Moenichkirchen - September 10-12

Hey all!

A little over a week ago, I had the chance to go to the Alps and go to a cow festival.  I know this sounds out of the blue, but this festival is a very special part of the culture here in Austria (and Switzerland, too).  In order to get to the cow festival, we took about a 10 mile hike up the mountain to a small ranch.  Here, cows were dressed with bows and cowbells.  Others had wreaths around their necks.  The largest cow wore a crown bad of evergreen branches and flowers (I wish I had some pictures to share of the cow festival, but my camera ran out of battery on our way up the mountain.  I did get some good shots, nevertheless).  Now, you may be wondering what is the significance of dressing up cows in ridiculous things.  Well, the point of this festival is the celebration of a good harvest, and upon the celebration, they move the cows from their summer pastures to their winter pastures.  I thought the festival was fun, and I also had the opportunity to practice some German with the locals!  Many were from rural areas, so they did not know English that well, which was a good thing in my opinion simply because we are forced to speak German if we wanted to communicate with the locals (I actually spoke with the ocals for over 2 hours, almost all in German).  I really enjoyed this.  Here are some pictures of Moenichkirchen and the hike:

The typical architecture of alpine retreats in Austria.

Me, on the hike up the mountain - there was a part of the hike that was about 400 meters long at a sixty degree slope.  

The top of the mountain where we found the summer pastures for cows.

A memorial, or sorts, for the church.  This was at the top of the mountain, too.

A buddy of mine walking on the rocks at the top of the mountain.  There were many rocks at the top of the mountain - possibly piled up to maximize the space for the cows.

And our hiking group at the top of the mountain - at this point, we ate lunch at the top of the mountain at a place that we were ecstatic to see after hiking about 10 miles!

Budapest: September 3-4

Hello!

Sorry about the late post/ update.  A couple weeks ago, I went to Budapest for a cultural excursion with a few friends I made at the Flow House.  We took a bus to Budapest (surprisingly, the buses here are a very frugal way of traveling, especially if one is traveling to nearby cities).  Here, we spent the two days exploring the city and seeing the sights Budapest has to offer.  If anyone plans on coming to Europe, Budapest should be on your top ten list because it is an absolutely gorgeous city. Here are some pictures below:

 (Here is the group of us who went to Budapest.  I am the the one in the black T-shirt on the left - sorry I haven't uploaded an image of me yet!)

Here s a reflection of some of the architecture in Budapest.  This was on the corner by the youth hostel we stayed in.

This was a statue that was near the train station.

This was the courtyard at the youth hostel we stayed in.

This is an old hotel on the outskirts of the city.

This is Heroes Square, a block in Budapest that commemorates leaders of Hungary.

Heroes Square is a place where you can find many children playing and tourist groups enjoying the sights.

Here is one of the street performers at Heroes Square.

And another!  (One of the street performers handed me their viola at the top of the hill in Budapest, and I pulled out some Irish Jigs!)

Hope you enjoyed this post, and I cannot wait to share my next experience!