In a New York Minute....

It's 10:41 pm Sunday night and I just got home. I slept on and off on the plane so I have a feeling sleep will have a hard time finding me tonight...which probably isn't the best thing being that I have to teach in the morning...oh well.
This weekend was AMAZING. I had such a great time. My friend Jenn flew down from Rochester and we stayed with her friend Erin in Brooklyn. Now Jenn and I have had many crazy adventures together. I have visited her a couple other times in upstate New York and we always have a ton of fun. This time was no different. I flew in at 7:00 am Friday morning and caught the train to Brooklyn. Jenn and Erin let me sleep for a bit and then Jenn and I were off. The first thing I did was get Dunkin' Donuts coffee because that is just a must while I'm on the east coast. Then we did a 3 hour walking tour of Lower Manhattan which included the Ground Zero Memorial.
Then we made our way back to Midtown, had dinner at Carnegie Deli and then went to Radio City Music Hall to see the 85th annual Christmas Spectacular. So fun!! After that, we went to Rockefeller Center to see the tree...so beautiful!! :)
The next day, Erin joined us which was great because she is so much fun! We went to Times Square and got Broadway tickets for Mary Poppins and then made our way to the NYC Public Library and walked around Bryant Park. Then we made our way up to Central Park, went to Strawberry Fields (Saturday was the anniversary of John Lennon's death so there were tons of people there singing), walked through Central Park and made our way back down 5th Ave. We did some shopping, stopped in at St. Patrick's and then were off to find food. Everything was packed so we ended up at Heartland where we all got beer and burgers. Beer and burgers never tasted SO good...then we literally, ran across the street to make it to our musical. Mary Poppins was SOO amazing!! It was magical and very well done.
Today we had a lazy breakfast and walked around Brooklyn and ended up in Dumbo for Erin's friend's housewarming party. The next thing I knew, it was off to find me a cab to get me to the airport.
I was very sad to come home but so glad I went. The timing for both Jenn and I was perfect....it was a much needed girls' weekend! The weather was cold and rainy but that didn't stop us from having a great time...

My Panacea

This trip could not have been at a better time. Getting away from everything is a blessing. And while it's only 3 days I know it will be restorative and rejuvenating. Just what the doctor ordered...
Next stop: NYC

Memories...

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I finally finished uploading and organizing all 400+ of my photos...at least I beat my Ireland slideshow which took me about a year to post. :)
It was so fun going through my pictures. Just looking through my pics is empowering and I feel incredibly blessed that I am able to have these adventures...and that I have the guts to do them solo. 

I have a couple trips planned in the near future...so hopefully I'll be back documenting my next adventure sooner than later....:)

Back to Reality

I'm back home. I had a perfect trip....everything went smoothly from my travel, hotels, tours...everything. Then I fly into Newark and my flight from Newark to San Francisco is 30 minutes delayed...then an hour...then two...then three...then three and a half hours later, we're airborne but our pilot says we are going to have a longer flight because air traffic control changed our flight path. Then I'm freezing on the plane and ask for a blanket but I don't get one because I'm not sitting in first class. What year is this? I'm pretty sure it's 2012 and not 1912. Then we land but there's no gate for us so we have to wait.
I had originally intended to hop on CalTrain as I was supposed to get in around 6:30 pm and head to south bay....but at this point it's after 10:00 and there is only one train an hour that heads to south bay...so luckily, my mom who had been tracking my flight knew to book me a shuttle. By the time I get home it is nearly midnight and 9 am Zurich time so I had been up for 27+ hours.
Getting home wasn't as smooth and it brought me back to the reality that my wonderful trip was over. And as I write this at 3:45 in the morning (clearly still jet-lagged) I couldn't have asked for a better time and find myself wondering when I'll go back.
Next and final post (for now): Highlights and video slideshow...

Austria: Salzburg

I will be the first to admit that the original appeal in visiting Salzburg was due to the fact that The Sound of Music was filmed here. A movie that has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember. But, as things inevitably work out, I discovered that there's more to Salzburg than visiting old movie sets.
I only had one day in Salzburg and I knew I had a lot of ground to cover so I coffeed up, checked into my hotel, got my map and set out. I am definitely one of those people who tries to conceal the fact that I'm a tourist and for most of the time, do a pretty good job blending in. How do I know this? Because people approached me quite a few times on this trip speaking in German. However, this time, the frequent use of my map was a dead giveaway that I was a tourist.
If you recall from my Munich post, Munich gained power by monopolizing the salt industry. Well...Salzburg means, "Salt Castle" and It derives its name from the barges carrying salt on the Salzach River back in the 8th century. Munich got its salt from Salzburg. They do have a tour that allows you to visit the salt mines but unfortunately, I didn't have time for that.
I started by crossing the Mozart bridge into Mozartplatz. Salzburg is also the birthplace of Mozart so they have quite a few landmarks named after him. Then I made my way through the Residenzplatz, payed my respects in the Salzburg Cathedral, walked through the Domplatz, Kapitelplatz (btw, I think "platz" means "square") and basically continued to walk around all of old town until I made my way back to where I started.
I did notice that many of the bridges in these countries have "love locks" on them. This is a custom by which locks, or padlocks, are affixed to a bridge as a sign of a couple's everlasting love for one another. Apparently this tradition goes back quite a while but only really started popping up all over Europe in the early 2000's. I definitely enjoyed seeing all the love locks in the many cities that I visited.
Next stop: Santa Clara, California...home...definitely not ready to go back...

Austria: Vienna

Vienna, or Wien, has been magical for many reasons.
The first reason is that Vienna is also known to be the City of Music. Many famous composers lived here at one time in their career and there is something transcendent about standing in Mozart's and Beethoven's apartment where they created timeless classics that I grew up playing and listening to.
The architecture in this city is pretty amazing as well. I particularly enjoyed St. Peter's church. This was Vienna's first Christian church when Vienna was still a Roman camp under the name of Vindobona. It was rebuilt to what it is today at the beginning of the 18th century. Thus mass has been celebrated daily at St. Peter's for 1600 years!!!
As I have been traveling alone for most of my trip, it was so fun to meet up with my friends Alia and Sean. We went to the Schonbrunn gardens, did a Danube river cruise and walked all over the city. Tonight while eating our gelato and watching street theater, we ran into one of my kindergarteners! We knew we would be there at the same time but were unable to connect and find a time to meet up...but luckily, they were watching the street theater too! It was a fun surprise and definitely made the trip more memorable.
I will miss Vienna and hope I can return in the future to further explore it and its history...

Bavaria: Royal Castle Tour

After a few days of walking around Munich, I opted to go on the Royal Castle tour. When I toured the Residenz in Munich, I learned about King Ludwig II. He was king from 1864 until shortly before his mysterious death.
He had 3 castles built while he was reigning. I went to two: Linderhof and Neuschwanstein. Both of these are in the south of Bavaria so I went on a bus to get there.
Linderhof was his private Royal Villa. It was only for retreating as he did no work at this palace. He valued his privacy so much that he had a "magic table" installed so the servants could put his food on the table and hoist it into his room without bothering him. He treated his servants very kindly and paid them well.
We then drove to Neuschwanstein. This was pretty spectacular. This is the castle Disney used to model the sleeping beauty castle after. It was designed in a medieval style but equipped with the latest technology of the day. King Ludwig designed much of it himself but only lived in it for not even 200 days.
Ludwig II kept spending money he didn't have to build his castles so the government declared him mentally unfit to rule and arrested him. A few days later, he and his doctor were found dead in Lake Starnberg. There was no water in his lungs but his doctor had marks around his neck and on his body. There are a lot of theories about why he died but nobody will ever know.
He has the reputation of being "mad" but from everything I learned about him, he seemed kind, intelligent and lonely. It sounds to me that he was gay and unable to do anything about it thus channeled all of his energy to his castles. I guess the world will never know...
This was definitely a highlight of my trip.
Next stop: Vienna!

Munich

I love Munich. This part of Germany has bee so fun to explore. I have been staying at the best Bed and Breakfast right outside the city and just love it. The people who run it are very warm and welcoming. Staying at B&B's is nice because you get to know the people-which I have enjoyed immensely.
I have enjoyed walking around this town and did a walking tour yesterday. I learned a lot about the history of the town and origins of Munich and Bavaria.
Some facts I learned:
-First documented as a city June 14, 1158 (I remembered the date because it is the same as Flag Day in the states)
-Munich gained power by monopolizing the salt trading
-Much of it has been rebuilt due to damage caused by WWII.
- No new developments can be built within the city center higher than the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady cathedral)
- No new developments can block the view of the Alps in the south
- Is a Catholic region of Germany
- The people of Munich love Michael Jackson so much that they have a shrine dedicated to him on another musician's memorial. The city said they could keep it there as long as it is maintained nicely. 3 years and it is still going strong!
- Hitler's first attempt to gain power and overthrow the government happened in Munich and he failed miserably and was arrested.

Next stop: Royal Castle Tour...

Munich: Bavarian Food Tour

The food here is so good. I will need to do massive yoga and running when I get back to the states to counterbalance all the carbs I have been enjoying.
I started off my time in Munich with a Bavarian Food Tour.
We stared with a traditional breakfast near Marienplatz at a restaurant called Augustiner am Dom.
We had Weisswurst sausages with sweet mustard (Weisswurstsenf), pretzels...and beer!
Heated in water, almost to a boil, for about ten minutes, the white sausages are brought to the table in the pot of water. The skin is meant to be taken off, done with a sharp knife, slicing the sausage in half crossways, then down the length of the sausage, pulling the meat away from the skin. I used my fingers to do it. The Germans on the tour did it with their fingers so I figured I could. :) The meat is finely minced veal, pork bacon, parsley and other spices.
Then we went over to the Viktualiemmarkt for lunch. This part of the city is a big outdoor shopping market for fresh produce and also houses the city's very popular beer garden. We had a massive meat tray, fresh bread and Bavarian cheese for lunch. We sat down in the beer garden at a table with no tablecloth as if it has no tablecloth, you are welcome to bring your own food. A table with a tablecloth implies that you must order food.
After lunch, we walked over to a honey shack where we tasted different types of honey, ate honey flavored candy and drank honey wine. It was a little too sweet for me but still tasted good.

A Day on the Rhine: Koblenz to Rudesheim

Germany is wonderful. I arrived yesterday in Koblenz from Bern. I checked in to my hotel and went for a run. I love going for runs in foreign cities....I feel I see so much more. I then headed up to Cologne to meet my friend, Alice, for dinner. Cologne is about a 50 minute train ride north. We had a nice dinner and talked for a bit before I headed back to Koblenz. It was so fun to see her!

This morning I walked down to the Koblenz pier and got on my boat to Rudesheim. The trip was 6 1/2 hours long. I can't get over how beautiful the cruise was! I must have taken over 100 pictures that I know won't do justice to how pretty it was. I felt like I was in a fairy tale. Scores of churches and castles towered over hundreds of sloping vines along the river. This area is considered the epitome of Rhine romanticism and I can see why.

On the cruise, there was a school group from Northern England (7th and 8th graders). The teacher was telling me that they drove to Dover, got on the ferry to Calais, went through France and Holland to Germany on a bus and were then on the cruise. What a fun trip for them! They were hilarious.

Once I got to Rudesheim, I decided not to take the 6 1/2 hour trip back and opted for an hour train ride instead. :)
Here are some pictures from the trip!
Next stop: Munich!

Bern

Bern was a quick 50 minute train ride from Interlaken. Bern is the capital of Switzerland and has a beautiful old town! It is famous for its arcaded streets-which came in handy today when I got stuck at COOP (Grocery chain) due to a crazy thunderstorm.
The medieval structure of the city has remained unchanged since that time period...which was really cool to see.
Today was my last full day in Switzerland. Tomorrow I am leaving for Germany which I am really excited about...but am really going to miss Switzerland. The people are incredibly friendly and the country is so beautiful. I hope I make it back here someday...

Interlaken and Jungfraujoch

I arrived in Interlaken from Lucerne late Monday afternoon. The weather forecast said rain for the past week. Sure enough, it started raining shortly after I arrived.
I was exhausted and came back to take a nap. When I woke up at 3 something in the morning, I looked outside and I could see thousands of stars! Yay! No more rain!
With that in mind, I knew I would get up early to make the trek to Jungfraujoch- the "Top of Europe."
A few hours later, I was up and at the train station getting my ticket. I went from Interlaken West to Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch. That was about 2 1/2 hours of trains to get there. Totally worth it!
The top was freezing cold-literally. Snow showers were forecasted for later on. I enjoyed the view while I could because not more than 30 minutes after I got there, we were surrounded by clouds.
On the way back, I took the train through Grindelwald...to switch up the view and because as a fan of Harry Potter, I just had to go through Grindelwald. :)
I am glad I went! The views were spectacular! If you haven't been there and plan to come to Switzerland, I would definitely make the journey.
Carrie

Luzern

Luzern is so beautiful and the people are so nice! I have been walking all over this town the past two days and continue to be amazed by its beauty. Luzern or Lucerne, is very stereotypical Swiss...when picturing this country, this is what I had in my mind.
I walked around the old town, visited the Glacier Garden museum and took a sunset cruise on Lake Lucerne.
I can't help but laugh at the number of Starbucks I keep seeing. So far, I have counted 6. 3 in Zurich and 3 here. I haven't had Starbucks here but they do have a coconut cream frap that looks kinda good...
:)
The Kapellbrucke, which is below, is the city's famous covered bridge built in 1333 (Renovated in 1993).
Also, the lion is called, "The dying Lion of Lucerne" and is a famous monument to commemorate the heroic death of the Swiss mercenaries at the Tuileries in 1792 (Below).
Last is a picture from my sunset cruise on Lake Lucerne...
Good times!