España

You'd think that traveling solo would give more time for things such as blogging, but I've been so busy and haven't had the chance to write since Paris! I loved Paris and Barcelona and now I'm in Andalusia, the south of Spain! I just finished one week being an au pair in La Duquesa. Its a beautiful and tiny port town with mostly an older English community. I have to seek out the Spanish speakers so I can practice! The family has been great and I'm really enjoying my time with Sophie! She speaks Spanish and German and is catching on incredibly fast to English.  Quite a smart little lady :)

I have weekends off and am using them as opportunities to see even more of Spain! This weekend I am exploring Seville! Right now I am sitting with my legs dangling above Rio Guadalquivir next to the Triana bridge. There are people rowing, ducks floating by, and hundreds of people sitting and enjoying the sunshine and views.

The city has a very relaxed feeling. The 70 degree weather likely helps! Southern Spain has finally allowed me to take my down jacket(s) off. I could get used to this..

More updates later.. 3 more weeks with Sophie and weekend trips to Granada and Rhonda coming up soon :)

Solo in Paris

Bonjour! After about 2 months of traveling as a nanny, on a group trip, and with friends, I began my solo journey.  I arrived in Paris on Wednesday night with no idea of what lay ahead, where I might wander, and who I might meet.  Excitement was all I felt.  I met a group of kind strangers at the hostel and explored with them the following day. 

We walked a few short minutes up to the Sacre Coeur, a small yet beautiful cathedral up on a hill. 

Moulin rouge was next. We passed by numerous sex shops on our way there and the building was on the side of a busy street. It almost blended in with the building around it, yet the bright red color and windmill made it stand out. 

After a few transfers through the large yet effective subway system, we made it to the trocadero which provided great views on our way to the Eiffel Tower. Hazy sky, yet unbelievably beautiful! 

On our way to the Notre Dam, we passed by a man handing out rice. Pigeons were swarming the area and although I usually do not gravitate towards mobs of pigeons, I decided that I had to..! You only live once right?

The outside of the Louve was or next stop. The beautiful tall building surrounded us and the pyramids were incredible. I decided against taking the usual picture pretending to pinch it from the top, but I got some amazing ones regardless.

Prior to heading home, we stopped by the arc de triumph, standing tall with the sun beginning to go down behind it.

Overall, a pretty amazing first day in Paris, and a great start to my solo journey ahead!

Au revoir,

Shoshie 

budapest

After a train and a bus and a train from Zagreb (they didn’t tell us why we had to transfer..) we made it to Budapest!  It’s a beautiful city and I would love to go back again something.  2 highlights were the thermal baths.  On Saturday night after a full day of exploring the city, we went to Szechenyi Baths. This is apparently one of the largest and most popular baths – the area surrounding the baths looks like a palace!  The main baths were located outside – one was warm with multiple rings inside (one had a whirlpool)!  After awhile in the pool we found out that the other one hot rather than warm so we ran out in the 30* weather and hopped right in.  That one was much more pleasant in the cold weather!  We explored inside a bit and got in a few more baths and saunas.  One sauna WA far too hot and I felt my eyes burning so I left quickly..

On Sunday, Amber and I went to the Kiraly baths.  This was very different and gave us much more of a local feeling experience.  It was a very old Turkish bath with mainly older men and women.  The baths were all inside and the room was extremely steamy.  There was interesting architecture with lots of holes in the ceiling.  After the bath we went to take showers and dry our hair with very low powered hair dryers.  I set my wet bathing suit down on a table for ten or so minutes and by the time I returned it had disappeared!  Moral of the story, never lose sight of a wet bathing suit in Budapest!  (as unfortunate as this was, I feel bad for whoever had to carry around an extra sopping wet bathing suit with them)

Plitvice

Over a year ago I saw a website with pictures of beautiful places all over the world.  A picture of plitvice lakes national park stood out in my mind with numerous beautiful green and blue flowing waterfalls.  A few months ago as I began planning my travels, I remembered this picture, looked further into the place, and bought my ticket to Croatia.  Now - here I am! Hello, or "bok" as they say in Croatian. 

Anna and I took a 2.5hr bus ride to plitvice from Zagreb today. The park was partly closed because of the snowy weather conditions, but it was absolutely beautiful and isolated as a result (other than one Korean tour group that showed up towards the end).  There was still plenty to explore and the closed areas were also not very challenging to get past...

Snow fell throughout the afternoon as we crunched through fresh fluffy piles. The lakes ranged from deep blue, light turquoise, and some were frozen over and gray. Hundreds of waterfalls poured into the lakes and into each other.  Havala (thank you) Croatia! 

Dovidenja (goodbye) and havala (thanks)
for reading. Next stop: Budapest!