Eine Reise von Luzern

Before you read: Again I apologize for not updating as often as I should. You guys are Awesome for reading and I love each and every one of you! Next if you look to the right you'll see that I've added a Donation button for Children's Miracle Network. My Sorority, Phi Mu, raises money every year for Children's Miracle Network via Dance Marathon. Dance Marathon is a 32 hour long event every March in which participants remain on their feet for 32 hours to raise money for CMN. You can help Miracles happen for children and families with a donation to Children's Miracle Network.

Alright that's my soapbox moment, on with the story... :-D

Die Schweiz

The night we left we went out with some of the best people I know. Caught a 1:40am train to Zurich for a connection to Lucerne. Sat next to a pretty cute guy. Slept until about 6 when a police officer asked for passports. I decided to stay up and watch the sunrise. Oh, the old lady across from me makes weird noises every now and then. We were also on a Harry Potter train as my friends have started calling them, thanks to me :-)

When I woke up I could see a mountain silhouette with Orion setting behind it. It looks like he's standing behind the mountain firing his bow. One of the coolest images I've ever seen. I wish I could get a picture to do it justice. Alas I'm not a photographer and there'd be a bad glare from the window.

Finally made it to Zurich. One nice thing about die Schweiz is that their trains are always on time and at the track they say it'll be located, unlike Linz haha. Oh and I spoke German to the kasse and he understood me! So exciting! Also, on the train the do announcements in German, French, and English. I love hearing the French, it sounds so pleasant to the ears haha not harsh like German.

Just had a movie thought. Didn't part of the Bourne Trilogy take place in Zurich? I feel kind of like a spy with my small black duffel and timberlands but the resemblance ends there as I'm wearing a sweater dress with tights and I have pink tags on my duffel.. Eh, I can dream right?

I just saw a Starbucks. The past three times I has been in the same area as a Starbucks I didn't get to go. Nothing will stop me this time from getting a grande hot chocolate with a shot of peppermint, aka Christmas in a cup.

On another note I'm really excited to be going back to Lucerne. It's been about four years since I've been. It's the first time my friend has been so we're going to try and see it all. Meaning Mount Pilatus, the lion monument, the bridge, and of course somewhere with exceptional hot coco (besides Starbucks).

We passed a beautiful farm house in a valley. We are a bit higher than the house and the fog and frost enveloping the house and land was gorgeous. Something you don't see everyday. Oh and there were mountains in the background. I'm so glad I decided to go on this trip.

We walked along the river the first day. Saw a million swans and ducks. The lake was silhouetted by the alps. It was a solute gorgeous. We walked all the way down to the transportation museum. However the planetarium was not open because the projector was broken. We decided to head back to the train station and retrieve our bags from the locker and head to the Hostel.

We checked into the Hostel and promptly fell asleep. It was the best nap I have ever taken! I apparently turned my alarm off in my sleep thus didn’t wake up. Julie had to wake me up and force me to get up. We needed to eat so we headed to a local Pub called Mr. Pickwicks. However it was PACKED! Karaoke was apparently a big thing in Luzerne. We decided to go there the next day and find somewhere else for now. We ended up at a little restaurant that had pizza. I had a mushroom pizza and a glass of not so great wine. However it was fun none the less because we were in Luzerne.

Oldest Wooden Bridge in Europe

The fog rolling in from the Mountain

What AView

Gorgeous :-D

The next day we planned to go to Mount Pilatus! I had been there before and couldn’t wait to go back. If you ever get the chance to go, DO IT! We had to go buy tickets at the info desk at the train station. Little did we know that we showed up an hour before they open. Oops. We sat in the terminal waiting. Then Julie left for a bit to use the restroom. Naturally as she left two ticket enforcers came in asking for tickets. IN FRENCH! I don’t speak French! I tried a little German, that was a no go. Then I spoke English. One guy looked at me and said hold on. He went and got his buddy and asked what I was doing there. I answered stating that I was waiting for the info desk to open. They spoke in French for a minute more and when they looked back at me I did my best Fi, Fiona in Burn Notice, impression. Meaning I had a nice smile and may have batted my eyes at the cute ticket guy. He smiled back and said ‘Okay’. I was afraid they were going to pull an Indiana Jones “No Ticket” to me.

Thankfully the info desk opened then and Julie finally came back and we bought our ticket to the Mountain. We had to take a Train and a Cogwheel train up the mountain (Longest in the world). We got to the top and it was just as I remembered it. Breathtakingly Gorgeous. We hiked up to the top of two peaks and enjoyed the view. We also had Swiss version of grilled cheese. Yes this girl, who hates cheese, at a grilled cheese like meal. The Swiss cheese was melted and mixed with some kind of beer and poured over two delicious pieces of bread. I ate one whole piece and half of the other.. After a while I could smell the cheese and couldn’t eat anymore.

There's the Cogwheel Train!!

The Classic Point Pic

The Delicious Grilled Cheese and View of the Mountain

We then headed back down the mountain in a cable car. That was fun! We went all the way down to a town called Kriens. We then were to take the #1 Bus back to Luzerne Altstadt. I saw a sign that said #1 Bus with an arrow. Naturally I thought it pointed to where the seats were that indicated there was a stop there. Boy was I wrong. Thankfully an English speaking family walked by talking about how the walk to the bus stop wasn’t that far. Julie and I followed them and eventually found the Bus stop. We arrived back in town around 2 in the afternoon. We had just enough time to walk to the museum and catch the show at the Planetarium.

We walked all the way there and got out tickets. As soon as the show started I realized that I’d seen a similar show before and promptly fell asleep. Oops. I woke up for the actual lecture that was to be given after the movie. I wish the lecture was longer since it was fairly interesting. They pointed out my favorite constellation Orion. We then walked around the museum and finally headed to Mr Pickwicks for dinner and drinks.

We finally made it around 5:30 to Pickwicks. We shared a table with two people from Scotland. The nice lady, Caroline, started talking to us when she noticed that we were drinking Guinness. Her friend Darren, who is a sniper for the police in London, came back and we had a fun night drinking, eating, and talking about Scotland, London, and the States. We also talked about the football games that were going on. I don’t know much about football (When I say football I mean Soccer. I know plenty about American Football haha!). Julie and I left around 10 since we needed to be up early to check out. We walked to the train station and she got some Nutella to eat since she had a bit more to drink than I did ( I only had one Guinness and a Magners, she had three Guinness’s). We finally made it back and I fell asleep pretty quick.

The next morning I hear an alarm going off and I know it’s not mine. I thought that Julie had her phone with her and would turn it off. Next thing I hear is  “Alex? Can you Please turn off my phone? If I try to climb down I’ll die.” (We had a bunk bed). I turned off her phone and then got ready for the day. We checked out and headed to the train station to lock up our bags. We then headed to the Lion Monument. The Lion Monument is a monument to the fallen Swiss Guard Members that died protecting King Louis the XIV.

After we went to the monument we got breakfast at a little bakery/restaurant. It was pretty good. Then we went to Starbucks. I wish that my giftcard worked there but alas it didn’t. I still got a Grande Iced Black Tea Sweetened. We stayed there for about two hours then went to the train station. When we arrived at the train station there was some sort of SWAT like training going on. Of course they were starting to lockdown the area with the lockers. Naturally Julie and I go around and get to the lockers just as they’re asking people to leave. They have the whole area roped off and we couldn’t go out a side entrance. There was a massive man standing there, arms crossed shaking his head and eventually pointed in the direction we needed to go. Talk about Scary! Julie told me they were after me since I confused them the other day. We laughed about it and went about our business.

Starbucks!!!!

Finally the time came to board the train back to Salzburg, with a stop in Zurich. It was about a 45 min ride to Zurich and we got off and walked around to the river. I couldn’t believe that I was were Jason Bourne, aka Matt Damon, ran through the streets avoiding capture. If you haven’t noticed I’m a bit of a movie buff. We headed back to the train station to board the train back to Salzburg.

Did I mention that there was a Christmas Tree in the middle of the station!?

We got a great seat of the train with a table and would you believe it, outlets to charge phones! EEK! I got to charge my iPhone during the 5hour ride. About two stops in a bunch of soldiers on leave for holiday got on the train. That’s when things got loud haha. They all got off with Julie and I in Salzburg. We got dinner at the Burgerking, don’t get the onion rings, and finally headed home.

All in all it was great trip and very relaxing. I wish I could go back because school is crazy now with tests and projects.

Here is a little Extra for you all. A sneak peak at WEINACHTSMARKT!!

The Big Christmas Tree

Another Pic of the Tree!

Me and the Tree

A bit blurry but Pretty all the same

Checking In!

Hey everyone! So I apologize again for not posting! School has been crazy and I've had two huge exams and have been preparing for them. I plan on posting later today about Weinachtsmarkt and Lucerne!!!! So be on the look out for both of those posts!!!!

-A

Praha

Here is post 2 of 2 for Today.. Enjoy!

We left early in the morning on a Saturday. We were all really excited about getting out of town and exploring another country. Getting there is half the battle. We took a train from Salzburg to Linz. We had 10 mins to find our connecting train.. However it left early and we missed it. So we had to wait an hour for the next train. We took the next train until the line ended. The line ended because they are working on it. So we took a bus until it stopped at the next train station. We got on another train and made it into the Czech Republic then transferred to another train to Praha. What was really neat was that the train to Praha was like the train on Harry Potter. It kind of felt like we were going to Hogwarts haha. All in all we traveled about 8 hours that day.

The Group!

Art Museum

We arrived in Praha and made it to the apartment we were renting for the four days. It was a really nice apartment and we felt right at home. We were starving so we found a nice little pub down the road for dinner. Let’s just say they had the most delicious burger I have ever eaten in Europe. We went back again before we left, it was that good.

Another neat thing about Praha is that the dollar and Euro are extremely strong to the Czech Krown. So everything was fairly inexpensive and it was nice.

Sunday we split up into two groups. My group went to the Praha Zoo. It’s internationally ranked in the top 10 for amazing zoos. It lived up to its name. In the nocturnal animal building the bats were free to fly around. We didn’t know that at the time but I quickly realized it when one flew right past my head and my hair moved. I almost screamed and hid behind one of my friends. I hate bats. They scare me almost as much as spiders and snakes. We also got to see a polar bear playing in the water. I have never seen a polar bear play. They’re normally sleeping whenever I’m at the zoo so it was awesome to see. We also got to see Lions, Tigers, and Snowy Owls (aka Hedwig).

Bearcat!! Represent Cincy!!!

Lions!

Tiger!!

That night we went to the Praha ballet. They were doing “The Best of Swan Lake” I once again was in Heaven. I love seeing the arts and ballet is one of my favorites. I wish we had gotten to see the entire show of Swan Lake but it was still pretty good. Three people including one of the leads fell in the exact same spot on stage, I think it was cursed haha. One of the leads, the bad guy, looked just like Carlton Lassiter on Psych. I thought that was really funny.

Row 6!!

Monday we decided to explore the Old City. We went up to the Fortress/Castle. It was amazing! By the way, they are known for their marionettes. They’re EVERYWHERE! The castle was really old so not really my style haha. We did however get to see St Vitas and St George’s Basilica. St George is my favorite Saint so seeing Statues of him everywhere was really neat. St Vitas was gorgeous. I met a lovely couple from Atlanta there that gave me an extra brochure about St Vitas and told me a couple places to visit. We also went to a Chocolate Museum! Needless to say it’s every girls dream to go to a Chocolate Museum. The Chocolate samples were delicious too haha. We went to the pub again for dinner.

View of Praha

The Palace

St George!

Chocolate Demonstration!

Tuesday we got lost in the City, not really lost but just wandered around enjoying the sites and shopping. We did a lot of shopping. We went to a local café for lunch and just snacked for dinner. It was a relaxing day but fun all the same.

Going home was much less stressful than going. We didn’t have to catch a bus because our side of the track was being worked on. We had to change trains twice but they were easy switches and didn’t miss our connection.

Praha is amazing and if you get the chance to go I highly recommend it. I had a blast and wouldn’t mind going back. J

Reise von Wien

Sorry for the lack of posts! It's been a crazy few weeks here with school and traveling. I am updating with two, yes TWO, new posts about Wien und Praha! Enjoy!

A few weeks ago we took a weekend trip to Vienna. Pretty much it was heaven! I loved every minute of the trip. We were there for a total of three days. Friday-Sunday. We took a lovely Charter Bus and had a blast on the way. Here is a recap of what all went on.

On Friday we left around 9 in the morning. We drove to a Monastery called Melk. It was GORGEOUS! The Baroque art/architecture was Epic there was even a library there that looked just like the library in Beauty and the Beast!

Me infront of Melk

Just one amazing pic of the Library

Later we arrived at our hotel Wandl. It was Gorgeous, I know I use that word a lot but how else can I describe a borderline 5 Star hotel with a spiral staircase. I felt like a movie star there haha. Later that night we explored the city and had a great dinner of pasta and Eis.

Saturday we toured the city. We got to see Palaces, Demel (fabulous chocolate shop!), Art Museum, Stephans Dom, and Saturday night we went to the Opera! We saw Salome. It’s a fairly short Opera, only one Act. Our seats weren’t the best but I could have cared less. I was going to finally live my dream of seeing an Opera. I AM IN LOVE! I want to go to more Operas. It’s a Musical on Steroids. Not a musical per say maybe a Play on a much more dramatic scale. The music and songs were amazing and moving. I was on the edge of my seat the entire show. Well I was standing because you couldn’t see the stage from my seat, but it was still a fabulous experience. After the Opera we went to a café that originated the Sacher Torte. The most delicious chocolate torte I have ever had! Highly recommend it if you go to Wien!

Stephans Dom

Any Harry Potter Fans? Buckbeak was at the Dom

The dress is made out of ALL chocolate!

Making the Torte

Rachel and I on Monet steps leading to an Art Museum

Summer Palace in Wien

The Opera

Balcony Seating

The Best Chocolate Torte Ever! Sacher Torte

Sunday we left early in the morning and went to two castles. Schloss Schönbrunn and Scholss Belvedere. We went to Belvedere first. It is now an art museum. I love art museums haha. I currently have a new favorite artist as well. Gustav Klimt. My favorite piece by him is the infamous “Der Kuss” (The Kiss). I liked it a whole lot more before the curator explained the meaning behind why it was painted the way it was.. But I’m not going to let that ruin a perfectly beautiful work of art. My interprutation was better in my eyes haha. Schloss Schönbrunn was GORGEOUS! I wish we could have taken pictures on the tour. I wouldn’t have mind living in this particular castle/palace. Very elegant. The colors of the rooms and furniture just screamed luxury and royalty. I was in love haha. A friend of mine who is into photography took several pictures of friends and myself outside in the garden.. I love them all haha.

Schloss Schönbrunn

Poseidon Fountain

Jump :-)

The group

Walking down the steps 

That in a nutshell is Vienna. I loved every moment of my time there. While it was short it was spent exploring and having fun!

Schule und Reisen

The first two weeks of classes have gone really well. I am in all the classes that I wanted/need to be in. I’m not crazy about one of my classes, Österreich Aktuell. The professor is kind of weird and I want to fall asleep during class. My favorite class has to be Free Writing. Our professor gives us prompts and we take it from there. It’s fun to let the creativity flow out onto paper. Plus it’s great practice. My Art History class is bound to be interesting. The professor is involved with renovations to historic sites all around Salzburg and he really knows his stuff about art. German Lit is kind of boring. The book we are currently reading is not one that I’d pick up and be excited to read. I prefer my Harry Potter book, in German of course. The DaF course is a little dry but going well. I have the same professor for Free Writing so he’s awesome. That’s it for classes so far, we’ve also had a ton of homework but it’s doable.

Now for the truly fun part of the past two weeks: my day trip to Innsbruck. We left around 8 Saturday morning and planned on leaving around on the 9pm train. The train ride was AWESOME! I wish that the seats were that nice for plane rides. The train ride was about 2 hours long and the scenery was GORGEOUS! The alps are awe-inspiring and everyone should see them at least once.

Once we arrived we found a tourist booth and got an Innsbruck Card. This card allows you to get in free to museums, public transportation, and discounts at certain stores. It’s a must if you want to stay within a budget. We also got a map that definitely came in handy. We then headed to the cable cars that take you to the top of one of the mountains in town. Let me tell you that the view was breathtaking. We didn’t want to leave. There was a hiking trail that you could walk up the mountain, but we quickly nixed that idea as we had a tight schedule. It had also recently snowed and we got to throw snowballs at each other for a minute. That was fun haha. After we spent about an hour of taking in the view and taking pictures we decided to head back down and explore the Old City.

I forgot to mention that I have been to Innsbruck before. My dad and I went, the summer I graduated, on a 10 day Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy tour. We only got to spend a few hours there and it was raining. Today there was not a cloud in the sky and was everything I remeberd and more. Once we got back to the Old City we went to St Jacob’s Cathedral. It is ethereal. Marble floors, gold leafing everywhere, a huge organ, the statues themselves are beautiful, and some of the painting on the wall/ceiling literally come off the surface. For instance, if there was a scroll held by someone in the painting part of said scroll would be 3D rather 2D. So it jumps out at you. After we spent a while taking in the Cathedral we went to see the Golden roof.

The Golden Roof is part of a building that has been around for over 500 years. It was built during Maxamillion’s rule. The roof is literally made out of gold. You can go inside the building and take tour and see artifacts and look out from the balcony that the roof covers. When we finished we got some of the most delicious gelato I have ever had! I should have taken a picture of it because they formed a flower out of the flavors I chose. However me + multitasking + gelato in a cone = a mess. So I decided not to. You’ll just have to take my word that it was not only delicious but presentation definitely gets a 10/10.

We then decided to go to the Imperial Palace and walk see what it would have been like to live as a King or Queen. It was fun trying to find the entrance because the Palace covers a good deal of the Old City. My friends trusted me with the map, which I did well navigating even though I get lost in my hometown. We finally made found the right entrance and started the tour. I wish we could have taken pictures because it was beautiful inside. I could definitely see myself living there if I were a Princess let alone Queen. My favorite rooms were the ballroom, dining room, and the dressing room (which was all pink).

After we toured the Palace we went to Swarovski  Crystal World. It’s a museum for well you guessed it Swarvoski Crystal. It was so shiny, glittery, breathtaking, and at times weird. It was neat to see all the creations made out of high end crystal. I even got a little Four Leafed Clover magnet. I highly recommend going if you have the chance. The pictures below give a better glimpse as to what I saw.

Once we made it back to the Old City we decided to get dinner and then head home. We went to this nice little pub/restaurant. We all ordered Schnitzle and it was pretty good. Dessert was better though. We ordered three things, an Apple donut pastry, brownie, and Vanilla Ice Cream with Whipped Crème and Hot Chocolate Sauce. My favorite was the ice cream, but the Apple pastry was a very close second.

We then caught a train back to Salzburg and promptly fell asleep during the trip back. We were exhausted but had a fabulous time. I can’t wait for the trip to Vienna next weekend and Prague the following weekend.

Hat ein schönes Tag!!!

-A