Continent Hopping

The Gothic Revival architecture of the Hungarian Parliament in the capital of Hungary, Budapest. What a beautiful sight to see, and the lavish inside is as posh and impressive as the outside is opulent and majestic. I had already had the pleasure of traveling to Budapest, but this time the opportunity to book ahead and tour the inside did not evade me. This massive building of 18 000 square km, lies on the bank of the Danube river and is a very notable tourist attraction, which is why I had not been able to tour the inside last visit. I shall name a few things I saw once inside: The Holy Crown of Hungary, the parliament building main hall, the Assembly Hall of the House of Magnates, and lots more. Sounds important and official, right? Sure felt like I could shack up there for a bit and have my servants feed me grapes while fanning my tired tourist body with bamboo leaves. Away with you now.

What is the worst traffic you have ever experienced? Now multiply that exponentially by a thousand, and you live in Jakarta. This city, sitting on the coast of the island of Java, is the capital of Indonesia. That's that country with a ton of islands under Malaysia. Malaysia is underneath Thailand. You know, Southeast Asia?? Maybe it's better if I say Indonesia is directly northwest of Australia. Ring a bell yet? Oh for goodness sake, just google it. And Indonesia is a country, not the name of some exotic animal, a kind of food, clothing or anything else unrelated. Oh, Canadians.

Anyway, traffic. I have literally never experienced traffic like this in my life. The population of the city of Jakarta and its urban area surrounding, also called the megacity, was over 30 million at the end of 2015. It took me 2 hours to drive 7 miles that day. I checked out their national museum, the national monument, I even got in a small boat and went out on the water from the harbor towards the ocean. There were ships full of concrete, sugar, fish or practically anything you could think of. I got to go inside one of these massive ships and see how the workers live while transporting goods out on the sea. It made me thankful all over again that I was from Canada. We may not even know where Indonesia is but at least we don't have jobs like these men did. I was the snobby girl in the sunglasses with a boat to herself while everyone stared. I then proceeded to get lost in a rather dark alleyway post harbor exploration, and found an absolute gem of a pub, called Bremmers. It was only to seek refuge from the almost overwhelming heat and humidity, until I made friends with the band playing live music, and they insisted I sing a song with them! Don't worry, I saved the reputation of all talented Canadian singers and assured them that I am the only exception.

But what would any story be like without a trip to the Whitehouse? Although I didn't see Trump, I enjoyed walking around Washington, and worked pretty hard to get all the tourists out of my Whitehouse picture. That was the day he was meeting with some important people to go over the health care bill. Think I have to say it again, thank god I'm Canadian. I would probably be dead.

Lastly, what better place to explore the nightlife, or day life for that matter, than London? Although it has recently been the site of terrorist attacks, the tragic Grenfell fire and a 65 percent increase in acid attacks during the past year, it still has seemingly been able to keep its charm and abundance of backpackers from all over the globe, in my experience. Despite all this tragic news, and general fear of death at any minute (joking, joking, I didn't actually feel like that, hold the anxiety mom) I took a walk through Hyde park, Green park, and stopped for a burger and beer because I wasn't feeling the fish and chips at the time. These parks are extraordinarily peaceful, they make you feel like you're not in such a busy city and give you a break from the hustle and bustle.

And, with that came a little piece of Heaven. In support of the LGBT community, also because this picture is just fantastic, I give you these two beauties. Heaven is also the name of the nightclub where I found them.

Well another day, another adventure. Time for a spot of tea.

Keep calm, and cheerio.

Bailey Sue