Nick's HDR picture of Buda Castle....

This is Nick's first HDR shot of the trip. He had some great opportunities for these sorts of shots. Budapest and Romania are both very picturesque. :)

Tribute to every family vacation I've ever taken...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Nick from the trip. He got several shots of me taking pictures so I paid him back in kind.

Just about every trip I've ever taken where more than one person is taking pictures, somewhere there is a shot of a person taking a picture of something. I know for fact my mother has several pictures of people taking pictures (including a nice one of me at the House on the Rock). So, I kind of kept that up on this trip with Nick. He found humor in it too. :)

TIB

More Romania...

The grand hall of the Castle Corvin in Honendura, Romania. Each of the flags are different coats of arms of the Corvin family that had at one time resided in this castle in the 1500's.

The outside of the Castle Corvin.

Down the hill from Castle Corvin. This really isn't a huge castle but it sure isn't tiny. It really is what you'd expect to see in a castle.

Romania

The main church in Timasura, Romania. Timasura is one of the bigger cities in Romania and has a really nice main square (see next picture). On one end of the square is this church and on the other is the main opera house ... and the hotel we were staying at.


This is the view from the Opera house to the main church. Lots of pigeons and really old Baroque style buildings line the square. There is a pillar the a copy of the famous Romulus and Remus sculpture that was a 'gift of the Romans'... translation: the Dacians (ancient Romanians) took it and wouldn't give it back once they were a part of the Roman Empire.

The Romanian countryside... yeah, looks a lot like Indiana personally. But we got to see a lot of it and it was nice to see LOTS of greenery! :)

finally finished!

After two long years and three years of being in Bahrain. I have completed my Master's in Education! I'm done! As of tonight, I have turned in my final paper and my portfolio for review, as of Saturday I find out if I've "graduated"...

Thanks everyone for putting up with my craziness when I was working on a paper or a project...

TIB

even more Budapest...

While in Budapest, Nick and I went on a bus tour and part of this bus tour was to go across the Chain Bridge and these pictures are the view from the bus...enjoy!

more on Budapest...

The Elizabeth Bridge, I think...I can't remember, there are 9 bridges that cross between the two sides of Budapest.
The Mathias Church. One of the oldest churches in Budapest (on the Buda side) with 7 towers for the 7 tribes that made up the Hungarian people at the 15th century.

This IS the Chain Bridge. The lions on either side of the bridge have very small tongues but the legend is that they have no tongues to keep whatever secrets they come across.

Budapest

Budapest: Capital city of Hungary, formerly two separate cities--Buda and Pest. The former capital was Buda until 1832 when the two cities were united as the city we know today of Budapest. Buda is very hilly, Pest is very flat. Pest is also about twice the size of Buda, however Buda has the castle and citidel.


As English as this looks, this is the Hungarian Parliament, on the Pest bank of the Danube River. This building is really huge, the picture was taken on the opposite bank of the river.

Monument on Margret Island between the two sides of the city. Margret Island is the largest park in Budapest and really beautiful. No cars are allowed on the island. There is one bus route that goes to the island and foot trafic. Yes, very pretty.

St. Ivan's Cathedral. Very old. Very pretty. Very big. Didn't go in--Easter Mass in Hungarian wasn't going to sound as pretty as it would in Latin...I think.

days go by...

One week until spring break. All of us teachers and students need the break. Everyone is pretty burned out with the routine and flairing emotions of children and adults alike. Next week we're also doing a spring bonnet/easter bonnet parade...I'm teaching everyone the bunny hop. I find it really amusing that the american teachers don't know the bunny hop or are unwilling to make a fool of themselves by doing the bunny hop. Seriously, we all need a little silliness in our lives from time to time. I think I also need to find the hershey kisses doing the bunny hop commercial somewhere and download it to show the other teachers because I mentioned it and no one knew what I was talking about...:(

I'll be leaving for Budapest/Romania late Thursday night/early Friday morning and coming back to Bahrain a week later. I really can't wait.

TIB