wasn't just that one toilet, there were 2 with pencil flushers! What piece could have possibly been missing from the toilet? Was it too expensive to replace? Anyways, I thought it was funny.
The last picture was my breakfast at a McCafe by the train station. It was really good. The donut was filled with really creamy chocolate. Yum!

Budapest part two

On my second day in Budapest, I visited the castle district. It is up on a hill. It is a large area, but it is easily walked. I saw Mathias church, the castle looking parts, had lunch (chicken paprika with dumplings) and dessert (somoli galuska -a traditional Hungarian dessert). I also tried to go into the Castle Labyrinth. It is series of underground caves made naturally from hot springs. It was really dark and drippy. I was able to see a little, then I got too scared and had to leave.
The views from the castle were very nice. There was also a small market area where I bought a Hungarian funnel cake. It was pretty good, and freshly made.