Well, folks this is it. I have been home for an entire week (officially, in about an hour) and it's high time for a reflection on this amazing journey of mine. I call it the beginning because although I am closing this study abroad chapter, there are still so many adventures of mine that will be sure to unfold, so stay tuned! I can tell you, too, that there are no words in any Spanish or English dictionary that can effectively describe this recent experience of mine. Believe me in the last week, I have tried! Amazing, wonderful, incredible, and those words then translated to Spanish, just don't and simply cannot do it justice. I suppose, maybe unique? Then again, it still doesn't fit. Well here, let me take 500-1000 words and try to explain it...
The amount of butterflies inhibiting my stomach for the weeks approaching January 5 (departure date) were infinite. However, I never would have imagined that the lessons learned would far surpass the number butterflies (or maybe I did I just didn't know what lessons I still needed to learn.) The fact that I was in a country where English wasn't the official language and that yes, all four of my classes would be taught in Spanish and that no, my host mom did not know a lick of English (well that's a lie she knew one, relation. and don't ask me why relation?) were the aspects that really got my butterflies going, but after acclimating myself during those first few days, I was feeling really great! That was the first thing I learned, I could do it. I moved half way across the world with a seemingly flawless transition! To some it may seem insignificant, but for someone who ended up at a school approximately 12 blocks from her parents' house, it was a feat knowing that I could make this move. It felt great to play with my wings so to speak and I spent the next four and a half months doing exactly that.
It's rather difficult to categorize my somewhat messy montage of lessons for the simple reason that they are more like feelings. I sometimes react differently than I would have six months ago without really realizing...the current decision just felt, right. However, there were some distinct cultural differences that have left me confused and somewhat changed. Let me explain. One of the most promient ideals of the Spanish culture is that "la vida es en la calle" or life is in the street." The culture that I spent my last semester in takes great comfort and joy in simply hanging out in the streets or in the bars every single day with friends, family, American students, you name it, they hang out and they talk and they drink wine. The wine is key. What's not to love? Moreover, the Spanish culture put simply, defines the concept of "work" very differently than most citizens do in the United States. Of course Spain, coming from a culture that doesn't get to work until nine at the earliest and takes a 2-3 hour lunch break, it shouldn't surprise you. I know some people in the States think that the "Spanish are lazy and wonder why they don't just go to work like the rest of the world?" I know some Spanish that would think, "Los E.E.U.U. es lleno de personas gordas que tener mucho hambre para dinero." What I found though is that neither place is doing it the right way or the wrong way; they are doing it their way and I have decided that I am going to take a little piece of each place with me. I will always understand the importance and practicality of holding a steady job and paying my bills, but I simultaneously realize that there is a life out there to live so, go to concerts and skip work every once and a while. I will not become a "slave to money" like my host mom so wisely advised me.
I think the only other significant and expanatory lesson was that of simply stated, being open to new things and people. I think that I have been learning this one for a while. I mean, I wouldn't have applied for this semester abroad experience if I weren't up for trying new things, but there are parts about bthis full-immersion experience that left me feeling completely clueless on several accounts, begging to be enlightened by someone, anyone. Ok, that might be a tad dramatic, but you see my point. Trying new things can come in the tiniest of packages as well. All of these years and I couldn't bring myself to eat fish! What was I thinking? Fish is not only delicious (when prepared correctly of course) but extremely healthy and this is what I was missing out on, simply because I didn't want to try something new? Again, small example, but you see my point. Trying new things can present itself as overnight trains to Paris, (which I wouldn't recommend....but you should definitely see for yourself!) taking really janky elevators at boderline creepy hotels or (blush) having a German boyfriend. All of these new things (and there are plenty more where these came from) completely made my trip and if I wasn't open to new things, I would have never experienced them.
There I go, on my soapbox again! Well if it's any consolation, I don't even really know what I am talking about. I am just trying to collect my thoughts and make some sense out of them and this is what I have for you all, take it or leave it. If I learned anything, though, it is that there is this traveler's bug. It's contagious and I am pretty sure I have it so watch out. Also, I have realized how much I love to write (even if it's me blabbing to a journal that no one reads) and I fully intend on incorporating this craft into all of my future careers, (hence, "It's Only the Beginning") and it was largely due to the positive feedback from you all that I realized people like reading my stories, so thank you!
And to close, I will leave you with what I think are some pretty impressive statistics and my commentary (of course):
4.5 months (Not nearly enough. Europe, I will be back!)
29 blog posts (Also, not enough)
9 countries (And 4 languages, take that!)
10 flights (RyanAir, your turbulence and less-than-stellar landings got nothin' on me)
15-ish train rides (I have mastered the right-angle, mouth-ajar nap, thank you, TrenItalia)
2 sprained ankles (This is just unfortunate...)
1 newly mastered language (Mastered in the loose sense of the word...capable and always learning? A bit more appropriate)
28 new "siblings" (We fight like cats and dogs, but I love them all dearrly)
14 extra pounds (Operation Damage Control commenced five long days ago, wish me luck!)
ONE AMAZING JOURNEY!
Thanks for reading guys and until my next adventure, hasta luego, ciao, guten nacht, etc!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Very Fancy in France
To say that the overnight trip from Munich to Paris was dreadful would be the most understated expression of how the trip actually went down. I think I was able to sleep for a total of 20 minutes. The all-too-frequent stopping and the fact that I was trying to sleep in an upright chair with hardly room to stretch any of limbs most certainly impact the length and quality of my sleep; both suffered tremendously that night! (For the record, beds were offered, but our budget's didn't like the cost that went with them so much so chairs it was!)
We left Munich at 10:40 p.m. and arrived at the Paris Nord Train Station around 9:45 a.m. We grabbed some breakfast grub and headed in the direction of Michelle's family friend's apartment. Once we reached the metro however we learned that the train we needed to take to their apartment was partly closed. After we (mostly Michelle in her very useful fluency in French) talked to many train personel we figured out an alternate route to our destination. Two hours later and we had finally arrived at their house and basically passed out right away. It was a Sunday and like most European countries, Sunday's lunch is usually bigger and much more celebrated if you will. Therefore after only 30 minutes of rest, they woke us from our slumber for a delicious Sunday lunch. Free food always manages to beat out sleep (and really anything for that matter)! We ate and then went out to discover more of the city. Since we had already been to Paris and saw the Louvre we didn't necessarily need to go back (even though there was so much we had not seen) so instead we walked around the city, later grabbing a snack at a cute French restuarant.
We didn't do much that day because of our depleted energy supply and the fact that we were to be back for dinner around 7p.m. (again, free meals) We had full intentiones to revert back to our tourist alter-egos the following day...
...which didn't happen necessarily. We had to wake up at the crack of dawn because our hosts had to go to work. So it was 8:30 a.m. and we were out and about but dead tired. At that point we decided that instead of walking around we would lay out on the grass by the Effiel Tower. So from nine until two we slept, read our magazines and soaked up the French sun! At one we stopped for some lunch and after lunch we went in search of crepes! We found a small crepe shop by the tower and then we headed to the affordable shopping district of Paris: Champs Elysees. I found some things at a few stores and we picked up a gift for our generous hosts, but the coolest thing was that we saw the cast of America's Next Top Model in some sort of race through H&M. I know it was ANTM because I saw the cameras and the official letterhead. After that excitement we went back to the Effiel Tower anticipating the arrival of our third travel buddy. One hour passed and she still never showed. So, using our best judgement, we decided to go back to the apartment to obtain some wi-fi in order to get in contact with our long-lost friend. We found out that her belongings hadn't reached the office on Monday which meant that she still didn't have her passport which meant that she still couldn't leave the country. We especially didn't know what to do then because we had hotel resservations that began Wednesday night in Nice, France so we needed to leave the next day. Were we to leave Paris putting further miles between us and Libby? Or go to Nice, or go back to Munich? We didn't know what the best solution was but we ultimately decided to move on to Nice making sure that Libby knew our whereabouts at all times.
Because of the unavailability of trains on Tuesday night, we decided to head out earlier on Tuesday morning than we had originally anticipated. We made a quick pit-stop at the Moulin Rouge to snap a few necessary pictures and we were headed for the French Riveria. That night we stayed in one of the coolest hostels ever! This place was a renovated monastery and it had everything. By chance the boys came a day earlier, too and were staying at the same hostel. It was sure nice to see them again and also to hear their stories from Interlaken. We hung out there for the night and then, bright and early in the morning we moved beachside to our hotel. All five of us stayed there, it was quite cozy but it saved money which was exactly what we all wanted!
After laying out at the beach for a few hours and checking into our hotel we took the train to a nearby city: Cannes! Another chance encounter left us shocked at how lucky we were. The famous Cannes Film Festival began that very day showing the premier of the film Midnight in Paris starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Adrien Brody and that's all I can remember right now but it was sweet! Mike captured some stellar pictures on his camera and some really great close-ups. After watching them walk the red carpet we grabbed some food and checked out all the yachts in the harbor. I honestly don't know if I was more impressed by the movie stars or the boats because they both were amazing! I am seriously considered giving up my dream to have children and instead work to be able to afford a yacht like the ones I saw in Cannes, I think it might be worth it! We walked around for a bit more and then made sure to be at the exit of the theatre for the end of the show. Good thing we were because we saw all of the same movie stars that we saw before the show after, but this time we were really up close and personal. There was 20 feet separating us from the stars, it was crazy!
After all of the movie-filled excitement we headed back to Nice and passed out only after pillow talk with the boys! We found out also that Libby would be joining us the following day around 1 p.m. and we were so excited to finally have her with us! So at 12:30, Michelle and I went to the station to pick her up. We went back to the hotel for her to freshen up and then we headed to our ninth and final country of this four month journey: Monaco! Monaco has the highest per capita GDP in the world mainly because it has a very small population and the people who do live there are filthy rich. The yachts that we saw there were similar to the ones we saw in Cannes, incredible! We walked around the city/country, saw Monte Carlo and laid out on the beach for a bit. (With just enough time to bury Michelle in the sand.) After a few hours we went back to Nice because Danny and Mike had to pack and get ready for their early morning travels. Libby, Michelle, Luke and I went back to Cannes to check out other stars that might have been there on the second night of the Cannes Film Festival. We had a panini dinner with crepes for dessert, but didn't really see any stars. In fact, we didn't even recognize the movie that premiered that night. It was still a great trip especially for Libby to be able to experience Cannes in all it's ridiculously glamorous glory. We went back for more group pillow talk...I love these people!
In the morning, Danny was the first to leave us at an early 6 o'clock in the morning. He had to catch his flight from to Nice to London. After spending a few hours in London he flew to Amsterdam and then Bangkok, Thailand to meet up with his family for a vacation. Mike was second to leave around 8 but not before he jumped on our bed for a good-bye hug. He needed to catch a train to Florence, Italy. Mike had a a week of solo travel ahead of him until he met up with his family later on in Barcelona. That left the four of us to hang out for the day and then catch our train to Milan.
There is only one more leg of my journey to tell, thanks for following everyone. I have enjoyed sharing my experiences with you!
We left Munich at 10:40 p.m. and arrived at the Paris Nord Train Station around 9:45 a.m. We grabbed some breakfast grub and headed in the direction of Michelle's family friend's apartment. Once we reached the metro however we learned that the train we needed to take to their apartment was partly closed. After we (mostly Michelle in her very useful fluency in French) talked to many train personel we figured out an alternate route to our destination. Two hours later and we had finally arrived at their house and basically passed out right away. It was a Sunday and like most European countries, Sunday's lunch is usually bigger and much more celebrated if you will. Therefore after only 30 minutes of rest, they woke us from our slumber for a delicious Sunday lunch. Free food always manages to beat out sleep (and really anything for that matter)! We ate and then went out to discover more of the city. Since we had already been to Paris and saw the Louvre we didn't necessarily need to go back (even though there was so much we had not seen) so instead we walked around the city, later grabbing a snack at a cute French restuarant.
We didn't do much that day because of our depleted energy supply and the fact that we were to be back for dinner around 7p.m. (again, free meals) We had full intentiones to revert back to our tourist alter-egos the following day...
...which didn't happen necessarily. We had to wake up at the crack of dawn because our hosts had to go to work. So it was 8:30 a.m. and we were out and about but dead tired. At that point we decided that instead of walking around we would lay out on the grass by the Effiel Tower. So from nine until two we slept, read our magazines and soaked up the French sun! At one we stopped for some lunch and after lunch we went in search of crepes! We found a small crepe shop by the tower and then we headed to the affordable shopping district of Paris: Champs Elysees. I found some things at a few stores and we picked up a gift for our generous hosts, but the coolest thing was that we saw the cast of America's Next Top Model in some sort of race through H&M. I know it was ANTM because I saw the cameras and the official letterhead. After that excitement we went back to the Effiel Tower anticipating the arrival of our third travel buddy. One hour passed and she still never showed. So, using our best judgement, we decided to go back to the apartment to obtain some wi-fi in order to get in contact with our long-lost friend. We found out that her belongings hadn't reached the office on Monday which meant that she still didn't have her passport which meant that she still couldn't leave the country. We especially didn't know what to do then because we had hotel resservations that began Wednesday night in Nice, France so we needed to leave the next day. Were we to leave Paris putting further miles between us and Libby? Or go to Nice, or go back to Munich? We didn't know what the best solution was but we ultimately decided to move on to Nice making sure that Libby knew our whereabouts at all times.
Because of the unavailability of trains on Tuesday night, we decided to head out earlier on Tuesday morning than we had originally anticipated. We made a quick pit-stop at the Moulin Rouge to snap a few necessary pictures and we were headed for the French Riveria. That night we stayed in one of the coolest hostels ever! This place was a renovated monastery and it had everything. By chance the boys came a day earlier, too and were staying at the same hostel. It was sure nice to see them again and also to hear their stories from Interlaken. We hung out there for the night and then, bright and early in the morning we moved beachside to our hotel. All five of us stayed there, it was quite cozy but it saved money which was exactly what we all wanted!
After laying out at the beach for a few hours and checking into our hotel we took the train to a nearby city: Cannes! Another chance encounter left us shocked at how lucky we were. The famous Cannes Film Festival began that very day showing the premier of the film Midnight in Paris starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Adrien Brody and that's all I can remember right now but it was sweet! Mike captured some stellar pictures on his camera and some really great close-ups. After watching them walk the red carpet we grabbed some food and checked out all the yachts in the harbor. I honestly don't know if I was more impressed by the movie stars or the boats because they both were amazing! I am seriously considered giving up my dream to have children and instead work to be able to afford a yacht like the ones I saw in Cannes, I think it might be worth it! We walked around for a bit more and then made sure to be at the exit of the theatre for the end of the show. Good thing we were because we saw all of the same movie stars that we saw before the show after, but this time we were really up close and personal. There was 20 feet separating us from the stars, it was crazy!
After all of the movie-filled excitement we headed back to Nice and passed out only after pillow talk with the boys! We found out also that Libby would be joining us the following day around 1 p.m. and we were so excited to finally have her with us! So at 12:30, Michelle and I went to the station to pick her up. We went back to the hotel for her to freshen up and then we headed to our ninth and final country of this four month journey: Monaco! Monaco has the highest per capita GDP in the world mainly because it has a very small population and the people who do live there are filthy rich. The yachts that we saw there were similar to the ones we saw in Cannes, incredible! We walked around the city/country, saw Monte Carlo and laid out on the beach for a bit. (With just enough time to bury Michelle in the sand.) After a few hours we went back to Nice because Danny and Mike had to pack and get ready for their early morning travels. Libby, Michelle, Luke and I went back to Cannes to check out other stars that might have been there on the second night of the Cannes Film Festival. We had a panini dinner with crepes for dessert, but didn't really see any stars. In fact, we didn't even recognize the movie that premiered that night. It was still a great trip especially for Libby to be able to experience Cannes in all it's ridiculously glamorous glory. We went back for more group pillow talk...I love these people!
In the morning, Danny was the first to leave us at an early 6 o'clock in the morning. He had to catch his flight from to Nice to London. After spending a few hours in London he flew to Amsterdam and then Bangkok, Thailand to meet up with his family for a vacation. Mike was second to leave around 8 but not before he jumped on our bed for a good-bye hug. He needed to catch a train to Florence, Italy. Mike had a a week of solo travel ahead of him until he met up with his family later on in Barcelona. That left the four of us to hang out for the day and then catch our train to Milan.
There is only one more leg of my journey to tell, thanks for following everyone. I have enjoyed sharing my experiences with you!
Monday, May 16, 2011
I Finally Reached the Motherland!
As most of you know, I have already arrived safely at home in the U.S., but as you also may realize there is still so much of my story yet untold. So here I go with the last three legs of my journey.
We left Cork on a dreary and rainy Wednesday morning. I experienced some alarm clock difficulties that morning which left me with exactly three minutes from the moment that I opened my eyes to the second I began my sprint for the train station. As it turns out and because I have become somewhat of an expert with alarm clock mal-functions, (better described as operator error) I realized later that before I fell asleep I must have turned my iPod to mute. The next thing I knew it was 6:57, our train left at 7:30 and we had a 30 minute walk to the station. Why does this always happen to me?! Actually, I thought it was quite humorous especially when Danny, Mike (because they waited while the rest went ahead to print tickets) and I arrived at the station completely drenched and sweaty from our run through the city. Let's just say that the 3-hour train was cold and wet ride. From the train station we took a bus to the airport and we were off! Finally I was headed to the mother country!
We flew into a rather small airport, picked up our checked belongings and waited for the next bus that was to take us to the city centre which was about an hour's ride. After waiting a few minutes, crazy-car-lover-Danny came back from talking to a taxi driver. He didn't have to ask us anything because "autobahn" was practically inscribed on his forehead. He had already done the math and he figured that it would only cost us five extra euros to take the van taxi which took an alternate route to the city centre: the famous highway known for it's ridiculously high speed limits, the autobahn. It didn't take much convincing on his part mostly because we were all pretty curious about this cultural attraction and found the five extra euros to be completely worth it. After piling into the van with our luggage, the most appropriate of songs came onto the German radio: Tracy Chapman's Fast Car. It makes sense I suppose.
We arrived to the city about an hour later after going an astonishing 160 km/hour which converts to a whopping 99 m/hour! We dropped off our bags and then went in search of some meat for dinner! After walking around and finding a grocery store for breakfast and snack we stopped at a small restaurant for brats. Then we went back to the hostel to shower and get ready because we were going out that night! For some reason night clubs were hard to come by in our neighborhood of Munich so we ended up finding a pub and stopping for a beer and then going back. We were tired and needed to rest up for Dakau the next day.
Our tour began at 11:00 o'clock in the morning and lasted for a good portion of the day. We started at the main square in Munich, Marienplatz and then took the metro and a bus to the actual Dakau Camp. There are no words to effectively describe this experience. To say that I really enjoyed the tour also seems distastefull in a way too, but in all honesty I found it to be (disgustingly) fascinating. We walked around the entire camp including the barracks, solitary confinement cells, and the gas shower chambers. It was an incredible experience, but something that left me questioning the capabilities of humankind. How could people be this vicious? I learned so much from this tour, but something most surprising to me was that it wasn't only Jews that were persecuted during that time period. In fact, at the start of the Concentration Camp revolution, it was mainly the people who spoke out against the ideologies of Hitler that were sent there. It wasn't until later the Jews who later became the most well-known victims entered the picture, but among them they were other less known victims too. Gays, Jehovah Witnesses, Criminals, Disabled, and many others were all sent to various camps and each person was marked with a colored triangle which identified their "offense." Sometimes they were given two triangles, one upside down as another form of classification. The brutal reduction of life at these concentration camps is incredible and was an extremely eye-opening experience for me.
After our day at Dakau, we went back to the hostel for a nap and then while everyone was still sleeping I went out on a quick run. During my run I found the park where Oktoberfest is located. By chance, SpringFest was instead set up. Springfest is a lesser Oktoberfest and is clearly in the spring. We hadn't planned this encounter, but we were glad for it! The next night and our last night in Munich we would go to scope it out. After my run and my shower we got up and went back to the same brat restaurant and then out to a night club. We quickly realized that a night out in Munich didn't really fit well into our budget so we decided to head home earlier than expected, but that's ok because we had a bike tour scheduled for the following day.
The girls of the group and I got up for the hostel's breakfast and wasted no time to hit the stores of Munich. We hadn't done much shopping and it's always fun to see the different things that each country has. We learned much later that while shopping in Espirit, Libby lost her money belt which held her passport, Eurail ticket and $200 U.S. cash. We went on with our day frequenting the esteemed Haufbaur house for a liter (half liter for me) of beer. Libby realized after the Haufbaur house and before the bike tour that her essentials were missing. She and Luke skipped out on the bike tour in search of these items. They found out later that she lost it in Espirit. The manager there said that she had found it, but since it was late on a Friday afternoon they had already sent all lost items via mail to the Police Station.The problem was that the station was closed and wasn't to open until Monday morning--we were scheduled to leave Saturday evening. To make a long story short, we then decided that Libby was going to stay in Munich until Monday morning and catch the earliest train to Paris (where we would be). It was a perfect plan especially because our friend Anna, who studied with us in Segovia was in Munich at the end of our stay so Libby wouldn't be alone and also because we had already purchased our overnight train tickets to Paris which Michelle and I didn't want to lose out on. While Libby and Luke were running around the city, the rest of us were biking around with our tour guide, Tom. We learned again so much about the historical city of Munich with stops at the English Gardens where we witnessed first-hand the motto, Clothing Optional. Part of the park is the called the nudest region where one can find a myraid a naked old men. Interesting to say the least. After that part of the garden we stopped at the Chinese tower for our second liter of beer for the day, a brat and some saurkraut. After eating we biked back to the start of the tour. The owner of the bike tour also owns a beer bike where 8-10 people can bike and drink beer simultaneously. It comes fully equipped with a bar and an iPod dock for the full biking experience. Well he had just finished up a tour and had a good portion of the keg left so he asked us if we were interested in helping him finish it. You can guess our answer. We spent a good two hours talking and listening to this guy's crazy stories. He is from Maine and has lived in Munich for the last ten years, hmmm not a bad plan, sir!
After all of the biking excitement, we went back to the hostel to meet up with Luke and Libby. We convinced them to go check out SpringFest which was not a disappointment! The disappointment was actually in not discovering this festival sooner. SpringFest is a giant festival similar the state fair. There were rides, food stands and most definitely beer tents. We went straight to the tent where some ordered their third liter of the day. When in Germany! It is common to dance on the picnic table benches while singing German songs. We did our best at both, naturally the latter was more of the challenge!
The next morning the boys moved on to Switzerland for some very much anticipated extreme-sporting fun. Us girls were supposed to check out another German city that day, but since Libby lost her rail ticket we couldn't go without leaving her behind. We instead spent the day in the English Gardens, sleeping, tanning and reading while we anxiously awaited Anna's arrival in Munich! We hadn't seen her since Cinque Terre and we were planning on catching dinner with her and her travelling partner, Anna. We met up with her to eat and then Michelle and I caught a 10:40 p.m. overnight train to Paris. It was weird living Libby there, but we had plans to see her at 5:00 o'clock p.m. at the Effiel Tower on Monday...it was less than two days. So off to Paris we went!
We left Cork on a dreary and rainy Wednesday morning. I experienced some alarm clock difficulties that morning which left me with exactly three minutes from the moment that I opened my eyes to the second I began my sprint for the train station. As it turns out and because I have become somewhat of an expert with alarm clock mal-functions, (better described as operator error) I realized later that before I fell asleep I must have turned my iPod to mute. The next thing I knew it was 6:57, our train left at 7:30 and we had a 30 minute walk to the station. Why does this always happen to me?! Actually, I thought it was quite humorous especially when Danny, Mike (because they waited while the rest went ahead to print tickets) and I arrived at the station completely drenched and sweaty from our run through the city. Let's just say that the 3-hour train was cold and wet ride. From the train station we took a bus to the airport and we were off! Finally I was headed to the mother country!
We flew into a rather small airport, picked up our checked belongings and waited for the next bus that was to take us to the city centre which was about an hour's ride. After waiting a few minutes, crazy-car-lover-Danny came back from talking to a taxi driver. He didn't have to ask us anything because "autobahn" was practically inscribed on his forehead. He had already done the math and he figured that it would only cost us five extra euros to take the van taxi which took an alternate route to the city centre: the famous highway known for it's ridiculously high speed limits, the autobahn. It didn't take much convincing on his part mostly because we were all pretty curious about this cultural attraction and found the five extra euros to be completely worth it. After piling into the van with our luggage, the most appropriate of songs came onto the German radio: Tracy Chapman's Fast Car. It makes sense I suppose.
We arrived to the city about an hour later after going an astonishing 160 km/hour which converts to a whopping 99 m/hour! We dropped off our bags and then went in search of some meat for dinner! After walking around and finding a grocery store for breakfast and snack we stopped at a small restaurant for brats. Then we went back to the hostel to shower and get ready because we were going out that night! For some reason night clubs were hard to come by in our neighborhood of Munich so we ended up finding a pub and stopping for a beer and then going back. We were tired and needed to rest up for Dakau the next day.
Our tour began at 11:00 o'clock in the morning and lasted for a good portion of the day. We started at the main square in Munich, Marienplatz and then took the metro and a bus to the actual Dakau Camp. There are no words to effectively describe this experience. To say that I really enjoyed the tour also seems distastefull in a way too, but in all honesty I found it to be (disgustingly) fascinating. We walked around the entire camp including the barracks, solitary confinement cells, and the gas shower chambers. It was an incredible experience, but something that left me questioning the capabilities of humankind. How could people be this vicious? I learned so much from this tour, but something most surprising to me was that it wasn't only Jews that were persecuted during that time period. In fact, at the start of the Concentration Camp revolution, it was mainly the people who spoke out against the ideologies of Hitler that were sent there. It wasn't until later the Jews who later became the most well-known victims entered the picture, but among them they were other less known victims too. Gays, Jehovah Witnesses, Criminals, Disabled, and many others were all sent to various camps and each person was marked with a colored triangle which identified their "offense." Sometimes they were given two triangles, one upside down as another form of classification. The brutal reduction of life at these concentration camps is incredible and was an extremely eye-opening experience for me.
After our day at Dakau, we went back to the hostel for a nap and then while everyone was still sleeping I went out on a quick run. During my run I found the park where Oktoberfest is located. By chance, SpringFest was instead set up. Springfest is a lesser Oktoberfest and is clearly in the spring. We hadn't planned this encounter, but we were glad for it! The next night and our last night in Munich we would go to scope it out. After my run and my shower we got up and went back to the same brat restaurant and then out to a night club. We quickly realized that a night out in Munich didn't really fit well into our budget so we decided to head home earlier than expected, but that's ok because we had a bike tour scheduled for the following day.
The girls of the group and I got up for the hostel's breakfast and wasted no time to hit the stores of Munich. We hadn't done much shopping and it's always fun to see the different things that each country has. We learned much later that while shopping in Espirit, Libby lost her money belt which held her passport, Eurail ticket and $200 U.S. cash. We went on with our day frequenting the esteemed Haufbaur house for a liter (half liter for me) of beer. Libby realized after the Haufbaur house and before the bike tour that her essentials were missing. She and Luke skipped out on the bike tour in search of these items. They found out later that she lost it in Espirit. The manager there said that she had found it, but since it was late on a Friday afternoon they had already sent all lost items via mail to the Police Station.The problem was that the station was closed and wasn't to open until Monday morning--we were scheduled to leave Saturday evening. To make a long story short, we then decided that Libby was going to stay in Munich until Monday morning and catch the earliest train to Paris (where we would be). It was a perfect plan especially because our friend Anna, who studied with us in Segovia was in Munich at the end of our stay so Libby wouldn't be alone and also because we had already purchased our overnight train tickets to Paris which Michelle and I didn't want to lose out on. While Libby and Luke were running around the city, the rest of us were biking around with our tour guide, Tom. We learned again so much about the historical city of Munich with stops at the English Gardens where we witnessed first-hand the motto, Clothing Optional. Part of the park is the called the nudest region where one can find a myraid a naked old men. Interesting to say the least. After that part of the garden we stopped at the Chinese tower for our second liter of beer for the day, a brat and some saurkraut. After eating we biked back to the start of the tour. The owner of the bike tour also owns a beer bike where 8-10 people can bike and drink beer simultaneously. It comes fully equipped with a bar and an iPod dock for the full biking experience. Well he had just finished up a tour and had a good portion of the keg left so he asked us if we were interested in helping him finish it. You can guess our answer. We spent a good two hours talking and listening to this guy's crazy stories. He is from Maine and has lived in Munich for the last ten years, hmmm not a bad plan, sir!
After all of the biking excitement, we went back to the hostel to meet up with Luke and Libby. We convinced them to go check out SpringFest which was not a disappointment! The disappointment was actually in not discovering this festival sooner. SpringFest is a giant festival similar the state fair. There were rides, food stands and most definitely beer tents. We went straight to the tent where some ordered their third liter of the day. When in Germany! It is common to dance on the picnic table benches while singing German songs. We did our best at both, naturally the latter was more of the challenge!
The next morning the boys moved on to Switzerland for some very much anticipated extreme-sporting fun. Us girls were supposed to check out another German city that day, but since Libby lost her rail ticket we couldn't go without leaving her behind. We instead spent the day in the English Gardens, sleeping, tanning and reading while we anxiously awaited Anna's arrival in Munich! We hadn't seen her since Cinque Terre and we were planning on catching dinner with her and her travelling partner, Anna. We met up with her to eat and then Michelle and I caught a 10:40 p.m. overnight train to Paris. It was weird living Libby there, but we had plans to see her at 5:00 o'clock p.m. at the Effiel Tower on Monday...it was less than two days. So off to Paris we went!
Monday, May 9, 2011
I'll Marry Harry!
I absolutely fell in love with Paris after spending one day, but I also experienced another major love affair with the city of London. There is a close tie between the two cities vying for the title as my favorite, but I could easily see myself living in either of the cities in the next few years. I love Europe!
We arrived in London via the Chunnel by 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 27/ It was a two hour train ride but because London is one hour behind Paris time, we gained an hour during travel. The Chunnel was cool, but there was far less tunnel than I had originally anticipated and we weren't able to see any fish! Apparently we were only going through the English Channel and not an ocean, who knew?! The Chunnel terminated at St. Pacras train station which is conveniently located across the street from the King Cross train station. The infamous Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter book series is located at the train station King Cross so since we were there, we snapped a few pictures. After the photo shoot, we took the tube (metro) to Bank station and then the DLR to Greenwich to find our hostel.
We hadn't looked up anymore about our hostel besides the fact that it is in Greenwich. Luckily, after exiting the Greenwich station and walking down approximately one block, we ran right into it. The hostel franchise that we stayed at are usually situated above a restaurant/bar/night club which we were unaware of as we searched the building for what looked like a hostel check-in desk. We quickly learned that it was the exact same desk where customers pay for their meal and drinks. After checking-in, we went up to our room and met two of our three roommates. The two girls were from Australia and the guy who we met later was from France. I really enjoy meeting people at our hostels and swapping stories, it's great! We spent a few hours utilizing the free Internet while simultaneously solidifying our next morning's plan. We were going to take a short siesta from about midnight to 3 o'clock a.m., take the earliest possible 24-hour bus into the city, walk to Buckingham Palace and camp out there until the wedding festivities commenced!
It was easier to wake up than I thought it would be while finding the correct bus stop was actually the dilemma. I think we may have walked the entire town of Greenwich in pursuit of this bus stop at 4 o'clock in the morning. It wasn't the most pleasing thing, but Buckingham was calling and I was determined to make it! We eventually caught a bus to Trafalgar Square and walked about another mile to the front of Buckingham where we had arguably the best spots in the house. (Pictures, most certainly, to follow). We finally arrived around 5:15 a.m. and sat by a column until 7:30 when we pushed up to the front where we found ourselves in the fifth row from the fence. It was awesome, besides the fact that I did not sit from 7:30 in the morning until about 2:15 in the afternoon when we finally stopped for lunch. We got some really great pictures including the first picture of Kate and her dad, Michael riding in the Rolls Royce to the church, the royal family's carriage procession from the church back to Buckingham and the traditional kiss on the balcony of Buckingham after we jumped the fence that we had been standing behind for the previous 6 hours. We also met some interesting folks while waiting around for the festivities. Around 9 a.m., the town crier came around and passed out sheets of a song that we were all to sing for the rest of the day. Ask me to sing it for you when I get home, it is an epic song especially with my newly adopted English accent. Another woman who we later found out was from Minnesota was the most un-welcomed individual in our little crowd neighborhood. She wa the epitome of the Negative American stereotype. She was collectively loud, rude, obnoxious and probably mentally insane all the while being completely oblivious to all of these rather unpleasant qualities. Despite this rude Minnesotan, (we didn't admit to any other people in our crowd that we, too, were from Minnesota after learning that she was, we were just too embarrassed) and the endless hours of standing, we had a great time and it was totally worth it! And because we only had exactly two days in London we didn't have time for a nap so we kept trucking through London, first stopping at the Apollo Victoria theatre to purchase student rush tickets for the night's Wicked show, we were in the seventh row of the stall and we were so excited!
After getting our discounted, awesome tickets we went to the British Museum which I was really excited for. The British Museum houses the Rosetta Stone which unlocked the Hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt, a super cool Parthenon exhibit and my personal favorite, an 18th Century Enlightenment exhibit. After exploring the museum for a while we realized the absolute necessity of a nap before the 7:30 show, so we found the nearest park and passed out. I slept for a good 30 minutes and it was wonderful! We grabbed the metro back to the area by the theatre and then picked up some Starbucks coffee as another measure to make sure we would be able to stay awake for the entirety of the show. After having experienced the show, the nap and the Starbucks would not have been necessary in the least because the show was that amazing. Amazing is actually an understatement, but there really exists no sufficient words to describe this show. I recommend that all of you go, ASAP! This day shaped up to be one of my favorites on this incredible journey thus far.
We got back to our hostel around midnight which meant that we had been up and around the city for the previous 19 hours. We allowed ourselves to sleep in until 9:30 the next morning because we needed some sleep, but also had some much to still see in the city since we spent a significant portion of our day just standing outside of only one attraction. Therefore (true to form as most of you know) I compiled a list of every attraction that we wanted to see and then organized our day accordingly in order to more efficiently see the sight and maximize our time at each spot so that we wouldn't feel rushed. For the record (and arguably, because of my list) we were able to see all said items and more! We checked out Abbey Road in the morning, (which was anti-clinactic to say the least) Westminster Abbey/Big Ben, The London Eye and others. My absolute favorite, though, was Covent Gardens. There were market shops, street dwellers and most importantly, a Big Ben Cookie shop. For those of you who have fortunately experienced these remarkably delightful cookies, you know, and for those of you who haven't? Well, I am deeply sorry. These cookies are the best cookies I have ever had! (Mom, your cookies fall in an astonishingly close second!) The Big Ben Cookies Franchise (if one could even really call it that) bakes a variety of kinds of cookies from peanut butter to double chocolate chunck while simultaneously forming the most wonderful of marriages between the hard cookie versus soft cookie debate. If you have been on the fence like myself and remain unsure as to which kind of cookie, soft or hard, that you prefer, look no further my friend. Book a one-way ticket to London and you will forever be at peace with your cookie preference also known as cookie heaven. Or rather, book me a one-way, and with the utmost consistency, prepare yourself for monthly boxes of cookies. So many, that you just don't know what to do with them all, compliments of yours truly.
The last stop on our 102 things to do and see that day was Dirty Dancing, the play. Now, had I seen Dirty Dancing prior to having seen Wicked, I think I would have liked it much more than I did, but because I hadn't, I kept comparing, which is never good. Don't get me wrong, Dirty Dancing was great and the dancing, incredible. Also, to compare musicals to plays is like comparing apples to oranges--so completely and utterly unfair to the orange. So Dirty Dancing was great and once again we had excellent seats--stall H! Being a student rocks! After the show, we met up with Michelle's cousin, Rob, for drinks. Rob is living and working in London and I want his job, whatever it is! He actually works for Best Buy and has travelled the world for his job. I was grateful to be able to network with him and also to exchange stories about our travels. He paid for our meal (because we decided that we were hungry) our drinks and our dessert; it was beautiful. He said that he remembers all to clear how miniscule his bank account was while in college and that all the food and drink was on him. After our little date with Rob I couldn't help but vow to myself that I, too, will pay it forward to all those poor college students that I will encounter during future traveling adventures. It was a regular night on the town for Rob, but for us, well we probably had JACKPOT written across our foreheads for all I know. After parting ways and sprinting through the underground in order to make the last train for Greenwich, we headed home to pack and prepare for our very early flight to Dublin the following morning.
We arrived in our hostel room around 1 a.m. which left us with just under three hours to pack, get ready for bed and sleep before we had to get up again to catch a bus out of Greenwich. Apparently, sleep was overrated on our trip to London as two of the mornings we were up well before the sun made its appearence for the day, but while traveling I have learned a lot: to let go of a perfectly planned trip, because something, though fixable with surely go wrong and sleeping with one's mouth open is a perfectly acceptable and understood means of catching some zzzzs. So we left our hostel around 4 a.m. which was an all too familiar time in this little Greenwich town and hopped on a bus which then brought us to where we picked up another bus. This Easy Jet bus brought us the 60-minute journey to the airport where we finally ran into some Johnnies! Wheew, I was getting worried. It had been a whole day since our last unexpected encounter. This encounter was even more special, however, because not only were the six of us heading to the same place, we were also on the same flight!
After the flight the three boys went straight to the Guiness Factory in Dublin while the three of us boarded the next bus to Cork because we needed sleep! The ride lasted about five hours and upon arrival in Cork we found our friends' apartment complex and within minutes, we were napping in their beds.
In a way we used Cork as our vacation from our vacation. Theorectically we could have gone the entire month of traveling without washing our clothes or updating our blogs and pictures, but it's much better to keep up with those types of things...and, we weren't too fond of the fact that our jeans could stand alone without our legs in them and I had worn the same brown sweater for the previous two and a half weeks, far from lovely. So we did our laundry and made some fun family dinners with our friends studying in Cork. The only tourist attraction that we made sure to visit was the Blarney Stone which is conveniently located 15 minutes outside of Cork. Oh also since we didn't have time to sample the famous fish and chips of London, we stopped at a local diner in Cork, known for their fish and chips, to eat the food of the region. I was not disappointed in the least, it was delicious!
After spending a wonderfully relaxing three days with our friends in Cork, we were off to Munich, Germany! It's getting late here so I must go to bed, but look for the blogs from the rest of my trip in the next week. So much has happened even since then so stay tuned! Love and miss you all! And as they say in Ireland, "Thanks a million for reading my post, cheers!"
We arrived in London via the Chunnel by 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 27/ It was a two hour train ride but because London is one hour behind Paris time, we gained an hour during travel. The Chunnel was cool, but there was far less tunnel than I had originally anticipated and we weren't able to see any fish! Apparently we were only going through the English Channel and not an ocean, who knew?! The Chunnel terminated at St. Pacras train station which is conveniently located across the street from the King Cross train station. The infamous Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter book series is located at the train station King Cross so since we were there, we snapped a few pictures. After the photo shoot, we took the tube (metro) to Bank station and then the DLR to Greenwich to find our hostel.
We hadn't looked up anymore about our hostel besides the fact that it is in Greenwich. Luckily, after exiting the Greenwich station and walking down approximately one block, we ran right into it. The hostel franchise that we stayed at are usually situated above a restaurant/bar/night club which we were unaware of as we searched the building for what looked like a hostel check-in desk. We quickly learned that it was the exact same desk where customers pay for their meal and drinks. After checking-in, we went up to our room and met two of our three roommates. The two girls were from Australia and the guy who we met later was from France. I really enjoy meeting people at our hostels and swapping stories, it's great! We spent a few hours utilizing the free Internet while simultaneously solidifying our next morning's plan. We were going to take a short siesta from about midnight to 3 o'clock a.m., take the earliest possible 24-hour bus into the city, walk to Buckingham Palace and camp out there until the wedding festivities commenced!
It was easier to wake up than I thought it would be while finding the correct bus stop was actually the dilemma. I think we may have walked the entire town of Greenwich in pursuit of this bus stop at 4 o'clock in the morning. It wasn't the most pleasing thing, but Buckingham was calling and I was determined to make it! We eventually caught a bus to Trafalgar Square and walked about another mile to the front of Buckingham where we had arguably the best spots in the house. (Pictures, most certainly, to follow). We finally arrived around 5:15 a.m. and sat by a column until 7:30 when we pushed up to the front where we found ourselves in the fifth row from the fence. It was awesome, besides the fact that I did not sit from 7:30 in the morning until about 2:15 in the afternoon when we finally stopped for lunch. We got some really great pictures including the first picture of Kate and her dad, Michael riding in the Rolls Royce to the church, the royal family's carriage procession from the church back to Buckingham and the traditional kiss on the balcony of Buckingham after we jumped the fence that we had been standing behind for the previous 6 hours. We also met some interesting folks while waiting around for the festivities. Around 9 a.m., the town crier came around and passed out sheets of a song that we were all to sing for the rest of the day. Ask me to sing it for you when I get home, it is an epic song especially with my newly adopted English accent. Another woman who we later found out was from Minnesota was the most un-welcomed individual in our little crowd neighborhood. She wa the epitome of the Negative American stereotype. She was collectively loud, rude, obnoxious and probably mentally insane all the while being completely oblivious to all of these rather unpleasant qualities. Despite this rude Minnesotan, (we didn't admit to any other people in our crowd that we, too, were from Minnesota after learning that she was, we were just too embarrassed) and the endless hours of standing, we had a great time and it was totally worth it! And because we only had exactly two days in London we didn't have time for a nap so we kept trucking through London, first stopping at the Apollo Victoria theatre to purchase student rush tickets for the night's Wicked show, we were in the seventh row of the stall and we were so excited!
After getting our discounted, awesome tickets we went to the British Museum which I was really excited for. The British Museum houses the Rosetta Stone which unlocked the Hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt, a super cool Parthenon exhibit and my personal favorite, an 18th Century Enlightenment exhibit. After exploring the museum for a while we realized the absolute necessity of a nap before the 7:30 show, so we found the nearest park and passed out. I slept for a good 30 minutes and it was wonderful! We grabbed the metro back to the area by the theatre and then picked up some Starbucks coffee as another measure to make sure we would be able to stay awake for the entirety of the show. After having experienced the show, the nap and the Starbucks would not have been necessary in the least because the show was that amazing. Amazing is actually an understatement, but there really exists no sufficient words to describe this show. I recommend that all of you go, ASAP! This day shaped up to be one of my favorites on this incredible journey thus far.
We got back to our hostel around midnight which meant that we had been up and around the city for the previous 19 hours. We allowed ourselves to sleep in until 9:30 the next morning because we needed some sleep, but also had some much to still see in the city since we spent a significant portion of our day just standing outside of only one attraction. Therefore (true to form as most of you know) I compiled a list of every attraction that we wanted to see and then organized our day accordingly in order to more efficiently see the sight and maximize our time at each spot so that we wouldn't feel rushed. For the record (and arguably, because of my list) we were able to see all said items and more! We checked out Abbey Road in the morning, (which was anti-clinactic to say the least) Westminster Abbey/Big Ben, The London Eye and others. My absolute favorite, though, was Covent Gardens. There were market shops, street dwellers and most importantly, a Big Ben Cookie shop. For those of you who have fortunately experienced these remarkably delightful cookies, you know, and for those of you who haven't? Well, I am deeply sorry. These cookies are the best cookies I have ever had! (Mom, your cookies fall in an astonishingly close second!) The Big Ben Cookies Franchise (if one could even really call it that) bakes a variety of kinds of cookies from peanut butter to double chocolate chunck while simultaneously forming the most wonderful of marriages between the hard cookie versus soft cookie debate. If you have been on the fence like myself and remain unsure as to which kind of cookie, soft or hard, that you prefer, look no further my friend. Book a one-way ticket to London and you will forever be at peace with your cookie preference also known as cookie heaven. Or rather, book me a one-way, and with the utmost consistency, prepare yourself for monthly boxes of cookies. So many, that you just don't know what to do with them all, compliments of yours truly.
The last stop on our 102 things to do and see that day was Dirty Dancing, the play. Now, had I seen Dirty Dancing prior to having seen Wicked, I think I would have liked it much more than I did, but because I hadn't, I kept comparing, which is never good. Don't get me wrong, Dirty Dancing was great and the dancing, incredible. Also, to compare musicals to plays is like comparing apples to oranges--so completely and utterly unfair to the orange. So Dirty Dancing was great and once again we had excellent seats--stall H! Being a student rocks! After the show, we met up with Michelle's cousin, Rob, for drinks. Rob is living and working in London and I want his job, whatever it is! He actually works for Best Buy and has travelled the world for his job. I was grateful to be able to network with him and also to exchange stories about our travels. He paid for our meal (because we decided that we were hungry) our drinks and our dessert; it was beautiful. He said that he remembers all to clear how miniscule his bank account was while in college and that all the food and drink was on him. After our little date with Rob I couldn't help but vow to myself that I, too, will pay it forward to all those poor college students that I will encounter during future traveling adventures. It was a regular night on the town for Rob, but for us, well we probably had JACKPOT written across our foreheads for all I know. After parting ways and sprinting through the underground in order to make the last train for Greenwich, we headed home to pack and prepare for our very early flight to Dublin the following morning.
We arrived in our hostel room around 1 a.m. which left us with just under three hours to pack, get ready for bed and sleep before we had to get up again to catch a bus out of Greenwich. Apparently, sleep was overrated on our trip to London as two of the mornings we were up well before the sun made its appearence for the day, but while traveling I have learned a lot: to let go of a perfectly planned trip, because something, though fixable with surely go wrong and sleeping with one's mouth open is a perfectly acceptable and understood means of catching some zzzzs. So we left our hostel around 4 a.m. which was an all too familiar time in this little Greenwich town and hopped on a bus which then brought us to where we picked up another bus. This Easy Jet bus brought us the 60-minute journey to the airport where we finally ran into some Johnnies! Wheew, I was getting worried. It had been a whole day since our last unexpected encounter. This encounter was even more special, however, because not only were the six of us heading to the same place, we were also on the same flight!
After the flight the three boys went straight to the Guiness Factory in Dublin while the three of us boarded the next bus to Cork because we needed sleep! The ride lasted about five hours and upon arrival in Cork we found our friends' apartment complex and within minutes, we were napping in their beds.
In a way we used Cork as our vacation from our vacation. Theorectically we could have gone the entire month of traveling without washing our clothes or updating our blogs and pictures, but it's much better to keep up with those types of things...and, we weren't too fond of the fact that our jeans could stand alone without our legs in them and I had worn the same brown sweater for the previous two and a half weeks, far from lovely. So we did our laundry and made some fun family dinners with our friends studying in Cork. The only tourist attraction that we made sure to visit was the Blarney Stone which is conveniently located 15 minutes outside of Cork. Oh also since we didn't have time to sample the famous fish and chips of London, we stopped at a local diner in Cork, known for their fish and chips, to eat the food of the region. I was not disappointed in the least, it was delicious!
After spending a wonderfully relaxing three days with our friends in Cork, we were off to Munich, Germany! It's getting late here so I must go to bed, but look for the blogs from the rest of my trip in the next week. So much has happened even since then so stay tuned! Love and miss you all! And as they say in Ireland, "Thanks a million for reading my post, cheers!"
Monday, May 2, 2011
4 Countries, 3 Monetary Units, 4 Languages, THREE DAYS!
We had another early morning from Venice because we had a full-day of travel ahead of us in order to make it to Switzerland that day (Tuesday). We left our somewhat remote island of Lido at the wretched time of 6:15 a.m. by ferry and made it to the train station by 7:30 to catch our 7:50 train to Milan. We needed to take three trains from Venice to Interlaken, Switzerland: Venice to Milan, Milan to Bern and Bern to Interlaken. Let me just say right away, Switzerland is GORGEOUS! The men kind of smell and everyone wears their hiking apparel everywhere, but Switzerland is awesome and I loved it!
I am really glad that we have been able to travel by train. It is a whole different experience and it's really great to see the country-side of these beautiful countries! I was a bit disapointed to learn that I did, in fact, sleep through much of the train ride from Milan to Bern and I therefore missed the transitional landscape and from what I heard from one of my travelling buddies, Libby, lots of pretty views. I was bummed, but on the train from Bern to Interlaken I was sure to remain awake to witness the Interlaken's surrounding two lakes and the mountains. It is absolutely breathtaking! As I mentioned in my last blog, it was difficult to fathom that we only had such short stays in each of these places. I sufficed it to say that at least these visits allowed me to see somewhere that I know I want to come back to. Venice and Switzerland, I'll be back!
Upon our arrival in Interlaken, we though it would be smart to book our train for Thursday (which was a day and a half a way at the time) for Paris. We had booked a 5:15 p.m. Chunnel train from Paris to London and needed to get to Paris on the 28th to make our Chunnel. However all of the high-speed trains for Thursday were completely booked and the slow trains wouldn't get us to Paris with enough time to catch the Chunnel. This is why we had to cut Switzerland short by one night and we were very lucky to both receive our second night's fare back and to be able to stay with Michelle's family friends in Paris on Wednesday night.
We originally wanted to go to Interlaken, Switzerland to experience an extreme sport. The combination between the cost of doing so and our short time in Interlaken made it impossible to do so. Again, we were bummed, but we were still able to soak up of the beautiful views of the mountains, try a local beer at a bar across from our hostel (Switzerland's motto is "Save milk, drink beer") and run into yet another group of Johnnies in this somewhat remote city in Switzerland. Two Johnnies from the London program were staying just down the street from our hostel (we stayed at Balmers and loved it to all my CSBSJU followers). One of the perks of having to leave Switzerland much too early was that it is awfully expensive. Around dinner time we found it necessary to stop somewhere for food and thinking because we chose a kebab place, which is a popular European type of restaurant and is similar to a burrito, it would be one of the less-expensive options there in Interlaken. Between the three of us and only ordering one kebab, a drink and fries it cost us close to 50 Swiss Francs, woah. So after dinner we went back to our hostel, showered, used the internet and went out for beers. In the morning, we walked around the town, took some pictures to prove that we were in fact in Switzerland and boarded our train to Basal at 12:30. That day we had four trains: Interlaken to Basal, Basal to Mulhouse, France, Mulhouse to Belfort and Belfort to Paris. We arrived in Paris at 8:30 and then used the RER train to get to Michelle's family friends who live about 30 minutes outside of the city centre. It was a jaunt and we got lost for about a half of an hour, but thanks to Michelle's fluency in French a yet another free bed, it was worth it!
Since Sibylle and Fred, Michelle's family friends had to work early in the morning, we too, got up early, joined them for breakfast and then headed back into the city. It was a rather raining day, so we decided it was best to visit a museum that day and we chose the Louvre! It was great! I enjoyed the ancient Egypt exhibits and of course, the Mona Lisa. We ran into the same Johnnies that we saw in Interlaken while viewing the Louvre which was something like our seventh run-in since traveling, how crazy?! After the Louvre we went straight to the train station and eventually boarded our chunnel to London! We were headed to our first English-speaking country in four months and it was great to be able to fully understand the first language spoken on the trains, we did for a while forget that everyone else understood us, too. Look for my third blog about our London trip coming soon!
I am really glad that we have been able to travel by train. It is a whole different experience and it's really great to see the country-side of these beautiful countries! I was a bit disapointed to learn that I did, in fact, sleep through much of the train ride from Milan to Bern and I therefore missed the transitional landscape and from what I heard from one of my travelling buddies, Libby, lots of pretty views. I was bummed, but on the train from Bern to Interlaken I was sure to remain awake to witness the Interlaken's surrounding two lakes and the mountains. It is absolutely breathtaking! As I mentioned in my last blog, it was difficult to fathom that we only had such short stays in each of these places. I sufficed it to say that at least these visits allowed me to see somewhere that I know I want to come back to. Venice and Switzerland, I'll be back!
Upon our arrival in Interlaken, we though it would be smart to book our train for Thursday (which was a day and a half a way at the time) for Paris. We had booked a 5:15 p.m. Chunnel train from Paris to London and needed to get to Paris on the 28th to make our Chunnel. However all of the high-speed trains for Thursday were completely booked and the slow trains wouldn't get us to Paris with enough time to catch the Chunnel. This is why we had to cut Switzerland short by one night and we were very lucky to both receive our second night's fare back and to be able to stay with Michelle's family friends in Paris on Wednesday night.
We originally wanted to go to Interlaken, Switzerland to experience an extreme sport. The combination between the cost of doing so and our short time in Interlaken made it impossible to do so. Again, we were bummed, but we were still able to soak up of the beautiful views of the mountains, try a local beer at a bar across from our hostel (Switzerland's motto is "Save milk, drink beer") and run into yet another group of Johnnies in this somewhat remote city in Switzerland. Two Johnnies from the London program were staying just down the street from our hostel (we stayed at Balmers and loved it to all my CSBSJU followers). One of the perks of having to leave Switzerland much too early was that it is awfully expensive. Around dinner time we found it necessary to stop somewhere for food and thinking because we chose a kebab place, which is a popular European type of restaurant and is similar to a burrito, it would be one of the less-expensive options there in Interlaken. Between the three of us and only ordering one kebab, a drink and fries it cost us close to 50 Swiss Francs, woah. So after dinner we went back to our hostel, showered, used the internet and went out for beers. In the morning, we walked around the town, took some pictures to prove that we were in fact in Switzerland and boarded our train to Basal at 12:30. That day we had four trains: Interlaken to Basal, Basal to Mulhouse, France, Mulhouse to Belfort and Belfort to Paris. We arrived in Paris at 8:30 and then used the RER train to get to Michelle's family friends who live about 30 minutes outside of the city centre. It was a jaunt and we got lost for about a half of an hour, but thanks to Michelle's fluency in French a yet another free bed, it was worth it!
Since Sibylle and Fred, Michelle's family friends had to work early in the morning, we too, got up early, joined them for breakfast and then headed back into the city. It was a rather raining day, so we decided it was best to visit a museum that day and we chose the Louvre! It was great! I enjoyed the ancient Egypt exhibits and of course, the Mona Lisa. We ran into the same Johnnies that we saw in Interlaken while viewing the Louvre which was something like our seventh run-in since traveling, how crazy?! After the Louvre we went straight to the train station and eventually boarded our chunnel to London! We were headed to our first English-speaking country in four months and it was great to be able to fully understand the first language spoken on the trains, we did for a while forget that everyone else understood us, too. Look for my third blog about our London trip coming soon!
When In Rome!
Why hello, strangers! It has been exactly two weeks since I have had enough (free) time with a computer to write to you and I have so much to tell! I have decided to split it up into three sections so that this one isn't miles long. The last time I updated you we spent the night at this great hostel in Florence, but since they were completely booked for the next night of our stay in Florence we moved to a different location on the complete opposite end of the city. The hostel was cheap, but we had a three-bedroom, private room so we can't complain! That night we took a bus into the city to do a bit of shopping and grab something to eat (pizza/pasta and gelato, of course)!
While at our hostel in Cinque Terre, I acquired a book, Eat, Pray, Love by Liz Gilbert. For those of you who haven't read the book or viewed the movie it is an autobiographic story about a middle-aged woman who, in order to become closer to God and a more well-balanced person, travels to Italy, India and Indonesia. She travels for an entire year; spending four months in each location. I began reading this book on our train from Florence to Rome on that Wednesday morning. The reason I am telling you about this book is that our journey to Rome coincided quite perfectly with me reading about Liz's own move to Rome. Therefore through the book I was able to discover some interesting facts about the city I was just arriving in, the best gelatarias and some helpful (and not so helpful) words in Italian. Like Gilbert, I was fully embracing the Italian culture and really trying to learn some Italian. It is nice that because of the similar Latin roots of Spanish and Italian, there are words that look, sound and mean familiar things to me because of my knowledge of Spanish. However, not all of the words are the same so there definitely is some work to do, but I really enjoy learning new languages. I see it as a tribute to that country's values and history, and it really kills me to see how much English has filtered its presence into each of the countries that I have visited. I understand the practicality of it, but I can't help but focus more on the loss of culture.
Anyway, after settling into our first of three hostels on Wednesday afternoon we realized that we had five days to see Rome so we'd better get started. We headed straight to the Colosseum because it seemed closest. We purchased a two-day pass that allowed us into the Colosseum and across the street, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum for 12 euros. It was euros well spent, however we have since discovered that because of our Spanish visas we are technically considered residents of the European Union and therefore eligible for free admittance into most historical museums such as the Roman Colosseum. Being the poor college students that we are, we were disappointed at this lost opportunity and loss of crucial cash, but like I said, the Colosseum was sweet! While we were waiting for our guided tour (which I wouldn't recommend doing since it wasn't long or that informative) we ran into two Johnnies from our Spain group and their girlfriends. We were all so happy to see each other and this encounter really made me miss my family that I left only one short week ago! It was nice to see them and even though we were only a week into our travels we had already many stories to share! After chatting for about ten minutes we had to go because our tour was starting and during our tour, there was another American student in our group. We had her take a picture of us and found out that she goes to Gustavus in Minnesota and has been studying in London, what a small world! We invited her along with us for the rest of our evening as we visited Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. After walking around some pretty cool Roman ruins for about three hours, one gets pretty hungry (especially if the last meal one had was breakfast at 9 o'clock in morning...poor college students, remember!) so we stopped at a restaurant on a pretty side street for some pasta and since Ashley was traveling alone we invited her along as well. She was great company and had some wonderful advice for our upcoming stay in London.
On Thursday we headed bright and early to Vatican City. This day we had another run in with students from CSBSJU however this one was planned. Amy, who studied abroad with us in Spain, had been traveling with two girls from the Cork, Ireland program and were fortunate enough to get tickets for mass in the Basilica that morning. We met them after church and then while waiting in line to purchase tickets for the Vatican Museum (visas not utilized, once again) and the Sistine Chapel (where the smoke comes from when electing a new pope) we unexpectedly ran into two other girls, Ali and Maria, from the Cork program. We were two for two in our run-ins in Rome so far and so to celebrate we went to grab some pizza while we waited for our tour to start.
We entered the museum at 2:30 and walked around for the next two hours. There were a lot of Roman statues and really old sculptures, but as I have mentioned before after my very much history-intensived semester I have really grown to love learning about history. I think much of it has to do with being able to vaguely remember what happened in each century in one country and be able to effectively compare it to the events that happened in other countries in order to better understand the history of the world altogether, it's quite fascinating really and that's certainly something I never thought that I would ever think. If I knew what was to occur after walking through these museums, I really don't think that I could have contained my excitement. Amy took us to what would be one of my favorite parts of Rome, Giolitti. Giolitti, modestly stated, has THE MOST AMAZING GELATO in the world! It's situated in a somewhat inconspicuous place and if you are to ever visit Rome, it is most certainly crucial that you find this wonderful establishment, consult as many Rick Steve's as you need, or random locals roaming the streets, or even other tourists exploring the city, etc. I assure you, you won't be disappointed. And, I should probably get some sort of reimbursement for all of the advertising that I have done for this gelato shop, but seriously people, go!
After devouring my three scoops of chocolate fondente, Italian opera, pear-flavored gelato and sinfully delicious homemade whipped cream, we went and found the Trevi Fountain. Before the fountain we said goodbye to Maria and Ali after they invited us to stay with them when we visit Ireland in the coming weeks. We were so excited for some more time with Bennie and Johnnies and especially a free bed! We spent a few hours at Trevi witnessing far too much PDA and pictures of people wishing for love by tossing a euro coin over their left shoulder. I did wish for love, but was clearly not thinking when I thought of my wish and then clearly not thinking, tossed my one-cent-er straight over my head. I really hate being superstitious sometimes because I was pretty frustrated that I forgot arguably the most important part (besides the wish) of this ritual, hopefully I didn't screw this one up for good! Our nights while traveling have been pretty low-key, meaning we don't go out and drink much. This is because we jam-pack our days that the thought of staying up past 10 o'clock pm sounds dreadfully impossible. After Trevi, we went home to our hostel to sleep off the day's activities and prepared for the next day's adventures!
While we were originally planning our European Frolick as we have grown accustomed to calling it, we planned to travel to Greece and Bari, Italy. To make a long and somewhat confusing story short, we therefore, only had two nights in Rome. When we found out it didn't really make sense to go to Greece because we didn't really have enough time, we added another day onto Rome. Then we decided why not spend five days in Rome? So we added another two nights. All of this scheduling and reorganizing of our trip meant that we had a total of three hostels booked in Rome alone and Friday morning we needed to switch. So after checking out of our hostel, we stopped at an internet cafe to feed our internet addictions and update our family and friends via facebook and email and then we set out to find one of the most unpleasant parts of our vacation thus far: Hotel Volturno. We should have known by the name that it wasn't going to be the most enjoyable experience, but we are all for adventure so we simply rolled with the punches. Another problem about this place was that in order to save money, we booked this hotel for two people instead of three thinking it was like other hotels where the three of us could walk in with no problem and then share a queen-sized bed. (We couldn't have been more wrong). Still upon check-in, we had Michelle wait in nearby shops and markets while Libby and I brought our stuff in. Well this hotel wasn't like other hotels, in fact it was on a whole different hotel spectrum. First of all, we needed to buzz the front desk which looked like someone's home office only because it was located right next to their living room and kitchen. After buzzing to enter the building, we needed to ring their doorbell and walk right past the family/owner who lived there as we marched our way into our rather tiny, hardly-enough-room-for-two-people room. Needless to say, I did not want to stay there.
After checking in and leaving our stuff there, we left a message for one of the Corksters, Ali (who we ran into the day before) because she was staying in her Italian cousin's friend's apartment and we knew she was going to be alone that night. We thought, maybe she would want some company? The thought of missing out on a night at Hotel Volturno didn't upset us in the least. So while we waited for her to respond to our text, we visited the Spanish Steps, making sure to stop for lunch and gelato and speaking Spanish the whole way of course in honor of the Spanish Steps. We hung out there for about an hour and then Ali responded! She said she would be happy to host us. We practically ran back to the Hotel to grab our stuff and grabbed the next bus to this apartment which happens to cost 500,000 euro per square meter! It was gorgeous (of course pictures to follow)! In order to save some euros, we went to a grocery store for dinner and made a fabulously grand meal of spaghetti and meal balls, salad, baguette, and wine where we finally were able to control the portion sizes! And of course, the evening ended with a necessary run to that neighborhood's gelato shop. We averaged two cones a day, when in Rome, right?!
The next morning we made another splendid meal of scrambled eggs and muffins and then set out to find our third and final hostel of Rome. This one was small, but very trendy and fun. And to be technical, it was actually a Bed and Breakfast so we were served breakfast in bed the next two mornings! We spent Saturday checking out the Basilica (we couldn't tour the tower of the church which was closed because of Easter), The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain again with our other fellow Bennie, Spain study-abroaders, Katie and Alexa. We were four for four in run-ins in Rome and loving it! We showed them the awesome gelato place and proudly demonstrated the "Bennies Be Hungry" slogan that has somewhat unsurprisingly stuck to the the reputations of many College of St. Benedict students for obvious reasons...we like to eat. Some people take offense, I simply think it's hilarious. After hanging out with those two for the day, we went back to our hostel for a complete meal of cheese and crackers, showered and met them at Scholars Bar for what we thought would be a fun night of drinking and singing Kareoke, none of which I did because we had the wrong night for Kareoke, how disappointing! Instead we went home and got another great, full night of sleep.
We woke up the next morning, Easter, as wonderfully observant, practicing Catholics and went to church! We had to research English-speaking church services, but it was worth it because we found a nice church not too far from our hostel. We originally planned on attended the Basilica's service, but because of the reputably slow postal services of both Italy and Spain we did not receive our tickets in time. It was a bummer, but we knew going into this trip that not everything would go our way and we must roll with the punches otherwise we would let the unfortunate parts of the trip get the best of us and we didn't want that to happen. It turns out that our fellow observant and practicing Catholic, John Kerry, discovered this very same church and had attended the service directly before ours which is sort of a fun fact! It sounded like we just missed him, I don't know what I will do without his autograph.
After church, we met up with Alexa and Katie, Katie and Katee (who we lovingly referred to as Alexa and the KKK) for Easter brunch and spent the day with them. We brought the other Katies back to Giolitti's and hung out at Trevi which just happens to be in a convenient location and a fun place to just hang out, shop and people watch (mainly make-out sessions, but it is Italy, folks). Because we needed to catch a rather early train to Venice, we decided to head back to our hostel a bit early to pack and sleep for the city of love awaited our arrival the very next day!
Hindsight is a great thing, and something that we have and will have even more of upon our arrival to the US on May 15. We now know especially, that one night in Venice in combination with the salary of a college student, isn't the best decision and spending only one night in Switzerland just does not do that country the justice it deserves. Anyway, when arriving in Venice I realized instantly that I would want to come back... mostly because I needed more money! Gondola rides alone are 80€ for 45 minutes! Even without the conversion to dollars that's a steep price! So needless to say, Venice was great and remarkably beautiful, but it has definitely warranted a return visit in my book. We stayed on the island, Lido, which is about an hour ferry ride from the train station. In order to get anywhere in Venice one must take a ferry, boat taxi, gondola, etc. The art there was phenomenal and if for no other reason, I would love to return someday to buy some art because it was all so pretty!
Ok I must go explore my current city which you will be lucky to read about in a few days. I will write more today about Switzerland, Paris and London as we have accomplished much in the last week! Gotta run!
While at our hostel in Cinque Terre, I acquired a book, Eat, Pray, Love by Liz Gilbert. For those of you who haven't read the book or viewed the movie it is an autobiographic story about a middle-aged woman who, in order to become closer to God and a more well-balanced person, travels to Italy, India and Indonesia. She travels for an entire year; spending four months in each location. I began reading this book on our train from Florence to Rome on that Wednesday morning. The reason I am telling you about this book is that our journey to Rome coincided quite perfectly with me reading about Liz's own move to Rome. Therefore through the book I was able to discover some interesting facts about the city I was just arriving in, the best gelatarias and some helpful (and not so helpful) words in Italian. Like Gilbert, I was fully embracing the Italian culture and really trying to learn some Italian. It is nice that because of the similar Latin roots of Spanish and Italian, there are words that look, sound and mean familiar things to me because of my knowledge of Spanish. However, not all of the words are the same so there definitely is some work to do, but I really enjoy learning new languages. I see it as a tribute to that country's values and history, and it really kills me to see how much English has filtered its presence into each of the countries that I have visited. I understand the practicality of it, but I can't help but focus more on the loss of culture.
Anyway, after settling into our first of three hostels on Wednesday afternoon we realized that we had five days to see Rome so we'd better get started. We headed straight to the Colosseum because it seemed closest. We purchased a two-day pass that allowed us into the Colosseum and across the street, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum for 12 euros. It was euros well spent, however we have since discovered that because of our Spanish visas we are technically considered residents of the European Union and therefore eligible for free admittance into most historical museums such as the Roman Colosseum. Being the poor college students that we are, we were disappointed at this lost opportunity and loss of crucial cash, but like I said, the Colosseum was sweet! While we were waiting for our guided tour (which I wouldn't recommend doing since it wasn't long or that informative) we ran into two Johnnies from our Spain group and their girlfriends. We were all so happy to see each other and this encounter really made me miss my family that I left only one short week ago! It was nice to see them and even though we were only a week into our travels we had already many stories to share! After chatting for about ten minutes we had to go because our tour was starting and during our tour, there was another American student in our group. We had her take a picture of us and found out that she goes to Gustavus in Minnesota and has been studying in London, what a small world! We invited her along with us for the rest of our evening as we visited Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. After walking around some pretty cool Roman ruins for about three hours, one gets pretty hungry (especially if the last meal one had was breakfast at 9 o'clock in morning...poor college students, remember!) so we stopped at a restaurant on a pretty side street for some pasta and since Ashley was traveling alone we invited her along as well. She was great company and had some wonderful advice for our upcoming stay in London.
On Thursday we headed bright and early to Vatican City. This day we had another run in with students from CSBSJU however this one was planned. Amy, who studied abroad with us in Spain, had been traveling with two girls from the Cork, Ireland program and were fortunate enough to get tickets for mass in the Basilica that morning. We met them after church and then while waiting in line to purchase tickets for the Vatican Museum (visas not utilized, once again) and the Sistine Chapel (where the smoke comes from when electing a new pope) we unexpectedly ran into two other girls, Ali and Maria, from the Cork program. We were two for two in our run-ins in Rome so far and so to celebrate we went to grab some pizza while we waited for our tour to start.
We entered the museum at 2:30 and walked around for the next two hours. There were a lot of Roman statues and really old sculptures, but as I have mentioned before after my very much history-intensived semester I have really grown to love learning about history. I think much of it has to do with being able to vaguely remember what happened in each century in one country and be able to effectively compare it to the events that happened in other countries in order to better understand the history of the world altogether, it's quite fascinating really and that's certainly something I never thought that I would ever think. If I knew what was to occur after walking through these museums, I really don't think that I could have contained my excitement. Amy took us to what would be one of my favorite parts of Rome, Giolitti. Giolitti, modestly stated, has THE MOST AMAZING GELATO in the world! It's situated in a somewhat inconspicuous place and if you are to ever visit Rome, it is most certainly crucial that you find this wonderful establishment, consult as many Rick Steve's as you need, or random locals roaming the streets, or even other tourists exploring the city, etc. I assure you, you won't be disappointed. And, I should probably get some sort of reimbursement for all of the advertising that I have done for this gelato shop, but seriously people, go!
After devouring my three scoops of chocolate fondente, Italian opera, pear-flavored gelato and sinfully delicious homemade whipped cream, we went and found the Trevi Fountain. Before the fountain we said goodbye to Maria and Ali after they invited us to stay with them when we visit Ireland in the coming weeks. We were so excited for some more time with Bennie and Johnnies and especially a free bed! We spent a few hours at Trevi witnessing far too much PDA and pictures of people wishing for love by tossing a euro coin over their left shoulder. I did wish for love, but was clearly not thinking when I thought of my wish and then clearly not thinking, tossed my one-cent-er straight over my head. I really hate being superstitious sometimes because I was pretty frustrated that I forgot arguably the most important part (besides the wish) of this ritual, hopefully I didn't screw this one up for good! Our nights while traveling have been pretty low-key, meaning we don't go out and drink much. This is because we jam-pack our days that the thought of staying up past 10 o'clock pm sounds dreadfully impossible. After Trevi, we went home to our hostel to sleep off the day's activities and prepared for the next day's adventures!
While we were originally planning our European Frolick as we have grown accustomed to calling it, we planned to travel to Greece and Bari, Italy. To make a long and somewhat confusing story short, we therefore, only had two nights in Rome. When we found out it didn't really make sense to go to Greece because we didn't really have enough time, we added another day onto Rome. Then we decided why not spend five days in Rome? So we added another two nights. All of this scheduling and reorganizing of our trip meant that we had a total of three hostels booked in Rome alone and Friday morning we needed to switch. So after checking out of our hostel, we stopped at an internet cafe to feed our internet addictions and update our family and friends via facebook and email and then we set out to find one of the most unpleasant parts of our vacation thus far: Hotel Volturno. We should have known by the name that it wasn't going to be the most enjoyable experience, but we are all for adventure so we simply rolled with the punches. Another problem about this place was that in order to save money, we booked this hotel for two people instead of three thinking it was like other hotels where the three of us could walk in with no problem and then share a queen-sized bed. (We couldn't have been more wrong). Still upon check-in, we had Michelle wait in nearby shops and markets while Libby and I brought our stuff in. Well this hotel wasn't like other hotels, in fact it was on a whole different hotel spectrum. First of all, we needed to buzz the front desk which looked like someone's home office only because it was located right next to their living room and kitchen. After buzzing to enter the building, we needed to ring their doorbell and walk right past the family/owner who lived there as we marched our way into our rather tiny, hardly-enough-room-for-two-people room. Needless to say, I did not want to stay there.
After checking in and leaving our stuff there, we left a message for one of the Corksters, Ali (who we ran into the day before) because she was staying in her Italian cousin's friend's apartment and we knew she was going to be alone that night. We thought, maybe she would want some company? The thought of missing out on a night at Hotel Volturno didn't upset us in the least. So while we waited for her to respond to our text, we visited the Spanish Steps, making sure to stop for lunch and gelato and speaking Spanish the whole way of course in honor of the Spanish Steps. We hung out there for about an hour and then Ali responded! She said she would be happy to host us. We practically ran back to the Hotel to grab our stuff and grabbed the next bus to this apartment which happens to cost 500,000 euro per square meter! It was gorgeous (of course pictures to follow)! In order to save some euros, we went to a grocery store for dinner and made a fabulously grand meal of spaghetti and meal balls, salad, baguette, and wine where we finally were able to control the portion sizes! And of course, the evening ended with a necessary run to that neighborhood's gelato shop. We averaged two cones a day, when in Rome, right?!
The next morning we made another splendid meal of scrambled eggs and muffins and then set out to find our third and final hostel of Rome. This one was small, but very trendy and fun. And to be technical, it was actually a Bed and Breakfast so we were served breakfast in bed the next two mornings! We spent Saturday checking out the Basilica (we couldn't tour the tower of the church which was closed because of Easter), The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain again with our other fellow Bennie, Spain study-abroaders, Katie and Alexa. We were four for four in run-ins in Rome and loving it! We showed them the awesome gelato place and proudly demonstrated the "Bennies Be Hungry" slogan that has somewhat unsurprisingly stuck to the the reputations of many College of St. Benedict students for obvious reasons...we like to eat. Some people take offense, I simply think it's hilarious. After hanging out with those two for the day, we went back to our hostel for a complete meal of cheese and crackers, showered and met them at Scholars Bar for what we thought would be a fun night of drinking and singing Kareoke, none of which I did because we had the wrong night for Kareoke, how disappointing! Instead we went home and got another great, full night of sleep.
We woke up the next morning, Easter, as wonderfully observant, practicing Catholics and went to church! We had to research English-speaking church services, but it was worth it because we found a nice church not too far from our hostel. We originally planned on attended the Basilica's service, but because of the reputably slow postal services of both Italy and Spain we did not receive our tickets in time. It was a bummer, but we knew going into this trip that not everything would go our way and we must roll with the punches otherwise we would let the unfortunate parts of the trip get the best of us and we didn't want that to happen. It turns out that our fellow observant and practicing Catholic, John Kerry, discovered this very same church and had attended the service directly before ours which is sort of a fun fact! It sounded like we just missed him, I don't know what I will do without his autograph.
After church, we met up with Alexa and Katie, Katie and Katee (who we lovingly referred to as Alexa and the KKK) for Easter brunch and spent the day with them. We brought the other Katies back to Giolitti's and hung out at Trevi which just happens to be in a convenient location and a fun place to just hang out, shop and people watch (mainly make-out sessions, but it is Italy, folks). Because we needed to catch a rather early train to Venice, we decided to head back to our hostel a bit early to pack and sleep for the city of love awaited our arrival the very next day!
Hindsight is a great thing, and something that we have and will have even more of upon our arrival to the US on May 15. We now know especially, that one night in Venice in combination with the salary of a college student, isn't the best decision and spending only one night in Switzerland just does not do that country the justice it deserves. Anyway, when arriving in Venice I realized instantly that I would want to come back... mostly because I needed more money! Gondola rides alone are 80€ for 45 minutes! Even without the conversion to dollars that's a steep price! So needless to say, Venice was great and remarkably beautiful, but it has definitely warranted a return visit in my book. We stayed on the island, Lido, which is about an hour ferry ride from the train station. In order to get anywhere in Venice one must take a ferry, boat taxi, gondola, etc. The art there was phenomenal and if for no other reason, I would love to return someday to buy some art because it was all so pretty!
Ok I must go explore my current city which you will be lucky to read about in a few days. I will write more today about Switzerland, Paris and London as we have accomplished much in the last week! Gotta run!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Let the Frolicking Begin!
Ciao from ITALIA friends and family! I have already had many adventures in my short time out of Spain and lucky you because you get to read all about them! Thursday after I wrote to you, I went home to shower and have one last lunch with my host mom. I packed up and almost lost it when I was saying goodbye to her. I will be back in Segovia after my month of traveling and she has already invited me for lunch that day when I stop in to say my final good-bye and pick up my stuff. I imagine that good-bye to be much more difficult! Shortly after lunch I went to the bus station to buy my ticket to Madrid and met my friends and we were Italy-bound! Our flight was at 21:30 (9:30) and we arrived in Milan close to midnight. After waiting for our bags, we hopped a bus to the train station where we attempted to sleep. I did not sleep more than 20 minutes and was extremely cold. We were very lucky that the train station guards even let us into the building as the building was closed for the night and would not re-open until 5:45 a.m.! Still, we were cheap and did not want to stay in a hostel or hotel for less than 8 hours...we are poor college students remember!
Some of the group was able to get on a train from Milan to Monterroso at six and the rest of us boarded at 7:25 and arrived in Monterroso around 11:30. The weather wasn't the best when we first arrived, but that was just fine because all I wanted to do was sleep because of my lack of sleep the previous night. So Anna, Katie and I slept while the others went to explore the cute little Italian city situated in the valley of a mountain range that I don't know the name of. After our nap we, too, walked the length of the city, found pizza (we are in Italy, duh!) and some internet to connect with friends and family to clue them in on our whereabouts and existences. We stayed in the first of the five villages on the Cinque Terre coast. Cinque Terre, pronounced "chink-wah tera in your best Italian accent, in Italian means "Five Lands" and therefore there are five little towns. On Saturday we went out and discovered the other five lands and found a trail that led from the first city, Riomaggiore to Manarola. It was quite the easy hike and we think it was made for the less capable of (older population) travelers. It was beautiful and it was called the walk of love. We made sure to take many kissy pictures and lovey dovey poses to emphasize the walk of LOVE! Also, it is common for lovers to bring locks and lock their love on fences or nets along this trail to symbolize their forever love, I forgot my lock so I guess I must return! After the mild hike we took the train back to our village and walked around and finally met up with the other girls. Michelle and I grabbed some pasta on the beach and then we went out for the night at a popular bar named "Fast." We played card games, ate some more pizza, met some other US travelers and soaked up the fact that we were in ITALY! The next day, Michelle, Libby, Anna, Dana, Katie, Alexa and I climbed a mountain that overlooked our gorgeous beautiful beach and village. It took about 40 minutes to get to the top and much effort to avoid twisting my ankle on the way down. Despite what my friends thought though, I made it--injury free. After our hike we marched up to our hostel room, changed in to our suit and hit the beach...for the next six hours. Needless to say my skin didn't hold up all that well and thanks only to Libby's aloe am I sitting here right now writing to you. Without it, who knows if I would still be curled up in a bed in Cinque Terre unable to move! That night after a quick and cheap dinner at a local restuarant, the seven of us girls played cards and chatted in one of our hostel rooms. It was a great end to a fabulous weekend in Cnque Terre.
This morning, Michelle and I got up early for one last run along the beach. The views are absolutely breathtaking and seemingly more and more beautiful after everytime I looked! I highly recommend checking this place out for yourselves. My words and eventual pictures just can't and won't do it justice. After our run we went to the market for breakfast, packed up our room, handed in our keys and we were off! Anna, Dana, Libby, Michelle and I all boarded the 11:17 train to Pisa while we split up from the other part of our group because they were on their way to Venice instead. After arriving in Pisa, we then split off from Anna and Dana as they continued on right away to Florence and the three of us instead spent a couple of hours exploring Pisa and then headed to Florence later. We grabbed lunch and of course sunbathed in the grass below the infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was, to be completely honest, a bit overrated, but really cool nonetheless. We made sure to take some ridiculous pictures of people in weird poses and then of couse ourselves in really weird poses! The Tower, which was closed in the 90s is actually now open for tours. I little fun fact is that the Tower of Pisa actually has been leaning since the 10th century--it started leaning after the construction of the third floor. How cool?!
After Pisa, we then boarded the 14:54 train headed to Florence. Traveling by train is really cool and allows us to see so much of the country side. It was obvious, mostly because of all ofthe Olive Garden commercials that I have experienced in the States, that we were in Toscany, Italy's wine country! After getting off of our train we began our search for a place to stay for the night. We ended up pacing the city for about an hour, walking in and out of hotel lobbys asking about vacancy, until we stumbled on this great hostel from which I now find myself writing to you. It is great because we have free wi-fi, free breakfast, a free walking tour tomorrow and really cheap dinners (2.50 euros)!! After settling a bit in our hotel, which I have a separate room from my travel mates, we walked around the city and found some really cool markets. I haven't bought anything yet, but I am going to go back tomorrow and see what kind of damage I can do! After exloring for a bit more, we came back for dinner and then went out for gelato, a staple to the Italian diet and one I have come to appreciate more and more each day. And even though it is Monday and I am in Florence, Italy I think I am going to go to bed! We did so much walking today as we searched the city of Pisa for its Leaning Tower and then Florence for three spare beds--we are bushed! Tomorrow its Anna's 21st birthday, so we best save up our energy!
Also, since this hostel is completely booked for tomorrow night, we must move tomorrow after our walking tour to a place pretty far outside the city. I guess that is the price we will pay for waiting until the last minute! It's all in good fun, but to put a smile on many of my readers' faces, I think I will be ready to come home after this month of traveling if only for the stability that comes with it. I am already exhausted and it has only been a few days! We have much to see in the next few days and I will be sure to keep you all posted as much as possible. I hope all is well on your side of the planet! Buena sera from Italia!
Some of the group was able to get on a train from Milan to Monterroso at six and the rest of us boarded at 7:25 and arrived in Monterroso around 11:30. The weather wasn't the best when we first arrived, but that was just fine because all I wanted to do was sleep because of my lack of sleep the previous night. So Anna, Katie and I slept while the others went to explore the cute little Italian city situated in the valley of a mountain range that I don't know the name of. After our nap we, too, walked the length of the city, found pizza (we are in Italy, duh!) and some internet to connect with friends and family to clue them in on our whereabouts and existences. We stayed in the first of the five villages on the Cinque Terre coast. Cinque Terre, pronounced "chink-wah tera in your best Italian accent, in Italian means "Five Lands" and therefore there are five little towns. On Saturday we went out and discovered the other five lands and found a trail that led from the first city, Riomaggiore to Manarola. It was quite the easy hike and we think it was made for the less capable of (older population) travelers. It was beautiful and it was called the walk of love. We made sure to take many kissy pictures and lovey dovey poses to emphasize the walk of LOVE! Also, it is common for lovers to bring locks and lock their love on fences or nets along this trail to symbolize their forever love, I forgot my lock so I guess I must return! After the mild hike we took the train back to our village and walked around and finally met up with the other girls. Michelle and I grabbed some pasta on the beach and then we went out for the night at a popular bar named "Fast." We played card games, ate some more pizza, met some other US travelers and soaked up the fact that we were in ITALY! The next day, Michelle, Libby, Anna, Dana, Katie, Alexa and I climbed a mountain that overlooked our gorgeous beautiful beach and village. It took about 40 minutes to get to the top and much effort to avoid twisting my ankle on the way down. Despite what my friends thought though, I made it--injury free. After our hike we marched up to our hostel room, changed in to our suit and hit the beach...for the next six hours. Needless to say my skin didn't hold up all that well and thanks only to Libby's aloe am I sitting here right now writing to you. Without it, who knows if I would still be curled up in a bed in Cinque Terre unable to move! That night after a quick and cheap dinner at a local restuarant, the seven of us girls played cards and chatted in one of our hostel rooms. It was a great end to a fabulous weekend in Cnque Terre.
This morning, Michelle and I got up early for one last run along the beach. The views are absolutely breathtaking and seemingly more and more beautiful after everytime I looked! I highly recommend checking this place out for yourselves. My words and eventual pictures just can't and won't do it justice. After our run we went to the market for breakfast, packed up our room, handed in our keys and we were off! Anna, Dana, Libby, Michelle and I all boarded the 11:17 train to Pisa while we split up from the other part of our group because they were on their way to Venice instead. After arriving in Pisa, we then split off from Anna and Dana as they continued on right away to Florence and the three of us instead spent a couple of hours exploring Pisa and then headed to Florence later. We grabbed lunch and of course sunbathed in the grass below the infamous Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was, to be completely honest, a bit overrated, but really cool nonetheless. We made sure to take some ridiculous pictures of people in weird poses and then of couse ourselves in really weird poses! The Tower, which was closed in the 90s is actually now open for tours. I little fun fact is that the Tower of Pisa actually has been leaning since the 10th century--it started leaning after the construction of the third floor. How cool?!
After Pisa, we then boarded the 14:54 train headed to Florence. Traveling by train is really cool and allows us to see so much of the country side. It was obvious, mostly because of all ofthe Olive Garden commercials that I have experienced in the States, that we were in Toscany, Italy's wine country! After getting off of our train we began our search for a place to stay for the night. We ended up pacing the city for about an hour, walking in and out of hotel lobbys asking about vacancy, until we stumbled on this great hostel from which I now find myself writing to you. It is great because we have free wi-fi, free breakfast, a free walking tour tomorrow and really cheap dinners (2.50 euros)!! After settling a bit in our hotel, which I have a separate room from my travel mates, we walked around the city and found some really cool markets. I haven't bought anything yet, but I am going to go back tomorrow and see what kind of damage I can do! After exloring for a bit more, we came back for dinner and then went out for gelato, a staple to the Italian diet and one I have come to appreciate more and more each day. And even though it is Monday and I am in Florence, Italy I think I am going to go to bed! We did so much walking today as we searched the city of Pisa for its Leaning Tower and then Florence for three spare beds--we are bushed! Tomorrow its Anna's 21st birthday, so we best save up our energy!
Also, since this hostel is completely booked for tomorrow night, we must move tomorrow after our walking tour to a place pretty far outside the city. I guess that is the price we will pay for waiting until the last minute! It's all in good fun, but to put a smile on many of my readers' faces, I think I will be ready to come home after this month of traveling if only for the stability that comes with it. I am already exhausted and it has only been a few days! We have much to see in the next few days and I will be sure to keep you all posted as much as possible. I hope all is well on your side of the planet! Buena sera from Italia!
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