A long weekend in Budiful Budapest

A couple of weeks ago I headed to Budapest for a few days with some friends. With extremely lacking knowledge and no expectations, I was very pleasantly surprised! As cities go, I'm not sure I've ever seen anywhere that looks so pretty in such dull weather!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, pretty shattered after an early start and had a wander round the neighbourhood. We stayed on the Pest side of the river, about a 10 minute walk from the Chain Bridge over the Danube - a perfect location for what we needed! We decided to go for a hostel to keep costs down, and I can't recommend Wombats Hostels enough. Having stayed in their Berlin hostel last September (a trip you can read about here and here) and now Budapest, they are so reasonably priced, clean, friendly and do very good, cheap breakfasts to set you up for a day of sightseeing!

On Friday morning we headed over the bridge to Buda, which is historically the wealthier, more fancy side of the river. We headed up to the Castle on the Funicular

Originally built in the 13th century, the castle has been destructed and rebuilt after seiges and attacks. It's now a maze of ruins, the Baroque palace and underground tunnels built into the hill. It's also home to the Budapest Historical Museum.

After a look round and a quick bite to eat we headed along Castle Hill to Matthias Church (which the coolest tiled roof I've ever seen on a church!)

And the Fishermans Bastion... the closest I've ever come to a Disney Fairytale Castle!

From the Bastion there are amazing views of the Parliament Building across the Danube and Pest.

We had a wander around the Castle Hill area in search of coffee & cake and some very wise words.

As the sun set, we headed back to Pest just as all the lights came up on the historical buildings on both sides of the river.

In what was possibly the most cultural day of my life, we then decided to go to a string orchestra concert in St Stephen's Basilica. 

A very impressive concert... and I even recognised some of the music (even more impressive!)

 A very busy but interesting first day in Budapest!

Feeling 22

I recently celebrated my 22nd birthday. I'm a firm believer that birthday celebrations should be spread out over as long a time as you can manage, and I think I did pretty well this year. I also got 3 birthday cakes so that has to count for something.

I kicked off celebrations a week early when I was treated to a beeeauutiful steak at Cafe Rouge before a night out in Exeter with all of my friends still around down here. 

 Obviously a new outfit was needed and after a verrrry big shopping spree on payday I settled on this dress from Topshop which I love!

I had a great night, feeling pretty horrific the next morning but it's nothing that can't be fixed with a morning snuggled up on the sofa watching Friends and a trip to my new favourite cafe in Exeter, Cakeadoodledoo. It's tiny, but the slices of cake are not, so I don't mind the occasional wait for a table.

On my actual birthday I was surprised at work with the first delicious chocolate cake of the day (I'm talking a lot about cake aren't I?!) 

Aaand that evening I had a bunch of friends over for curry, games and more chocolate cake thanks to the fabulous Cat - just LOOK at it! 

The next day I had a day off work and headed northwards to my parents' new house in a small village in Nottinghamshire for a weekend with friends and family which was lovely! 

Having not seen anyone since Christmas it was great to catch up, eat even more, and explore the new area...

...which, by the way, is pretty beautiful.

A fantastic few days with some of my favourite people! I'm looking forward to a lot of changes this year... who knows where I'll be at 23!

Summer Adventures

I've been a bit quiet the past couple of weeks, but for a very good reason.

I've been back in Exeter for a fortnight volunteering on a camp for young carers called Summer Adventures. It's run by a society I was heavily involved in at university and offers carers age 7-15 the opportunity to have a crucial break from their home duties for a week of their school holidays. You can read more about the camp here. This year over 60 children joined us over the two weeks, all of whom had a fantastic time, which is of course the main thing!

As a bonus, I had a brilliant time too.

Summer Adventures taught me a lot about young carers and dealing with children and teenagers. It was great to get to know them over the week they were with us and learn about their lives and what they enjoy doing. I also learned a lot about myself, including that I'm a lot more competitive than I ever thought, and that I can actually be brave and challenge myself when I want to! I also made loads of new friends (who might be reading this, so hello if you are!!)

It also gave me the opportunity to do some reeeeeeally fun stuff around Exeter and Devon that I didn't have the chance to do (or never thought of doing!) when I was at uni.

Week 1 was with the younger children. One day, we headed to the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth.

I love donkeys. I don't know why, I have just grown up as a bit of a fan. So this was a very good day out.

I mean, I got to get a selfie with a donkey. Happy days.

There was also an obstacle course for the kids to do where they led a donkey round carrying things on their head and throwing beanbags into hoops etc.

I wanted a go at that! (I won... obvs)

One day each week we headed to Heatree, which is an outdoor activities centre up on Dartmoor. The drive up there consisted of playing eye spy and singing Frozen songs while looking out over the moors. So far so good.

I was planning, on the first visit, to take it easy for the afternoon and look after the bags etc. But as soon as I got there, the child inside me wanted to play.

Which meant I ended up doing this

Another thing I learned on SA is that balance is not my strong point. So, on the low ropes course we did that afternoon I definitely struggled a lot more than any of the kids. They laughed. I fell. Repeat. I've returned home covered in bruises. 

I also felt that sliding down a tunnel in a stream was a great idea.

...And then I got pushed into a bog by my dear friends...

It was a big bog. It swallowed up one of the girl's shoes never to be seen again. 

Fortunately I made it out alive; smelly, soaked and smiley.

On week 2's visit back to Heatree we did high ropes, which I don't have any photos of, but based on my proven failures on the low ropes I was very, very scared. But I gave it a go, walked (with jelly legs) along a beam 25m in the air, and clung onto it for dear life when the instructor told me to let go. 

A solid effort, I thought. 

The afternoon activity was raft building. I was adamant I would not be going in the lake.

The (dashing) outfit I was given didn't seem to promise anything, though.

We were proud of our raft and were happily bobbing along in the lake

Until we were attacked by pirates (of course that was going to happen....)

The outcome?

 I think my face says it all.

Continuing with the getting absolutely splashed and soaked theme, we also went canoeing at Exeter quay one day (during which I successfully managed to look like an over excited child)

And headed to Splashdown waterpark in Paignton

Source

There is a slide there nicknamed the death slide. It is basically a vertical drop and yes, you do feel like you're going to die (I did anyway).

But again, I survived, and kept smiling.

So, a few things to take from this.

If you're in Devon, give some of these places a go. You will have a lot of fun.

If you get chance to volunteer with children, do it. The child hiding inside you would be very, very happy you did, and I'm sure the children you'd work with would be too.

And give everything a go.

XX

Baking Bonanza

Last week I went to a friend’s house for the afternoon. We have a mutual love of baking, and after her living abroad for a year, it was about time we got the ingredients out and got cracking.

A quick flick through my Hummingbird book (again!) and we had decided – we would bake two different types of cupcake – Eton Mess, and Cookies & Cream (the smaller versions of this)

The Eton Mess cupcakes are, as you’d probably expect, a simple vanilla sponge. The mixture seemed very runny compared to most recipes, so if you go on to make these, be aware that (somehow) that is absolutely fine – the cakes still tasted great.

Once baked and cooled, you cut a small hole out of the sponge and fill with chopped up strawberries, then place the sponge back onto the top ready to top.

They are topped with a custard type icing and strawberries. The recipe also suggests adding crumbled up meringue, too. We tried to make one of those… but unfortunately it didn’t really work!

Still, the cakes tasted lovely and went down well with our families!

I have to admit though, the Cookies & Cream cupcakes definitely won hands down.

They have a chocolate sponge, and we put small pieces of Maryland chocolate chip cookies into the mixture.

Once cooked, we put a buttercream style icing on top (which we added vanilla extract to) and decorated with crumbled up Oreos.

Heaven.

The icing on both was, again, pretty runny, so in the future I’d probably add more icing sugar, but with a fork (or some sticky fingers) both cakes were very very yummy.

We were pleased with ourselves.

And my Mum even said the Cookies & Cream cupcakes were “possibly the best things she’d ever tasted”.

High praise indeed!

Insta Update

Since there was quite a gap between my previous couple of posts, it means there's plenty to fill you in on! So I thought I'd just do a little update from my instagram photos showing a few bits I've been up to over the past couple of months (other than revision!)

A beautiful sunset walk down to Exeter quay taking my mind off work for a couple of hours

An afternoon in the sun (finally) relaxing and drinking milkshakes in the Exeter Cathedral grounds

Treating ourselves at my favourite burger place (so far!) - Hubbox in Exeter

Aaand a bit more - huge, delicious pizzas at Firehouse - one of the best places in Exeter for sure!

University Awards night

Beautiful Nerja (which you can read about here)

My friend's 21st - including a Teddy Bear picnic!

Back in my hometown and straight out for cocktails 

In Chiquitos 

More cocktails...

Homemade Tapas - possibly the most stressful kitchen experience of my life

Friend's birthday celebrations

Beautiful sky on one of my runs - burning off all the cakes I've been baking (post to follow!)

If you want to follow me, click here - I'd love to check out your photos too!

N x