Hello, Big Ben :)

So last month we took a trip to London, and it was fantastic. Let me tell you about it! First of all, we left Thursday afternoon after our German History course and made our way to the Frankfurt-Hahn airport to fly with Ryanair (this was October 15th). The only shuttle that would take us there on time got us there about 5 hours before our plane was going to leave, and two or three hours before we could even get into our gate! We spent some quality time in the shops and ate some yummy snacks. Then finally, around 10:20 PM we boarded our plane. At 10:40 we left and enjoyed the hour and twenty-minute long flight to the London-Stansted airport, arriving at midnight our time and 11:00 local time. Once we got to the airport and went through customs, we took the Terravision bus to Victoria Coach Station, in the middle of London. Our plans became a little bit more complicated, because I'd researched the bus schedules to our hostel from the other bus station option we had, but I hadn't planned on us arriving at Victoria station. Let me just say, we met a few really helpful people, and a few mean people... and after a long night of waiting for buses and drinking hot chocolate to get correct change for bus tickets, we FINALLY made it to our hostel at 3:30 AM. We'd told them that we would arrive by at least 2:00, so we were so surprised when the manager was still awake and waiting for us to get there safely! That was just amazing.


Anyway, let me give you a basic layout of our weekend. We slept in Friday morning and took the bus to Kensington Park. We spent all afternoon walking through the beautiful trees and gardens and fountains. Then we found our way into Hyde Park, which was just a bit smaller. We walked around the perimeter of it along the river and this took us to Buckingham Palace. After walking around there for a bit we headed back to Victoria Coach station, ate some yummy dinner along the way, and after yet some more bus complications we made it back to our hostel again! Then Saturday morning we checked out of our first hostel and made our way to our second one, which was actually much closer to the part of London we'd spend much of our day at. We actually met up with my friend Sarah there, who is an APU student studying abroad in Oxford. So then the five of us left the second hostel and went back to the center of the city! We saw Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye. We got in a lot of walking that evening, and it was wonderful to see Big Ben lit up at night. Anyway, that was our last night in London! That night actually had some amazing complications, though... Jess's ticket had been changed by Ryanair to a flight that left at 6 or 7 in the morning, while the other three of us still had a flight at 3 pm that day. I was actually really sick that night, with chills and a slight fever and a headache, so I stayed in bed when Jekka and Tavia embarked on a journey to get Jess to Victoria coach station. They left at about 3:00 with the bus schedules written down and directions on how to get to Victoria. However, everything went wrong, and none of the right buses were going where they needed to go. So Jekka and Tavia didn't return to our hostel until 6:30 Sunday morning! London was full of complications, and was downright stressful at times. But we all got home safe and we definitely learned some lessons!

Overall... London was beautiful, and the accents were to die for. So none of us would trade this trip for anything.

Anyway, here are pictures!


The next morning we slept until about 10 and then found an amazing breakfast at a little cafe down the street. The food was just so yummy!



This is us on our first bus on Friday, going to Kensington Park and Hyde Park!



Me and a London street. They're driving on the wrong side of the road! So trippy.



Kensington gardens. We spent all day here!



Fountains at the Kensington Garden palace.



A huge lake with a lot of birds, especially gigantic swans.



Beautiful gazebo!






The peter pan statue :)



So beautiful. No wonder we spent all day here.



Us in Kensington Park. Some really nice people from North Carolina took the picture for us.



Westminister Abbey!



Another view of the Abbey.



You should all know what this is.



The London Eye <3



Another view of Parliament and Big Ben.






Our last night in London, and this is what we said goodbye to. We love you, big ben!



More to come about my next trip after London... which was to three cities in East Germany: Eisenach, Leipzig, and Weimar!

Stranded in Vienna?

This is the story of how I got left behind on our Austria trip! To start off with, we woke up on a wonderful Sunday morning (October 4th to give you a timeline), ate breakfast, checked out of our hostel, and made our way to the Vienna Hauptbahnhof. Our train was scheduled to leave about 20 minutes after we arrived, so we had a few minutes to walk around and find food. Basically, I was at our train ten minutes before anyone else was, our train ended up not being delayed anymore, and I couldn't find my group, so I didn't get on the train because I didn't have my own ticket. I watched the train speed out of the station away from me, and I figured that since I hadn't seen anyone get on the train and I hadn't seen anyone actually on the train (I looked inside!) that everyone else must still be at the station. Turned out I was wrong.

The first thing I did was get out my laptop (which I thankfully had with me) and write down Tim's cell phone number. I found a working pay phone after a couple out of order ones, and was able to all Tim. Then I continued on to run up four flights of stairs, talk to the ticket booker, run back down the stairs and use up the rest of my change to call Tim again, then run back up and talk with the ticket booker again. It was difficult because I didn't even have my ticket with me! All I had was our itinerary with the information on which train my group was currently on. Until the very end, the lady was insistent that I would simply have to buy another ticket to get back to Heidelberg. Then she went and talked with her boss, came back, and told me a different plan! She printed out another ticket itenerary for me, and told me to find the conductor for each train I had to board and tell them my situation. Usually what would happen is that they would phone ahead to the other conductor and make sure that my group really had my ticket, and that everything was valid and all that.

So that's what I did! I ran to catch my first train (which I had five minutes to get to) and found the first conductor. It went off without a hitch. And actually, in my hour and twenty minute stop in Salzburg, I did some sightseeing! I visited Mirabell Gardens and found many more sights from the Sound of Music movie. The gardens are just beautiful! After my sightseeing, I ran back to the train station, and caught two more trains and a bus and made it home safely. Here are some pictures!




You all better know what that is!


Those are the Sound of Music steps.


I love the gardens!






The Mirabell Gardens are gorgeous. Walking around them I just fell in love! It was totally worth traveling on my own. I actually met some cool people, was able to practice my German a lot, and got home flawlessly from one country to another without even having a train ticket in my possession. I'd say that's an awesome adventure :)

Vienna, Austria! (Austria travels part 2)

If you haven't yet, scroll down a bit and read my first blog about our first two days of traveling in Austria, which were spent in the great city of Salzburg. And now that you've read it, please continue reading about our visit to Vienna!

Well, Vienna was also a fantastic place to visit. We had so many experiences and wonderful nights spent walking around the city and sitting in cafes drinking yummy hot chocolate and eating delicious pastas and schnitzel. Our first night in Vienna we saw a performance of the Vienna Boys Choir, which was amazing! We filled our next couple days with more visits to residences of those famous composers we all know and love (especially Mozart). Both cities, Vienna and Salzburg, were ALL about Mozart. There were literally the famous Mozart balls (chocolate candies) for sale on every corner! Anyway, we also visited the Cemetary where many of the composers are actually buried. That was amazing. And we visited this little theme park, St. Stephan's Cathedral, and we went to the event the "Long Night of the Museums". This was where we paid the price for one ticket and got admission to over 90 museums located all throughout Vienna! We took advantage of that event, which only happens once or twice a year, and visited about five to ten museums total. And by the way, our trip to Austria was from September 30th to October 4th, so a significantly long time ago, but I'm just trying to give you a timeline here of my trips, once I get everything updated! Anyway, here are pictures of everything!


Our first lunch in Vienna. SO MUCH SCHNITZEL! I only ate about half of what was on my plate!


An awkward angle, but that was the Vienna Boys Choir!


St. Stephan's Cathedral at night.


And the Cathedral during the day!


We got to go inside, and it was gorgeous.


Another Mozart residence!


A shot of the Vienna streets.


Schubert's grave.


Brahms!


Me, Tavia, Jessica, and Vivi (Tim's daughter) by Mozarts memorial. His actual grave is unmarked, so no one knows where he really is.


Then this is me with Beethoven's actual grave. How crazy is that?


We then made our way to the Schloss Schonbrun, but it turns out that it was closed that night!


This was the huge palace in Vienna, one that Mozart even visited once for a couple months at one time.


We snuck a peek inside through the windows... and it was amazing.


Last look at the castle before we had to move on to other things. Someday I'll go back and actually tour it! There was also a labyrinth in the courtyards we wanted to see, too.




This was our room in the hostel in Vienna! Super comfy, and we had our own shower this time. Loved it.


Sooo... that was Vienna for you! I hope you got a great taste for the capital city of Austria. Both Salzburg and Vienna had so much history, especially where music is concerned. I actually have a crazy story of my last day in Austria that Sunday... alone... and stranded. When I get a chance I'll post another blog and tell you that story :) Now you have something to look forward to!

Salzburg, Austria!

I am very far behind in my blogging! It has been way too long, and I have two entire trips to update you all on and I'm leaving for another one tomorrow morning really early. So let me tell you what I've been up to! On Wednesday, September 30th, the Heidelberg group left for Austria. We planned to visit Salzburg and Vienna, and our first stop was in Salzburg for two days. We hopped off the train and arrived at our hostel at about 2:30 in the afternoon with plenty to do that day! Throughout our stay there, we visited three of Mozart's residences, the Schloss Hellbrun, saw the Salzburg Opera perform the Marriage of Figaro, and saw many of the Sound of Music sights! I was really excited about those! And now I'll show you pictures of it all :)


This is Mozart's Birthplace. We toured and got to see in most of the rooms where he actually lived!


This is at the Schloss Hellbrun (Castle Hellbrun). This place was built for the purpose of entertainment, and the King who built it had trick fountains installed to trick his guests that would visit him. This is a picture of some people from our group sitting at one of the original tables, with fountains coming up through every seat!


Me and one of the beautiful sights on the palace grounds.


Big lake in the palace gardens!


We found the Sound of Music gazebo on the palace grounds!!


I just love the green fields of Salzburg.


We took a horse-drawn carriage ride through old town Salzburg. Yes, it was beautiful!


Famous arches in the old town.


This is one of the fantastic fountains in one of the city squares, and it's actually in the Sound of Music as well!


I had a few minutes to hike up a little bit and get a view of the city rooftops :)


This is me in the Opera House! Not the best quality, but I was still there!


Salzburg's fortress at night. I didn't have a chance to go up and tour it, but that's for my next trip there, I guess!


This is my last picture in Salzburg at the train station, leaving for Vienna!



So to sum this up, I really enjoyed my time in Salzburg. Out of the two cities, this one was my absolute favorite. I was a little disappointed that I still had so much left to see in the city by the time I left, but hopefully that means I will get to return one day! Salzburg is a fantastic city, and if you ever have the opportunity, go to it!!