Tuesday, April 7, 2009

It's been a long time coming.

Well, friends and family, I'm sorry to have been MIA for a week or so. We have been without internet access (except the occasional wifi access on Britt's ipod). I have sent several e-mails on the ipod, but it is entirely too small to write a whole blog post. So...here we go with Munich, Salzburg and Vienna. I will try to keep it short and sweet, but you can check out Brittney's blog (www.brittneybrowneurope.blogspot.com) for a more detailed account...

Munich:
We had an eventful 3 days in Munich, mostly due to the weirdness of our hostel. We did a ton in and right outside of the city to avoid going to our hostel. However, when we did have to be there it was anything but typical. I won't go into details, but you really should read Britt's Munich post for the whole story. Let's just say I didn't sleep much during our time there.

One of our favorite things about Munich was the free walking tour that we took. Our tour guide was a California native who had studied abroad in Munich and moved back after graduating because she loved it so much. It was great to learn from her because it was obvious how much she cared about Munich's history and it's future. We also enjoyed learning more about the WWII events that happened in Munich. It's amazing how much easier it is to absorb information when you are standing in the very spot where it occurred. We felt that way again a couple days later when we took the train out to Dachau, the Third Reich's first concentration/work camp. It was stark and solemn and definitely made us pause and think about the gravity of the events that took place there such a short time ago.

We also spent one day traveling outside of Munich to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle, which was the model for Disneyland's Cinderella Castle. It was beautiful and still fully furnished.I think historical places are so much more interesting when they are filled with the acutal couches and beds and thrones of the people who resided in them. We have discovered that plaques and "ruins" are just not the same. Overall, Munich was fun and interesting and we laughed at our circumstances, but we learned that paying 10euro for a hostel across the street from the central train station is probably not the best idea. Go figure.

Munich is:
-New paperbacks (in English, of course) to read on the train
-Germany's biggest schnitzel! We shared it. And we ordered the turkey version.
-beer with sprite so that it doesn't taste like beer...so much better this way :)
-buses and trains to the middle of nowhere Bavaria
-a huge and beautiful outdoor market
-Pretzel, which to Germans sounds nothing like Brezel, the German word for pretzel...they always looked at us with such confused stares
-camps and memorials and devastating photographs
-tales of royalty and the reminder that Jesus if the true King of Kings
-waterfalls ?
-40 person dorm room. oh wow.
-roasted nuts like in New York...made me think of you, Mom.

Salzburg:
The best decision we made here was buying the Salzburg tourist card. For 20euro we could basically get into any museum or attraction for 24 hours. So we spent 2 days (from 1pm the first day to 1pm the next day) taking a gondola ride into the snowy Alps, touring the weird trick gardens at Schloss Hellbrun, visiting Mozart's birthplace and family house in town, and riding a steep funicular to the preserved fortress that overlooked the city. We listened to classical music and saw some of the sights from the Sound of the Music, which apparently Austrians despise. Whatever, I had fun pretending to be Maria and singing "The Hills are Alive" all over town. Another great thing about Salzburg was that we were there on Palm Sunday, and we got to see many families dressed in their traditional Austrian outfits. So cute!

Salzburg is...
-slipping and sliding in the snow
-warm, sunny weather
-Mozartkugeln
-super creepy Marionette museum in a dark and dingy cave
-lovely, hand-painted Easter eggs

Vienna:
The first thing we encountered-and loved-about Vienna was the metro. It is so much easier to navigate than the complicated web of buses and trams. Also, we booked a really cheap but nice hotel, which is always a great change from crowded hostel dorms. One of our favorite things in Vienna was going to see La Boheme, even though it was sung entirely in German. We were so lost but still loved being in the beautiful theatre enjoying the incredible voices and orchestra. We also loved seeing the gardens at Schloss Schoenbrun. Not many flowers were in bloom, but the ones we saw were gorgeous. It must be really incredible during the summer. Our time in Vienna was brief but good, and we were excited to keep moving east to Poland.

Vienna is...
-Australian-themed pub--weird, but good.
-SO much construction!
-the beautiful tiled roof of St. Stephen's Cathedral
-giant garden mazes
-clean showers
-the most famous and, perhaps more significantly, the most crappy ferris wheel in the world
-excellent gelato
-culture and opera!

1 comment:

  1. emily, I finally caught up on your blogs. they were very entertaining to read, and I am glad that you are enjoying your Europe time. Keep having fun!!

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