Left Germany bright and early for Austria. The drive there was breathtaking, even if I was asleep for most of it. The view was gorgeous and wonderful. Going up the mountain allowed us to have a bird's eye view of nature. It felt like you were going through The Sound of Music, granted that this wasn't Salzburg. I guess it also helps that Dave was blasting the songs from The Sound of Music. The picture above was taken in a picture spot up the mountain towards where the white water rafting excursion was going to take place. I didn't take part of it. Me and physical activities involving sticks, oars, etc. ain't gonna work.
While some of the group was white water rafting, we basically hung out in the rafting place, just enjoying the view and the weather. It was pleasantly chilly and the sun was out plus we were surrounded with luscious green mountains. Absolutely wonderful. When they got back, we headed to the Swarovski Crystal Museum and Shop. I didn't go into the museum. I went straight for the shops and purchased myself Swarovski stud earrings. I needed to stop myself from getting more.
Afterwards, we drove towards Hopfgarten where we stayed in a house ran by Contiki staff. It was one of my favorite places we stayed in because it was so homey. The room Sharon and I got was an apartment style room. We shared it with Nelia and Vanessa. Hopfgarten was a little ski town. Because it was the summer, the whole place was pretty quiet and mellow. However, I think it became the appeal of the place. It was peaceful and calm. Dinner was served by Ben, our tour driver, and Dave, our tour manager, that night.
It was a nice mellow day, a good break from the craziness of the past few days. I found it hard to believe that this was the fourth day of our journey.
The tour left St. Goar early and descended down to Munich for the festivities of the infamous Oktoberfest. Before heading down to the festival, however, there was an included Bike Tour of the city of Munich or München for authenticity. Because wonderful little me cannot ride a bike, I ended up just walking around the area while most of the group went biking around. Fortunately, we were dropped off in the center of the city so there are a lot of things to see.
München is a gorgeous city. The little I saw of it had me in awe. It was clean and modern. History was definitely emanating that day because people were walking around in their traditional costumes. An hour later, the group was joined together once again. We headed to the hotel to check-in then after a quick rest, we headed down to Oktoberfest.
I honestly wasn't excited for this. Oktoberfest isn't just my thing. I debated on not going but I did because it was the 200th Oktoberfest celebration. Although, I'm not gonna lie, I actually enjoyed Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest was basically a fair with beer halls in it. That's the best way I can describe the event. There were a lot of rides, food stalls, souvenir stands and beer hallSSSS, which make the difference between Oktoberfest and other festivals. I peered into a beer hall and it was absolutely crazy. The fair grounds wasn't crazy. It was somewhat mellow compared to what was going on inside. You guys will probably stone me for this, I didn't actually go inside a beer hall and got myself a mass of beer. I wasn't up for it. It just means I need to go back to München during Oktoberfest. I know it won't be the 200th annual but hey, Oktoberfest is Oktoberfest. I did get myself a shirt and took advantage of the food stands. haha
That's how I enjoyed Oktoberfest, and I really did. :]
The day began with breakfast and a visit to the Anne Frank Museum. The line was fairly long and we were there before it opened. The Anne Frank Museum was moving. You felt as if you were living in the book, in her life. The way it was set up was that you walked around the house and you read excerpts of her diary. The history was also written in there. It was worth it going in there. Afterwards, we had free time. We are leaving Amsterdam at around 12:30 so we needed to assemble by then. A couple of us went around the shopping area in Amsterdam, purchased some souvenirs and had lunch in this place called Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. We found out that a Bike Race was happening so the city center was crowded and roads were blocked. It was quite fun, though, because music and such were happening all around us. At 12:30, the tour group walked all the way to where the coach was parked and we were headed to St. Goar, Germany aka Rhine Valley.
The drive to Rhine Valley was beautiful, especially when we were headed up the mountain. The foliage, the mountains, the view was just absolutely breathtaking. When we pulled into St. Goar, we visited a beer stein shop, a cuckoo clock store and a Birkenstock outlet. The beer steins were crafted so beautifully. It's quite a shame that I didn't buy one. They were expensive, yet worth it but I didn't think that it was imperative for me to buy one. I didn't get Birkenstocks or a cuckoo clock either. Cuckoo clocks were also especially crafted in Germany. If I remember correctly, Switzerland and Germany are competing with who first created the cuckoo clock. Nonetheless, I was content with buying myself a pin and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. The picture up there was taken across our hotel and I was absolutely in awe of it.
There was a wine tasting excursion that night that I didn't participate in. I needed to be responsible and finish my paper that is due via email the next day. Rhine Valley is famous for their Ice Wine and from what my tour mates have told me, it was pretty good. Oh well, I just need to visit Rhine Valley again at some point in my life.
Munich, Germany the next day!
Sometimes, I can't believe the things I get myself into.
I can't believe that I went through 4 countries in the European continent all in one day. The day began at 6:45 am in London where the Contiki European Discovery tour was kicked-off. There, I met with the 41 other people that I was travelling with for 12 days in a coach to get a glimpse of Europe. Our first stop was Amsterdam. To get there, however, we were going to ride a ferry to France, drive through Belgium and then eventually end up in the Netherlands and stay over in Amsterdam.
The drive through London wasn't bad. We were fairly cruising through the whole day. The ferry was in Dover and we saw the White Cliffs which were quite fascinating. As we drove through Belgium, our guide, Dave, was telling us its history. It's actually quite fascinating how the country has a very apparent division between the North and the South. We stopped a bit in Belgium and I got some chocolates which I'm hoping will survive until I go home. At around 5:30, we got into Amsterdam and was checked in our hotel by 6:00.
After dinner, we had a canal cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. In other words, I got to see Amsterdam's city at night on a boat. We passed a lot of boathouses and the famous sites in Amsterdam. It was an absolutely gorgeous city. However, I wasn't quite ready for Amsterdam. In all honesty, I didn't know what Amsterdam was all about until I got there. The city was nice to look at but, as my 12 day roommate describes it, everything was just an "OMG" moment. And yes, I'm quite aware that that means a lot of things. You can figure it out for yourself, my dear reader.
From the canal cruise, there was another excursion and four of us didn't join that one. Thus, we needed to figure out how to head back to the hotel via the tram. Dave gave us directions. However, Dutch is a hard language to figure out and the tram was ALL in Dutch. And knowing my luck, of course I had a little adventure going home and I was already with other people.
The picture was taken from the walk to the tram station in the city. We weren't quite sure where the tram station was so we were wandering for a bit and saw a lot of the city at night.
I was dead tired when I got back to the hotel (yes, I did get back) I read a bit for my essay but I ended up crashing anyways. We were heading to the Rhine Valley, to St. Goar, Germany to be exact bright and early the next day
The day started early today. Jeffrey, Michael and I were going to take the bus at 7:48 am to go around London. I met with them at the bus stop with my suitcase all packed up for 12 days. We checked my stuff in the Contiki basement (Contiki is the name of my tour group) first and headed to the Tower of London.
The Tower of London was nice. It was huge and massive. There were a lot of people around. We got there just in time for a walking tour so we did that and then we looked at the Crown Jewels, went into the chapel and climbed up the Norman tower, I believe. There were 20 towers in the tower of London. That was the only one we climbed up to.
We grabbed a bite to eat and decided to go to the Westminister abbey instead of the Buckingham Palace because we won't get there in time. It turns out. However, it was the BEST decision we've made. The POPE was in town and he was going to be where we were in two hours. We decided to walk around the area and then we secured our spots in the sidewalks at 4:30. The security guards were telling us that the Pope was scheduled to arrive 20 past 5. However, he didn't get there until some minutes past 6! I needed to jet out at latest 5:30 so that I can make it back to my hotel for my tour orientation.
Nonetheless, I stayed around. I was already crammed in the mass of people at the front, hence, the picture above. The glare makes him hard to see but I was there and I saw him. God wanted us to be there and experience it.
I jetted out right after and then I rushed back to my hotel. I missed the orientation but they all told me that was fine. They gave me information I needed and then checked me in my hotel room. I opted for a triple share and I met some really nice people. We didn't really get to talk to each other much but we talked enough for just rooming together for a night and got along just fine.
My trip's tomorrow!
Today was spent mostly reading again. After finishing The Chronicles of Narnia, I was kind of just out of it. My one advice to you guys is to never do reading for a class straight. It drives you insane. For the rest of the day I was excited, caffeinated, nervous, jumpy and tired. It didn't help that I was leaving for London to begin my whirlwind trip the next day and I was so nervous about the paper that I have due via email on the 20th.
We had the usual dinner at Fire & Stone. Lieren wasn't able to join us though. Afterwards, Suzanna, Jeffrey, Mike and I got G&D ice cream and walked around the city for a bit. It helped me calm down. My heart stopped palpitating more than it should be and I felt a lot calmer and balanced. When I got back, I packed and unpacked my suitcase 3 times before I was able to finally be content with it. I don't know if I packed the correct clothes but whatever. I'll worry about it later. I didn't write much of my paper but I know it will get written at some point, I just don't know when.
So psyched for my whirlwind adventure!
Debra bought a microwave for our flat. We are back with the times baby!
I spent most of the day reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I need to finish the series before I go on my whirlwind 12 day trip. I'm so excited! I met up with Jeffrey at Greens for a bit and Suzanna and Lieren ended up there as well. We basically planned a trip to London for the weekend (sans Suzanna and Lieren). Mike was joining us for this trip as well.
Nothing much really happened except for a lot of reading. The Chronicles of Narnia is a fun book. I was just getting impatient with it a lot.
