Florence, Italy

How to describe a city like Florence. 


If I had all the money in the world and not a care about a career, I would grab my sunglasses and some paintbrushes and move to Florence. 


I've never been to a place so characterized by beauty and pleasure. Florence was just like a scene from a painting or the perfect movie set in Italy. It was clean and quiant. Every little street, building, cafe, and church was exactly perfect. I was only there for two days, but I could have stayed forever and been happy. 


After a fun-filled weekend of Carnival celebration, my friends and I flew into Florence late Tuesday night. This trip started out a little rough because two of my friends' bags didn't make it on the plane to Florence, and were stuck in Amsterdam, so Amber and Daniel had to go without their suitcases for two days. Aside from that inconvenience, they were troopers about it. We grabbed taxis from the airport and went straight to our hostel--we were pretty wiped out. I was expecting the hostel to be like most I have stayed at, but when we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. The hostel turned out to be a little bungalow all to ourselves! It was conveniently located in the center of the city's most beautiful attractions! We were so excited. 


Those of us that had our bags dropped them off in the cute little apartment, and then we all went out to see the city by night. Of course, when I say see the city by night, what I really mean is: FIND GELATO. 


I could sit here and tell that my reason for seeing Italy was for the art and the music, or the culture and the beautiful architecture, but let's be real. I was really there for the food. 


Well, after our first night in Florence I got to answer one of my essential questions about life: Yes, gelato really IS better than regular ice cream! (Is it sad that this was such a life-changing discovery?)

The next morning, we woke up and went to find breakfast. We grabbed pastries and Italian espresso, of course--another one of those highlights of the trip. Then we took off to see what Florence really looked like. Like I said, we were located in the middle of the most beautiful part of Florence: by the Uffizi Gallery, the old bridge, Piazza Signoria, the famous Duomo Cathedral and the Academy Galleria with Michelangelo's David. It was perfect and the weather was sunny and in the 60s everyday, so walking around the beautiful city was such a treat. 


We spent most of the morning at the Florence street market, where you can buy all kinds of gifts- scarves, wallets, and authentic leather jackets and purses! It reminded me of Mexico, where you walk down the street filled with vendors and your self-esteem skyrockets. If there is one thing I learned in Italy it's that I apparently look IDENTICAL to Shakira (these hips don't lie)....

At the leather market!

Let me just say, I wasn't planning on buying anything when we went....I left with a few scarves and a jacket...but in my defense, I have NEVER owned a real leather jacket, and I got it for such a great price that I could justify it...atleast that's what I am telling my parents! 

After we left the market, we found the cutest Italian cafe for lunch. It was just like a scene from a movie: sitting outside under the red umbrellas, soaking up the nice weather, eating real Italian pizza and pastas, and listening to a street musician playing on an accordian nearby for loose change. It was a vacation from my European vacation. 


Then we went and found our second round of gelato, of course. This time I tried nutella and coffee....SO good. I love all the gelato shops because they are generally family-run and all homemade! Plus the shop owners were so sweet. (I'm a sucker for the Italian accent, I guess). 

View of the city from atop the Duomo!

After that, we went into the famous Duomo Cathedral, also known as the Santa Maria del Fiore, and it was absolutely breath-taking. I thought no cathedral could beat Notredame's majesty, but I was wrong. This cathedral started going up in 1296 and took several hundred years to finish. If you see it and go inside, you will understand why. It was unreal! My friends went up to the very top of the cathedral to look at the view of the city. Carissa and decided to save a little money and sit outside on the steps instead and soak up the sun. It was so nice to not have anything to do, or anywhere to be; to just sit and take it all in. It was such a blessing. Everytime I get a moment to myself like that I am so thankful that I am here. Europe is such a beautiful place to discover, and everywhere I go is a new adventure. 


That evening we had...you guessed it....more Italian food. Then we went back to our room and crashed after a long, successful day in Florence. 

Carissa and I at the Ponte Vecchio

The next day was a little less eventful, but just as fun. We went to our same breakfast cafe (we felt like regulars by this point, haha). Then we went to take a stroll by the world-famous Ponte Vecchio bridge. This bridge has been there for FOREVER and it is the most unique bridge you will ever see. It supposedly was first built by the Romans, and has been dated back to the year 996! It has been rebuilt since then, of course, but how cool is that? It was a great place to sit and relax and watch all the painters and kayakers. Plus there were couples in love everywhere. 

"Locks of Love" by the Ponte Vecchio

After we ate MORE gelato, we had lunch (yes, I know, out of order, but this is GELATO we are talking about), and walked to see what else we hadn't explored in the city. Of course we only put a dent in it by the time we had to leave, but I love EVERY part of Florence. I wish I could have stayed a week or two, but such is the life of a traveler, I guess! 


We tried to go to the Uffizi gallery after lunch, but after waiting in the line for an hour, I decided it wasn't worth only going for thirty minutes, since our train to Rome left that afternoon. 


We packed our things, left for the train station, got lost, eventually found the train station (hey, it can't all go smoothly), and then headed for Rome. 

It was the perfect Italian vacation, and will always be the perfect get-away if you are looking for beauty. 

Carnival in Maastricht

Carnival by night

When cobblestone streets are filled with music and dancing, streamers and balloons, beer and waffles, costumes and chaos--you might find yourself in the midst of a real Carnival celebration. 

The most fun I've ever had!

When I left my dorm to go join the festivities in the city square, I had no idea what I was in for. I didn't bring a costume this semester, mostly because I didn't want to make room in my suitcase, but I figured Carnival might be like Halloween, where that would be fine and not everyone would be wearing a costume  anyway. Boy, was I WRONG.

EVERY street was this packed!

If you grew up in the United States like I did, then Carnival in Maastricht is unlike anything you have experienced in your entire life. It is NOTHING like Halloween--it's way too intense to be compared to our measly attempt at "dressing up" for a holiday. If you want to compare it to something, Carnival would be like Halloween, but with MUCH better costumes--(and I mean MUCH better, these people work on them for what looks like months and months), but it's more than an intensified Halloween. It's that plus a mixture of Mardi Gras, (only without the self-exposure and indecency), multiply all of that by a million and add a WHOLE lot of fun, and then you have a product worthy of comparison to Carnival. 

The costumes were amazing!

These people seriously taught me how to have a good time. During Carnival, the Dutch roam the city streets for about five days and nights, 24 hours a day, in costume. Their are contests, parades, (in which you can jump in with an instrument and join at any time), and all kinds of people having a good time everywhere. Everything except the pubs shuts down. All of the main restaurants and cafes and businesses are closed, so if you aren't participating in the fun, there is pretty much nothing for you in the city. 

My favorite Christmas-themed family!

Everyone gets very in to it, too. This isn't just a holiday for college students, as it might be if it were in the United States. I would argue that I saw more families and middle-aged people dancing in the streets and celebrating than young people, which I really appreciated. It was so exciting to see people of all ages come together for great fun. 

Everyone is so friendly. Even though I got some weird looks for NOT being in costume, no one was having a bad time. They are all out celebrating life and good times, and not worrying about a care in the world. They know when Carnival comes around, it's time to forget stress and have a good time. 

It's a shame that we don't have something like this in the United States. I think it must be good for the soul to take time to have fun. Too few Americans realize that life isn't just about work and business--but it's about loving life and celebrating with your friends and family. Everyone has to let loose sometime. 

Party in my dorm room! It was a little packed...

My Baylor friends who came to visit!

Well, My Carnival experience was one of the best. I can honestly say I think I had more fun than I every have. I was blessed because I had five friends from Baylor fly from Waco to hang out for the week! We had a GREAT time. I think the boys really loved it, and Amber too. The funny thing was, they didn't get a hotel, instead, we ALL crashed in my dorm room. Amber and I had the beds, and the four boys slept on the floor. They were troopers though, and it made for an awesome week--very typical colllege story, eh? 

We basically spent our Carnival days "living like the locals" and dancing in the streets. We met so many wonderful people, the Dutch are SO sweet and caring, and they are so fun to jump in and dance with! 

I showed my visiting friends around the city of Maastricht, so they could get a feel for the town that I have been living in for the past few months. We walked around the city squares, along the River Maas, stopped by sidestreet waffle vendors, and took some time to sit and enjoy ourselves at the park. It was a GREAT weekend. 

If you ever find yourself craving a European adventure, or a party like nothing you have ever experienced, than go to Maastricht during Carnival week. I PROMISE you won't be dissappointed. 

Salzburg and The Sound of Music

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start."

I'de like to go ahead and say if you DON'T like Sound of Music, then this isn't the blog entry for you.

     The hills were alive when we got to Salzburg, Austria on Saturday morning. (Forgive my cheesiness). We arrived Friday night at our hostel, the Yoho youth hostel. We had a quick dinner at the hostel and we headed to bed. Vienna had us all wiped out. 

    Saturday morning, however, we woke with a sense of excitement and anxiety. We were about to embark on a much anticipated tour---The Sound of Music tour.

    The hostel advertised that they played The Sound of Music dvd every morning at 10:30 a.m. so we headed downstairs dressed and ready at 10 a.m. and grabbed breakfast. By 11 a.m. they hadn't started the movie, so we proceeded to bug the front desk every five minutes until they just gave us the dvd. It took us about an hour to figure out how to get the dvd player to work and get the volume to function. By the time we had the movie on we were pumped. Finally, as Maria (Julie Andrews) came on the screen and began singing the opening song....it was in German. The whole movie, in German. Bummer.

We finally just accepted the fact and watched it anyways, atleast for the sake of refreshing our memories (which didn't really need refreshing) and seeing the sights on screen that we would be at later that day. Plus, we knew all the words by heart anyway, so we could translate and just pretend we knew German.

We got halfway through it when a bus came to pick us up and took us to the tour. We started out at Mirabell garden, (where Maria and the children sang "Doe Ray Me" and took off to see the sights! Our tour guide was a sassy British woman named Trudy, and we just loved her. She had a very British sense of humor and was full of life. Trudy took us first to the Leopoldskron-Palace, one of the two houses that the film used for the Von Trapp residence. This is the house that all of the backyard scenes were filmed at--where the boat tipped over and where the Baroness and the Captain spent a lot of scenes.

Behind the Leopoldskron Palace!

The pond where they fell off the boat

      We weren't allowed to go in any of the buildings because they are privately owned (and probably SICK of American tourists paying homage to a movie that most Austrians have never heard of, can you believe that?).

      But we were taken across the pond to see the back of the palace--and it was absolutely gorgeous! It looked a bit different than it did in the movie, but only because the pond was completely frozen over. I couldn't believe I was actually there! We took a ton of pictures and listened to our tour guide give some fun facts like--one about Gretl, the youngest child in the film, didn't know how to swim. When they did the boat scene, Julie Andrews was

supposed to fall out of the front of the boat and grab Gretl as soon as they hit the water. They did the first take, and all went well. Then came take two. Julie delivered her line, "Oh Captain, you're home!" and then, by total accident, fell backwards out of the boat while Gretl and the other children fell forward as planned. Well, if you watch the movie, you'll notice that Gretl fell, and didn't come back up. By the time they cut the take, the entire camera crew was in the water to rescue little Gretl. Needless to say, she was too traumatized to do another take, so they ended up using that one in the film.

We loaded the bus again and took off for the famous gazebo that Liesl and Rolfe sang "Sixteen Going on Seventeen". The gazebo had originally been erected for the film and was located on the Leopoldskron Palace property, but when crazed tourists (like myself) started coming and trying to take pictures dancing in the gazebo, the owners of the palace decided it was time for it to go. So they relocated it to a public park and "donated" it the city of Salzburg. It was still open for visitors until a few years back, when an 80-year-old woman came to visit the gazebo. Our tour guide Trudy told us the little lady had decided that SHE wanted to be Liesl, and proceeded to run and jump from bench to bench like Liesl did in the film......The only problem? If you remember, even 21-year-old Liesl (yes, I know, she wasn't really sixteen) did have a bit of help--Rolfe. Well, the 80-year-old woman was missing Rolfe. She fell on her leap from bench to bench, and she ended up breaking her hip and tried to sue the city. It didn't ever happen, but the city of Salzburg decided they had had enough and locked the gazebo. So now you can take pictures outside of it, but you'll just have to imagine your inside dancing like Liesl when you visit! Next we drove

Mozart bridge

The Fronburg Residence, the first house in the film

 around the city for a bit and saw a few more sites. We drove past Mozart bridge, the bridge Maria and the children stop to see the city of Salzburg from. Then we saw the Convent of Nonnberg, where the real Maria Von Trapp trained to be a nun. We also drove past the Fronburg Residence, the first house used for the film for the Von Trapp residence. It was beautiful, but it was covered by trees so my picture isn't wonderful, but you can still tell it's the house used in the film! We stopped a little ways from that house, and took pictures on the path where Maria ran singing " I Have Confidence" as she made her way to the Von Trapp residence for the first time. 

The building with the red dome is the Convent of Nonnberg

After that, they took us up into the mountains. It was a BREATH-TAKING drive! It took about 30 minutes to get up the mountain, so the tour guide told LOTS of stories (that I won't make you read about because you MUST go on the tour for yourself one day if you love the movie) and she played The Sound of Music soundtrack and we all sang along. It probably goes without saying, but there weren't many boys on the tour, atleast no boys who came willingly. 

Kristen and I in the mountains

We took pictures all along the drive, and we stopped at a little town up in the mountain called Monsee. It was the town that had the church that they used in the film for the wedding scene. It also had the path where the children hung from the trees as the Captain drove by.

Inside the wedding-church in Monsee

We stayed in Monsee for an hour or so and had Apple Strudel at a little cafe there. (Austria is known for their wonderful Apple Strudel, and yes, it IS that good!) Then we were allowed to go into the wedding-church and take pictures inside. After that we ran over to the tree path and snapped a few pictures and headed back to the bus. It was getting dark, and the tour was coming to a close.

The Wedding-church from the film

When we got back to Salzburg, we went to Mirabell Garden and took our last, few pictures before the sun went down. We saw the fountain, the little hedge-covered path Maria and the children ran down, and finally took our last picture where Maria and the children sang the final notes from the final scene of "Doe Ray Me". It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

Vienna, Austria

      Last weekend, we made our way to the great Republic of Austria. Friday morning, we stepped off the train at Wien, or as most know it, Vienna. The sun was shining and the air was terribly crisp. We could tell right away it was going to be a beautiful day-filled with adventure. But before I go into the happenings of those adventures, let me back up.


      Getting to Vienna, wasn't all cake and cherries on top. It was quite an amusing event, actually. Vienna is over 10 hours by train from our wonderful city- Maastricht, and because we have class until mid-afternoon on Thursdays, we had to embark on our very first overnight train journey in order to get to Vienna by Friday morning. 


      Overnight trains have to be reserved in advance, so my roommate Kristen was kind enough to travel to Liege, Belgium the week before and take care of that for the group (Kristen, Carissa, Marley, and I). The plan was to reserve four beds in a sleeper cart on the train to Vienna from Franfurt, Gernamy. Kristen said it was a bit of a challenge getting the tickets reserved, because the people working at the train station in Liege generally don't speak great English,( and I'm sure you could have guessed we don't speak great French). But Kristen did manage to communicate sufficiently enough and reserved four beds on the train. Therefore, we were all set for the weekend! 

Our travel group (from left: Carissa, Kristen, Marley, and I)

      Everything seemed to be going smoothly for us Thursday evening as we train-hopped to Frankfurt. We'd like to think that all of us have become expert train travelers (ha ha), and that making the journey to Vienna, the longest trip thus far, would be a piece of pie.....


     Well, to give us SOME credit, we DID make it to Frankfurt. We ALSO made it to the overnight train. We EVEN managed to find our correct cart......And when we looked up from our cart to our tickets to our reserved spot...our mouths dropped and our eyes stretched wide. What we found were not beds at all. Instead, it was a small, closely contained, six-man sitting area- with chairs squished together, and an pot-bellied, rainbow-wearing, greasy-haired, cigarette-smoking, crazy-looking man. It was going to be a LONG, long night.  


      Well, it turned out the language-barrier in Liege (where Kristen booked our tickets) had landed us seats on an overnight train, and no beds. The train ride was nine hours. And it looked like we were stuck in this tightely enclosed cart with Mauk, the rainbow man. Turns out Mauk was a nice guy, who just happened to smell terrible (it probably didn't help that his shoes were off and on the other side of the cart), and loved to dance and play guitar. He lives in Vienna, and told us he works with kindergarten children. 


     "Oh, so you are a teacher!" I proclaimed. 
Mauk suddenly paused, offended. 
     "No. I HATE this word [teacher]. I am an ENERGY SHARER!!!" he said. 
He then proceeded to head bang and play his air guitar, and occasionally would shout things like, "ACDC, yeahhhhh!"


After five minutes, I had an epiphany. 
   
I was NOT staying nine hours in that cart. 


     After a few random outbreaks of ZZ Top impersonations and the like, I announced to the other girls, who were also caught in between crying from bouts of laughter and total fear, that I was going to find a sleeper car, or seat on the floor, or in a luggage room, ANYTHING really. Kristen jumped up to go with me. By the grace of God, I found a train conductor, and explained the situation. He seemed annoyed, but I persisted. I told him there was no possible way we were staying in that cart, and we MUST have beds. 


    I don't know if it was the boldness in my voice, the 

audacity in my words, or the crazed looked in my eyes that told him I meant business, but it worked. Within ten minutes, we had a sleeper cart to ourselves. 

    Kristen and I went back to the rainbow cart to tell Carissa and Marley the miraculous news. I walked in the cart just about the time that our new buddy Mauk was practically head-banging on Marley. She and Carissa jumped up as fast as lightning and we ran from the cart, shaking with laughter to our new spots. 

Carissa, ready for bed in the sleeper cart!

    The rest of the night was uneventful. We made ourselves comfortable and went to sleep shortly after. 

     Our first sleeper cart experience? Well, let's just say Kristen will never be sent to make train reservations ever again. 

THIS.....is Mauk.
I didn't manage to capture a picture from the front, but we saw him walking away the next morning when we got off the train in Vienna.

     Well, now that the most eventful part of the weekend has been told, I will talk a little bit about our short day in Vienna. 

    When we got off the train we went to the tourist information center. We got day passes for the metro, rented lockers (we weren't staying the night in Vienna- went had hostel reservations in Salzburg later that evening), and we got city maps. Like I said, it was a beautiful day, but it was absolutely BITTER cold. My face was frozen as soon as we started walking away from the train station. We hurried to the metro, jumped on the 6th line and headed to 

 Schönbrunn Palace.

    We stood outside the palace and took pictures as quickly as possible (remember, our faces were falling off by this time). We didn't go inside, partially because once you have been inside Neuschwanstein castle and the Palace of Versailles, you don't really need to see any other royal edifices, (kidding), but mostly because it was pretty expensive, and we are college kids on a budget. But it was really beautiful on the outside and made for some pretty pictures! 

     After leaving the palace, we wondered around the city for hours trying to find the Cafe Central, an old, traditional, landmark cafe in Vienna that I had read about in a few different travel guides. Vienna is the world's coffee capital, so I was particularly excited to try a "Kleiner Brauner," a cup of Austrian espresso with cream and sugar. 

    

    When we found the place we were nearly frozen and tired of walking, but it was quite an accomplishment to know that were capable of finding our way with only a metro card and a city map. 

    The cafe was absolutely beautiful, too. It had gold and green arches (hey, Baylor colors) and soothing music. It opened in 1860 and quickly became a key meeting place for intellectual thinkers and some of the world's most famous names: Adolf Hitler, Sigmund Freud, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky, to name a few. 

    We each had our own warm coffee (and in Kristen and Carissa's case- hot chocolate). You must know how disappointed I was that we were in THE coffee capital of the WORLD and they wanted HOT CHOCOLATE....but I guess I'll leave that one alone. 

      We ordered traditional Austrian dishes for a late lunch, some of which, like spinach schnitzel, we really enjoyed, but other things, like pickled ox cheek, I couldn't handle. But we have been trying to order things that are traditional to the country, for the sake of experiencing the culture as best we can. 

     

    After literally sitting at Cafe Central two and a half hours, (this is also customary there, maybe I should move to Vienna?), we took off to see as much of the city as we could before we had to catch an evening train to Salzburg. 

In front of Hofburg Palace

     We wondered around some of the most beautiful buildings and gardens I have ever seen. We eventually made our way to the Hofburg Palace, the National library in the Josephsplatz, the Imperial Chancellery Wing, the Swiss Gate, and the Michael Cupola- just to mention a few landmarks. 

     After we sped through sight-seeing, we ran back to catch our train to Salzburg. It was such a bummer to have to leave so soon, but I guess that just means I'll have to go back! 

       The thing I liked most about Vienna, (other than the coffee) was how every things was so clean and fresh looking. It was a city saturated by linen white buildings. The people were friendly, from what I could tell in one day. Everyone seemed so kind and traditional, and the majority of the population seemed to be dressed in fur, which I LOVED. It was a city of elegance, classical music, and coffee. What more could I ask for?