a little here, there, and everywhere
it's a three for one kind of day today. contain your excitement.
last saturday, i:
1. took the train to wurzburg, which was nearly destroyed by fire bombs in 1945. we bought the wrong kind of ticket (this is forever happening and easy to do, considering all instructions at the ticket machine are in german), so had to buy another one from the guy who checks the tickets on the train. luckily, the first ticket was good for the entire weekend, so we decided to go somewhere the next day
2. hung out at the residenz, the palace in the center of wurzburg, which was pretty damned impressive. it has around 400 rooms, a large garden, and its own church
3. visited several of the city's churches. the dom st. kilian is one of the largest cathedrals i have ever seen. it also contained some black and white stained glass, which looked pretty modern
4. had a delicious lunch outside of the dom
5. walked across the old bridge to the sound of some guy playing bagpipes. he was in a kilt and everything. there were a bunch of japanese tourists taking pictures of him and stuff, which i found funny
6. walked up the hill to the festung marienberg (the fortress). very good exercise and very breathtaking view from the top
7. had ice cream. it's really good over here
8. went shopping, which is always fun. i didn't find anything for myself though past a few postcards, shoelaces, and a magnet.
last sunday i:
1. took the train to nurnberg
2. had a delicious butter pretzel which i purchased in the train station
3. walked around old nurnberg awhile. as a family, we've been there once before this trip, and i've been there two more times (once when donna visited and once when my parents came over), so it was pretty leisurely. we were just there to hang out, get lunch, and do very little shopping, as most of the stores are closed on sunday.
4. got some ice cream. i had a scoop of green apple and a scoop of yogurt. so good. william had something that tasted awesome too, but i'm not sure what the name of it would be in english.
5. found a gift for my dad for christmas
6. went up to the castle on the hill and sat around in the garden until the sun got to be too intense
7. returned to the train station and bought a few sandwiches and pretzels for dinner, which we ate on the train home
8. got home, dropped off our stuff, and went to see journey to the center of the earth which was an abysmal waste of our time. stella wanted to see it in the states, where it would have been shown in 3-D, but we never found the time to fit it in. i've never seen a 3-D movie without 3-D glasses, and i never will again. the care that usually goes into a movie, even a bad one, was utterly absent. the cheap 3-D tricks that are charming and fun when you have the glasses, were just retarded without them.
trips we are taking before january:
1. triberg: a region in the black forest well known for a badass waterfall and the world's largest cuckoo clock. i wanted to take my folks last year, but they are closed during the winter because of ice
2. munich: the capital of bavaria and home to oktoberfest. we are going there this saturday by train to see the various sights and then are going back next month to hang out at oktoberfest (note for
lyndazon: get your passport and visit during the fest! donna had an awesome time)
3. furth: a small city in bavaria that is very close to nurnberg. not a bad location for a day trip and an excuse to eat some german food one afternoon
4. berlin: germany's capital city. we are visiting over the labor day weekend. should be cool. we are going to look into taking the ice train (that's inter-city express for those not in the know; don't ask why it is in english; i think it's so that they can use 'ice' as the abbreviation) to save driving. we took the ice train once on the way home last year from munich. it should have taken 2 hours and it took 1 on the ice train. not bad. plus it's like traveling first class. it's pretty expensive though, but we had to take it or we would have been stuck in munich for the night.
5. budapest: the largest city in hungary. this should be a cool trip. we are spending two nights.
6. vienna: the main capital of austria. it's on the way to budapest, so we added it to the trip. there's so much history here and i know our overnight trip won't be doing the city justice, but at least we'll see some of it.
7. bratislava: the capital city of slovakia. i think it's just cool to go to some out of the way places. this city is also on the way to budapest.
8. bled: a cute little city in slovenia that william found online. we are going there the weekend after the berlin trip. william found a room with a view of the lake. the city itself looks very beautiful.
9. barcelona: the second largest city in spain. we're going in november, so hopefully it will still be somewhat warm there. i can put my two years of high school spainish to good use. hola. como estas? hopefully no one wants to converse more than that.
10. lyon: third largest city in france. we're staying overnight here on the way to barcelona, which is a 12 hour drive. hopefully we'll get a few hours to check out the town. at the very least i need to hit up a bookstore and stock up on french lit.
11. garmisch: this is a very small town in germany bordering the alps. there's a military resort here called edelweiss lodge and resort and we stayed there last year when my parents were in town. the rooms are super cheap and the surrounding area is beautiful, so we are going again right before christmas. it might be our last chance ever, since we are booking the fuck out of here a week or so after the new year. maybe sooner.
12. christmas markets: these are held in just about every city in germany, but there are a few that are very famous. i went to a bunch last year with my parents, but william and the girls did not see them. so, we are going to go to the one in stuttgart, munich, nurnberg, rothenberg, and strasbourg. i went to all of those last year except the one in munich. should be cool. they are very fun and festive, albeit freezing fucking cold.
13. dublin: the capital of ireland. donna is going there with her roommate and i'm planning to fly over to join them for a day or two. should be cool. best part is: they speak english...sort of.
13. anything else i can pack into the time we have remaining in germany. possibilities: poland (krakow, esp.), somewhere in italy (i've spent a lot of time in italy, but i'd like to go back), amsterdam (no, not for why you'd think, looooser), london (yeah, too expensive; i already know that), greece, somewhere in africa (it's ridiculously close by plane), marseille, paris (again; i didn't see enough of the louvre and never walked on the champs elysees), somewhere in russia (just to say i've been).
okay, it's long enough. that's it.
last saturday, i:
1. took the train to wurzburg, which was nearly destroyed by fire bombs in 1945. we bought the wrong kind of ticket (this is forever happening and easy to do, considering all instructions at the ticket machine are in german), so had to buy another one from the guy who checks the tickets on the train. luckily, the first ticket was good for the entire weekend, so we decided to go somewhere the next day
2. hung out at the residenz, the palace in the center of wurzburg, which was pretty damned impressive. it has around 400 rooms, a large garden, and its own church
3. visited several of the city's churches. the dom st. kilian is one of the largest cathedrals i have ever seen. it also contained some black and white stained glass, which looked pretty modern
4. had a delicious lunch outside of the dom
5. walked across the old bridge to the sound of some guy playing bagpipes. he was in a kilt and everything. there were a bunch of japanese tourists taking pictures of him and stuff, which i found funny
6. walked up the hill to the festung marienberg (the fortress). very good exercise and very breathtaking view from the top
7. had ice cream. it's really good over here
8. went shopping, which is always fun. i didn't find anything for myself though past a few postcards, shoelaces, and a magnet.
last sunday i:
1. took the train to nurnberg
2. had a delicious butter pretzel which i purchased in the train station
3. walked around old nurnberg awhile. as a family, we've been there once before this trip, and i've been there two more times (once when donna visited and once when my parents came over), so it was pretty leisurely. we were just there to hang out, get lunch, and do very little shopping, as most of the stores are closed on sunday.
4. got some ice cream. i had a scoop of green apple and a scoop of yogurt. so good. william had something that tasted awesome too, but i'm not sure what the name of it would be in english.
5. found a gift for my dad for christmas
6. went up to the castle on the hill and sat around in the garden until the sun got to be too intense
7. returned to the train station and bought a few sandwiches and pretzels for dinner, which we ate on the train home
8. got home, dropped off our stuff, and went to see journey to the center of the earth which was an abysmal waste of our time. stella wanted to see it in the states, where it would have been shown in 3-D, but we never found the time to fit it in. i've never seen a 3-D movie without 3-D glasses, and i never will again. the care that usually goes into a movie, even a bad one, was utterly absent. the cheap 3-D tricks that are charming and fun when you have the glasses, were just retarded without them.
trips we are taking before january:
1. triberg: a region in the black forest well known for a badass waterfall and the world's largest cuckoo clock. i wanted to take my folks last year, but they are closed during the winter because of ice
2. munich: the capital of bavaria and home to oktoberfest. we are going there this saturday by train to see the various sights and then are going back next month to hang out at oktoberfest (note for
lyndazon: get your passport and visit during the fest! donna had an awesome time)
3. furth: a small city in bavaria that is very close to nurnberg. not a bad location for a day trip and an excuse to eat some german food one afternoon
4. berlin: germany's capital city. we are visiting over the labor day weekend. should be cool. we are going to look into taking the ice train (that's inter-city express for those not in the know; don't ask why it is in english; i think it's so that they can use 'ice' as the abbreviation) to save driving. we took the ice train once on the way home last year from munich. it should have taken 2 hours and it took 1 on the ice train. not bad. plus it's like traveling first class. it's pretty expensive though, but we had to take it or we would have been stuck in munich for the night.
5. budapest: the largest city in hungary. this should be a cool trip. we are spending two nights.
6. vienna: the main capital of austria. it's on the way to budapest, so we added it to the trip. there's so much history here and i know our overnight trip won't be doing the city justice, but at least we'll see some of it.
7. bratislava: the capital city of slovakia. i think it's just cool to go to some out of the way places. this city is also on the way to budapest.
8. bled: a cute little city in slovenia that william found online. we are going there the weekend after the berlin trip. william found a room with a view of the lake. the city itself looks very beautiful.
9. barcelona: the second largest city in spain. we're going in november, so hopefully it will still be somewhat warm there. i can put my two years of high school spainish to good use. hola. como estas? hopefully no one wants to converse more than that.
10. lyon: third largest city in france. we're staying overnight here on the way to barcelona, which is a 12 hour drive. hopefully we'll get a few hours to check out the town. at the very least i need to hit up a bookstore and stock up on french lit.
11. garmisch: this is a very small town in germany bordering the alps. there's a military resort here called edelweiss lodge and resort and we stayed there last year when my parents were in town. the rooms are super cheap and the surrounding area is beautiful, so we are going again right before christmas. it might be our last chance ever, since we are booking the fuck out of here a week or so after the new year. maybe sooner.
12. christmas markets: these are held in just about every city in germany, but there are a few that are very famous. i went to a bunch last year with my parents, but william and the girls did not see them. so, we are going to go to the one in stuttgart, munich, nurnberg, rothenberg, and strasbourg. i went to all of those last year except the one in munich. should be cool. they are very fun and festive, albeit freezing fucking cold.
13. dublin: the capital of ireland. donna is going there with her roommate and i'm planning to fly over to join them for a day or two. should be cool. best part is: they speak english...sort of.
13. anything else i can pack into the time we have remaining in germany. possibilities: poland (krakow, esp.), somewhere in italy (i've spent a lot of time in italy, but i'd like to go back), amsterdam (no, not for why you'd think, looooser), london (yeah, too expensive; i already know that), greece, somewhere in africa (it's ridiculously close by plane), marseille, paris (again; i didn't see enough of the louvre and never walked on the champs elysees), somewhere in russia (just to say i've been).
okay, it's long enough. that's it.