Hello! I have enjoyed Dubrovnik very much. It is really pretty and the people are nice.Two days ago, my mom and I walked around the old town and bought some souvenirs while my dad was at his meeting. Later, we had a delicious lunch at a tapas place. After we ate, we went to a beautiful beach right next to our hotel. The water was very clear; you could see to the bottom. After we swam, we took a shower, ate, and went to bed. The next day, we went to breakfast and looked around at the old town. Later we ate lunch at Pupo. My mom and I had scampi and shrimps on top of spaghetti. Later, we went swimming in the ocean until 6. We took a shower then ate a great supper. Today, my dad was off his meeting. We walked around, ate, and then swam in the ocean. My dad and I swam out to the buoy. I was scared at first but then, I wasn't.  I met a really nice girl named Ana. We swam together most of the afternoon. I will see you soon! Bye.

Bosnia - Suprise visit

Hello! We woke up in the morning then, we ate. We rented a car so we can go to Dubrovnik. On the way we stopped at MoStar, Bosnia! There was a bridge that has been rebuilt and rebuilt a lot of times because it was very famous. We saw where the war was in the 90s. After that, we walked around some shops that were close by. Later, we took the car to Cavtat, Croatia. To get there we had to go through a lot of boarder crossings. It took forever! I was so tired from the night before that I slept for one and a half hours in the car. When we got to Cavtat, we ate seafood. My mom and I had scampi, and my dad had calamari. The food was not really good. The top of my shrimp heads were black for some reason. There were also three cats that were homeless that were wandering around the restaurant. Have a good day!

Hi! I had a good, tiring day yesterday. We woke up at 9:00 and ate breakfast. Then, we went to the harbor to go to Split, Croatia (It was a 45 minute trip to Split, Croatia). When we got there, we went to our apartment. The room was on the 3rd floor. After we walked up 3 flights of stairs, I felt like I went up a mountain. We got all of our stuff situated and then we went to eat at a pizza place. We ate, and then we went to go look for a car to rent because tomorrow, we are going to Dubrovnik. Later, we walked around and then sat down for a snack. We saw a really large Roman castle. It was beautiful! We watched all the people that had the Croatia shirt on because of the World Cup (The game was at 12 A.M. against Mexico; Mexico won). After we ate, we went back to our hotel. My parents bed was so comfortable but mine was very hard. It felt like I was sleeping on the ground. Anyway, since the World Cup was going on, it was very loud!!! Everything was closed but all the people had horns, and they were yelling. There was also a LOUD band also going on. During all that, I could not get comfortable. I used all of the covers and towels to make the bed fluffier. I am sorry I didn't write this last night, but I got home at 11:00.

Hvar

I had a great day yesterday!! We woke up around 9 in the morning, got dressed, then we walked around. We rented a car and went to several places. First, we went to a beach and ate a small snack. It had really clear, blue water that was very pretty. The second beach had a rocky ground and was still very clear. To get down there, we had a 25 minute walk down the mountain. We swam for about an hour and a half and then we went up (It was a lot harder to go up then to go down). We were really tired so we got in the car and drove to different towns. At the first town, Stari Grand, we took pictures of the scenery. Stari Grand is one of the oldest towns in Europe and is the oldest in Croatia!

The second town was known for their lavender. About 10 years ago, all up and down the hills, there was lavender. Then, a huge fire came and wiped almost all the lavender out. The farmers didn't want to replant them because it was to hard to plant because there are a lot of rocks. Later, we came home and enjoyed pasta, broccoli, bread, and cherries.

Travel Day!

Day 4 - Bratialava

I had a really good day, but I am really tired. We woke up at 6:35 in the morning to go to Bratislava. We ate a good breakfast and then took a cab to the train station. We took a 2 1/2 hour train ride to Bratislava. My parents and I looked around and then ate. My mom and I split cheese sticks and salads and my dad had pork with cabbage. After we ate, we went to look at a beautiful church. The church was were Queen Maria Teresa got crowned. Also, the church had lots of treasures from about three hundred years ago. The items were capes, books, and statues made of gold and jewels. In the basement, there were people that have been buried that were important to the church. The earliest grave I saw was labeled 1816. Later, we took a bus to take pictures of an old castle. It was very interesting. We came back to Budapest and had a snack.

Budapest Day 3 at the Thermal Baths

Welcome to Slovakia!

I'm in front of St. Michael's gate. This is the only remaining gate from the 14th century in Bratislava.

Hi!! I slept really late today because I was very tiered. My mon and I went to breakfast, then we went on the hop on hop off bus to the thermal baths. There were lots of different baths with different temperatures. We went to about 6 of them and they were very clean. It was a very good experience and fun to go. Later, we went to the citadel and took pictures then went back to the hotel. 

Over here, I have seen that a lot of people down here are poor. In the past few days, I have seen some poor people dig in the trash cans for food and drinks. Also, people here only use what they need. 

 This afternoon, we went on the hop on hop off  train to different sites. We went up to the church at the palace and went on a tour. Today is the day that Hungary were freed from Communists. The Prime Minister was going to a big church to celebrate while tons of police were around him protecting him. It was neat to see.

Later on, we went to the synagogue and looked around. There, we took a tour to learn about the place. In the 1940's, the Nazis went into the synagogue and took the chandlers, furniture and other items out and used it as a horse stable and a place to keep guns. The synagogue was so messed up it cost 10 million dollars to repair. They got 90% from the government and 10% from other companies.

I finished off the night eating pizza and spaghetti. YUM!!

Today was a beautiful day!! It was partly cloudy and only in the 80's. We walked around the market and bought gifts. The architecture on the buildings were very pretty and had LOTS of details. We went in one of the churches and looked around. Later on, we will go to a hop on hop off train and looked at all the cool sights.

The Adventure Begins

Yesterday, we woke up at 4:30 A.M. and left for Houston at 6:25 in the morning. We were on a very crowded plane with one seat on one side and two seats on the other. Then, we ate and left for Boston.  In Boston, we had an hour layover then we went to Frankfort, Germany. After a seven hour flight to Budapest, we arrived at our destination!

When we got to Budapest it was 9 A.M. on Sunday. We took a cab to our hotel, the Corinthia. We checked in and walked around the city for a bit and looked at the old buildings from the late 1800's. My parents and I got confused when we went on the subway. We went the opposite direction we were supposed to!!! We went to Margret Island and saw a water fountain that played to music! When music played, the water fountain had spouts where the water shot out. It was really neat.

When we got hungry later in the day, we went to Blue Fish and had some seafood. My mom and I had shrimp and my dad had octopus. It was very good. The people are very nice, but the people are very depressed. The food is expensive, and the people wear dark clothes. They haven't renovated the buildings. They have been here since World War II.

My first impression of Budapest are the people are very strict because they were not free for a long time, but they are very nice. If you are confused about something, the people come and help you whether they know English or not. I have not seen one building that has been built in the past 100 years.

Less than one week and counting...

Cant wait to go!

I have a week until I go to Europe! I cant wait to to go all the fun places we will go, but I will miss being home and with my friends. I will also miss Layla and Gigi (my pets). I really cant wait until we go to the ocean because we are miles away from it in the desert (Lubbock)!