euroTour: study abroad style

My Spring break began on April 5 and ended April 22nd. That's how they do it in Spain, NEVER WORK! Fine with me, I'll take the 17 days off. We decided to do the bulk of our touring during this time. The itinerary is as follows, and the posts are in chronological order following this post, from the first stop, to the last.

Paris, France: Abby, Kim, and me, meeting our other friend Ryan
Prague, Czech Republic: Abby, Kim, and me, staying with a Mizzou friend of Abby's, who lives in Prague
Munich, Germany: Abby and me
Nice, France/Monte Carlo, Monaco/Ventimiglia, Italy: Abby and me

Home for three days in Alicante.....
Tenerife, Canary Islands (technically Spain): 12 of my friends, all in the same resort

So, here goes nothing! These are long, I couldn't leave anything out!


enjoy :) because I sure did.

-k

Stop number one-Paris!!

Getting on the flight was a struggle in itself! Kim had a duffle that was 2 inches too big for Ryan air... So 50 euro later, we ran through the line to try to get seats next to each other since they're not assigned. (of course, you have to pay extra for that too) With our picnic lunches in hand, dripping in sweat, we plopped down and plugged in to our music for the quick 2 hour flight to the most romantic city yet, Paris :)

The other two have fallen in love, (Abby and Kim), but I have yet to meet Mr. Euro-love.. I've got 6 new cities to look for him, so he's got to be there somewhere. Maybe a French boy? Probably not.. I should have gone to Holland.. Those boys have been the cutest so far. Anyways, on to afternoon #1 in Paris!

Well we got in at around 3 at Beurgois airport.. Super far away. We got on a bus to take us to the center and wandered into an irish pub for a beer, obviously.. 7 euro later for a plain old Fosters, we realized the reality of how expensive Paris is and decided we might be able to starve for a few days. Backpacks and all, we plopped ourselves down at the bar and talked to the bartender from ireland! He gave us some good pointers if I can ever make it to Ireland soon.. He was nice and forwarned us of our incredibly long hike to the hotel across town.. We took about four trains it seemed like to wind up at our hotel, outside the city center, and away from everything.. Thats what happens when you give your friend who likes to just "wing it" one job.. By this point it was about 9 pm. So we found some good sushi restaurant down the street, took it to go since France is not on the same "eating-late" schedule as Spain, and went to sleep for a long day of seeing as much as we could in Par-ee!

Abby and I got Kim up against her will on Friday morning to head of the Eiffel tower. We wanted to go up it, but there was only one elevator running and the line said it was over a 2 hour wait.. So unfortunately, we didn't get to go up. That was the case pretty much everywhere we went. Since we had such limited time there, we couldnt stand in line for hours to be able to go in anywhere.. Kind of frustrating for me because I wanted to see the Mona Lisa, and go up the Eiffel tower, and go in the Norte Dame, but when you're traveling with two other people, all with different agendas and ideas of fun, you have to give a little..

almost to the bottom of the tower!

Instead of trying to figure out the metro and directions to all we wanted to see in this massive city, we jumped on a double decker that took us all over the city. Great investment for sure since we didn't know how long walking would take and the metro doesn't let you see the neighborhoods or architecture or anything. We also had the guided tour so that was nice to hear the history of things.

me, on the top of the tour bus so i could get some good pics :) and freeeeeze.

the beautiful notre dame

another really pretty little shop in the quaint district around the notre dame

wandering around, with the quiche lunch in hand :)

After a lunch of quiche at a stand near the Notre Dame and wandering around taking it all in, we met our friend Ryan at the Louvre. He had been in Paris for a few days and had rented an apartment on airbnb, a website that is perfect for that! It was near Sacre Couer, so a metro ride, grocery store stop, and Desperado beer later, we made it up the 6 flights of stairs to their French chateau.

We made our frozen meals we had all bought from this great grocery store that only sells frozen food! What a cool invention for college kids! We hung out for awhile before going out to some bars near their house.

(more sight seeing pics..)

those perfect little pedestals to stand on for a photo op in front of the Notre Dame

an eiffel tower shot from the top of our double decker!

and beautiful sacre couer.. gorgeous cathedral, especially around holy week

the inside of another cathedral by sacre couer, no pictures were allowed in the real thing.

and we made it to the arc de triumph! MASSIVE!

Our last morning in Paris came rather quickly! Kim and I went back to the Notre Dame area for a coffee and croissant because that was near the train stop to go to the airport and Abby went back to the Eiffel Tower. We ran into the St.Michel fountain, an unexpected but beautiful find, and wandered through some cute french shops.

so many pretty cherry blossoms, or whatever those trees are..

I have to say, the new language barrier that is much more apparent and difficult than the Spanish one was at first, was the French one. I had heard from so many people that "the French are rude" and "they act Ike they don't know English to make you look dumb, when they really know it".. I was giving the French people, as a whole, the benefit of the doubt before traveling to their city of Paris.. Between walking on the streets and them blatantly running into you, to the glares and stares when you ask if they have an English menu, I'm not a huge fan.. Paris is a beautiful city with so much history and some pretty good food, but I kind of think the French culture is not my cup of tea. Part of the cultural seminar class I have been taking was examining the French culture based on an article an American wrote about moving to France and trying to figure out their way of life. I think he put it well, that the difference between American interaction with people and French interaction with people is that Americans make conversations with strangers to simply make conversation. There is no need to have a relationship with the person or even know them at all. Americans tend to converse as a norm, regardless of the formality of a situation. French people tend to only hold conversations with those they have a relationship with and do so for a purpose. They may not talk to their neighbor they have had for ten years simply because they aren't looking to be good friends with them. Whether his observation is true or not, I think it is interesting. We perceive the lack of a smile as we pass or the silence when we say Bonjour as rude, when the French may see that as completely normal.. Neither is right but maybe just a difference in cultures.

For this and a few other reasons about Paris, it was not my favorite city but definitely had my favorite architecture! Off to Prague! My number one "City to Visit While Abroad" destination!

goodbye paris, it's been real.

-k

Prague: the city that never sleeps.. Or maybe that was just us..

Picture time... :)

me, abby, and kim, on the Charles Bridge in Prague!

it is a beautiful city!

famous St. Vitus Cathedral, in the Castle District

Well, the second Easter weekend since I was 2 that I wasn't visiting my grandma and grandpa in Florida with the fam! Seemed a little strange, but Prague will do :) We lucked out with the set-up there. Staying with a Mizzou alum who graduated last year and was Abby's friend, we had our own personal tour guide, public transportation guide, massive apartment and our own room even! Mike has lived in Prague for about a year now, and had a stacked itinerary for us full of sight seeing, lots of fun, and some great food.

(see post below..)

Mike, the guy from mizzou, me, and kim at a great pub!

bbq chicken wings. oh.em.gee. divineee.

We got in around dinner time, so we took our typical quick siesta before getting dinner at this awesome pub! Every table had it's own keg! We poured our own beers that were some of the best beer I've had, a mix between bud light and blue moon almost. I had some great barbecue chicken wings!! I had been craving those forever.. Czech food was insanely good. Great salads, awesome meat, and some good garlic soup :) oh and rye bread for once! In Spain we only have French bread it seems like with everythingggggg.

Near the old town, Mike took us to a bar his friend owns called the Drunken Monkey. Haha great name.. The owner is an American guy named Will and we walked in for the start of this great pub crawl and the girl at the door went to Mizzou! What a small world! But it gets even smaller.. I noticed two Iowa Hawkeye license plates on the wall and asked whose they were, come to find out Mike's friend, Will, who owns the place is from Cedar Rapids! Finally someone who knows where the Quad Cities is! It was great to talk to him and have that connection in Prague. He is wild.

that's Will. He wore the sombrero alll night. 

We continued on the pub crawl around to some cool Czech pubs, and Kim and I introduced ourselves to the men in kilts, a rugby team from Edinburough! They had a tournament or something in Prague and were there for the night. Fun time joking around with them about their kilts and little did they know that I knew a lot about Scotland thanks to my good old Dad! Wandering along in the freezing cold Prague night was a little different than the typical tank top and skirt we wear in Spain though..

me, kim, and abby, enjoying the pilsners

Easter led us to a tour by Mike of Prague- to the St. Vitus cathedral, the castle, the easter markets, and the St. Charles bridge. The easter markets were really neat to see. Vendors spread around a square near the astronomical clock tower with their kids making the food they sold or aligning their little trinkets.

it was snowing that morning!!

view of the bridge

old town

and again..

  It was cool to see the family affair and I couldn't resist one of the spiral cinnamon sugar dough circles! I had read about them and how it is a traditional Czech easter snack, and it was really good.

the snack :)

easter tree!

another view of the cathedral

from on top of the castle, overlooking the city

city streets, in old town

our hot wine break! we were absolutely freeezing.

a statue on the st. charles bridge

pretty view from the bridge, again..

lots of religious statues all along the bridge

After this, we appreciated the perks of touring with someone who lives in the city, as Mike took us to this terrace restaurant on top of a hotel with incredible views of the city and clock tower.

great view from on top of the hotel/restaurant mike took us to

the famous astronomical clock tower!

Prague is beautiful! After our long tour, the four of us headed back for a quick map before another great meal of salad with salmon and a real vinaigrette dressing! We felt so spoiled having salad with lettuce other than iceberg and dressing other than olive oil and salt..

One of our Mizzou friends studying in Alicante with CIEE was in Prague for the weekend with her parents as well, so she met us out after dinner along with a few of Mike's friends. Kim stayed in because she had an early train (6:30am!!) to Berlin to split from us and meet some other people there.

Kristen, me and abby, the mizzou crew in Prague!

Needless to say, we had a great night and stayed out way too long for our tired and toured bodies.. Coming home at 6 am to our lovely Kim, who overslept her alarm apparently and was hardly going to make her train.. That's all contingent on her actually finding her way to the train station.. Disaster city struck and Abby and I were no help, but Mikes nice roommate Guido walked her/ran carrying her bag to the metro stop and happened to find a taxi. She made it, luckily, but I think that will be the last early train Kim decides to take alone..

After a snooze for a few hours, the four of us grabbed lunch and some snacks for our Munich train ride. Funny enough, Mike randomly decided he wanted to join us to Munich for the night! That makes number two of our hosts deciding we are that fun and wanting to join on one of Abby and my European adventures.. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not, but we have a lot of fun and still manage to see the sights of the cities and experience the culture, so what more could we ask for?

me, trying to repack that great backpack of mine for the millionth time!

We jumped on the train and headed for a scenic ride to Munich for the next few days. Bring on the beer, sausages, and pretzels!



-k

Munich: sausages, sauerkraut, and beer

After a five hour train ride, we got in at 11 pm and took a quick shower at our hostel before hitting the town with Mike. Other than having him for this one night, this is just Abby and me now, for the rest of the euro tour. Having been to Munich before, Mike knew of a club/bar area so we took a cab there. and almost didn't get in because we didn't have our passports! Who takes their actual passport out? Not this girl.. I had a copy but that "wasn't good enough" Not cool.. After Abby and I talked to the bouncer for awhile about how we were poor students and wanted to party, he let us in :) I met lots of people, one being this massively tall German guy, Max. Everyone was really nice and spoke English so that was good. We stayed out late of course, and went back to our awesome hostel, with a cool bar and nice people!

the hostel, after we attempted to hang dry our laundry..

We had a private room so we had our own bathroom too. I was really nice for a hostel. Basically a cheap hotel, but suited our needs perfectly. After the last hostel experience with a "shared room", we were booking the private room for sure..

Woke up around 11 on our only full day in Munich and headed to the place we know best- the biergarten. We stopped at Marienplatz to see the clock tower chime at 12. These figurines were supposed to move and it's supposed to be this cool thing. Well, we were a little unimpressed considering it went off at 12:05 and the figurines hardly spun around! After the fact though, I guess it was neat because of the incrdible architecture of the clock tower and building with it.

the side of Marienplatz

the clock tower part

Mike and I, in front of it

Tons of people stand there looking at the clock tower for that to happen daily, at 11and 12. It was a beautiful building though- definitely what you would imagine Germany to look like. I took a video of the cool display, maybe it will work on here.
---video?
So we made it to the Haufbrauhaus, the most famous biergarten in Munich. When you walk in, you see giant long tables under massive ceilings of wood beams. Ahead of you is a quartet playing typical German Oktoberrfest type music, whatever that genre is called. (like with trombones and trumpets and stuff.) It was the perfect atmosphere.

the cool german band

from the balcony

We sat outside on this balcony overlooking the middle fountain thing. Got ourselves one liter of German original beer, and enjoyed the perfect weather for being outside. We all got sausages, Abby's and mine was like a brat with sauerkraut underneath. Sooo good. And with their mustard, it was great. And Mike got a mix of sausages, some looked like hot dogs and some like a brat.

breakfast of champions. a liter of german beer, sausage, and sauerkraut.

We hung out for awhile trying to finish our massive beers while eating a giant pretzel! That was really good too. You buy them from the little waitresses walking around in german dresses, that look kind of like yodeling outfits or something. Off to stop number 3-5 for the Munich tour!

all of the tables, from the balcony

 Making our way for the English gardens, (walking this time, no metro) we stumbled across the main shopping street in Munich and oh.my.gosh. Incredible. Every designer you would absolutely love, (well, I absolutely love) next to each other. Dior, Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Hermes, and the only one I have a chance at affording, BCBG, my personal favorite. I picked through their beautiful spring line and of course wanted it all.. I held back my shopping addiction and moved along to the free walking of the gardens...

love.

After my map navigating, we made it and found the surfers wave! It's this small dam sort of thing where this one big wave is and people put wetsuits on and surf there! It looked freezing but they were really good!

the wave!

 pictures from the walk..

The English Gardens

The gardens were beautiful. They're called the English Gardens, and are bigger than central park in NYC and stretch all along the river bordering the east side of Munich. So fun to walk around and see the bikers, picnics, cute German kids, and take in the scenery.

 We finally made it about one-third of the way in to the Chinese tower, where there is another biergarten, and that's where we parked it for awhile, again, with another beer.

the chinese tower

anddd the giant pretzel :)

yum

Great day for being outside, blue sky, sun shining, and perfect to just sit and take it all in. I think that's the most relaxed I've been in a really really long time. No homework to have to come back to on Sunday night, no timeframe for the evening of more things to see or do, hanging out with my Mizzou friends halfway across the world from the one place that brought us together.

Mike had a train to catch, so he left and Abby and I finished our beer and made friends with the cute little German girl next to us and her parents. The little one, was 5, and didn't speak English really but her mom spoke English perfectly so we talked to them. Anna fleur de le coure was her name and she had the blondest little white hair and cutest sunglasses! She loved us. I'm emailing her mom so she sends us the pictures she took of us all.

Abby and I got a road pretzel and walked back to a metro stop to get on the metro back to our hostel. It was like 6:30 at this point and we were exhausted. They go by the honor system in Germany with the tram, as in, the ticket machines don't read your ticket because the tickets don't even fit in the machines actually, so we still had our ticket from earlier that we didn't even really need and gypsies on. We crashed and burned at our room.. In Alicante we never drink beer, they claim that's a man's drink and when I've ordered it before the guys look at me funny.. So this change in pace threw us off I think. Took a nap until 830 to get some dinner and by the time the alarm went off, we were not even close to being hungry, so we threw in some laundry, touched base with the parents for a second on the wifi in the common room, and then ventured out for some sushi. Well, at 11:30 pm, that was closed.. So the mexican fiesta place we saw on our way there worked just fine. We both got some good salads and tried to eat but just couldn't! Too full of beer and sausages..

So we went back home and then of course we couldn't sleep since we had napped, making the 5 am wake-up call for our flight to Nice come quickly.. After jumping on the metro going the wrong direction, we had a minor freak out since our hostel guy told us, "if you go the wrong direction, you will end up in the middle of nowhere and have no chance of making your flight." great.. Just what we wanted, to be stuck in Munich.. Thank god someone named Katie realized this about 3 stops along and we got off, otherwise we would have really been screwed. We found the airport direction one and had plenty of time before our flight.

After a few struggles in cities speaking 4 different languages now, I think I can navigate the metro and bus systems pretty well. With my only public transportation experience being the city bus that picked us up from Alleman to take us to Seton after 8th grade early-bird algebra, I've picked it up quickly I would say. It can be difficult trying to read much less pronounce the name of a metro stop in Czech, but I can get us there now.

No Ryan air for this flight, thank god!

call me Kim Kardashian..

And we're off to the French riviera!!

-k