Last travel, that is. I may or may not still be tired and I got back a week ago. But it was amazing! For my last trip of the year (can't believe those words are coming out of my fingers) I went with my friend Ayse to Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. More specifically: Berlin, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague, as well as a few places in-between. We covered 3 countries in 13 days and man did we see some incredible stuff. As per usual, I think my photos do more justice to what we saw than my words ever could, but I'll try to briefly explain what we did in each city.
First stop: Berlin. What an amazing city. (You should probably play some sort of drinking game with that phrase because I have a sliiiiight feeling I'm going to use it a lot in this post.) I never realized that Berlin was basically leveled after World War II, I don't now if we just don't discuss that in class or I just wasn't paying attention - maybe a bit of both, but because of that fact, the city is pretty much brand new! Everything has been built within the last 60 or so years which is nuts! The modern aspects of the city mix in with the relics from the Cold War that are around pretty much every corner - the wall, Checkpoint Charlie, etc. Some of it has been recreated for touristic purposes, but it's still fascinating to think about all of the terrible things that happened in this city and how it has been rebuilt while still acknowledging its past. The city is filled with memorials to different atrocities, which can make it a bit heavy at times, but there's always something else to do when you're a bit Holocausted-out. We spent three days in Berlin and tried to take advantage of everything the city has to offer.
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| Amazing architecture at the Jewish Museum - I studied the building at Dickinson |
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| Memorial piece inside the Jewish Museum |
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| Checkpoint Charlie |
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| Checkpoint Charlie |
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| East Side Gallery |
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| East Side Gallery |
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| East Side Gallery |
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| East Side Gallery |
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| Brandenburg Gate |
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| Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe |
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| Ai Weiwei show - I have now seen his work in D.C. and Berlin. So cool! |
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| Neue Nationalgalerie - Another building I studied at Dickinson |
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| Pergamon Altar |
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| Museum Island |
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| Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe |
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| The only Nazi-era building that remains in Berlin |
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| The wall |
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| Berlin Cathedral and TV Tower |
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| On top of the Berlin Cathedral |
Our next stop was Munich. Completely different feel from Berlin. I love when I stay in one country but get to see a variety of regions. We drank lots of beer in Munich, since it is after all the home of Octoberfest. We did two day trips from the city since there is so much to see in the region! Our first one was a trip to Hohenschwangau, a tiny town near the Alps, where the famous Neuschwanstein castle is located. This is the castle that inspired Disney to create Cinderella's castle and while that's cool and all, I was more interested in it because Hitler used this castle to hide the most important works from his stolen art collection during WWII. Plus, Goggy has been talking about it forever so it was fun to actually see it in person! (Goggy is my grandpa for those non-Giffuni people reading this.) It was so nice to get out into the mountains for a day. The landscape was beyond gorgeous and to look up and see a castle overhead was just.. well.. amazing. There are actually two castles in the town. The yellow castle was built by King Maximillian II of Bavaria and it's where Kind Lugwig II spent his childhood. He's the one who built Neuschwanstein, though he died before it was ever completed. Poor guy. It still isn't finished to this day so on the tour they only show you the parts that are completed. Our second day trip from Munich was to the concentration camp Dachau. Dachau was the first concentration camp created by Hitler and it served as the model for all of the rest to follow. While it wasn't an extermination camp like Auschwitz, over 30,000 people died here. Learning about concentration camps in school and then going to see one in person are two very different experiences. It was truly an incredible place to visit. I learned so much while I was there and it is definitely an experience that I won't ever forget.
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| Munich's famous Glockenspiel |
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| Beer garden! |
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| Neuschwanstein |
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| Hohenschwangau Castle |
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| Because Germany. |
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| Ayse et moi |
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| The town with the yellow castle in the distance - as seen from Neuschwanstein |
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| Neuschwanstein |
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| Neuschwanstein |
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| Because Neuschwantsein. |
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| Munich |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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Dachau - Brausebad means shower
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Dachau |
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| Again, because Germany. |
We said auf wiedersehen to Germany after Munich and said hello to Austria! Our first stop was Salzburg, which I absolutely fell in love with. The reason why I wanted to go to there is because The Sound of Music was filmed in the city and surrounding region and that movie is basically the best movie of all time. We did the Sound of Music tour and got to see all of the incredible locations that they used for the movie! Basically I pretended to be Maria all day long. Ayse wanted to kill me by the end of it. I apologize for nothing. The city of Salzburg itself is beautiful. It's so close to the alps and is situated along a beautiful river. Despite the torrential downpour, we had so much fun exploring the city.
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| The Untersberg - where Maria sang the hills are alive! |
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| The Von Trapp's backyard |
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| Their house!! - They used different locations for the exteriors of the house and the backyard |
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| 16 going on 17. |
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| I must have done something good. |
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| The abbey! |
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| Austria is beautiful. |
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| Where they filmed the wedding! Where's my captain? |
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| Can I move here? |
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| Mirabell Gardens - they filmed parts of Do Re Mi here |
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| Salzburg |
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| Mozart Bridge - They ran across this in Do Re Mi |
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| Residenzplatz - Do Re Mi and Confidence were filmed here |
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| Salzburg by night |
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| STRUDEL. The greatest invention I know. |
After Salzburg, we made our way across Austria to Vienna. I absolutely fell in love with the city. Every street is more beautiful than the next and I loved just walking around, taking in all of the architecture. Some of the highlights from our short stay in Vienna included seeing Gustav Klimt's
The Kiss at the Belvedere Palace, exploring the rooms and grounds of the Schonbrunn Palace, eating pastries from Demel in a beautiful garden, and listening to free opera outside of the world famous Viennese opera house. The weather was gorgeous while we were in Vienna so we really took advantage of it and tried to be outside as much as we could. If anyone has seen Before Sunrise, I kept having all of these Jesse and Celine moments. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then GO WATCH THAT MOVIE.
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| St. Stephen's |
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| Michaelerplatz at the end of the street |
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| Our garden spot |
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| Loved the trams. I was looking for my Jesse but alas I could not find him. |
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| Vienna Secession - Another building I studied at Dickinson |
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| Vienna has the most beautiful museums |
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| Opera! |
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| More please. |
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| Belvedere Palace |
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| Schonbrunn |
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| Schonbrunn |
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| Schonbrunn |
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| Schonbrunn |
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| My feelings about Austria in general |
Our final stop before coming back to Toulouse was Prague. Our train from Vienna to Prague was configured like the Hogwarts Express with compartments and there was even a woman who came around selling food. So temped to order a chocolate frog. Too bad I don't speak Czech. Prague was wonderful. Not only is the city beautiful (seriously it looks like a medieval fairytale), but it's SO cheap. Beer was like $1. The first day that we were there was the Prague marathon, so we did the things that weren't crowded, like seeing a Tim Burton exhibit (the same one that was at MoMA in 2009 that I was so mad I didn't get to go to) and exploring the Jewish cemetery and the synagogues. We also got to see the John Lennon Wall and Frank Gehry's Dancing House. He's one of my all time favorite architects. Yes, yes I am well aware of the fact that I'm weird. When we did our walking tour the next day we learned all about Prague's Communist past. Really interesting stuff. One of the last things we did in Prague was to go up to the top of the city's famous Astronomical Clock Tower and see the 360 degree views of the city. Man does the view not disappoint.
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| Why hello there marathon |
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| Tim Burton! |
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| Jewish Cemetery |
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| Beautiful buildings |
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| Charles Bridge |
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| John Lennon Wall |
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| My favorite quote on the wall |
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| Prague Castle across the river |
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| Dancing House! |
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| Fairytale. |
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| View from the top of the castle |
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| St. Vitus |
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| My favorite Czech dessert - Trdelnik |
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| View from the top of the tower |
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| View from the top of the tower |
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| View from the top of the tower |
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| BEEF GOULASH IN A BREAD BOWL. |
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| Astronomical Clock - Europe's most disappointing tourist attraction |
It was without a doubt, the trip of a lifetime. Ayse and I had so much fun and got to see so many new and exciting things. It was my first trip in Eastern Europe and it's so cool to see a completely different side (no pun intended) of the continent. I apologize both for the amount of photos in this post and the fact that it has taken me a week to get it done. If you made it all the way down here, thanks!!
Less than two days before I come home. This. Is. Nuts. I'll post again before I leave on Thursday.
