The Bridge at Night
L'Arc de Triomphe
Notre Dame Cathedral
Inside the Catacombs
Fountain from The Sound of Music
Enjoying the View in Salzburg
Amazing Meal in Prague
World Clock in Prague
End of Pont Charles
In front of the Berlin Wall
Brandenburger Tor
The day after New Years
I have only now really recovered from my extremely busy Christmas holidays. You really don't realize how tired you are until you stop moving.
For the beginning of my holidays, I spent 5 days in Paris with 3 friends from home - Erin, Tiff and Josiah. Although it was my second time in Paris, I had forgotten about so many wonderful things in that beautiful city and was very happy to be back. I think over the course of those 5 days I must have eaten at least 5 Nutella and Coco Crêpes...mmmmmm sooo goood.
The morning of Christmas Eve, the 4 of us ventured out into the cold to an outdoor market to buy our Christmas dinner food. Since we did not have an oven in our vacation apartment, we had to opt for stove top chicken breasts...but they were just as good! We also tried Foie Gras, or Duck Liver in english, a french delicacy at Christmas...and it's GOOD.
Our Christmas dinner was a huge success, and although I could not spend Christmas with family I was very glad to spend it with friends from home.
On boxing day, we headed out to catch our train to Munich. But, as sometimes life gives you lemons, we missed it. Not only did we miss it, but we watched it pull away....along with our 78 euros.
After researching other options for several hours, we eventually found a flight to Munich for 145 euros for those 26 years old and under...regular price: 800 euros. Although it was money we had not expected to pay, it was our best option.
The only thing was that the flight was for the next morning, and we no longer had a place to stay in Paris. Solution? Sleeping at the airport. Or "sleeping" at the airport. And after one looooong night of homeless people trying to eat our Pain au Chocolat and McDonalds for a midnight snack, we finally boarded the 1.5 hour plane ride to Munich.
Of course, we missed our night in Munich and so by the time we got there, we only really had 5 hours to see the city. Tired, smelly and especially hungry...we bee-lined it to the "Hofbrauhaus", a famous Beer Garden in Munich. It was there that we enjoyed, after a VERY long night, our first traditional German meal. Bratwurst, homemade potato salad, potato dumplings and of course, beer. Well deserved.
After our mini-tour of Munich, we set out for Salzburg in the early evening. The next daym despite the bitter cold, we set out to discover what Salzburg had to offer. And boy did it offer a lot. We saw several sites from the Sound of Music movie, including the fountain in Mirabell Gardens, the Nonnberg Nunnery and the front of the Von Trapp house. The views from the top of the hill were absolutely amazing...you will have to look at the photos to see. But even the photos do not do justice.
After a long day outside, we ate dinner at a small Italian-Austrian restaurant and then headed back to the hostel to get some sleep for our very early train to Prague the next morning...which we were NOT going to miss.
Once in Prague, we very quickly realized that not knowing the language was going to pose a few problems. In Paris, I could communicate in French...in Munich and Salzburg, Josiah could communicate in German. Any takers for Czech? It's too bad I dropped Czech 1A03 in first year....
So once we finally made it to the "Czech Inn", our absolutely beautiful hostel, we were exhausted. We asked George at the front desk where he suggested to eat, and his response will forever be an integral part of the trip. We made our way over to the restaurant, only a 5 min walk from the hostel...and proceeded to enjoy a HUGE meal which tasted amazing, 2 pints of Czech beer, or Pilsner Urquell, all for around 10 euros. Needless to say that it was a no brainer we would be eating there every night we were in Prague.
The next day, we went on a walking tour of Prague. It was the only walking tour we did the whole trip, but it was really nice to hear about the history of the buildings and the events that occurred in the places we were walking. Our tour guide was an American who came to Prague 5 years ago and never left. He taught himself Czech...we were impressed to say the least.
After a very cold walk across the famous Pont Charles and up the hill to see the Palace, we finally returned and thawed at our new favourite restaurant in the world. We would soon go back to the hostel with full stomachs, and get some sleep for our travels the next morning to Berlin.
When we arrived in Berlin, in the early evening of New Year's Eve, we met up with Erin's friend from Germany, Evelyne. We then, after a bit of difficulty, found the man who owned the vacation rental we would be staying at.
When we finally got to the apartment, we were blown away. This place had 2 huge bedrooms, a full equipped kitchen and 2 bathrooms, all for 15 euros a night each.
Now for a brief description of our New Years. We first went to the house where my friend Josiah had lived for the previous 5 weeks while taking a German intensive course. There, we met several of her friends, and they were all really cool people.
At around 11pm, we all went out to the streets near the river and this is where the craziness ensued...
Apparently it is legal for all civilians in Berlin to light fireworks anywhere. So for about 2-3 hours, we all stayed on the streets with fireworks going off all around us. I can't even describe what it was like...I will have to wait for Erin to post any of the 7 videos she took and then I can share them with you! It was a great New Year's.
On New Year's Day, we went to see the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburger Tor. We also saw the post-New Year's state of the city...firecracker deposits EVERYWHERE. Craziness, I tell ya.
The next day, Tiff and I had to leave Erin, and Josiah to catch our overnight bus back to Paris. Little did we know that we would be on that bus for 17 hours. It 's a good thing I learned somewhere along the trip how to sleep on moving vehicles.
So after those 17 hours, Tiff and I stored our luggage at the train station and bee-lined to the Nutella Coco Crêpes.
And eventually it was my time to come back to Lyon....and Tiff's time to go back to the CDG and stay overnight with the homeless people and the McDonalds...again.
In conclusion, I must say that it was an amazing trip spent in wonderful places with both old and new friends.
