Prague, Czech Republic

We (Emily, Sara, Jeremy, and I) got to Prague via WizzAir! Which you can’t miss because if Barbie had an airline, it would be WizzAir…hot pink & purple planes, buses, check in counters, seats, flight attendants, everything. After about 20-30 minutes of trying to figure out the bus to the metro to the city center and getting over the fact that crohns have a ridiculous exchange rate, we managed to get into actual Prague.

From here, we walked a couple blocks out of the city center to our hostel the “Czech Inn,” cute, right? The Czech inn is a “famous” hostel, AKA its one of the best ones ever! Remember Balmer’s from Switzerland? It’s one of the same kind. Basically, these hostels have been voted “famous” for being the hippest, most fun hostels in their respective cities. Ironically, these hostels have also been the cheapest, with Czech Inn running 315cz a night, or about 12euros.

After “czeching” in to our private room (pleasant surprise), we headed out to a traditional Czech restaurant up the street. U’ Belinu (I think) was the name of it, and it was amazinggg food. I got beef goulash in a bread bowl- scrumptious. For dessert, I had deep fried, marzipan-stuffed plums soaked in a bailey’s cream sauce (Oh. My. God.); It was epic. Our meal cost about 200cz or roughly 8euros (with a beer, sooo cheap). Next we headed up the street to a Music Bar that was playing a lot of American music videos, so we hung around, got a drink, and then realized that we were significantly older than the entire crowd…and then, Happy Birthday started playing (techno version, of course). We had managed to crash a Czech sweet 16 (their drinking age). Haha, oops. Realizing this, we decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel.

The next day we took a tram to Old Town/ Prague castle. The funny thing about metros, trams, buses, etc, is that buying tickets is all done on the honor system, and through observation, the only honorable ones are the tourists who can’t speak the language and have a terrible time trying to figure it out, so we decided to skip the hassle and enjoy free transport the entire trip…here’s to acting like the locals!

The Castle, the largest in Europe, was also the largest disappointment in Europe. Except for it’s outstanding (yet foggy) views of the city, I could have done without it. It was prettier from a distance, and it was expensive. Halfway through this trip I made a pact that I wouldn’t pay to go inside any more cathedrals, and we discussed it with some people standing in line who said it wasn’t even that memorable, so we opted to just wander around and not go inside any of the buildings.

From the castle, we headed to Charles Bridge. It was really crowded, but the artists and vendors on the bridge were cool. We rubbed the bronze dog that everyone else was crowded around to rub without knowing why (later, I googled it and it is supposed to bring good luck and a promised return to prague, so not a bad deal). After crossing the bridge, we did some souvenir shopping (got my “Czech me out!” shirt), and headed for Old Town Square. Along the way someone pointed out a piercing/tattoo place, and Jeremy had been wanting to change out his earring so we stopped in. Twenty minutes later, I walked out with a brand new tragus (ear) piercing. When in Prague...(and the exchange rate is really good)…why not? Haha, we finally made it to the square where we got hot wine & sausages with onions, yumm! We then meandered back across the city towards the hostel. We saw the national museum, the astronomical clock, and all the other sights you “have to see” when you go to Prague.

We took naps back at Czech Inn and then got ready to go to dinner. We went to a microbrewery where we got just as amazing food. I got a Brewer’s Pocket…porkloin stuffed with bleu cheese and ham and deep fried… and a traditional Czech beer. Then we headed back to old town for a bar crawl. I hadn’t done one yet, and with the exchange rate being so good, this was going to be the place over Florence & London (up next).

We (along with about 70 other people) headed to the first bar, where it was all you can drink beer, vodka, rum, & absinthe for the first 90minutes. We grabbed a table and a pitcher and made the most of it with drinking games. A group of Englishmen joined us, and we made good friends with them by the time the 90 minutes was up. Then we moved on to 2 more bars (one in a mall?) and finally a dance club where we stayed until roughly 4:30am. It was a pretty good deal, we didn’t pay for any drinks at all other than paying for the pub crawl itself, and we managed to make pretty good friends who we’ll hopefully see in London.

The next morning I dragged myself out of bed at roughly 11, got down to breakfast by 11:30, and “czeched” out by noon.

Prague was a lot of fun: good, friendly people who loved speaking English, amazing food, pretty city, great exchange rate. I spent 3000 crohns… about 120euros (that was so bizarre all weekend). It was a really relaxing weekend as well (traveling with only 4). Definitely a place I’d love to return to.

The Ardennes

First of all, my apologies for the lapse of time in updating, however, somehow, I just knew I’d find time to update mid-studying for finals. Blogging, an appropriate procrastination technique, indeed.

After returning from Fall Break in sunny Espana, we had a day of rest, then the group was off to The Ardennes for three laid-back days of history, history, history.

We started off in Bastogne, Belgium, a major site in the Battle of the Bulge. Here we met up with our guide, who has lived in Bastogne his entire life, and experienced the war (and its aftermath) as a young boy. It was really moving to see all of Belgian people’s appreciation for the American troops that liberated the area. American Flags were flying everywhere in town; it was actually a strange sight (I’ve been in Europe too long). We went to the Bastogne Historical Center and watched a short film on the Battle of the Bulge, and then we climbed the American Remembrance Monument. Afterwards, we headed to the woods to see what remains of foxholes used by the Band of Brothers, the Easy Company. (I was pretty glad that we had all watched Band of Brothers the day before because you could really imagine how miserable it must have been). We saw various monuments and a German cemetery, which housed 6 bodies to every cross. The rain and cold of the day made the experience even more intense. After our rainy walking tour wearing my sperry’s, I was beginning to be able to relate to the disastrous trench-foot of WWII. We headed to the hostel in Luxembourg City, had a mediocre meal in the hostel’s dining room, and stayed in (and warm) for the night.

The next morning, we woke up and took the bus (good ole’ Sonya was our driver) to the city center where we picked up our guides (very entertaining) and headed to the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. Here we saw General George Patton’s grave along with the thousands of other American soldiers who died in WWII. After the cemetery, we headed back to the city center and toured Luxembourg City. It’s such a cute, small city to fit in the cute, small country.

From Luxembourg, we headed off to Trier, Germany: the oldest city in Germany. We had a two hour walking tour here, and thankfully, it was a bit warmer, but unfortunately, Trier was pretty boring. Throughout this trip, I’ve come to realize that the guide can really make the trip… our guide was not so great, and thus, Trier was not so great. We saw the roman gate that still stands at the city’s edge and the famous market place, but mostly, we just wanted to get to dinner.

Dinner was a Germany Vineyard and consisted of soup, salad, pork chop, and dessert. Along with each of these courses, we were able to taste a different wine from the vineyard. We met Sebastian, who led us through the meal and our wine tastings. He was also responsible for the mix of the grapes and flavor of the wines. He talked about the grapes and wine scientifically, and they were definitely the perfect concoction. The best dessert wine ever!

Finally, on our last day of the trip, we headed back to Belgium, to Bouillion, to go even further back in history and see where the first crusade began (and also perhaps Bouillion base?). We went to an “interactive” museum (outdated, boring) on Godefroid de Bouillion, and then toured his castle. First, we sat in the courtyard of the castle and watched a bird show (ughh, terrifying), followed by a tour, complete with guide dressed in medieval apparel. People were much shorter in those days, and 85% of our group spent the entire tour crouched down. It definitely was the best castle of the trip, felt very much as you’d expect a castle to feel…fairytale-style!

Directly from the castle tour, we made the return trip to Antwerp, home-again, home-again. 3 countries, 4 towns, 3 days…and it was still probably the most relaxed (and cheapest!) of our trip.

Madrid, Spain

We got to Madrid at about 4 or 5pm. We took our daily siesta, then we got ready to go out for dinner. We went to an authentic Spanish restaurant on the 6^th floor of an apartment building. We got Sangria and tried to make out what was on the all-spanish menu of raciones. Annie and I ended up ordering a “Fried Variety Platter” and hoping for the best. We got an appetizer platter of different things to share, and luckily, it was pretty good. When our food came out, everyone got pretty silent. Emily and Beth ended up with rabbit. Caitlin and Jess ended up with chicken wings. Meaghan got whole shrimp, with the heads and legs and all still attached. And Annie and I got a fried variety platter…of fish, calamari, mini-squids, and anchovies. Gross. All we ate were the fish bites. It was pretty disastrous, oops.

After dinner, we went to the bar in the hostel and got a couple cheap beers. Most people went out to Madrid’s famous club, Kapitol, but Annie, Jess, and I stayed back to avoid spending money. We ended up avoiding spending a lot of money because we met two Italian friends who took us out to a jazz bar and bought us a bottle of champagne, haha, it was pretty fun. After we got back from the bar we headed right to bed (it was 4am, or so).

The next morning we had to be up for breakfast before 10, and it was definitely painful for the whole group. We were all exhausted from the night before. We left our luggage in the hostel’s luggage room, and checked out by 11am. We first headed to El Rastro, the flea market, which was HUGE. There were SO many people there. We wandered around for a while, then got Doner Kebap (a favorite here in Europe). We also stopped in a Dunkin’ Donuts, where Annie and I got AMAZING dolce de leche donuts (mmm!).

After we had some energy from the food, we went to El Museo de Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. We wandered around and got to see Picasso’s Guernica (so amazingggg) before they started to close and kicked everyone out. I was really disappointed we didn’t get to the Dali rooms before they closed L. We made our way to a park where we proceeded to play homeless and take a siesta on a grassy knoll.

Refreshed, we started to make our way across the entire city to the Palacio Real (the royal palace…their “white house”) to meet up with a lot of the group. Along the way, we stopped at the Prado (found out it was free after 5pm), the plaza mayor, and a couple other places. At the palace, we just relaxed on the stairs for a while, then everyone decided they wanted to go back to the Prado (all the way back across the city…), so we definitely got some exercise walking. The Prado was worth it though (and free!). I got to see El Bosco’s Garden of Earthly Delights, and Velasquez’s Las Meninas, which were both a pretty big deal to me. They were literally huge!

After the Prado, Annie, Jess, and I headed off (halfway) back across the city to El Tigre, a tapas bar that was supposed to be good. It was packed!! We weaved our way through the crowd to the very back corner where we found a little bit of space along the wall. We each went up one at a time for a drink. When you buy a drink; they give you tapas for free! I ordered a Mojito (6euros for 1L mojito…cheap!) and the bartender handed me a huge plate of tapas. There were prosciutto on bread slices, these cheesy, fried mashed potato-y, delicious tapas, and a lot more. It was definitely well worth the 6euro for the drink, because the plate of tapas I got filled me up (and made up for our interesting dinner the night before)!

We headed back to the hostel, where everyone was sitting in the bar trying to kill time until we had to go to the airport. We went out and got some gelato (hazelnut and nutella flavored), and then found an irish pub that was playing NFL games to hang out in for a while.

At about midnight, we caught the last metros to the airport, and curled up on the floor with the other hundreds of people waiting for Ryanair flights (miserable). I managed to get a good 4 hours in before we boarded the plane and headed back to Antwerp.

I’ve decided that I LOVE Spain. I definitely want to spend a lot more time in the country travelling around and seeing all the other coastal towns. Madrid was great (I feel like I know it well after walking so much), even though I enjoyed Barcelona better. I loved that I could use the little bit of Spanish that I remember and people could understand me, and I could understand them! It’s definitely inspired me to get back into Spanish at some point. A great fall break!

Barcelona, Spain

DAY 1: Tourist Day

We got up and got breakfast at the hostel, then decided to do a bike tour of the city. We walked from Barceloneta (the beach- where we were staying) to the city center and met up with the Fat Tire Bike Tours group. All 21 of us JMU students that came to Barcelona decided to do the tour, so we were a pretty big group. While we were waiting, I talked to our guides (Australian & American) and pretty much decided it was my dream job. The bike tour was great! Our guide, Buddah, was hilarious, and we got to see a lot of the tourist-y things we intended to: Arch de Triumph, Sagrada Familia, etc.

After the tour, Leigh and I went to the Picasso museum to see some of his work. Museums here are always so impressive because I just can’t get over the fact that I’m seeing the ACTUAL work that I’ve studied in classes for so long. It’s really making me glad that I took GART 200 last spring.

That night a few of the girls went out to get Paella. It was absolutely delicious. Yummy rice and seafood all mixed together and brought out in the biggest skillet I’ve ever seen. So tasty! We kept it pretty low-key this night…hung out on the beach and in the hostel.

DAY 2: Beach Day!

Today was the day I knew I’d need to be around some internet to register for spring semester. It also turned out to be the warmest, prettiest day of the week, so it was a perfect day for the beach. Since our hostel was right on the water, we just leisurely woke up, got breakfast, and got ready to go lay out. The Mediterranean was cold, but not much colder than the Atlantic this summer. We laid out and relaxed and spent a lot of time warding off people soliciting everything from sunglasses to massages. We got a pitcher of sangria from a little bar right on the beach, and we got food from SPAR, the grocery right around the corner for lunch and dinner.

At night we went to Chupitos, the shots bar nearby. They had a wall of shots and each was only 2euro (very cheap!). We hung out there for a while, then headed to Opium, a nightclub on the beach. The lines were crazy, and we had free passes, but it turned out that we had missed the cutoff for the amount of free people they were letting it. It was 15euro otherwise, sooo we bailed on that plan and just called it a night.

DAY 3: Gaudi Day!

We got up and got ready to go the next morning and headed out to check out some of Gaudi’s houses and his park. We jumped on a city bus and got off at the first house. It was crazy! The front was completely covered in mosaics, and it had no straight lines. It was beautiful, and looked so funny stuck in the middle of the row of traditional Spanish architecture. The next house was even better, but best of all was the park.

We took another city bus up the mountain to Park Guell, where Gaudi originally intended to create a community for the rich and famous to live outside the inner city, but his houses were absolutely crazy, and they looked like gingerbread houses, so no one actually wanted to live there. Now it is just park that was packed with people trying to see all the beautiful mosaics and buildings. We saw the famous mosaic lizard fountain, and the tunnel where america’s next top model did a fashion shoot. It was probably one of my favorite places. It had a great view of the entire city.

After dinner (from the grocery, again) we went to the Dow Jones Bar. I felt like such a nerdy business student, but it was so fun! The prices on drinks change depending on what people are buying and selling. It was pretty much all American students (as was Chupitos), and we actually met up with JMU students from the study abroad program in Salamanca and the program in London. Everyone went to Barca for fall break! I also ran into Katie Der, from High School- She’s studying abroad in Barca for the semester. We had a lot of fun buying whatever was cheapest and getting something nice every time the prices “crashed” or went back to their starting price. After Dow Jones, we went to Shoko, another club on the beach, where we managed to get in for free and danced until 4:30 in the morning.

Saturday Morning we woke up and got our last hostel breakfast and checked out. We struggled to fit all of our 6 days worth of clothes back into our Ryanair approved carry-ons, and we we off to Madrid!

All in all, I think Barcelona has been one of my favorite places so far. It was beautiful, warm, and on a beach… how can you go wrong? I definitely will be back!

Munich, Germany

Our Barvarian Experience

Our first stop on the way to Munich was at Dachau Concentration Camp. It was incredibly moving and emotional to be able to see the actual place where it all started. Dachau was the first concentration camp. Appropriately, it was snowing/sleeting throughout the entire walking tour. It was freezing, but it just added to the effects.

After we checked into our hostel (quite the disappointment compared to the Mercure in Salzburg), we relaxed for a bit before catching the tram to downtown Munich. We headed to Hofbrauhaus, the world famous beer house, for all an all you can eat buffet, and lots of beer (again, thanks JMU, for our wonderful cultural experiences). It was so fun- with the long tables and delicious food, the dancers in their lederhosen, beer maids carrying 12 liters at once, and the entire place singing and swaying with our beer mugs. It definitely was the ultimate Barvarian Night. Prost!

The next morning, we did another snowy walking tour of Munich, again with GREAT guides, super fun (even in the cold). We saw a lot of the history from Hilter’s days in power- what was destroyed and what had been rebuilt. Then we got some lunch at (another) Augustiner Bierhaus, where we got to try the preferred beer of the pope: Augustiner Edlestoff (which I guess, somehow, makes it the beer of God). We went back to the hostel for a little bit, and then headed out to the BMW Museum.

The BMW Museum was probably the coolest museum I’ve ever been to. It was HUGE, first of all, and it was completely interactive. The building was designed perfectly, and all the beautifulllll cars were lined up throughout. It was really cool to see the concept cars and my new favorite, the Isetta! So cute and tiny with it’s motorcycle engine! I could have probably spent a day and a half in there- that’s how much there was to see.

On the tram ride back, a couple of us jumped off at a random stop to get China Express, haha, an all you can eat Chinese buffet, including a beer, for 6,80euro. It was everything we wanted and more! Then we headed back to A&O Hostel, and headed upstairs to the rooftop bar to play drinking games with the cheapest beer possible.

All and All, Salzburg and Munich were great. I’d love to go back and see Eagle’s Nest when the weather is better. Actually, I’d love to go back and see all of it when it was warmer and I felt like adventuring more.

Up Next: Barcelona and Madrid for fall break, followed by the Ardennes in Luxemborg with school. Cheers!

Salzburg, Austria

These are a Few of my Favorite Things

A 12 hour bus ride got us to Salzburg, Austria. Most known as the home of Mozart and The Sound of Music, this city is probably one of the most underrated in Europe. Once we arrived, we checked into our very posh Mercure Hotel (thanks, JMU), and I went out exploring with some of the guys. First thing to note: it was cold (if you know me, you know I HATE the cold) and it sucked. Second thing to note: It was gorgeous! The city was nestled right up against the cliffs of the Austrian Alps, and on top of the cliffs is the Fortress. It was breathtaking!

In the morning, we got up, at a spectacular continental breakfast, and went to meet our guides for a walking tour. It was snowing. A three hour walking tour… in the snow. “Kill me” was all that was going through my mind. Fortunately, our guide was hilarious and highly entertaining. She was also pretty good at getting us into warm cathedrals, trams, and other buildings just when I thought I was going to freeze to death. We saw plenty of sites where the Sound of Music was filmed, the fortress (amazing views of the city), Mozart’s house and birthplace, and plenty of good shopping and cute cafes (too tempting!).

After the walking tour, a couple of us went around shopping (see: window shopping), and hanging out in the city. Our first stop was Café Tomaselli for some hot chocolate to warm us up. Later, we stopped and got “Bretzels” at a stand, and also went to Demel Café for cake and tea, mmm. We headed back to the hotel earlier than necessary and caught a nap (in the most comfortable beds, ever!) before dinner. Coach Kelly led us off into the city for dinner at Die Weisse, a brewery (thanks jmu), where we each got a beer and Weiner Schnitzel. It was delicious! We also had Salzburg’s apple Strudel.

The next day, we were suppose to go to Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s private getaway, but it was closed due to bad weather, so we had a free day. I spent the day relaxing, and doing a whole lot of nothing. We tried to go see the largest ice caves in the world, but they were also closed by the time we got around to it. At night, we went out to Augustiner Bier Huis, where we got to experience firsthand, the party that is a beer house. We got liter beers and schnitzel sandwiches and pretzels. It was quite the experience!

Dublin, Ireland

24 hours in Publin,…er, I mean Dublin.

We got to Dublin late (of course, thanks ryanair) and successfully navigated our way to Four Courts Hostel. The hostel was easily identified because it was right across the Liffey from Four Courts (duh.) The huge monument would be essential in finding the hostel post-pubs.

After we threw our stuff down in the hostel, we headed out. First, food. Although we originally were looking for some traditional irish grub, a group of us ended up at Eddie Rocket’s, the irish cousin of america’s famous Johnny Rocket’s. The cheap, diner food we’ve all been missing was just too tempting. I had nachos, and DIET coke (not Cola Light), and we had to TIP!! (WHAAT?!) Oh, and did I mention everyone spoke English? Lovin’ Ireland already.

Satisfied with our food, we went out in search of what else? Pubs! We went to The Porterhouse, one of the more famous Pubs that we’d all read about in “The Bible” (aka Let’s Go Europe 2009…thanks ash!) It was probably the coolest bar I’ve ever been inside. Three stories of home brewed beer, an old guy singing 90s covers (essential for any good bar), and cheerful people. Had a porterhouse red, (very thick/heavy, but delicious), met some cute irish boys, and after one beer we were finally convinced of how tired we were. With plans to get up early and explore, we headed back to the hostel.

The next morning, we got up and headed out. We wandered through trinity college (very pretty), and as we were leaving, we saw it… something I didn’t think I’d actually miss, but something I’ve been craving for far too long. It was like a light came shining down from the heavens on…STARBUCKS. Oh man, that was best Venti Caramel Macchiato I’ve ever had. There are NO starbucks in Belgium. There are barely any coffee places. And if you do find coffee, it’s about the size of an espresso shot and approximately 5euros. MMM, it was so good, and warm- just what I needed.

We went to Dublin Castle (extremely disappointing), Christ Church (one of the better churches I’ve toured so far), and of course, St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We also stopped at Leo Burdock’s: Dublin’s Oldest Chipper, for some Fish N Chips. I barely ate half of what they gave us, but it was a perfect way to warm up!

Up next was the Guinness Storehouse, which I was really only interested in for the Gravity Bar and the view from the top, but it turned out to be the best brewery I’ve been to (Brewery Count: 3). I loved seeing all the famous advertising. The view from the top was pretty amazing, and I don’t think it was a waste of time or money, but I doubt I’d ever do it again.

We headed back to the hostel to start pregaming for the Ireland v. Italy world cup qualifying game. A couple people walked to the stadium to see if it was possible to get tickets, but the cheapest ones were 100euro. After everyone had their fair share of Irish Car Bombs (obviously), we went to a pub to watch the game. Will and Annie had gone to a quieter pub earlier in the day that was outside of temple bar, and that’s where we headed. Since we got there early, we had an entire corner booth to ourselves with a great view of a TV. Everyone decked out in green for Ireland, and we got student discounts on “Smiddick’s” (Smithwick’s) and Carlsberg’s. The game was really exciting! It was great seeing how into all the irish people were. We were singing and cheers-ing right along with everybody when Ireland scored. In the 87^th minute, Ireland scored for 2-1, and in the 89^th minute, Italy tied the game.

We left the bar and Eric and I escorted a few people back to the hostel, and along the way I complimented an Irishman on his Flag/Cape, and he gave it to me, hah! Then we tried to meet up with everyone else, but by this point, we were all over the place, and people headed their own ways. Will and I did some random wandering before we headed back to the hostel. I had to be up at 6am to leave for the early flight back (love ya, ryanair).

Ireland was a lot of fun, but I definitely want to go back and have a chance to get out of the city. I wish I could have stayed longer, but the early flight back was so much cheaper, that it didn’t make sense to stay. Oh well, something else to add to my bucket list!

Milan, Italy

The Epic Journey

I don’t even know why we went to Milan in the first place. I’m pretty sure we intended on having more time there when we booked the flight. The plan was that Ryan Air offers a cheap flight from Milan to Brussels, so why not head from Interlaken to Milan and from Milan back to Belgium.

The actuality was that we wouldn’t arrive in Milan until 9:30p.m., and the 8:00a.m. flight the next morning wasn’t actually from Milan, but from Bergamo, which is an hour outside Milan (thank you, Ryan Air). This meant that we had to be at the airport at about 6:00a.m., leaving Milan at about 5:00a.m. That gave us from 9:30p.m. to 5:00a.m. in city. If you do the math, that’s 7.5 [of probably the worst] hours to enjoy my first time in Italy.

Once everyone realized this, everyone immediately started dreading it. Would we stay up all night in Milan? Go directly to the airport and sleep until the flight? We arrived in Milan as scheduled and looked at the bus schedule to get to Bergamo, the airport outside Milan. Buses ran until 11:30p.m. and restarted at 4:00a.m. No one could decide what to do.

Will and I ended up buying a bus ticket and heading out into Milan. If I was going to be in Italy, I was at least going to get to see some of the city, even if it was just the area around the train station. We also didn’t feel like waiting for 19 people to coordinate themselves and try and make a group decision.

Will got a miracle/call from his friend, Meg, who just happened to be studying abroad in Milan. We immediately decided we were going to go meet up with her, and we were going to stay up all night in the city. A metro & a tram ride later, we were hanging out with Meg in her dorm. I was super grateful they were willing to spend their Saturday night in their dorm with us and not go out clubbing since we hadn’t showered since France, and I think Will and I both probably looked and smelled like it. We took tequila shots on their patio and shared stories about our times in Europe.

At about 3:00a.m., we called a cab and headed back to the train station. At 4:00a.m., we got on a bus to Bergamo.

After an hour long bus ride, and two more hours of waiting (and trying to stay awake... sleep isn't allowed in Italian airports, apparently), we checked in and ran for the plane (literally). I snagged an emergency exit row, window seat. Golden. Apparently there was an annoying intercom the entire flight, but I didn’t hear a thing. I was out cold for the two hours to Charleroi. I woke up only when they played the victory music over the loud speaker, which at first I thought was to celebrate landing alive, but was actually to celebrate landing earlier than scheduled. It was 10:30a.m. and we weren’t done yet.

We had to take a 2.50euro bus ride from Charleroi (not actually Brussels, thanks again, Ryan Air) Airport to Charleroi Train Station. From there we took a train to Antwerpen Centraal, and from Antwerpen Centraal, we walked back to the Monty arriving at about 2:30p.m.

I got in, showered, made pasta, ate it, checked my email, fell asleep….

And I woke up roughly 18 hours later, just in time for class.

[[There were no photos AT ALL taken in Milan, Italy.]]

Skydiving the Swiss Alps

In total, there were 14 of us skydiving, plus Matt, an Aussie who happened to be skydiving with our group as well. En route to the airstrip, we filled out waivers (I learned this summer never to read a waiver- just sign it), and people paid for pictures and DVDs if they were getting them. We also decided on jump order while we were in the bus. Jeremy, Matt (the Aussie), and I were going to be going in the last plane.

When we got to the airstrip and saw the plane, that’s when it really hit that we’d be jumping out at 15,000 feet. We all put on jump suits and practiced our free falling positions in the airplane hangar. One by one, plane by plane, everyone came floating out of the sky safely, so I wasn’t too nervous when it was my turn…mostly anxious. Hans was the Swiss professional that was going to be strapped to my back doing all the hard stuff, and he had been jumping for 10 years, so all I had to do was not freak out, haha. We all wedged into the plane (and I mean wedged…there were people on my lap and stacked up all over), and we were off.

The view was the best part. It was absolutely breathtaking. I can’t even describe it here in this blog; the pictures I took don’t even do it justice. If you want to see the beauty of the Swiss Alps like I saw them, you have to go up in a tiny plane on a clear morning in early fall with sun coming through the peaks and reflecting off the lakes, just like I did. It cannot be replicated. As the houses got smaller and smaller, and more and more mountains surrounded us, you could look down and see the turquoise water and the town of Interlaken, right between the lakes like it was suppose to be. Gratefully, it was the most calming experience ever…. until they opened the door.

Matt was out first, and quickly it was my turn. Feet over the edge. Head back. Back arched. “Ready? Ok.” And then I was falling.

I felt like I couldn’t even breathe. I don’t think I did. For about 45 seconds I was free-falling, but I didn’t even have any concept of falling at all. It was like I was floating. The ground was so far away that I had no feeling of it getting closer. Before I knew it Hans had tapped my shoulder again and the parachute was open. He adjusted my harness and let me get my camera out. Hans spun us all around and I took video and pictures of the view. Then we landed, and it was easy as that. No problems. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of death in the whole ordeal. It was adrenaline to the maximum.

Interlaken, Switzerland

24 hours in Interlaken, ready GO!

We got to Interlaken West Train Station at about 5p.m., there, we exchanged money into Swiss Francs and headed to our hostel, the world famous Balmer’s. Will and I managed to pick up a backpacker, Liam, along the way who was staying at the same hostel as us. All together this made 20 people trying to check in at once (way to travel in a pack, JMU). When we arrived, the people working front desk let us know it was currently 2-for1 happy hour at the hostel bar, so we headed out back to hang out for a while and slowly check in.

Balmer’s was so nice- definitely famous for a reason!! It had an outdoor bar, a hammock room, a club in the basement, decent beds and rooms, and cheap prices. (It also was the hostel suggested to us by Outdoor Interlaken, our skydiving company!) While sitting outside, we met some Americans from Cali who were studying in Barcelona for the semester. They had gone skydiving that morning and told us it was AMAZING. We were all super excited, and ended up spending the rest of the night hanging out, drinking and talking with people from all over the world. It was really nice to have people from America and Australia all around…people who are just traveling around like us, trying to see the most possible in the shortest amount of time possible. I actually met one of our skydiving instructors at the club and talked to him about the next day and he made me even more excited! After a long, crazy night, we headed to bed at about 2am to try and get some sleep.

The next morning, we woke up at about 6:30, and got ready to sky dive! We headed downstairs and tried to eat some of our free breakfast and relaxed until 8:30 when the bus from Outdoor Interlaken came to pick us up… (I’m going to dedicate an entire blog entry to skydiving…)

***

We got back to the hostel at about noon. We met up with the rest of our group, and tried (but failed miserably) to explain how awesome of an experience we had. Then, Jeremy, Will, and I went next door to a restaurant for some traditional Swiss Fondue. Yum!! The cheese had a bit of wine in it for flavoring and the bread was delicious. It was a perfect warm meal for the chilly Alps.

It was only about 1:45 at this point, and our train to Milan wasn’t until 6pm or so, so we decided to rent bikes for a couple hours and see some of Interlaken. The three hour rental was not expensive at all (especially considering it was in francs, not Euros!) Will got a map and led us off into Interlaken towards one of the lakes. It was gorgeous!! The water was just as turquoise at eye level as it was from the airplane. It looked like it could have been Caribbean, and it was definitely cold!! We took pictures and explored some, then headed back towards the hostel a different route, past the train station we’d need to get to later in the afternoon (Interlaken Ost).

We took a break at the hostel, and then used the rest of the time with our bikes to go souvenir shopping. Finally, it was time to head to the train.

Interlaken was the most beautiful place I’ve been so far. The steady stream of people falling out of the sky was mesmerizing. From the moment we arrived until the time we boarded our departing train, we constantly saw parachutes floating down from the Alps. So far, this is definitely the number 1 place to on my “RETURN ASAP” list.

Strasbourg, France

DAY 1:

After 7 painful hours aboard a bus, we arrived in Strasbourg and we checked into our hotel (the Ibis). We took up half of a hall in the middle of the hotel (poor planning on the manager’s part if you ask me). Jess Dante & I roomed together, a.k.a. slept together because our double room was really like a closet with two twin beds pushed together in the middle, haha.

From the hotel, we left to tour the European Parliament. It is absolutely massive in size and completely gorgeous. It definitely doesn’t fit into the rest of the historical city with its glass, curved walls. We were given a TERRIBLE tour guide. Our guide explained [like] the history of the European Parliament, [so like] there’s a history of the Parliament, [like] they meet once a month for a week, [so like] they meet for a week out of each month… He repeated everything he said about 12 times in 3 different ways with either “like” or “so like” in between everything he said. It was SO hard to focus. I don’t know where he learned his English, but I’ve definitely tried for the past however many years NOT to say “like”… and he lectured on for about 40 minutes when it could have been about 10. Anyway… it was definitely cool to see the VIP red carpet and staircase and the chamber. Oh man, the chamber was so cool. It was huge!! I can’t even start to think about all that has been decided there.

After our tour of the Parliament, we went back to the hotel, changed, and walked to dinner. Jim Kelly led us across the town of Strasbourg (a very pretty walk!) and down into the basement of a brewery. They brought us all plastic cups, followed by pitchers of the house beer, and tarte flambé (French pizza-type things). The best part… it was all you could eat & drink… not to mention we were STARVING!! We just kept passing back empty pitchers and empty pizza boards until we couldn’t take anymore (and that took a while). Thanks JMU!

We went back to the hotel and then to the karaoke bar across the street, where we had to impatiently wait for the football game to end for us to be able to start belting out American classics… Gloria Gaynor’s “I will Survive” (the guys) and the Spice Girls’ “If you wanna be” (the ladies). Mike and I shared a contraption called The Giraffe, which essentially provided us with enough beer to get through the night in one container.

DAY 2:

Thursday morning we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel (we packed ourselves lunch, too!) and headed out to the bus for our tour of wine country. Serg, our French guide, was everything I’d expect from a wine country guide. He had the perfect accent, haircut, moustache, scarf…the whole deal. He pointed out literally EVERYTHING (including police pulling people over, a random tractor protest, a junkyard) on the way to wine country. The roads were lined with vineyard as far as the eye could see, it was GORGEOUS!! Definitely a beautiful area… I’d love to come back for a honeymoon or an anniversary.

We made three stops in the Alsace region along wine road. The first stop was Kaysersberg, a pretty little town from the 1600s. The buildings were all so cute, and I was impressed that they were still standing with the way that their roofs leaned and fell into each other. We saw lots of the famous pottery from the region, and of course shops with lots of wine! Stop number 2 was in Colmar, the Capitol of the Wine Route, and the birthplace of Bartholdi (designer of the Statue of Liberty). Here we got free time for lunch and wandering. A group of us went to a small French café for lunch where we could sit outside. I got wine and quiche Lorraine, YUM! Next we stopped at Riquewihr, where we got the chance to head into a wine cellar and actually taste some wine. We tasted the vineyards’ Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewurztraminer. My favorite was the Riesling, a little drier, not so sweet. That night we got take away pasta, which we ate on the steps of the Cathedral, and we bought a bottle of wine to drink by the canal. It was a relaxing evening for our next busy day.

DAY 3:

Friday morning we did a bus/walking tour of Strasbourg (with Serg again, ya gotta love it), and got to see all over the town, and then we were off! We got our stuff together and headed for the train station to head out for Interlaken!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

DAY 1:
Friday we got out of class at 1p.m. By 3:00, we were Amsterdam-bound aboard a train from Antwerpen Centraal. By about 4:30 we were boarding another train at a random stop in the Netherlands because our train had "technical difficulties." By 6:00pm we we had arrived!!

We went to our hostel-- only about a 10 minute walk, and checked in. The Bulldog Hotel would be our home for the next two days, and it was definitely an interesting experience. We walked into the reception and were greeted by Luc & Jas (who knows why they don't use the end of their names, or how much they had smoked, but they were friendly enough...). We got our room keys and headed upstairs to check out the room. Jeremy, Leigh, Sara, and I were sharing a room with a guy from Belfast (by way of Boston) whose wife sends him to Amsterdam for a week surrounding his birthday every year, and a group of British guys who were also in town just for the weekend.

We met up with the rest of group and wandered around, exploring. We went to the Sex Museum (a fairly good deal for a museum, only 3euro!!). It was pretty entertaining, and kind of frightening at the same time, haha. Then we headed out to another part of town where we went to "Smokey's" and got drinks and danced. We ended our night by heading back towards the Bulldog, where we relaxed in the lounge/bar downstairs. I have to say, it was bizarre to see people rolling joints and smoking weed openly throughout the city.

In the middle of the night, one of our British roommates talked in his sleep. Not just talked, yelled...profanities. It was funny at first...

DAY 2:
We woke up at about 9, got ready and made it downstairs to breakfast before it ended at 10am. We had the standard european breakfast... bread and cheese. Then we headed out for the Anne Frank Huis. We got to actually see the city in daylight for once!! It's so pretty with all the canals. We found the Museum courtesy of Jeremy and Leigh's navigational skills (I was no help there), and got there early enough that there wasn't much of a line. The museum was really moving. You were led around by quotes from Anne Frank's diary that were written on the walls. In each room there was a lot of information and short video clips from survivors and historians. I can't believe they lived in such a tiny space! After the tour, we met up with the rest of the group who had followed us through.

We slowly but surely made our way to the Van Gogh Museum, which was awesome, but I don't think it was worth 12.50euro. It was still pretty inspiring to see the self-portraits and paintings that I've learned about for so long in school. Afterwards, we found a grassy spot in the park to sit and relax for a minute.

Then we were off to the Heineken Brewery. This was probably the coolest tour we did (and we were actually allowed to take pictures!). We started off with the history of heineken, then we saw how it was brewed...which included an interactive "The Brew you Ride" moving theater ride. Next was all the famous heineken advertising, and finally, the world of heineken bar. It was definitely worth the 15euros, even though I've discovered I don't like Heineken.

That night, we went out to Smokey's again, and got a booth for everyone to sit and hang out at, but we were exhausted and headed back to the Hostel (through the red like district...eek!) pretty early.

DAY 3:
We woke up just in time for breakfast, and then went souvenier shopping, and headed to the train station. No issues with the return train, and we were home by 2pm or so.

[[Today's Pictures Include: a street view of Amsterdam, Me enjoying my Dutch heritage :), and a glimpse of the red light district (across the street is a Cathedral from the 1600s)]]

Up Next: Strasbourg, France with JMU, Interlakken, Switzerland, with a big group, and Milan, Italy for a night...also, dealing with having to do homework and a head cold of massive proportions all while in Europe!!

Bruges, Belgium

Yesterday was our first group trip. Destination: Bruges (or Brugge, in Flemish), Belgium... aka "the venice of the north."

Once we arrived, the group split in half for walking tours of the city. Our guide was a nice-looking old man with an unfortunate close-talking/spitting combination. You'd back away from the showers and he'd just get closer. Through his thick accent, we still managed to learn a lot and see a lot of the city.

Throughout the day, I kind of kept freaking out about how old stuff was. Buildings built in the 12th century... can you imagine all that has happened there!? After the walking tour we had free time until dinner, about 4 hours.

We all split up for lunch. Jess & I, smart enough to pack lunch as opposed to finding a cheap option in the tourist-y part of the city, ate our sandwiches then wandered through some shops and the streets. We went into the Church of Our Lady and saw Michelangelo's Madonna with Child (another freak-out moment for me, MICHELANGELO!? FORREAL?!, haha)

Then Jeremy, Jess, and I toured the St. John's Hospital, built in 1188 (whattt?!). It was a pretty cool museum, full of paintings and tools used in the hospital. There was one painting from the 1400s of the hospital setting, and again, it was crazy to be in the building that was in the painting in front of you. Some of the paintings still on the walls today, were also hung on the walls in the painting. (I just re-read that and it sounds really confusing, sorry!)

After the hospital we took a canal boat tour, which was fun. It was nice to see the famous brugge swans, crusie around Minnewater (The Lake of Love) and all the sights from the water. I was just enjoying being on a boat. From the boat we saw some of the rest of our group at a bar along the waterfront enjoying their 3 liter beer glass, haha.

We met up with them and saw the "Wall of Beer" showcasing all 750 Belgian Brews. Then headed over to the Belfry Tower, hoping to climb to the top. Unfortunately, they had stopped selling tickets and closed the tower for the afternoon, but we went around and found "De Bier Tempel" which is.. The Beer Temple. Jeremy and I bought a couple bottles of Bruggian brews, and then we bought Super-Classy-Belgian-Beer-Steins.

Then it was time to meet up with the group, Matt & Mary Rutherford, and Coach Kelly for dinner. This wasn't just any JMU sponsored dinner... we had beer/wine, soup, salad, steak & baked potato, dessert...the whole she-bang.

Our full stomachs made for a very quiet bus ride home, probably their intentions...You stay classy, JMU.[[today's pictures: the prettiest view of brugge (according to our tour guide), and my birthday beer stein..as always, there are more on facebook.]]

Ghent, Belgium

Today 12 of us went on a day trip to Ghent, in Belgium.

It was our first real attempt at figuring out the train system, and it was definitely interesting. We bought "Go Passes" which allow 10 domestic rides for 50euro. It worked out pretty well.

The train ride was about an hour, then we took a tram into the city's center. We wandered around the cathedrals and finally ended up getting food at a frituur (cheapest possible option). Afterwards we got italian ice for 1euro (i got tiramisu).

We toured the Count's Castle, right in the middle of the city. There's an entire room dedicated to torture devices, a room for weaponry, etc. Lots of narrow spiral stairwells and a great view from the top.

After the castle, we went back to wandering. We got traditional belgian "Caberdons" (aka chocolate noses) that were not in fact chocolate, and they were actually pretty gross, pretty sickeningly sweet. We browsed around a market that has been held since the 13th century (but I guarantee that they didnt sell quite so many clubbin clothes there back in the day), we saw some shops, and headed back to the train.

Overall a good day, probably could have stayed longer if we didn't do such a good job of celebrating the end of marketing last night, but oh well. Well worth the trip.

[[the photo show's count's castle...and the delicious ice cream truck in front, haha.]]