Deutschland

Hello, my loyal readers. It's been a while since we last talked; or at least since I talked at you and you all decided not to leave any comments or questions about my journeys (hint hint). I still have to update everyone about the last leg of spring break, which was a few days in Barcelona at the end of February. Since then I spent a weekend in Metz getting my life back in order, and I spent last weekend enjoying the beer capital of the world: Munich! Since that trip is fresh on my mind, the post about Barcelona will just have to wait until some other time.

The trip to Munich, like many other train journeys I've been on while in Europe, was relaxing and stress-free. It took about six hours to get from Metz to Munich taking both local and high speed rail on the way. When we first checked into our hostel, we realized that it was attached to a restaurant/bar called Sinan's! Of course I got a picture with it. At this point it was around 11pm, and we had to sample some of the local beer.

We walked through the snow about 20 minutes to the city center and saw a place called Schneider & Son that looked promising. It was a traditional beer hall/brewery, and we had no idea what to do when we walked in there. We sat down at a table and soon enough a LARGE German woman wearing a traditional dress came over and asked what we wanted. Of course we had no idea, so we just said "Zwei bier, bitte" (2 beers please). She gave us their Weissbier, which is what the place was known for. This beer--my first taste of beer in Munich--was by far one of the greatest beers I've ever had, and I usually don't even like Hefeweizens! Soon enough we made friends with the guys at the table next to us, who were friendly locals and gave us some great advice on things to see during our stay in Munich.

Schneider Weisse. Look at that color!

Soon after, we all made friends with a VERY old, very traditional Bavarian man who was obviously drunk. This guy was decked out in the lederhosen, tall socks, suspenders, and the tophat. I think he realized that we spoke only a little bit of German, but that didn't stop him from talking to us--almost nonstop--for the better part of an hour. The local guys were translating a little bit here and there until he got mad and told them to stop, but from what I remember, I think he was giving us words of wisdom about how to live our lives, combined with some political banter. I asked to get a picture with him, and according to the other guys, he told me "No, pictures are shit. It's what is in your memory that really matters." I thought about what he said, and looking back on it, I'm glad that I never took a picture with him. He is someone that I'll remember for a long time and it is probably best that a picture doesn't tamper or change my perception of him. Because of him, I ended up not taking many pictures in Munich. But I do have a lot of great memories!

The next morning, we did a free walking tour of the city. Not only did we see a lot of the historic buildings and landmarks, but we also got to learn so much more than we would have if we had just aimlessly walked around all day. We spent a lot of time talking about Hitler and the Nazi party, which was basically created in Munich. We saw the building where Hitler and his colleagues met and decided to form their movement, and we walked through the streets where thousands of Jews were dragged from their homes and sent to concentration camps on a night in 1938 called Krystallnacht.
Marienplatz: The very center of Munich.



Since Munich was the base of the Nazi party during World War II, it was almost completely destroyed in the war. But the people of Munich knew what was coming, and before the bombings started, they went to each and every historic building in town and took pictures of all of the architectural features. After the war, they decided to rebuild the city back to its original historic charm instead of creating a modern looking city. Because of this, it almost feels like you're going back in time in some parts of the city. The architecture, although mostly a replica of the original, is really beautiful and well done.

An example of a building rebuilt after the war--Old city hall.

Just outside of the Hofbrauhaus.

The towers of the Frauenkirche were used as position markers by the Allied bombers during the war, so they were almost the only things not damaged in WWII.


Some other things that we did: Friday evening we decided to take part in Starkbierzeit, which is a two week long beer festival that's focused on the STRONG beers (at least 8% alcohol). We went to the Paulaner brewery and enjoyed it mostly for the beer, and also for the people watching. Starkbierzeit is mostly a local festival that tourists don't take part in, so I think we kind of stood out in the beer hall full of Bavarians, but it was a great experience. The outfits were great, the live traditional brass band was great, and the beer was STRONG.

Paulaner am Nockerberg for Starkbierzeit. It's hard to tell how huge and crowded this place was from pictures.


Saturday we were all over the place--we started out going over to the BMW headquarters and a showroom/attraction called BMW Welt. For a car person like myself, it was like heaven. My favorite part was the lineup of engines, each one attached to a small computer screen with sound clips of the motor and videos of the cars that used each respective motor. Also the architecture of the building itself was very unique. After that we checked out the Olympic Park, which was built for the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich. Then it was on to Allianz Arena, the home of Bayern Munich, and back into town to catch the soccer game at a bar with some locals. Bayern Munich won, but it was a pretty close game. After watching the game and making some new German friends, it was back to Metz on Saturday night. What a great city.

BMW Headquarters

Olympic Park

Allianz Arena a couple hours before a Bayern Munich football game.

The first semi-urban industrial scale wind turbine I've ever seen. This thing was ENORMOUS--it dwarfs the hill that it sits on, which is probably about 200 ft tall. It was pretty close to the soccer stadium.

Things in Munich:

Easy Palace Hostel - About a 20 minute walk from downtown, close to the train station and a metro station. We paid 12 euros a night and it was pretty clean and the staff was friendly. No free breakfast though.

Bars/Breweries

G Schneider & Sohn - The home of the greatest Hefeweizen in the world. It's a lively atmosphere and the first beer we had in Munich. Definitely recommend it.

Hofbrauhaus - This is probably painful for all you Pittsburghers, but this place was AWFUL! We never actually got a beer here even though we tried twice. It was packed full of tourists and not worth the time and effort.

Augustiner - Just across the street from the Hofbrauhaus. This is the place to go--amazing pretzels and great beer. A lot more laid-back than the Hofbrauhaus. It's more of a restaurant than beer hall.

Paulaner am Nockherberg - The place we went for Starkbierzeit. This place is absolutely enormous, packed full of locals sitting at long tables with traditional German music. This is the place to go in Munich.

Leave me some comments! It'll give me inspiration to update this thing more often.

Spring Break, Continued

In the last chapter, our intrepid explorer had finished his conquering and pillage of a rich, beautiful seaside community called Malaga, Espana. He tried to catch the nearest pirate ship to the oldest city in Europe, called Cadiz, to take part in the Carnival festivities--alas, all pirate ships to the city were booked, and one of the pirates was originally from Malaga so he was very upset about the aforementioned pillaging of his city. Thankfully, Sinan fought the pirate off with his brand new sword, and he and his fellow conquistadores then decided instead to ride their horses over to Sevilla, where he conversed with the archbishop of the town and came to a peaceful agreement with much less of a mess than the previous city of Malaga.

Only part of that story is false..I actually did get to meet the archbishop of Sevilla! It's a long story and I don't feel like typing it all here, so remind me about it the next time you see me in person and I'll tell you about it. So, now I'm in Sevilla. Wow, what a city. If you have a chance to go to any place in Spain, make sure it is Sevilla. Our hostel was in the oldest neighborhood in the city, called Santa Cruz, and was less than 100 meters away from the cathedral. Being thoughtful college students, we forgot to write down the address of the hostel--all we knew was that it was somewhat close to the cathedral. Sevilla streets are some of the most confusing that I've ever seen, especially in the old city. There are tons of dead ends, the streets change names literally every block, and most of them are so tiny that they don't even bother to show them on the map. But after a couple hours of searching, we finally found the hostel and dropped our stuff off.

Mason and Ivan near the Cathedral in sunny Sevilla


We spent the first night in Sevilla exploring--we just walked and meandered through the tiny alleyways until we were completely and utterly lost and in not the best part of the city, and then it started pouring. We asked maybe a dozen strangers on the street how to get back to the cathedral and they eventually led us in the right direction.

The main square just outside of the cathedral

The next day we got to experience Sevilla in its true beauty--enjoying the warm, sunny weather, watching the locals and tourists walking through the beautiful streets, admiring the unbelievable amount of oranges on the trees that lined the streets, and stopping at tapas bars while having an ice cold cerveza. Tapas, by the way, are what Spain is known for. They are basically just small plates of food that are typically enjoyed on the side while having beer, wine, or sherry. The Spanish really know how to enjoy their food--they eat tapas slowly and share them between friends and family. At first it doesn't seem like they fill you up, but after a tapa or two I was usually pretty satisfied.

My favorite tapas bar is on the left

Sevilla was one city that I really did not want to leave at all. We checked out all the touristy things, but my favorite thing about this place is just walking around, people watching, and enjoying the city. It was really interesting seeing all the Muslim influence brought by the Moors from Northern Africa who conquered Sevilla after the Romans. The cathedral there actually used to be a mosque, and the giant tower, La Giralda, was originally a huge minaret for the mosque. Then when the Spaniards came, they converted it into a cathedral.

La Giralda, the ex-minaret

The altar of the biggest cathedral in the world. It was really opulent and impressive.

We stumbled across a procession going on outside of the Cathedral Monday night. This is the situation that led to the crossing of two souls, one vastly more important than the other: a Pittsburgh boy and the Archbishop of Sevilla.


We also checked out the Royal Alcazar, which is a palace where originally Moorish rulers lived, then Spanish royalty came there for their summer palace. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life--the gardens and courtyards all had beautiful fountains and really intricate stonework, and the interior rooms were filled with Spanish tiles mixed with Moorish touches. It was really cool seeing such a blatant mix of Western and Islamic design and architecture.

The entrance to the Alcazar

One of the courtyards in the palace

The gardens were incredible.




Another thing Sevilla and the Southern part of Spain (Andalucia) are known for is Flamenco dancing, and we were able to catch part of a live Flamenco show in our last night in Sevilla at a bar called La Carboneria, which has no sign and is in a small alley behind a red door. The music was incredible and even though we only saw a few minutes of dancing, I really enjoyed it. The guitarist was really talented and the guy singing put so much emotion into his music that I thought he was going to start crying at any time. And of course the dancing was brilliant. Here's a video that i found on youtube of Flamenco at the same bar that we were at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7mklSzKn_A

After a few days in Sevilla, Sinan and his amigos hopped on their horses and were off to Barcelona for the last couple days of their Spring Break.

Ivan says..summon the horses. It's time to move on.

Stuff in Sevilla:
Real Alcazar - Free for students, an absolute must see for Sevilla. It takes at least few hours to wander around the palace and gardens and like I said before, it's really beautiful
The Cathedral - 2 euros for students, one of the most opulent cathedrals I've ever seen, plus it's the biggest (square footage) in the WORLD!! Also it has the tomb of some random dude named Christopher Columbus, but you probably haven't heard of him.
Sevilla Backpackers Inn - The hostel we stayed at in the Santa Cruz neighborhood. It was about 10 euros a night and had a kitchen, computers, and a rooftop terrace. Perfect location and very cheap.
Bodega Santa Cruz - Tapas bar near the cathedral on the corner of Rodrigo Caro and Mateo Gago. This place has the best tapas I had while in Spain, and is usually packed full of the locals..I think we were the only tourists in there. Tapas are also very cheap (about 2 euros each) and the sherry is strong but is a perfect complement with the food.
La Carboneria - The place to go for live flamenco shows. It's on a street called Levies and behind a red door. Sounds sketchy but it is well worth it if you can find it. Shows are free.

It's been a week since I've been back from Spain but I just keep thinking about it. I don't have time to do a full update about the rest of the trip but I wanted to give you guys a nice representation of how I feel right now about Spain compared to Metz.

Spain

and..

France.

On a slightly less depressing note, that graveyard is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and it's actually really cool. It's very peaceful and some of the graves are from the 1700s and 1800s.

Back from another hiatus

I apologize to everyone for waiting so long to update this thing. School has really been picking up and this past week has been one of my toughest since I've been in college, but now that I finally have a little time to update, I'm just warning you that this post is gonna be pretty long. So, what have I been up to for the past few weeks? Here goes..

We had our spring break during the last week of February, and of course we wanted to get away from the non-stop cold and snow of Metz, so a bunch of us decided to go to Spain. I think almost all the GTL students ended up going, but we ended up splitting up into smaller groups and visiting different cities. I ended up going to Madrid, Malaga, Sevilla, and Barcelona and I had a great time in every city. One thing that I really liked about this trip was the fact that I got to meet and make friends with people from all over the world: South Africa, Brazil, Japan, Australia, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, and of course other students from the US that were studying abroad. It was great meeting all these people and learning about their cultures and trading stories about our travels.

We left Metz at around 6am on Thursday the 18th, and arrived in Madrid late at night after traveling through Paris, Bordeaux, and Irun, which is a small town in the Basque country of Spain.

Burt with the train that took us from Irun to Madrid

When we arrived in Madrid, Ivan's friend Nicolas met us at the train station. He lived in a small town called Las Matas, which was about a 30 minute train ride north of Madrid, and we got to stay with him and his family for a couple days. It was really nice staying with a local family, and even though they had immigrated to Spain from Colombia, they were very familiar with Spanish culture and Madrid, and we learned a lot from them. They treated us really well and were very friendly, and Nicolas's mom even cooked dinner for us! It was great.

While in Madrid, we did a lot of walking around the city and we went inside the Royal Palace, where the Spanish royalty used to live. I wish we were allowed to take pictures inside the palace because it was one of the most extravagant places I've ever seen.

After seeing the palace we met up with some friends and went over to Retiro park, which is basically the Central Park of Madrid.

The pond just outside of the crystal palace in Retiro Park.

Then on Saturday it was off to Malaga (the birthplace of Picasso!), which is on the Southern coast of Spain. Our hostel was right on the beach and the weather was great compared to France, but still not really warm enough to swim in the Mediterranean, but that didn't stop us from going as far into the water as we could. Malaga was an incredible place--the people were so friendly, the girls were pretty, the weather was nice, and it's a small enough city that it doesn't feel crowded or hectic--just warm and laid back.

The view from our hostel in Malaga

Unfortunately we only stayed in Malaga for one night, but we made sure to check out the Gibralfaro castle, which was built by the Moors in the middle ages. It was a pretty long hike up to the top of the hill where the castle was, but it was definitely worth it because we got some beautiful views of the city and the sea.

A view of the bull-fighting arena from the top of the hill



There were lots of orange trees, and it took us a while to figure out how to get to the oranges but we finally did it! We were so excited..

Then we ate them and realized that they were incredibly sour. It was like eating a lemon but we did it anyway.


Here's a new idea that i have for this blog: After my trips, I'm going to write down the names of good places to see, restaurants, hostels, bars, etc and include prices if I can remember them. This is mostly just so I can remember these places but it can also serve as a guide for anyone that ends up going to the same places as me, so they can have some recommendations. Let me know what you guys think.

Madrid:
Royal Palace, 5 euros for students
Retiro Park: A great place to relax and get away from the business of Madrid. Check out the crystal palace and the big pond.
Puerta del Sol, the main square of the city
the Prado museum

Malaga:

The Melting Pot hostel: one of the best places I've stayed while in Europe. 12 euros/night, 6 euros for dinner, 1.50 for drinks, outdoor terrace right on the beach, a great place for meeting new people. The only downsides are that it's about a 20 minute walk from downtown and the power goes out a lot.
Gibralfaro Castle: great place to visit with incredible views of the city. Not sure about the price..we may or may not have snuck in with a group of high school kids. Shhh.


Another post is coming soon with stories from Sevilla and Barcelona so stay tuned!

One Dam Good City

This weekend was quite a change from my small, humble city of Metz. A bunch of us decided towards the beginning of the semester that we had to go to Amsterdam, no matter what it took to get there. We somehow coordinated getting 18 of us to the city with everyone staying in the same hostel room. Unfortunately the weather was not the best, but that didn't stop me from enjoying all the sights and sounds of Amsterdam. Well, not all of the sights and sounds, but that's probably a good thing. It is a really incredible city, with tons of canals and awesome architecture.



Lauren, Andy, Mason, and Marshall outside of the hotel


On Friday afternoon we went to the Anne Frank house, which is the same house that she stayed in while hiding from the Nazis, who occupied the Netherlands in the early 40s. The house, which is a museum now, is very well preserved, and we went on a self guided tour starting in her father's storefront on the first floor and ending in the attic and "secret annex" where Anne and some other people went into hiding. Each room and piece of memorabilia in the museum had quotes from Anne's diary that described the situation in great detail. It was really moving to be where she was, looking out at the beautiful canals from the same blinds that she did, and knowing that she couldn't go outside and enjoy the things that ordinary kids could. I didn't get any pictures of the house, but I do have one from the exit.

I couldn't get a picture of the entire thing, but this wall was about 3 stories tall and had that quote in at least 20 different languages.

We spent most of the day Saturday walking around the city, and went on a beer bike tour. It was an amazing way to get 20 people to see the city and we all had a great time. The beer bike is basically a giant wagon with a bar wrapping around it. Everyone sat on bicycle seats facing the bar, and there was a driver that took us all around Amsterdam for two hours. There were a lot of tourists walking around the city, and just about everyone pulled out their cameras and took pictures of us as we passed by. Although the other tourists loved it, I saw plenty of disdainful looks from the locals, as well as drivers that got stuck behind the giant bike moving at a walking pace.

The beer bike.

Some Amsterdam traffic behind the beer bike.

One of my main goals for every trip is to try out some of the local food, and I got to do that this weekend. One of the big Dutch food traditions is raw herring, and they have little stalls around Amsterdam where you can get it for pretty cheap. I decided to get a sandwich with some raw herring, pickles, and onions. I wasn't sure if i would like it or not, but it was really really delicious.


I approve.

Just like every other European city i've been to, the public transportation was amazing, and they had another extensive tram system. I have a feeling that i'll be disappointed when I go back to the US and realize that I can't get everywhere I need to go just by hopping on a train or tram. Europe is spoiling me. One thing that really stands out about Amsterdam and Holland in general is the use of bicycles. I have never seen so many bicycles and so much bike infrastructure at one time. It seems like just about every road in Holland has a bike path next to it, and even in the freezing cold, it was filled with locals and tourists biking to wherever they needed to go. There were lots of women biking too, and a lot of them looked like they had just done a photoshoot for a fashion magazine. I guess the complete lack of hills helps the whole biking thing, but it was still very impressive.



Bike lanes were everywhere


This is a bicycle parking deck near the train station, completely packed with bikes.



The red light district at dusk



Rembrandt square, with a statue of Rembrandt in the middle.

Beautiful Switzerland

I was originally planning on staying in Metz for the weekend and maybe making a day trip to the Champagne region of France, but one of the other GTL kids, Christian, said he was going to Zurich and staying with his cousin, and I was welcome to come. A chance to go to Switzerland with a free place to stay for the weekend? Hard to turn that one down.

Christian's cousin Eric met us at the train station Friday afternoon and showed us around downtown Zurich a little bit. It was really nice to get a tour from someone that actually lives in the city and knows the ins and outs--he took us out to a really nice restaurant for a traditional Swiss dinner: bratwurst and potato salad. Much like Strasbourg, Northern Swiss food has a heavy German influence. We also got to learn some of the cultural norms that set Switzerland apart from other European countries. This one is probably my favorite: When drinking with some friends or family, it's considered really impolite to start drinking before a 'cheers' or 'prost', and you have to make eye contact with each person that you're cheers-ing with. If you don't make eye contact, it means you'll have bad sex for the next seven years. So eye contact is VERY important to the Swiss.

Saturday Christian and Eric went skiing, but I decided to spend some time in Zurich getting to know the city. You guys probably know how much I love seeing different cities, so I took full advantage of an entire day of exploration. I walked through the narrow cobblestone streets and alleys of the 'old city' for hours and every once in a while to check out the art galleries and specialty stores, rode the tram system almost aimlessly and took in the beauty of Switzerland in the winter, and went into a few bars and had a couple drinks to warm me up.

At night we had some Thai food and met up with some of Eric's friends at a Beer Hall. If you have ever been to the Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh, then you know what i'm talking about. If not, just imagine a big restaurant with long wooden tables, some live accordian music in German, and lots of drunk people singing along, dancing, and drinking obscene amounts of beer out of giant mugs. It was a great experience and a lot of fun.

I have to say that Zurich is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen--on a clear day you can see the Alps in the background, and it has an incredible lake and river with surprisingly clear water. Apparently it is one of the safest cities in the world too, which is nice after getting used to Atlanta. I couldn't get over the fact that people just leave their bikes on the side of the road, not locked to anything, and there are no problems with theft. It seems almost unreal that it is even possible in a large city. However, it's one of the most expensive cities in Europe. A meal at a regular restaurant is 20-30 Swiss Francs, and 1 Franc is almost exactly equal to a dollar. On with the pictures.
This was at the restaurant we went to Friday night. I thought it was pretty hilarious.

Eric's apartment building. It was about a 5 minute tram ride from the heart of downtown, and 3 blocks from Lake Zurich.

Lake Zurich

Old city

Random alley in the old city.

They're not locked to ANYTHING!!!

This is the Grossmunster protestant church. You can climb up to the top of the left tower..and anyone wider than me probably can't fit up the stairs. Its quite a climb but definitely worth it..

The view from the top of the church. Absolutely one of my favorite views of a city..comparable to Brooklyn Heights, San Francisco, or Mt Washington.



Looking Northwest towards the train station and Bahnhof Strasse. The large clocktower in the picture is the largest clock face in the world.


This is Bahnhof Strasse, which is basically the main street of Zurich. It has lots of high class shopping and retail and is a great place for some people watching. No cars allowed.

Zurich at night is pretty spectacular as well.

Friends at the beer hall.