Friday, July 15, 2011

Budapest!


This last weekend, we took our first trip out of Albania to explore this beautiful part of the world.  Budapest, Hungary was our destination and we absolutely loved it!  What a wonderful city.  It didn't hurt that we stayed at a Marriott with clean running hot water to use for Asher's bottles and an H&M next door :)  It's the small things really that make the difference!

After a nice short one hour flight, we arrived in this clean, non-crowded, architecturally appealing city.  Sure we came during the HOTTEST weekend of the year so far, but besides that, we enjoyed the sites as much as we could.


Asher enjoying the very large hotel room - We were very happy with Marriott
The breakfast there was fantastic!!! Bacon, sausage and eggs every day:)



Asher's personal "room"/tent
It actually worked really well for naps and bedtime!


Walking down the street in Pest


I think the name of this building is Budhi Var -
We were told before we went to Budapest what it is, but now I can't remember...


After walking around for awhile - Asher needed a little break.
 We found a park and let his roam around until we were all cooled off and ready for the next walk

Sean and Asher studying the map.


Chain Bridge


 St. Stephen's Basilica - We think :)  We never actually made it into any of the buildings....
just passed by and admired the beautiful architecture from the outside

Stopping for lunch outside of St. Stephen's



Apparently, Asher was so hungry in Hungary that he had to eat the table!
(This sad attempt at a pun is dedicated to Sam B. :) )


In front of the Parliament Building


The Parliament Building from across the Danube River

Hero's Square


We have no idea what this building, or what the next few pictures are.  We were walking through a park and this beautiful castle type structure was a shaded oasis that called out for us to visit.  People were running through sprinklers, and dogs were swimming after ducks in the pond.  I've found it on the map, but it's in Hungarian, so I still don't know what it is - "Vajdahunyad set."





Asher relaxing at the park.

I'm pretty sure this is an art museum :)


Walking down Andrassy ut, a beautiful historical road with tons of incredible buildings lining it.



Again, not sure the name of this beautiful cathedral.  Maybe St. George's Cathedral.
 


View of "Pest" taken from the "Buda" side of the city. 
We could see the Parliament building very well from here.



A castle in Buda



This was our last night in Budapest.  We loved the city, and would love to be posted here one day.



Asher on the plane on our way home from Budapest.  He did very well. 
Thank you to the man who moved and gave us three seats!!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  In Albania, the 4th of July isn't celebrated quite the way we are used to, but we made do.  To our good fortune, the American Chamber of Commerce decided to put on an Independence Day Picnic/Celebration.  There were hot dogs and hamburgers (not fully cooked through, to Sean's dismay), entertainment for the kids and lots of decorations.  We didn't stay for too much of it since Asher had to get to bed, so we didn't get to see the fireworks, but that's ok considering they have fireworks going off every other night of the week here :)  It was good to go and feel festive and enjoy a good night out.  Since it was pretty much past Asher's bedtime, he wasn't really in the smiling mood, but here are a couple shots of our little guy!


 

On the actual 4th of July, to our good fortune, our good friends came back from their camping trip early and invited us to go to the beach with them.  Our last trip to a beach didn't hold the best of memories, but we decided to give it another try and joined them.  It was the GREATEST beach trip and we are sooo happy we went.  Asher was fantastic!  The beach was beautiful!  The water perfect! And the company was wonderful!  The drive to the beach included some rough and somewhat steep dirt roads, but the scenery around us was gorgeous.








After our bumpy drive, we made it to the beach!  It was beautiful and so much fun.  The water was shallow for quite the distance so the older kids had a blast. 

  
Brave little Asher - he went out into the water by his own choice!
We're so glad he likes the beach now!



Our excellent Costco purchase - Asher & Jonas loved the beach toys!

 

Asher and his buddy, Jonas
 
Asher decided to sneak a handful of sand while I was taking the picture, yummmm
 
mmmm sand :)



 I wish we had taken a picture of him about 3 minutes after we got in the car, because he fell asleep so quickly.  After the beach it was off to AFC - Albanian Fried Chicken - for a late lunch.  I had forgotten the camera in the car, but we got a picture of the AFC box at home so everyone could appreciate how well we celebrated the 4th the American, I mean the Albanian way :)



Happy 4th of July everyone!  We hope you had as good of a day as we had!