Train, bus, plane, plane, car. Phew. Bittersweet to be back in the US.
Note to Self: When in a hostel, sleep in a Girls room. Less chance for snoring.
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Today, many of us were feeling hungover. After a slow morning, we went to the Natural History "Dinosaur" Museum with a large group from the hostel. It was interesting, but tiring. We separated from the group for lunch, then walked to the river and drank while watching boat races. We had dinner at the hostel, and talked to more people we had met. We went out a little bit, roaming the streets but ended early because we had a big travel day ahead of us.
A relaxed last day in Europe! We left Offenburg early, headed to Frankfurt. 09/05 07:24 OFFENBURG > FRANKFURT After arriving in Frankfurt, we headed to Heidelberg, since two of my friends had recommended it. 09/05 10:20 FRANKFURT > HEIDELBERG What a bust! Very hot and touristy, and the castle wasn't that great. Compared to Switzerland and the other cities, this was a complete waste of time. Oh well. We left as soon as possible. 09/05 > 13:46 HEIDELBERG > FRANKFURT Returning, we walked around a bit more, and made some friends. These last few days in Frankfurt we really hung out with the people we had met at the hostel, which was very nice. After Matt and I walked around (stopping by a place that served brots, pickles and mustard), we came back to have the free pasta dinner at the hostel. Yum! There was also a party in the lawn in front of the modern museum of art, so we hung around there as well. Afterwards, we went out with the group from the hostel. I spoke quite a bit of French to two guys from Paris! Fun night. .Accomplishing everything we wanted to in Interlaken, we took an early train to Offenburg. 08/05 06:05 INTERLAKEN > OFFENBURG After arriving at our airbnb in Offenburg, we decided to go to Strasbourg instead of the Black Forest. We took a train to a nearby German city. 08/05 10:35 OFFENBURG > KEHL After arriving in Kehl, we walked over the Rhine river into France! It was the hottest day by far, which made it more tough to walk around. Strasbourg was different than the places we had been to in Germany. For one, it was dirtier and the cars weren't as polite to pedestrians. We walked around next to the river for a bit, then enjoyed a nice long lunch outside at a cafe. We continued to walk around, and saw the giant cathedral as well as the European Parliament, which was neat! After more exploring, we took a train back from Strasbourg all the way to Offenburg, which was nice to avoid the walk home. 08/05 18:05 KEHL > OFFENBURG Once we arrived, we were starving. Matt found this local, authentic Germany place were we enjoyed a nice, long dinner. I finally had Spatsl (spelled that horribly wrong). After a late morning and good breakfast at the hostel, we decided to hike up a nearby mountain. It took roughly 2 hours to hike up. The views were breathtaking and we had a nice lunch up top, before it started raining. We hiked back down with no issues. Wonderful hike! Afterwards, we went to the nearest Migros to buy chocolates as gifts for our friends and family! We bought some roadies and drank them at the park in the center of the city. Another beautiful day. We woke up in Lucerne to another free breakfast of croissants and jam. We took an early train to Interlaken to make the most of our day. 06/05 09:06 LUZERN > INTERLAKEN Once we got settled in the hostel, we took a bus and train the Lauterbrunnen. There, we saw the only glacial waterfall in a mountain in Europe that was available to be seen. Breathtakingly powerful! We also walked across nearly the entire mountain valley. We took two gondolas up higher, where we had an amazing view of the Alps. We took a train across then a gondola back down to where we originally started. After our travels, we showered and then ate a wonderful dinner at an Irish pub right next to our hostel. The pictures speak for themselves! We knew we wanted to hike Mt Pilatus today. Our airbnb provided a nice breakfast of croissants and jams. We walked a few minutes to the base, then started our climb. It was a very tough but rewarding experience. The trails were very steep and we hiked for roughly 2 hours. One we climbed to Frakmuntegg, we took a gondola to the top of Mt Pilatus. We were above the clouds, and were able to see the top of other mountains of the Alps! So surreal. After spending time on the observation deck, we took a gondola back down to Frakmuntegg and began our descent. By then, the clouds had mostly cleared and we got great views of Lucerne! We ended earlier in the day than expected, so we had time to shower and head to the city. We took a bus (public transportation is so freaking easy in Europe) to downtown Lucerne and explored the city. After finding a yummy place for dinner, we walked along the lake and ports. Since it was Saturday there were people hanging out in groups outside in the public spaces, enjoying drinks. We each got a drink and watched the lake. It was magical! Today was a big travel day. We left Munich in the afternoon after enjoying breakfast, doing laundry, and shopping at Aldi!! We went on 4 trains in total to get from Munich to Lucerne, stopping in Basil. We had a little bit of an issue with the third train being late, but we caught the next one so we made our fourth train!
04/05 13:28 MUENCHEN > STUTTGART 04/05 12:59 STUTTGART > KARLSRUHE 04/05 17:00 KARLSRUHE > BASEL 04/05 19:04 BASEL > LUZERN We arrived in Lucerne around 8pm, then took a bus to Kriens, where our airbnb was. The apartment and the host was delightful. He happened to be a chef, so made a two-course dinner for us and also gave us drinks and chocolate for only 15 francs. The salad and vegetarian dumplings were nothing short of amazing! One of the best meals of the trip, by far .A steal in Switzerland! We stayed up very late talking to him, it was interesting to get his perspective. No pictures! We spend the majority of our day walking in the Englischer Garden in Munich. It is apparently the biggest city park in Europe. It is longer than it is wide, and we walked the entire length which was about 9-10 miles. The entire park was beautiful and unlike any park I have been to in the States. Very relaxing and very calming. We ate lunch in a nice beirgarten to celebrate our journey. We bought Underground tickets and went back to the hostel and re-grouped. Afterwards, we took the Underground to an area across the river, and walked around then in that area, then went back to our hostel. We then went to Cafe Kosmos and talked to two people studying in Germany. One was from either Peru or Brazil, and the other was from Mexico. They were older, but we talked to them for quite a while and it was very enjoyable. Today we woke up and after talking to someone in our room, decided to use the hostel's guided tour of the Dachau concentration camp. We had previously decided that visiting Dachau was on our list of things we wanted to do, but didn't think about doing the tour. I'm so glad we went with the tour guide. Our group was very small, there were roughly 4 or 5 other people not including us and the tour guide. The tour guide's name was Jamie and he had been living in Germany for 10 years, but grew up in Ireland. The cost of the entire tour was relatively cheap. He arranged the transportation to and from the memorial site, including the train and bus we needed to ride to and from the area. Jamie told us so much extra information that we wouldn't have otherwise learned if we hadn't been with him. He was able to tell us about the brothel, the chain sculpture, the gate, contemporary opinions and views of the German people in regards to the Holocaust, and survivors we could look up on the Internet to see and hear them tell their stories. If Matt and I went, we would have been able to read the signs and look at the sites, but we wouldn't have received the wealth of info that Jamie was able to provide. Overall, a shocking and intense experience, but an important one that we are both glad we got to experience. After Dachau, we visited the area where Oktoberfest usually happens, except Springfest was going on instead! It was honestly very similar to the Catholic school fairs I would visit as a child. It looked complicated to get into the drinking booths so we didn't try. After walking around, we left the fairgrounds. (If my memory is correct....) We had lunch at the nearby grocery store, then headed back to the hostel. We went for a run, headed toward the Englischer Gardens, but ended up getting slightly lost, but still enjoying our run. We ran right along the river, which was beautiful. So many people and their pets were lounging by the river, it was fantastic. We ended up running a little bit over an hour. Tiring, but well needed. We walked to the Hofbrauhaus and had dinner there. It was very overpriced and very touristy, but it was something I wanted to experience once. We walked back on a pedestrian only street, which was beautiful and full of music and flowers. |
AuthorIn May of 2018, my boyfriend Matt and I ventured to Europe for almost two weeks. For personal reasons, I want to document our travels here. Enjoy! |