Took a stroll to the Ha’penny pedestrian bridge to see a bit of Dublin without the rain, then took a quick train ride to Dundalk. Today was mostly meandering around, walked around Ice House Hill Park (where I took my obligatory European duck pictures – though not the best cuz all the kids were trying to pet them), and ended the night as the “Comfortably Dumb” trivia team and actually not doing terribly!
So we went to Gellert Hill and went in the church that is inside the hill (for the rest of the day’s activities and pictures of the church search “History in Budapest”). I wanted to climb up to the cross (which at the time I forgot was pretty much directly above the church/cave opening). I assumed I would just be able to follow a path up but I was sorely mistaken; a couple feet into the trek up the hill, the path split in multiple directions and all the way up there were many different paths you could take and they were all paved so there was not one correct one – I saw one sign, but it was in Hungarian so not very helpful. I figured “up” was a pretty safe direction so I just continued that way exploring some of the different paths. I got to one intersection and was standing there deciding which way to go (and catching my breath), but was about to go the wrong way when a Hungarian woman told me that there were good views the other way, so I assumed I had finally made it to the cross. I again was sorely mistaken. I had accidentally climbed all the way to the top of the large hill to Budapest’s Statue of Liberty – not what I was expecting, but the views were absolutely fantastic. On the hike up there I only saw like 4 other people, but at the top there were many other tourists coming from all different paths all around the hill, so I assume any of the separate paths I could have taken would have eventually gotten me to the same place. But alas, even with the very rewarding views I had not accomplished what I had set out to do and visit the cross. I looked at some pictures I had taken before we started up the hill and then realized how far away I actually was and started wandering back down on different paths and eventually found my way to the cross. It was a fun detour and added adventure to the day, plus I think it’s a funny story.
We visited the Rock Hospital which was not what I had expected but was extremely interesting. They didn’t allow us to take photos inside, but they had wax statues all through the tunnels in the cave to represent how it was used in WWII as a hospital and later as a potential nuclear shelter for the threat during the Cold War. We went to Gellert Hill and visited the church built into the stone, and then I hiked up to the top and the views were spectacular (you can see a more detailed story of that adventure by searching “Hiking Gellert Hill”). We also walked through a local market (located in a very large, grand looking building) and got some fresh fruit. And finally, as it is the last night of the cruise, they led us into town to the street filled with all the nightlife and bars and we hung out with some of the friends we have made.
We docked in Passau this afternoon. We walked around the city, as we were walking some of the stones were painted and apparently they show where art galleries can be found, and we went to where the three rivers converge as Passau is also called the “City of Three Rivers.” For lunch we went to a little cafe looking out on the Danube where I had some typical Bavarian food: juice with sparkling water and a sort of strudel with spinach, egg, goat cheese, and yogurt. We visited St. Peter’s Cathedral which has the biggest organ in a cathedral, and then I hiked up to the fortress Veste Oberhaus. On our way back to the ship we stopped by a local beer festival.
We went hiking today over beaches and huge lava rocks to get to a lagoon. On the way, we saw a tiny fish out of the water, so I picked it up and put it back in the water, but I think it was too late. There were also a bunch of goats, and we had a great back and forth conversation. At the lagoon, there wasn’t good snorkeling, but there were a lot of turtles; I was able to get up super close and get pictures with them. One of them actually looked at me and acknowledged me, so after our bonding session, I named him Charles. On the way back, Daddy and I found a baby coconut. Then, watched the sunset and I got a bug bite on my forehead (but Momma slapped my head so it wasn’t too bad).
We went to Emerald Pools, but couldn’t get past the first pool because of construction, so we went to the Weeping Rock and the Temple of Shinawava. At the end of the temple hike there was a river that you could walk in and continue onto another path. Daddy and I went, but had to go barefoot. When we made it to land, the views were spectacular and definitely worth it. Aunt Robin didn’t come with us tubing because she thought it was too shallow. We did get stuck a bunch, but it was mostly fine, except once when Momma was trying to get me loose the bungee cord slapped my leg really hard.
Before we went horseback riding, we had a little extra time so Alana taught us the basic rules of Cricket. When it was time to go horseback riding, I got the most gentlest, kindest, and calmest horse named Shy! I didn’t even have to do any work since she knew the way all by herself. But, apparently Amelia’s horse, Jude, didn’t like Shy because his ears were always down (which means they are mad, angry, or annoyed) when he was around her. He actually chased her up hill while I half screamed, half yelled stop while pulling on the reigns, but it was fun even though it startled me.
When everybody got back from horseback riding, we went on a hike up Sunshine Mountain and it was so beautiful! On the way, the ranger showed us jumping ants and how to crack a whip. After dinner we went to the dance cabin and danced to some aboriginal songs and rocked out to some new pop like “Call Me Maybe” (which soon got really annoying during the trip) and “Cotton Eyed Joe”!
I was scared because Ann (one of our leaders) bought a whip! 🙂
We had 2 hours of free time at the hotel but we couldn’t swim or get wet. I did table tennis, then we all did mini golf. When we were done, it was time to go to Capricorn Caves. At the cave, it was pretty much just walking through a rainforest and caves. We went through a skinny cave by candlelight, but since I didn’t have a candle, and the person in front walked too fast, and the the person in back had to stop, I was left me in pitch dark so I hit my head, but at least Heather had her camera for a little light. We also learned that guano is bat poop and is used for make-up in some countries around the world! I really hope it’s not in America!
After that, we went to Dreamtime Aboriginal Culture Centre where we learned about the Aboriginal culture, watched a weird but cool aboriginal dance and saw the didgeridoo being played. It was really cool because you can make different animal noises like the dingo, kookaburra and kangaroos riding motorcycles! We also learned how to throw boomerangs, but I wasn’t very good so I bought one to practice in the backyard.
