Berlin

Two days ago I set off on a journey to four new European countries completely on my own, and I have to say I was a little scared at first. I woke up at 3am nervous that something would go wrong and prevent me from getting to the airport on time, but the morning went smoothly and I arrived at the airport well before my flight began to board. Once at the airport, any previous worries I had disappeared. I have always found that airports have an inexplicable calming effect on me. Maybe it is because everyone at an airport has a purpose, and a place to be, or maybe it's just the promise of new adventure. Either way, I was content to simply watch the people bustle past until I boarded my own flight to begin the last of my adventures here in Europe before I return home. 

By the time I touched down in Berlin, the sun had risen and I had just enough time to get to the hostel before the walking tour began. The tour started at Brandenburg gate, and the guide took us to many historical sights like Hitler's bunker, the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe, the square where book burnings took place, the building that once held the headquarters of the Luftwaffe and much more. After the tour, I caught a late lunch of currywurst, a local delicacy, near check point charlie, which once served as the allied check point between East and West Berlin. Next, I returned to the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. This was probably my favorite attraction in Berlin. It is such an emotional place, the architecture of the memorial really makes you feel small, weak and lost. It is a truly moving experience and the museum underneath the memorial is very interesting as well. 

On my second day in Berlin, I explored the East Side Gallery, which is a stretch of the Berlin Wall that has been decorated with murals by various artists, most of which convey strong messages about the history of the wall and the city. After the gallery, I headed to the Berlin Wall memorial site on the other side of town which tells the history of the construction of the wall and commemorates those who died trying to escape over it. Lastly, I toured the DDR museum and spent some quality time reading in the lawn in front of the Cathedral of Berlin before heading back to my hostel for the night. 

Tomorrow morning, I am off to Prague! Let the adventure continue :)

With love, from Berlin

Mindy

Budapest

I wrote this post once already, but it somehow was lost before I could publish it. So, now that I am sufficiently frustrated, this post is going to be much shorter, sweeter and more to the point.

Budapest was great, I arrived on Wednesday afternoon in the stifling heat and went straight to the famous thermal baths. It was a beautiful day for the baths, which were just down the street from my hostel. 

The next day I went on a walking tour where I saw the Buda Castle, the Chain Bridge, St. Stephen's church, and the Mathias Church among many other things. After the tour, I headed back to the Mathias church to admire the colorful wall to wall frescoes inside it which contrast which it's white gothic  exterior. Just outside of the church is the Fisherman's Bastion which is a line of white stone towers connected by walls. It give a great view of the amazing parliament building across the street. Later, I had a nice dinner at a local restaurant, followed by dessert and coffee at a the Cafe Corynthian. The Corynthian was recomended to me by my tour guide for their Esterházy torte, which is a local delecacy, and it was delicious! The last thing I did in Budapest was watch the sun set over the Buda Castle from the Freedom bridge. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen, and it was a great way to spend my last evening in this wonderful city.

I regret that my stay in Budapest was much too


short, but I am excited to be moving on to Barcelona today to see my best friend for the first time in 4 and a half long months. Spain, here I come! (Again...)

With love, from Budapest

Mindy

Vienna

So I am packing up to depart from Vienna, the third city on my Central European adventure. I had a great couple of days here. I arrived in the evening on Sunday, settled into my hostel and woke up early to hit the city on Monday morning. Little did I know, Monday was a Christian holiday in these parts, leaving the shop doors locked and the museums closed up tight. So instead of waiting in line to see art and listen to classical music, I led my own personal tour of the city. I saw the state opera house, the Hofburg palace, St. Stephen's cathedral, the Rathaus and many beautiful parks along the way. I grabbed lunch at a local festival that was going on in front of the Rathaus. It was a lively affair with carnival rides, live music and lots of food! My favorite spot in the city was the people's garden, which is a large public rose garden where I stopped to escape the heat and read a book in a spot of much needed shade. That evening I ate dinner at a little Italian restaurant and headed back to my hostel for the night.

On my second day in Vienna I went to the Schönbrunn palace just outside of the city center. It was a beautiful palace that was once occupied by the Habsburg family. After a short audio tour I headed outside to the extensive gardens on the castle grounds. The gardens were skirted by a giant ornate fountain and the gloriette arch. After the palace, I went to the Vienna zoo, which is just behind the palace. It was a wonderful and sunny day for a visit to the zoo. I saw pandas, polar bears, elephants, and even a white peacock. You name it, and the Vienna zoo's got it! I rounded out the day with a trip back to the center of Vienna in pursuit of what I had heard was the best chocolate cake in Austria. The famous torte is made from a secret recipe exclusively at Hotel Sacher, behind the state opera house. Although it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, the cake was great! It had two layers of chocolate cake with an apricot filling inbetween and covered with a dark chocolate ganache. It's was a wonderful way to end my last night in Vienna.

In just a couple of hours I will be in Budapest, Hungary. Bring on the thermal baths!

With love, from Vienna

Mindy

Prague

So I have a confession to make... I may have a new favorite European city and it's Prague! 

This city is wonderful! The architecture here is unlike any other European city I have visited. The buildings are so romantic and ancient looking and there isn't any metal to be found. Each building is covered in yellow or white plaster with terricota shingles that just looked warm and inviting when soaked in the sunlight. The landscape is wonderful too. The river that divides the city is leaped by many majestic bridges, and when you climb one of the large hills that surround the city, you are rewarded with awe inspiring views of the city from above. There is a reason they call it the city of one hundred spires, ya know.

Anyways, now that I am finished with my little plug, here is what I have been up to in this glorious city. When I first arrived, on Thursday afternoon, I checked into my hostel and spent a relaxing evening wondering the streets and sipping wine while reading a book at a small restaurant in old town square. The next morning, I went on a 3 hour walking tour of the east side of the city, including the old town, Jewish quarter, new town, king Wenceslas square, the astronomical clock and much more. Later that evening I had a delicious meal of Czech cuisine which consisted of roasted pork, cabbage, and dumplings with a good Czech beer. It was absolutely delicious. I was surprised to find that much of the traditional food here is very similar to that of Germany. 

On Saturday, my last day here in Prague, it was extremely hot! At first it was a nice change from the mild climate in Switzerland, but by mid afternoon it was nearly unbearable. Despite the heat, I decided to make the most of my last day and embarked on a tour of the west side of the city, as well as the Prague castle. On the tour, we saw great views of the city and the castle, as well as the changing of the guard, St. Vitus cathedral, and the Strahov monastery. After a long day of walking, I was content to spend the end of my adventure in Prague the same way I began it, with a nice dinner, a glass of Czech white wine and a good book.

In a couple of hours I will be on my way to Vienna, Austria (although I think Prague will be hard to beat.)

With love, from Prague

Mindy

Deja vu

Hello again, it's another beautiful day here in Switzerland and what am I doing? Sitting inside the University Library burying my nose in my textbook. Yes, finals are fast approaching here in the land of the Alps and I could not be anymore afraid of what the next few weeks have in store. On the bright side, I can bring a translation dictionary to all of my finals! Woot!

Anyways, I am taking a momentary break from my studies now to tell you about my recent trips (yes plural) to Interlaken in the Junfrau region of Switzerland. The Jungfrau is a particular range of mountains in the Swiss Alps that is known for its height and grandeur and I had the privilege to visit this area not only once, but twice in the last month.

My first visit was with my mom and Jim when they visited in mid-April. We rode the panoramic train with picturesque views through the mountains for 3 hours before disembarking in Interlaken. Unfortunately, the weather that day was atrocious. It rained all day long and even snowed in the higher areas during our train ride. When we arrived at our destination, we wandered the city briefly, picked up some souvenirs and post cards, and quickly took refuge in a nearby restaurant where we indulged in some authentic Swiss cheese fondue. It was the perfect way to spend a cool and rainy day in the Alps, stuffing our faces with warm cheese! 

My more recent visit to interlaken occurred just a week ago. A group of exchange students and I too two large vans up to the Jungfrau region, where we made our first stop in Lauterbrunnen. In Lauterbrunnen, we visited the mountainside caverns that are filled with glacial waterfalls. It was particularly amazing to me because I had never seen waterfalls on such a large scale before. 

After wandering the caves, we got back in the vehicles and drove to Interlaken. In Interlaken, we took a vernacular to the top of a mountain with a restaurant perched at the top where we stopped for lunch. We were served a traditional meal of Alpine macaroni, which is noodles with melted cheese, potatoes and onions. The view from the restaurant was absolutely amazing. From our table, you could see the three larges mountain peeks in the region and outside, there was a large viewing platform that hung over the side of the mountain which offered beautiful panoramic views of the city of interlaken as well as the surrounding mountains. 

After our meal and photo session, we took a two hour hike down from the top. It was a beautiful and sunny afternoon for a hike (although and bit slippery from morning rains). When we finally reached the bottom, we explored the city for a little while before returning to the cars and heading back towards Lausanne. We left just in the nick of time because just as we departed, it began to pour, and as we drove further into the mountains, that rain turned to snow. So, naturally, we all climbed out of the cars to play in the fresh flakes. It was the first time I have seen snow fall since I left Minnesota, it really reminded me of home. Speaking of home, I only have 38 days of this amazing adventure left before I come back to the States. Although I am having fun here, I can't wait to come home and see my family and friends again. I miss you all!

With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

Better than Disney World

I can't believe it was nearly a month ago since I visited Germany with my mom and Jim! Time really does fly by!

Well, I am now picking up where I left off a couple a posts ago, in Germany. After spending a beautiful day in Munich, we took a little excursion to the border of Austria, where we visited some pretty spectacular castles. (I wanted to cross the border into Austria, just to say we did but, unfortunately, our rental car didn't have insurance outside of Germany. Oh well, next time.)

Hohenschwangau

First we took a guided tour of the Hohenschwangau Castle which was the childhood home of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and it is pretty magnificent both inside and out. it is perched atop a hill overlooking the valley, spacious court yards, fountains, the whole shebang! And inside there are nearly one hundred ornately decorated rooms to explore with fancy furniture, jeweled center pieces and winding staircases. It is really something!

Selfie with the castle

After that we rode a tram up the mountain to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle. After disembarking, we headed to a nearby bridge for an amazing view of the castle from across a small lake, and man was it high! Definitely not a place for those with qualms about heights... or claustrophobia for that matter. There had to be a hundred people crammed onto that bridge, trying to get their shot of the castle, and on a Wednesday, no less! So we got our picture, got the heck out of that mess and headed for the castle for our tour. 

Neuschwanstein was build by King Ludwig II later in his life, but, unfortunately, the King died before he could see the final product. The castle was never completed because the King was bankrupt when he died and the castle was immediately opened as a museum after his death. The castle is known for it's Cinderella-esque exterior, but the interior boasts a measly 19 completed rooms, most of which were never really used. However, the rooms that we were able to see were really beautiful, too bad they don't allow pictures inside. 

Fussen

After leaving this surreal, fantastic little world, we drove to the nearby city of Fuusen for some schnitzel before heading back to our hotel in Munich for the night. Seeing the castles was probably the highlight of my trip to Germany, besides getting to see my mom and Jim of course. For a few hours I really felt like a princess, take that Disney!


With love, from Lausanne

Mindy

CERN

So I have been trying really hard to keep this blog well organized by writing my posts in chronological order, but I'm throwing that notion out the window today, and blogging about my day before it has a chance to fade from my memory.

Selfie with the ATLAS detector

The Big Bang

Today, thanks to my good friend, Sandra, I had the opportunity to tour the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN research facility just outside of Geneva, Switzerland. We woke up early to catch a train, followed by a tram to CERN where we explored the exhibits before beginning our group tour. The tour, given by a very knowledgeable American PhD student, included a really cool 3D video and a look at the control room for the ATLAS detector. ATLAS is one of 5 detectors where data is collected from the events produced by the LHC. Inside the LHC, groups of protons are accelerated inside a ring shaped, underground tube that is 27 kilometers in circumference and lies underneath the soil of both Switzerland and France! How cool is that! I finally understand why Leonard was so excited to visit ( TBBT season 3, episode 15 in case you were wondering.) Which reminds me its new Big Bang Theory night tonight! Too bad I will be asleep when it airs *sigh* I guess I will have to watch it tomorrow.

Jet d'Eau

After our tour of the LHC, we headed back to the city center to find food. Our hunger got the better of us, and we quickly resorted to chez Mcdo (french slang for McDonald's). Then we explored some sights of the city including St. Pierre's Cathedral and the famous Jet d'Eau, a 140 meter tall fountain of water that can be seen throughout most of Geneva. Honestly besides that there is not a lot more to see in the city. Unfortunately we could not get out to the United Nations because it was a bit out of the way, but I'm not terribly disappointed about that. McDonald's and giant water fountains are pretty cool in my book!



With love, from Lausanne

Mindy