No Eurotrip is complete without seeing some family, right?
I visited an extended cousin I hadn't seen in... 15-20 years, I really couldn't tell ya. Since they have small kids, they couldn't exactly bring me around the city, so I did some exploring on my own. I have nothing against that, I do enjoy alone time and being able to take pictures without feeling like I'm stragling behind too much. And I can go climb mountains without people getting tired behind me. I went to the famous Salzburg fortress/castle/schloss on the mountain and got a little tour. That castle also has a puppet museum within it.. I can't wait to post pictures to compliment my posts on here. The Altstadt/Oldtown is quite cutesy, though touristy. I enjoy the fact that people casually wear lederhosen around here.
Later on, another cousin of mine picked me up and we saw some other things in Salzburg such as Mozart's home (it closed right when we got there), Palace of Mirabel/Wasserspiele (lots of gardens, fountains, royalty - The Sound of Music had some scenes here), Basilika Maria Plain on the Calvary Hill, Red Bull Plane/Hangar museum.
My time there was short lived, but I also wanted to return to my home of four months, that is, Berlin.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Francocci
Me and my travel buddy parted ways to see our own friends in other countries for a few days. I made a big leap from the big city, to a small village in the mountains of Italy in a tiny town called Francocci. Such a huge and relaxing contrast to the city of crazy drivers and tourists.
What I did for the most part was walk around the mountains with an old family friend I hadn;t seen in almost two years, went to a Schwimbad, visited a lot of churches (I am by no means religious, but I do like seeing the architecture, etc) and ate some gelato. To give you an idea of what sort of place this was, a rooster woke me up at 6AM. Just in time to catch my next train... which was late... and caused me to miss a connecting train. But I somehow found my way around the other 4 connecting trains to get to SALZBURG!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Roma
The city structure is so... schizophrenic. I don't know what to else to say about it. It is the mixture of oldschool/modern buildings (which of course has a different meaning here than it does over yonder in America) and the anicent ruins that left standing. I am throughly impressed by what IS left standing. The hostel we stayed at was not the coolest thing ever. Right by the train station, lots of angry drivers and talkers throughout the night, the snorer (though only for one night). You can hear EVERYTHANG outside. And the streets are extremely narrow. The homelessness rate is through the roof, but none of them have really tried to harrass or haggle anyone for money.
I really wish I had brought my pedometer to count how much I have walked on this trip. I have spent hours, upon hours on my feet. I have been controlling myself with the camera, however, because most sites are super touristy and are all over the internet anyways. And I am too much of a pussy to try taking shots of the super religious hobos.
So the sights, eh? Almost as hard to navigate a German keyboard after navigating an Italian keyboard.
The Pantheon
The Vatican/Basillica Pietro
The Colosseo
Republic de Piazza
The Forumn
Igbazio di Loyala
I really wish I had brought my pedometer to count how much I have walked on this trip. I have spent hours, upon hours on my feet. I have been controlling myself with the camera, however, because most sites are super touristy and are all over the internet anyways. And I am too much of a pussy to try taking shots of the super religious hobos.
So the sights, eh? Almost as hard to navigate a German keyboard after navigating an Italian keyboard.
The Pantheon
The Vatican/Basillica Pietro
The Colosseo
Republic de Piazza
The Forumn
Igbazio di Loyala
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Firenze
This hostel, Eurostudent Home had the most amazing hosts. Crazies. Oh man.
The train ride was a living nightmare. Even with our Europass, some trains for some countries still require you to make a reservation and pay extra money. Fuckk. We got there late afternoon, and my first meal in Italia was from an Instanbul place. And it was a pizza. Lolz.
The rest of the day was spent walking around the incredibly tiny and disorienting city until the sangria party. The hosts of the hostel made TWO big bowls of sangria, for free. Then walked in with a shot glass and a bottle yelling “VODKA SHOTS?”
We did small talk/introductions and I only remembered the states or countries that these people were from - not their names. Booohooo. But the people I meet are usually incredible/awesome. I made pals with this frenchie. I mentioned that there was a stop on the metro called “Saint Paul” and that it’s our capital. He said “Oh yes, that’s the stop were my Uni is”. I then told him that I also had some classes at the St Paul campus. Cool stuff. “oh, it must be a sign”.
After we polished off the sangria and a couple of our own drinks, the host/boss manager/Michael took us all to a club, no cover. Then I walked around the nightly city anddd got back after 3, immediately passing out.
Next day was spent with more walks, picture takings, accidental wedding crashing and listening to this wonderful classical guitar player until our wine tour. We were supposed to do one at 9AM on bike, but that would have been impossible after the night we had just had. We went to two different wineries. The first was a restaurant owned by a royal family. We got a tour, drank wine and ate cheese. The second one is farther in the country and some rich man, with a lot of character owns that. Apparently, if you are born in and grow up in Italy, yet speak English in the house hold (with a British/Scottish nanny/parents) you will speak with an English accent, not an Italian one. He fed us more wine than the other place did.
When we returned to the hostel, I was going to see the real David. Once I found out you gotta walk around a museum, wait in line and pay, I took a much needed nap instead. I’ve only been getting 6ish hours of sleep a night. If not less. After the nap, it was time for sangria night, part dos. And more drinks (less than the night before). And another free club, which was really shitty and we left shortly after..
Today, we boarded the train for a whole hour and 15 minutes, now in.... ROMA
The train ride was a living nightmare. Even with our Europass, some trains for some countries still require you to make a reservation and pay extra money. Fuckk. We got there late afternoon, and my first meal in Italia was from an Instanbul place. And it was a pizza. Lolz.
The rest of the day was spent walking around the incredibly tiny and disorienting city until the sangria party. The hosts of the hostel made TWO big bowls of sangria, for free. Then walked in with a shot glass and a bottle yelling “VODKA SHOTS?”
We did small talk/introductions and I only remembered the states or countries that these people were from - not their names. Booohooo. But the people I meet are usually incredible/awesome. I made pals with this frenchie. I mentioned that there was a stop on the metro called “Saint Paul” and that it’s our capital. He said “Oh yes, that’s the stop were my Uni is”. I then told him that I also had some classes at the St Paul campus. Cool stuff. “oh, it must be a sign”.
After we polished off the sangria and a couple of our own drinks, the host/boss manager/Michael took us all to a club, no cover. Then I walked around the nightly city anddd got back after 3, immediately passing out.
Next day was spent with more walks, picture takings, accidental wedding crashing and listening to this wonderful classical guitar player until our wine tour. We were supposed to do one at 9AM on bike, but that would have been impossible after the night we had just had. We went to two different wineries. The first was a restaurant owned by a royal family. We got a tour, drank wine and ate cheese. The second one is farther in the country and some rich man, with a lot of character owns that. Apparently, if you are born in and grow up in Italy, yet speak English in the house hold (with a British/Scottish nanny/parents) you will speak with an English accent, not an Italian one. He fed us more wine than the other place did.
When we returned to the hostel, I was going to see the real David. Once I found out you gotta walk around a museum, wait in line and pay, I took a much needed nap instead. I’ve only been getting 6ish hours of sleep a night. If not less. After the nap, it was time for sangria night, part dos. And more drinks (less than the night before). And another free club, which was really shitty and we left shortly after..
Today, we boarded the train for a whole hour and 15 minutes, now in.... ROMA
Quick stop at Geneva
Geneva Switzerland is a sweet little town. It was more of a rest stop for us. While Liam napped at the beach (the water was WAY too cold... damn Alps). I walked around and read. They had an incredible breakfast, as all hostels do. Then, up at 7AM for the next train toooooo Florance!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Paris Picnic
Two days here was quite awesome, though very crowded. This unfortunately prevented me from wanting to enter any buildings. We arrived in the late afternoon of Tuesday. We went to what we thought was our hotel... but we were wrong. The names were the same with the exception of a "le" before it. So we went on another walk and metro ride to find the hotel. My buddy's dad knows the owner so we're like "Neat, discount time". Imagine our shock when a HOTEL in PARIS was FREE. Incredible breakfast included.
Our first night was spent buying picnic foods to take to the park.. next to Eiffel Tower! So we watched the sun set, drank wine, ate fine foods and saw the tower light up all cool like.
The next day, we ate our fancy ass breakfast (hostel breakfasts are fancier than what I ever eat) and went to climb the tower. That was for sure something awesome! Thennnn just walked. Saw street dancers. Went to the notre dome. Went to a park near the tower to relax next a fountain. Decided to go on a bungee ride that spins and throws us around. Drank coffee at a cafe. Livin' the life!
The next day, we boarded the train for our next country...
Our first night was spent buying picnic foods to take to the park.. next to Eiffel Tower! So we watched the sun set, drank wine, ate fine foods and saw the tower light up all cool like.
The next day, we ate our fancy ass breakfast (hostel breakfasts are fancier than what I ever eat) and went to climb the tower. That was for sure something awesome! Thennnn just walked. Saw street dancers. Went to the notre dome. Went to a park near the tower to relax next a fountain. Decided to go on a bungee ride that spins and throws us around. Drank coffee at a cafe. Livin' the life!
The next day, we boarded the train for our next country...
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Arrival - Barcelona!
It is 6:40am and it is my 3rd day in Barcelona. For some reason, I just cannot seem to fall asleep. Maybe I got too used to sleeping for less than six hours a night and had a relatively early night. Anyways...
First thing's first. The Madrid airport is my worst nightmare, ever.
Second, I fell in love with Barcelona within my first few hours of being here. It is extremely cheap, the beach and sea are wonderful, the hostel is cool, and I've already made new friends. On the first day, me and Liam went to the beach to swim/nap/get burnt/meet Germans. We got situated in the hostel which is located just outside of the city life. We spent the night having some drinks, playing games with our new Scandinavian friends and walking around the beach at night. So much for "let's take er easy the first night!".
The second day consisted of little sleep, a trip to the touristy looking part of town where we climbed an almost impressive amount of stairs to a museum (which I forgot the name of) and got a nice view of the city. Unfortunately, I can't upload pictures at the moment, but I'll come back and edit them into this post. I got my hands on some Absinthe in town, too. We headed over to Sagrada Familia, a really awesome looking church/chapel. Of course, it's free to get in, and the season is high, so we just stood outside to look at it. We headed back and I took a nap on the beach. The day ended with more hangings outs, drinks, and a movie.
Yesterday, we took a trip to Montserrat, about an hour outside of Barcelona. We wanted to hike it, but the only ways up were rock climbing, taking winding road around the mountain (for cars) or the gondala. Gondala it was! The view from up top, was incredible, of course, but I didn't the satisfaction of looking down and saying to myself "Yeah, I just hiked that motherfucker".
We had an easy going night. Unfortunately, it's 7AM now, and I cannot sleep for the life of me. We leave for Paris tomorrow. WEEEEE.
A continuation of this post.. On this day I was up at 7AM, most of the hostel friends I made here had to leave. I somehow become attached to these people more than anyone else. It happened a few times I have hosteled and made friends this way. Aw man.
Also, in German, "das" is no longer neutral. It's a hermaphodite.
We also went to Park Gruell. What a big hill that is! But you get to see Barcelona all 360 degrees of it. The park is awesome, filled with all sorts of street performers ranging from musicians to dancers to rappers. Some dude built a whole level on this hill park with tiles. I will have pictures eventually, promise.
We were going to take the night train to Paris. Turns out it was more than twice the price of our hostel, so we just took the 8AM train.
The journey continues..
First thing's first. The Madrid airport is my worst nightmare, ever.
Second, I fell in love with Barcelona within my first few hours of being here. It is extremely cheap, the beach and sea are wonderful, the hostel is cool, and I've already made new friends. On the first day, me and Liam went to the beach to swim/nap/get burnt/meet Germans. We got situated in the hostel which is located just outside of the city life. We spent the night having some drinks, playing games with our new Scandinavian friends and walking around the beach at night. So much for "let's take er easy the first night!".
The second day consisted of little sleep, a trip to the touristy looking part of town where we climbed an almost impressive amount of stairs to a museum (which I forgot the name of) and got a nice view of the city. Unfortunately, I can't upload pictures at the moment, but I'll come back and edit them into this post. I got my hands on some Absinthe in town, too. We headed over to Sagrada Familia, a really awesome looking church/chapel. Of course, it's free to get in, and the season is high, so we just stood outside to look at it. We headed back and I took a nap on the beach. The day ended with more hangings outs, drinks, and a movie.
Yesterday, we took a trip to Montserrat, about an hour outside of Barcelona. We wanted to hike it, but the only ways up were rock climbing, taking winding road around the mountain (for cars) or the gondala. Gondala it was! The view from up top, was incredible, of course, but I didn't the satisfaction of looking down and saying to myself "Yeah, I just hiked that motherfucker".
We had an easy going night. Unfortunately, it's 7AM now, and I cannot sleep for the life of me. We leave for Paris tomorrow. WEEEEE.
A continuation of this post.. On this day I was up at 7AM, most of the hostel friends I made here had to leave. I somehow become attached to these people more than anyone else. It happened a few times I have hosteled and made friends this way. Aw man.
Also, in German, "das" is no longer neutral. It's a hermaphodite.
We also went to Park Gruell. What a big hill that is! But you get to see Barcelona all 360 degrees of it. The park is awesome, filled with all sorts of street performers ranging from musicians to dancers to rappers. Some dude built a whole level on this hill park with tiles. I will have pictures eventually, promise.
We were going to take the night train to Paris. Turns out it was more than twice the price of our hostel, so we just took the 8AM train.
The journey continues..
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