Munich, Germany

Oktoberfest Munich;

We arrived in Munich late afternoon and made our way to the apartment we were renting. We rented a bedroom from a local German college kid so it he gave us all the places to go and the places to stay away from. After we settled in we walked to checkout Oktoberfest before it closed then we turned in early for the night.

September 27, 2014;

After turning in early for the night we all woke up at 5:45 in the morning to make our way to the camp grounds. Once we were dressed in our Lederhosens' we set out on the 20 minute walk to get in line for the tents before everyone else. 

We were in line by 7am and there was already plenty of people there and the doors didn't open until 9:30. Once the doors open we sprinted in grabbed our table and began the festivities. We stayed at Oktoberfest till 4pm, took a nap then went out to dinner at 10. A great end to an even better 10 day break. 

Frankfurt, Germany

Wednesday, September 24:
We arrived in Frankfurt late afternoon and when we reached our hostel they told us we had booked it for the wrong days so at that moment we had no place to stay. We wandered around the city from hostel to hostel until we finally came upon The United Hostel, which worked out great. Once we booked our rooms and put our stuff away the first thing we did was go to Chipotle. I know of only 2 Chipotles in Europe..one in Paris and the other in Frankfurt. It was about a two mile walk to the mall it was in but my goodness was it worth it. Compared to the United States the food tastes very similar but it was almost double the price and thats in Euros.

After Chipotle it was around 4pm so we walked around a little more to get a feel for the city. Frankfurt was the first city that I had been in that really reminded me of an American City. Their was a good amount of skyscrapers and a lot of city traffic so for me personally it did not take very long to get accumulated. 

Thursday, September 25:

On Thursday morning we got up relatively early and hit the city. Right when we walked out of our hostel the entire street our hostel was on was closed for an open air market. The first thing I saw was a bratwurst stand and immediately went over to it. For 2 Euros I had the best bratwurst of my life...needless to say I had 3 more before the day was over. After the food the first thing we hit was the Botanical Gardens. I've never been too a Botanical Gardens and it was amazing. 

We spent about 2 hours walking around the Botanical Gardens then left to walk around the city a little more. We hopped in and out of stores, we all ended up buying sunglasses, then stumbled upon the famous Städel Museum. Inside the Städel Museum was some of the most amazing art I have ever seen...as well as some of the most bizarre and in my opinion should not be considered art.  The most mind blowing piece of "art" was three broken T.Vs all on the static screen....their was also a yellow cord hanging from the ceiling that was considered "modern art." All of the old art was magnificent...the modern art was a little less impressive.

(Hogan Looking at "Modern Art")

After the Museum it was pretty late so we walked around a little more then went back to the hostel to relax. Later in the night Brendan, Jack and myself walked around the city a little bit and went into a little bratwurst stand/store that was basically a hole in the wall and it was pretty solid. We each had a couple beers and brats then turned in for the night. Oktoberfest in the morning!! 

Bruges, Belgium

Tuesday, September 23:

The plan was to be up and out early...that did not happen. We got up late quickly got everything together and went to the train station, Bruges was a 2 hour train ride away. Arrived in Bruges around 1pm and it was so cool. When I think of a small European town this is what I imagined. It was beautiful, the architecture was amazing. Our first stop, which we thought was the Basilica of the Holy Blood..was actually the Town Hall. Regardless, it blew me away. Everything was so elegant it resembled a Royal Palace.

When we came out of the Town Hall we realized the Basilica of the Holy Blood was directly next door...so we went in. The Basilica of the Holy Blood is said to hold the actual blood of Jesus Christ and they keep it on display constantly watched by a Priest. The Basilica was like nothing I have ever seen before. It was small and tucked away between a few massive buildings yet it holds such religious significance.

After the Basilica we went to Choco-Story, which is a Chocolate making Factory and Museum...and Belgium is famous for their Chocolate. The Museum gave the history of not only Belgium Chocolate but all chocolate in general, where it came from, how it came to be, it was extremely interesting. The walk through of the Museum was capped off with a Chocolate making demonstration. The demonstration was very cool but the thing that was the most amazing to me was how many languages the chocolatier could speak. He was not much older than me yet he gave the demonstration in 4 different languages...Dutch, French, English, and German. Once the demonstration was over we were able to try the Chocolate then we went on our way.

Once we saw all the sights we wanted to see we went around a did a little shopping and ate. The food was okay and not to expensive but the most frustrating part about going out to eat is having to fork over 3-4 Euros just for tap water...and if you try to drink your own water they may kick you out. Everything in Bruges closed relatively early so that forced us to head out. We hopped on a train around 7 and headed back to Brussels. The rest of the night was great, Matis (Hogans' uncle) gave us beer and the 5 of us sat in the house drinking and watching the move "In Bruges." Frankfurt in the morning. 

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Friday, September 19:

Start of the First 10 day break. 

Amsterdam, Netherlands: 

We had finally finished our first 2 classes and now it was time for our 10 day break to travel. Jack, Brendan, Tyler and myself had all decided on starting in Amsterdam. We packed up and took and over night train that left at 8 pm and arrived in Amsterdam at 9 am. I was unimpressed by the train to say the least. The train was mostly booked so all that was left were seats and they were disgusting. It felt like the train hadn't been cleaned in years and smelled awful... but nonetheless it got us to our destination and that's all that mattered. 

Saturday, September 20:

We arrived in Amsterdam all pretty tired from the trip, I barely slept because I was so uncomfortable but I was too excited to let that hinder me. We were staying in Stay Okay Hostel, about a 40 minute walk outside of where we wanted to be in Amsterdam..but we made the best of it. After we checked in and put all of our stuff away we went back out to walk around and check out some of the scenery. The city was much bigger than I had anticipated and one very cool thing about it was how bike friendly it was. There were bike lanes on every single street with dividers and everything.

After we walked around for a good while we sat down and ate. I had my first cheeseburger since leaving the US and it was pretty good. Once we finished eating we headed back to the area around the hostel and hung out till we went back and went to asleep, we were all out by 7 pm.

Sunday, September 21:

We woke up pretty late and started the long walk into town. Our main plan for the day was to do the Heineken Experience, the old brewery and learn all about how the beer is made and the history behind how it came to be.

The tour was very cool, it took about three hours to go through the entire thing and at the end we got 2 free beers and a free mini beer glass. After the tour we walked around for a couple hours, checking out all the shops and what Amsterdam has to offer and it did not disappoint. We went to the train station to buy our tickets for Monday to Brussels then went back to the hostel to watch football and pack. Amsterdam was a success. 

Brussels, Belgium

Monday September 22:
We arrived in Brussels mid afternoon and walked around a little bit. The 4 of us were staying at Hogans' cousins house about a 20 minute train ride outside of the city which was a real treat. We arrived at his cousins house around 9:30 at night and were welcomed with open arms. The entire family was extremely generous, they had beds prepared for all of us and let us use the house as we pleased. We chatted for a little while and took their recommendation to go to Bruges for the next day, then turned in for the night.

Interlaken, Switzerland

Friday, September 12:
The plan for the weekend was to go to Balmers Hostel in Interlaken, Switzerland from Friday to Sunday but since we planned to go as a big group, 26 people, the only available days were Saturday to Sunday Morning.  So we made the most of our one day to hang out around Riva. A couple of us went to check out Lugano, a city about 15 minutes away where other Virginia Tech students study abroad. The city was very cool and Riva is minuscule in comparison so it was really nice to be able to look around and have that city feel again. We walked around for a couple hours, peaking in and out of shops then sat down ate dinner and headed home.

Saturday, September 13:
We all had to get up at 6 am to catch the first train out of Riva because we had a canyoning trip planned for 1:30 and it took about 4 hours to get to Interlaken. It was the most beautiful train rides I have ever been on, everything looked so unreal.. it all seemed like it was out of a magazine.

Once we got to Interlaken I realized how different a country can be just by going a couple hours North. In Riva and Lugano, everyone there is Swiss Italian, so everything looks Italian and everyone speaks Italian. In Interlaken everyone is Swiss German, so everything looks German and the main language of that region is German. It was really cool to see how in one country the cultures can vary so much in such a short distance. After we had settled in at Balmers Hostel we all got ready to go Canyoning, which is basically making your way down a canyon by hiking, swimming, repelling, and jumping off cliffs.

We did the beginner Canyoning trip which was relatively short but I plan to go back and do the advanced trip as well as go bungie jumping from a gondola suspended over the lake. When we got back to the hostel a couple of us went and walked around to check out the town before going to the bar/ club that was located in Balmers. That was one of the great things about Balmers Hostel, it organized all your trips and had a club located in the actual building so you didn't have to go anywhere if you wanted to go out. So thats what we did, all 26 of us went to the bar downstairs and had a great time.

Sunday, September 14:

Sunday morning we woke up and had to be out of the hostel by 10. We had a couple of hours to kill so we walked around checking out some of the cool views and seeing what Interlaken really has to offer, and it was awesome. There was a perfect view of the Swiss Alps and it surrounded us on all sides.

While we waited for our train I stumbled upon a restaurant that I honestly would not have believed existed in such a secluded area..but it did, it was Hooters. The menu looked appetizing and it was the cheapest thing around, so I am sad to say that I ate breakfast at Hooters...in the middle of Switzerland. The plates were massive and the food surprisingly good so I am happy with the decision I made.

After breakfast we walked around a little more checking out the abundance of Swiss army shops they had before finally getting on the train and heading back to Riva. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had.

First 10 day break next.

Nice, France

Friday, September 5: 

After our exam we left for Nice extremely excited to get to the beach and warmer weather. After about a 5 hour train ride we had finally arrived. Jack, Brendan, Tyler, Christian, Casey, and myself were all staying in Hostel Belle Meuniere for the weekend, about a 10 minute walk from the beach. Once we had settled into our room we decided to go walk around and check out the beach front. Friday was a relatively slow night for us after the long train ride and walking so we looked in some stores then headed back to the Hostel to relax and go to sleep.

Saturday, September 6: 

We woke up around 10 and walked around until we could finally settle on a place to eat breakfast, which to my surprise wasn't to expensive. One thing I noticed about Nice which was similar to Florence is that they love to advertise an "American or English Breakfast," so of course we decided to eat at one of those places. Once breakfast was over we headed straight to the beach, and the beaches in Nice are extremely different from those in America. The beach is made up of peddles and relatively large stones so walking around without shoes is pretty painful. However, once you got over the stones the water was absolutely amazing. The temperature was perfect and the fact that I was swimming in the Mediterranean Sea just blew my mind. Another big thing that noticed immediately was that men in France love to wear speedos, especially the older ones. After laying on the beach for a couple hours we packed up our stuff and walked around, their was one spot that everyone recommended we go to that gave you a full view of the beach and it was beautiful. 

After the climb up the stairs to reach the view we walked around and explored some different views. We went to this little bar that was built into the side of the rocks that everyone jumps off of. Sadly, the bar was closed but there was still a bunch of people jumping so we did as well. 

Once we had our fill of jumping we went back to the Hostel and decided on going out to Hi Club, which was a club directly off the beach and the group before us had said great things about it.

Sunday, September 7:
After a really fun night out we got up, checked out and made the hike back to Riva.

Next weekend: Interlaken! 

First Weekend: Florence Italy

After a very long first week of class it was finally Friday. We (Jack, Casey, Brendan, Tyler, Christian, and myself) had settled on going to Florence, Italy for the weekend. We decided to coordinate our trip with Jill, Megan, Kayley, and Liza because they had heard of some great places to go in Florence, needless to say next time we'll just meet them there. After about 3 hours of trains we had arrived and it was a great feeling to get away from school. The 10 of us were all staying in Alex's hostel about a 2 minute walk from the center of Florence. Once we got to the hostel we settled in we figured out what we were going to do that night. We decided on going to have drinks at the rooftop bar at the Westin Excelsior, an amazing 5 star hotel with an unbeatable view. 

After we spent a couple hours at the Westin we decided to walk around and get to know the city of Florence. As we walked around we came by a bar and there was a man in the middle of the street in a cowboy hat kicking a cab....obviously American. Turned out that tons of American study abroad students had just arrived in Florence so we hung around and chatted before turning it in for an early night. 

We all got up pretty late on Saturday and hit the sights around 12. We started at Galleria dell' Accademia, where one of Michelangelo's most famous works is located, The Statue of David. It was incredible, the detail was amazing and the sheer size was unreal. It housed tons of works from from various years and there was nothing separating you from touching a painting from the 1300s.  

After the Statue of David we went to the Duomo a massive Cathedral for a quick walk though and it was beautiful. We came out then went to the San Lorenzo Market, also known as the leather market. Florence by some is considered the leather capital of the world. After some more walking around we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night. Jill found out about a welcome dinner from an organization that runs trips for study abroad students and it included all you can eat pasta dinner with "unlimited water, red and white wine." After the dinner the massive group of Americans went to Uncle Jimmy's Irish Pub for some more drinks before finally heading to Space Club Firenze to close out the night. 

Sunday we woke up around 10 checked out and headed to the train station. Every train from Florence to Milan was booked and we never made a reservation for our seat, so we decided to take a side trip to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa about a 40 minute train ride away. 

After Pisa it was a 4 hour train ride back to Milan, then an hour train ride to Riva. 

Nice, France next weekend.