Remember that time I had a blog? I do. Do you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you happened to forget about it over my past three and a half week absence. It’s not necessarily that I haven’t had the time to write, but more that the thought of writing has become incredibly overwhelming each day I don’t write. There were so many stories and adventures to share from my Eastern European adventure with Victoria that I didn’t even know where to start! Since we got back two Saturdays ago, I’ve had the best intentions of writing, but there has just been crazy amounts of activities and so much planning an preparation going on leaving me no time to sit down and blabber on about my life. The days pass by quickly, and the sun in Bretagne is insanely deceptive. Sunset has been consistently holding out until 9:30 or later over the past month or so which has continued to blow my mind and throw me completely off balance.
Anyway, in a pathetic and lazy attempt to assuage any resentment you may have towards me for not writing about Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, I’m providing you with the following cinematic masterpieces: video updates that Victoria recorded during our trip! To be perfectly honest with you, I haven’t actually watched them since I despise the sound of my own voice, but from what I remember of recording them, they’re a pretty decent (and mildly comedic?) recap of what we did. Please enjoy and accept them as the best I can do right now. Also, there are PLENTY of pictures on facebook! (I’ll try and post some on here later for anyone who happens to not be my fb-friend)
Jumpin around Euroland!
In other news, Kate has come to visit me! I’ve been kind of a booger of a host since I’ve been stressed with planning the rest of my trips/figure out my life… For example, I’m writing on my blog right now instead of spending time with her. I’m the worst, and I know it. We’ve been doing our best to have a good time though! Listening to k-pop, watching 90s movies, eating lots of delicious foods. We’re also going to try and get out a little the rest of the week, seeing some more typically “Bretagne” things like Ile-de-Bréhat and Rennes (to also conveniently return my cello). We’ll see what happens.
Also, my travel plans are almost finalized! Thank the lawd. I’ve been a giant ball of stress trying to figure it all out. My rough plan is as follows:
May 5th to the 8th: Paris
May 8th to the 10th: Budapest (again!)
May 10th to 15th: Belgrade with my lovely friend Kristina!
May 15th to 21st: Germany (cities TBD) to visit my roomie Alex!
May 21st to June 6th: WWOOFing in Ireland (city/farm TBD)
June 6th to June 8th: Paris
June 8th: MINNEAPOLIS! Yes! My trip home has finally been planned!
I’m excited for all of these things, but already a little tired out just thinking about it all. Part of me is jealous of the other assistants who are already heading home this week, but I know I would regret not taking advantage of my time left in Europe. It’s going to be great, and coming home will surely be oh so lovely after my last month away.
Family! Friends! Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe, but here we are, already on to the third day of 2012! I just got back from an amazing whirlwind adventure to a place that can most succinctly be described as a winter wonderland. I had high expectations for my Austrian Christmas, and Salzburg delivered. I had to wait a little bit to start writing because it was just too depressing to realize my trip was over. It was by far one of the most magical and charming places I have ever seen, more than I could have ever hoped for. Seeing as it is the home of Mozart and The Sound of Music, I knew it had to be great, but it is so much more than those two shining tourist attractions. Tucked in the mountains, with a river running through it, Salzburg is chockfull of breathtaking panoramic views, phenomenal cultural events, amazing museums, delicious food, and friendly people. Summer is supposedly the high tourist season, but the winter months have their fair share of unique things to see, namely the snow covered mountain peaks and Christmas markets. So many wonderful things! But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s take a step back, and start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start, after all.
My trip started out with a bang, but not in a good way. I left Saint-Brieuc around 3:30 on Sunday the 19th, ready for snowflakes, cream colored ponies, and crisp apple strudel. The world seemed bright and cheery and everything was going smoothly. Then I got to Paris, and shit got shitty real fast. Since I was coming into Paris from the West and departing from the East, I had to get across the entire city from Montparnasse to Gare de l’Est in a 30 minute time frame. Normally, this should be no big thang thanks to the metro, but I ran into a few hiccups.
First of all, the signage at Montparnasse is hella confusing. There were signs pointing in both directions for the metro, and as it turns out, I followed the wrong ones. After walking for about 10 minutes underground, I finally found myself at the metro stop, only to wait in a ridiculously long line to buy a metro ticket. Time was not on my side. After finally getting my ticket, I had about 15 minutes til my other train left, and a 20 minute metro ride ahead of me. Even if you’re terrible at math, you can see the fault in this equation. After making a mad dash with my suitcase in a heavy wool coat, I made it to the other train station 10 minutes after my train left. I was sweating like a pig and on the verge of tears when I looked up to see that my train was in fact running 15 minutes late! Thank you, baby Jesus! I made my way to my car, stripped off all outer layers, and collapsed into my seat. Then the train sat there for 40 minutes. It was like a sick joke after all of that stress, but the anticipation of seeing my friends and getting to Salzburg soothed my frustration. Side note: If you ever take an over night train, pay the extra 5 euro and get a bed… Sleeping upright all night is not sleeping. I learned the hard way. Learn from my mistakes.
We made it to Munich for a second transfer about 20 minutes late, but luckily they had held the train to Salzburg, so no worries. I was wandering around on the train looking for my seat, and was standing with my back to Kate for about 30 seconds before either of us realized it – one of many movie moments to be had during our adventures. Anna ran up from behind and the three of us did a little dance to celebrate! We made it through a crazy long night, and were finally together. All was good.
The minute we stepped off our final train ride, a most magical snow was slowly drifting down on our heads. Unbelievably perfect welcome. Even if everything else hadn’t worked out, I was happy knowing we would at least be having a white Christmas! After our 18 hour journey, we were pretty pooped, but we still had some fun after checking into our hostel. We wandered about the Mirabel Gardens (location of the infamous Do-Re-Mi scene), made our way through our first Christmas market, sipped on Glühweine, ate giant brezels, and turned our hostel room into a hair salon. Yes, I cut Anna’s hair, and yes, it was hilarious. Not planning on becoming a hairstylist, but please note in the pictures that I did not fuck up! It was a little sketchy at first, but it turned out alright in the end.
That night, we slept FOREVER in preparation for the long list of things we wanted to do throughout the week. We finally got out of bed and got our act together by the early afternoon and made a worthwhile investment by going to the tourist office and buying 72 hour Salzburg cards. For 35€ we were able to get into every museum, get discounts on theater tickets, and had free public transportation! After adding up all of our entrance fees and discounts, it would have cost us around 90€ for all of things we did had it not been for these small plastic lifesavers! I would hiiiiiighly recommend taking advantage of this if you ever find yourself in Salzburg!
Things we did with the Salzburg card:
Salzburg Museum – winner of the 2009 European museum award! Beautiful, fun, and educational!
SOUND OF MUSIC MUSEM – We went twice. Enough said.
Mozart’s Birth House – I SAW HIS BB VIOLIN!
Mozart’s Residence – I SAW HIS HARPSICHORD!
Toy Museum– We had a BLAST here with lots of fun interactive things, namely a very dangerous slide. Meant for 5 year olds, enjoyed by 20 somethings. Luckily, we were literally the only people in the museum, so we didn’t feel like total asses getting in the way of children. Also, they make you wear Crocs in the museum which is something I definitely swore I would never do. Surprisingly comfortable. Almost as comfortable as they are ugly.
So embarrassing, so hilarious.
Giant lift elevator – Amaaazing view of the city! Also conveniently brings you up to number 7…
The Modern Art Museum – Normally, I’m not a huge fan of modern art, but I was pleasantly surprised with some of the work they had on display. Particularly intrigued by the work of Evan Penny, frighteningly realistic and detailed sculptures exploring the distortion of self-image.
Dom Cathedral Museum – Full of crazy curiosities and a strange exhibit on the history of St. Nicolas.
Funicular up to Hohensalzburg Fortress – Fun and efficient way to make it up to another amazing view! I have a feeling that Maria wouldn’t have been late all the time had this been around in her day.
Fortress Museum – Wicked cool displays, thousand year old rooms in relatively good condition, and more wonderful views.
“World” of Marionettes Museum – One of the dumpiest things I have ever seen. It was literally two dingy cave-like rooms with some poorly taken care of puppets. Considering Salzburg is home of the world renowned marionette theater, I was expecting a little more from this.
St. Peter’s cemetery and catacombs – Graveyard is gorgeous, catacombs are not. I was expecting rows and rows of bones and skulls like the catacombs found under the streets of Paris, but this was a weird underground chapel and two cave like rooms. Not surprising that it is only 1.50€.
Residenz State Rooms – Stunning palace of the Prince Archbishops of Salzburg back in the day, gaudy but gorgeous along the lines of Versailles.
Residenz Galleries – Paintings from the 16th to 19th centuries. Beautiful things, but I have sadly become numb to art thanks to Europe’s excess of famous paintings and sculptures.
Baroque Art Museum – More painting and sculptures from the 16th and 17th centuries, located in the Mirabel Palace.
Stiegl Adventure Brewery – Hilarious adventure, and a fantastic deal! An adult ticket gets you admission to the hands on brewery displays, a brewery museum, free beer chips (surprisingly delicious), a beer tasting, and your choice of a Steigl glass or a bottle of beer to take home with you! The beer tasting was serious business too. We had been expecting little tiny samples, but were instead served 3 full glasses each in the brewery bar! We got drunk at 2pm before returning to the gift shop. Brilliant marketing ploy.
Top of Mount Untersberg – One of the coolest things I have ever done ever. Being on top of an Austrian mountain, completely covered in windswept drifts of snow is mindblowingly beautiful! I took about 235086235 pictures, and none of them do this view justice.
Wonky Panorama attempt #1
Happy Mountain Trekkers!
Slightly less wonky panorama attempt #2
Misty Fog Magic!
20% discount at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre – On our last night in Salzy, we made our way to the Marionette Theatre for an amazing performance of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) by the one and only W.A. Mozart. The costumes and sets were gorgeous, and the puppets were shockingly lifelike. Definitely another highlight of the trip!
When we weren’t doing Salzburg Card related activities, we spent a lot of time wandering around the enormous Christmas Markets, saw La Cenerentola by Rossini for only 6€ (YES SIX! AUSTRIA HAS AMAZING STUDENT DISCOUNTS FOR OPERAS! LESS THAN GOING TO A MOVIE!), watched The Sound of Music (of course I would), went on a Salt Mine tour (that included a special Christmas surprise from baby Jesus since it was Christmas Eve!), cooked many delicious meals in the less than ideal hostel kitchen, and made sure to get lots of sleep during our time off.
If all of these things weren’t already enough, we also had the most magical Christmas ever to exist ever thanks to a CHRISTMAS DAY SLEIGH RIDE! The whole idea of us going on the sleigh ride started out kind of as a joke because it was pretty spendy, but in the end we decided that this was a once in a lifetime situation and went for it. I have always longed to dash through the snow in a one (well there were two…) horse open sleigh, and on December 25th, 2011, my dreams finally came true. The drive into the mountains was gorgeous thanks to a particularly sunny morning and a fresh covering of hoarfrost, and the sleigh ride exceeded my extremely high expectations. Snow was falling, bells were jingling, there were mountains abound, we stopped at a tiny café halfway through the trip for mulled wine… It was literally like a picture print by Currier & Ives.
We finished our Christmas day with an extravagant meal at the St. Peter Stiftskeller. It was one of the most delicious meals of my life in spite of the 6.10€ we had to pay for ONE bottle of sparkling water. Ridiculous, I know, but they literally refuse to serve tap water. Needless to say, we laughed for awhile out of pure shock.
After exhausting Salzburg of nearly every possible tourist attraction we could possibly imagine, we headed back to France and the city of Grenoble on the 27th. After helping Anna move from her previously tiny town of Pontcharra to the bustling city of Grenobs, we spent the last few days of 2011 decorating, watching movies, cutting out paper snowflakes, and gorging ourselves on ridiculous amounts of vin chaud and fromage. Lounging is the perfect way to end any vacation in my opinion. It was sad to leave Anna and Kate after all of our adventures. We made a pretty slamma jamma travel team if you ask me. Thanks for a baller Christmas, mes amies!
My adventure didn’t end there, however. I still had to make my way back home, and I decided to do so via Paris! Since my travel expenses piled up quickly, I used a less traditional travel method to cross the country called covoiturage. It’s basically a very organized and secure way of hitchhiking. People post their travel plans on the website saying how many places they have, what kind of car it is, when they’re leaving, etc., and you sign up to share a ride! Much cheaper than planes and trains AND a fantastic way to meet more Francophones! My family was a little skeptical, but I assure you, it is perfectly safe and a wonderful way to travel!
I made it into Paris around 5pm on the 31st and met up with a handful of assistants at a hostel in near Montmartre to get ready for an all-night New Year’s celebration! Having spent nearly New Year’s Eve in the suburbs of St. Paul, I was pumped to be spending the last night of 2011 in the City of Light. It turned out to be a bit of a crazy mess since we failed to make any set plans, but it was fun to just let things be and see where the night took us. After a series of bars, many glasses of champagne, losing half of our party of six, turning down an overpriced taxi, and following a belligerent Frenchman halfway across the city, Sarah, Christine and I danced the night away in a giant club near République. Making it home was a bit of a struggle, smashing ourselves into the first metro of the morning with a million other people. We were barely able to keep our eyes open, but we made it back to our hostel in one piece, praise be!
The 1st was a bit of a struggle. Getting into a car knowing that I’d be going back to little ol’ Saint-Brieuc after all of this excitement was rather depressing to be perfectly honest. Luckily for me, I was welcomed home with a large stack of Christmas cards and two packages to lift my spirits! And I suppose vacations wouldn’t be nearly as thrilling if we were constantly on them, though, so cheers to le train-train quotidien for helping highlight the joy of time off. Back to work! Not to worry, more vacay time to come in February!
From St. Olaf to Saint-Brieuc 