Isabel & Stephanie – Ultimate Europe Trip

Brussels… just a little late

2 Comments / Brussels / Isabel & Stephanie / February 7, 2023

We took an early train from Bruges to Brussels and made the decision to leave our big bags in a locker at the train station so we wouldn’t have to waste time going to/from the hostel for the bags. We packed strategically so that our day pack had everything we needed for the night and both days. After dropping our bags in the locker, we started to explore the city. We walked and walked and walked all over and quickly realized that everything in Brussels was a mile from anything else in Brussels.

The first stop was the grocery store to get water and lunch, which we ate by the river. Then we headed off to find the Manneken Pis, which was very underwhelming and very crowded. Neither of us realized quite how small he actually is. After we got out of the crowd, we took the metro to Atomium. Since we purchased the Brussels card, we had transit for 24 hours and didn’t have to wait in the ticket line for the Atomium. Luckily, there wasn’t much of a wait for the first part of the exhibit, so we were on the escalator momentarily after we arrived. Part 1 included taking an escalator up to one of the balls on the side. Then as we got further, we used another escalator and some staircases. There were light shows and a view of the area below us in addition to the history on the creation and design of the Atomium. We soon decided we were ready for the panoramic view so we headed back down the steps to the bottom to wait in line to catch the elevator up the middle tube to the top ball. The views were breathtaking and worth the wait. Once we were back down at the bottom, we decided we needed a quick snack, so we stopped at the cafe outside. Then, we took the metro back to center city to check in to the hostel and settle in before going back out.

After an amazing dinner at a Wok restaurant, we heading across the street to Brussel’s most famous bar. It’s so big that it’s actually considered a beer village rather than a bar. They had over 2004 beers, with 10 on tap that you could do a flight of. Of course, we ordered the flight and took our time deciding which of the 10 we liked/disliked. Then, to round out the night, we headed to other part of the bar to each try one of the bottled beers. We both really liked our selections and decided to end on a high note, so we headed back to the hostel to rest up for our last full day in Europe.

In the morning, we got up early to make the most of our city pass. Our first stop was to the Belgian chocolate village which would’ve been really cool…if they hadn’t chosen that day to be closed. Instead, we hopped back on the metro and went to the musical instrument museum which boasted floors and floors of all different instruments from around the world and throughout history.

And now we reach the part that we forgot to write and never posted…

After wandering through the city admiring sites including the Royal Palace, we found our way to Chocostory. If that sounds familiar, then that’s because we had also visited its sister museum in Bruges. What we hadn’t realized was that the museums were almost identical. Luckily, unlike our visit in Bruges, our timing lined up perfectly with the demonstration so we got to watch the chocolatier making truffles before getting a sample on the way out.

Our last order of business before leaving the city was to try to find the Pis trio. We had found Manneken Pis the day before, so we headed to find Jeanneke Pis (which happened to be right next to Delirium) and then Zinneke Pis. After a little more exploring, we made our way back to the train station and collected our bags from the locker before getting prepared for our train back to London.

The train was uneventful and we were able to relax along the way. Upon arrival, we found our hotel and checked in before settling in for the night.

In the morning, we were very conscious of the fact that the lines at Heathrow had recently been hours. We arrived just less than 6 hours before our flight hoping that there would be no problems and made it through security with just over 5 hours until our flight. We were torn between feeling grateful that our we made it through without getting stuck in a crazy line and mourning the extra time that we could’ve slept. After wandering through the terminal and waiting and waiting, we decided on a restaurant for lunch where we told them to take their time. We finally fished lunch with only three more hours to wait and wait and wait some more.

Shortly before our flight, we got a notification from our United app that our seats had changed and been upgraded! When it was eventually time to board, we found our seats and made sure to enjoy all the amenities of business class including a nicer dinner served with wine, vodka, and a bag full of travel necessities.

By the time we arrived in DC, we were exhausted and ready for a hot shower and comfortable bed before we packed and moved to our new apartment in Delaware!

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Bruges

1 Comment / Bruges / Isabel & Stephanie / July 27, 2022

After three trains and a bus, we finally made it to our hostel in Bruges where we were able to check in and leave our bags before setting out to explore the city. Our first stop was a waffle shop that made delicious Belgian waffles that were perfectly fluffy and delicious in every way.

We walked a little farther and passed through the main square that is home to the Belfry tower where we took some pictures and admired the beautiful buildings before continuing to the canal. At the canal, we found a boat tour which we took to learn more about the city and see the view from the water. It wasn’t the best canal tour because the boat was overcrowded, but it was a good way to get an introduction to the city.

When we disembarked, we set off to explore the market which we soon realized was more of a flea market that didn’t have much to interest us. We wandered around a little longer before finding dinner and heading back to the hostel to eat and get organized for bed.

We’ve been told that our blog can be very focused on the food, so this is a warning that the next day was all about food. Our first stop was Chocostory, a museum all about chocolate. The museum is set up around an audio guide that talks you through the museum and shares information on the history, harvesting, manufacturing, and styles of chocolate. In addition to the audio, there were also stations set up with different games and challenges you could try as well as a photo booth. The museum ended with all you can eat chocolate dispensers in 4 different flavors: white, milk, dark, and caramel. We also took a quiz to learn which chocolate we were most suited for based on our palates, but, unfortunately, they were only selling it (no free samples).

Our next stop was to the frites museum where we learned all about potatoes and the production of fries. Following a display about insects and pests that can cause problems for potato plants, there was a multiplayer pellet gun game where you could shoot giant bugs off the potato plants. We played twice and each won one of the rounds. I think this was our favorite part of the entire museum. The runner up was an exhibit with a potato and fry singing a duet about how to eat fries and where they came from. When we finished the museum, we were disappointed to find that there weren’t any free fries, but we decided to buy a single serving of fries anyway because we knew that fries being sold in the Belgian frites museum had to be top quality Belgian fries. It ended up being the right choice because they were delicious and we finished them quickly before heading out to figure out lunch.

Next door to the frites museum, there was a poke bowl restaurant that looked amazing, so we decided to give it a try. It ended up being another good decision because the food was delicious and satisfied a craving neither of us even knew we were having.

To turn our food museum day into a trifecta, we rounded it out with a stop at the beer museum. We were handed iPads as audio guides where we could use the camera to scan almost anything in the exhibits and it would give the option of listening or reading the history of each piece. One of the major displays had gigantic barrels for each of the ingredients in beer that you could walk into. There were barrels for hops, wheat, barley, aromatics. The first three we were able to touch different types of the ingredient and, in the last barrel, we could smell the different flavors that are added to enhance the beer. There were also quiz questions placed throughout the museum to test your knowledge. Once we were done with the museum, our ticket included a tasting in the bar downstairs. We each were given three tokens to choose any beer on tap that we would like. We ended up picking really well and enjoyed all but one of them.

When we finished our beer tasting, we headed outside to find a band playing in the street. Next door was a waffle shop, so we ended up buying a waffle on a stick and listening to the band for awhile before continuing on our way. We were hoping to climb up Belfry tower, so we went there next, but the tickets were sold out, so we headed back to the hostel to do our last load of laundry on the trip and pack up our bags to go to our last new city.

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Turn a blind eye

1 Comment / Amsterdam / Isabel & Stephanie / July 24, 2022

After visiting our friend, we got back to Amsterdam and it was pouring. We weren’t interested in getting wet, so we took some downtime before heading out to find dinner. We followed a suggestion and went to a delicious burger place which had excellent reviews and top quality meat. They even had an award willing salmon and cod burger which was amazing. On our way back after dinner, we also stopped at a bakery next door for some cookies.

In the morning, we decided to sleep in because we knew it was the last chance we had (or at least the last chance we wanted to take) before we leave. When we finally dragged ourselves out of bed, we headed over to a cute brunch restaurant near the hostel where we got different types of pancakes, both of which were delicious and very different from American pancakes. They were lighter and somehow both fluffier and thinner. They also both came covered in fresh fruit which made it even better.

Once we finished brunch and caught the train over to the central station, it was almost time for our tour. We wandered into some shops while we were waiting and then found our guide outside the stock exchange building. Our guide was very well informed on the history of the city and shared the good and the bad sides as we moved through the central part of the city. He took us past the area that used to be the main harbor before passing the red light district and going into china town. The theme of the tour was that turning a blind eye toward things that are illegal but profitable and necessary. For example, weed is technically illegal but it is decriminalized because the government knows people will use drugs and they prefer that it be weed than heroin. Similarly, when Amsterdam was just a port town, the church turned a blind eye to prostitution because it protected the local Christian women from losing their “purity” to the sailors instead of waiting till marriage. This was the origin of the red light district. After we finished with the stereotypes of Amsterdam (sex and drugs), our guide spoke on the Holocaust and showed us a picture of the square we were standing in with a fence that separated the Jews from everyone else. It was moving and heartbreaking to see what it looked like in the exact spot we were standing.

The next part of the tour focused on the trade routes that made Amsterdam the richest city in the world for 200 years. A lot of this story also returned to the theme of turning a blind eye. In general, the people and the government have always been very good at letting people be who they are and do what they want as long as it isn’t hurting anyone else and doesn’t harm the economy. It’s a great standard to live by and seems to work beautifully.

Following the tour, we took some time to wander the other side of the city before catching the train back and getting dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant near the hostel. We really enjoyed it and realized we hadn’t had much Mediterranean food since we’ve been traveling. We were happy and full when we got back to the hostel to shower and get ourselves in bed. The next morning, we boarded a train heading to Belgium!

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Heading into our last week

2 Comments / Amsterdam / Isabel & Stephanie / July 21, 2022

Our train into Amsterdam was incredibly long and we were very thankful to our decision to buy seat reservations. After about 8 hours, we finally made it to the hostel. We got settled before reluctantly going back into the heat to find food for a late lunch/early dinner. Our hostel is not the most central (it’s a 6min train ride to the central station) so there weren’t a lot of restaurants close by. We ended up at Lidl and grabbed food for sandwiches, fruit, and chips (to avoid anything hot) before making our way back to the hostel to eat.

We were lucky enough to have the room to ourselves for the first night so we got a very good night sleep before our first full day in Amsterdam. After getting ourselves up and ready, we took the train to the central station and got breakfast at a popular pancake house that was absolutely amazing. Our only regret was not pushing ourselves to get there earlier because we were very rushed to eat fast so that we weren’t late for our Anne Frank Huis tickets. Luckily, we were only a block away so we didn’t have to walk far and we arrived just in time. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but the museum was very well done and is definitely a must for anyone visiting Amsterdam. It is set up as a one way walk through of each room in the house with an audio guide that tells you different information in each room. The audio guide for some of the rooms tell you more about the room itself and what happened there while others are more general history on the war or the time leading up to the way or the Frank family. Most of the rooms also had different relevant pictures or artifacts that are also explained in the audio guide. It was very moving (and heartbreaking) to be able to see the Annex where they stayed and hear the accounts of what life was like during that time period for so many people.

Before leaving, we took a few minutes to sit and reflect before heading out to see more of the city. We walked over toward the royal castle to catch a tram to the marketplace. This market has over 200 stands that together sell anything you can think of. There was all different cuisines of prepared food, fish stands, fruit stands, cheese stands, souvenirs, clothing, glasses, dishes, leather, jewelry, and so much more. We spent a ton of time wandering through the market looking at every stand and trying to resist from buying everything.

Our timing ended up being pretty good because the rain started as we finished up and were waiting to catch the tram. Since the rain made it less enjoyable to be outside, we went into a few large stores to stay dry and get a few things we needed before catching a train back to the hostel.

After a short break, we ate our leftovers from the day before before heading back out to the XtraCold Amsterdam Ice Bar which was easily the coolest bar either of us have been to. The entrance fee includes a welcome cocktail in the front bar and two shots in the ice bar. The front room wasn’t anything too special, but we each enjoyed our cocktails before grabbing coats and gloves and “joining the expedition to the arctic” aka walking into the back room that is kept at -18 degrees Celsius and features a frozen polar bear and lots of ice. Even the shot glasses were made of ice! It was a lot of fun and we took a ton of pictures before we decided to head back to the front room to warm up and get a couple more shots before heading out.

When we decided it was time to go, we were a little surprised to see that it was still light outside. I guess even after 8 weeks, we’re still not used to how late the sun sets in Europe over the summer. We grabbed a snack on the way back before heading to the hotel to shower and sleep.

This morning, we left the city to visit a friend and her newborn baby for the day. We just made it back to Amsterdam and will relax for a bit before dinner.

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Berlin

4 Comments / Berlin / Isabel & Stephanie / July 19, 2022

Our train to Berlin was long and the entire journey made us wish we had booked seat reservations so we could have been guaranteed seats together. We decided we would learn from our mistake, so the first thing that we did when we made it to Berlin was head to the rail line’s information office to book reservations for our next leg. After over an hour, we finally made it to the front of the line and made our reservation with ease before heading over to the hostel.

On the way, we grabbed some food (to go) and checking into the hostel, we were finally able to take a few minutes to relax and get settled before starting laundry and taking a walk to get to know the neighborhood.

In the morning, we got up and found a cute cafe for breakfast before heading to the spy museum. The first floor was a prologue to the rest of the museum which consisted of a lot of the history about spies and spy software, particularly those used in Germany. The second floor integrated the history of spies with interactive exhibits to keep everyone entertained. These exhibits included an invisible ink activity, puzzles, Morse code encoding, and code breaking. Our favorite exhibit was, by far, the laser maze. We both were even able to do it fast enough to make it on the leaderboard for the day.

After the museum, we had a bit of time before our Segway tour to walk around and find lunch. We headed toward Brandenburg gate and the memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe. We started getting hungry for lunch and noticed a beer garden next to Brandenburg gate. We got Bavarian sausages, pretzels, and of course beer. After we finished lunch, we started to wander again, this time towards Alexanderplatz which had a carnival and a lot of shopping.

Soon after, we had to head over to the meeting point for the Segway tour. Luckily, when we got there we noticed there was only four Segways outside ready to go. Once the tour was about to start the other people still hadn’t shown up, which meant we got a private tour.

We quickly learned that private tour also means personal photographer. Our guide wasn’t the best at giving information, but he was a great photographer and had a great route that we rode to see all of the sights. Some of the highlights were the synagogue, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall Memorial, the TV tower, and the parliament building. We also returned to the memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe and learned that the architect was the same man who designed the 9/11 memorial in New York.

It was a fun tour and we really enjoyed the segways. We also decided that we liked the fact that it ended up being less history because we had done so many history tours recently. It was also a really cool way to see everything in such a big city quickly.

When the tour was over, we sat in a nearby park to give our legs a break and figure out our evening. After a bit, we headed back to the hotel to drop our bags and prepare for dinner. There was a very popular Korean bbq restaurant a few doors down from the hotel that looked amazing, so we decided to give it a try. We both loved it and got a very good meal within a short walk of the hostel.

Luckily, we didn’t have any partiers in our room so we got another night’s slept before an insanely early morning to catch our train to Amsterdam.

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Prague

2 Comments / Prague / Isabel & Stephanie / July 18, 2022

We made it to the train station in Munich with plenty of time to catch our train, but we were confused to see that it wasn’t on the departures board. The information desk told us that it was canceled and printed a different route for us to take that included two changes and took an extra two hours. We weren’t sure why the train had been canceled but we knew this new plan was our only choice, so we followed his directions and hopped on the first train which took us to Ingolstadt where we had a quick change to a train that took us to Regensburg. We had a longer wait in Regensburg before we boarded our final train which took us into Prague.

By the time we made it to Prague, it was already starting to get late so we didn’t have much time to explore. We headed over to the hostel, passing a gorgeous synagogue and lots of really cool architecture before being able to check in and drop our bags. After getting ourselves oriented and organized, we set out to find dinner before stopping by the ice cream shop next to the hotel for an amazing dessert.

We agreed that we would both benefit from sleeping in more the next morning, so we took a very slow morning before heading out to see the city. We found a very long self guided walking tour of the entire city that we decided to use as an outline for our day. We knew it was too long and included too many stops to be able to appreciate everything, so we picked which things we thought would be most interesting and cut some of the others.

The tour started at Charles Bridge which was really cool to see and even cooler to walk across. It was easy to see why it is such a famous bridge and was filled with musicians performing and artists creating and selling their work. The rest of the tourists must have agreed because the number of people there definitely matched its fame. From here, we followed the tour to the Piss statue which is a sculpture of two mechanical men peeing into the base of the fountain which is shaped like the Czech Republic. The website with our tour said that there was supposed to be a plaque with a phone number that you could text so the mechanical men would pee in the shape you requested, but we couldn’t find any plaque or phone number.

On the way to the tour’s next stop, we passed Prague’s smallest street which is a very skinny alleyway with a pedestrian light. We took a couple pictures and then headed onto the next stop. We passed under the Charles bridge and went into a park that was the home to three giant baby statues crawling around with coin slits for faces. They were very bizarre to see and the website told us that they were designed to take away some of the ugliness of the TV tower (which you could see across the river. Prague’s TV tower apparently regularly ranks very high in ugliest building lists. We wanted to take a turn to climb on the giant baby sculptures, but they were overrun by children so we decided we should leave them to it.

The next stop on the list was the John Lennon wall which was honestly pretty underwhelming and very crowded. We decided to skip ahead a bit and head toward the Prague castle after a quick stop for Chimney cakes (a local street food that is everywhere in Prague). We filled ours with fresh strawberries and topped them with ice cream which was amazing before heading over to the staircase to climb up to the castle. On our way, we passed the St Nicholas Church which has a huge green dome on top and is considered one of the most beautiful churches in Prague.

We trekked up the staircase to the Prague castle and were greeted with a beautiful view over the city and the river. It was beautiful up there and we spent a lot of time there before coming back down. On our way back down, we passed a pub and agreed that we would both benefit from a cold beer and access to their bathrooms. It was a good decision and we enjoyed sitting on their balcony sipping our beers while looking at the rest of the places we wanted to see. When we were ready to go, we headed back toward the river and stopped to see the World War II memorial before we crossed the river on a different bridge that gave us a good view of the Charles bridge.

On the other side of the bridge, we passed the Rudolphinium, a center for the arts, before making our way into the Jewish Quarter. Unfortunately, this was also when we realized that it was Saturday which meant that all of the synagogues (and almost everything else in the Jewish quarter) was closed. We were disappointed and considered pushing our train back in the morning but decided that even if we did, we wouldn’t have enough time to see it all and didn’t want to rush. Instead, we settled for seeing it all from the outside and reading up on what we were missing.

Each of the synagogues have their own style and are all gorgeous and unique (even from the outside). We also were able to get a glimpse of the cemetery which was also closed on Saturday, but would’ve been very moving to see. Outside the Spanish synagogue, the statue of Franz Kafka stands tall… well, sits tall atop a headless man in a suit. It is very deep and interesting statue that was really cool to see. It was also interesting that it was a statue that Kafka made of himself.

From the statue, we headed down Parizska street (which is like the Champs-Elysées or 5th Avenue of Prague) on our way to the old town square. The square used to be the marketplace and still houses a couple museums, lots of restaurants, and the astronomical clocktower which has been singing in the hour for the last 600 years. We wanted to see the tower go off so we wandered around nearby, peaking in some shops and people watching until it was almost time. Then, we joined the crowd waiting in the street and watched the skeleton ring it’s bell and the other figures dance. The show was less impressive than the one we had seen in Munich, but was still lots of fun and is very impressive for something that it 600 years old.

When the clock finished, we headed back toward the hostel and grabbed food at the grocery store next door for dinner. We got a good night sleep before getting up, grabbing breakfast, and heading to the train station to catch our train to Berlin.

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Neuschwanstein

3 Comments / Munich / Isabel & Stephanie / July 14, 2022

This morning, we were excited to get up for a tour that takes us to see the Neuschwanstein castle which was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle. We got ready quickly before heading to the tour office where we met our guide, Stevo. We got lucky again because he seemed like he was the best of the guides. When it was time to go, he led us to the train station where we boarded the train to Füssen. The train took about two and a half hours and was easily the hottest one train we’ve been on. By the time we got there, we were already dying from the heat (Germany and Austria are currently suffering a heat wave). After the train, we boarded a bus to the area where the castle is.

We were given a bit of information about the area and the lunch options before being given an hour to get lunch and explore at our own leisure. Our guide suggested a small restaurant close by and we each enjoyed a bratwurst and fries which we enjoyed with slushies to cool us down.

We were under the impression that the hour would be enough time to enjoy lunch and explore some of the town, but by the time we had gotten food and finished eating, it was almost time to meet our guide for the next portion of the tour.

Stevo led us down to the edge of lake Alpsee (literally Alps lake) where he started telling us about the start of the royal family in Bavaria and how the castles came to be. From the lake, we could see Schloss Hohenschwangau, the castle that housed the royal family for many generation. The primary focus of the tour was on Ludwig the second who actually designed Schloss Neuschwanstein along with two other castles in Bavaria. Ludwig II grew up knowing he was in line to be king and he was constantly being educated to help prepare him. Two things he learned were that families are tight units of love and support (which didn’t make sense to him because he only got to see his parents once a week for dinner) and that kings are all powerful (which also didn’t turn out to be true because his kingship was more of a figurehead that worked with the government). He spent a lot of his youth with servants and tutors who raised him and his brother.

After hearing a little more about the family, everyone got on another bus to take us to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, Marienbrücke (Mary’s bridge) was closed, but we went part way down a trail to get a different view of the castle that included the bridge. After everyone got their pictures, we headed down a path to the entrance of the castle. We had to wait a few minutes until our time slot, but then we were invited inside to be guided through the main part of the castle.

Ludwig II was also very fond of the arts, so his castle is very ornate with beautiful craftsmanship and artwork. He also designed a gorgeous concert hall which was one of the first few rooms built in the castle and was designed to have perfect acoustics. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside the castle, so we were unable to even attempt to capture the beauty. We did, however, get some great pictures of the view from the castle’s balcony which is amazing.

After the tour was over and we finished enjoying the view on the balcony, we made our way down the mountain back toward the town. It was a really nice walk to get down, but we were glad we didn’t opt to walk up in the heat. When we made it to the bottom, we walked through the town before settling back in the same restaurant with a beer and an ice cream.

Before boarding the bus to get back to the train, Stevo told us a little more about Ludwig II and the royal family including some rumors about Ludwig II’s mysterious death. Even today, the public has no idea exactly how he died and the castle’s construction halted with his death, leaving the castle forever unfinished.

When we made it back to Munich, we stopped at a grocery store for some food before heading back to eat, shower, relax, and pack for Prague.

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Welcome to Texas

3 Comments / Munich / Isabel & Stephanie / July 14, 2022

Yesterday morning, we had a quick breakfast at the hotel before heading out to meet our guide for a walking tour of the city. We knew within the first 5 minutes that the tour were booked was definitely the right choice. It was a group of 6 people with a local guide who didn’t stop talking and giving us information for the entire tour.

Munich is a city is the state of Bavaria which is the largest of 16 states in Germany. Bavaria does have its own royal family and the locals consider Bavaria to be its own kingdom and don’t like to be considered a part of the rest of Germany whose views are much more liberal than their own. Our guide, Ozzie, said that every country has a Bavaria and it is important to recognize similar situations as the same because history is recycled. For example, he said Bavaria is to Germany as Texas is to the US, as Bordeaux and Champagne are to France, and as Naples is to Italy (along with many other examples). If you call a Bordeaux wine a French wine, people from Bordeaux would get very angry just like if you call different parts of Bavaria (like Oktoberfest) German, they will get angry too.

After leaving the meeting point, we started the tour at Karlsplatz, or as the locals call it, Stachus. It marks the west entrance to center city and old town. More specifically, it is the entrance to Main Street which our guide emphasized as a good way to help enhance your sense of direction in Munich. The tour primarily consisted of walking along or to/from different parts of Main Street. After passing under the archway in the square, we were on Main Street and learned about how Munich was arranged strategically. All of the shops selling similar things were close by so you would never have to go far from one place to the next. For example, there is one mall with all of the luxury stores and there is a separate mall for discount stores which includes a grocery store.

Toward the beginning, we also were given a very extensive introduction to the city which Ozzie describes as more of a village because of the low crime rates, conservative nature, and focus on tradition that defines Munich. The entire tour emphasized that Munich and Berlin are polar opposites and that everything he told us about Munich could be flipped when trying to understand Berlin. While Munich is Catholic, Berlin is Protestant. While Munich is very conservative, Berlin is very liberal. While Munich is centered in tradition, Berlin is very modern. While Munich has low crime and low unemployment, Berlin has high crime and high unemployment.

Two of our earliest stops were to a Catholic Church and the Cathedral. The church was famous because had the highest vaulted ceiling of its time which means that there are no columns supporting the dome. The cathedral is famous because it is said that the devil assisted the architect in building it with the stipulation that there could be no windows in sight. The architect was sneaky and found a loophole by adding columns so that the devil wouldn’t be able to see windows from the spot he was standing because all the windows were blocked by support columns (if you stand in that spot). In frustration, the devil stomped his foot leaving a foot print that people come see from all over Bavaria.

After the cathedral, we took a “breakfast” stop at a beer hall where we all consumed a half liter of beer (around 10am) like the locals do. At the beer hall, we also had an extensive lesson on the definition of reich. The guide said that even though everyone has heard of the third reich, no one (in his 17 years of giving tours) has ever been able to tell him what the English translation is. After none of us could guess, he told us that reich means influence and that everyone has had lots of reich people in their life which usually includes at least one of your parents.

We rushed out of the beer hall in time to catch most of the bells that go off at city hall. They have a giant clock that plays at 11:00 and 12:00 year round, but also plays at 5:00pm in the summer (because the sun sets at 3:30 in the winter). There was a huge crowd on the plaza to see the show which ended with a small golden bird above the clock cooing and flapping its wings three times.

Bavaria remained neutral in the First World War, so none of its architecture was destroyed until the Second World War. Throughout the tour, we were showed buildings that are either original (never destroyed), buildings whose facade is original, and buildings that were completely recreated. The tower with the clock is one of the few completely original buildings for a very specific reason. During World War II, it was used as a landmark so enemies trying to bomb Munich spared it so that they could use it as a landmark when they were trying to find the city from the air.

Our next stop was a sausage shop where we were able to get lunch: sandwiches and more beer which came with a very cool lanyard that lets you wear your beer hands free around your neck. It was a really cool way to be able to hold everything without spilling your drink and we were excited to hear that we could keep them. Our sandwiches were also amazing and the shop marked the entrance to the market place which had everything you could imagine including a beer garden. On one end, you start with all the meat shops, then pass the honey stand, cheese stands, vegetable stands, bakeries, then fish stands. We also got pretzels from the bakery Ozzie told us had been getting excellent reviews every year for longer than any other bakery at the market. He also shared that the fountains in the market, along with the tap water, is safe to drink and actually contains a lot of vitamin B which is useful for a lot of reasons including the fact that it can help protect you from mosquitos. The water is also used in the local beer and so the beer is also considered to help protect you from mosquitos.

While we were at the market, two of the group members decided they were too tired to continue, so they bowed out leaving the group with only 4 people plus the guide. On our way out of the market, Ozzie started pointing out different cars and explaining the origin of their locals. For example, BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works and their logo is a white and blue checkered flag just like Bavaria’s flag. Also, Volkswagen has the V (representing 2 parents) above a W (representing 3 kids) which represents what is considered the perfect German family.

We also walked through the Hoafhaus, a famous state owned beer hall whose profits are used to pay off Germant’s debt, including that of the Versailles treaties. We also learned that beer halls have a system for locals where people must go to the same beer hall at the same time on the same day every week for 10 years in order to receive a special locker for their beer stein at the beer hall. Once you have the locker, it’s yours for life, but it can’t be passed on after you die.

After leaving the hall, we passed a Little Red Riding Hood statue who Ozzie pointed out was actually French (not German) before passing by the opera house and continuing the tour. At this point, we were about four hours and a liter of beer into the tour on what had become a very hot day, so the history was harder to keep track of at the end.

Our tour ended with an invite from Ozzie to join him at the beer garden he frequents which we couldn’t decline. We ended up sharing a sampler of three Augustiner beers which we enjoyed while getting to know Ozzie and the other two people on the tour a little better. After a bit, we left and wandered back down Main Street, looking in some of the stores, as we headed back to the hotel to cool off a little from the heat.

After a short break, we headed out and grabbed a quick dinner (and tomorrow’s breakfast) from the grocery store which we enjoyed before getting ready for bed and getting a good night sleep before another early morning.

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Crazy coasters

3 Comments / Vienna / Isabel & Stephanie / July 14, 2022

After making it back from Budapest, we took a short break for showers and getting ourselves organized before heading into the city center. We explored the city center for a little while before heading over to Prater, a park that has been transformed into an amusement park which also happened to house the restaurant we had booked for dinner. We arrived about an hour and a half before our reservation which gave us time to wander through the park. It felt almost like Universal meets a county fair. Similar to the fair, it had giant swings and Ferris wheels (and was set up so that you pay by ride rather than for entrance); however, more like universal, there were tons of roller coasters, including indoor coasters. It also even had at least two water rides. We wandered through most of the park trying to decide what, if any, ride/coaster we wanted to go on.

After debating between the huge coasters and log flumes, between VR rides and giant swings, and between smaller coasters and the indoor coasters, we agreed on a medium sized outdoor coaster that looked like it would be a lot of fun and didn’t raise any concerns. We got our tickets and headed over to board the car. We were lucky enough to have the entire coaster to ourselves and had a great time.

When the ride was over, we headed back toward the restaurant where we waited until just before our reservation before going in. We had reserved a table at the Rollercoaster Restaurant which has a robot bartender and a series of tracks that deliver your food to your table. It was a crazy experience and we loved every minute of it. The robot was upstairs so we couldn’t see it from our seat but they had TVs live streaming it making our drinks and the tracks lit up when your food or drinks were on their way to you.

We each ordered 2 drinks, a sandwich that came with fries, and a salad to share. Everything was delicious and it was so cool to see your order rolling down the tracks toward you after a robot set it on its course. We even tried to look up other restaurants like it either in Europe or the US, but couldn’t find much outside of Japan.

After dinner, we headed back to the hostel and got a good night sleep before catching a train to Munich. The train ended up being half an hour longer than predicted, but we made it to Munich safely and ready to explore.

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Surprise city…I mean country

4 Comments / Budapest, Vienna / Isabel & Stephanie / July 11, 2022

Yesterday afternoon, we left the hostel to go explore and stepped outside to find dark clouds rolling in. We decided that a fun way to see as much of Vienna as possible before the rain hit was to rent scooters and ride around the city. We ended up having a lot of fun and finished just as the rain was about to start. On our way back toward the hostel, we bought Bratwurst from a street vendor which we brought back to the hostel to eat.

This morning, we got up early and headed to the train station to catch a train for a day trip to…Budapest! Any exhaustion was hidden behind excitement as we made our way into Hungary. Unfortunately, that excitement did not prepare us for what would happen next. Our train arrived in Tatabanya (the stop before Budapest) about half an hour late which, in retrospective, wouldn’t have been bad. It got worse when everyone on board was kicked off the train with nothing more than a sentence or Hungarian that we clearly didn’t understand. Soon after, we learned that there had been a crash on the tracks somewhere between that stop and Budapest so the train wouldn’t be able to get through. Instead, we were told to wait for busses (which showed up an hour later and then took half an hour to leave).

The language barrier must have been the problem a second time because our impression was that the bus would take us to Budapest, but the driver’s impression was that he was taking us to another train station where we boarded another train. At this point, we had zero instructions from anyone about when we were supposed to board/disembark. There were two attendants from our original train that seemed to know what they were doing, but they weren’t sharing with everyone else. We decided that if we were going to get stranded in Hungary, it was going to be in Budapest, not in the middle of nowhere, so we kept the attendants in sight at all times and followed what they did.

We were only on that second train for a few minutes before we followed the attendants off the train and onto a bus which dropped us at another train station. We boarded yet another train (that’s 3 trains and 2 busses if anyone’s counting) which finally took us to Budapest. Well, to Budapest’s main station which was still a metro ride away from center city. All in all, the journey from Vienna to the Budapest train station was supposed to take less than 2.5 hours, but it ended up taking about 6.

From the train station, it took us two more metro/trams to get into city center at which point we were finally able to find lunch at a cafe next to the Danube. While we were there, we realized that the only way to get back to Vienna would be to leave immediately and retrace the series of trains and buses we took to get there (which we didn’t want to do), so we decided that the only other option was to enjoy Budapest and hope for trains to be running later that night with a backup plan to spend the night in Budapest.

We started exploring at Castle Hill and the Buda castle which were both amazing and had great views of the Danube and the Parliament building. We then took a tram along the river toward Margitsziget island where we walked around and enjoyed the fountain show. We wanted to see more of the island, but we were very tired and realized it was already late for dinner, so we headed over to the Pest side of the island to a cute Hungarian restaurant we found.

At the restaurant, we were told “No kitchen! No kitchen! No chef!” Apparently, the chef was on his way out and so there would be no more food (even though we got there 3 hours before closing). We wandered a little farther down the road before finding another restaurant which ended up being delicious (other than the “mixed pickles” which ended up being assorted pickled vegetables).

After dinner, we took a short walk past the park with the Ferris wheel where they were playing salsa music and people were dancing. We also walked through a market with booths selling mostly souvenirs before reaching the tram that took us back to the train station which also happened to be the closest stop to the hotel we booked for the night.

Since the tracks still weren’t cleared, we decided that we were going to spend the night and enjoy the private room for uninterrupted sleep and a hot shower. We hoped that the tracks would be clear and trains would be back to normal by the morning. Unfortunately, that was wishful and the trains were even more reduced by the morning. It was not even possible to retrace out series or trains/busses to catch the train outside Budapest. Instead, we were about to book seats on a bus which brought us back to Vienna. The ride was uneventful and now we are officially back to the Vienna hostel.

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