Fall Break!

Hey, everyone, it's time for fall break here in France, and I'm going to be spending mine in Budapest, Vienna and somewhere in Germany or Austria.  Unfortunately, I was going to take a night train out tonight, but the strikes cancelled that train as well as a bunch of other trains that other people were taking, so I'll be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning!

Right now, my plan is:
Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in Budapest
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Vienna
Thursday and Friday nights in Salzburg
Saturday night in Munich?
Night train back to Metz?

I'll try and post a few incremental updates along the way.  See you all in a week!

An eventful weekend in Amsterdam

Friday

Curtis, Amanda, Jesse, Rivers, Kevin, Mike and I took a trip to Amsterdam this past weekend.  We were up quite early on Friday morning and caught a train at 06:20 to Luxembourg, then on to Brussels and then to Amsterdam Centraal.  Once we got to Amsterdam at about 2:30, we were starving and had lunch at a small Italian place.  After we walked to the hostel and got settled, we were dead set on seeing some of Amsterdam's plentiful museums, which are usually open late on Friday nights.

We initially tried the Rijksmuseum which the hostel desk attendant told us was open until 10pm, apparently was closing early, so we headed to the Van Gogh Museum right around the corner.  The special exhibit was about Realism in the early 20th century and their focus on the average man.  I found the permanent exhibit of Van Gogh's work and inspirations much more entertaining.  The evolution of his style was interesting and really showed how prolific and forward thinking of an artist he was, until, as he said, his artistic vision failed him and he committed suicide.

Dinner was next, and at about 8:30, we headed over to Wok to Walk, a chain that specializes in make your own wok meals.  Afterwards, we tried to find the Red Light District and ended finding what seemed a little offshoot of it.  Kinda disappointed in what we thought to be the actual Red Light District, we headed back home to the hostel.

Saturday

Breakfast at the hostel was pretty good, but not quite up to the "Best Hostel Breakfast EVER" that Katrina awarded it.  Nonetheless, by 9:30, we had already rented bikes (bright orange so the locals can avoid us) and were following Curtis' direction to the Rembrandt House.  Bikes are everywhere in Amsterdam, and is probably the most frequent mode of transportation for the locals.  Every single open railing has a bike locked to it, and there are specific bike lanes all over the city.  Cyclists even get right of way!  I wish we could import that to some places in the US, but the problem is when the tourists try to do it.  I got the distinct feeling that the rules for biking were really really respected and we had probably annoyed a bunch of people throughout the day.  

The Rembrandt House was interesting mainly through a perspective of the lifestyle of people and especially artists.  If you're ever there, make sure you grab the audio tour, because it's free and offers a lot of insights.  Unfortunately, the museum didn't have very many paintings, but it was filled with etchings, which could be produced cheaply and quickly.  After the Rembrandt House, we checked out the flea market right next to it, but then retired to a little cafe since there wasn't much worth braving the rain for.  After coffees and hot chocolate, we went back to the Rijksmuseum again, and had to stand in line for about 20 minutes before we got in, but it was definitely worth it.  The museum was filled with the Dutch Masters' works, of which the crowning piece is Rembrandt's The Night Watch.  

Once we left the museum, Amanda met up with one of her friends from Duke, Michelle, who joined us for the rest of the afternoon.  We had a late lunch/snack.  I got one of the renowned Dutch pancakes, which totally live up to the hype, especially with some delicious thick slices of bacon on top.  The Heineken Experience was next on our list of things to do.  Honestly, I felt like I paid 15 euros to drink 2 beers and look at a lot of Heineken commercials.  The first half, that wasn't about the advertising, had some pretty interesting parts about the brewing process.  It was enjoyable, but missing it wouldn't have killed the trip either.  

Dinner was at a small place closer downtown and I had some lamb cutlets, though the more memorable part was the fries with mayo.  Actually, I'm not sure if it was mayo.  It looked exactly like it, and I've heard that the Europeans prefer mayo on their fries instead of ketchup, but this stuff tasted better than any mayo I've had in the States.  The jury is still out on whether or not that'll be my de facto way to eat fries now.  

Finally the rain stopped, so we headed down to the actual Red Light District this time to walk through it.  It was definitely eye-opening to see how the sex industry had been built up around the area.  That and a bouncer, as we're all walking by, looked down at us and said "You should come in, little ones, especially this one here," looking right at me.  I'm pretty sure that there was steam blowing out my ears, but everyone else was grinning at the line. 

Suddenly, then the sky opened up on us, so we ducked into a pub for a beer and to stay out of the rain.  Our table has also discovered the magic of hot chocolate and Bailey's.  If you're ever looking to go to sleep, I'd recommend one of those.  That was our nightcap, and once we saw Michelle to the train station (she was staying in the suburbs with relatives), we rode our bikes back to the garage and passed out at the hostel.  

Sunday

Sunday was even earlier than Saturday, but all we did was hoof it over to the train station to get a train to The Hague.  The only thing on our list here was the M.C. Escher Museum, which I found really interesting.  His themes with infinity and continuity were really apparent, but very interesting to see the development of his perspective of showing it.  The trip back was by far the most interesting bit of Sunday, as when we were on our way from Amsterdam to Brussels, Curtis' bags got stolen.  There were a number of tip offs to it, and it was really obvious that something was strange apparently (I was asleep).  A sharply dressed man sat in Curtis and Jesse's booth while the train car was mostly empty, and this guy's accomplice sat behind Curtis.  When the train came to a stop, the first guy pulled out a ticket and made an obvious distraction for his friend to reach up and grab Curtis' bag.  Unfortunately, the duo made a clean get away before we could get a conductor to hold the train for us.  

Once we got to Luxembourg, we were looking at the departures board, and while we were watching, the boards flipped over and we watched our train get cancelled.  Stupid French strikes.  So we went out to wait for a bus that was arranged to take us back to Metz, and the last leg of the trip that usually takes only 45 minutes took a good two hours and a taxi ride from the station home.  Overall though, I really enjoyed Amsterdam.  It was a little cloudy for us, but I'd wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone.  There's tons of stuff to do there, and everyone can find something that'll excite them there.

And here's a link for the photos from this weekend. 

Interlaken!

Interlaken, Switzerland is a small town nestled pretty deeply within the Swiss Alps.  Some of the things it's famous for are the extreme sports. Because of the gorgeous scenery, Interlaken has become a destination for young backpackers.  The big activities, which are advertised everywhere, are canyoning, sky diving, paragliding and gorge jumping.  This trip had been planned by a few of the other students, and we had a trip of 8 GTL students: Whitney, Eric, Joe, James, Ethan, Curtis, Kevin and I.

Me, in front of the Jungfrau, the highest mountain in the area

My adventure for the weekend started off on Friday, when we took an 11:30am train from Metz.  I intended to get up at 5 and go with a group of people a little bit earlier, but I was way too tired to when I got up. Unfortunately, on the train in, I pulled out my camera to find I had grabbed the uncharged battery instead of the charged battery.  All the photos here are courtesy of Whitney :)  Eric, Whitney, Joe and I all arrived in Interlaken at about 5pm and made our way to Balmer's Herberge.  It's one of the "Europe's Famous Hostels" line throughout Europe, but this one is worth it.  Mom, I'm pretty sure that this is the one that Pat Murphy stayed at while he was there, because there are signs for it all over, and the main joint at night is the club right under the hostel.  The walls of the game room are covered in photos of the founder with Bill Clinton, a letter from a representative of the Queen and a bunch of other photos.  The place has really built up a great reputation.

Balmer's Herberge, the hostel we stayed at

Friday night wasn't too busy for us.  We arrived, checked into the hostel, and then played pool in the game room until we met up with everyone else that arrived there earlier.  Our dinner was Thai at the place next door, which served up some pretty good Pad Thai.  Afterwards, we headed down the Metrobar, the club under Balmer's for a few drinks, and then an early bed for our adventures in the morning.

Saturday morning was an early rise and then everyone but Whitney, Kevin and I went canyoning.  Essentially, they wrapped themselves in three wetsuits, a helmet and life vest to go jumping through slot canyons in freezing Alpine streams.  It looked like a lot of fun, but not quite worth the $150 to me.  I wanted to do something a little cheaper and see a little bit more of the area, so Whitney and I decided to try a high ropes course while Kevin went for an intense hike in the nearby mountains.  The ropes course was really intense with some really demanding elements.  Some of the platforms were 85 meters up, which translates to 27 stories.  One of the coolest parts was that, after the staff taught you how to clip in, you were completely on your own and responsible for your own safety.  I spent a good 4.5 hours on the course, and Whitney headed back to the hostel a little bit earlier than I did, since she was a little cold.  We met up at around 2:45 and had a quick lunch next to the hostel and then walked around the town for a while.  The architecture looks almost straight out of the Sound of Music in some parts.

A blurry shot of the high ropes course.  Some of the platforms were 85 meters up!

Whitney and I met up with the canyoning group and Kevin at 7:15 for dinner, where I split a fantastic pizza with Kevin, and then we headed back to the hostel to meet up with a group of girls Whitney and I had met earlier.  They were lost and looking for Balmer's, so we told them where it was and had agreed to meet up at the bar for the tail end of happy hour.

In downtown Interlaken.  

Sunday wasn't as exciting or intense, but definitely the most picturesque of the three days.  Whitney left early in the morning so that she would have some time to do work when she got back to Metz, but everyone else went to Lauterbrunnen at Kevin's recommendation.  There was supposed to be a 2 hour hike that was going to fit into our schedule perfectly, so we took a cog train up deeper into the valley that Interlaken sits in.  The vistas were amazing.  It's impossible to take a bad picture here.  Once we got out, we were supposed to walk down a road to this hike that would take us back into a narrow gorge to check out some waterfalls, but we got waylaid by a visible trail up through a cliff face behind a different waterfall.  The little side trip threw off our timing, so we contented ourselves with walking as far as we could along a road that led deeper into the valley before turning back.  From there, we took the cog train back to Interlaken, then picked our bags back up from the hostel and walked over to the train station and headed home.

I also got the chance to grab some patches of places I've travelled to, so I'm going to stitch them to my backpack when I have the chance.  Here's what it looks like so far!

Here's a link to the rest of Whitney's photos too.  The photos at the end of the set are of the cathedral in Metz.

Day 3: Monaco

Okay, so I've definitely got some catching up to do on this blog...

Sunday

So we had decided to go to Monaco on Sunday, since we were only a 45 minute train ride away from there, even though we realized that on a Sunday morning, all the rich people are sleeping in and all the shops are closed, so we wouldn't see too much.  We took the 10:01 train to Monaco and got there shortly before 11, and walked out to a huge harbor filled with superyachts.  These yachts were absolutely massive, and had home ports from all the glamorous places all around the world.  Absolutely amazing to see how much money people would spend on them.  

After wandering around some, we eventually stumbled upon the Monte Carlo, so we took some photos of it and meandered around the absolutely gorgeous landscaping outside of it, that as far as we could tell, was just maintained by the principality.  It seemed a lot like the medians in our roads, but that the bill for the landscaping probably cost more than building the road to begin with...

We eventually found the tourist center and decided that we were going to walk through Monaco.  First on our way was the shopping mall.  It wasn't that big and nothing was open, but it was absolutely gorgeous.  All marble floors all over and crystal chandeliers over the staircases.

After that, we walked over to the Japanese Gardens.  It's a Zen-inspired public garden and one of the free things for us to do.  If you haven't started noticing a theme, we were definitely doing Monaco on a student budget (i.e. $0).

The Japanese Gardens

We decided that we were all getting a little bit tired from the whole weekend and decided that after we saw the palace and the cathedral, we would go back to Nice and get ready to go home.  On our way to the palace and cathedral, though, we ran into Mark and Chad, two other GTL students in Nice.  They said that they were going to check out the town while Eric was going to catch up to them, so we convinced them to come with us.  A quick lunch was first at a market that was just about to close up (I got a chicken cheese and tomato panini) and then climbed up the staircases to the palace at the top.  We didn't take a tour of the palace, but we did walk around the corner and go to the cathedral around the corner.  Unfortunately, my camera's battery died there, but we didn't have too much more time there, so I was somewhat lucky.

The cathedral in Monaco

After walking through the cathedral, we took our time getting home, and actually missed the train back to Nice by about five minutes, so we had to wait another hour.  We decided to get some gelato while we waited for the next train that was coming in an hour.  Once we got back to Nice, there wasn't much time besides dinner at a Chinese take out place, picking up our bags at the hostel, then going to the train station to catch the train home.