Well, for those of you who have been following me along for the past 4 months, this will be my final post since I am leaving to come home in 2 days. I am in England right now, about 30 minutes outside of Londond staying with a friend from High School. I am just enjoying a relaxing day today at her flat, which is just what I need! Tomorrow, I am heading into London for the day for one last time.
Overall this has been an amazing 4 months. I have seen so much and experienced so much. I have meet some great people along the way, both travelers and locals, who have enhanced the experience and added so much to it! I have learned tons about myself and other countries as well and am so glad that I did this. This was by far, the best decision I have ever made and I encourage everyone to travel. For those of you who are not sure about doing it on their own, you could do it! Here is a quick overview of the final count on some things:
Countries I visited: 19
Cities I visited: 73
Currencies used: 9 (thank goodness for the Euro or it would have been tons more!)
Languages I can say "Thank You" in: 16 (if you want to hear them all you can ask me at home)
Number of Books read: Way too many to count
Not a bad total if I do say so myself. Here were a few of my favorites:
Favorite countries overall: Portugal, Croatia, and Italy
Favorite Cities: Krakow (Poland), Rothenburg (Germany), and I really liked the islands of
Santorini and Naxos (Greece) These are very small islands so I clasify them as a city
Favorite food: Greece (no questions asked!)
There are uch to many favorite experiences to recount. Here are a few things I learned along the way:
No matter what country you are in, there is always a McDonalds.
People really do want to try and help you for the most part.
ALWAYS ask for directions if unsure, then ask again ( I can't stress that enough).
Also ALWAYS ask where the bus/train goes.
If things don't go according to plan (when there is one), Oh well.
Have numerous back up plans.
There is always somewhere to sleep, maybe not where you intended, but somewhere.
The longest I can go without a shower is 3 days before I start feeling incrediably icky.
Flip flops were one of the best things that I could have brought with me.
It is alright to be completely clueless sometimes, there are always others who are feeling and
looking the same way.
I am much more outgoing at times than I think I can be.
It is definately alright to yell at guys in public for no apparent reason if they are bugging you.
The list could go on, but that is jsut a few of the things I learned. It has been great here. Exciting, thrilling, amazing and wonderful. Thanks to all of you who followed along and hopefully I was able to keep you entertained a bit. Look for more travels to come in the future!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Saying Goodbye to Germany
My last couple of days in Germany were split between the towns of Trier and Koln. I first went to Trier for a night where I stayed at a great hostel. It is run by this woman named Hille who lives upstairs on the third floor. When I arrived, I was greeted by her meduim sized dog who came bounding down the stairs with her and also her cat who stays pretty much down in the common room. It as nice cause it makes you feel as though you are in a bit more of a home environment.
While in Trier, I went to check out the town and was very excited about it. It is the place north of the Alps that has the most Roman ruins. There was first this unbelievable gat there built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries that is still standing. That was pretty remarkable to see. I next went to the ampitheater they have there and that was huge! It was built to hold 20,000 people and walking into the middle of it on the sand you jsut feel like you are tiny incomparision to the size of the sides where all of the audience would be sitting. Underneath, you can go down below and it is really creepy because it is dark and dank and it is damp too. Needless to say, that was not my favorite part. Next stop, was outside some old Roman Baths there that are still standing. All of these places were built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries and it is sometimes hard to comprehend how old some of the things are over here because there is nothing like that in the States.
After Trier, my final stop was in the city of Koln. This was a pretty big city, about a millon people living there. When I walked out of the train station I was greeted by their huge cathedral, the cities claim to fame. It is litterally towering over the exit. I think that it is the biggest one in Europe. I headed there the next day to check it out and was quit impressed. There are many carinals buried there beneath the ground level. It had a ton of beautiful stained glass windows as well that were pretty amazing. It also had this huge organ, as most do that was pretty impressive. It is not the most ornate one that I have seen, but it is really spectacular still.
Next stop in the city was at the Chocolate Museum there. That was a lot of fun. The company that runs this museum is the overall company that owns Lindt and Kinder CHocolate companies. YOu walk in and are hit immediately with the smell of chocolate all the way through. There is a lot of reading at first, but it is really interesting because it tells all about the Cacao bean and the history of chocolate basically. After that, you go into an area where they actually produce some of the chocolate and get to see how it is done. I haven't see anything like that before so that was pretty fascinating also. I watched and felt like a little kid. There was a huge chocolate fountain at one end of the room and the aroma was unbelievable! They dipped some wafers in the melted chocolate and you get to sample it. It shows you how they make chocolate with moulds, truffles, and plain chocolates. It was really informative cause I haven't seen anything like that before. I browsed around in the gift shop and that was huge, filled with every kind of chocolate confection you could imagine!
I walked around a bit, but unfortunately was not feeling all that well I think because of my walking around in the rain a few days earlier, so I went back to my hostel early and enjoyed a nap to try and sleep off the cold!
While in Trier, I went to check out the town and was very excited about it. It is the place north of the Alps that has the most Roman ruins. There was first this unbelievable gat there built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries that is still standing. That was pretty remarkable to see. I next went to the ampitheater they have there and that was huge! It was built to hold 20,000 people and walking into the middle of it on the sand you jsut feel like you are tiny incomparision to the size of the sides where all of the audience would be sitting. Underneath, you can go down below and it is really creepy because it is dark and dank and it is damp too. Needless to say, that was not my favorite part. Next stop, was outside some old Roman Baths there that are still standing. All of these places were built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries and it is sometimes hard to comprehend how old some of the things are over here because there is nothing like that in the States.
After Trier, my final stop was in the city of Koln. This was a pretty big city, about a millon people living there. When I walked out of the train station I was greeted by their huge cathedral, the cities claim to fame. It is litterally towering over the exit. I think that it is the biggest one in Europe. I headed there the next day to check it out and was quit impressed. There are many carinals buried there beneath the ground level. It had a ton of beautiful stained glass windows as well that were pretty amazing. It also had this huge organ, as most do that was pretty impressive. It is not the most ornate one that I have seen, but it is really spectacular still.
Next stop in the city was at the Chocolate Museum there. That was a lot of fun. The company that runs this museum is the overall company that owns Lindt and Kinder CHocolate companies. YOu walk in and are hit immediately with the smell of chocolate all the way through. There is a lot of reading at first, but it is really interesting because it tells all about the Cacao bean and the history of chocolate basically. After that, you go into an area where they actually produce some of the chocolate and get to see how it is done. I haven't see anything like that before so that was pretty fascinating also. I watched and felt like a little kid. There was a huge chocolate fountain at one end of the room and the aroma was unbelievable! They dipped some wafers in the melted chocolate and you get to sample it. It shows you how they make chocolate with moulds, truffles, and plain chocolates. It was really informative cause I haven't seen anything like that before. I browsed around in the gift shop and that was huge, filled with every kind of chocolate confection you could imagine!
I walked around a bit, but unfortunately was not feeling all that well I think because of my walking around in the rain a few days earlier, so I went back to my hostel early and enjoyed a nap to try and sleep off the cold!
Wurzburg & Heidelburg, Germany
Well, my time on the Romantic Road ended by staying in the town of Wurzburg. I did not get to see quite as much of the town as I had hoped to due to the weather. Now, here is a little pop quiz for everyone. What is worse than cold weather?...Snow. What is worse than snow?...Rain. Why is rain worse you might ask, because snow you can just brush off while rain drencheds you. And what is worse than rain?...Rain with wind because it comes at you from all angles and there is nothing you can do to keep dry. And that is exactly what I got. Of course, it probably did not help that I have managed to lose 2 brand spanking new umbrellas over here (don't ask me how cause I still have not quit figured that one out yet) and I refuse to by another! So I headed out in the rain on my one day there to explore a bit. The one place that I really wanted to see there was the Residenz and luckily this as all indoors. The Reidenz is another Unesco World Heritage site with the biggest ceiling fresco in the world. You are greeted upon walking through the door of the massive palace first by this huge staircase and on the other side of it is a huge ballroom of sorts. The ballroom has a beautiful ceiling fresco of angels covering the whole thing. YOu kinda feel as though you are in heaven because it is very ornate with all of the gold decorations as well. Then you walk up the stiarcare and the entire thing has this huge fresco above it that is just massive. I stood there staring at it for a good 15 minutes before finally moving on to see the rest. The palace was impressive, but the ceiling frescos were by far the highlight.
After that, I decided that I has had enough of the wind and rain, so I grabbed a train to my next stop, Heidelberg. This little town is not very big but it is so cute. There is one main street running down the sent of it and it seems as though the rest of the town is built around that. The main street is a pedestrian street lined with tons of shops and such. There were also a buch of Christmas markets going on there and that was tons of fun to look at too. The highlight of this town is this old Renaissance Castle perched up on a hill overlooking the town. It is really romantic looking because it is partially destroyed and in ruins yet other parts are still standing quite well. It is made of this dark red colored brick and so that helps to make it look very unique. I hiked up there and poked around for a while before going into the Pharmacy Museum located in the castle. This was quite fascinating to see how the current practice of pharmacy as we know it came into existance. I really enjoyed it!
I was only supposed to be here for one night but I ended up staying for 2 because I was so tired from moving so much and I liked it, so I figured that I would enjoy one more day. I spent my second day there jsut walking around and taking in the shops, sights, and sounds of the Christmas markets. They really are not something done for tourists, but instead for the residents. It is one of those traditions that all families go every year and just enjoy them because that is what you do at Christmas time over here. You go, often at night with the whole family, grab some great food that is really not good for you, and drink you hot wine while mingling with fellow friends you run into there and taking in the shopping booths or kids enjoy the few rides there are. It is nice to see because you don't very often see family stuff so much like this in the States. Instead it is parents frantically running around trying to do all the shopping instead of spending the time with their families. I thoroughly enjoyed them all!
After that, I decided that I has had enough of the wind and rain, so I grabbed a train to my next stop, Heidelberg. This little town is not very big but it is so cute. There is one main street running down the sent of it and it seems as though the rest of the town is built around that. The main street is a pedestrian street lined with tons of shops and such. There were also a buch of Christmas markets going on there and that was tons of fun to look at too. The highlight of this town is this old Renaissance Castle perched up on a hill overlooking the town. It is really romantic looking because it is partially destroyed and in ruins yet other parts are still standing quite well. It is made of this dark red colored brick and so that helps to make it look very unique. I hiked up there and poked around for a while before going into the Pharmacy Museum located in the castle. This was quite fascinating to see how the current practice of pharmacy as we know it came into existance. I really enjoyed it!
I was only supposed to be here for one night but I ended up staying for 2 because I was so tired from moving so much and I liked it, so I figured that I would enjoy one more day. I spent my second day there jsut walking around and taking in the shops, sights, and sounds of the Christmas markets. They really are not something done for tourists, but instead for the residents. It is one of those traditions that all families go every year and just enjoy them because that is what you do at Christmas time over here. You go, often at night with the whole family, grab some great food that is really not good for you, and drink you hot wine while mingling with fellow friends you run into there and taking in the shopping booths or kids enjoy the few rides there are. It is nice to see because you don't very often see family stuff so much like this in the States. Instead it is parents frantically running around trying to do all the shopping instead of spending the time with their families. I thoroughly enjoyed them all!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Spirit of Christmas along the Romantic Road
Boy, if I was not in the mood for Christmas, I sure am now! I have spent the last few days going through a bunch of small German towns up the Romantic Road and it has been wonderful. I think this has actually been one of my favorite parts so far. The Romantic Road is this route in the South Western part of Germany that is comprised of all these really old, well preserved little towns. It used to be a very important trade route back in the day before the current big cities were formed. The first town is actually the town of Fussen that I wrote about in the last post so I will start with the next town I went to. I did not get to see them all so I had to pick a few.
First stop of the day was Landsberg. It is this great little town that has a main street in the shape of a Y with shops running along both sides. It is all decked out in Christmas decorations right now and so that just added to the charm of it. It is built along the edge of a river and even as an old wheel that turns in the water (I cant think of what they are called right now). I spent a couple of hours walking around there and then it was off to the next stop of Augsburg.
Augsburg is one of the biggest towns along the Romantic Road with a population of approximately 400,000. It was not my favorite town that I saw but I still liked it. I walked around and saw a good portion of the old downtown, which was luckily right by the train station. There were tons of old buildings and an old church that dominated the main square. In the main square, there was this great Christmas market going on with tons of decorations, a few rides, and booths selling food and Christmas items. Every town seems to have one of these right now for the Christmas season and they had just opened. It was past lunchtime when I was there so I decided to find some food. My nose led me to something called Schupfnudeln. Now, what is that you might ask? That is a GREAT question to which I am still not sure. It is this thing that has something in it that is the texture of gnocchi and roughly the size and shape of my pinky finger. It also has what appears to be maybe saurekraut or onions in is and it is all made in a huge wok. Whatever it is, it is good! After a brief lunch, it was off to catch my final train of the day to my resting place for the night in Rothenburg (pronounced like Row-ten-burg, thats important for my next paragraph).
Now, when I went to get my ticket at the train station, I pronounced it phonetically as it is spelled. They came back with the schedule to me and almost sent me to another town of Ravensburg (go figure that sounds like Rothenburg is spelled). I spelled it out for them and they corrected me on my pronunciation. Once I arrived, I found the place where I was staying and was off to explore.
This was by far the best town on the way. It is really small with only about 12,000 people and is very well preserved. It is the epitiomy of your cute small German town. It has walls surrounding the city and you can walk along them. There are also a few old churches and other old buildings as well. The whole town has cobbled streets that just add to its charm and all of the buildings and houses look like they are straight out of the 16th century. The whole town is decorated with Christmas right now and there is a huge Christmas market going on in the Main Square. I walked around that and it was definately THE place to be on Saturday night. It seemed like the entire town was out there! The whole town has tons of Christmas stores that are open all year round. It has the biggest store of the German Christmas Ornament maker Kohl Wolfarsten (I know I mispelled that but I dont have the spelling right in front of me). When I found it, I decided to go in and check it out. It was incredibly unbelievable. It was the first time since I was a kid that it brought back that feeling of magic at Christmas and I felt like a kid at Disneyland who cant stop looking at all the attractions and everything around them. The whole stop is set up like this little village with different rooms and themes in the rooms. The first display you see is this whole small village made up of miniature houses with stuffed animals who are decorating them for Christmas and the whole thing is automated. Then you pass through room after room of decorations and such. There is a room that is made up of all these little houses a little higher than my head and you go in to see the various decorations. Another room has a huge tree right in the center that is 2 stories tall, completely decked out in decorations, and rotates. It is a massive store and not one square inch of it has not been decorated. That includes the ceiling which has garlands, ornaments, and lights strung all over it. It truly looks like Christmas exploded in there. Now, some of you know how much I love to touch things in stores, ESPECIALLY when there are shiny or bright, so it took all of my self control not to touch everything for fear that I might break something, but it was so tempting!
The town was just great and I loved it. All of the train rides throughout the region were beautiful and covered with small towns along the way, rivers, and green fields with some trees. The weather was cold, but not snowy, so walking around with all the Christmas decorations it really began to feel like Christmas!
First stop of the day was Landsberg. It is this great little town that has a main street in the shape of a Y with shops running along both sides. It is all decked out in Christmas decorations right now and so that just added to the charm of it. It is built along the edge of a river and even as an old wheel that turns in the water (I cant think of what they are called right now). I spent a couple of hours walking around there and then it was off to the next stop of Augsburg.
Augsburg is one of the biggest towns along the Romantic Road with a population of approximately 400,000. It was not my favorite town that I saw but I still liked it. I walked around and saw a good portion of the old downtown, which was luckily right by the train station. There were tons of old buildings and an old church that dominated the main square. In the main square, there was this great Christmas market going on with tons of decorations, a few rides, and booths selling food and Christmas items. Every town seems to have one of these right now for the Christmas season and they had just opened. It was past lunchtime when I was there so I decided to find some food. My nose led me to something called Schupfnudeln. Now, what is that you might ask? That is a GREAT question to which I am still not sure. It is this thing that has something in it that is the texture of gnocchi and roughly the size and shape of my pinky finger. It also has what appears to be maybe saurekraut or onions in is and it is all made in a huge wok. Whatever it is, it is good! After a brief lunch, it was off to catch my final train of the day to my resting place for the night in Rothenburg (pronounced like Row-ten-burg, thats important for my next paragraph).
Now, when I went to get my ticket at the train station, I pronounced it phonetically as it is spelled. They came back with the schedule to me and almost sent me to another town of Ravensburg (go figure that sounds like Rothenburg is spelled). I spelled it out for them and they corrected me on my pronunciation. Once I arrived, I found the place where I was staying and was off to explore.
This was by far the best town on the way. It is really small with only about 12,000 people and is very well preserved. It is the epitiomy of your cute small German town. It has walls surrounding the city and you can walk along them. There are also a few old churches and other old buildings as well. The whole town has cobbled streets that just add to its charm and all of the buildings and houses look like they are straight out of the 16th century. The whole town is decorated with Christmas right now and there is a huge Christmas market going on in the Main Square. I walked around that and it was definately THE place to be on Saturday night. It seemed like the entire town was out there! The whole town has tons of Christmas stores that are open all year round. It has the biggest store of the German Christmas Ornament maker Kohl Wolfarsten (I know I mispelled that but I dont have the spelling right in front of me). When I found it, I decided to go in and check it out. It was incredibly unbelievable. It was the first time since I was a kid that it brought back that feeling of magic at Christmas and I felt like a kid at Disneyland who cant stop looking at all the attractions and everything around them. The whole stop is set up like this little village with different rooms and themes in the rooms. The first display you see is this whole small village made up of miniature houses with stuffed animals who are decorating them for Christmas and the whole thing is automated. Then you pass through room after room of decorations and such. There is a room that is made up of all these little houses a little higher than my head and you go in to see the various decorations. Another room has a huge tree right in the center that is 2 stories tall, completely decked out in decorations, and rotates. It is a massive store and not one square inch of it has not been decorated. That includes the ceiling which has garlands, ornaments, and lights strung all over it. It truly looks like Christmas exploded in there. Now, some of you know how much I love to touch things in stores, ESPECIALLY when there are shiny or bright, so it took all of my self control not to touch everything for fear that I might break something, but it was so tempting!
The town was just great and I loved it. All of the train rides throughout the region were beautiful and covered with small towns along the way, rivers, and green fields with some trees. The weather was cold, but not snowy, so walking around with all the Christmas decorations it really began to feel like Christmas!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The heart of Bavaria in Munich, Germany
After spending some time in Prague, it was back to Germany to do more of the Southern portion of the country. First stop on the itinerary in that neck of the woods was Munich. I arrived there a night before I expected to because when I was in Prague and went to purchase my bus ticket, they informed me that they did not have buses to Munich that day, only on certain days of the week. Now, after nearly 4 months of travel AND having been in this predicament before, you would think I would learn my lesson and learn to ask those things, but Nooooooo, I still assume that if I ask for times, they will tell me whether or not they are daily or only certain days (which of course they dont cause that is an entirely different question). Luckily the hostel I was booked in for the next following 2 nights was big so it had room for me to be in there a night early.
My first day there, I basically did a walking tour around Munich. I went and saw the old part of town, which had some great old buildings and landmarks. One of them is the Glockenspell, this huge clock attached to the old town hall that does this little show thing everyday at 11 and noon. Immedialtey accross the street from it is a 6 story bookstore with glass windows in the front, so I went in there and watched it from the 5th story. That was pretty neat because I could see everyone down below and I had an excellent view! The whole town was getting ready for Christmas, so there were lots of decorations being put up and the Christmas market was getting set up also. I headed over to the regular outdoor market where I love to walk around and take in all the hustle and buslte of people buying their produce, meat, cheese and other assorted items. It smelled of evergreens there cause all of the florists had tons of wreaths that were fresh and fresh tree clippings for sale. There were some museums there, but at this point, I have been to a ton of museums and they werent ones that really grabbed my attention, so I decided to take a little trip over to the BMW headquarters and tour around that instead. They have a museum that is opening in 2008, but for now, you can walk around in the huge showroom and look at the displays and exhibits on everything having to do with how the cars work and a lot of stuff that I didnt understand. It was pretty incredible though to see how big the plant is and this show room is really state of the art. I was impressed by it!
I had to call it an early day cause I was not feeling well and did not want to come down with something so close to the end of my trip, so I went back to my hostel around 3 that afternoon to sleep it off. The city itself is just pulsating with energy in this new meets old kind of way. It feels very modern, yet it is filled with histroy and it is a little creepy to think that this was the head of Hitlers Third Reich and that the first concentration camp was built just 16 km outside of the city. I choose not to go cause Auschweity was enough for me for now.
The next day, I headed to the cute town of Fussen 2 hours away. I went there to see two famous castles located there. The first was impressive, but not as much as the second. I am not even going to try and spell them, cause as many of you know, I have the spelling skills of about a 7 year old and I would just butcher them. The second one though was quite a sight. It is supposedly "Sleeping Beautys Castle" because the castle at Disneyland was based on this and I can see why. The way it was built was really interesting and even more so when you walk inside. Some of the areas felt like I was walking on a Disney ride. It was comissioned by King Ludwig II in the middle of the 1800s and was under construction for 17 years but was never finished. He was declared insane and work ceased on it when he died. As you walk through it, you really can see his state of mind come out in some of the features.
The room I was in in my hostel was lots of fun too which always makes it nice. It was me, 6 other Aussies, and one french girl. 3 of the Aussies went out for a drink and the other 3 stayed in. I was busy doing some much needed laundry and they were absorbed in a card game of some sort. They got the french girl to play, but she spoke about 6 words of English and they spoke about 6 words of French, so they were explaining the rules through lots of hand gestures and sign language and SHE ended up winning. It was pretty funny to watch!
My first day there, I basically did a walking tour around Munich. I went and saw the old part of town, which had some great old buildings and landmarks. One of them is the Glockenspell, this huge clock attached to the old town hall that does this little show thing everyday at 11 and noon. Immedialtey accross the street from it is a 6 story bookstore with glass windows in the front, so I went in there and watched it from the 5th story. That was pretty neat because I could see everyone down below and I had an excellent view! The whole town was getting ready for Christmas, so there were lots of decorations being put up and the Christmas market was getting set up also. I headed over to the regular outdoor market where I love to walk around and take in all the hustle and buslte of people buying their produce, meat, cheese and other assorted items. It smelled of evergreens there cause all of the florists had tons of wreaths that were fresh and fresh tree clippings for sale. There were some museums there, but at this point, I have been to a ton of museums and they werent ones that really grabbed my attention, so I decided to take a little trip over to the BMW headquarters and tour around that instead. They have a museum that is opening in 2008, but for now, you can walk around in the huge showroom and look at the displays and exhibits on everything having to do with how the cars work and a lot of stuff that I didnt understand. It was pretty incredible though to see how big the plant is and this show room is really state of the art. I was impressed by it!
I had to call it an early day cause I was not feeling well and did not want to come down with something so close to the end of my trip, so I went back to my hostel around 3 that afternoon to sleep it off. The city itself is just pulsating with energy in this new meets old kind of way. It feels very modern, yet it is filled with histroy and it is a little creepy to think that this was the head of Hitlers Third Reich and that the first concentration camp was built just 16 km outside of the city. I choose not to go cause Auschweity was enough for me for now.
The next day, I headed to the cute town of Fussen 2 hours away. I went there to see two famous castles located there. The first was impressive, but not as much as the second. I am not even going to try and spell them, cause as many of you know, I have the spelling skills of about a 7 year old and I would just butcher them. The second one though was quite a sight. It is supposedly "Sleeping Beautys Castle" because the castle at Disneyland was based on this and I can see why. The way it was built was really interesting and even more so when you walk inside. Some of the areas felt like I was walking on a Disney ride. It was comissioned by King Ludwig II in the middle of the 1800s and was under construction for 17 years but was never finished. He was declared insane and work ceased on it when he died. As you walk through it, you really can see his state of mind come out in some of the features.
The room I was in in my hostel was lots of fun too which always makes it nice. It was me, 6 other Aussies, and one french girl. 3 of the Aussies went out for a drink and the other 3 stayed in. I was busy doing some much needed laundry and they were absorbed in a card game of some sort. They got the french girl to play, but she spoke about 6 words of English and they spoke about 6 words of French, so they were explaining the rules through lots of hand gestures and sign language and SHE ended up winning. It was pretty funny to watch!
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