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!

Zurich

I made it in one piece. My connecting flight from San Francisco to Boston was delayed so by the time we landed, my flight to Zurich was already boarding. My mom had sent me a text as she had been tracking my flight, and said, "Mad dash to Terminal E!! Run!!" The flight attendant made an announcement to let me off the plane first and as I walked up the aisle, everyone wished me luck. It was kind of embarrassing...
I sprinted non stop through Logan airport from Terminal B to Terminal E. I arrived out of breath to the counter and they let me cut to the front of the security line...ran to my gate and got on the plane. Made it! Was concerned about my checked bag but when I arrived in Zurich, there it was.
I guess it wouldn't be an adventure without a mad dash through an airport.

Zurich is beautiful. I walked around all last night. I am leaving in a bit for Lucerne.
Cheers!

Where the Magic Happens

Tomorrow I am leaving for Europe where I will be visiting Switzerland, Germany and Austria. This past week has been a whirlwind of emotions. We finished up the school year and yesterday, I said good-bye to all 33 of my wonderful kindergarteners. I was so focused on wrapping up my school year, I have had little time to process that I leave TOMORROW. How did this happen? I was at dinner last night and my friend said, "Carrie, you are going to be on an entirely different continent in 2 days!"
I'm excited to be visiting these new places. But with that excitement comes a little bit of anxiety and fear. I saw this picture on my friend's Facebook page which comforted me. I guess I'm off to find a little bit of magic. :)