When in Rome.......Don't get Arrested

Well Rome was interesting.  Interested architecture, interesting people, interesting food and also interesting encounter with the police.  We arrived at our apartment in Rome late that Tuesday night after spending the last 24 hours on a boat and then a train.  Our apartment was small but it was in a safe neighborhood and it was cheap so it was definitely going to do the trick for the four nights we were staying in Rome.  We met Marcello the guy who was renting it to us and he left us to hunker down for the night. 
The next morning was a Wednesday and the pope does a blessing every morning in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.  So naturally we wanted to get blessed by the big guy.  Trying to navigate Rome for the first time was hilarious and it took us 2 hours to figure out how to get to the Vatican, but once we made it we were golden.  There were thousands and thousands of people there and we heard Pope Francis give a short speech.  The blessing takes 90 min and we found out it is because each cardinal translates the blessing into a bunch of different languages.  Good thing English was second so we could be blessed and head.  The blessing is for all my families and friends as well so if you are reading this, congrats your blessed!!!

After the Vatican we headed to the Ancient downtown area of Rome called the Roma Forum and Palatine Hill.  It was not was I was expecting at all and cannot believe that right around this busy metropolis of Rome is this ancient cluster of ruins that once was Rome.  I'm glad that we did Greece and Rome back to back because it was interesting to see two ancient cities that are unlike anything we have in Germany or this part of Europe.  We had a very good looking tour guide at the Forum and he gave us a ton of info in the old downtown.

When we were done exploring the ruins we headed across the street to the Coliseum and went into the gladiator stadium.  It is so hard imagining this monster being filled with people cheering on men fighting for their lives or wild animals running around the mazes below ground.  There is a large cross right at the entrance overlooking the arena to commemorate all who lost their lives there.  Every year on Good Friday the Pope does the stations of the cross in the coliseum using that cross.

 

 

We tried some real Italian pizza for a little midday snack right next to all of the ruins.  We decided to kind of wander after that and walked into a gorgeous church as well as saw some monumental government buildings.  We found a grocery store after that and got some groceries for the rest of the stay in Rome.  That night we headed back to the apartment and rested after so much trekking around.

 

The next day was packed full.  We went to the Trevi Fountain in the morning, which was gorgeous and probably one of my favorite spots in Rome.  We found some gelato and a spot to park it while we could eat our gelato and just watch the fountain and all the families and couples posing by it.  We reluctantly finished our gelato and found the Spanish Steps that look like they extend to the heavens.  One of the biggest surprises was when we tried to find the Opera house and stumbled upon a huge piazza with a gigantic fountain  and St. Mary's Basilica.  Of course the Opera House was cool but it was nothing compared to the shock that we had when we exited the metro and saw that area.

 

Vatican city and the Sistine Chapel was next on our to do list and we had booked  a tour of the museum and the chapel because the tickets were sold out.  The tour ended up being pretty awesome because there is so much to see and an overwhelming amount of info at the Vatican Museum.  We saw some priceless art and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's masterpiece right above my head.  Wow there isn't much more to say other than that.  It is a magnificent sight to see and no picture does it justice.  We exited and walked right into St. Peter's Basilica with its statue of Mary with Jesus and the large twisting pillars that adorn the pillar.  It is also an overwhelming sight to take in.

 

When the sun set we found the Parthenon and Piazza Navona.  The Piazza was bustling and all light up.  There were art vendors and a huge fountain of course.  The Parthenon was also spectacular because first you aren't really expecting it when you walk around the corner and its more of a church than I was expecting.  We headed back the Trevi Fountain afterwards to see it lit up at night and it was much more busy than when we had been there earlier that morning.  We headed home after that to find that our water in our apartment had been turned off because the landlord thought there was a leak in the apt.  So we had no water to make dinner or shower or even drink.  Thank goodness for the guardian angel that was our neighbor.  She spoke great English and explained everything that was going on.  She even let us come into her house and get water to boil noodles and fill water bottles to drink.  A couple hours later her and her husband along with Marcello somehow figured out how to turn the water back on.

 

The last day we were in Italy we wanted to see something outside of Rome so we strolled around Rome a little bit more and then around noon took a train to Pisa.  We were enjoying a relaxing trip when all of a sudden our car on the train started to fill with smoke.  The train made a stop and we got off because our train had started on fire.  We were put on a different train but had to stand the rest of the way because the train was packed. 

 

Tuscany was gorgeous and we had a lovely time shopping in the craft fair and grabbing gelato by the bridge.  We found the Leaning Tower of Pisa and of course took all the touristy pictures we could think of.  We loved laying on the grass and just looking at everyone around us and enjoying a gorgeous evening.  When we finally got up we stumbled into the Cathedral and sat down a little bit of the All Saint's Day mass.  This was one of the best and most extravagant cathedrals we have been in.  On the way back to the train station we finally had an Italian meal.

 

We arrived back to our apartment in one piece and started packing and getting ready to go to bed and leave for Vienna in the morning.  We were crawling into bed when all of a sudden there was knocking on our door and someone shouting police.  We looked out the peephole and saw 6 armed Italian police officers.  After much deliberation we opened the door and they started speaking to us in Italian until a lady came running down the stairs and telling us that everyone was going to be alright if we just cooperated.  Turns out Marcello, the guy that we rented the apt from, was illegally renting out the apartment to people and this lady was the real owner of the apt.  We had to give the police our passport info as well as all the receipts and documentation we had for paying for the apartment.  We were allowed to stay there that night but the police left and came back in an hour with a locksmith and changed the locks on the doors.  We did not go to bed until they left at 3 am. 

 

Who would have known that these crazy things would ever happen to us......but next time you think u have bad travel luck just remember you didn't almost go to Italian jail.....ok well neither did I but I sure felt like it.

 

 

Auf Wiedersehen,

Chels

 

 

 



Cruisin' Through Greece

So it has been a week since I came home in one piece from my two week fall break trip.  I think it may be time to share my experiences thus far after letting it marinate a little and having a blasty looking at all the great pictures.

We started off with a Greek cruise that left from Athens and went to 4 different islands and Turkey.  We flew to Athens on the Thursday that classes ended and took a bus to Piraeus the ancient port of Athens.  We actually stayed in a super cheap hotel and met the nicest old Greek man who ran the hotel and love the four bubbly girls who arrived at 2 am.  The next morning we boarded our ship and I didn't really know what to expect never having been on a cruise before.  Not too long after getting on we had to do a lifeboat drill which produced this beauty of a pic.

 

 

Immediately after this little party we threw our swimsuits on and sat on the deck for lunch and a relaxing afternoon.  After some sun we decided to go to the Greek Language lesson that the boat entertainment was holding and stayed for Greek dancing, salsa dancing, and a Name that Tune game.  We were nicknamed the Happy Club that afternoon, and that was definitely not the end of the nicknames that we received on our trip.

That night we docked in Mykonos and explored the island at night.  This island is famous for its Litle Venice, where there are little Greek churches and historic windmills that line the coast.  We also found a lot of cute shops and had a real feeling of Greece with the white washed houses.  After some windy walking around the island we headed back for a nice dinner at the boat where we met one of better friends on the ship.  He was the Maitre'd and we had great chats with him every night for dinner.

 

The next morning was Kasadasi, Turkey.  At first I was really scared of this place.  We were off the ship really early and we had no idea what to do or see.  There were a lot of men harassing us and asking us if we wanted taxi rides.  Eventually we made some really great friends with the stray dogs on the island.  We found a fortress and decided to explore it just before we gave up on the city.  Boy did we have an amazing time climbing and just having our own sort of adventure.

There was a mama dog that never left our side the entire time we were hiking even though it was pretty treacherous.  The water was just so blue and when we were behind the fortress it was like we could forget the whole city even existed.  When we were walking back to the ship we saw men fishing off the pier and they were catching squid.  When we walked with the dogs none of the men who had harassed us before bothered us.  Turkey started off rough, but we had a blast and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the deck of the boat getting some much needed sun.

The night had us stopping in Patmos, Greece.  The island was small, we could see the water on both sides of the island when we hiked up the hill and looked down on the town.  The flowers all over the island were blooming and just gorgeous.  We made a horsey friend on the way hiking up the hill to the Acropolis and the church that was on the hill.  On our hike back down we wandered through the side streets and found gorgeous houses and little shops.  We also had dinner on the boat with our favorite guy.  After dinner we were roped in to doing karaoke on the boat and this gave us our new nickname as the spice girls.

The last day of our cruise had us docking in Heraklion Crete in the morning.  We did a lot of wandering this day, because Heraklion in the capital of Crete there is not a whole lot of sightseeing to do, but we had fun climbing on some of the rocks that lined the coast and we were very very surprised when we were drenched by a huge wave.  Again that afternoon we laid on the boat and then got dressed up to go to Santorini.

Santorini was magical.  We took an excursion to the village of Oia.  This is the village that has the white buildings with the blue domes.  We were there when the sun was setting and the village has little streets with a gorgeous view into the Caldera.  The island of Santorini was a huge volcanoes that just exploded one day leaving the Caldera behind as well as rich volcanic soil.  Unfortunately we did not get to ride the donkeys, but we took a bus up and a cable car down.

 

 

We had a great time on our cruise, but it just made me want to go back so badly.  The next morning we arrived back in Athens and went to the Acropolis before we left Greece.  We were one of the first people there which was good because it filled up quickly.  It was surreal standing in front of this monstrosity.  We left Athens and took a bus to Patras, Greece.  This is where we caught a 24 hour ferry that took us to Ancona, Italy.  We had tickets to sleep outside on the deck of the boat, but there was more people working on the boat then actually riding it so we got a free upgrade to sleep inside and use the airplane seating.  Stay tuned because there are 4 more posts about this 2 week trip coming up!!!

 



Auf Wiedersehen,
Chels



The Hills are Alive

Hands down my favorite trip so far....hands down.  Today I just got back from a long weekend in Salzburg, Austria.  A town of only 105,000 but hosts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year.  We started out our trip with a very rainy morning and headed to the Cathedral for a reflective and gorgeous visit along with a side trip down into the crypt.  After the cathedral we wandered for a bit through the streets shopping a little and eventually finding Mozart's house.  We crossed the bridge of locks, where people have written their love's name and locked it to the bridge and thrown away the key.  We tried to wait out the rain before going up to the fortress and eventually when the after noon rolled around we thought we should just go anyways.  On our way there we found a Christmas shop that has thousands of hand painted eggs.  Needless to say we spent almost and hour and dropped a lot of dough at that shop but who could resist this.

We made a pit stop at the hostel to drop off our bounty then took the funicular up the hill to the Fortress.  Each Prince Bishop of Salzburg added onto this fortress and it is one of the most well preserved of its kind in the world.  The view was the best part for us.  We stood up their for a long time just taking in the view, the colors, and the mountains.



After the fortress we shopped around a little more now that the sun had come out and it was a gorgeous day.  That night our hostel played Sound of Music in the lobby.  We watched all three hours, especially since Allie had never seen it and we were going on the Sound of Music tour the next morning.







The Sound of Music tour was the beginning to our day the next and it was worth every single penny.  We had a gorgeous day, wonderful tour guide, beautiful sights, and of course a lot of singing.  We saw the backyard the used in the movie as well as the abbey, gazebo, and church they were married in.  The church was actually in a town called Mondsee and we had a gorgeous drive out to this beautiful city.

After the tour the girls did the Salt Mines and I went exploring.  I found a cemetery with pretty gardens as well as some katacombs.  I also found a Monastery that had a beautiful church.  I also did some more shopping and a whole lot of walking.  When my feet started to protest I found the Mirabell Gardens and sat staring at the gardens leading up to the fortress and also watched a bride and groom take pictures in the gardens.
When the girls came back we really explored the gardens and got some great pictures.  I showed Allie the Harry Potted like maze and she was so happy.  Her and Amanda pretended to be dueling in the garden, what silly girls, but I loved how much fun we had.  After the gardens we found a tiny little Italian café that had great food and we said our goodbyes to Salzburg.

 

This trip was the changing point in my study abroad.  Before the tears had been because of missing friends, missing home, too much planning, and just pure frustration.  On this trip I stood at the altar of the monastery and held back tears because I didn't want to leave.  I want to see friends and family and all that good stuff, but I did not want to leave Austria.  I don't want to leave my international friends or wake up and not see the hills in front of me.  I want to take the castles and the churches with me and I especially want all the people I so truly and deeply love to see everything little thing that has made me laugh, smile and cry while I have been here.  This trip gave me some peace that I had not had in awhile.  It was a different kind of pure joy that filled me.  Not the kind you get from the adrenaline rush of seeing every single thing in a city in a few hours, but the kind that warms you from your toes to you nose even though you have been sitting in the cold for hours.  It is a joy that does not have a good explanation.  But, even through the stressful times that have come before and the ones that will come in the future I can always remember the peace and the joy that Salzburg brought and that I know I will find in more little nooks and crannies of the world that are yet to come.



Auf Wiedersehen,
Chels

The Land of the Loo

A little side trip to London last weekend was the perfect mental break from trying to translate multiple different languages.  What I was not expecting was the major hurdle of trying to enter the UK that lay before Sarah, Allie, and myself.  After sleeping on a night train from Stuttgart to Paris, we awoke to find out that our train was going to be 2 hours late to Paris, thus making us miss our Chunnel train to London.  Once we got to London, we made our way to Paris Nord Station and the Eurostar desk, where we were promptly evacuated by armed soldiers with machine guns because of a suspicious package.  We were still doing ok spirit wise at this point.  Once we were allowed back in the kind ticket lady rebooked us for free and we ran to catch our train.  The real kicker comes when we got to UK border control and was denied access because we did not have a visa or an acceptance letter from Reutlingen University.  After 20 min of interrogations and calls to her supervisor we were eventually let in, but missed our next train.  We did have a guardian angel because another ticket person rebooked us again for free.  Eventually we made it to London and the first thing we did...........visited Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross.

 

We found our hostel which was pretty close to Hyde Park and did a quick turn around to for burgers and wine before Phantom of the Opera.  I had never seen it before.  Seeing it for the first time was absolutely spectacular.  The music and the flames and the singing and everything was amazing.  We saw it at Her Majesty's Theatre which is where is was first premiered and has been performed over 20,000 times. 

On Friday the girls went to the Harry Potter film set and I went to Westminster Abbey and stood in awe of all of the kings, queens, scientists, and famous people that are buried there.  I did some strolling around Westminster and saw Big Ben, the Parliament building, and Downing Street.  That morning I went to Cambridge and visited some family.  I went to the Eagle Pub for lunch which is were Crick and Shaw announced their discovery of DNA.  I also went into King's Cross Chapel, the largest collegiate chapel in the world as well as just strolled around Cambridge University which is the most beautiful campus I have ever seen.  That night I had a great home cooked meal and took a train back to London.

Saturday was our big tour day.  We had a vintage bus tour in the morning that also included a river cruise and the changing of the guard, ending at Harrods Department Store.  We were able to cover a large portion of the city in a short amount of time.  Buckingham Palace was probably my favorite site.

 

 

The afternoon was beyond belief.  We took a two hour drive out to see Stonehenge and we were blessed with a sight and weather beyond belief.  The sun was setting, the sky was blue, and everything had just perfect color.  It was the most calming site the entire trip and it was great to just relax and take it all in.  Of course we were hungry after this long day and what better than some authentic fish n chips with some cider.  We found a great place near Westminster and experienced the London Eye and Big Ben illuminated at night

Sunday was the day we left, and Allie did leave us in the morning, but Sarah and I packed a lot into the morning.  We went to the Tower of London and learned all about beheadings, the crown jewels and the life of a Beefeater.  He was even kind enough to be a real gentleman and take a picture with us.

 

We found the Crown Jewels and Sarah was in awe the entire time, "I just love sparklies!"  After the Tower we took in the Tower Bridge and walked down the Thames River until we got to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and took the Millennium Bridge back across the river.  That's the one in the Harry Potter film.  We casually made our way back to the train station passing the massive St. Paul's Cathedral on the way.  There was so much to see in London that we could have stayed there for 2 weeks and still not done it all, not to mention the area outside in the English countryside.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Chels

Hola Espana

After traveling to Berlin, our class had the rest of the week of to travel.  Sarah, Allie, Amanda, and I found cheap flight to Barcelona from Berlin and decided it was the perfect time to hit up Spain.  So in a whirlwind trip we flew to Barcelona, and stayed in a hostel right off the Center Ramblas.  The first afternoon we were there we wasted no time in trying some real Sangria and Spanish Paella.  Unfortunately we experienced our first real incident since studying abroad in which Amanda had her phone stolen from a lady who came up to us at our outside table.  Good thing Amanda had her wits about her and was able to snatch it back.  After that we were very careful about our belongings and our purses.  That experience made me uneasy the rest of the time we were in Barcelona, just because there is so much theft all around.  After some food we decided to just get lost and walk to take in everything Barcelona has to offer.  This was our first experience outside of Germany and the architecture and culture are just so different.  Where else do you get a view like this.

 

 



 When the sun started to set we found ourselves at an Australian Pub and tried Spanish bear and tapas which were out of this world.  We soon learned as well that the Spanish never really sleep.  We wanted to go out dancing and soon found out from our waitress that clubs don't even open until one or two.  After a quick siesta we headed out to some local bars and then a club where we met some Chileans students who were studying abroad and learned to dance a little from them. 




The next day we did a bike tour of Barcelona.  On our way to the meeting spot we found this fantastic market with fruits and colors and candy galore.

Our bike tour lasted about four hours, but boy did we cover a lot of ground.  We saw all the different boroughs of Barcelona and well as the famous Goudi architecture, especially the Sagrada Familia.





The best part about the tour was the beach though.  We were able to take a little break on the beach of the Mediterranean and enjoy a sangria halfway through our tour.  Who would not want to just live with this view.....

After experiencing the beach we went straight back there after our tour and dipped our feet in the Sea and sat on the beach until the sun went down and we had to make our way back to the train station to catch our night train to Granda.

Our night train to Granada was so much fun.  We had our own little sleeping compartment with four beds and it was really like one big sleepover.  The next morning in Granada we met the best hostel owner ever.  He could tell we where tired and needed to shower and he switched rooms so we could check in right away.  After a shower the Alhambra was waiting for us.  We bought passes for the hop on hop off bus and rode it up to the palace.  The Alhambra is the largest Muslim palace and holds some of the most exquisite decorations and gardens.  The day pass was sold out so we bought afternoon passes to the gardens and night palace tickets.  No wonder so many people flock from around the world to see this.

 

For lunch we found the quaintest café on the grounds and enjoyed the birds and some classical music before going back out into the sun.  The rest of the day entailed some shopping, where we made great friends with some local vendors, and dinner in the square behind the cathedral.  That night we went back to the palace which was lit up and beyond gorgeous.  Early the next  morning we took a straight train to Seville and checked into a super cool hostel.

We again dropped our stuff and went exploring.  We came across the mushroom, which gives you a birds eye view of the whole city.

 

 



Other fantastic places we happened across was the Seville Cathedral which low behold the one and only Christopher Columbus is buried there......

We also saw the bull fighting arena.  They were preparing for a fight so we were right in the midst of all the commotion.  We decided to relax a little and took a boat tour down the river and saw some sights along the way and headed over to the naval tower once were down with that.  The last little magical piece of our Seville trip was at the end of our day.  We couldn't believe our luck when we found out that is was National Tourism Day and the major sights were free.  We ended our day at Alcazar Palace which none of us knew anything about.  It turned out to be like a Disney creation with out of this world gardens and architecture.

 



That night our hostel had free Sangria hour as well as homemade Paellas, which we had been waiting all day for, and boy was it worth the wait.  The next morning I headed out for a little journey by myself and went to the Plaza de Espana, which was massive and bursting with color.  I also went to the botanical gardens, hoping I would get a pretty view.  What I found was this......

 

 

 

The parked was nicknamed Los Parados and I could tell why.  It really was my own little piece of paradise and the best way to end our trip to Spain.

 

 

Auf Wiedersehen,

Chels



A Divided City

Our second and last class trip was to Berlin, the capital of Germany, was cold and dreary but that did not stop us from taking it all in.  We really saw and experienced almost everything that Berlin could offer.  The first day was quite a long train ride and we had some pasta when we arrived at out hostel and called in an early night.  The entire next day was spent at Sachsenhausen a Nazi concentration camp that was converted to a Russian prison camp after the war.  Saschsenhausen was expansive and there was so much to see and explore that it took hours to get through it all and even then I had to hurry through some of the exhibits.  This camp was a work and political opponent camp so it was unlike Auschwitz which was an extermination camp.  This camp held a lot of political opponents and then Jews, especially Jews that were very talented in craftsman work and could make intricate details on goods that the Nazis were producing.  After the war and the shut down of all concentration camps the USSR took over the camp and expanded it.  They held anti-communist supporters as well as former Nazis and pretty much anyone who showed any sort of resistance to the government.  The camp was definitely a super happy experience, but it was interesting to compare it to my Dachau experience as well as things that all of us have read in books and heard from survivors.

The next day we had an open top bus tour of Berlin with a river cruise.  We had the opportunity to see so much of Berlin and really get a lay of the land.  Elections were happening that day, which was also neat to see all of the press a the capital buildings.  The river cruise let us get an even closer look at some of the buildings and the neat restaurants and bars along the river.  We had a group lunch at an amazinglingly good German place, which was next to a cinema that was having a movie premiere going on.  The restaurant had so many different types of like mango, cherry, and passionfruit.  I had schnitzel of course because when the program pays for food its the only time I can afford it.  We had such a blast eating and we were laughing so hard we were crying.  After a late lunch 5 of us went to the Anne Frank Center to see her diary and learn about her life and what was going on in Germany and the Netherlands during the time she was in hiding.  What a strong girl to have gone through what she did.  I do not think that she would have ever believe that she would become an international figure for hope and perseverance.  Just me chillin on the boat with the Berlin Dom...

.
Monday was Museum Day and boy did Sarah and I cover major attractions and ground in Berlin.  We all started out a Checkpoint Charlie, a museum about the Berlin Wall and the occupation of East Germany.

After splitting off Sarah and I hit up the Neus Museum which had a huge collection of Egyptian and Roman artifacts which included the most well preserved bust of Nephratitit, quite possibly the most gorgeous woman ever.  After a quick stop to see the outside of the Berlin Dom Sarah convinced me to go see the DDR Museum and good thing she did, it was so much fun.  We put on clothes made in East Germany and I even put on an East German military helmet which was so heavy.....

We learned what it was really like to live in Communist East Germany and what people had to go through on a daily basis.  After learning anything and everything about the DDR we made our way to the Bradendurg Gate for some pics next to the US Embassy and a visit to the Holocaust Memorial.  The memorial is made up of all kinds of different height blocks and makes for an awesome photo shoot.  Sarah captured this great moment...

 

Slowly we made our way back to our hostel and stopped at a bombed out church on the.  The church was never fully replaced to stand as a memorial, but when we stopped by we actually found a service going on so we stayed for a bit.  Once we got back to the hostel we did a quick change and headed out to a casual concert put on by the Berlin Symphonie at the Berlin Philharmonie Hall, which has some of the best acoustics in Europe.  They played Brahms No 2 and had an after party afterwards in the lobby.  Sarah and I enjoyed a glass while listening to a super chill alternative singer.  It was the perfect way to end our Berlin trip.

 

While Berlin might have been cold and overcast there was no doubt that the city just pulses with activity and spills over with history and culture.  It was interesting to imagine what this divided city must have felt like and looked like while the wall was still in place.

 

Auf Wiedersehen,

Chels

 



Munchen:The Real German Experience

Gotta catch up on all of these bad boys before life really gets crazy.  Went to Munich two weekends ago and had a really good ole Bavarian time.  There is something different about Bavaria that makes an experience in that region so much more different than the rest of Germany.  Our journey started out a little rough.  We left on a 7 am train out of Reutlingen and when we reached our first stop on the line the train come to a complete stop and turned off.  We sat there in confusion for a long time not understanding any of the announcements on the speakers.  Finally out of pure frustration I turned to a German version of a Guido sitting next to me and asked what was going on.  He told that there was a body on the tracks and the rail was shut down until the police cleared the route.  This was a major problem for us because we were going to miss our connecting train with reservations that we had already paid for and we would miss our reservations for a tour at Neuschwanstein (Cinderella Castle) later that afternoon.  We got of the train and managed to call the castle and get our tour switched to Sunday.  We then chilled at a coffee shop until we could get on another train to take us to Stuttgart and then Munich.  The kicker of this whole ordeal is that we realized later on that it was Friday the 13th.

When we arrived at our hostel later that day we settled a little and then went exploring into the main city center.  Munich is gorgeous and the best part about it is that everything is so centrally located.  For dinner we went to the Augustine Kellar.  That night we just explored Munich and got familiar with the city.

On Saturday we visited the Residence which was the Bavarian Palace for multiple royal families.  Not only are there 130 rooms to see, but the treasury also contains the crown jewels.  I think I want this for Christmas.

After a morning in such a grand palace we were ready for Mike's Bike tour.  We dressed in coats and scarves and running shoes because it was so cold and raining.  We had a great tour guide named Tony who spent 4 hours that afternoon showing us everything that Munich had to offer we even stopped at the Chinese Pagoda beer garden for lunch and listened to a live brass band.



 

 

I don't know if you can really grasp how great "Tony the Tiger" was, so maybe this will help.  He stole my camera......

 



 

 

We ended the tour tired from laughing and so full of sights.  We saw the surfing bridge, the English Gardens, the square where Hitler first tried to overtake Munich, and so much more plus the rain for the most part held off.  That night we went to the infamous Hoffbrauhaus and I experienced a real beer hall and even had my first full liter of beer. 

 

 

We even met a new friend.  One of our roommates at the hostel was by herself and came out to dinner with us.  Zara was from Australia and she was so sweet.  Time seems to stand still in beer halls and who knew over three hours we would emerge completely stuffed from good Bavarian food and hoarse from singing with the brass band.  There is such a camaraderie in halls like this.  You sit next to complete strangers and end up meeting some amazing people who are from all over the world and are experiencing the same thing you are and singing the same drinking sings in German.

 

 

On Sunday we visited Neuschwanstein and even though I have been there before it never ceases to amaze me how crazy Ludwig helped create such an ionic piece of architecture.  I was hoping for a sunny day but we had some clouds, but that did not dampen the beauty of the castle.

 

 

Even though there was little issue bad luck on a very unlucky day, we had an amazing time and a very real German experience in Munchen.  Sometimes in Reutlingen I wish I was studying in Bavaria, which just has a different atmosphere than Baden-Wurttemberg but, than it would the magic out it.  Bavaria is just that: pure German magic.

 

Auf Wiedersehen,

Chels