5 Things We Can Learn About Life From Birds

15 Things Humans Do Wrong At Dog Parks

After recovering from slight jet lag, going to bed early and waking up earlier than usual, it was time to go back to eating healthy, going to the gym, and back into the grind of work.  On Saturday, I walked into work where it was pitch black and hot - the power had gone out, and had been out for 7 hours.  Since I've been mostly in exotics this week, let's talk about a exotics topic. I wrote this article for Broadreach a few years ago when I was working for them and I don't think I've shared it on here yet.

Step outside for a moment. Ignore the traffic of the city, the neighborhood dogs barking, or the lawnmowers; what is the first sound you hear? I bet it was probably a bird. I believe we’re all a little envious of birds – their unique and beautiful coloration, ability to fly away anywhere they desire, and their vast individuality among each species. There is so much we can learn from these fascinating animals that surround us.

TRUST YOURSELF“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch, but on her own wings.” – Anonymous
Trust your intuition and your own inner guidance. Only you know what’s best for you. Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for your relationship with others. If you don't trust yourself, how can you trust others? Let your inner compass guide you where you’re meant to go. 

IT’S OK TO FAIL“The bird that dares to fall is the bird that learns to fly.” – Anonymous
Everyone has failed at something at least once in their lifetime. We need those failures in order to learn our strengths. Those failures help us grow and learn even more about ourselves. Failure is proof that you tried and an integral part of success. Keep trying until you get the solution you want. How will you ever know what you’re capable of if you don’t try? (If you need more inspiration for dealing with failure and challenges, check out what the dung beetle goes through!)

SPREAD YOUR WINGS“Birds and the people who love freedom have something common: They must fly freely to feel that they are alive” – Mehmet Murat ildan
Have you ever watched a bird fly? Sure, we’ve all seen them fly, but have you actually WATCHED them. They’re majestic, graceful, and most of all, free. They can travel anywhere they want at any time they want to. That’s certainly something I’m jealous of. Until you spread your wings, you have no idea how far you can fly.

SING NO MATTER WHAT“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” – Maya Angelou
Think about how you feel when you hear your favorite song. It brings you to a state of mind it’s hard to express with words. It makes you feel understood and that everything in your life is exactly the way it should be. Life is a song you make up as you go along. Every part of this world is made up of sounds that can be considered a song. Birds still sing in the rain. Why stop singing when it’s storming? 

UNIQUE IS BEAUTIFUL“It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds” – Aesop
All birds are unique and beautiful; they come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. When has something normal ever been interesting? What’s interesting are things that are different and unique. The most unique birds are the ones that stand out and get our attention. Your beauty comes from having your own style and living your own way. Be yourself. Be the real, imperfect, flawed, quirky, weird, beautiful, magical person that you are. 

There’s a reason there are so many quotes comparing life lessons to birds. We desperately want to understand and relate to their beauty, song, and freedom. A.P.J. Abdul Kalan said “The bird is powered by its own life and motivation.” So, let’s find motivation within our own lives and start living a life that’s for the birds!

Eastern Europe

"The best part about airports lies in what they symbolize. Airports are places of bookends: new beginnings and long-awaited endings, arrivals and departures, hellos and goodbyes. We start in one to end in another hundreds or thousand miles away. You enter from a desert and exit into a blizzard. In from winter, out into summer. In from familiarity, out into somethings completely foreign, or vice versa. An airport is a place of transit, and not just geographically. I wish there was some sort of time-lapse to show how people change between departures and arrivals. When I arrive back home from being away, I'm never the same person as when I left."

Fri/Sat May 11/12 -Amsterdam: We started our trip with a 7 hour layover in Amsterdam where of course we had to get out and see the city with a free tour. Unfortunately our layover was pretty early, so not a lot of stores or coffeeshops were open at the time, but we were able to get some pancakes, smell the air, and see some of the sights with Sandeman's Tours.s

New adventure time!

Train to Amsterdam from airport 

Holland (ham and cheese) pancake

So many canals with bikes

Sat, May 12 -Budapest: We had a short 2 hour flight to Budapest, that we mostly slept on, since we had been traveling for close to 24 hours at that point. We grabbed a traditional Hungarian dinner at Kek Rozsa Restaurant (Blue Rose) and then got settled into our hotel at Kempinksi Hotel Corvinus.

Beef Goulash

Grilled pork with the traditional Hungarian liquor, palinka 

Somlo dessert

Sun, May 13 - Budapest: As the rest of our tour group was still arriving, we explored the city on our own.

Starting off at St. Stephen's Basilica with a Hungarian Catholic mass.  In order to explore the Buda side of the city, we walked over Chain Bridge, took the funicular up the hill, and walked over to Matthias church, Fisherman's Bastion, and Trinity Square. A Hungarian lunch was ate at Pest-Buda bistro where I ate chicken paprikash.  Then briskly, we explored the public transportation of the subway system and traveled to the Szenchyi baths. We just took a tour of the baths, didn't actually go into the waters as it was very crowded. It was then time to make the first introductions with our Tauck tour group at a welcome reception and dinner.

St Stephen's Basilica

Chain Bridge

Danube river

Buda castle

Funicular 

Fishman's Bastion

Parliament

St Matthias Church


Stuffed cabbage rolls

Chicken paprikash

Szechenyi baths

Kempinski Hotel

Mon, May 14 - Budapest: Our guided tour started with the Opera house, where unfortunately some renovations were being made, so we weren't able to see the stage, but we could see the architecture inside. We were also treated with a small surprise opera performance! The bus then took us to Hero's Square for a group picture and Gellert Hill to overlook the city. Lunch was on a Danube river cruise taking in the entire city. The one memorial I wish I could have gotten a picture of was the Shoes on the Danube Memorial. Our tour then continued to the Dohany Synagoge. With the afternoon on our own, my family went to shop at the Central Market where I purchased some of Hungary's handmade items (puzzle box, paprika, and embroidered lace). Chimney cakes from Molnar's Kurtoskalacs Kavezo and gelato from Gelarto Rosa were our next indulgences before a dinner of langos and beer at Karavan. We met back up with our group for a Pub crawl, first starting at Siperl, and then moving on to one of the ruin bars, A. The ruin bars are definitely a must-see with my favorite type of atmosphere.

The Opera House with a private performance 

The castle that Sleeping Beauty's castle was designed after

View from Gellert Hill

 Lunch cruise on the Danube

 Parliament building

 Dohnay Street Synagogue

 The Central Market Hall

Chimney Cake

Langos (cheese, sour cream, and fried dough)

Food truck area

One of the ruin bars - A

Tues, May 15 - Budapest/Vienna: We started our early rainy morning with a tour of the Parliament building which is the 3rd largest building in Europe. We were able to view the royal crown but not allowed to get any pictures of it. We then made our way back to St. Stephen's Basilica where we saw St. Stephen's hand (crazy Catholics)! For lunch, there was first a strudel making demonstration followed by a sampling. After hoping on the bus for a 3 hour ride to Vienna, we explored our stunning hotel, the Hotel Imperial. A wiener schnitzel dinner was awaiting us at Cafe Landtmann, along with a torte. We were then treated to a private orchestra performance.

 Inside Parliament and the royal crown

 St Stephen's hand at St Stephen's Basilica! 

 Hungarian strudel making demonstration 

 Pike 

 Apple and sour cherry stroudel 

 Wiener schnitzel

Landtmann's fine torte

A private orchestra performance

Wed, May 16 - Vienna: After a small breakfast in the morning, our group took a drive along the city's Ring Boulevard and viewed the Prater amusement park with the world's oldest Ferris wheel and the Danube River. We then got off the bus to walk around the Hofsburg's palace grounds including Hero's Square where sadly Hitler announced the Anschluss. We grabbed a quick lunch on our own at a local cafe and snacked on a variety of sausage and apple strudel. After meeting up with the large group again, we traveled over to the Belvedere Palace with one of the world's greatest art museum, followed by a Viennese Waltz lesson from the Elmayer dance academy. Dinner was a the hotel and then my family went to a local micro-brewery to sample the local beer.

 Sachertorte

 Mozart memorial

 Hero's Square at Hofburg's Palace

 Holy Trinity plague column

 Viennese coffee

 Various types of sausages

Apfelstudel "A strudel a day keeps the doctor away"

Belvedere Palace

"Judith" by Gustav Klimt 

"The Kiss" by Klimt 

"Changing Faces" by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Viennese Waltz lessons 

 

 Four course meal at hotel 

Micro-brewery -1516 Brewery

Thurs, May 17 - Vienna: A visit of the gorgeous Schonbrunn Palace and gardens was the first stop of our early morning. Our large group then broke off into two smaller groups, one that went on a tour about the Cold War, the other that went on a tour about architecture and monuments. The rest of the afternoon was on our own, so my family had a small lunch at a local sandwich shop, then went onto the St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna Opera house, and then the Albertina to see works of art from Monet, Picasso, and Keith Haring. We were craving Italian food, so we grabbed some pasta over at the Naschmarkt and then finished the night with some Imperial torte and champagne in the room.  

Schonbrunn Palace and garden 

 Karlskirche Church

 Naschmarkt

 Vienna Opera House

 Trzesniewski open sandwich shop

Monet's Water Lilies 

 Picasso's Woman with Green Hat 

Imperial Hotel torte

Fri, May 18 - Prague: The next day was our long but beautiful 6 hour drive to Prague. The countryside was flowing with wildflowers and adorable cottages. We had a quick lunch at a rest stop in order to make it to our private cruise with desserts along the Vltava river. Our walking tour of the Jewish Quarter made up the rest of the afternoon. The tour included the Old New Jewish Synagogue that survived the wars, as well at the Old Jewish cemetery that has numerous graves, some stacking 12 high. Our dinner that night was at our hotel the Augustine hotel. The dinner was so long as I was anxious to get back out and explore this magnificent unique city! My family walked off our dinner across the Charles Bridge, making a wish at one of the statues along the way. We found the Lennon wall and explored some of the local shops before grabbing a beer at our hotel since Prague is known for its large variety of beers.

Charles Bridge

Old New Synagogue that survived the war

The Old Jewish cemetery

Hotel Augustine dinner

The city at night from the Charles Bridge

John Lennon Wall 

Sat, May 19 - Prague: Our tour of Prague started with the Prague castle, which isn't actually a castle at all, but more of a complex that includes the Royal Palace, Belvedere Palace (yes another one of the Habsburg's residences) and St. Vitus cathedral. We had a small amount of free time for lunch were my family went to see the Infant Jesus of Prague and shopped. I bought a Bohemian glass set which Prague is known for. The afternoon walking tour was of the Old town with the Astronomical Clock which was unfortunately under repairs! My family then headed over the UFleku brewery/beer garden - Prague's oldest brewery, dating back to 1499, and of course indulged in a refreshing beer and sampled the pork knuckle and dumplings. That night was the farewell reception at the hotel with a St. Thomas Brewery beer tasting.

Prague Castle

St. Vitus Cathedral

Panarama of Prague

Prague castle gardens

Cobblestone walkways all throughout town

Monk library

Infant Jesus of Prague

Architecture of Prague

Open air market 

Astronomical Clock under repairs

Old Town Square

Gorgeous streets of Prague

U Flecku brewery

Hotel dinner 

Sunday May 20th - Back to the US with a layover at JFK.

Overall, I would have to say that Prague was my favorite city of the three due to it's uniqueness and beauty.  The trip was a huge success - we saw everything we wanted to see, ate everything we wanted to eat, and bought want we wanted to buy. There was never a shortage of food or drinks, so I will have to detox and eat extremely healthy for the next few weeks. And as you may assume - I'm already planning my next trip!