Dublin - Day 3

Today was my last day in Dublin - it's gone so fast! 

We got up quite early as we wanted to make the most of the day as we had to leave at about 5:45pm to get to the airport on time for our flight. I'd really hoped to have a waffle with nutella, as I'd seen them yesterday at breakfast, but they didn't have them on today :( I had another huge full Irish breakfast again - it's probably good we left today otherwise I'd be getting enormous!

The river Liffey in Dublin near our hotel

We took the bus to Kilmainham Gaol. It is a former prison where many of Ireland's political prisoners were kept, tortured and executed. I found it really interesting as I didn't know anything about Irish history before I went. Plus, it's only €2 for students which is seriously good. You go into this museum area before you're taken on a tour around the prison. The conditions were absolutely appalling. Obviously prisons aren't nice places but they used to keep the prisoners in the dark for 23 hours a day, the only hour they were allowed outside they had to walk in circles with their heads down, unable to talk or even make eye contact. A lot of political prisoners were kept there, mostly leaders from the 1916 Easter Rising where the Irish Republicans tried to gain independence from the rest of the UK. I know it sounds really really silly but I hadn't even realised Ireland was once part of the British Empire.

Is it just me or does this look like the prison on that CBBC show, The Slammer?

We then took the bus back to Trinity College after a seriously yummy cake at the coffee shop in the prison. We took a walking tour around the college that allows you to get into the Old Library which contains the Book of Kells. I really like taking walking tours when I'm abroad as they're normally conducted by students who are basically the same age as me, so they pick things that young people are interested in as well as all the main sights. I hadn't heard of the Book of Kells but apparently it's the oldest book in the world. It's beautiful. It's handwritten with lovely drawings throughout. The Old Library is also really cool and looks like something out of Harry Potter! There are loads of spiral staircases between floors and floors of books. They even have those ladders that let you reach the top shelves, which I always thing are cool.

Next it was lunchtime - we got quite a lot done in the morning! I had this scrummy goats cheese sandwich with tomato and red pepper soup with a cider. I love being 18; you can just order alcohol - it makes me so happy and I have no idea why!

We took the bus to the Little Museum of Dublin mostly because it was free with our bus ticket but also because it looked interesting. There's a whole floor dedicated to the band U2, so if you're a fan, I'd definitely recommend it! It takes you from the Victorian era (I think. It might be a little earlier/later) all the way through to the present day. There was this amazing bit where there was this shop sign up on the wall and these two elderly ladies were talking about how they remember seeing Santa Claus there at Christmas as children. I love times like that, because it just makes everything so real.

That's pretty much my day and time in Dublin. Hope you enjoyed reading it :)

Lizzie

 xxx

Budapest - Day 3

It's my last day in Budapest and I'm definitely going to miss it! 

I ate so much for breakfast this morning it's kind of scary! I had toast with that hot paprika cream, peppers, olives and fry up and peach juice. Is it just me or do you always eat loads of food when you're in a hotel? And that food is normally the kind of thing you'd NEVER have for breakfast? 

After breakie I walked down to the bus stop to catch the bus to go towards Andrassy Avenue (Andrássy út in Hungarian). The bus stop had this bakery beside it with the largest loaves of bread I think I've ever seen in all my life - they weighed 3kg! 

The House of Terror was all about the Nazi and Soviet Union control of Hungary. I hadn't even realised that Nazis came to Hungary, which was really interesting to learn about. I obviously don't know much about the history of Hungary, but it seems to be that until the fall of the Soviet Union, Hungary had been a terrible, scary place to live. The house had three floors with the basement being used as a prison during the Soviet control. The cells only had a wooden board as a bed - a toilet and sink weren't even provided and some of the rooms had no sunlight. Apparently they used to torture their prisoners by depriving them of sleep, water and food as well as more brutal methods. I just can't comprehend how any human being could ever be so cruel, I physically can't understand how you could do that. Even though the house is now a museum and currently nothing horrible is going on, it felt like such a horrible place to be in. Everywhere there were real life accounts of what happened to the people of Hungary during the Nazi and Soviet times; they're just so awful and sad. 

After the House of Terror, we went to this restaurant for lunch. We wanted a large lunch as we'd just be catching a bite to eat at the airport later. I had tomato soup with smoked cheese and then gypsy style pork, with potato rostis and spinach. The pork looked a little like this:

I quite liked it although it wasn't my favourite thing by any means - it was quite bitter. The restaurant was really nice however and all the staff were so friendly. Everyone speaks perfect English, which is great, although I always feel so rude not even trying to speak their language. 

We walked to this church after lunch. It was really beautiful. There was this little chapel inside which had someone's hand preserved in glass in it. It looked tiny but I guess that must just be because of how old it is and how long it's been preserved for. We went for a coffee afterwards and I had a Nutella muffin - so scrummy!

I didn't manage to make it up to the royal palace today, although I'm not upset because I've had an amazing time anyways. I think it might have been closed anyway what with Putin visiting and stuff. The city didn't completely shut down like they thought it might although there were a ridiculously large amount of police and helicopters everywhere!

Sorry there haven't been more pictures of the city - my phone camera just isn't good enough :( My dad says I can have his old Nikon one if I buy a new lens so maybe next time I'll have some better photos to show you guys!

Lizzie

 xxx

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