Nice

At first I thought spending so much time with my mom traveling around Europe would be difficult, but I found that I needed more time. We took a blablacar (similar to an uber ride, but for longer distances and very convenient) to Nice and got there around midnight on Wednesday. We only had Thursday (Feb 25^th) in Nice, which gave us just enough time to see part of the Carnival preparations and a bit of the city. Nice is in the Côte-d’Azur area, still in the South of France. I took a “petit train” ride around the city (turns out they have these tiny train rides everywhere in France). It turns out there are many cities around the world that are similar to Nice, like Miami, Rio, and even Houston. These cities are all beach cities with beautiful boardwalks, which was super considering it was winter. After touring the city, we decided to rent bikes to go around the boardwalk, which was actually more relaxing that I had thought. Afterwards, we toured around the old part of the town and got lost, but to be completely honest it was absolutely worth it. We saw the flower markets that the city is known for. We had an early flight the next morning, so we tried getting home early to rest a bit, but that didn’t really work out. Hopefully, I will return in the near future, maybe when the weather is better.

View of Nice and the Mediterranean

Rome

We took a plane from Nice directly to Rome. We were staying in an AirBnb in Rome, and our host was nice enough to pick us up at the airport and give us a few tips about touring the city. As soon as we could, we walked towards the coliseum, the Roman Forum, and the Trevi Fountain of course. Rome was not what I had expected it to be at all. I fell in love with Rome, and I hope to return soon to finish exploring this fabulous city. There was a Basilica very close to our AirBnb named Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, which contained many Catholic relics. We got to see a small part of the cross that Jesus Christ was crucified on. Furthermore, there was a copy of the tunic that Jesus Christ wore when he was crucified, which was breathtaking.

On Saturday (Feb. 27), we took the entire day to tour the Vatican and all of the museums in Vatican City, including the Sistine Chapel. This was absolutely worth the 16 euros they charge to enter the museum. There is a small underground museum of the cars, carriages, etc. that the Popes have used in the past. What I found most interesting was a Volkswagen Buggie that was given as a present to Pope John Paul II during his visit in Mexico, after the canonization of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in 2003. This was one of the last of its kind before the model was discontinued.

There was also a story of how Pope John Paul II was shot during an annual parade in Portugal for the apparition of the Virgin. This happened in 1981, when a Turkish terrorist attempted to assassinate the Pope. It is said to have been a miracle that the Pope survived since he had lost so much blood. I find it absolutely eye-opening that the same Pope pardoned and visited the Turkish man in prison. In the year 2000 the Turkish man was set free, and visited blessed John Paul’s tomb with an accompaniment of dozens of flowers. (Change is a great thing!)

Afterwards, we visited the Sistine Chapel, where nobody is allowed to take pictures. This is a famous chapel because Michelangelo painted the ceiling, which really is astonishing. After seeing the chapel, we headed to St. Peter’s square. The entrance to the Basilica is free (surprising). The Basilica is enormous, with massive ceilings and pillars. For a Saturday afternoon, the Basilica was not that full. We had to pay another 8 euros to get to the dome of the basilica, which had a spectacular view of the entire city. This day was pretty exhausting, and it really does take an entire day to visit the Vatican, but it is definitely worth it.

Vatican

Paris, again

We arrived in Paris on Sunday the 28^th, only for the night. We got to see Notre Dame Cathedral, while briefly attending Sunday Mass. We did not really do much since I had a flight in the morning to Budapest, and my mom was leaving to go home in the morning.

Budapest

All of my friends were so hype when they told me about visiting Budapest, but I found Budapest to be a bit different. Upon arrival, Budapest was less of a modern city, a bit unclean, and overall a bit dull. I got to visit parliament, which was definitely worth the time and money to get a tour of. The central market was huge, with vendors ranging from tourist articles to handmade doilies to authentic leather purses. The market had two floors; the first for food, vegetables, and produces, while the second floor had pretty much anything from coffee mugs to traditional Hungarian garments. I also got to try an authentic Hungarian dish that had pork and potatoes, which was so flavorful.

Bratislava

When I arrived in Slovakia, I honestly had no idea what there was to see or do in the country, let alone in Bratislava. I did not have a plan of what to do, which worked out in my favor at the end since we were not rushed to get form one place to another. Bratislava was much like Budapest, but there was a smaller population of tourists I feel. I found an authentic Mexican restaurant, and I could not resist the temptation of having some tacos al pastor. Of course, I had also had to try some Slovakian dish for dessert, which was basically strawberry cake with a yogurt/cheese substance. At night, my friends convinced me to go with them to old town, which was so worth it.

Vienna/Salzburg

After leaving Bratislava, we took a bus to Vienna and stayed there a few hours waiting for our blablacar to arrive. We walked around and took the metro, but I wish I had stayed a few days here (maybe I will come back in the future). The car ride from Vienna to Salzburg was wonderful; there was snow everywhere, but the Alps were great to see. We spent 3 days in Salzburg, staying in a hostel the entire time there. The first night we had traditional Austrian food, which was potato noodles with pork cutlets in a mushroom sauce. The next day we went to Schloss Fuschl, a big lake about 30 mins from the city. This lake was surrounded by mountains, and was truly awe-inspiring. We also visited the fortress Hohensalzburg. We were thinking of doing a Sound of Music tour, but ended up individually visiting each place. I got the chance to visit the Mozart museum, which is right in the old part of Salzburg. I could not take picture inside the museum as it was prohibited, but I snuck a picture of the birth room of Mozart.

The next morning, we went to Untersberg Mountain, which is part of the Alps Mountains. Half of this mountain is in Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria. The highest point on the mountain is about 1973 M or 6473 Feet. To get to the peak, you have to take a cable car ride up, which is quite frightening. Once I got to the top, it turns out my fear for heights was more than expected, so I could not get to the tippy top.

Not the top of the mountain, but pretty close. The top was too scary!

After the mountain, we visited the Von Trapp house, from The Sound of Music. Salzburg was one of my favorite cities that I visited. I would definitely recommend visiting here!

Getting Home…

We had to get to Munich from Salzburg by bus, in order to catch our flight to Barcelona on Sunday (March6). Everything went smoothly, until we got to Barcelona, where our ride to Montpellier cancelled on us. It was a very stressful couple of hours at the Barcelona airport, but I finally made it to Montpellier Monday morning around 4 in the morning. I can rest for a few days before classes start on Thursday, but all I can think of right now are my plans for Easter break. Until next time!

Location: Salzburg, Austria