Today we woke up early to do breakfast and hop a local train, then couple more to get to the top of Europe's highest peak, Jungfrau. Took us over an hour to get there and then spent time at the top.
Funny because our roomie told us he was too hot in pants there the day before, Randy wore shorts and sandals and I wore pants and sweatshirt but no layers. Brrrrr! It was 2.5 degrees Celsius at the warmest outside. They have and "ice palace" which is just a cool ice cave with some carvings. There were huge tour groups that were soooooo obnoxious! They would tap you on the shoulder in the middle of you taking a picture because they want you to move so THEY can take a picture. Um, no! Anyway, many shared our same sentiments which is quite hilarious that it crosses generations and nationalities and languages.
Then we ate a ridiculously over priced pizza for 24 franks and split a 4 frank small glass of coca cola before a bee flew into it so we couldn't finish it! Then took trains and gondolas to the famous James Bond peak where he paraglides off: Schilthorn. We had perfect weather all day.
One our way we stopped and took pictures in Gimmelwald which is a cute town which tries to hold on to the "the old ways." So it's small, fairly secluded and little tourism for hotels, restaurants, etc. We are staying in Grindlewald which I believe is the biggest in this area?
Made it back off the mountains and decided for the prices here we'll make dinner! We bought a kilo of tortellinis, don't worry didn't eat them all, pesto, salad, dressing, wine, beer, and chips all for 25 franks!!!! Mind you our pizza that we split was 24!!! Tomorrow's our last day :(
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Switzerland or bust!
No seriously soooo expensive here! We knew it would be to some extent but it's ridiculous! Great it's at the very end of the trip.
Woke up on time, surprisingly. Made all the train connections from our hotel to the main station at 5:55, got Starbucks, made our 6:45 to the border of Germany and Switzerland. Made the next connection barely for Interlaken. Arrived at Interlaken around 2pm took another train to Grindelwald where we are staying in the Alps.
Tried to check in at 3:45 but you couldn't till 4:30 so we walked and thought we'd get food. Are you kidding? Like 24 franks for spaghetti and that seemed normal. We had burgers for like 12 franks and if you wanted fries it was and extra 5 franks! The frank is about 25% stronger than the dollar.
We're at a dorm hostel but are sharing a room with a cool couple from Brooklyn AND they're married! what? Unheard of! :) Makes it nice.
Couldn't go anywhere because everything shut down at like 5 so we're going to be early to get up early and hike! :)
Woke up on time, surprisingly. Made all the train connections from our hotel to the main station at 5:55, got Starbucks, made our 6:45 to the border of Germany and Switzerland. Made the next connection barely for Interlaken. Arrived at Interlaken around 2pm took another train to Grindelwald where we are staying in the Alps.
Tried to check in at 3:45 but you couldn't till 4:30 so we walked and thought we'd get food. Are you kidding? Like 24 franks for spaghetti and that seemed normal. We had burgers for like 12 franks and if you wanted fries it was and extra 5 franks! The frank is about 25% stronger than the dollar.
We're at a dorm hostel but are sharing a room with a cool couple from Brooklyn AND they're married! what? Unheard of! :) Makes it nice.
Couldn't go anywhere because everything shut down at like 5 so we're going to be early to get up early and hike! :)
End of Germany
Stayed up till 2am with the friends from Canada so we slept in till noon.
For the record Leisha not only loves bratwurst but also loves currywurst!!! So delicious...
Walked around a couple parks in Munchen and relaxed. Not a lot of "new" things to see there.
Went to Hofbrauhaus for dinner and beer! I wasn't a huge fan of the beer until I had their dark beer. Apparently there's only 2 kinds of beer: light and dark. These 2 German guys in Munchen for a business meeting sat next to us. They were hilarious. Great food, beer, music and company. Again stayed up too late and still had to come back and shower, pack for our 5:55 train into the train station to leave for the last stop...
Switzerland!!!
For the record Leisha not only loves bratwurst but also loves currywurst!!! So delicious...
Walked around a couple parks in Munchen and relaxed. Not a lot of "new" things to see there.
Went to Hofbrauhaus for dinner and beer! I wasn't a huge fan of the beer until I had their dark beer. Apparently there's only 2 kinds of beer: light and dark. These 2 German guys in Munchen for a business meeting sat next to us. They were hilarious. Great food, beer, music and company. Again stayed up too late and still had to come back and shower, pack for our 5:55 train into the train station to leave for the last stop...
Switzerland!!!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Neuschwanstein
Neuschwanstein is the castle that Disney took the idea for the Cinderella castle! It's just outside Munchen in Hohenschwangau, obviously. We woke up super early to catch the 7:00 train from our hotel to the main train station and hopped another train to Fussen (all covered by the eurorail pass). Then a bus from Fussen to Hohenschwangau.
We had to wait a few hours till our tour, the only way to see the inside, so we did some hiking around the area. The castle is in the Bavarian Alps so needless to say the area and scenery is gorgeous!
There are two castles one where King Ludwig II grew up then Neuschwanstein, which he build when he became king. It's only about 30% completed because he was named insane, was stripped of his power, and then mysteriously drowned with his psychiatrist. He only lives there something like 170 days! All construction stopped and was never finished! :(
The inside that is finished is super elaborate. The throne room is the layout of a church with a huge crown shape chandelier with colored glass jewels everywhere. But don't worry the 12 apostles surround him and God is above his head looking down on him in approval. His bed took 15 woodcarvers 4 years to finish the intricate work. He had decent taste I guess.
Bloopers: waiting for our tour to start sitting in front of mini poster pictures of the castle and up walks an adult with a camera...He took a picture of the picture! Then to add to it people saw that and thought "that's a great idea." and did the same! So what did I do? I took a picture of all the people taking pictures of the pictures. :) hahahaha
On the way there we met a couple, Kita and Andrew, from Victoria BC. We met them on the train to Fussen and in talking realized they are staying at the same hotel and rode the same train before Fussen as well. They seem really cool. Had drinks with them back at the hotel that evening when we all got back as well.
We had to wait a few hours till our tour, the only way to see the inside, so we did some hiking around the area. The castle is in the Bavarian Alps so needless to say the area and scenery is gorgeous!
There are two castles one where King Ludwig II grew up then Neuschwanstein, which he build when he became king. It's only about 30% completed because he was named insane, was stripped of his power, and then mysteriously drowned with his psychiatrist. He only lives there something like 170 days! All construction stopped and was never finished! :(
The inside that is finished is super elaborate. The throne room is the layout of a church with a huge crown shape chandelier with colored glass jewels everywhere. But don't worry the 12 apostles surround him and God is above his head looking down on him in approval. His bed took 15 woodcarvers 4 years to finish the intricate work. He had decent taste I guess.
Bloopers: waiting for our tour to start sitting in front of mini poster pictures of the castle and up walks an adult with a camera...He took a picture of the picture! Then to add to it people saw that and thought "that's a great idea." and did the same! So what did I do? I took a picture of all the people taking pictures of the pictures. :) hahahaha
On the way there we met a couple, Kita and Andrew, from Victoria BC. We met them on the train to Fussen and in talking realized they are staying at the same hotel and rode the same train before Fussen as well. They seem really cool. Had drinks with them back at the hotel that evening when we all got back as well.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Munchen
Why do we change all foreign names to something else? Like Munich is Munchen and Prague is Praha...
Arrived to Germany and got our tickets to Interloken, Switzerland (Tues-Thurs) then from there to the airport in Frankfurt. We leave Friday morning! So weird and so exciting! I miss Molly! A lot of other things too but...lets be honest
Checked into the Holiday Inn :) Outside Munchen but a 20min S-Bahn trip gets you to city center AND is covered by our eurorail. Even better!
Showered and took a few hour nap before starting to see the city...
Saw a church, shocker right? Haha. Then walked through the Residence Museum where the royalty lived back in the day. A lot was destroyed by freakin' Hitler but at least the Nazis preserved many paintings and relics and furniture knowing it'd probably be bombed. Most of Munchen has been reconstructed since then.
Walked through a park which was huge. Randy fell in love...liter STEINS!!! :) There are beer gardens and food in the park so we at dinner there. Both had schnitzel and "country potatoes" which were fried but we were hoping it was something else. Oops!
Finished walking the park and saw the Hofbrauhaus which is supposed to be THE restaurant here and are planning to go once before we leave. Tired, back to the hotel to shower, go to bed to get up early for...Neuschwanstein Castle!!!
Arrived to Germany and got our tickets to Interloken, Switzerland (Tues-Thurs) then from there to the airport in Frankfurt. We leave Friday morning! So weird and so exciting! I miss Molly! A lot of other things too but...lets be honest
Checked into the Holiday Inn :) Outside Munchen but a 20min S-Bahn trip gets you to city center AND is covered by our eurorail. Even better!
Showered and took a few hour nap before starting to see the city...
Saw a church, shocker right? Haha. Then walked through the Residence Museum where the royalty lived back in the day. A lot was destroyed by freakin' Hitler but at least the Nazis preserved many paintings and relics and furniture knowing it'd probably be bombed. Most of Munchen has been reconstructed since then.
Walked through a park which was huge. Randy fell in love...liter STEINS!!! :) There are beer gardens and food in the park so we at dinner there. Both had schnitzel and "country potatoes" which were fried but we were hoping it was something else. Oops!
Finished walking the park and saw the Hofbrauhaus which is supposed to be THE restaurant here and are planning to go once before we leave. Tired, back to the hotel to shower, go to bed to get up early for...Neuschwanstein Castle!!!
End of Hungary
Went to the market that was closed before. Pretty cool. It had everything from crafts to spices and meats to toys and clothes. Walked to the ING building for Randy. Cool design but you couldn't get close, maybe for construction?
Since it was St Steven's weekend celebration we went back to castle hill to go to their festival. Pretty fun. Reminded me of the Scandinavian Festival in that people had traditional professions displayed: blacksmith, sewing, spinning yarn, cooking, wood carving, pottery, etc! Many local students from like 6 years to 18 performed traditional dances, music, and great food.
Left for our train early evening. It was no Soviet train because we had air but it was the next brutal on our list. There were no sleeper car left for Zurich or Munich so we had just the equivalent of airplane seats from 9pm till 6am. Brutal! Slept some...not much though. Of course there were annoying French people right outside our little cabin area talking loud for like the first hour. Then in the middle of the night two girls, probably drunk, decided to sit in out cabin for for stop in Austria somewhere.
Let the count down begin!!! We only have a week left!!!
Since it was St Steven's weekend celebration we went back to castle hill to go to their festival. Pretty fun. Reminded me of the Scandinavian Festival in that people had traditional professions displayed: blacksmith, sewing, spinning yarn, cooking, wood carving, pottery, etc! Many local students from like 6 years to 18 performed traditional dances, music, and great food.
Left for our train early evening. It was no Soviet train because we had air but it was the next brutal on our list. There were no sleeper car left for Zurich or Munich so we had just the equivalent of airplane seats from 9pm till 6am. Brutal! Slept some...not much though. Of course there were annoying French people right outside our little cabin area talking loud for like the first hour. Then in the middle of the night two girls, probably drunk, decided to sit in out cabin for for stop in Austria somewhere.
Let the count down begin!!! We only have a week left!!!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Happy Anniversary from Hungary
Slept in, went to where? Starbucks! Haha Randy must really love me...used their Internet to book our place in Munich.
Walked around more of the Buda side. They have really cool roofs where it's like a mosaic, just looks awesome. We were going to walk though Parliament but I thought it's be a good idea to walk there. It was a lot farther than it looked! So we went and got gelato while waiting for a free tour to start. It wasn't the same company as Berlin unfortunately. She gave good history for 30 min then another lecture on what to drink for 30 min. They didn't live up to our expectations so we jetted out. One thing I did learn that was helpful was that Hungary lost the biggest chunk of land in WWI, Transylvania. Which makes so much more sense back 12 years ago trying to cross the border from Romania to Hungary and Hungary wasn't so nice. Well Transylvania is part of Romania now I believe.
We went to the Parliament building finally and saw a hole bunch of stuff the tour should have covered. There were monuments related to the uprising started in 1956 and those that lost their lives. Walked toward a flea market but it was closed so we will go tomorrow. Walked through a cave church which is exactly as it sounds.
The church met at the cave on the outside until the early 1900's when they were trying to make tunnels to the Danube. To no avail so then they met inside. The communists shut it down during their rule by putting up a wall which came down after the Berlin wall.
Bought some Hungarian wine and celebrated 4 amazing years together!!!
Walked around more of the Buda side. They have really cool roofs where it's like a mosaic, just looks awesome. We were going to walk though Parliament but I thought it's be a good idea to walk there. It was a lot farther than it looked! So we went and got gelato while waiting for a free tour to start. It wasn't the same company as Berlin unfortunately. She gave good history for 30 min then another lecture on what to drink for 30 min. They didn't live up to our expectations so we jetted out. One thing I did learn that was helpful was that Hungary lost the biggest chunk of land in WWI, Transylvania. Which makes so much more sense back 12 years ago trying to cross the border from Romania to Hungary and Hungary wasn't so nice. Well Transylvania is part of Romania now I believe.
We went to the Parliament building finally and saw a hole bunch of stuff the tour should have covered. There were monuments related to the uprising started in 1956 and those that lost their lives. Walked toward a flea market but it was closed so we will go tomorrow. Walked through a cave church which is exactly as it sounds.
The church met at the cave on the outside until the early 1900's when they were trying to make tunnels to the Danube. To no avail so then they met inside. The communists shut it down during their rule by putting up a wall which came down after the Berlin wall.
Bought some Hungarian wine and celebrated 4 amazing years together!!!
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