Tag: Europe

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Passau

We docked in Passau this afternoon. We walked around the city, as we were walking some of the stones were painted and apparently they show where art galleries can be found, and we went to where the three rivers converge as Passau is also called the “City of Three Rivers.” For lunch we went to a little cafe looking out on the Danube where I had some typical Bavarian food: juice with sparkling water and a sort of strudel with spinach, egg, goat cheese, and yogurt. We visited St. Peter’s Cathedral which has the biggest organ in a cathedral, and then I hiked up to the fortress Veste Oberhaus. On our way back to the ship we stopped by a local beer festival.

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Amsterdam > Regensburg

It was a long travel day today, we took a car from Amsterdam to Regensburg. We made a stop in Würzburg for lunch and stopped by the Residenz Palace. In Regensburg we met our cruise ship going down the Danube, The A with U by Uniworld, and got situated and then went back out and explored Regensburg a little bit.

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Hitting Amsterdam’s High Points

We visited the Anne Frank museum, and got there right when it opened so it was not as crowded and it was very powerful, then we went to the Pancake Bakery for breakfast. They are well-known for their very strange pancakes, with many options ranging from sweet to savory. I got the Dutch pancake with Stroopwafel chunks (a traditional Dutch cookie), cinnamon ice cream, chocolate flakes, and whipped cream; it was soo good, but also soo sweet and large that I could not finish it. Then we explored the Van Gogh museum, and did the Heineken Experience which had a “ride” sort of thing to make you experience what it is like to actually be the beer. We took a boat tour with Those Dam Boat Guys, where we got to see some of the smaller canals. We also took a (quick) visit to the Red Light District, you know, just to say we did.

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Hopping Around Amsterdam

We had a couple of delays with our flight getting to Dallas yesterday, but our flight to Amsterdam also got slightly delayed so we were able to still make it to Amsterdam mostly on time. We were successful with our first Amsterdam adventure: navigating the train station and getting to our hotel, which has an amazing view of the city. After a quick nap to recharge, we explored Amsterdam with a Hop-On-Hop-Off boat tour on the canals. Amsterdam has about the same amount of water as Venice, but far less bridges.

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Finally Home

Spent another almost 24 hours traveling home, though on paper it only looks like 9. It was an amazing but exhausting trip, but if I wasn’t tired then I wouldn’t have done as much so it’s all worth it. I’m definitely glad I got to do all the touristy stuff that everyone dreams of doing, especially with some tour guides that could make the experience more meaningful, but I would like to go back to see the not as populated places. But it’s also cool at the tourist spots to see the different cultures from all over the world that are also there.

*Here’s a vlog that I made about the trip:

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Starting Our Way Home

We didn’t have to leave until after 10 today which was very nice, then we flew back into Frankfurt and spent the rest of the day in a hotel near there. Finally got to fulfill dream of riding in a double decker bus since one picked us up from the airport to take us to the hotel!

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Cruise

Set out for our day cruise today where we laid out on the front of the boat soaking in the sun. On the first island, Aegina, there was a beach near the port so a bunch of us went swimming for about an hour and a half or so which was really fun. It seemed that there was more time spent on the boat to get to the other islands – Hydra and Poros – than there was actually on the islands, but we at least got to wander around a little bit. On Poros there were lots of cats and donkeys which were pretty fun to see. On the about 3 hour long boat ride back to Athens, I lathered on sunscreen in hopes that eventually I might tan a little bit, but even after many reapplications, I got so burned :(. It was a really fun day though, and when we got back we walked around in the rain to get another gyro.

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Exploring Athens

We had a great breakfast this morning, there was actually normal Greek food instead of just soggy hotel eggs and such. We went up to the Acropolis which was really cool, and we had a great tour guide, Thanos. He was very informative and interesting, and talked a lot about things that weren’t necessarily related to exactly where we were or what we were doing, but more about Greek life and traditions and such. From the Acropolis we could see an ancient theatre which was really huge and cool. We also got to see Mars Hill where Paul gave a speech that’s in the Bible. Thanos took us on a walking and bus tour where we also saw the first modern Olympic stadium, a statue of Harry Truman (thanks to Mrs. King I actually remember the Truman Doctrine), and the grave of the unknown soldier. Our guide was talking about how Lord Byron loved it here and was buried here; this stuck out to me because we visited his castle in Switzerland, and I really enjoy being able to learn about and see these connections across different places. We went out to dinner and got a really delicious cheese ball (reminds me of the hunk a chunka cheese I got in Mexico) and there was a band playing traditional Greek music the whole night. Halfway through dinner a few dancers came out and started folk dancing, and then later they brought up some people (including me) to dance with them. It was a really fun night, and now I can brag to the theatre company about being a part of a real oppa.

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Off to Greece

Had to say goodbye to most of the peeps I’ve been hanging out with for the past 2 weeks which was kind of a bummer, but I’m super stoked to go to Greece so it’s ok. It’s really strange, I’ve been able to sleep really well on the coach whenever everyone else is awake and talking, but now that everyone’s asleep and it’s silent, I can’t sleep.

The Acropolis museum was very cool; it astounds me 1) how they are able to find all this stuff and 2) how they are able to piece it all together. There were lots of statues of Nike, whom we saw the big statue of in the Louvre. We got a Greek buffet for dinner which was very good – they put some kind of dressing on the cucumbers that made me actually enjoy them, and there was this pastry thing that I have no idea what was in it, but it was very good. Then a couple of us wandered around Athens just exploring. There’s someone playing some type of instrument on basically every corner, and it’s Greek music which makes the situation even cooler.

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Drive to Rothenburg

On our way to Rothenburg, Germany, we made a stop at the Dachau Concentration Camp. It definitely gives you a different perspective actually being over where the war was fought and seeing the places from it rather than just hearing about it or watching videos in history class. I think I also got something more out of it after learning more about the Holocaust from the play And A Child Shall Lead.

Rothenburg is a really quaint town; it still has its medieval feel to it, especially with its surrounding wall and towers. We took a night watchman tour, and the guy was pretty funny and made it really interesting to learn about the history of the town. Then we walked along the top of the tower wall which was really cool.