My trip started out with my meeting my friend Susie in Cologne (Köln), Germany. Susie is in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria right now, so Germany was only a short couple hour flight away. We wanted a fun place to be over Christmas. It was SO beautiful in Cologne! I loved it!
The shopping was great, the food was great, the architecture and weather were wonderful. I even had to buy a lighter weight jacket cause it was so "warm" (probably in the 40's and 50's). We had a great time walking around and eating great food. Germany has amazing Christmas Markets and Cologne was no exception. It was so fun to walk around the markets and try yummy foods and see all the hand made items for sale.
Since most of Germany is closed on Christmas Day we had decided that we would go to a German amusement park that day. It is called Phantasia Land. That was my Christmas present to Susie. So we got on a train and made our way to Brühl, Germany. When we got off the train we were greeted by this amazing Palace, the Augustusburg Palace. We walked around for a little bit there (gotta love travel surprises!) then headed to Phantasia Land.
It was a lot of fun and sort of funny. Being the "DisneyLand Girl" that I am, itwas amusing to see the attempts at similarities with Disney, but on a much smaller scale. All in all, it was a great day. We were able to eat good food again, the park was pretty empty so we really didn't have to wait in any lines longer than 5 minutes. It was a very memorable and fun Christmas Day!
After 5 days in Cologne we packed up and headed back to Bulgaria. First to the capital city of Sofia. I was expecting there to be a lot of similarities I think with Romania seeing as how they are neighboring post communist countries, but there were not as many similarities as I thought. It was still a cool country and since I love all things post communist it was awesome. Plus seeing the Cyrillic alphabet everywhere was cool too. Our first full day in the city we did a free walking tour which was awesome. Our guide Boyko did a great job giving us the history of Bulgaria and showing us around the town for like 3 hours.
I was also able to visit the Synagogue in Sofia. Which as any of you who know me, is one of my favorite things to do in Europe! It was small and really pretty. I met a really nice man who stands at the gate who told me a lot about the synagogue and even told me where there was a Romanian Orthodox church around the corner. It was cool.
We also went to this cool museum that was sort of an outdoor statue museum. It had all kinds of statues and sculptures from when Bulgaria was under communism. They went around and gathered them all up from around the city and put them there, it was pretty cool.
Then we headed to Plovdiv, Bulgaria for New Year's weekend. Plovdiv has an amazing old town area with ruins dating back to the Romans. (Sofia has that too but Plovdiv is just set up different.) The old houses and buildings in the old town area were amazing too. I love architecture and these little streets with their beautiful buildings were awesome.
New Year's Eve we walked around the city all day, but it was totally snowing and FREEZING so we were in pretty early and we didn't even stay up to see the fireworks. Which when midnight finally came, we were happy to be safe in our house and not in the "war zone" of crazy fireworks being set off by everyone and their kid outside our walls. I seriously was waiting for a firework to come through my window! It was nuts.
We returned to Sofia for our last day and half in Bulgaria. It was great being able to see my friend Susie since she has been gone and to see her skills at the Bulgarian language. It was nice to catch up, and to spend Christmas and New Year's together. After 2 weeks we said our goodbyes and Susie returned to her mountain top village and I got on a plane for Timisoara, Romania!
I was SO happy to be back in Timisoara. I was picked up at 11pm from the airport by my hotel. The next day as I was walking into the city and saw my cathedral I just had that feeling that I was "home" again. I can't describe it and I was wondering if I would still feel it. But I did. I love Romania and the people there. I love the language and the cities and the nature. I love how God has given me such a heart for this country and I am thankful I STILL love it and that when I got there it all came back to me as though I had not ever left.
I only had 2 full days in Timisoara. The first thing I did was to get a sim card for my phone and then I was off to meet up with my Romanian "other" family. Laura (my original language teacher) and her family are my dear friends and I was SO happy and blessed to spend time with them! It was far too short, but we picked up where we had left off and it was as though I had never left. That is one of the great things about good friends, time goes by and when you see each other again it is as though you saw each other the day before. I had a great time hanging out with them all and seeing how the kids have grown!
I didn't get to take a lot of pics of the city at all, hanging out with Laura and her family was way more important. Next time I will spend more time in the city and then I will take some pics! I also was not able to see everyone I wanted to in Timi but prayerfully next time that will work out too!
I was then off by train (4 hours) to Oradea. I only had a day and a half there. But that was enough time to see my dear friend Marinela. I mentored Marinela when I lived in Oradea and have kept in touch with her since. She came to visit me my last Christmas in Brasov, Romania. It had been over 1.5 years since I had seen her and we had such a blast together. We met for dinner my first night in Oradea at McDonald's where we always used to eat, we even were able to sit at this cool little table where we always used to sit. It was fun! I had brought her a little Christmas gift and she had brought me a couple of gifts too. It was really sweet of her. It was so awesome to see how the Lord has been working in her life and all that He has been doing to take care of her. She has a great job and God is blessing her and showing that He is her Heavenly Father.
The next day we hung out all day. It was SO cold outside that we could only handle it for about an hour. Then we spent the rest of the day at the mall, walking around, eating, going to the movies (new Chipmunk's movie) and going bowling. She beat me twice! It was a great day of hanging out and it was hard to say goodbye.
The next day I was off by a very long 9 hour train ride to Brasov. Brasov is where I spent the most time when I lived in Romania. I had 3 days there. I arrived at night on Sunday and Monday morning was on my way to work in the hospital where I used to work! I was SO excited to be going back and to see my dear friends Cami and Andrea.
I had a great 3 days working in the hospital. Again it was as though I had never left and we picked up as though I had just been there the day before. I helped in the play therapy room where I used to work and even saw one of the young ladies that used to come in all the time.
I helped Cami with a little photo project on her door and just got “caught up” with her on everything that has been going on since I last saw her.
Cami and Andrea treated me to dinner one night at Andos, my FAVORITE Romanian fast food place….man, just thinking about it gives me a craving for it! Then I treated them to lunch at the hospital my last day. Cami helped me get my ticket for the long 14 hour overnight train I would be taking to Budapest, and then helped me change the ticket to a better train. It was a lot of crazy work, but God was faithful and Cami was super helpful!
I was super blessed to have been able to visit my little neighbor Nuți while I was there. I didn't have a way to let her know I was coming and I didn't even know if she would still be living in that apartment. I just prayed and trusted God that it would work out. Turns out He took care of everything, if I had come a half hour later she would have been out for the afternoon and I would have missed her. She was SO excited to see me and she was so sweet and cute and we caught up. We only had a short time together cause I had to go and fix my train ticket but it was really nice to see her and give her a little gift.
I didn’t get to spend much time with the girls from Firm Foundations, I did get to hang out a little with Alisha and Raelene and I got to see Steffi and her kids for like 30 minutes. I didn’t get to see Mary or Sarah at all, but I am so thankful and blessed that they let me stay at their hostel for free and let me work in the hospital those days I was there. Next time again, I will have to be there longer and to spend more time with everyone!
After 3 awesome days in Brasov, I boarded my train, taking my first ever 2 bed sleeper car to Budapest, Hungary. Let me tell you, this sleeper car was AWESOME, like first class in an airplane. I was the only one in the car and it was GREAT! I could never afford to travel like this as a missionary but it was sure nice to be able to travel like this while on vacation, especially after weeks of running around, I really needed the chance to sleep the whole night on the train and to be safe and comfortable. Plus it was SO clean! (even the BATHROOM!) I loved it!
I decided to spend 2 days in Budapest alone at the end of my trip, because I was flying out from there, and I thought with it being so far from Brasov, it would be a good idea to have a little down time close to the airport. Budapest was BEAUTIFUL! Honestly I have been to Hungary a few times, and while it does not pull on my heart strings exactly like Romania does, there is something about that country that I do love, who knows maybe I’ll end up living there some day
Anyway, I had a GREAT time walking around Budapest. I spent a few hours at this awesome cemetery that was more like an outdoor statue museum. It was super old and super beautiful with the trees and the plants and statues and birds singing and strange looking squirrels jumping around. It was awesome and very peaceful. I took entirely too many pics there, but I loved the time to just walk around and enjoy the quiet.
I also visited the Great Synagogue in Budapest. Which is very impressive and had a lot of history to it. It also had a beautiful memorial to those who died from Budapest during the Holocaust. It was this weeping willow tree, and each leaf had the name(s) of people who had died. It was very moving.
My last day in Budapest I think my trip was catching up to me, I was out by 8 in the morning walking around but by 2 I was back home for the night. The weather was crazy that day, sunny, then cloudy, raining then pouring down hail! It was an adventure!
Then back at the hotel, I had to repack and catch a shuttle at 4:50 the next morning so I didn’t mind calling it a night so early.
I had 2 flights home and then 2 days off and then it was back to work.
Feels strange being home. I have had the worst case of jet lag I have ever had. I’m a bit fuzzy still and I miss Romania. I haven't even totally unpacked yet. I still know that I am where God has for me to be, but I am still just as open to anything new He may bring my way!
You know I didn't go into detail about how 7 of my 9 flights were late and 1 of my train rides was crazy complicated, but I want to again give glory to God at how He worked everything out. How I did not miss any flights and made it safe to all the cities I was visiting and even was blessed by that train trip to Budapest. It was an awesome trip of God once again showing Himself faithful in my life.
I am so blessed to be a child a God and was SO blessed on my trip by my friends.
