Italy - Venice, Parma, Sienna

Italy was our next stop. It was absolutely wonderful. One of the first major changes was the weather. It had been pretty mild most of our trip, but now it was extremely hot and humid. Venice was our first rude awakening to this. Our bus had to park off the island we had to haul our luggage across the island, over multiple bridges with lots of stairs before we finally got to our hotel which had no elevator. Bless the gentleman of our group! Venice was worth it though! We had some wonderful food and then we got some money from the program to take a gondola ride. It was pretty cool - exactly what you see in the movies!

                                        

(countryside in Parma)

We were only in Venice for a day before we moved on and visited Parma. The main reason we were here was for our business visits to a Parmesan cheese factory and a prosciutto (Parma ham) factory. These are two things that are only made in that region of the world and it was cool to see the process they used. We also got to do a cheese tasting after which was delicious. 

(Parma ham in the first stages)

(Curing room for cheese - sometimes over 2 years!)

After Parma we headed for a quick stop in Sienna for a cooking lesson. Fresh ingredients + Italian charm = some wonderful food!

(View from the balcony outside where we ate)

(Bruschetta - first course)

(Chopping garlic for the pasta sauce)

(Main course - garlic & rosemary potatoes, chicken stuffed with a pepper-cream)

(Pesto-Marinara sauce over home-made noodles)

(Tiramasu)

This was some of the best food of the whole trip! We got the recipes, but their recipes are far less detailed, I'll have to try them sometime. Then we were on our way to Florence!

Austria

So we visited Austria in two chunks. The first time we went was a surprise from our bus driver. During our stay in Munich, he told us he had to take us to the most beautiful place on earth. He took us up into the Austrian alps to a place called Auchensee-Tirol. It truly is one of the most breathtaking vistas I have ever seen. I am so glad we got this surprise!

(Quintessential when I think of Austria)

(The two pictures above are at the lake at Auchensee-Tirol)

After we left Germany we got to spend a day in Salzburg. This is a quaint Austrian town that we mostly spent the day walking around and exploring. On our walk through town we saw some sights where the Sound of Music was filmed, Mozart's birthplace, and had some good chocolate.

For this picture we had seen some stairs and decided to explore where they went. Some of the group went ahead and after they didn't come back for a while the rest of us followed. It was a bit of a hike (at least more than I had planned on), but it took us to this view overlooking all of Salzburg. Definitely worth it!

Now it is on to Italy!

Germany

With school starting and everything getting going again I have failed at updating this blog. I figured I should finish up my Europe trip before moving on.  I'm pretty sure most everyone who wants to hear about my trip has, this also works as a sort of journal for me.

Our first stop in Germany was in Cologne. We got there rather late in the day so there was really  just time for dinner. We did have time to walk through and see the Cologne Cathedral (below). It looks black because of all the dirt and grime, but they are slowly restoring it to the original white.

Our next stop was Heidelberg. Again we arrived late in the day so we had a little bit of time to explore and get some dinner. There are a couple famous things in Heidelberg like the student prison and the castle pictured below. I went with a group and we ended up just grabbing dinner and taking in the quaint little town ending up down by the river. That night we had an adventure as the fire alarm went off in our hotel around 11:30pm. There ended up not being a fire (thank goodness!),  but it was an adventure to get everyone out of the hotel.

Our last stop in Germany was in Munich. The way our time ended up working out made it difficult to go out and do things, but we did get to see some great things. One place we spent some time was in the English Gardens. They are huge gardens with beautiful views and are nice to just walk around and enjoy.

(English Gardens at sunset)

This one is a little bit out of order, but on our way out of Germany and into Austria we got to take a boat tour of the Rhine Valley. It was beautiful!

One of our first stops in Munich was at the concentration camp Dachau. I had been looking forward to this, but wasn't quite sure what to expect. After going through the camp, the overwhelming feeling was just one of emotional exhaustion. It is difficult to think that human nature could go so far in the wrong direction.

(Entrance to Dachau)

(Guards watch and the outside fence)

(Crematorium)

(Where the barracks used to be - there is only two left at the very top of the camp)

Another place we spent a lot of time at in Munich was called Marianplatz. It is the main square in Munich full of food, shopping, and some beautiful architecture.

One of the business visits we had in Munich was BMW. This was one of my favorite business visits. It was cool to see how they make a BMW and looking at their showroom was pretty sweet. The car I am sitting in below retails for roughly $80,000. Only in my dreams!

We had some pretty good food in Germany. I tried the bratwurst, huge pretzels, and my favorite was the doner kebaps (which apparently are Turkish, but were so good!).  Then we headed off to Austria. 

Paris

The next major stop on our trip was Paris. Overall Paris was beautiful, but wasn't my favorite city. As beautiful as it was, it was just as stinky. Summer smells are not pleasant in Paris. The first night we got there our awesome bus driver Patrick took us on a night tour of the city so we could see everything lit up. 

Arc de Triomphe lit up at night. The surrounding traffic circle is one of the  most dangerous in the world.

One day we went and visited the catacombs underneath Paris. It is about 100 steps down and then it is dark and wet. It was kind of creepy, but still cool. 

This is part of the "lock bridge". These are all over, but this was the main one in Paris. The idea is you write you and your significant others names on the lock and then close it on the bridge and throw the key into the water. 

Eiffel Tower day.

Eiffel tower night.

So the first Sunday of every month all the museums are free so we decided to hit up the Louvre. There are so many things to see so we just found the main things (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, etc) and then headed out. We also found a divine macaroon shop.

We visited Notre Dame a couple times. It is a beautiful building, but very dark inside. The best crepe shops were on the street just up from here.

This is from the private chapel of one of the kings, I'm not sure which one. It is called Saint Chappelle and all of the walls are stained glass like above. It is truly breathtaking when you walk up the stairs and see this.

We also headed out to Versailles for a day. The palace was closed, but we got to see the gardens which are massive and beautiful.

We also rented boats and rowed around the lake at Versailles. It was pretty sweet.

Crepes!! Yummy, yummy crepes! Definitely the best food in Paris!

We climbed up to a church called Sacre Coeur which has a beautiful view of the city and the sunset. The climb up was a bit nasty with vomit, beer, and urine all the way up, but the view was worth it.

Paris was a pretty relaxed city. I didn't get to every museum and sight, but I saw the main things and enjoyed the city the rest of the time. Next stop - Germany.

Belgium, Amsterdam, Luxembourg

So these are not in the exact order we visited them, but it was easier to lump some of the smaller visits close together. So after London we headed to Amsterdam and then Brussels. Luxembourg was after Paris, but Paris will get its own post. So the first pictures are from Brussels. We got into Brussels in the afternoon so all we really had time to do was grab some dinner and see the main square and get a waffle of course! I also filled my European chocolate need at Galler chocolates which is supposedly the best chocolate in Belgium. It was pretty good. Our business visit here was at the European Commission, but after that we grabbed some frites (their french fries) and headed out.

This is a picture of the atomium which is a large monument type thing that was built for the world fair.

My Belgium waffle! So good - nutella, bananas, and strawberries.

Us in front of the most famous sight in Brussels - "Manneken Pis" which translates to "little man pee". 

So our trip to Amsterdam was also very brief. We got into our hotel and grabbed some dinner. They had a wonderful dessert/treat called a "stroopwafel" which is two thin crunchy waffles with caramel inside - so good! Even better when you can get them warm. We visited the flower market in Amsterdam which was so cool. It is like the stock market with all the traders and their computer and all these flowers flow through on their carts. It is crazy! After Amsterdam we headed to a cute little Dutch town called Delft where they make the blue and white pottery. We were only here for the afternoon, but it was a great little town to walk and explore. Exactly what you think of when you think of a little town.

Flowers at the flower market in Amsterdam.

River in Amsterdam.

Sign by our hotel in Amsterdam. I am by the "A".

After we went to Paris we stopped to make a business visit in Luxembourg and got to stay the night. It was the 4th of July the night we were in Luxembourg and there is not a lot to do so we made a music video which was a nice way to pay homage to the dear USA. 

The Hague, Netherlands temple. We got to go do  baptisms in this temple which was really cool. Fun fact - the church only owns the actual ground the temple sits on and so the grounds are not quite as nice as you see at some of the other temples.

This is us on a bench on the street in Delft.

This is me in Luxembourg.

This is on one of the bridges in Delft.

The girls on the trip in Luxembourg.

The pictures are a bit jumbled, but these were some nice quick stops. Next destination . . . Paris.

London

The last month I was on a study abroad for international business and we traveled all over Europe. I didn't get a chance to update my blog while there so the next series of posts will be about my trip. I will post some more pictures on my photography blog here.

So the first stop on our trip was London. A few of us flew in a day early and so we had to find something to keep us walking in order to stay awake and help get over jet lag. We decided to go and walk around and see some of the big sights of London. The first thing we did was take a ride on the London Eye to get a view of the city.

After that we walked across the bridge and walked past Big Ben, Westminster, and Buckingham Palace.

The next day we had the morning before the rest of the group arrived and the study abroad officially started. Some of the girls went to Camden Market and did some shopping which was a really cool market. That afternoon I bought tickets to go see a matinee of Wicked. This was probably one of my favorite things in London. I hadn't seen any show on stage before and was super excited to see Wicked! It definitely did not disappoint!

We went to a ward in London for church on Sunday and then we walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Below is a picture of the little lake in the park. The park was so huge, but so beautiful and relaxing to just walk through.

The next day I went to the Tate Modern museum, platform 9 3/4 and took a walk along the river. I got to see some of the cool bridges. Two of the evenings I went and saw shows. One night I saw Les Miserables for the first time and it was really good and then the last night I saw Singing in the Rain which was also good.

The last day in London, some of us headed out to Wimbledon to watch the first rounds of the tournament. I have watched Wimbledon on TV for years so it was cool to go and actually be there watching the matches.

London is definitely somewhere I would like to go back to and see more of!

Final Countdown

Summer is flying by! Classes have been good but I have been counting down the days till I am done! I'll be done with finals next Wednesday! Wahoo! I'm also pretty excited because once classes are done that means . . . EUROPE!!! Less than two weeks to go and I am excited. Still working on getting everything ready, but so excited!! Other than that life has been a mixture of adventures with roommates, homework, and work. All of which have been pretty good.

On a side note I got released from my calling which was bittersweet. I loved serving and really loved the girls, but it will be nice to not be quite so busy. Work has been crazy since our busy season goes till June 30, but vacation will come soon enough.

Happy Summer!