Switzerland

I think Switzerland must be one of the most beautiful countries in the whole world. Everywhere you look the scenery takes your breath away.

We took a train from Budapest to Zurich which took 12 hours. This is a field of flowers in Hungary.

We had a layover in Salzburg, I was thinking of the Sound of Music the whole time.

We also saw a bit of Germany

The Eiger

I spent the afternoon sitting in a field of flowers with the snow-covered alps towering above me and blew dandelions. Wonderful.

And there were plenty of dandelions for me to blow. :)

Grindelwald: an alpine village that looks like it came out of a storybook.

My delicious snack--fresh strawberries and whipped cream. 

Happy chocolate milk cows

A lovely sunset

The color of the water in these glacier lakes is incredible.  The water is super clear and a beautiful turquoise color. 

We took a boat ride around the Lake Brienz near Interlaken and we got off at a couple of towns to explore.

At one time this lovely building was an exclusive girl's finishing school.

Mom stayed here 20 years ago and loved coming back

This was the view from our table where we had lunch on the terrace of a lovely historic hotel.

This was the view from the other side of our table.

You can't really tell but Dad and I are behind the waterfall.

On our way home we flew over Greenland;you can see lots of iceburgs in the lakes.

And this concludes my absolutely amazing trip to Europe!! Though I loved being there I was ready to get home to my own bed and my siblings.

Rome Day 1-part 2

Once again a beautiful ceiling

Me in St. Peter's Bascilica. If you want me to describe St. Peters go to the thesaurus and look up all the synonyms for big. This place is massive, and everything is beautiful, no blank walls or ceilings here.

The front of St. Peters. The altar is supposedly built on the grave of the Apostle Peter.

We were in St. Peters about 6pm so the sun was shining through the windows in the dome. 

Taken from the back of the church

The Pieta

Mom deciding what to have for dinner. I decided on ricotta and spinach ravioli

A monument to the first king of Italy. It was finished in 1930.

The Trevi Fountain

Budapest

We were only in Milan for 3 hours because we had a layover but I don't want to go back because it's not very pretty (and because the Milan soccer team had just been named #1 in Italy).  We took a taxi to the main square where it was CRAZYwith fanatic soccer fans celebrating their victory).

I did see this though, the primary church in the city.

My lovely parents

Fisherman's Bastion, where fishermen used to sell their fish they'd just caught out of the Danube River.

Quite the wedding cake, its made out of marzipan.

Second largest synagogue in the world in downtown Budapest.

Parliament building along the Danube

Not exactly what I would expect to see in Hungary

Last night we had an amazing dinner at a cafe--very beautiful, good food, and lovely music

This string quartet played classical music with a Hungarian flare, I loved it. One of the guys played a string instrument with hammers but it sounded just like a piano.

This is a memorial to the Jews who were killed in WWII here in Hungary. Before the war there were hundreds of thousands of Jewish citizens in Budapest.  By the end of the war there were 247. This memorial honors the Jews who were lined up along the river, shot point blank and simply dropped into the river.  Very powerful memorial to walk alongside.  It was a rather gray and drizzly morning which matched the mood we felt as we visited this sight.

Parliament House in Budapest.