Ray- a drop of Golden Sun!

Now that I am caught up I can talk about our quick trip to Salzburg! Last week Cody and I were leaving for Salzburg in the early afternoon to get there in the early evening. The train station ended up displaying the wrong train destination and taking off so we ended up missing our train and having to get on another longer train and arrived at 2 am. That being said, wasn't the best start to the trip, but I'm glad we were able to make it! We woke up bright and early around 8 am to get the most out of our full sunny day.




Cody and I started off the morning with a Rick Steve's audio guide tour of the city which was really great as usual. Salzburg is a pretty small city so we were able to see new town and old town as well as Mozart's birthplace and childhood home, as well as the famous street filled with iron signs, and a famous cathedral were Mozart played. Salzburg is the city of music with its two primary claims to fame are Mozart and The Sound of Music. Salzburg is a beautiful city with the blue river, surrounding mountains, fortress on the hill, pastel-colored houses, and turquoise roofs. I think it may have been one of the most beautiful cities that I have seen yet!

In the afternoon we took a 4 hour Sound of Music bus tour and it was SO MUCH FUN! They pretty much took us to many different locations of where the movie was filmed and told us facts about the movie. One of the most interesting facts I learned is that they used two palaces for filming the house- one for the lake side view (which is white and not shown in the movie) and the yellow palace which is the house shown in the movie. The scene when Maria and the Captain are talking is filmed in two different places. They also told us some history about Salzburg as well. For part of our trip they took us to the lakes and mountains district outside of Salzburg which was absolutely beautiful and reminded me a lot of Lake Bled in Slovenia. Every time that we got on the bus they played music from the movie and everyone sang along which was awesome. The tour was really well done and probably one of my favorite memories from studying abroad.

 Area where they filmed the canoe scene.

 The gardens Maria and the children ran through singing do ray me

 The gazebo scene from 16 going on 17

We spent the rest of our trip exploring until we left the next day in the afternoon. It was a short but sweet trip and I'm glad we made it there! Sadly this is the last weekend in Prague :( I only have a week left in this beautiful city. Every time I go to a new city I enjoy the stay, but every time I come back I am excited to be home in Prague. Only a few more days in Prague :( then I head off to the last hurrah- Switzerland, Paris, and Barcelona for 12 days! Can't wait!

Banana Split?

As I mentioned in my last post, we took an over night bus from Slovenia to Split, Croatia and that itself was an adventure. We got on the bus around 9 pm and we were all so tired that we quickly fell asleep. Around 12 we were woken up with yelling and a police officer telling us to get our passports and get off the bus (this was not in English so it was just a bunch of yelling). Once we get off the bus we realize that we are at the border and we had to give our passports to get checked and then walk across the border. Our bus was checked and then it drove across the border to pick us up. It was all very weird. Someone told us that Croatia is tight with security. Once we got back on the bus we fell asleep again only to be awoken with more shouting again, but this time we had to switch buses. The second bus was totally packed and they had the heat on which just made it a miserable night. We got there safe and sound at 5 am and once the sun came up we were able to walk along the boardwalk.

That day we pretty much took naps on the beautiful sandy beaches and soaked up the Croatian sun.

The next day we took a trip to Krka falls. Unfortunately the water level was too high that day so we couldn't get in and swim, but we were able to hike all around the falls. It turns out the falls are huge and there are a bunch of hidden parts that you can't see from the bottom.

Our group :) Lauren, Molly, Keith, Cody, Myself, Kirlos, Jalhdi, and Puja

Sunday we explored the city and the old palace. The entire center part of the city is within the ruins of the palace which was very unique. It actually reminded me a lot of Florence in the inside streets since no cars could get in and all the buildings were close together. They had a ton of shopping, food, and musicians in the inside playing. Some of us did a self-guided tour around the castle and learned the history of it.

 Views from the top of the clock tower

Puja and I with our gelato

We all went out for a nice dinner on Sunday night and I was really craving a banana split. What's more perfect than a banana split in Split right? The place we went to dinner didn't have them so I decided to ask a couple of the ice cream places on the boardwalk and no one had them! Eventually I asked this guy selling fried donuts in a stand if he knew where I could get a banana split and he said "Banana split? I don't know anyone who sells a banana split here." I told him that he should start selling banana splits then and call it Banana Splits in Split because tourists would love it. His eyes widened a little bit and he kind of started nodding his head and got a far away look in his eye so I told him to remember me and give me some of the profit when I get back. So next time anyone goes to Split and sees a banana split store you can think of me. Maybe next time I return to Croatia I'll open up my own store if he doesn't! 
Instead I decided to get ice cream that night and ate a banana in Split the next morning so put it altogether and I got a banana split!

A banana in Split

Sadly Monday was our last day and we had the morning to enjoy the beach one last time. It was an awesome trip and a beautiful city. I'm so happy that I got to go even if there were no banana splits :)

sLOVEnia

Just got back from a whiskers on kittens, raindrops on roses, wonderful experience in Salzburg! That post will be coming up shortly. Before I get to Salzburg I have to backtrack to Slovenia which I absolutely loved. After our trip to Munich, we took the 3:30 am bus Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to Ljubljana, Slovenia- about an 11 hour bus ride and arrived around 2 pm Wednesday

afternoon. I went with Cody and some of our friends from school who go to University of Miami. They are in another program called UPrague which takes them on trips almost every weekend so this was the one weekend we were all able to go on a trip together and it was great to go with them. I wish we could have been able to do more trips all together! Ljubljana is a small city situated in between the mountains and is known as the city of love. The city mascot is a dragon which can be seen everywhere. With a small river running through the middle of town, it had almost a feel of Venice and the musicians playing everywhere definitely added to the mood. Not only was the city beautiful, but the people were SO NICE displaying some southern (Europe) charm that I've missed since being here.

Slovenian Potatoes

Being a small city there isn't a ton to see, but it was nice to just meander along the river and take in the sights without having an entire agenda planned for the day. At the end of the day we hiked up to the castle to watch the sunset and got some typical Slovenian cuisine for dinner. The food and language is pretty similar to Czech since it is a Slavic language so it was easier to understand than I thought it would be.

The next day we took a bus to famous Lake Bled and the Gorje just about an hour away. We biked through the countryside with the mountains and fields to the Gorje which is- you guessed it- a gorge, but it has huge towering rocks with brilliant green trees and a clear blue stream running through the middle and wooden pathways to go through. It was absolutely gorge-ous and a fun hike. I've never seen water so clear- I could see every pebble and every fish swimming by.

After the Gorje, we biked on over to Lake Bled then hiked up to the highest viewpoint. Although it's hard to tell from the picture since it wasn't as sunny as we hoped, the water was a brilliant blue. It was definitely a view I will never forget and Lake Bled is the most beautiful place I have ever seen with my own eyes. When its warm and sunny there are many activities you can do on the lake and in the surroundings such as kayaking, boating, white water rafting, paragliding and more which would have been fun had we stayed longer.

That night we took an overnight bus to Split, Croatia and arrived at 5 in the morning...

Going Back In Time

Long time no post! Between travelling, school work, and a slow computer there just has not been enough time! After Berlin I had a weekend in Munich, then after Munich I had a two days in Prague (9 hours of class in those two days) and headed off for a week in Slovenia and Croatia. I'm leaving for Salzburg tomorrow so I am hoping to get some posts in! All my trips have been amazing.





Going back to Munich... Cody and I took a trip to Munich to Czech out Springfest for the weekend. Springfest is the same thing as Oktoberfest, but on a much much smaller level and basically seems like it was made for Americans in the spring. It's a big carnival with beer and rides and jacked up prices (what could be a better combination??). Oktoberfest has about 14 beer hall tents and a few million people come to it, where as Springfest only has 2 beer tents and only a few thousand people come. We pretty much hung out at Springfest and enjoyed our beers and the rides and soaked up the German culture. They serve beers by the liter and it is quite the arm workout to drink (maybe that's the point?), but it was really good beer especially compared to Czech Pilsner. Most people were wearing the classic German lederhosen and drindle outfits and I was hoping to get one myself. Turns out that girls drindles are 150 euros ($165)!! So I tried it on and got to snap a quick picture for the sake of my German roots and it worked just as well because I found another German-esque dress for much cheaper.

 

We went to eat at the famous Hofbrauhaus which was delicious. The beer hall was filled with live music, people, and good cheer.

In addition to Springfest we took a walking tour of the city for 3 hours and our walking tour guide was excellent so I got to see and learn a great deal about the city.

 

 

Michael Jackson Memorial and Smooth Criminal

Munich held the 1972 Olympics so we headed over to the Olympic park and got to see the swimming
pool and track (right up my alley!) and climbed Olympic hill. It was awesome to think that we were walking in the same place where Olympians walked.

 Olympic swimming pool!

 

Handing off the baton Olympic style

 Little Bo Peep found her sheep at Olympic Park

Overall I had a great time in Munich, although I wouldn't say its my favorite city. Heading to Salzburg tomorrow and then I'll have to catch up on more posts after!