After finishing my year at NYU, and just before heading to Princeton, I went home to Budapest to visit family and friends. But that wasn't quite enough for me, given the fact that I'm still young enough to purchase an Interrail ticket (the equivalent of Eurail for European citizens), I decided to go travel around a bit. This was also due to the fact that so many of my friends were willing to host me at various locations. My trip included Geneva, Florence, Rome, Zurich, and Cologne. Although it probably seems like there is no logic to the sequence of things in this itinirary, I assure you that I didn't do this just out of love for train rides (which, by the way, wouldn't necessarily be such a bad reasoning.) The order of visits had much more to do with my friends' schedules which is quite a valid reason for any seemingly random order.

Hint: click on the images for larger and color versions of the photos.

Home Base: Budapest, Hungary

I am missing most of the pictures for now, but here's a brief description of what I did.

• I had my 5th year high school reunion.
• I spent a good amount of time hanging out with friends and family.

My very very good old friend Zsofi and I are standing on a hill in Buda looking onto Budapest. (Very very old means that we've known each other since we were six.)

First Stop: Geneva, Switzerland

• I hung out with many many friends from Junior Year Abroad, and from the summer of '96.  Pictures of those visits can be seen on my Picture Gallery Page and on my Geneva Page.
• Highlight of the visit: The 50th Anniversary of the Smith College Junior Year Abroad in Geneva Program

(The photo store messed up in putting all my images on disk, so I am missing most of the Geneva shots.  Perhaps eventually I will manage to put some more up here.)

	Carolina and Gerry (both friends from my year in Geneva) pose for this marvelous picture. Caro is finishing her Certificat at HEI [Hautes Etudes Internationales] in Human Rights, Gerry just finished a year of teaching English at a university in France.
After the Anniversary reception, part of the group (mostly Class of '98 Smithies) walked through a beautiful Geneva garden to get back home, or go to La Clemence, as several of us did.

• This was a last minute addition to my trip. Chloe (Smith '98) had just finished her Junior Year Abroad in Florence and so I got a chance to visit while also seeing a friend at the same time.  Chloe's hospitality (and also her host's) made the trip a very unique experience.

	From left to right: Chloe's friend (another Smith '98 Florence student), me, and Chloe as we are having a yet-to-be identified cake at Caffe Ricchi.  Thanks goes out to the waiter who was kind enough to get all this into one photo.  (Don't try to analyze the photo too much, I cropped it so some of it will not make sense.)
The most fascinating aspect of Florence (for me anyway) is the Duomo.  It is absolutely breathtaking how elegantly it sits in the middle of town. You can see it from just about anywhere, but it isn't overwhelming either.
	This is a picture of the Duomo from inside of the Uffizi Gallery.  The Gallery is wonderful, but I wish they could keep all the rooms open.  I missed the room on Caravaggio for example which was a big disappointment for me. Nonetheless, I saw some wonderful pieces from Michelangelo, Parmigiannino, and many other fabulous artists.
So this isn't supposed to be the original David.  Well, a sculpture is a sculpture, as long as it has the same dimensions, it will have the same expression.  It's just easier to see because there isn't such a crowd around it.  By the way, the Smith Center in Florence is located just across from it so you can see it from the window.  Not bad...

• Here I visited my good friend Maurizio whom I know from New York University.  I stayed with him at a friend's place for three nights until we both got kicked out (complicated story).  Then off I went to stay with friends of my parents.  They were very hospitable, I had a very nice stay with them too.
• There were too many highlights of this trip to get into details.  Just follow the tour through the pictures.  (More to come, not all have been developed yet.)

	The first day I was there we took the metro to the Piazza di Spagna stop.  There, Maurizio said it would take us about 20 minutes to get to a certain destination.  After 6 hours we had arrived at the proposed destination.  This is to show how MUCH there is to see in this city.  Every step you take you have to stop and admire something. Here is a picture of the Pantheon.  (That's Maurizio on the bottom right corner.)  One happens to stumble upon such marvels all the time. That is one aspect of Rome that I found incredibly wonderful and exciting.
Mauri and I are standing in front of the Castel d'Angelo. Later that day, we took a half an hour nap just below this bridge. It was nice to be able to find a quiet, excluded little spot in the middle of Rome even at the height of the tourist season (when is it not the height of the tourist season in Rome?!).
	OK, so this may not be the best shot of Fontana di Trevi, but if you look closely, you'll notice the rocks in the background on the left, and those are part of the fountain. *grin*
Sunday Mass at the Vatican.  And boy, can you see the mass of people?  By the way, on the upper right hand corner is the Pope giving his speech.  (He has to be so far for security reasons.) Much more exciting than the mass - well, for my taste anyway - was the inside of St. Peter's.  Enormous yet not overwhelming.  It was really an experience to be inside.  I even returned for a second visit just to take it all in one more time. [Unfortunately I don't have any pictures light and clear enough to put up here.]
	Here's a link between the Vatican and our night out with friends that evening:  A female tourist is not even 'safe' of male 'predators'  in the Vatican of all places. That morning I was exploring the city on my own and while sitting on a column of the Cathedral, admiring a Rafaello painting, a guy came by to ask about the time, then about my studies, then whether I wanted to go for a walk. Even more interesting was the fact that I happened to bump into (well, he came up to us) this guy that same day in the evening when Maurizio and I were hanging out with friends at one of the downtown piazzas. The picture to the left is of the five of us (from left to right): Antonio, Maurizio, me, Gabor, Massimo.
This is one of the many Gabor friends I have around the world.  The two of us met back in Geneva during our junior year abroad.  Gabor had just finished living in Rome for a while, it was great seeing him after all that time.
	Maurizio (in the middle) with his friends Antonio on the right and Massimo on the left
The last day I was in Italy, Maurizio and I visited a lake an hour outside of Rome. The lake was formed in a now extinct volcano.  It was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen (and I've seen some quite incredible sights in my life).  As cheesy as this may sound, it was a 'moment to forever remember.' This is Mauri with the lake in the background.
	Unfortunately we didn't have our bathing suits, but this didn't completely prevent us from trying out the water.
The water was incredibly pleasant, the sun was brightly shining, but there was a breeze so one could really enjoy being outside.
	And finally it was time to leave Rome.  This is just before my train left.  I almost forgot to take a picture of the car that helped us through the adventures, but voila, there it is, our orange Ford.

• Although I'd been here many times before, I included this town in my visit to see two friends: Irene and Madlaina, both of whom I had met two years before during my junior year in Geneva.

	In Zurich, I stayed with my friend Irene. We met a couple of years beforehand when both of us were studying in Geneva. I had been on the Smith JYA program, Irene had been on the Uni Mobil program of Switzerland.
Irene and I went to pay a visit to another Zurich friend, Madlaina. This is a picture of the three of us in Madlaina's Old Town apartment.
	Madlaina and Irene are chatting in the front door of Madlaina's apartment building.
Here Irene is pictured with her wonderful boyfriend, Thomas.
	Last minute, I realized that there was one more person to visit, Peter, a PhD student in computer science and a house music DJ.  We'd met in Quebec at a conference a while back.  I was lucky and he was able to meet up last minute.

• This stop probably seems incredibly random.  You'll never guess the reason.  No, it wasn't the Dom, although that was definitely an interesting sight.  I went to Cologne to see Zsofi, my old friend featured in the beginning of the page in the Budapest section of the trip. This is to show that I was not the only one the go this summer. Zsofi was in Cologne for an internship, so I thought it was a great opportunity to go visit the city and see my friend again.

This is the magnificent Kolner Dom.

• Not much more happened. I spent some more time with friends and family, and on July 7th off I went to the States.

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