Day 102 - Old Town Village Museum

 

I got my first sunburn of the year on Monday!! :D My Summer can now officially start! :) We (about 20 of us) ILPs were out in the sun for about three to four hours. We saw this whole series of houses that they took from all over Kyiv and preserved there in this huge outside museum! We had to travel quite a ways to get there, but we DID finally make it! There were a lot of really nice and helpful people that we met on the way, and on our way out too! Like these two girls and a guy with a baseball cap that I met on the way in, it was fun to hear their stories and how they came to learn their English :) Anyways here's some pictures of the place, I definitely recommend it as a fabulous experience to have in Kyiv, just make sure to go on a nice day and BRING SUNSCREEN!

Day 100 - Mexican Night!

We went to a Mexican food restaurant this night called the Taquila House. I had a budget of about 40 grivna (About $4.50), but found that most everything on the menu was about 120 ($15) and up. I wasn't too hungry, so I just mooched maybe 10 chips from Mallory's nacho plate (which cost her about 140 grivna) and paid her the 40 grivna that I had budgeted for myself. So I have to say, the place is pretty pricy, but if you've just GOT to go out for some Mexican, the food wasn't bad.

Day 99 - Hedgehogs: Just the cherry on top!

After FHE, a group of us decided to get some ice-cream. We walked over toward Maidan Square; It was ALL lit up and so beautiful! I took some pictures (which I'll have to post later!), but it's definitely better to see it all in person (plus night shots on my camera don't always work out so well :P). There was this big fountain show by Kreshyatik, which a ton of people were all standing around and watching. We just walked by with our ice-creams, but even from across the street it was pretty amazing! We headed toward the Rainbow Arch over by the Dnipro River, but then took the left route up to this big pavilion sort of thing that was overlooking the river. There was this guy throwing fire there, and we watched for a while. It was nice just looking over the city and lights and cars and their reflections in the water. We talked and enjoyed the atmosphere, but all too soon we decided it was probably time to start heading back (some of them had an hour plus of time to commute back home).

As we walked down the sidewalk back down the hill, we saw this little round creature skittering across our path. At first I thought it was an abnormally round rat, but after closer examination, I realized it was a hedgehog! I just had to get a picture of it, so I did. But right as the flash for my camera lit up the night, that little hedgehog just froze. The others came up and were super entertained by it's complete immobility. Poor little guy, I was sure he was going to just keel over and die of a heart attack. Did you know hedgehogs could growl? While we were watching it, this big boom came from behind us! A couple of us jumped (me included) and turned around to realize there were fireworks going off somewhere past the Rainbow Arch across the way. We finally left the little hedgehog alone though and moved on. We walked over to the cement railing to get a better view of the fireworks, and right there just walking on his way, was another hedgehog. He was walking right up against the railing at the edge of the sidewalk; so cute! We only took a couple pictures of this one, then let it be. But what a life for those hedgehogs, finding ways to live in a park in the middle of a city like Kyiv, I wander how they do it? Those are some tough little critters for sure :)

Day 98 - Sidewalk Chalk!

We went to the park again today! This time we brought a frisbee and some sidewalk chalk. For the most part, we just sat at the fountain and enjoyed talking and basking in the sunlight. We got some icecream and people watched, and we sat and talked some more. It was a super chill atmosphere, and I really enjoyed it. Once the sun started setting in the sky, we were going to head out, but decided it would be fun to find a good chunk of sidewalk to decorate with our chalk. We walked a ways from the park over to this long sidewalk that runs right between the street and has a bunch of trees lining that. At first, we were pretty cautious about drawing on the sidewalk, we didn't know how people walking by would react. But then we got super into it, and I began to feel like a true artist. There were a few people that paused to appreciate it, and even kid and a babushka that came and traced their feet with the chalk. It was really fun just drawing and writing and expressing ourselves on the cement. We took pictures, but not on my camera, so once I get those I'll post them up so you can see :) My hands and hoodie and pants were covered with chalk by the end, but it was totally worth it.

Day 94 - Frisbee Man with the Bunny Rabbit Teeth

We had church at a different place today because of Stake Conference, so we afterwards a small group of us decided to go to the park, because it was a pretty nice day outside. There were a lot of cool things happening in the park that day; a bunch of boys maybe around 12 to 13 years old all with yo-yo's just yo-yoing to some music on a stage, little kids on Shetland pony rides, those little electric cars driving by on the sidewalk, bubbles, scooters, roller-blades, weird looking bicycles, a ton of little dogs... it was just a really neat atmosphere. And the kids! I don't think I've seen so many Ukrainian children in one place in my whole entire time being here! You only rarely see a kid with his mom on the metro or the street or market, but here they were just everywhere! Riding the ponies, doing all of those things I mentioned earlier.

We went and sat on these two benches that were pulled up parallel to each other and sat staggered so our feet were on the bench across from us. This old babushka started yelling at us, "Dyevuchka!" (A name I'm very used to being called here in Kyiv) Igor translated later, he said the lady said something like "What are you doing? You're putting your disgusting feet on the place that people sit!" She did finally leave when all of us took our feet down. When the coast was clear, we put our feet back up on the benches (we're such rebels!) and just kept talking.

We met some other cool people too, then there was this guy selling frisbees on the bench across the sidewalk from us. I was wandering if they were any sort of special frisbee, because my dad loves frisbees, and it would be neat to bring him one back from Ukraine. Our Ukrainian friend went and asked, they were just normal frisbees made in China. Later while we were talking I noticed the frisbee-man throwing his frisbee up and catching it. I told the others, "That guy is a salesman who knows what he's doing!" Carly said, "Oh he just looks like an old guy playing with a frisbee!" But he saw us watching him, and once he started talking to us, I knew we were in for a shpeel (sp?). He found out we were American and connected something in his book to that fact, though it was hard to understand completely because everything had to be translated through our friend. He told us all about it, really enthusiastically, but I just enjoyed watching him talk. He had the worst teeth! It seemed all of them were rotted down except his two front teeth, which were really long. It gave him an almost rabbit-like appearance, which sort of added to his effect as a salesman. He said if one of us went really far he'd show us something neat. He just threw his frisbee really hard, but explained that it was really good exercise. He connected that to his book too. Anyways, after his shpeel he asked me if I wanted to buy a book, I said "Maybe tomorrow, I have no money today". He walked away after that :)

Day 93 - Catacombs and Candles

Saturday, April 21, 2012

After the service project in the morning, I decided to go hang out with some ILP's who were going to the Lavra. I think this is my second time going now, but I still haven't seen half of all of it. I DID get to see the catacombs this time though, and that was... an experience :). We waited in this big long line where people filed in and through the catacombs. We didn't have to wait long, but when we got to the front desk, this lady tiredly yelled at us about something (it seemed like she was having a loong day). We were all confused, but someone translated enough for us to know that us girls needed to cover our heads. I think it is really important to the people for some reason that the girls do cover their heads, though I haven't really learned why (except a little from Tevia from Fiddler on the roof). This place we went to is a pretty sacred place for some people, and to them, it's respectful that the girls wear something over their heads when they're in those sorts of sacred places. Some of us didn't have anything to cover our heads though, so we had to get creative. Carly wore the wool-scarf I had stashed in my purse, and Hannah wore her extra cardigan over her head. Anyways we went down this really narrow hallway that we could only fit through single-file. Most everyone in front and behind us had candles that were basically our only light source for most of it. There were a lot of candles in the rooms though, so it was pretty well lit. Honestly, I didn't like being down there, it was too claustrophobic for me, and I didn't like the idea of these corpses just sitting right in front of me; even if they were holy people that once lived in those bodies. I think people really do find some sort of peace and comfort from the whole experience, but I was so worried about air-ventilation and the fear of getting stuck down there in those cramped rooms that I didn't really get that. I think if I had more knowledge, understanding and respect for the place it would have been a little bit different of a story. Mostly I can say it was pretty neat, and definitely and experience to be had. But for me, it's probably not somewhere I'll be returning again and again just for fun :P.

Day 93 - Helping Hands in a Kyiv Orphanage

My FHE group got to go to an orphanage this morning to volunteer! We were all divided up into different projects; some of us moved wood and branches off of the property, some cleaned up trash outside or planted flowers, some cleaned floors and held the babies. I was assigned to painting the windowsills and doorways in and going to the laundry room. We all got to wear these nifty "Helping Hands" jerseys to; on the back is written "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (except in Russian or maybe Ukrainian?). We all looked so shnazy in our little jerseys! I felt SO cool being able to represent the Church in that way!  I'll post some pictures later (most likely stolen off facebook, because I only got one or two pictures of the whole event :P). Anyways, it was really a good experience for me for painting too. I didn't think it would be so hard, but I learned real quickly that painting is not something that comes easily or naturally to me. By the end I had paint on my pants, my shirt, my elbow, my hands, the bottom of my shoes, and some in my hair too! I got most of the easy-to-get-out spots cleaned up (like my shoes and shirt), but I have yet to fully scratch the paint off of my jeans and elbow :P. It was fun getting to know some of the others that I hadn't met before too, there are a LOT more people that speak English in my FHE than I thought! We all had a really great experience there, and I'm so glad I was given that opportunity, definitely a recommended experience if you're ever in Kyiv :)

Day 92 - Dress Up!

We originally started to dress up as "what we want to be when we grow up", but we got a little crazy :)

Day 89 - I love the Rain!

SUCH a beautiful day! Maybe not sunshiny, but it was warm enough to rain! School was normal, home was normal, the Metro rides were normal, but my day slowly progressed somehow to become something great! I had been debating (strongly) about not going to the temple today. Earlier I just didn't feel like it, and I tried to excuse myself by saying I'd be going this Saturday with my Branch. But I am so glad I went! There were all these older Ukrainian people, so they didn't speak more than pretty basic English. It was alright though, because it gave me opportunity to really meditate and think about the things I want to do better in my life. By the time I had to go, I didn't want to! I walked outside to the now-running fountains and brand-new bright yellow flowers. It was just too beautiful, I didn't want it to end! I sat there for a while, but finally decided I should probably be heading to institute soon (I've missed it just about every other week that I've been here :P). I sang out loud the whole entire way to the bus stop. I waited for my bus to come and could help but half-way dancing to the music in my head. I just felt so happy! I saw some Elder missionaries and THEN I ran into Anetta and Julia (the family I go see on the weeks I skip out on institute), they were headed to the church building! I wished them a good day, and they wished me the same. I told them that now it would be, now that I had run into them :) It really did make my day to see them. Anyways, bus ride, metro ride, walking a ways, I ran into Igor too! I finally made it to institute. We talked about Jeremiah, about how God knows him, how He knows each of us. He knows me better than I know me! Those aren't just empty words either, I really believe it! And logically, if He knows me best, who better to receive help from than Him? Anyways, a group of us stayed around to play and sing on the piano until the guy came and said he had to lock up the building (Ana, my new Ukrainian friend from last week was one of us :) ). I walked home in a downpour of rain. I couldn't help but smiling the whole way. This random other girl walking the opposite way was smiling too, and we both laughed as we crossed paths. It was really a fabulous day :)

Day 85-86 - Walking it off

 
Lena and Sasha's friend, Vicki, came over for dinner last night, which meant we ate a lot of food and a LOT of little desserts. When I went to the head-teachers' apartment for a girl's night, we ate chips, wafers, cookies, brownie bites, kiwis, chocolate, popcorn, and probably a few other things that I can't remember now. Needless to say none of us got to sleep until after about 2 in the morning. I slept pretty well (especially in comparison to the last time I slept there!), but woke up this morning feeling pretty gross. So on my way home, at first I decided to just take a longer route so I'd walk a little bit more. But it was such a nice day out, and I  felt like I needed the exercise, so I ended up walking for just over an hour (about 3 miles) before I finally made it home. Absolutely beautiful day though! Oh and I made my way back by following the trolly-line that leads the trolly I should have taken back home, that's how I didn't get lost! It wasn't super efficient, since the trolly sort of loops around and doesn't take me directly back. But the point was the enjoyment of my morning and to make it back home eventually, not efficiency, so I really didn't mind.

Day 83 - Piano, Pasta, People and Legos! :D

Okay, one thing most people know about me is that I absolutely LOVE piano. Last Saturday at Conference, I was talking to Sister Powell and it turns out her kids are in need of piano lessons! I've been their music-teacher at church for a while now, so I know most of them pretty well. Anyways, yesterday was my first day teaching piano over at their house, and it's already a great learning experience for me! Who would have thought that four different kids could all be at such different levels of piano :P (PS any ideas for teaching a three year old piano??)

I can't get paid while I'm here in Ukraine because of my Visa, but the trade is food for extra piano-teaching experience, which is just a double bonus for me! We had pasta, with garlic bread, and COLD water! Haha you wouldn't think it's so amazing, but I rarely have real pasta with real garlic bread here, and I never ever get cold water! So it was an awesome treat for me. 

After dinner I ended up hanging out and talking with A, their oldest daughter. We sat in her room with all her toys (my favorite, Littlest Pet Shop!) and talked about random stuff. The other kids started trickling in until all five of us were in A's room just chatting away. The parents came in after a while too and we all just talked about random things (like AFV and random funny moments). We had "family prayer", then the little one's all had to get to bed. 

So A. and I talked for a while longer before deciding that we should most definitely go work on the Lego house she had just started (which was in her other room/ the guest room). We worked on that for a long time (it's a pretty detailed house, with stairs, a doorbell, and even a barbecue-grill outside!). But I eventually decided I should probably be heading home (it was already past her normal bed-time). We were just about to finish the roof, but we decided we could finish that next week. 

So I've decided that that's my current equation for a fabulous day. I just need to be able to share my love of something I think is wonderful (like piano!), eat some tasty food (like pasta!), have good people around to talk to and be with (like the Powell family! :) ), and do something that really brings me joy (like LEGO's!!). Yep, pretty sure that's all I need in life, thanks for reading! :) 

Day 82 - Sugar Overload?

At school, we had doughnuts for our "Kitchen" activity (We divided each doughnut into four parts), and I was pretty hungry at that point, so I had two fourth portions of the doughnuts. I had lunch; veriniki I think it was, then came home and decided I felt like eating a ton of fruit, because we had all this dried fruit out, and it was really tasty and I knew I'd be having cake for Anetta's birthday that night. At Anetta's we had cake, white-chocolate covered bears (provided by the sisters), ice-cream, and fruit juice. Right near the end of the visit, I started feeling really off; my skin hurt really bad and I was feeling slightly dizzy, and I couldn't figure out why. Sister Smith said it could have been something I ate, like food poisoning, but all I could think was maybe it was the doughnuts and fruit and cake and chocolate bears and ice-cream I had eaten that day. I'm not used to that much sugar, but I've never really had issues like that with sugar before. Whatever the reason, I was in this weird sort of pain all the way home. I couldn't pin-point the pain, which almost made it harder; it was like my whole body was aching. I felt like an old lady getting up and sitting back down on the Marshutkas (little buses) and Metros. I can't believe how much of a struggle it was to get home. I thought I could trick myself into thinking it was all nothing, but that didn't work. I did say a lot of prayers though and even started saying, "I think I can, I think I can" as I started going up that endless uphill climb back home. I did make it though! And I was SO glad at that. I felt super fever-ish all night, but by some miracle the only pain I could feel this morning was a lack of sleep :)

Day 81 - Saving the Worms

I was standing at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change, when the person next to me bent over to pick something up off the ground. I imagined that he had picked up a kopeck (the highest value kopeck is equivalent to about a nickel). He went over to a grassier area and bent over again. "Ah he's hit the jackpot today!" I smiled inside. The walk signal changed (making a fast clicking noise), and everyone crossed the street. I was following behind the picker-upper-guy when he did it again. I watched him carefully this time. He picked the object up with his pincher fingers -it was something almost string-like - scooped it in his hand, then set it in the dirt area by the sidewalk and kept going on his way. I observed as I passed the same area; it was a worm! I almost cried I was so happy :) It made my entire morning!

Day 79 - Conference Time and American Football

Last weekend was the actual general conference broadcast, but my Branch had to wait until this week to watch it because of the time it takes for the other part of our stake (all Russian/ Ukrainian speaking) to translate the words to their language (or something like that). Our entire branch (or at least all those who came to watch conference) gathered in the Relief Society room where we listened to the words of the latter day prophets. It was an awesome experience, and definitely a different one than I've ever had before. In the back was the "kids" table, where President Powell and his family (their three primary children make up half of the primary!) sat. There were about five or six rows of chairs, half of them filled with the missionaries/ temple presidency/ embassy workers, and the other half filled with ILP volunteers. I've just got to say, I'm in an awesome branch! Most everyone in attendance there is volunteering their time and life in some way for the better of the world. To me, that makes up a great group of people :) Anyways, we watched the first two hours of conference (which was amazing!), then had a two hour break. They provided pizza and a whole assortment of other goodies (fruit salad, cookies, cut fruit, soda, juice, etc.) for us to eat. A group of us decided to eat outside because it was such a fabulously sunny day. (I may be able to steal pictures of us eating out in the grass later.) After eating, we proceeded to start a game of good old American football. At first there were maybe eight of us playing, but then some of the other ILP's came and joined, then some missionaries, and then some kids from one of the local branches. We had a full field of people by the end, and it was all just a ton of fun. Near the end of the break, we went back inside and watched the second session of General Conference. Man, I should probably tell you some about Conference! It was so amazing too! I don't know if I can really recap the experience for you, but I hope it suffices for me to say that my understanding of life and my part in it has become so much more clear to me, and my determination to do good and be happy has grown much more too :) I know that's not really enough to show you how much I love Conference, but I really really do! I've only got a couple months left here in Ukraine, but I am determined to make the most of every moment, and to enjoy every bit of it, even when the going gets tough.

Day 78 - Breaking the Language Barrier

Friday night I went to FHE, where we played "Psychiatrist" (and had SUCH a blast at it too!), then I went and played the piano for a while. When I was heading out, I somehow got into this conversation with this lady, her name is Ana. She speaks such little English, and I speak such little Russian that the whole conversation took a super long time to figure out. Basically what I got after about ten minutes of talking is that her name is Ana, she’s Maxim’s mom, she teaches piano (and loves it!), and had some music for me if I want to have it. There was a lot more between, like how I absolutely love music - Ya (I) OCHEN (VERY) lyoublyou (love) musik! (music!), or how Maxim learned piano for three years, but then didn’t like it so quit. I really loved talking to Ana, I could tell she enjoyed the conversation too. Eventually someone came and asked if we needed a translator. I asked Ana, and I think she said that she didn’t; It was too fun trying to talk to her and recall the oh-so-few words that I even know in Russian. He translated a little anyways, saying that Ana didn’t know when she could get the music to me because she hardly ever sees me. We figured next Friday at FHE would work perfectly. We all headed out together and Ana and Maxim ended up walking me almost all the way home. Maxim didn't talk much, but Ana talked enough for the both of them :) We talked and laughed and learned words the whole way. My perception of the “gift of tongues” has definitely changed after my conversation with her. I in no way was able to fluently talk to her, but the “language barrier” between us seemed to be quite broken as I forged this new friendship even without understanding hardly a thing being said. That night, I had some great conversations with Lena and Sasha and George-o. We talked about how sometimes you can say something and people don’t understand it, but when you let them see what you mean, it sticks so much better. Recalling back to my experience talking with Ana, I didn’t understand a majority of the words she was saying, but after she explained in many ways, I would figure it out. I’m not sure she ever actually said, “I am so glad to have talked with you this night, thank you for letting us walk with you.” But I really felt it in the way she talked and smiled and laughed with me. Oh, and Friday night? That was her Birthday :) What an awesome thing that I was able to be a little part of it! I feel truly blessed for that absolutely amazing experience!

Day 78 - On the Run

Just started up running again today! I've been post-poning it because of the cold or because I have a cold or because it's too hot or because of any other number of excuses. But today I set a specific time I would go running, and decided if I was at all up to it, I would go at 4 on the dot. Lo and behold, my alarm went off at 4pm (16:00 o' clock on my phone :) ), and I was out the door with my sweats and tennis-shoes a minute later. It felt so good to run! I was told by some other ILP's that running in Kyiv is a sort of anomaly to these Ukrainians and that I'd probably get a few funny looks. The streets were crowded and there were no other runners in sight. So of course I got a few, but it didn't seem the kind of look that said, "What're you doing?!" as much as, "Hey a runner!". I'm sure I could have interpreted the looks as the former, but I'm happy thinking they meant the latter :). (I hope I've got the definitions of former and latter right, correct me if I'm wrong!) Anyways, I'm definitely going to have to keep up this running business, it feels great and I get to see a lot more of Kyiv that way! Today I got to run past Maydan (where I was on Wednesday). The place makes so much more sense to me now!  Before, all these areas were just that; areas and points in my head. Now I've got lines between at least a few more of those spots, and it is so nice to have better bearings on this place.

Day 76 - Beauty through Tired Eyes

The night before Wednesday (Day 76), I stayed up till 1 in the morning. I thought then that I'd just take a short nap and wake up on time (to watch my Mom's wedding over Skype at 4am). As you might guess, my nap didn't end up being all that short. I ended up waking up late (5:30ish). But I made some phone calls and at least got to talk to my Mom for a moment, and that was good. Anyways, everyone in the house started waking up within the hour, so I gave up on getting back to sleep at least until Lena, Sasha and George-o headed out for the beauty-exhibition (explained later). Eventually I ended up giving up on the idea of sleep all together and decided I would probably be able to function all right on the nearly five hours of sleep. I had already set up for a teaching sub at school that day, so I had a full day ahead of me completely free, though it was to be a very exhausting day.

At around noon, I decided to head out to the beauty exhibition that Lena and George-o were working at. It was a GORgeous day; warm, sunny, bright and ultimately absolutely spectacular. I really wished I had had a camera with me so I could capture some of the moments there, but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyways.Going across the river was probably my favorite of the moments. The last time I rode the metro across the Dnipro River, it had all been frozen and cold and I could see little dots of people walking across it on the ice. This time, the sun was shining on the water and I could see the Lavra's gold domes and "Big Mama" (the big statue by the Lavra) looking over the river. It was really an amazing sight.

After getting off the metro and walking some more, I finally made it to the exhibition site. Lena's assistant came and met me outside so I could get a pass to go into the exhibition for free. The whole thing was pretty mind-blowing; It was kind of like the fair back home, except instead of rides and other things, there were just booths and booths of businesses and people selling products and services; anything from hair supplies to nails to cosmetics (it was a beauty exhibition). It was fun being able to see my host-mom at her work, she demonstrated facial-cleansing products on a volunteer's face, and talked about stuff (though I'm exactly sure what) with the people who sat to watch and listen. It was nice talking to George-o there too. I found out (well actually just finally connected the dots) that he's the guy who created/ designed a lot of the products (or maybe all of them?) that Lena's business uses. He told me he would give me a 1% discount if I wanted to buy something there :) I said I would think about it. Lena's Italian tutor, Olea, was there too. She was there to translate for George-o when someone wanted to talk to him (George-o speaks Italian and English pretty well, but not so much Russian or Ukrainian). Olea knows 4 or 5 different languages, and she says she finds all sorts of jobs where they need her as a translator. Definitely something to look into; I just need to become a pro at this Russian-speaking or some other language first ;P

Anyways after a long while at the exhibition, I decided to make my way home. I was starting to feel extremely tired. In fact, on the way home I stopped paying attention to where I was going and ended up getting a little lost. Which stunk, because at that point I was having a hard time even putting one foot in front of the other. I had gotten off at a red-line metro stop, and instead of transferring to the green line below ground, I took the escalator up. I knew how to get to the station from there though, so I just had to walk a little extra ways to get there. Again, the sights and scenery were beautiful; I passed this big statue/ waterfall, and a huge dome coming out of the ground and I'm sure some other awesome stuff, but can't really recall any details like that, because, as you know, I was pooped. I did eventually make it home safe and well though :)

Day 74 - Mondays :)

Denay and I switched classes on Monday, so she went to school at 9am, and I only had to be at school by 3pm. It was crazy having all morning to work on things, I can't remember the last morning that I've really had freed up like that, it was nice. Most of the day seemed to be that of a lazy summer day, doing everything sort of at my own pace. Georgo (a guy working in cosmetics with Lena from Italy) would be coming that night (more about Georgo later, he's an interesting guy), so I cleaned my desk and organized my closet, and finished up laundry, and talked with Sasha and Lena, and ultimately really felt pretty accomplished all before the time I even thought about leaving for school. It was a nice sort-of break from all the rush and hustle of my every single day (it seemed) that I was on vacation :)

Days 65 - 72 - Stories and Pictures!

Day 65 - March 24 - Tour Bus!

Got on the tour bus and drove ALL day. Earplugs were probably the best thing I brought for that, I really slept okay for the night portion of our trip. We were at the border to Hungary for over 6 hours though! That was the night time though, so I got pretty good sleep until the passport people came and had to check our passports. We did make it to Budapest safe and well the next day though.

Day 66 - March 25 - Budapest, Hungary

Day 67 - March 26 - Vienna, Austria

- Pictures- 

Day 68 - March 27 - Dresden, Germany

- Pictures - 

Day 69 - March 28 - Prague, 

- Pictures - 

Day 70 - March 29 - Prague

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Day 71 - March 30 - Prague/ Bus home

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Day 72 - March 31 - Bus and Home!

- I'll update this post later :)