May 18, 2009

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Greetings from the Pest! We started our day bright and early to go sight seeing. We began by visiting saint Stephens basilica, the opera house, and hero's square. Saint Stephen's was holding mass when we were there, and we were all in all in awe of the intricacy of the architecture. We did not get to experience any music at the opera house, but they have performances every day. Hero's square used to a popular anti-communist protest site, but when we were there, a lot of people were rollerblading and playing soccer. Bri even took her first subway ride to our destination for lunch, an area known as Oktogon. We were able to sit outside and enjoy some great Hungarian cuisine on a beautiful day!

We had the first match of our tour today, against a Hungarian club team. The warm-ups were quite different than what we are used to back in the United States, but luckily we had our teammate Lexi, who is from Bulgaria and familiar with European pre-game procedures. We are happy to report back to all the tar heels fans that we won all five of the sets we played! As a post-game snack, we all enjoyed some great gelato from a nearby store.

After that, we headed to fashion street for some retail therapy! There were some familiar stores, but others that were unique to this region that were especially exciting to shop in. we think it was a success on Fashion Street! For dinner, our entire group dined together at a pub. We ate mushroom soup, pasta, and a delectable crepe with chocolate sauce. To end the evening, we took a walk along the Danube River, taking in the lit up sites one last time. We are sad to be leaving Budapest already, but looking forward to our next destination... Vienna!

Bri "Breezy" Eskola #5 and Lauren "LP" Prussing #11