We had a wonderful action packed weekend in Slovenia with the Fitzgerald family. The missionary's in Slovenia are some of the most gracious, loving and hospitable people I have ever met. They totally opened there home up to us, and if you think of it, pray for Ales and Whitney serving in Celje, Slovenia. They are so very busy with the work of the Lord, but the Lord is blessing them immensely.
The very next weekend my best friend Chaney came to Hungary to visit over her Easter break. We went with Martinah, Autumn and Travis to Budapest for the weekend, as where we live in Vajta is very far from the airport. We stayed with Travis who is a missionary in Budapest. It is soon to be Autumns apartment too, as Travis and Autumn are engaged to be married on June 9th. We will be attending their wedding as well., and are very blessed to have them as friends. They were very gracious hosts as well, pray for their wedding and marriage as they are in full time minsitry as soon as they are married. We picked up Chaney from the airport on Saturday at 12:15, and for the rest of the weekend we explored Budapest. Our photos were posted on Facebook, and in case you don't have a Facebook, here is a link that should allow you to see them. (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.690569661224.2115080.52304402&type=3&l=140fcc04aa)
Chaney was very welcomed here at the campus by all the students, they were very sad to see her go. For her last weekend here, we all decided to go back to Slovenia, as the part we saw wasn't even the "good part." We rented a car and took off to Ljubljana first, the capital of Slovenia. It was a very beautiful, very clean city with a castle overlooking the city. We thoroughly enjoyed it here. Definitely the type of city I could live in.
That night we left and went straight to the Mediterranean coast, or technically the Adriatic sea. Even though it was overcast it was beautiful. We ate breakfast the next day by the sea and proceeded to walk around in Koper. We wanted to go drive on the coast for awhile but we had a little trouble getting around as they only drive manual in Europe, and none of us have ever learned how to properly. I thought I knew, but when I stalled turning onto the freeway right in front of oncoming traffic, I realized I had no idea what I was doing.
The worst incident happened in Koper when Chaney was driving. We knew that hills were hard for us, and upon seeing a hill in the near distance I directed Chaney to turn into a little parking lot to turn around. When we turned back onto the street she turned right back into the direction of the hill, the very direction I was trying to avoid. About a third of the way up, she stalled, and we had to literally reverse down the hill backwards with our emergency lights on. This took a long time, as we would stop anytime a car would approach us. The when she got to the bottom of the hill, instead of turn around, she went right back up the hill again! It was so awful, and I think I aged a few years from the stress...
Short story long, parents please teach your children stick shift! we went to Bled, Slovenia next. This is my new favorite place in Slovenia. It was breathtakingly beautiful. A very clean city again, with a small lake and an island in the middle. You could rent boats to row to the island with an old Catholic church in the middle, however it was snowing and raining and we were unable to. It rained the night we got there, so we went to the amazing castle overlooking Bled on Easter Sunday. We found ourselves watching traditional Slovenian dances in the castle, followed by an Easter egg hunt in the castle! The best egg hunt ever! We all three found an egg, (well we found one for Jonathan), which we redeemed for amazing prizes. It started to snow again so we were on our way again.
After Bled, we went to Vienna, Austria. This was beautiful drive through the Austrian countryside. (We sang the sound of music songs a few times!) We arrived in Vienna, and it was even colder and windier than Bled. We saw St. Stephens cathedral in Vienna, and made it in time for their big Easter mass. Cool to see, but extremely vexing as they charge 8USD to go to the service. So we stood in the back, which was free, but we had a nice time anyways. We saw a few more churches and cathedrals, but all in all, Not much to see in Vienna. Just a big cool European city like any other.
We ended up going back to Budapest early, but most everything was closed as Europeans take the Monday after Easter off too. I was sad to see Chaney go, but we had a great time. She will be back soon too, as we are still backpacking this summer.
.....Sorry this was such a long post, I just had so much to say!
...........and for the new European food of the week, we tried the Wiener Schnitzel in Vienna. We thought it was a hot dog sausage-like food, considering the word "wiener," but really it was just a breaded chicken breast. Not as cool as we though, but still good. The strudel made up for it...
Love you all!!
and for the pics of our Easter weekend trip...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.692564942664.2115484.52304402&type=3&l=477ed58955
