My new hat…

I am leaving Florence with a new hat. I love hats because it is the easiest way to cover up the fact you just didn’t do your hair that day. Especially, if your traveling throw it on and go. I got this hat at the street market in Florence, I even got it for a deal- I’m a haggler. You have to, or else you will get taken advantage of. That is something I have learned while traveling, the second locals realize you are a tourist, especially an American, they hike up the price. So I say as little as possible just to throw them off, use what local language I can, then (BAM) shock ’em when I speak perfect English after I’ve gotten my deal 😉 I myself once worked in retail, had a quota and a threatening manager, so sure you’ll do what you have to in order to keep your job. Along with selling people things they probably don’t really need – case in point why I no longer work in retail. I bring that up because my mom was off looking at somethings on her own, and I was observing from a distance the gentleman trying to scam her. She was looking for authentic goods made in Florence, every time she would ask he would say “Oh, yes, sure!”. He practically had is hand in her purse paying himself. So I walked over to see the tag and they were in fact goods from China and Persia. That’s when we walked away, but they can be so pushy but as a touring customer always remember you have the right not to be hustled or cheated. But what do you think about the hat?

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Budapest, You-da-best!

I haven’t had a chance to share my pictures from my trip to Budapest last week because I’ve been so sick. I got sick around the second week that I got here and have been putting off seeing the doctor. So you know I must have been sick if I voluntarily went to the doctor.  But I am finally starting to feel better so I am glad I went. Its so cool how easy it is to travel from country to country. Like Munich we went by bus which wasn’t bad at all. They are really nice charter bus’ and have movies and wifi. Thankfully this time I was able to take a bus that got into Budapest before 10PM. Last time we traveled we took a bus that drove all night and got us there at 4 in the morning. And then the way back didn’t get us home until 7AM. This first post about Budapest has pictures from the day we took a walking tour. It started at 10AM and went on for a few hours. It was great to see all of the historic places in the city, and it was free! If you are going to Budapest I would highly recommend it.

As I walked though the city I couldn’t help but notice how much it was under construction. The tour guide had explain that most of it was left over from the war, and the fact that during communism things were poorly built so they constantly have to remodel. Visiting these country that had been bombed during the war makes me so appreciate that my home had not gone through this. There is a definite lingering presence of those unfortunate events. However you wouldn’t tell from the people, which were all friendly and inviting.

In front of the famous Chain Bridge. The was the first bridge to connect Buda with Pest.

The Vigado

The Hungarian National Gallery

The Fisherman’s Bastion.

The restaurant inside the Fisherman’s Bastion. It had an amazing view.

The Matthias Church.

We were just in time to witness the changing of the guard. They are very serious, I did my best to make them laugh and nothing! They did not budge, there is no way I’d make it as a guard.

In front of another bridge and Gellert Hill.

We ended the day exploring here at St. Stephan’s Cathedral. This is exactly how the sky looked at the time I took the picture. It was the most electric blue I had even seen it.