A Little Wedding Wall Update

The wall dedicated to our wedding is looking a less sparse. 

When Jon hung our guest book and shadow box I knew that we needed to add a little bit more to it eventually. It looked a little better once we added the frames to right of it. I had been looking for the right accessories for a while now because I didn't want to just hang anything on there. 

Over my holiday break I found the gold resin letters at Hobby Lobby. I actually had spotted them all over Pinterest first but had never be able to find them at the store. I found them while I was browsing the discounted Christmas stuff and since they were on sale I bought them. I also found the little "love" sign there (also on sale!). 

I also purchased a floor vase ($8!) from target. I've actually had it for months but it finally seemed like the right time to display it. I wish the curly white filler was a little bit more substantial looking but I like the overall effect. 

Budapest

All good things must come to end and so it was with our European Honeymoon. After departing from New York and traveling through Dublin, Munich and Salzburg we finally arrived at our last stop: Budapest!

We took the train from Salzburg and arrived in Budapest in the evening. The train station there sort of gave off a creepy vibe but once we got a cab we were pleasantly surprised with the city. When we decided to go to there we picked it because it quick and cheap to get there from Salzburg. And it was a less expensive city. Munich was especially pricy since it was Oktoberfest so we were looking for a place to stretch our Euros. Plus we heard it was a beautiful city. Sure enough this was right by our hotel...

They don't call it "Paris of the East for nothing!

Speaking of our hotel... Jon found us an amazing five star hotel on the Pest side of the city.

On our first day in the city we crossed the Chain Bridge and explored Castle Hill.

We went up to the Royal Palace which now the hosts the National Gallery. Sadly we didn't get to get since the museum was closed that day but we still had a good time.

Then we walked over to Matthais Church which was one of my favorite churches we saw on this trip.

Right outside of the church is The Fisherman's Bastion is a lookout terrace with seven turrets (one for each of the tribes that helped found the county).

Afterwards we made our way back over the bridge to check out the Parliament House but unfortunately the roads were under construction and we couldn't get close.

Then we headed over to check out St. Stephen's Basilica.

Obviously that was a looooooong day of sight seeing so we grabbed a late dinner (Jon had goulash and I had the paprika chicken) and called it a night.

The next day we slept in super late. The only thing we had planned for that day was to visit one of the many thermal baths in the city. We had been going pretty much non stop since we arrived in Europe so we felt like we deserved a day to lounge around and since Budapest is know for them we knew had to visit one. Our hotel recommended the Szechenyi Baths.

Dating back from 1881 the Szechenyi Baths is coed and has a lot of different pools indoors and outside. Jon and I got a private cabin so we could both change and store our stuff. It locked so we were confident that our stuff would be safe. We spent the day pool hopping, relaxing a private lounge and ate lunch at the cafe there. On our way out we booked a dinner cruise on the Danube.

We had just enough time to go back to our hotel, shower and get dressed. We walked over to the other side of the Danube and waited to board our boat. The dinner was a buffet and we really enjoyed seeing the city all lit up.

The next day was our last day in Budapest and we spent the morning at the Dohany Street Synagogue. The tour was was really informative and we learned the extent of the devastation the Nazis caused for the Jewish population. In the back courtyard there also a memorial to Raoul Wallenberg who a Swedish diplomat in Budapest during the Nazi occupation. He used Swedish passport to help the Jewish people leave the country.

We wished we had to more time so we could on the walking tour but unfortunately we had to head to the airpot to start our long trip back home. We had to fly from Budapest to Dublin so we could catch our flight back to New York (we bought round trip tickets from New York to Dublin). Then we flew to Paris where we boarded our flight back to New York. After a loooong layover we finally caught our flight back to LA. Once we landed it was just a matter of making the hour long drive home. We were really tired and sad to be home but were happy to finally be able to sleep in our own bed and be reunited with this little guy.

Munich

The last part of our European Honeymoon I shared was our day at Oktoberfest. Obviously we didn't just go to Munich and drink. We also did some sightseeing.

The second day we were there we went to Dachau. Located a few miles outside of Munich, Dachau was the first Nazi concentration camp and is now a state run memorial site. Dachau opened in 1933 when Hitler rose to power. At first Hitler used it to hold his political prisoners and then all enemies of the Third Reich. It has also the distinction of being the training camp of for the SS. All of the worst leaders of SS spent time there.

They're torn done all but one of the barracks but you can still see some of the old sleeping quarters and grounds. When we were there we noted how close was it was to the town. Jonathan and I were shocked to see that German people could deny knowing what was actually going on at the camp. Also it was so cold while we were there and it wasn't even winter time. It really made us picture the type of horrible conditions the camp's prisoners were subjected to.

We also did a little sightseeing in actual city itself. It was really cold that day and we had do a little souvenir shopping so we didn't get a lot of photos but here a few of my favorites. 

And that concluded our time in Munich. Next Salzburg!

Ein Bier, Bitte!

When Jonathan and I started planning our long awaited delayed European honeymoon we knew we had to go to Munich. Why? OKTOBERFEST. 

Seriously, it was a bucket list item for Jon and since I knew first hand (I went in 2005) how awesome it is it was a no brainer. Our flight from Dublin arrived in the evening on the first day and dropped our stuff off at the hotel/hostel. Yeah... we booked a hotel but it was not the best and we both thought it should've been called a hostel. Expedia let us down. Anyway, once we were settled we made a beeline for the Hofbrauhaus. We've been to the one in Las Vegas (which is a pretty accurate replica) but nothing compares to the original. 

The next morning we had a quick breakfast and went to Oktoberfest. Don't judge us... it wasn't that early when we got there, maybe 11am? Oktoberfest is known for liters of beer but it's also a carnival. There are rides, games, tons of souvenir shops and of course the beer tents!

Clearly we were there for the beer. Jonathan wanted to visit as many tents as possible in order taste all the different beers. Our first tent was sort of crowded but we got seats on the upper level and ate a traditional German lunch. There was a German couple with a toddler in front of us. The parents were drinking and the little boy spent the majority of the time picking up his bottle and saying Prost (cheers in German)! The dad would clink glasses with him. The little boy also asked Jon and I to Prost with him. Precious. 

Tent 2 was also crazy full but we managed to get seats upstairs again. We ate one of the huge pretzels there because they are delicious and because we knew we needed to keep food in our bellies. 

At the third tent we snagged seats on the main floor by the band. Some kind doctoral students from Scotland let us sit with them. We also bonded with some German men sitting behind us. I think this was the first day of the government shutdown so one German kept telling us "America, America is kaput!" and the other was obsessed with Las Vegas. He said "I love Las Vegas!" a few times and asked Jon for his phone number so we could meet next time he was in the States. It was just as ridiculous as it sounds. We had the most fun in this tent. Our new drinking buddies were funny and super nice. We had a great time singing along with the band and Prost-ing with everyone in the vicinity. 

Three tents and a few liters later it was 4pm and time to go. Thanks to all the food we ate and the fact that we "napped" around 5pm neither one of us was in rough shape we woke up. We each drank a liter of water when our nap was over but that was the worst of it. 

Danke Oktoberfest! Best. Time. EVER.