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Vienna pictures

[ No Comments ] Posted on 10.26.08 under Uncategorized

Well, I have obviously finally uploaded my pictures from Vienna. Some of them are random and because I’ve waited 2 months, I can’t remember why they are cool anymore.

the bathroom is a funny picture. I was blown away by the nicest restroom I’ve ever been in. Then there’s my partially eaten Sacher Torte. I wanted my grandma to see it. There’s a tired picture of me, and there’s a picture of my nice hostel bathroom too! Seeing these pictures makes me want to go back again.

Update on Vienna incoming

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.21.08 under Uncategorized

I am back in the U.S. and I have fast internet and I need to upload pictures from Vienna and Nuremberg and other assorted pictures. I am going to keep this site updated normally, because I am going to apply for a scholarship to go to Germany next year and teach English. Even if I don’t get it, I AM going back. How can I not? I am already experiencing reverse culture shock. Last night I took out a yummy Amy’s Palak Paneer frozen dinner. I microwaved it. I broke down the box to put in the paper trash, and I was going to put the plastic in the gruene punkt and there was none of those things.

today I am cleaning out a lot of things. Closet, life. I do not need a lot of things to make me happy.

Vienna is amazing!

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.19.08 under Uncategorized

I rode tram 2 around the ring. Best cheap tour of Vienna to be had! Wiener Melange is Kaffee Mit Schlag (essentially). I also ate a Sacher Torte. Imo, it wasn´t worth the 10 euro for a coffee and a slice of the orignal sacher torte. The Viennese place right around the corner from the hostel was out of the champignons for Champignons gebacken, but they did make something special just for me. It is Eier schwarmel gulasch. It was delish, but VERY heavy.

Today is the Albertina and the KHM. Tomorrow is home. I have been having unpleasant dreams about my return. I just do not want to come back to America. I wondered if it would be so bad to miss my flight and the answer was of course yes. I am already plotting my next trip to Europe. It will involve Switzerland and Belgium. I might want company, I might not. Being 1 in Europe is easier than being 2. I would like to bring my mother here, if she could handle sleeping in hostels.

BTW, I sold my phone in Austria. I managed to get 20 euros for it, which is half of what I paid for the phone. Awesome, awesome. It funded my sacher torte and 48 hour pass for transit.

 

In Wien

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.18.08 under Uncategorized

Gestern bin ich in Wien gekommen. (That is possibly grammatically incorrect.)

The Wombat´s Hotel is what dreams are made of. It is 19€ a night. I am in a 4 bed room. There is a bathroom in my room.  It is more like a cheap hotel than anything. The water seems to be always hot. In Nürnberg the last shower I took was cold and uncomfortable. The breakfast is not included, but it is 3.50€ and is the typical fare. I´ve met some cool Canadians in the hostel bar. Last night we were given free shots after the Canadian team won a gold medal. I started talking to the Canadians, and I met an Argentinian girl named Lucia. We ate breakfast together. I have really been forced to stop being such a wallflower, but I have to work at it. Also when you are traveling it is easier to meet people.

tonight I may do the 13€ bar crawl. That already seems like it is WAY out of my comfort zone. August really isn´t the month to be in Vienna. The opera doesn´t run and neither does the Spanish riding school. Poo. KHM for the win though!

Today I am going to see everything that´s not the KHM. It´s early yet, plenty of time to do things!! I am going to kick down money for a day pass on the tram (I save about 2€ buying 2 24 hour passes rather than a 72 hour pass) and then I will pick and choose my museums. I want to see the only other palace in Europe that rivals Versailles, and there is a museum that has over 500 of Dürer´s works. A bit sad that Vienna has more than Nürnberg, but that is how the cookie crumbles.

Tomorrow is KHM and King Tut. He´s my homeboy. Before the 16th century fascination started, Egypt was where it was at. Once I bought a kit and made my own papyrus. I´ve been a nerd from the beginning.

and now I am off! Vienna is a bit confusing. Very few street signs to be had, but that seems almost typical.

Those who are interested in the culinary aspect of my trip (mom) will be happy to know I ate schnitzel last night. And poppy seed ice cream. today is kaffee mit schlag and perhaps the original sacher tort.

 

 

 

Weimar

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.16.08 under Uncategorized

Here are the few pictures I took in Weimar

Germanisches National Museum and Nuremberg city sights

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.16.08 under Uncategorized

Yesterday it was a bit rainy, so all I did was walk the two minutes to the museum. The hostel is conveniently located.

I went in and I spent about 5 hours there. I took over 300 pictures of pre-16th century things. Artwork, household items, etc. I am sorting through them, and because of the lack of flash a few are blurry.

Today Tom from Tasmania (It helps me remember) was leaving the hostel at the same time as I was so we teamed up and went to Kaiserburg and the Albrecht Duerer house. The Duerer house was really cool. The gift shop was too. I didn’t buy anything because of my impending financial doom. The further south I have gone, the more expensive things are. After the house and Kaiserburg, we went to a really yummy sausage place. they have an in house butcher so they make them there. And now, back to the hostel. I will post the best of the best pictures of the museum in a separate post. Here are some random town pics.

Alive and wet in Nuremberg

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.15.08 under Uncategorized

By the way, if you scroll down I inserted the image gallery into my Thuringia post. I am now attaching descriptions to the pictures.

You know those moments, where you’re like “Damn, I really really should have known better. No, really.” Well, I had one of those yesterday on my way to Nuremberg. The train was rather full, and I walked through a car and I found a free seat and sat down. I was practically right next to a mother and her maybe 8 year old daughter. The mother was applying wet clothes to her daughters neck and feeling her forehead, etc. But the daughter looked fine, really. Because of the way the seats were set up, I could see them the entire time. Let me try to set up the way the seats were arranged. We were both facing each other, but on opposite sides.

“”"” | |”mom and daughter”

“”me | | “”"”"”"”

Does that make sense?

Anyway I thought “well shit, I don’t want to be anywhere near a sick child. Germs, etc” but I didn’t want to move because finding a free seat was a major accomplishment.

So I’m listening to my mp3 player and sort of looking at this sick child, and the little girl makes a face and covers her mouth like she’s about to vomit. She doesn’t. This is when I should have moved, because about 10 seconds later, she lost it. I have always been a sympathy puker. I sympathy puke when I puke, it’s that bad. I turned up my mp3 player so I didn’t have to listen to her retching, turned my head and looked out the window, and suppressed my gag reflex.

I have never bolted off a train so fast. About 10 minutes before our stop, I was up waiting by the door.

In other news, I forgot to let you know that they had my ISIC card at the train station in Erfurt. Woot!

I am not sure how I feel about this hostel in Nuremberg. I have a girls only room (good). But the bathrooms are not on my floor. Also the bathrooms are co-ed. Not a problem, except they don’t have locking doors on the shower. They have only curtains. If someone wants to catch a glimpse of my naked body, I feel sorry for them but I’m a little weirded out by the no doors thing. The good is that they have a washing machine and dryer. Laundry! The bad is there’s no detergent, apparently. Good is it’s cheap, 16 euro a night.

But now it’s raining and I don’t want to go on a walking tour in this rain. I am going to walk to the museum and drop some major cash there, I know it. Art books are my weakness. I also spent too much money last night on dinner. I didn’t want to mess around with it, so I went to a thai place. I guess if you think about it, 10 euro isn’t that expensive but I could have spent the money on other things. Also if you think about it, 10 euro is $16 and I hate spending that much on food in the United States.

Thuringia, Thuringia

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.13.08 under Uncategorized

After my last blog, I talked with the family staying in the room with me. They are from the Netherlands. They were heading to Prague. It was a father, his 16 year old son, and his 13 year old daughter. They were very nice. I also went to a store to buy groceries, because it’s just cheaper that way. I found a delicious apple I will try to buy more of. It is called Elstar. Yum! I also ate a Pizza. The man who sold it to me asked me if I was Russian. Ha. So far it’s been Dutch, Russian, and British. Nobody ever assumes I am American. I’d like to think it’s because they believe American’s don’t learn other languages, and that when I tell them I am from America I am changing their view of the “typical” insular American.

Yesterday I spent well over 6 hours walking around Erfurt. It is a very beautiful city, even if it is raining outside. I decided to go on the little walking tour my Lonely Planet guidebook had laid out for me. It was about 3,5 km and super amazing. My first actual stop was the Reglerkirche. It was built in the 14^th century. Outside of the church I was stopped by a very cute German boy who was with the WWF. We talked for a bit. He wanted me to join the group but I declined. I then went to the the Predigerkirche which was completed in 1400. I listened to an organ recital. It was played on their Baroque organ. At this point I was hungry so I ate an “original Thueringer Wurst mit Broetchen” and one of my delicious apples and some cheese. I threw some bread to the ducks and the fish in the river, and kept on until the most stunning Dom St. Marien. I spent a good deal of time in there, and I went straight over to the Severikirche. Outside the Severkirche, I saw a very ugly (in a cute way) dog. I then braced myself for a steep climb up a hill to Zitadelle Peterbeg. A lot of churches in Erfurt were deconstructed so the Citadel could be built. I walked buy an old Woad storage center (now a puppet theatre) and then by the Haus zum Sonneborn, which was built in 1536. I walked by Haus zur Engelsburg, where humanists met to compose two of the Dunkelmaennerbriefe, which were letters mocking contemporary (in the early 1500s) theology and science teaching practices.

Are you still with me? Because at that point I was ready to drop. There was still so much more to see!

I walked by the Collegium Majus, where Martin Luther studied for a bit. He called it “my mother to which I owe everything.” Outside of the College I petted a small stray and very friendly kitty. I missed my own cats at that moment.

I then walked past a monastery (which is still used as such) and across a bridge with medieval houses on either side of the bridge. After the bridge, I went to the Kleine Synagogue, which is now a memorial to the Jews of Erfurt.

Yeah, almost done. I promise.

I then went to the Fischmarkt, which is a Medieval (duh) market square. The buildings around it are beautiful, the Rathaus included.

To finish the day I went to the Kunsthalle Erfurt, which had only one artist on display. His art was nice. Next amazing stop and final stop (not just “oh that looks cool, but I’ll keep going”) was the Barfuesstenkirche, which was bombed in WWII. The west wall is still connected by an exposed aisle with gothic arches. Tons of cool things in there, mostly medieval religious artifacts.

Back to the hostel I went, after eating a Marzipan ice cream and getting my bangs trimmed (they were hanging in my eyes and it was obnoxious).

Once back in the room, I discovered some new guests and travelers. Teodora from Italy and Paul from Canada. We had a wonderful long conversation. Teodora was heading to Weimar the next day, and I wanted to go to Weimar, so that is what I did today. We rode the train, and talked, and had a lovely time. At the tourist office, we went our separate ways. On the train she gave me her address, and said “if you ever come to Italia, come visit!” I assured her I would. Sadly, she doesn’t use the internet so no e-mail address could be exchanged.

I really only wanted to go to Weimar for two reasons, the Cranach house (where Cranach lived for a year until his death) and the Schlossmuseum where SEVERAL and I do mean SEVERAL works of Cranach’s hang out. There are tons of other pre-17^th century goodies there as well. Some Duerer, too. That museum has been the best 4 euros I have ever spent. I bought a book about all of their 16^th century artwork, and a poster. I walked by the Cranach house, got a scoop of Milk pudding ice cream, and walked to the post to get stamps and a box for my poster. I made it to the train station just in time for the 2:52 train to Erfurt, and here I am.

Tomorrow I go to Nuremberg.

Enjoy the pic spam!

Dresden. Only ok.

[ 2 Comments ] Posted on 08.11.08 under Uncategorized

I made it safely to Dresden after one minor mishap. The train I was taking to the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof stopped in Hamburg-Harburg, and I had to take the S-bahn. It took about 5 minutes to find my way to the S-bahn, and the one there was packed and pulling away as I found it. I missed my train by 5 minutes. I almost cried after the woman at the counter was a certified jerk, but then I put on my big kid panties when I realized nobody would care if I started to cry and I would just look ridiculous anyway.

I wasn’t overly impressed by Dresden. I arrived at Dresden-Neustadt Bahnhof, and got out the directions from the hostel.

NEW TRAVEL TIP - 95% of the time, the directions the hostel gives don’t tell you crap. “Take tram blah blah blah, or walk 15 minutes.” 15 minutes in what direction? . . .

Taxi time!

I chose to stay in Dresden Neustadt because it is supposed to be the older part of the city with some very lovely buildings. I did not like the vibe in Neustadt at all. I didn’t feel unsafe walking around, I just felt very on edge and very confused. I went to find something to eat, and went to bed. The beds were nice. I stayed in a 10 person room (13 euro a night, I can’t bitch). I had a top bunk. I was a bit paranoid about falling off, but I made it. On Saturday morning, I went to the Altstadt to see the Frauenkirche, the Residenzschloss, and the Zwinger (and in the Zwinger, the old master’s gallery and the armor collection). I paid 7 euro for a museum day pass, which got me into the Neus Gruenes Gewoelbe, the armor gallery, the coin gallery, the old master’s art gallery, and a ton of other places. I climbed 100+ steps in the Hausmansturm (I think that’s the name) and got some awesome shots of Dresden. By the end of the day I was dehydrated and pissy and I had a headache coming on. I decided to eat in the Sophienkeller which my guidebook suggested for some traditional touristy eats. 12 euro got me a meal (for the “small appetite”) and dessert. Dinner was chopped up pork and mushrooms and a puff pastry covered in cheese. Dessert was a “traditional Saxon dessert” that was potatoes and quark, fried with sugar on top. I’m not so sure on that “traditional” dessert deal.

I made it back to the hotel. I realized I was out of tylenol, and now all the chemist’s were closed. Sunday they were closed as well, and I still had my headache. Thankfully I had Pamprin. It’s not just for cramps anymore! I had the headache all day. I stayed in my bed and read a copy of Rick Steves’ Europe through the Backdoor 2008. Why oh why did I not get that book or read it before I left? That man is a genius, and because I read that book I changed my ways of traveling then and there. I talked to the people in my room. One was a man from Sweden, and between his German and English, we had a conversation. We talked about traveling, where we were going, where we had been. We talked about Ikea, and he was surprised it was popular in America. We talked about America. Another man from Berlin was staying in the room as well. He is on holiday, and he spends it pretty much living in Dresden out of the hostel. He enjoys Neustadt. Me, not so much.

I took an ICE train to Erfurt at 11:03. I got here at 1:30. I passed beautiful scenery on the way, though I’ve noticed a lot of houses that are more like shacks with corrugated tin roofs. I have seen more of them in the former East than I have seen in the west. Other than shacks, I saw a castle! oooh boy!

I walked to the Hostel here in Erfurt, and it is very nice. It was a long walk, or maybe it felt long because I have all this crap to lug around. I like Erfurt more than I like Dresden. It is quieter, and very beautiful.

After unpacking, I noticed that my ISIC card is missing. Well effing hell to that. I still have my Leuphana University ID paper, so I am hoping that with picture I.D. it will still get me discounted admission.

Do you hear that? The Weather is laughing at me

[ No Comments ] Posted on 08.08.08 under Uncategorized

I figured I’d get in one last post before I head out to Dresden. I leave at 12:28, and arrive around 18:00. I do not know when I will be able to update again, but I am sure I will manage to find an internet cafe.

My final room check went well, except the light that was burnt out when I moved in was still that way when I moved out. Michaela and I are going to cook one last meal together and then I’ll be off. We’re trying to eliminate our food supply. She doesn’t want to take it with her to Berlin, and I can’t take it with me while I travel. It’s pasta time! I also hardboiled 2 eggs for my long train trip.

Here are two pictures of Cologne. In case Craig forgot, I am still waiting on my photo gallery plugin. And wordpress 2.6

And the bug that wouldn’t get out of my bedroom

The weather here is very interesting. I said I would buy a rainjacket if it rained one more time in Lueneburg before I left, and it has but I’m leaving so I don’t really care.

GTG smoochies

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