Oh the things you can see with a Eurail Pass & a backpack.
I randomly had 10 days within my semester with no classes so 2 friends and I decided it was time to explore more of Europe. We decided we wanted to see as many cities as possible within our 10 days. There are pros and cons to this travel mentality.We understood that we would be moving fast and that we would not get to fully experience each place, but we also knew we had a very flexible schedule. We knew we had to leave for Zagreb, Croatia on October 30th and return to Zagreb by November 9th. The time in between was very questionable. After much consideration we came up with the following itinerary:
Vienna, Austria
Prague, Czech Republic
Berlin, Germany
Amsterdam, Holland
Bruges, Belgium
Paris, France
Munich, Germany
After repacking about 5 times I finally fit everything into 1 backpack…after 10 days that 1 backpack turned into a backpack, a purse, and 3 shopping bags. My one argument for the extra shopping bags is that we bought winter clothes which are very bulky…
Vienna, Austria
Vienna is a city full of history, but it wasn’t a city that appealed to me very much. In our short time there we visited the Museum Quarter and Schönbrunn Palace. We also found H&M and Forever 21 (keep in mind we do not have any retail stores in Dubrovnik, so we were in heaven). The highlight of my time in Vienna was walking through trails of colorful leaves and actually being able to play in them.
I never thought I could fall in love with a city on a rainy day, but Prague proved me wrong. The Gothic architecture, the St. Charles bridge, the Prague Castle, the John Lennon Wall and the sunset over the Vltava River were all fabulous! We ate the most delicious lunch in the oldest medieval tavern in Prague. Just imagine the taste of grilled bacon wrapped plums and rotisserie chicken. We also tried local goulash, which was just alright. Our train to Berlin was at 4:00 AM and the hostel was nice enough to let us hangout in the lounge until we had to leave for the train station. When we got to the train station around 3:00 AM we were informed that our train was delayed until 6:00 AM. Our only option was the sleep in the train station for 3 hours until it was time to leave. Well my friend Tom got very comfortable sleeping on the ground so he pulled out his eye mask and fell asleep right away. My friend Makenzie and I on the other hand were a little ashamed to be sleeping in the train station so instead we stayed awake and counted how many people stopped and stared at sleeping Tom. Eventually we all fell asleep and woke up to police men shaking us asking if we were homeless. It was a very interesting experience and definitely one for the books.
.JPG)
I was told that in order to experience Berlin correctly, you must experience nightlife, which we did not. We wanted to split the long train ride between Prague and Amsterdam so we figured why not spend the day in Berlin. It was really cold and rainy. We went to a local festival and tried mulled wine, which is a warm red wine mixed with spices. At the festival there was a big snow mound so Makenzie and I decided it would be fun to go tubing down it and we were right! Later that day I met up with my friend/mentor Jess who was in Berlin for a conference. She introduced me to her friends and we ate at the most delicious Indian restaurant where we all ordered way too much food. I’ll have to go to Berlin another time and spend a couple days exploring what the city truly offers.
.JPG)
Amsterdam was my favorite stop during the trip. No, not for the reasons most people think of when they picture Amsterdam. It is a chic and beautiful city with so much to experience. The canals, hundreds of bikes, and awesome buildings made it hard not stop and stare at the landscape every where we walked. We were thankful enough to be able to stay with a friend of a friend who had an awesome apartment walking distance from everything in the city. He cooked us a fantastic dinner and let us taste a bourbon that was as old as us. We also visited the Anne Frank House which was as moving as expected. Our friend Tom went home while, Makenzie and I continued out journey across Europe. When it was time to head to the train station we walked through the Red Light District, but it was during a football game so the windows were all empty. Upon arriving to the train station we realized the train we needed to take to Bruges required a reservation, which we did not have. Eventually we figured a way around the system by using local trains, which gave us an extra hour in Amsterdam. Within that hour we were able to have one last adventure.
.JPG)
Bruges can be described as the Venice of the north. It is a very cute quaint town with a lot of personality. Since our train schedule was revised in Amsterdam we did not arrive in Bruges until 2:30 AM. It was raining and the city looked like a ghost town; we were the only 2 people walking down the streets. We arrived to our hostel only to find that the front door was locked. After about 45 minutes of knocking on the door, ringing the doorbell, and calling 3 phone numbers we finally gave up. We continued walking down the empty streets and found 1 hotel that had its lights on. Parkhotel, a 4-star hotel, ended up saving us for the night. At this point we were definitely living for the stories and not our wallets. Even though we were only there for a short time it was nice sleeping in comfortable beds and having hot showers. The next day we spent hours exploring the streets and taking pictures of all the cool houses with different color doors. The little boy below was making fun of us for one of our photo shoots so he decided to jump in and pose against the door for us. Our day in Bruges ended with a Belgium beer tasting. When we asked for the menu we were handed a thick book and hardly knew what to do with it. In the end the waitress suggested we taste the different beers on tap, which included 2 beers that were only brewed in that bar. We agreed that the coconut beer was the best.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Paris wasn’t originally on our itinerary, but we somehow made our way there. I did not have very high expectations for Paris, which I think was for the best. Paris kind of reminded me of Rome with all the tourists and big monuments and museums. We were planning on staying in Paris for 1 night, but because of our poor planning with train reservations we ended up spending an extra night there. Paris didn’t appeal to me for the typical tourist attractions, but instead the delicious cuisine and interesting people I met along the way made Paris one of my most memorable stops. My favorite part of Paris was definitely exploring Montmartre and all it had to offer. Also, finding Chipotle on our walk to the train station was sadly one of the happiest moments of my trip.
.JPG)
We only had a 5 hour layover in Munich, but we explored as much as we could. Since it was Sunday everything was closed except for a couple restaurants. We decided to act like the locals and enjoy some Munich beer. When we walked into the restaurant we thought everyone would judge us for wanting to try Munich beer so early in the morning, but every person in the restaurant had a stein in front of them. The bartender was from New York and helped us enjoy our short time in Munich by explaining everything Munich had to offer that we were unable to see. Although I didn't truly experience Munich, the parts that I saw were awesome and I am really excited to visit again in the future.
Best food: French onion soup (Paris), local sausage in Vienna
Best drink: Zwettler (Vienna)
Coolest Cafe: Cafe in Montmartre, Paris
Best train ride: Zagreb> Vienna and Munich>Zagreb both had beautiful views
Worst train station experience: Sleeping on the floor of the Prague train station
Best hostel: Regent Hostel (Paris)
Favorite item purchased: Scarf from Amsterdam
Where I want to go back to: Amsterdam, Prague, Munich
Where I will least likely will go back to: Vienna
Within 10 days we visited 7 cities and 6 countries. We ate as much food as possible and saw as many cities as possible. I had an amazing time, but I will probably never do a trip that fast ever again. I now know that I would rather truly experience a city than just check cities off the list.
No comments:
Post a Comment