For our last day in Prague, we went to the Prague castle and Saint Nicholas's monastery, where they have brewed their own beer to pair with traditional food for centuries. The castle was huge and beautiful, and the beer and sausage was quite good! We went from Prague to Vienna, where we stayed for only one night, but we made the most of the day, going to see the city center and hanging out in the museum district. We then took a train to Budapest, where we stayed for 2 nights. The first day, we climbed a mountain overlooking the whole city, which was a blast, but it wore out Mikey who has been battling some sickness. We went back to the hostel and he went to bed, and I hung out at the ruin bad adjacent to our hostel, eventually meeting up with some girls we met at the hostel in Prague. We went to a dance club and had a good night! Mikey and I then woke up at 10 or so the next day, and we walked to a famous Hungarian bathhouse. We spent almost all day there, moving from warm pools to cool pools to steam rooms and to ice cold pools. It was so relaxing, and I think we both needed the day off. Mikey was still feeling sleep, so when he got back he watched a bit of a movie, the weirdest movie I've ever seen, that the hostel was showing. It was a weird stoner flick from the 70s called The Holy Mountain. That was done at 10 or so, and I stayed up after Mikey went to bed talking to some British people, Scots, and Aussies. All in all a great experience in Budapest.
We then flew to Istanbul, where we are now. Yesterday we got to our hostel at about 5 and met the Australian girls staying in our 5 bed room. They were hilarious, and we decided to go out with them at night. First, Mikey and I went to watch the USA - Germany game at a shisha bar (hookah), smoking and having some traditional Turkish tea as we watched the game. We had a blast and despite the loss were quite happy. Then, we met up with the Aussies and went out for some kebabs, to walk around Taksim square, and ultimately to a bar where they were playing some Turkish pop and having awesome dancing circles and such. We had a blast.
Today, we woke up and went to the palace on the water. It was massive and had incredible gardens, as well as a museum with artifacts from this area dating back to 10000BC. That number blew my mind. I could literally reach out and touch something that someone made 12000 years ago. So cool. We then walked to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. The blue mosque was beautiful and is still in use, so we walked around quietly for a bit and really enjoyed the beautiful architecture. The Hagia Sophia used to be used as a church, and was equally stunning. It was really cool to see the Christian architecture right by the more Ottoman-like stuff, and we appreciated all of the history around us!
Istanbul is so awesome, and it's by far the least western of the places we are going. It's something different, and I love it. When we got back from our day out, I spent a half hour explaining the rules of baseball to the cafe owner below our hostel. He then made us some Turkish coffee and we just sat and relaxed and took it all in.
This month has been incredible. It's hard to believe it's almost over. I think Mikey and I will both be ready to be home and see our loved ones in a week, and then I need to start preparing big time for Korea! So many new adventures. I am a lucky man. Thanks for reading, and I will try to get one or two more posts in before we're done!
Miss you all!
-Ryan
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