Monday in Munich

On Monday, September 18th we arrived in Munich, Germany. We checked into our hostel, which I was initially concerned about, before I actually saw it. We stayed in a big room with 4 different sections, each section with 10 beds. So a room with 40 people. It was actually a very nice, safe and clean hostel with very friendly people working there.

After checking in, we went out for dinner to the Hofbräu Haus which is the beer house (or bier haus) that Hitler supposedly started the Nazi party. It's quite the tourism hot spot, with the upstairs being a quiet restaurant atmosphere and the downstairs a loud, rowdy, cafeteria-style seating section. After a long train ride, we chose the quiet upstairs. I ate bratwurst with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. It was good, and I definitely became a fan of the bratwurst.

Emma & me at dinner

Salter & Emma

Dinner

After dinner we window-shopped, including some traditional German wear for Oktoberfest. A lot of people were really walking around in lederhosen and dirndl. I felt so underdressed!

Then we checked out Oktoberfest. I would describe it as a big carnival for drunk adults. It was a lot of fun, but not at all what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be more like a fair than a carnival. I expected German folk music (not "Sweet Home Alabama"--no, I'm not joking), lots of food and beer and people all outside, maybe some dancing. Instead there were a lot of carnival rides to get you dizzy, a lot of pop music from the States, and there was junk food aplenty, but drinking had to stay contained in the beer halls which were very crowded and loud and hot. It was still quite the experience, and there is nothing quite like walking into a beer hall with everyone standing on tables with beer steins, singing and dancing and yelling.

Yay for bratwurst!

Salter

Emma shopping for food

Me with some sort of mocha chocolate marshmallow heaven

A merry-go-round for drinking haha

The Hofbräu Haus beer tent (not really a tent)

Inside, but I couldn't really capture the craziness of it all

I have noooo idea

COOKIES!!

This was only Day 1 in Munich. We left Munich early Thursday morning, so there is still Tuesday and Wednesday to write about.

I love Paris in the springtime

Note: For these travel entries, I am not going to send out an email and just write out more on the blog so I can actually get these finished. Also, click on a picture to see it bigger.

My travel partners for the two weeks after my pre-sessional course were Emma & Salter. We left very early in the morning on Saturday, September 16th. We had to leave our luggage in storage in Lancaster Friday afternoon, so we were left with only what we were travelling with. This meant a bare mattress Friday night. Thankfully we didn't have to sleep long since our train left Lancaster for London just after 5am.

Very early in the am.

We first took a train from Lancaster to London, and then we went through Immigration to get on another train to Paris, France, under the English Channel.

From the train station we needed to take the Metro to our hostel, which was in a kind of suburb of Paris called Clichy. The Metro was standing room only, and a guy kept nudging Salter until he looked down and saw a crab (a legit crustacean) running around the floor of the cart! It was no small crab, either; he was dinner-size. We were all worried that this was normal in Paris and tried to stay as far away from it as we could, which was kind of difficult with people squished all around you. When we got off, we heard girls screaming "C'est un crab!!", so we realized that, thankfully, a crab is not normal.

It was late when we found our hostel, so we just found our room, dropped some stuff off, and went to find dinner. We found a small Italian restaurant and each got our own pizza (mine with olives, capers and anchovies). We were so thirsty, and our waiter, who was originally shocked that we weren't ordering wine, ended up giving us a huge pitcher of water because he had to refill our small one too often. That was actually a rare occurrence for our travels: free, bottomless water. Not a lot of the places we went to gave out tap water, and although paying for water in a restaurant seems so wrong, it was important to not get dehydrated.

We woke up early on Sunday and ate the free breakfast the hostel provided. I never ate so much bread, butter & jam in my entire life than during this trip. Or be so thankful to also be offered plain cornflakes. Variety is the spice of life, right?

We took the Metro (sans crabs) to the Arc de Triumphe to start off our day of sight-seeing.

A place to charge your electric car, just ahead.

Aannnddd my eyes are closed

For an unknown soldier

Looking up

From the Arc we walked to the Jardin des Tuileries, which was a pretty garden.

Food we passed. Yeah, we actually passed it.

The dogs got free water too.

We then found the Louvre, but we agreed that an art museum (especially the Louvre) would be an all-day thing, so we didn't go in. Next time, though...

We got lunch from a take-out deli. It was fun walking around Paris carrying a baguette-type roll with ham and camembert cheese. Then we went to Notre Dame.

I have no idea who that woman is behind me.

We decided we wanted to get some ice cream, so we walked along the Seine to the Isle de St. Louis. On the way, there was a ragtime band playing in the street. They sang in English, and it was so good. I got video recording of it on my camera, and once I figure out youtube or another video hosting website, I will post a link. By the way, the name of this blog entry is a line from the song they were singing. Catchy little tune.


After ice cream and walking around, we got a quick snack and then went to the Eiffel Tower. We paid 3 Euros and walked a good ways up. It was pretty exhausting, let me tell you. And unfortunately it was a cloudy day, and I'm sure the view would be better on a clear day.

Cafe for a snack

Taking a break from walking around

Exhausted but made it.

My Crocs pointing westward

At dusk

We decided to find something to eat and then come back to the Eiffel Tower to get pictures of it at night. Right when we got back to the Eiffel Tower, at 9pm, the whole thing just lights up with blinking lights. It was so beautiful. Again, I got video of it and will post a link to it, because these pictures just can't do it justice.

We went back to the hostel, passed out, and the next morning left very very early again (5:30am early) to catch the Metro to catch the train to get to Munich. GO!-GO!-GO!

I loved Paris, and I really want to go back. I was surprised at how well my limited knowledge of French got me along, and now I'm a little excited for the other two semesters of French I still need to take at Gettysburg.

Coming up...Munich & Oktoberfest.

Sunday in Edinburgh, Scotland

These pictures are from the second day we spent in Edinburgh, Scotland. We went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is the Queen's residence in Scotland. We couldn't take pictures in the palace, but it was really beautiful. The audio tour was great and definitely worth the money.

Emma & me listening to our audio tours




Yay! Finally got a picture with a guy in a kilt.

Coming very soon, the mega-travels from the 2 weeks.