I was going to let Matt have the last word with his lovely summarizing post, but I feel compelled to share this link with everyone in case you havent seen it yet:
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/06/12/vo.uk.pig.in.boots.itn?iref=videosearch
For whatever reason I think its the funniest thing ever. Au Revoir!
Friday, June 13, 2008
A fitting end...
So...
the blog in its current "euro bit crazy" form is slowly coming to an end. Today we arrived in Frankfurt on the final stop over of Euro trippin' 2008. To be honest, neither of us are entirely sure that this trip will end tomorrow with a successful AirIndia flight. Chances are good that we'll be in Frankfurt for an additional 48 hours or so, dining on curry while we sit on the Frankfurt tarmac. Not a bad city to end our trip with. We have seemingly come full circle as far as prices take us. Germany, home of the 2 euro sandwhich and 3 euro liter of beer is a fitting end for two budget strapped travelers. We tried to make it through the last 2 days of paris, a trip to frankfurt, and our flight home without spending more than 15 euros total! that sadly didn't work out and we had to shell out some extra cash and ATM fees to make it back...a fun game nonetheless. As we speak, Carlyn is fretting about the Air India website saying our plane will land in Los Angeles, not Chicago! oh no...phew, i think we figured it out. We'll just arrive 4 hours early to the airport to make sure. Bonus, on the train ride to Frankfurt, our train broke down and we all got moved to first class cabins! boo ya. The seats extra wide for those of us who are horizontally challenged.
Our final days in Paris were great. We saw Sacre Couer, a famed basilica made of "self cleansing" white marble that secretes a milky residue when it rains, applying a new coat of paint essentially. Carlyn was a bit disappointed with Moulin Rouge, literally a small theater tucked away in Paris' red-light district surrounded by...well you can imagine the local flavor....we'll keep it pg rated. Last night, we had dinner with two friends from UVA we met up with, some fondue and chocolate mousse, capped off with some banana and nutella crepes, awesome. My favorite part of parisian cuisine was undoubtably the gyros. We had 6 greek gyros stands within a block of our apt. not to mention that our apt smelled of gyros...sweet dreams.
Thanks to everyone for reading the blog. Best of luck with the recovery LK. Carlyn thinks a pig with rainboots on is the funniest thing ever...see the link.
the blog in its current "euro bit crazy" form is slowly coming to an end. Today we arrived in Frankfurt on the final stop over of Euro trippin' 2008. To be honest, neither of us are entirely sure that this trip will end tomorrow with a successful AirIndia flight. Chances are good that we'll be in Frankfurt for an additional 48 hours or so, dining on curry while we sit on the Frankfurt tarmac. Not a bad city to end our trip with. We have seemingly come full circle as far as prices take us. Germany, home of the 2 euro sandwhich and 3 euro liter of beer is a fitting end for two budget strapped travelers. We tried to make it through the last 2 days of paris, a trip to frankfurt, and our flight home without spending more than 15 euros total! that sadly didn't work out and we had to shell out some extra cash and ATM fees to make it back...a fun game nonetheless. As we speak, Carlyn is fretting about the Air India website saying our plane will land in Los Angeles, not Chicago! oh no...phew, i think we figured it out. We'll just arrive 4 hours early to the airport to make sure. Bonus, on the train ride to Frankfurt, our train broke down and we all got moved to first class cabins! boo ya. The seats extra wide for those of us who are horizontally challenged.
Our final days in Paris were great. We saw Sacre Couer, a famed basilica made of "self cleansing" white marble that secretes a milky residue when it rains, applying a new coat of paint essentially. Carlyn was a bit disappointed with Moulin Rouge, literally a small theater tucked away in Paris' red-light district surrounded by...well you can imagine the local flavor....we'll keep it pg rated. Last night, we had dinner with two friends from UVA we met up with, some fondue and chocolate mousse, capped off with some banana and nutella crepes, awesome. My favorite part of parisian cuisine was undoubtably the gyros. We had 6 greek gyros stands within a block of our apt. not to mention that our apt smelled of gyros...sweet dreams.
Thanks to everyone for reading the blog. Best of luck with the recovery LK. Carlyn thinks a pig with rainboots on is the funniest thing ever...see the link.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
mes pieds sont fatigues
Bonjour!
(thats all the French I know. I let Matt do most of the talking...I am still saying "gratzi" instead of "merci" most of the time...kinda a step behind.)
Anyways, we have finally made it to our last stop - Paris! The trip seems to have flown by, but Paris seems like a great way to go out with a bang. We arrived at the train station in Paris yesterday afternoon and walked to our amazing lodging in the 5th arrondissement, courtesy of my dad's very generous cousin, Mitch. The area where we are staying - the latin quarter - seems filled to the brim with bakeries, people in the streets and restaurants of every type of ethnic food imaginable (and affordable too!) A great place to be!
After filling up on gyros and crepes we walked to the Eiffel tower, and discovered that Paris is waaay bigger than any other cities we have wandered around. (It took us an hour to walk about an inch and a half on the map. After that we learned the metro system pretty quickly.) From the top of the tower we could see for miles, an awesome view of the city as it was just before sunset.
Today we ate croissants and meandered the Musee d'Orsay, catching up on the impressionist works of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and a few of their buddies. The museum was beautifully constructed and well-organized (and was truly appreciated more after we realized there was no line to get in!) Afterwards we walked down the Champs Ellyses and window-shopped, taking note of everything we can't afford, and probably wont be able to afford for a good 15 years. (Even a salad at one of the bakeries on that strip was out of my budget!)
Dinner was at a fun cafe on the street below the apartment, and we then heard some live music at a bar/coffee shop close by.
Look forward to seeing everyone soon!
(thats all the French I know. I let Matt do most of the talking...I am still saying "gratzi" instead of "merci" most of the time...kinda a step behind.)
Anyways, we have finally made it to our last stop - Paris! The trip seems to have flown by, but Paris seems like a great way to go out with a bang. We arrived at the train station in Paris yesterday afternoon and walked to our amazing lodging in the 5th arrondissement, courtesy of my dad's very generous cousin, Mitch. The area where we are staying - the latin quarter - seems filled to the brim with bakeries, people in the streets and restaurants of every type of ethnic food imaginable (and affordable too!) A great place to be!
After filling up on gyros and crepes we walked to the Eiffel tower, and discovered that Paris is waaay bigger than any other cities we have wandered around. (It took us an hour to walk about an inch and a half on the map. After that we learned the metro system pretty quickly.) From the top of the tower we could see for miles, an awesome view of the city as it was just before sunset.
Today we ate croissants and meandered the Musee d'Orsay, catching up on the impressionist works of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and a few of their buddies. The museum was beautifully constructed and well-organized (and was truly appreciated more after we realized there was no line to get in!) Afterwards we walked down the Champs Ellyses and window-shopped, taking note of everything we can't afford, and probably wont be able to afford for a good 15 years. (Even a salad at one of the bakeries on that strip was out of my budget!)
Dinner was at a fun cafe on the street below the apartment, and we then heard some live music at a bar/coffee shop close by.
Look forward to seeing everyone soon!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Move over Brittany...Carlyn's coming through
I sense a bit of a rivalry starting within the Kener household, and I'm glad to be the instigator and spectator as it plays out. Today, Carlyn and I did a 40'km lap around Lake Brienze, a prettz brutal route with a bit of mountain trail biking and some fast highway stretches. Although battered and broken from yesterdays hiking adventure, Carlyn and I persevered...oh yeah, one of us bonked pretty hard. I got the feeling that Carlyn didn't want to be bested by her sister in law (who I have been told has won quite a few accolades recently on 2 wheels). Regardless, the motivation was there for us to finish the ride just in time to get our bikes back without paying the extra $10 fee (my biggest fear...that money is now put to good use buying beers and thai food).
The sights around the lake were gorgeous. A tourquois blue lake, waterfalls, soaring mountains. Felt like we were riding in the swiss alps...oh wait, we were. Tonight, we watch the holland v. italz soccer game! I already was threatened today by a group of 8 dutch fans who thought I was wearing an italian jersey this morning...i think i could have taken 8 drunk hooligans at 10 in the morning.
breakfast this moring was awesome, some more meat and cheese sandwiches, oj, coffee and apples. carlyn made fun of me because i stole two pads of butter and cheese to hide in our hotel. ok, so i'm a cheap scavenger...proud of it. prices are ridiculous here! our thai dinner will cost$40! you would become a thief too.
-matt
The sights around the lake were gorgeous. A tourquois blue lake, waterfalls, soaring mountains. Felt like we were riding in the swiss alps...oh wait, we were. Tonight, we watch the holland v. italz soccer game! I already was threatened today by a group of 8 dutch fans who thought I was wearing an italian jersey this morning...i think i could have taken 8 drunk hooligans at 10 in the morning.
breakfast this moring was awesome, some more meat and cheese sandwiches, oj, coffee and apples. carlyn made fun of me because i stole two pads of butter and cheese to hide in our hotel. ok, so i'm a cheap scavenger...proud of it. prices are ridiculous here! our thai dinner will cost$40! you would become a thief too.
-matt
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Top of Europe!
Today we made the 4 hour trek up towards Jungfraujoch...The top of Europe. Switz's largest range is capped by a peak standing a paltry 4000m, about 12,000 feet...shy of many of Colorado's peaks. But, the view was amazing and the climb up to the top made us feel like we accomplished a great feat today. Our legs were toasted. Our only reprieve at the top of the climb was a sharing a great $15 bratwurst...expensive but well worth the money. if you can believe it, it was the first brat we've had while in europe, lived up to the hype.
Last night, we watched game one of Euro2008, a huge soccer tourney based in Switz. Last night, the swiss lost 1-0 to czech, pretty awful. Lets just say the town was a bit depressed after the game, but perhaps drunk soccer fans are more fun to watch when they've lost. Talk about taking their sorrows out on a bottle. The game was played on a huge 15 ft t.v. in the town center. we just chilled out there for the night and kicked back a few. Tonight, we'll watch Germany v. Poland, another game which I'm sure will get Interlaken's predominantly deutsche crowd up in arms.
Looking forward to our plush accomodations in Paris...hope all is well.
-matt
Last night, we watched game one of Euro2008, a huge soccer tourney based in Switz. Last night, the swiss lost 1-0 to czech, pretty awful. Lets just say the town was a bit depressed after the game, but perhaps drunk soccer fans are more fun to watch when they've lost. Talk about taking their sorrows out on a bottle. The game was played on a huge 15 ft t.v. in the town center. we just chilled out there for the night and kicked back a few. Tonight, we'll watch Germany v. Poland, another game which I'm sure will get Interlaken's predominantly deutsche crowd up in arms.
Looking forward to our plush accomodations in Paris...hope all is well.
-matt
Friday, June 6, 2008
Yummmm
I am guessing Matt will describe the amazing landscape of Cinque Terre and what we have been up to, so I will give a run-down on the really important stuff...the food!
Cinque Terre is full of tiny cliff-side towns, with the mountain sides covered in olive trees and grape vineyards. Needless to say, local wine and delicious olive oil is plentiful, along with foods containing these things! There are "foccacerias" everywhere selling large pieces of foccacia stuffed with all sorts of things (olives, carmelized onions, pesto, tomatoes, parm, etc.) Pesto is made with the local olive oil and is sold as scoops out of big vasts in all the local markets. There are beautiful lemon trees in everyones yard (along with their own personal gardens growing lettuce and basil) and lemon granitas (slushies) are delicious! Finally, the seafood is amazing! Tonight we had seafood spaghetti- full of mussels, clams, and squid!
Internet here is kinda expensive, but we think we have free use of it in Interlaken, so hopefully we will get pictures posted there! (Matt thinks its kinda ridiculous, but I have taken almost as many pictures of the food we eat as the scenery!)
Cinque Terre is full of tiny cliff-side towns, with the mountain sides covered in olive trees and grape vineyards. Needless to say, local wine and delicious olive oil is plentiful, along with foods containing these things! There are "foccacerias" everywhere selling large pieces of foccacia stuffed with all sorts of things (olives, carmelized onions, pesto, tomatoes, parm, etc.) Pesto is made with the local olive oil and is sold as scoops out of big vasts in all the local markets. There are beautiful lemon trees in everyones yard (along with their own personal gardens growing lettuce and basil) and lemon granitas (slushies) are delicious! Finally, the seafood is amazing! Tonight we had seafood spaghetti- full of mussels, clams, and squid!
Internet here is kinda expensive, but we think we have free use of it in Interlaken, so hopefully we will get pictures posted there! (Matt thinks its kinda ridiculous, but I have taken almost as many pictures of the food we eat as the scenery!)
Cinque Terre...somewhere in South America?
Cinque Terre, perhaps looks more like some subtropic rainforest resort rather than northern Italy! Our destinations seem to be getting better and better. CT is a string of 5 towns right along the coast connected only by a series of "coastal paths". But don't let this fool you, I was expecting leisurely strolls along the beach. The paths are up and down sheer cliffs and through some pretty rugged terrain. A 4km hike took us about 1.5hours! Incredible views all the way. Carlyn has fallen in love with the place, the crystal water, the colorful homes and of course, the amazing seafood and pesto. I am usually turned off by small towns with nothing to do but shop and meander through little streets, but I have to admit, I was presently surprised by our villa. Our hotel window looks right our over the Mediteranean, sea breeze and all. The pictures look straight out of a magazine...to be posted. we even found a small beach this morning...a bit rockier than we expected...water was freezing...but I guess that was the only opp. I got to swim on this trip.
Tomorrow we leave for Interlaken...my long awaited oasis in the hills! I want to hike all day long, we'll see how we fare trespassing the Jungfrau range. I'm sure we'll do our fair share of window shopping in "cute towns", but I guess that's a compromise I'm willing to make. Hope everyone is doing great!
Tomorrow we leave for Interlaken...my long awaited oasis in the hills! I want to hike all day long, we'll see how we fare trespassing the Jungfrau range. I'm sure we'll do our fair share of window shopping in "cute towns", but I guess that's a compromise I'm willing to make. Hope everyone is doing great!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Pontiff Sighting
I have to keep this short because we are hurrying out of our hostel. We got quite the bargain today! We woke up early and hurried over to the Vatican to beat the infamous lines forming at the museum. Oddly, we found ourselves swept up in all the commotion and flock of people surrounding St. Peter's Basillica even at 8 in the morning. Lots of chairs set up...rock concert?! no...who other than the Pope himself was preparing to speak before a crowd of I'd guess 10,000 in St. Peters square. We found seats in the last section, but the front row. Good choice because at precisely 10:30...the Pope in the Pope Mobil, a small Mercedes golf cart, rolled up no more than 5 feet away from us!!! I got a great pic of him...I promise to post it soon. What an amazing experience. We could have easily reached out and touched his convertible...but we were a bit scared of the Swiss Guard making sure no one got within range for a high five. Awesome!
We spent the rest of the morning touring the Vatican. Saw the Sistine Chapel (incredible!) and many famous works by Michaelangelo and Rafael (School of Athens) at a discounted student rate of only 8€! fantastic. We'll speak more about this later....I'm not kidding...5 feet!
The Basilica of St. Peter is larger than you could imagine...easily 20x the size of St. Pets back in GE. Hope everyone had a great day. We're off to CinqueTerre for some hiking and beaching.
- Matt
We spent the rest of the morning touring the Vatican. Saw the Sistine Chapel (incredible!) and many famous works by Michaelangelo and Rafael (School of Athens) at a discounted student rate of only 8€! fantastic. We'll speak more about this later....I'm not kidding...5 feet!
The Basilica of St. Peter is larger than you could imagine...easily 20x the size of St. Pets back in GE. Hope everyone had a great day. We're off to CinqueTerre for some hiking and beaching.
- Matt
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Move Over Rachel Ray!
So in case you arent familiar, Rachel Ray has a travel show called "$40 a day" in which she shows you how to visit a city and not go over your budget...Well Matt enacted a new challenge for us today..."Italy on 10€/day!"
Our entire day went something like this:
0€ - delicious breakfast of rolls, cheese, salami, coffee, OJ and yogurt at our B&B
0€ - walked through ancient ruins, saw Trajan column
1,5€ - each ate a peach at the Camp Fiore (awesome outdoor market with fresh fruits, veggies, pasta, herbs, olive oils, flowers, and public fountains to wash off your purchases)
0€ - saw the Pantheon!
1,5€ - I ate a mini sandwhich of tomato, mozz., and lettuce
0€ - Hung out by the Trevi fountain and watched tourists throw their money in and make a wish
3€ - Matt got 100 grams of roasted almonds from a street vendor
0€ - Saw the Spanish Steps (pretty anticlimactic)
5€ - Split a salad with olives, mozz, tuna and corn
0€ - went back to Hostel and used free internet
9€ - ate dinner at an awesome hole in the wall restaurant next to hostel (2 gyros and 1 tiramisu)
Grand total: 20€ (fo da bo da us! 10 each! woohoo!)
p.s. despite being overjoyed with our frugal spending habits and saving a good bit of money today, it was kinda embarrassing each time we entered a deli, immediately asked how much everything was while salivating over sandwhiches, and then had to huddle together to decide which item we could afford to pay for and split...
Our entire day went something like this:
0€ - delicious breakfast of rolls, cheese, salami, coffee, OJ and yogurt at our B&B
0€ - walked through ancient ruins, saw Trajan column
1,5€ - each ate a peach at the Camp Fiore (awesome outdoor market with fresh fruits, veggies, pasta, herbs, olive oils, flowers, and public fountains to wash off your purchases)
0€ - saw the Pantheon!
1,5€ - I ate a mini sandwhich of tomato, mozz., and lettuce
0€ - Hung out by the Trevi fountain and watched tourists throw their money in and make a wish
3€ - Matt got 100 grams of roasted almonds from a street vendor
0€ - Saw the Spanish Steps (pretty anticlimactic)
5€ - Split a salad with olives, mozz, tuna and corn
0€ - went back to Hostel and used free internet
9€ - ate dinner at an awesome hole in the wall restaurant next to hostel (2 gyros and 1 tiramisu)
Grand total: 20€ (fo da bo da us! 10 each! woohoo!)
p.s. despite being overjoyed with our frugal spending habits and saving a good bit of money today, it was kinda embarrassing each time we entered a deli, immediately asked how much everything was while salivating over sandwhiches, and then had to huddle together to decide which item we could afford to pay for and split...
Monday, June 2, 2008
oh i wish i was a gladiator soldier...that is what i really want to be
I'll keep my comments short because it appears Carlyn wrote a small novel for y'all to finish. Carlyn assigned me only two topics for this post: The Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica and the Colloseum.
1.) The Basilica is right next to our hostel and is perhaps the second coolest church we've seen on this trip so far. Highlights included the tomb of Pope Pius V and the final resting place of Benini. Furthermore, we saw the Bourghese family chapel within the Basilica, very ornate and surrounded by about 20 Pontiff statues. Underneath the main alter is the supposed crib of Jesus Christ. yeah...double take on that one. I learned about this in my last Catholicism class, pretty cool stuff. it was closed off when we got there, but we might go back and check it out tomorrow. Directly in front of the crib is a 10 foot tall statue of Pope Pius X, praying...unfortunately, i think it detracts a bit from the aura.
2.) THE COLLOSEUM of ROME! Perhaps my favorite sight on this trip thus far! Gotta hand it to the Romans, they sure know how to slaughter their citizens with style and class. its everything that you would imagine. After seeing The Gladiator, the whole stadium really comes to life. I spent the entire tour doing Russel Crow impersonations. Haha...Carlyn has never seen the movie and just thought I was making the whole thing up off the top of my head! "What a weirdo!" she would say...but I pose it to all of you...could you have resisted the temptation to act out Maximus' final days if you were in my shoes? I think not...my brother should be nodding right now. We will post pics soon! I'll leave it at that!
- maximus, maximus, maximus!
1.) The Basilica is right next to our hostel and is perhaps the second coolest church we've seen on this trip so far. Highlights included the tomb of Pope Pius V and the final resting place of Benini. Furthermore, we saw the Bourghese family chapel within the Basilica, very ornate and surrounded by about 20 Pontiff statues. Underneath the main alter is the supposed crib of Jesus Christ. yeah...double take on that one. I learned about this in my last Catholicism class, pretty cool stuff. it was closed off when we got there, but we might go back and check it out tomorrow. Directly in front of the crib is a 10 foot tall statue of Pope Pius X, praying...unfortunately, i think it detracts a bit from the aura.
2.) THE COLLOSEUM of ROME! Perhaps my favorite sight on this trip thus far! Gotta hand it to the Romans, they sure know how to slaughter their citizens with style and class. its everything that you would imagine. After seeing The Gladiator, the whole stadium really comes to life. I spent the entire tour doing Russel Crow impersonations. Haha...Carlyn has never seen the movie and just thought I was making the whole thing up off the top of my head! "What a weirdo!" she would say...but I pose it to all of you...could you have resisted the temptation to act out Maximus' final days if you were in my shoes? I think not...my brother should be nodding right now. We will post pics soon! I'll leave it at that!
- maximus, maximus, maximus!
Scammed! (and other fun news from Rome)
This morning we woke up in Florence, checked out of our super-Americanized hostel (complete with 80+ other recent college grads, bar/discoteca, and free pasta for everyone starting at midnight) and boarded a train to Rome. The ride to Rome was beautiful as we passed through 3.5 hours of rolling hills and quaint towns.
Once in Rome we walked out of the train station, to which I realized there is really no such thing as fresh air in Europe. Even if you are outdoors enjoying the sunshine it is a safe bet that there are at least 15 people around you blowing smoke in your face. ew, I really dont understand that part of the culture. Anyways, we headed to our hostel, which is a little eclectic...
It is called the Bavaria B & B and the picture online was of a huge, ornate German-inspired building/castle, so you can understand how our expectations were high! Once we followed the directions and found the address we were faced with a simple brown door, on a regular street in Rome... we were a little confused. We were then buzzed up by Carlo, a portly older gentleman in a tank top and slippers (it was 4 in the afternoon...) who showed us all around his apartment. This was after we wound up 3 flights of dimly lit stairs and walked through several dodgy hallways. He and his wife have turned their flat into a bed and breakfast of sorts, with multiple rooms for guests, 2 bathrooms, and a nicely-decorated kitchen area with free internet! Despite the somewhat misleading description/picture online, they were very kind and set us up with a map of the city and some tips on where to go.
We headed out to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basillica and the Colloseum for the afternoon, but I will leave those to Matt to describe. After the Colloseum we ate dinner at a restaurant nearby and got a great deal on pizza, lasagna, bruschetta and wine. For added entertainment we sat on the patio right next to the "Coming Out!" gay restaurant next door. (N.B. I have absolutely nothing against gay people, despite finding the experience somewhat comical.) We then wandered back to the hostel, meeting up with 2 other travelers like us along the way who were standing under a streetlamp looking confused, clearly holding a free map from some other hostel. Turned out to be from Texas and OK, so we chatted about San Antonio for awhile.
Next came the "lesson learned" part of the evening where we got scammed by some gelato con artists! We wandered into a gelateria/caffe in a piazza near our hotel and asked the friendly chap behind the counter how much the small was. "2 scoops for 2 euros!" he replied. Great, we thought, we will each have some. "To sit down or to take away?" he inquired. "We my as well sit down and enjoy the evening..." we responded. So we sat and they brought out the gelato in glass bowls, each with a couple of biscotti cookies drizzled with chocolate.
Later, when the bill came, it was for 17 Euros!! (Which is rougly 30 bucks...for ice cream!) Matt asked what was up with the bill, as we were led to believe it would be 4 euros total, to which they cleverly explained that to sit and eat costs 8.50, instead of 2. Needless to say there were some words exchanged, as they tried to act like it is common sense to assume the price of food increases by over 400% when you sit at their lousy table. We searched in our wallets and only came up with about 8 euros total (well we at least tried to make it look like thats all we had.) Then they insisted that I go to the ATM across the street and withdraw more money to pay for the rest of their incredibly overpriced ice cream...I am not proud to say that we made up a story about how my ATM card wouldnt work because I hadnt called the bank to let them know I was traveling, pretended to try the ATM anyway, and eventually gave them around 11 euros and called it even. We got out of paying 17, but feel pretty ripped off anyways.
In other news:
-America: 1 point, Italy 0 (in regards to having to pay extra money in order to drink water with your dinner)
-And I discovered that my 4 years of Latin education officially got me nowhere, becasue despite being surrounded by ancient latin inscriptions throughout Rome, I can only remember the translation for 1 word. (agricola = farmer)
Sorry this post is miles long, free internet will do that to you! Hope everyone is doing well!
-Carlyn
Once in Rome we walked out of the train station, to which I realized there is really no such thing as fresh air in Europe. Even if you are outdoors enjoying the sunshine it is a safe bet that there are at least 15 people around you blowing smoke in your face. ew, I really dont understand that part of the culture. Anyways, we headed to our hostel, which is a little eclectic...
It is called the Bavaria B & B and the picture online was of a huge, ornate German-inspired building/castle, so you can understand how our expectations were high! Once we followed the directions and found the address we were faced with a simple brown door, on a regular street in Rome... we were a little confused. We were then buzzed up by Carlo, a portly older gentleman in a tank top and slippers (it was 4 in the afternoon...) who showed us all around his apartment. This was after we wound up 3 flights of dimly lit stairs and walked through several dodgy hallways. He and his wife have turned their flat into a bed and breakfast of sorts, with multiple rooms for guests, 2 bathrooms, and a nicely-decorated kitchen area with free internet! Despite the somewhat misleading description/picture online, they were very kind and set us up with a map of the city and some tips on where to go.
We headed out to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basillica and the Colloseum for the afternoon, but I will leave those to Matt to describe. After the Colloseum we ate dinner at a restaurant nearby and got a great deal on pizza, lasagna, bruschetta and wine. For added entertainment we sat on the patio right next to the "Coming Out!" gay restaurant next door. (N.B. I have absolutely nothing against gay people, despite finding the experience somewhat comical.) We then wandered back to the hostel, meeting up with 2 other travelers like us along the way who were standing under a streetlamp looking confused, clearly holding a free map from some other hostel. Turned out to be from Texas and OK, so we chatted about San Antonio for awhile.
Next came the "lesson learned" part of the evening where we got scammed by some gelato con artists! We wandered into a gelateria/caffe in a piazza near our hotel and asked the friendly chap behind the counter how much the small was. "2 scoops for 2 euros!" he replied. Great, we thought, we will each have some. "To sit down or to take away?" he inquired. "We my as well sit down and enjoy the evening..." we responded. So we sat and they brought out the gelato in glass bowls, each with a couple of biscotti cookies drizzled with chocolate.
Later, when the bill came, it was for 17 Euros!! (Which is rougly 30 bucks...for ice cream!) Matt asked what was up with the bill, as we were led to believe it would be 4 euros total, to which they cleverly explained that to sit and eat costs 8.50, instead of 2. Needless to say there were some words exchanged, as they tried to act like it is common sense to assume the price of food increases by over 400% when you sit at their lousy table. We searched in our wallets and only came up with about 8 euros total (well we at least tried to make it look like thats all we had.) Then they insisted that I go to the ATM across the street and withdraw more money to pay for the rest of their incredibly overpriced ice cream...I am not proud to say that we made up a story about how my ATM card wouldnt work because I hadnt called the bank to let them know I was traveling, pretended to try the ATM anyway, and eventually gave them around 11 euros and called it even. We got out of paying 17, but feel pretty ripped off anyways.
In other news:
-America: 1 point, Italy 0 (in regards to having to pay extra money in order to drink water with your dinner)
-And I discovered that my 4 years of Latin education officially got me nowhere, becasue despite being surrounded by ancient latin inscriptions throughout Rome, I can only remember the translation for 1 word. (agricola = farmer)
Sorry this post is miles long, free internet will do that to you! Hope everyone is doing well!
-Carlyn
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Italianisms
So I have picked up on a few things since being in Italy...
1. Italians seem to be obsessed with naked people and naked body parts. I would venture that 90% of the art we have seen in this country is of nude or partially nude people. (A little too much nakedness for my tastes, but who am I to judge.)
2. Florence is a little like Mexico. Lots of pushcarts selling leather goods, lots of haggling! (A lot of fun for Matt.)
3. Fresh fruit is quite the luxury, and apparantly only to be consumed on special occasions. For breakfast this morning all I really wanted was some fresh fruit...much to my despise I discovered that a (small) cup of fruit is 6 euros! (For 6 euros you could instead get an entire cheese pizza, 1.5 bottles of wine, 6 chocolate croissants, or 2 prosciutto and mozzarella panninis. geez, where do these people get their antioxidants!?)
4. Mopeds and Motorcycles are the coolest. The ratio of motorcycles:cars is probably 3:1.
I am sure I am forgeting to mention a whole host of other peculiarities, but thats all for now!
-Carlyn
1. Italians seem to be obsessed with naked people and naked body parts. I would venture that 90% of the art we have seen in this country is of nude or partially nude people. (A little too much nakedness for my tastes, but who am I to judge.)
2. Florence is a little like Mexico. Lots of pushcarts selling leather goods, lots of haggling! (A lot of fun for Matt.)
3. Fresh fruit is quite the luxury, and apparantly only to be consumed on special occasions. For breakfast this morning all I really wanted was some fresh fruit...much to my despise I discovered that a (small) cup of fruit is 6 euros! (For 6 euros you could instead get an entire cheese pizza, 1.5 bottles of wine, 6 chocolate croissants, or 2 prosciutto and mozzarella panninis. geez, where do these people get their antioxidants!?)
4. Mopeds and Motorcycles are the coolest. The ratio of motorcycles:cars is probably 3:1.
I am sure I am forgeting to mention a whole host of other peculiarities, but thats all for now!
-Carlyn
Post on VI - I - MMVIII
So we are just finishing up our time in Firenze (Florence). Today we went to the famed Uffizi gallery and waited in line for 2.25 hours! that's more time than we spent inside the gallery! That's more time than we spent planning our trip to Florence, or Europe for that matter! Was it worth it? well, we saw a lot of great paintings and sculptures by Da Vinci, Rafael, Michaelangelo etc...I don't remember most of them, even though i would consider myself a bit of an art guy. We did see the Birth of Venus, you know the one where she is standing on an oyster! That was kind of cool. We also saw multiple versions of the Adoration of the Magi, also neat. to be honest, the museum was well worth the 6.50€ entrance fee. I would not stand in line for 3 hours again to go see the exhibit though. The best part of standing in line was watching Carlyn's pen explode all over her hand, only to be hastily taken care of by 4 elderly Italian women bearing gifts of wet wipes, giving me dirty looks since I was rolled over in laughter. I told her to put the pen down..."it has a cap" she said, "no worries", then blam! black ink everywhere!
After the gallery, we walked around the famed Florence leather shops, snooping for deals and haggling over merchandise. Carlyn splurged on a 80€ leather coat. she assures me it is a good deal, high quality, and that her parents won't get mad at her. I thought it looked swell.
tonight, we're going to walk around the main plaza, there is a great guitar player who hangs out there at night and plays Paul Simon, U2 and Beatles hits.
Tomorrow we head to Rome...I'm sure the visit will go as follows...we arive after a 2 hour train ride to a hostel resembling Ceaser's Palace, we are fed grapes, wine and cheese as we are paraded through the streets on chariots. Then we will entertain ourselves at the Colliseum with some sport, before proceeding to the Pantheon and Spanish Steps. The next day will entail trips to the Vatican to visit the Pope, all while being treated like Ceaser Augustus....Let's be honest...we will probably spend half our time there standing in lines to see 2000 year old crumbling architecture all while avoiding pickpocketers seeking to wreak havoc on innocent tourists. its kind of fun to imagine though.
Ciao! - Mattimus Jamus Kinnivus, Ruler of the armies of the North and Servant to the Once True Emperor Marcus Aurelius...Or...Don Mattheus, head of the most famed mob family in all of Italy...If you don't comment on this blog...you'll find yourself swimming with the fishes.
After the gallery, we walked around the famed Florence leather shops, snooping for deals and haggling over merchandise. Carlyn splurged on a 80€ leather coat. she assures me it is a good deal, high quality, and that her parents won't get mad at her. I thought it looked swell.
tonight, we're going to walk around the main plaza, there is a great guitar player who hangs out there at night and plays Paul Simon, U2 and Beatles hits.
Tomorrow we head to Rome...I'm sure the visit will go as follows...we arive after a 2 hour train ride to a hostel resembling Ceaser's Palace, we are fed grapes, wine and cheese as we are paraded through the streets on chariots. Then we will entertain ourselves at the Colliseum with some sport, before proceeding to the Pantheon and Spanish Steps. The next day will entail trips to the Vatican to visit the Pope, all while being treated like Ceaser Augustus....Let's be honest...we will probably spend half our time there standing in lines to see 2000 year old crumbling architecture all while avoiding pickpocketers seeking to wreak havoc on innocent tourists. its kind of fun to imagine though.
Ciao! - Mattimus Jamus Kinnivus, Ruler of the armies of the North and Servant to the Once True Emperor Marcus Aurelius...Or...Don Mattheus, head of the most famed mob family in all of Italy...If you don't comment on this blog...you'll find yourself swimming with the fishes.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Question is...
how much gelato can one person eat in a week?
I know my mom is cringing while reading this, but it seems that in Italy a cone of gelato is a totally acceptable replacement for lunch or breakfast. (Not dinner of course, because thats where the pizza comes in.) There are gelato shops every 12 feet, a cone is only 1 euro, and all flavors are delicious, so who are we to not embrace this culinary marvel multiple times a day? It might be my favorite part about Italy...
In other news, we spent yesterday wandering around Venice again and made a stop at the Doge's palace in the Piazza de San Marco. It was a pretty good time seeing all the ornate tapestries, gold-embellished ceilings and incredible paintings adorning the walls. We later walked around some new neighborhoods in Venice, ending up walking in almost an entire loop around the city. For dinner we found the cheapest restaurant/pizzeria in the small square near our hotel and ate pizza and spaghetti on the patio outside. Children were running around the square kicking soccer balls (I think Matt wanted to join in) and old italian men were playing the guitar and accordian - it felt very quintessential Italian!
This morning we walked back over near the Rialto bridge (a thriving section of town near the Grande Canal, full of street vendors and tourists). We got fresh fruit for breakfast and shopped for Murano glass before heading out to the train station. The train to Florence worked out as planned (except for an unexpected reservation fee). This might be our first transportation experience that was incident-free! Woohoo, we are clearly getting better at being Italian...
Now we are in Florence and are headed out for the evening to hike to the top of a hill on the outskirts of the city where there is apparantly a beautiful view of everything. Sounds great for pictures!
- Carlyn
I know my mom is cringing while reading this, but it seems that in Italy a cone of gelato is a totally acceptable replacement for lunch or breakfast. (Not dinner of course, because thats where the pizza comes in.) There are gelato shops every 12 feet, a cone is only 1 euro, and all flavors are delicious, so who are we to not embrace this culinary marvel multiple times a day? It might be my favorite part about Italy...
In other news, we spent yesterday wandering around Venice again and made a stop at the Doge's palace in the Piazza de San Marco. It was a pretty good time seeing all the ornate tapestries, gold-embellished ceilings and incredible paintings adorning the walls. We later walked around some new neighborhoods in Venice, ending up walking in almost an entire loop around the city. For dinner we found the cheapest restaurant/pizzeria in the small square near our hotel and ate pizza and spaghetti on the patio outside. Children were running around the square kicking soccer balls (I think Matt wanted to join in) and old italian men were playing the guitar and accordian - it felt very quintessential Italian!
This morning we walked back over near the Rialto bridge (a thriving section of town near the Grande Canal, full of street vendors and tourists). We got fresh fruit for breakfast and shopped for Murano glass before heading out to the train station. The train to Florence worked out as planned (except for an unexpected reservation fee). This might be our first transportation experience that was incident-free! Woohoo, we are clearly getting better at being Italian...
Now we are in Florence and are headed out for the evening to hike to the top of a hill on the outskirts of the city where there is apparantly a beautiful view of everything. Sounds great for pictures!
- Carlyn
Pigeon poop and Posers
So...we never made it to the glass island of Murano :( One of us overslept...I won't say who. The rest of our stay in Venice was great. a great dinner at a small piazza restaurant near our room, complete with violins. We both tried the local venetian drink, a spritz, but neither of us were that impressed. It tasted a lot like a shirley temple chock full o' amaretto to me. so now, after too much beer in munich and a shoddy shirley temple, I've switched to wine just in time to hit our stride in Florence and Rome. We did a bit of shopping this morning, I almost bought Jimbo a pimp silk tie with Gondolas on it, but decided he would look like a venetian poser (sorry bro). a few other small purchases were made...surprises await.
As for the pictures published to the right...Yes, those are rabid pigeons. Yes, i probably now have salmonella. No, they did not poop on me.
Out train to Florence was great, except we had to pay an unexpected 30€ reservation fee...booo! we got a bit of rest until a small child with a blood curdling scream decided he wasn't getting enough attention. oh well...a quick nap in our new (very american) hostel set things straight.
we are off to go see the Brunullesci duomo and the piazza Michaelangelo, a bit of grub on the way. Tomorrow will be a whirlwind art tour of the Accademia galerie and the Uffizi. hope all is well state side. ciao!
As for the pictures published to the right...Yes, those are rabid pigeons. Yes, i probably now have salmonella. No, they did not poop on me.
Out train to Florence was great, except we had to pay an unexpected 30€ reservation fee...booo! we got a bit of rest until a small child with a blood curdling scream decided he wasn't getting enough attention. oh well...a quick nap in our new (very american) hostel set things straight.
we are off to go see the Brunullesci duomo and the piazza Michaelangelo, a bit of grub on the way. Tomorrow will be a whirlwind art tour of the Accademia galerie and the Uffizi. hope all is well state side. ciao!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Italian Job
For those of you familiar with the Italian Job, the movie opens with a gorgeous panorama of Donald Sutherland standing in the Piaza de San Marco, the "prize jewel" of Venice and now, probably one of my favorite square miles on this earth! Amazing! The plaza is filled with tons of tourists, and probably more pigeons, but somehow all of this cannot distract you from the incredible building surrounding the plaza on all sides. The Basilica of Saint Mark is mesmerizing. the entire building seems to be cast in gold, with frescos completed by some of the great italian masters. There is even a portrait of the Virgin Mary we learned about in class, that was carried into battle by the Romans back in the 15th century, very cool. Carlyn went to the top of the bell tower and snapped some great shots of the city from on high, but to be honest, the only way to really experience this place is to wander aimlessly through the narrow streets. How do all of these glass shops, gelatto shops and pizzerias make money? so many of them are tucked away in narrow corridors, visible only if you mistakenly, or purposefully wander off trail on your way to the Rialto bridge. We had a great dinner along the Grand Chanel, complete with red wine and belinis. the pizza was great, the ambiance was fantastic. Italian music seems to pervade everything, with a little bit of Frank Sinatra thrown in here and there.
We are exhausted and will probably head to bed early tonight. Our room is situated in the old part of Venice. When we first arrived, we were sure that it would be a disaster, the front door was surrounded by flies and a weird stench pervaded the street. But...once you open the door and step behind the main facades of these buildings, they are incredibly spacious and accomodating. You would think this whole city could crumble any minute, yet once within the walls, you find yourself quite at home. Remarkable! Sadly I have no humorous stories or adventure stories to share. I was pretty proud of myself for navigating the 65+ turns to make it back to our room from the plaza de san marco...without looking at a map! God help me if we ever drink to much wine and have to find our way home... hopefully tomorrows trip to "the glass island" will yield some fun times. As for the Gondolas, they are sooo expensive! but I'll try to pay someone just to let me sit in one and snap some photos. Ciao, arivaderci, prego...all of the above.
- Matt man dango
We are exhausted and will probably head to bed early tonight. Our room is situated in the old part of Venice. When we first arrived, we were sure that it would be a disaster, the front door was surrounded by flies and a weird stench pervaded the street. But...once you open the door and step behind the main facades of these buildings, they are incredibly spacious and accomodating. You would think this whole city could crumble any minute, yet once within the walls, you find yourself quite at home. Remarkable! Sadly I have no humorous stories or adventure stories to share. I was pretty proud of myself for navigating the 65+ turns to make it back to our room from the plaza de san marco...without looking at a map! God help me if we ever drink to much wine and have to find our way home... hopefully tomorrows trip to "the glass island" will yield some fun times. As for the Gondolas, they are sooo expensive! but I'll try to pay someone just to let me sit in one and snap some photos. Ciao, arivaderci, prego...all of the above.
- Matt man dango
Prego!
I love Venice!
We left Munich last night around 9pm on the train. We were in a compartment with 6 seats (all of which sat pretty much straight up, which was slightly dissapointing at first) but then we realized no one else was in our compartment so we each had 3 seats to lay across. Not bad at all for the cheapest area of the train...until around 1am when two larger ladies barged in and decided to share our compartment. When they started talking to us we were a little groggy (and confused as to where they had come from and why they were taking over our beds) and couldnt really understand them. Matt asked "What language do you speak?" to which the larger lady shot him a dirty look and said "English." Woops. "Oh ya, I mean of course, Your english is great."
Things started a little rough with them, and didnt get too much better, but 4 hours later they finally got off the train in Verona and we were each able to get about 2 hours sleep...
So needless to say the first thing we did after arriving in Venice was take a nap! Our accommodations here are great - We are staying in a place down a tiny ally, not far from the taxiboat stop, owned by Luca - an extremely friendly landlord who happily showed us a map of the city while wearing his pajamas (we woke him up upon our arrival.)
Today we wandered around Venice, got lost in alleyways, saw the incredible St. Marks basilica, and went to the top of a church bell tower where I could see across the entire island. We later ate pizza and gnocci at a restaurant on the main river. This place is so unique and beautiful! Looking forward to taking a boat to Murano tomorrow to see all the glasswork. Ciao!
We left Munich last night around 9pm on the train. We were in a compartment with 6 seats (all of which sat pretty much straight up, which was slightly dissapointing at first) but then we realized no one else was in our compartment so we each had 3 seats to lay across. Not bad at all for the cheapest area of the train...until around 1am when two larger ladies barged in and decided to share our compartment. When they started talking to us we were a little groggy (and confused as to where they had come from and why they were taking over our beds) and couldnt really understand them. Matt asked "What language do you speak?" to which the larger lady shot him a dirty look and said "English." Woops. "Oh ya, I mean of course, Your english is great."
Things started a little rough with them, and didnt get too much better, but 4 hours later they finally got off the train in Verona and we were each able to get about 2 hours sleep...
So needless to say the first thing we did after arriving in Venice was take a nap! Our accommodations here are great - We are staying in a place down a tiny ally, not far from the taxiboat stop, owned by Luca - an extremely friendly landlord who happily showed us a map of the city while wearing his pajamas (we woke him up upon our arrival.)
Today we wandered around Venice, got lost in alleyways, saw the incredible St. Marks basilica, and went to the top of a church bell tower where I could see across the entire island. We later ate pizza and gnocci at a restaurant on the main river. This place is so unique and beautiful! Looking forward to taking a boat to Murano tomorrow to see all the glasswork. Ciao!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Goodbye Munich!
This morning we woke up around 1030 am and started to prepare for an 11am check-out from our hostel...around 1045 we realized check-out was actually supposed to happen by 10. Woops! The great thing about the people around here though is that they dont seem to take anything too seriously. I guess a culture that condones drinking beer around 10am on a weekday cant be too particular about many rules.
After packing up and heading out of the hostel we walked around town, behind one of the many ancient churches to a huge outdoor market. There were numerous vendors selling fruits, veggies, (and spargel of course), gelato, coffee, salami and sausages, fish, and beer by the liter. It was so fun, colorful, and packed full of people! (Again, I cant really figure out when anyone here goes to work... the daily routine seems to include waking up, having a pint, walking around, jabbering in German, eating some sausage, have some more beer and finish off the day with a pretzel.)
Later we headed to the royal gardens and took a nap in the grass for a couple of hours. I only woke up once to a curious black lab in my face, but that was okay because it kinda reminded me of home.
We walked around the city a bunch trying the find the German museum of technology and happened across this awesome little sandwhich shop. The owner was a young lady named Lucy who fixed us delicious salads and then sat and talked wtih us for an hour! She was Czech but knew German, English and Russian and was the most animated and opinionated lady! When I told her I was from Texas she said "Oh! Yes I know Texas!" and then put her arms on top of her head in the shape of a longhorn's horns! haha she also filled us in on the German tax system (of which she is greatly opposed) and the sterotypes of Egyptian travelers.
Later we checked out the Museum briefly and are now about to head to the train station. We have reservations for an overnight train to Venice (or at least we think and hope we have reservations...) Hopefully the train will be comfy enough to get some sleep!
After packing up and heading out of the hostel we walked around town, behind one of the many ancient churches to a huge outdoor market. There were numerous vendors selling fruits, veggies, (and spargel of course), gelato, coffee, salami and sausages, fish, and beer by the liter. It was so fun, colorful, and packed full of people! (Again, I cant really figure out when anyone here goes to work... the daily routine seems to include waking up, having a pint, walking around, jabbering in German, eating some sausage, have some more beer and finish off the day with a pretzel.)
Later we headed to the royal gardens and took a nap in the grass for a couple of hours. I only woke up once to a curious black lab in my face, but that was okay because it kinda reminded me of home.
We walked around the city a bunch trying the find the German museum of technology and happened across this awesome little sandwhich shop. The owner was a young lady named Lucy who fixed us delicious salads and then sat and talked wtih us for an hour! She was Czech but knew German, English and Russian and was the most animated and opinionated lady! When I told her I was from Texas she said "Oh! Yes I know Texas!" and then put her arms on top of her head in the shape of a longhorn's horns! haha she also filled us in on the German tax system (of which she is greatly opposed) and the sterotypes of Egyptian travelers.
Later we checked out the Museum briefly and are now about to head to the train station. We have reservations for an overnight train to Venice (or at least we think and hope we have reservations...) Hopefully the train will be comfy enough to get some sleep!
Biergarten = fun times
PG-13 rated:
wow...so there were only five rules on the pub crawl: 1.) must stay vertical 2.) must stay awake 3.) all beer must stay down once it goes down 4.) no dropping a beer and 5.) no making a complete idiot out of yourself. Well, I came close. Carlyn estimates I consumed 3.5 liters of libations last night, quite a feat. We started the tour with some friendly bonding at the Euro Youth Hostel bar, where we met up with about 20 other eager drinkers from the US. a group from Missou, a couple Purdue grads and some SoCals. What a fun group. Everyone was itching to drink so after an hour in the bar, we walked to the Augustiner biergarten, the third largest biergarten in the world, about 5,000 people! It was packed, even though it was a tuesday. 2 liters later, we hobbled over to a second biergarten, I can't remember the name, and chilled for another hour and a half while feasting on pretzels and drink. Because Munich does not have an "open container law," Carlyn was able to carry her drink around from bar to bar without fear: geeze, why can't Charlottesville be as accomodating?
the night ended around 1, and tired and tipsy we found our way back home...quite the night!
This morning, we walked around town once more. They have to change the tune on the Glockenspiel chimes in my opinion, it gets a bit old! Hilarious though how everyone stands around watching these tiny figurines dance around the clock! You would think someone was performing some death defying stunt on top of the building, and everyone was waiting for the splat! But no...just a bunch of tourists staring in wonder at a large clock, kind of odd. We got lunch at a GREAT shop in the "rich part of town". I'm out of time on the comp. Off to Venice! Hope everyone is doing great!
wow...so there were only five rules on the pub crawl: 1.) must stay vertical 2.) must stay awake 3.) all beer must stay down once it goes down 4.) no dropping a beer and 5.) no making a complete idiot out of yourself. Well, I came close. Carlyn estimates I consumed 3.5 liters of libations last night, quite a feat. We started the tour with some friendly bonding at the Euro Youth Hostel bar, where we met up with about 20 other eager drinkers from the US. a group from Missou, a couple Purdue grads and some SoCals. What a fun group. Everyone was itching to drink so after an hour in the bar, we walked to the Augustiner biergarten, the third largest biergarten in the world, about 5,000 people! It was packed, even though it was a tuesday. 2 liters later, we hobbled over to a second biergarten, I can't remember the name, and chilled for another hour and a half while feasting on pretzels and drink. Because Munich does not have an "open container law," Carlyn was able to carry her drink around from bar to bar without fear: geeze, why can't Charlottesville be as accomodating?
the night ended around 1, and tired and tipsy we found our way back home...quite the night!
This morning, we walked around town once more. They have to change the tune on the Glockenspiel chimes in my opinion, it gets a bit old! Hilarious though how everyone stands around watching these tiny figurines dance around the clock! You would think someone was performing some death defying stunt on top of the building, and everyone was waiting for the splat! But no...just a bunch of tourists staring in wonder at a large clock, kind of odd. We got lunch at a GREAT shop in the "rich part of town". I'm out of time on the comp. Off to Venice! Hope everyone is doing great!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Spargel?
So every 30 feet or so, while walking along the cobblestone streets filled with beer-guzzling folk and interesting churches and historic buildings, we pass a fruit/veggie stand. each one selling roughly three things: strawberries, apricots, and spargel. The question that has been plaguing me is what the heck is spargel? It appears to be an oversized, white asparagus, but could also pass for some sort of wax candle...I am puzzled.
In other news, the bike tour this afternoon was lots of fun! This city is incredibly bike-friendly, and it appears to be a very popular (and eco-friendly) way to get around the city!We saw all the major sites, and spent an hour hanging out at a Chinese-pagoda shaped biergarten. I got "the rattler" which is beer mixed with lemonade - sounds gross maybe, but is quite delicious! Later we walked around the center of town, got ice cream (for only 1 euro!) and climbed to the top of one of the churchtowers to get an amazing 360 degree view of the city. You could also faintly make out the alps in the distance. (I tried to upload pics, but the computers we are using in the internet cafe wont let me, and I cant understand German enough to read the pop-up box that explains why...)The city is full of buildings with red-clay tile roofs, many ornate church steeples, and other incredible buildings. We learned today that over 65% of the city was destroyed in WW2, so it is an interesting hodge-podge of very old buildings, relatively new buildings, and new buildings that look old.
Okay, reading about architecture without seeing pictures is pretty boring, so I'll stop now! I still havent eaten any bratwurst, which is on our list of things to do, but we did get a ginormous pretzel, so I guess that is authentic.
Bye for now!
In other news, the bike tour this afternoon was lots of fun! This city is incredibly bike-friendly, and it appears to be a very popular (and eco-friendly) way to get around the city!We saw all the major sites, and spent an hour hanging out at a Chinese-pagoda shaped biergarten. I got "the rattler" which is beer mixed with lemonade - sounds gross maybe, but is quite delicious! Later we walked around the center of town, got ice cream (for only 1 euro!) and climbed to the top of one of the churchtowers to get an amazing 360 degree view of the city. You could also faintly make out the alps in the distance. (I tried to upload pics, but the computers we are using in the internet cafe wont let me, and I cant understand German enough to read the pop-up box that explains why...)The city is full of buildings with red-clay tile roofs, many ornate church steeples, and other incredible buildings. We learned today that over 65% of the city was destroyed in WW2, so it is an interesting hodge-podge of very old buildings, relatively new buildings, and new buildings that look old.
Okay, reading about architecture without seeing pictures is pretty boring, so I'll stop now! I still havent eaten any bratwurst, which is on our list of things to do, but we did get a ginormous pretzel, so I guess that is authentic.
Bye for now!
a munch-kinn in Munchen
It's 16:55, which means its time for a nap.
This morning, we ventured out to find the infamous Mike's Bike Tours...highly rated as the best way to see the city and take in the local beer scene. However, as we stumbled around Marienplatz, map out and looking lost, we were approached by Lenny, a jovial fellow itching to tell us about Lenny's Free Bike Tours...he said the magic word, "Free!" wow, what a great offer we thought. At first I was a bit skeptical but he sold Carlyn after letting on that he was moving to Austin, what a sucker. Lenny reminds me of John Belushi, big gut and a collegial persona, he assured us that the low stress bike tour would include no hills, a plus given how warm it has been here.
BUT...before the tour even got started, we knew it would be great. While Lenny was giving his pre-ride pep talk, covering the local monuments in Marienplatz, he froze like a deer in the headlights, signaling to a gentleman in the back of the crowd. "Excuse me...have you been on the tour before?...oh wait...You're Rick Steves!!" That's right...Rick Steves, famed travel guide and t.v. personality was hanging around Lenny's bike stand, we knew we were in the right place. After a few pics with the celebrity, we headed out on our Beach Cruisers, dangerous when a pack of 45 American teenagers take to the streets of Munchen. Along the way, we saw several churches, the national theater, National palace of Bavaria, Hitler's stomping grounds, and the incredible English Garden (the largest park in Europe). At the Garden, we grabbed a few brews at a biergarten. I took part in a chugging contest with our fellow tour crew...Carlyn took some pics. The Garden tour included sights of nude sunbathing, river surfing and all around tomfoolery. We met 5 texans, 2 New Jersey Boys and a handful of Illini. Tonight, we plan on heading out to see the city with some of out new friends, should be a good time.
Funny, at 10 am this morning, we walked outside our hotel to find everyone enjoying a nice morning mug of fresh beer...what a way to start the day. Do people work here? as far as I can tell, any work is done with only one hand...while the other holds your beer stein. Happy Memorial Day everyone stateside!
This morning, we ventured out to find the infamous Mike's Bike Tours...highly rated as the best way to see the city and take in the local beer scene. However, as we stumbled around Marienplatz, map out and looking lost, we were approached by Lenny, a jovial fellow itching to tell us about Lenny's Free Bike Tours...he said the magic word, "Free!" wow, what a great offer we thought. At first I was a bit skeptical but he sold Carlyn after letting on that he was moving to Austin, what a sucker. Lenny reminds me of John Belushi, big gut and a collegial persona, he assured us that the low stress bike tour would include no hills, a plus given how warm it has been here.
BUT...before the tour even got started, we knew it would be great. While Lenny was giving his pre-ride pep talk, covering the local monuments in Marienplatz, he froze like a deer in the headlights, signaling to a gentleman in the back of the crowd. "Excuse me...have you been on the tour before?...oh wait...You're Rick Steves!!" That's right...Rick Steves, famed travel guide and t.v. personality was hanging around Lenny's bike stand, we knew we were in the right place. After a few pics with the celebrity, we headed out on our Beach Cruisers, dangerous when a pack of 45 American teenagers take to the streets of Munchen. Along the way, we saw several churches, the national theater, National palace of Bavaria, Hitler's stomping grounds, and the incredible English Garden (the largest park in Europe). At the Garden, we grabbed a few brews at a biergarten. I took part in a chugging contest with our fellow tour crew...Carlyn took some pics. The Garden tour included sights of nude sunbathing, river surfing and all around tomfoolery. We met 5 texans, 2 New Jersey Boys and a handful of Illini. Tonight, we plan on heading out to see the city with some of out new friends, should be a good time.
Funny, at 10 am this morning, we walked outside our hotel to find everyone enjoying a nice morning mug of fresh beer...what a way to start the day. Do people work here? as far as I can tell, any work is done with only one hand...while the other holds your beer stein. Happy Memorial Day everyone stateside!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Attention Passengers!
Okay to be fair, Air India doesn't completely blow...sure, they couldn't get the engine started which is kinda a problem, but the curry that was served while sitting on the tarmac for 5 hours was delicious... It was not that bad of an experience, though I did prod Matt to admit that "go cheap or go home" does not need to be our motto for absolutly everything... (I lost though, he would never admit it.)
After landing in Frankfurt we tested out our new Eurail passes by boarding the train to Munich. The train station was beautiful! Clean, efficient, and luxurious! We got on the train and almost thought it had to be too good to be true - the posh leather seats reclined plentifully and had buckets of leg room. We quickly came to our senses, however, when the conductor politely explained (mostly through hand gestures, as he only spoke German) that this was first class, and we were clearly 2nd class passengers...(though I felt more like cargo with our huge backpacks.) We sheepishly walked to the back of the train where we looked a little more at home.
3 hours (and a long nap) later we arrived in Munich. We got off the train and walked around the town, trying to find our hostel. The town was extremely quaint, lots of flowers and local people meandering about. This confused us a little, as we assumed Munich would look more commercialized and metropolitan. After asking a local German woman for directions to our hostel we found our suspicions correct - we had gotten off the train at the wrong stop and were at a small town on the outskirts of the city. 1 train trip later we had finally arrived at the correct place! I think we would both agree the trip was a welcome detour, however, as it was cool to see smaller parts of the city as well.
Thats all for now! Hopefully later posts will be filled with more exciting stories (but less transportation drama!)
-Carlyn
After landing in Frankfurt we tested out our new Eurail passes by boarding the train to Munich. The train station was beautiful! Clean, efficient, and luxurious! We got on the train and almost thought it had to be too good to be true - the posh leather seats reclined plentifully and had buckets of leg room. We quickly came to our senses, however, when the conductor politely explained (mostly through hand gestures, as he only spoke German) that this was first class, and we were clearly 2nd class passengers...(though I felt more like cargo with our huge backpacks.) We sheepishly walked to the back of the train where we looked a little more at home.
3 hours (and a long nap) later we arrived in Munich. We got off the train and walked around the town, trying to find our hostel. The town was extremely quaint, lots of flowers and local people meandering about. This confused us a little, as we assumed Munich would look more commercialized and metropolitan. After asking a local German woman for directions to our hostel we found our suspicions correct - we had gotten off the train at the wrong stop and were at a small town on the outskirts of the city. 1 train trip later we had finally arrived at the correct place! I think we would both agree the trip was a welcome detour, however, as it was cool to see smaller parts of the city as well.
Thats all for now! Hopefully later posts will be filled with more exciting stories (but less transportation drama!)
-Carlyn
Willkommen!
It's kind of a fun game to play...how much extra would you spend to NOT fly on Air India? Some people would have dropped the plan altogether after they were seated next to several screaming indian children in a plane/sauna being served a dinner of shredded carrots and unsweetened yogurt...yet we were not deterred. not only did we sit on the runway for 5 hours in chicago, we even played along as the airline told us the plane would not leave for another 24 hours! what good sports we are. So, 30 hours after we initially arrived at the airport, and a rousing time watching Iron Man next door, we were off on our European vacation...headed eastbound towards the mother country of Germany where we were sure to revel in good times and drink our weight in first class pilsner while devouring liverwurst by the kilo. Life is grand!
Munich is incredible! What a cool city. I've already had my fair share of churches in this city, they are pretty amazing. Our hostel is great. It's actually a small hotel right near the train station, well within walking distance to the Marienplatz square, home of the famous Glockenspiel chimes and some of the world's best biergartens! great times. For dinner tonight, we each grabbed a sandwhich at a street side vendor, I went with liverwurst on pretzel bread while Carlyn played it safe and ordered a Brie on ''power bread''. We washed it down with some great Höfbraus brew, served in large glass steins in the biergarten. So far, I give German brew 3.5 stars. I'm itching for something a bit darker. Tomorrow we venture out on a bike tour of Munich, we've been told its the best way to see the city. The night will culminate with a grand beer tour of Munich's best breweries. Can't wait. Our german is quite shoddy...luckily everyone here seems pretty well versed when it comes to American tourists. I point at something I want...I open my wallet...they take my money...I am none the wiser. Carlyn seems pleasantly surprised with Munich as well. She told me prior to leaving that she would have skipped Munich all together if we needed to. After today, I think she has changed her mind...just wait until I drag her around the Deutsche Museum of Technology tomorrow!
_ Matt
Munich is incredible! What a cool city. I've already had my fair share of churches in this city, they are pretty amazing. Our hostel is great. It's actually a small hotel right near the train station, well within walking distance to the Marienplatz square, home of the famous Glockenspiel chimes and some of the world's best biergartens! great times. For dinner tonight, we each grabbed a sandwhich at a street side vendor, I went with liverwurst on pretzel bread while Carlyn played it safe and ordered a Brie on ''power bread''. We washed it down with some great Höfbraus brew, served in large glass steins in the biergarten. So far, I give German brew 3.5 stars. I'm itching for something a bit darker. Tomorrow we venture out on a bike tour of Munich, we've been told its the best way to see the city. The night will culminate with a grand beer tour of Munich's best breweries. Can't wait. Our german is quite shoddy...luckily everyone here seems pretty well versed when it comes to American tourists. I point at something I want...I open my wallet...they take my money...I am none the wiser. Carlyn seems pleasantly surprised with Munich as well. She told me prior to leaving that she would have skipped Munich all together if we needed to. After today, I think she has changed her mind...just wait until I drag her around the Deutsche Museum of Technology tomorrow!
_ Matt
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Itinerary!
At my sister's request, here is our itinerary:
May 24: fly to Frankfurt (on Air India...should be an experience!)
May25-26: Heidelberg, Germany
May 26-28: Munich, Germany
May 29 - 31: Venice, Italy
May 31 - June 2: Florence, Italy
June 2 - 5: Rome
June 5 - 7: Cinque Terre, Italy
June 7 - 9: Interlaken, Switzerland
June 9-13: Paris, France
June 14: Fly home!
May 24: fly to Frankfurt (on Air India...should be an experience!)
May25-26: Heidelberg, Germany
May 26-28: Munich, Germany
May 29 - 31: Venice, Italy
May 31 - June 2: Florence, Italy
June 2 - 5: Rome
June 5 - 7: Cinque Terre, Italy
June 7 - 9: Interlaken, Switzerland
June 9-13: Paris, France
June 14: Fly home!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
In the beginning...
A big congratulations to everyone who found this blog...you made it! After taking me a few hours to set this up, despite the "easy to create" blog feature, I hope that everyone gets some satisfaction out of it and finds it an easy way to keep up with our adventures abroad! A word of warning to our readers, I tend to use a lot of !'s and an even greater number of elipses...mostly because a.) I never learned proper grammar in school and b.) I think it demonstrates how spur of the moment these blogs will be, without attention paid to proper punctuation. I realize it may be a bit tough on the eyes...oh well...please forgive me.
So...three days until departure. Carlyn assures me that all her gear will fit inside her small backpack! I'm psyched/scared of how much stuff that actually is. Does anyone think she is a minimalist?! On the plus side, that means we have more room for souvenirs for all of you (please don't hold me to that as we all know the dollar stretches about as much as a fat kid when it comes to European purchases).
Either way, I'm very excited! I only offer one word of advice to everyone, if you don't have the time to read both of our posts, I highly suggest you skip mine and go straight to Carlyn's. It will undoubtedly be filled with much more insight, fun-facts and detailed depictions of our time abroad. My blog will surely focus on the more mundane topics such as "What beer did Matt enjoy most in Munich?", "Why didn't Carlyn let me knock on the Pope's door?" and "Where can one find a Chicago style pizzeria in the heart of Italy?". All good questions which deserve a proper, well-thought-out blog posting.
Until tomorrow...
Matt (a.k.a. Goober)
So...three days until departure. Carlyn assures me that all her gear will fit inside her small backpack! I'm psyched/scared of how much stuff that actually is. Does anyone think she is a minimalist?! On the plus side, that means we have more room for souvenirs for all of you (please don't hold me to that as we all know the dollar stretches about as much as a fat kid when it comes to European purchases).
Either way, I'm very excited! I only offer one word of advice to everyone, if you don't have the time to read both of our posts, I highly suggest you skip mine and go straight to Carlyn's. It will undoubtedly be filled with much more insight, fun-facts and detailed depictions of our time abroad. My blog will surely focus on the more mundane topics such as "What beer did Matt enjoy most in Munich?", "Why didn't Carlyn let me knock on the Pope's door?" and "Where can one find a Chicago style pizzeria in the heart of Italy?". All good questions which deserve a proper, well-thought-out blog posting.
Until tomorrow...
Matt (a.k.a. Goober)
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