Easter Vacation!

Hello all! 

I'm back from Vacation, and the sun is just radiating here in Graz!  Everyone is out and about, and there's events going on all the time bringing in the spring :)  When I bike by the river it smells like Vacation, and I can't help but be happy these days.  I played soccer yesterday, and the day before that, and I played some volleyball yesterday, so I can barely move.  Last night the school turned our main buildings court yard into a club, so I went and danced with my friends, then went to The Forum in Stadtpark, where I got to see a DJ from Vancouver kick ass on stage.  After his set my friends and I bullshitted with him until the sun started to rise, then went and got a morning Kebap.  The other day I basically made turkey dinner for my friends, and it kicked ass!  Life is great ;)

My trip was really great of course.. it's amazing how much there is to see in Europe.  Everywhere has something special.  Everywhere was beautiful architecturally..  In each place we spent most of our time walking the city, perhaps with a free guided tour, eating, seeing museums, and partying in hostels or bars/clubs.  Besides those facts, I'll try to tell you the highlights of each place I went..

Slovenia---> The highlight here was probably couchsurfing, and seeing the largest cave system in Europe. 
Ljubljana is the smallest capital in Europe so although it was beautiful, there wasn't too much going on.  But couchsurfing was awesome, we got to meet a really nice local, Lea, and cook her Poutine.  The caves were in Postjana and were so rad..  We also got to see some "human fish", which I saw on Planet Earth, and never thought I would see in person..  so that was pretty exciting!

Croatia---> The sea, and an awesome contemporary art museum.
We started at the coast in Croatia, and at a place called Rijeka, there was a type of path that followed all along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.  We had a lazy sea day, which was really nice.  After the coast we went to the capital city Zagreb, and the highlight there was an awesome art museum.  After we were done seeing the exhibition, we made a quick escape down a slide.  How cool hey?

Budapest, Hungary---> Tiger Tim's, and a bathhouse rave.
We got to Budapest at around 11 pm Good Friday, all set to party after drinking on the train, and soon found out we weren't going to find a hostel for the night as easy as we were expecting.  We bummed around until about 5 am, when we got ahold of Tim, and he let us into his hostel to crash on his couch for the rest of the night.  We then spent quite a bit of our stay hanging out at the hostel with all of it's occupants. We met two Quebecer's there (Fred and Ed) with whom we became really good friends.  It was the best hostel we stayed in hands down... it was basically just Tim's apartment, but with a bunch of awesome travellers staying in it.  While in Budapest we attended a rave in a bathhouse, which was quite the gongshow.

Vienna---> Being back in Austria
We liked our Quebec friends so much we decided to abandon Bratislava, Slovakia, and join them in Vienna.  As we reentered Austria I felt so excited and happy.. I think I've really started to build a connection to this country.  In Vienna we didn't do much, just hung out with our Quebec friends and saw some museums, including the Freud Museum.

Prague--->  The architecture, and the five story club
Prague is so phenomenal.. it has some of the most amazing architecture I have seen in Europe so far.  It's all kind of medieval, gothic.. which is my favourite style.  The two main tourist spots are the Charles bridge, and this awesome  astrological clock tower.  Prague was so beautiful, we saw 4 couples taking wedding photos during our stay there.  We also did alot of partying in Prague, as Coleson's birthday was the last night we were there.  We did a pub crawl the first night, which was an absolute fail for me because we got drunk before we went.. so the night's just a big black blank.  The second night, for Coleson's birthday, we went to a five story club(the largest in Europe), and that was pretty cool.

Paris--->  The Eiffel Tower of course, and Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Louvre, etc
We met up with Anna while in Paris, and rented out bicycles.  There was lots to see of course.. Paris is beautiful and full.  However it also smells like piss and there's garbage everywhere... I was quite shocked.  Didn't see much of the nightlife really, but our days were full.  The Eiffel Tower really is a mind blower.

Belgium---> The beer, Antwerp's fountain, and Bruge
Belgium beer is so damn good!  We stayed with Coleson's friend Evelyn in Antwerp, and she showed us around her city.  Antwerp has alot of character to it, my favourite part being the fountain representing the myth at the root of their city name.  The fountain was really unique because it was not enclosed.. It was just a huge epic statue of a man who just conquered a giant, with water cascading down all over the ground.  We also took a day trip to a city called Bruge, which was sooo beautiful.  They call it the Venice of the North.

Besancon--->  Seeing Coleson's city, petting fish, and French cuisine!
I'm really glad I made the extra trip to see where Coleson has been living.  It was great meeting his friends, and his city is really beautiful.  He took me up to the Citadel(castle) which had a zoo in it.  It was the first zoo I've ever been to so I was really stoked.  In it there was a tank of fish that you could stick your hands in and pet the fish, and have them "kiss" your hands.  Such a cool experience.  The other highlight was all the food we ate.  We had a panini, awesome awesome crepes, and Coleson made me a local dish.  Probably all three were the best food I had the whole trip.  Mmmm.

From there I trained back to Paris, flew to Ljubljana, and trained home.

So, to conclude... Easter Vacation = Huge success!

Lots of love all,
Nikki