Final Numbers (and thanks for reading!)

Last day in Munich was spent in Museums and walking around the city.

I am now safely at home, did some grocery shopping and still trying to get comfortable in my apartment…

Here are the numbers behind my summer adventures:

Totals (in no order whatsoever):

2 ½ months away from NYC

10 weeks out of the United States

70 days of going, going, going nonstop 

46 days in Greece

45 days with ASCSA

63 days without friends or family (until Lisa met me in Munich!!)

2 continents (technically)

7 countries I visited

22 cities (or on a sea) I spent the night in

8 flights

6 types of currency (including USD)

4 ferries

8 trains

17 million hours on buses

19 AMAZING new people in my life

6 nights in a row in the same bed (Loring Hall) 

12 Greek beaches (I think it was actually 13)

6 languages (none that I can speak, many that I can read!)

37 nights without AC

23 hotels/hostels/dorms

3 days without any money or credit cards

4 -5 nights when “sleeping” meant 3 hours of sleep

61 days sharing a bathroom

31 days sharing a bedroom

1 million castles or palaces seen

18-23 times my NYC cab driver almost rear-ended someone on my ride home

2 days until work starts!!

70 days I was very happy with the decisions I’ve made in my lifeJ   

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Sound of Music

Well, Tuesday I headed 2 hours south of Munich to the town of Hohenschwangau.  The tour leader was slightly bizarre and it was like being led by the Crocodile Hunter, but like he was leading small children.  Anyway we went to the castle of Neuschwanstein, built by the ever so crazy Ludwig II.  Ludwig spent tons of money trying to build castles that were inspired by sets for the composer Wagner’s operas… that seems like a good use of time.  Ludwig, as a grown adult, liked to hide in the woods in the hills at the base of the Alps and have his staff try and find him.  Ludwig died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 40… spooooky.

Anyway, the castle… hiked up to the castle from the town and then we went over a bridge where you can get really good views from the castle.  The interior of the castle looks like it was based on a children’s book.  The castle itself was the inspiration for the castle at Disney World and is the castle from… CHITTY CHIITY BANG BANG!  One of the best yet most traumatizing movies EVER!!  The child collector is creeeeeeepy!  I think I saw the movie (rereleased in the theater) with my mom, sister and brother (but I think he was an infant and it may have been his first movie).

After the tour of the castle we hiked down a small gorge along the river that had some pretty cool waterfalls.

Wednesday… I decided I had to go to Austria!  This morning I headed to Salzburg, home to Mozart and The Von Trapps.  Now, let’s discuss some inaccuracies in the movie…. That scene, when they’re crossed into Switzerland to escape the Nazis… IT IS ON THE GERMAN SIDE OF THE ALPS!!  They went back into Nazi territory!!!  Well, that was just the beginning of the fallacies of the movie.  However, no one can prove that Maria wasn’t fond of brown paper packages tied up in strings, so at least that song still holds water….

We had lunch at the oldest restaurant in Europe (804 I believe).  Then, because it was on a hill and I like hills, I hiked up to the fortress.  I think I have developed a problem where if I see something on top of a hill I must hike up to it, despite the buses, carriages, trams, etc.  that could take me up there.

Tomorrow is my LAST DAY in Europe!!  Ahhhhhhhh!!  So I will be exploring Munich a bit.

Dachau...

Today I went to Dachau.  The site of the first Nazi concentration camp.  It opened in 1933 and was liberated April 29th, 1945.  The camp was a model for all other concentration camps and SS guards were trained there and then sent out to other camps.
I spent 5 1/2 hours there.  The museum is amazing and the site is pretty overwhelming.  So much so that I really have nothing to write.  If you want to know about it just ask me when you see me.

We Found Narnia!!!

The past three days have been spent with my lovely friend Lisa who currently lives in London.
On Friday I took a 6 hour train ride from Prague to Munich.  It was great until some lady came in the car with her dog and let him roam around freely, getting all sorts of dog hair all over me...
Anyway, arrived in Munich and headed to meet Lisa and the pension we're staying at.  It's a cute little place and each room has a bizarre assortment of furniture and decor.  Our breakfast gets delivered to our room each morning!!
Lisa and I walked around Munich and then went to see the glockenspiel in the square in Marienplatz.  Apparently the "big show" is during the day so not much happened when the clock struck 9pm...

Saturday we decided that we should probably have traditional Bavarian clothing, so we went to a tracht store (tracht is the word for the clothing) and we each left with a lovely new outfit.  Later we headed to Viktualienmarkt, which is a huge open air market in the center of Munich.  We grabbed truffle brie, manchengo, bread, grapes, chorizo and pata negra and sat and did some people watching.  For dinner we went to a restaurant in the neighborhood and the food was delicious!!

Sunday, slept in a bit and then decided today was the day to wear our tracht....

So, we put on our outfits and headed to a biergarten for lunch.  The outfits were quite comfortable.  During the previous days we had seen people out and about in tracht, today was not one of those days, but we clearly didn't care.  

On our way back from Narnia (we have no idea how they got this wardrobe into our room).

Then Lisa had to go back home:(  4 more days left for me in Germany!

Last Day in Praha (Prague)

Well, this morning I had to switch hotels because I decided to stay in Prague a day longer and my hotel was full.

Then I went to the train station to but my ticket to Munich for tomorrow.  It took 5 minutes and was so much more organized than Budapest!!

After the switch I headed to the Old Town Square and there it was… a Salvador Dali exhibit!!!  I love DALI.  So of course I had to go check it out.  There were some photos of Dali and some of his sketches as well.  He was a madman, but an awesome one at that!!

Then I did some shopping…

The next part of my day consisted of a tour of the old Jewish Quarters (Josefov) in Prague.   Some king forced them into a ghetto years ago and they were not allowed to build outside of that area.  As a result, the one cemetery in the area had to keep being rebuilt on itself for a total of about 200,000 bodies in an area much smaller than a NYC square block  (maybe about 1/8 the size of Union Square…).  Above ground there are roughly 12,000 grave markers, all right next to each other so some of them are unable to be read.   Hitler didn’t destroy any of the buildings in Josefev (although he did send the residents to death camps) because he wanted to turn the buildings and neighborhood into a museum to what he thought would be an extinct race (so bizarre). 

Next I headed out on a boat tour along the river.  The weather today has been a bit rainy, so I’m lucky I went up in the balloon yesterday because it was closed today!

For dinner I went to the oldest kosher restaurant in Prague and had some matzo ball soup and chicken.  It was delicious!

Tomorrow morning I’m on a train to Munich to finish off the last week of my tripL

I Love Prague!!

So, yesterday (Tuesday?)  I hiked up to the citadel of Gellert Hill and the view of Budapest was fabulous!  After that I headed to the post office to buy stamps and send postcards (otherwise my sister may prevent me from getting back into the country). 

View of Budapest (Buda on the left, Pest on the right)

Next stop was the train station so I could purchase a ticket for the 1:25 train to Prague.  I got there around noon (because in the states that would give you PLENTY of time).  This was a mistake… the system there was a mess and I ended up having to get on the 3:25 which would put me in Prague a little after 10 (female, traveling alone, at night… ugh.)

So I got on the train and proceeded to watch 2 episodes of the Dallas reboot.  Excellent choice.  Then I read and pondered the meaning of life.  I had a chance to view the Romanian, the Slovakian and then Czech countryside.  Well pulled into the train station close to 11 and then I went straight to my hotel and to bed!

Today (Wednesday… I think):  Breakfast in the hotel.  #1 requirement for my choosing a place to stay is that breakfast is included.  Other than the hostel in Brasov, I have not been let down (The Agora Hostel in Istanbul had an AMAZING breakfast!).  Then I ventured out.

I went on a tour of the old town square.  After that I went on a tour of the palace complex.  It consists of MANY buildings so the entire compound took 600 years to complete.  

Palace.

We also drove by the largest stadium IN THE WORLD!  It can hold up to 9 football fields.  Alas, the stadium has fallen into a state of disarray and is no longer really used.  As the bus I was on was driving around Prague I noticed a HUGE balloon hanging over the river and people were in it!  I decided “I must go there!!”  I got off the bus and had lunch along the river. 

Next.. the hunt for the balloon!!  I couldn’t see it in the sky so I had to get on the famous Charles Bridge to see if I could find it… There it was! 

Side Note:  EVERYWHERE you go you see images of King Wenceslas (you know, from the Christmas song).   Well, in the Christmas song they leave out the part where his brother murdered him.  End Side Note.

Back to the balloon.  40 meters in the air, run by two guys in swim trunks… sure, seems perfectly safe.  The view was AMAZING!!  Not a lot to say about it, other than it was well worth the money (I also lack a fear of heights… unless I’m having a vertigo attack, then it’s bad).

Shadow of the ballon I was in.

Charles Bridge from the balloon.

Me in the balloon!!

 Finally I headed back to the Old Town Hall to see the astronomical clock chime on the hour.  The clock was built in the 1400’s and is the oldest working astronomical clock in THE WORLD!!  There’s a creepy dancing skeleton who rings a bell and all sorts of more creepiness happens.

Tomorrow… last day in Prague… booooo.  

Brasov to Budapest Baby!

First off, shout out to my student blog follower JR and sorry if my tales of vampires kept you up at night!  

Well, it was an interesting evening last night, but let me start with Saturday, my last day in Brasov.  It rained.  A lot.  I went to the train station in the morning to purchase a ticket.  Then I walked around Brasov for a while, sat in the Piata and read when it wasn’t raining.  I wrote some postcards, realized I had no stamps…  I also checked out the fortification of the medieval city (towers and walls).  The guilds of a medieval town used to be responsible for manning a different tower. 

Finally after a long day I headed back to the hostel to get all of my stuff together and head to the train station.   The train finally came and I went to my assigned car and seat and put my bag down… WAIT… my BAG… SINGULAR?!?!?  I realized I was missing my laptop bag, with my laptop, my iPod, my Kindle and my other credit card.  Does anyone recall the OJ Simpson Hertz commercial where he goes flying through the airport?  That was me (yes, just compared myself to OJ Simpson… ).  I raced out to where I had been sitting a low and behold, the bag was still there and then the train whistle blew!  I ran back and jumped on the train!  The ride was 12 hours long.  12 hours.  Do you know how long that is?!?!  I amused myself by watching the new reboot of Dallas, doing some reading and listening to any music that would keep me awake.  I ended up with about 2-3 hours of sleep (Passport Control on the border of Romania and Hungary woke me up).

I arrived in Budapest at 9:30 am and took a cab to the hotel to drop off my stuff since check-in wasn’t until 4.  Well guess what?!?!  The only room that was ready for early check-in was mine!  I dropped my stuff off, changed the clothes I’d been wearing for 24 hours and tried to take a nap (nap didn’t happen, couldn’t sleep).  Then I decided to head to the one of Budapest’s thermal bath houses for a massage and some time in the thermal pools.  IT. WAS. AWESOME.  I went to the Gellert Bath House, which is huge!  It has an outdoor wave pool an indoor swimming pool, a sauna, and a steam room and thermal baths from a natural spring!  Good choice!  Spent a chunk of the day there, then went on a dinner cruise along the Danube River and got the chance to see the sunset over the Buda side of the city.  Then I went to bed!!

Monday… Went on a bus tour around the city.  I hate taking subways because you don’t get to see anything, so usually I’ll hop on a bus tour and do one loop to orient myself.  I did a lot today… can’t recall what though (I saw the Buda Palace).  I do know that it ended by going to see an orchestra perform some Mozart, Liszt, and Vivaldi at a church.  It was quite good!! 

Tomorrow I’m going to hike up Gellert Hill (named after a priest who came to convert people and was killed when pagans (potentially practicing witchcraft) pull him in a barrel with nails and rolled him down the hill) and then on a train for 5+ hours to Prague for 2-3 days!! 

No pics tonight, but I will probably put a WHOLE BUNCH up when I get back.