**The camera we have been using to take pictures had an unfortunate meeting with some liquid, meaning I won't have as many pictures going forward.

Budapest, Hungary

After our successful Airbnb experience in Prague, we decided to bail on our hostel and get another Airbnb in Budapest. A little bit of research of the area and a little bit of luck led to us ending up in the heart of Budapest, surrounded by ruin bars, restaurants, and gyro shops. Our initial entrance into our apartment, however, was a strange but memorable experience. If you can imagine one of the places where Liam Neeson stormed into in the movie Taken to battle some henchmen and thugs, that’s what our apartment complex looked like. We were immediately confronted by a Hungarian local who spoke no English and who looked shocked that five guys wearing basketball shorts were in his apartment complex. Within a few seconds, more residents of the complex were on their porches yelling something that we couldn’t understand. Eventually a woman who spoke English came to our rescue and pointed out which apartment was ours.

Across the street from our apartment was a sandwich shop called Bors. While the shop itself was very small, it always had a long line, which told us it must be good. When we ventured inside to grab a bite, we quickly realized that this sandwich shop is famous in Budapest. Mounted on the wall were numerous awards, newspaper headlines featuring the restaurant, and even videos of the owners being featured on talk shows. After trying the food, we quickly understood the hype. We went back multiple times during our stay.

One afternoon was spent walking around Budapest and hiking up to the Budapest Castle. We were able to see a complete view of the city from the top, which was astounding. The city itself is large and we could see various monuments, churches, and other important buildings from the top. Another cool experience from the castle was witnessing the changing of the guards.

View from the top of the castle

One of my favorite parts of our time in Budapest was going to the local baths. The baths are basically very large public pools that people can hang out in. The pools themselves, while sort of grimy considering the amount of people in them constantly, were warm and provided a great distraction from the heat of the day. Afterwards, we contemplated going to the Budapest zoo but figured one zoo in Europe is enough.

The most interesting thing we did in Budapest was called an “escape room.” Essentially, we paid to be locked in a room for an hour and a half with the goal of figuring out how to escape. The room was completely white and only had a key hanging down from the middle. After finding hidden doors, solving puzzles, deciphering brail and morse code, and being in a pitch black room with only a black light, we finally “escaped.” It was actually pretty cool having to work as a team to complete all the tasks and figure out how to get out of the room.

A few thoughts about Budapest:

   1.)  Buda and Pest were once separate cities, but became Budapest after a bridge connected the two.

   2.)  A bottle of wine can cost less than a bottle of water.

   3.)  Many bars and clubs are in the old ruins. These buildings are considered historical and cannot be renovated.

   4.)  Professional handball dominates television.

   5.)  The conversion rate is about 300 Forint to 1 USD, which means we were strolling around with 10,000 bills. We felt like millionaires handing out hundreds so casually.

     
                                                  -Kevin Loquaci

Venice, Italy

We heard from other travelers to be prepared for the heat and humidity in Venice. After have already experienced a good amount of hot temperatures in Spain and Amsterdam, we felt like we could handle it. And we would have, if it were not for our hostel selection. Instead of finding a place with some air conditioning, we signed ourselves up for a outdoors camping hostel because it sounded fun at the time. Our research on the campsite led us to believe we would be in little wooden houses big enough for two people to enjoy comfortably. Instead, we were in miniature tents that fit only two beds smaller than a twin with about eight inches in between the two. Besides the 100 degree heat, 60% humidity, noisy crickets and other campers, and beds that left our feet hanging off the end, we were able to make the most out if it with only a moderate amount of complaining.

Our luxury suite

We were only in Venice for two full days, so we had to make the most of our time there. Our first day was spent in the actual city of Venice wandering around attempting to locate the main sites to see and some shade. The San Marco Basilica was an amazing site to see. Despite the vast size of the basilica, the detailed designs of the building made it a work of art. After visiting the basilica, we made our way to the world famous Rialto bridge. To our disappointment, half of the bride was under construction, which made it unable to view in its entirety. After lunch and some authentic gelato, we managed to fit all five of us onto a gondola. We navigated the waterways throughout the city, learned the history of Venice from our gondolier, and even passed by the old houses of Marco Polo and Casanova. In total, we spent nine hours walking around Venice.

Bridgetop views

Venice views

Since we felt that we had accomplished everything we wanted to do the day before, the next day we took a boat taxi to a beach outside of the city. We spent a few hours there laying on the beach and soaking in the ocean. We quickly learned that although nudity is allowed on the beaches, having your shirt off less than a mile out from the beach results in old ladies yelling at you to cover up. Lesson learned. We toughed out another hot night in our tents before leaving early morning for Florence.

A few thoughts on Venice:

1.)  Humidity is an entirely new beast.

2.)  The street vendor items of choice are selfie sticks.

3.)  As of now, Venice is the oldest city we have visited. It dates back to the 7^th century.

4.)  The city has virtually zero cars

5.)  More of a fun fact...we stalked professional NBA player Mike Scott as he walked into a Gucci store.
6.) It is the most expensive city of all the cities we have been visited.

                                                  -Kevin Loquaci