Zic Zac and Zürich!

I'm currently sitting at my computer, waiting for my album to load onto Snapfish.com so that I can order prints of pictures. Then with that done, I can begin my next adventure which is perhaps almost as expensive as traveling abroad, but perhaps a tad more time intensive...scrapbooking. My grandparents and parents bought me a scrapbook and the materials I need so that I can have a hard copy of my memories.  It will be a wonderful thing when it's done I'm sure (I hope).  Also, this waiting allows me the perfect opportunity to write the next section in my adventure towards home.  I had left Venice and was now on my way to Zürich, Switzerland.  This was on June 19th.

We arrived in Zürich around 5 p.m. and the first thing that instantly secured my heart to Switzerland, was the fact that I was back in a German speaking country (that and it has amazing chocolate...).  I had missed German so much while in Venice (even though it was only one day) and going back to a German speaking country felt like going home in a way.  Then add a beautiful lake view, fresh air, friendly people, gorgeous mountains in the distance, and free ketchup, and I'm sold.    Zürich really took my breath away (well, I mean, by this point I was still feeling ill and breathing was a little difficult through a stuffed up nose anyway).  The first order of business was to find our hotel room.  See, usually when traveling through countries in Europe, a person stays at what is called a Hostel. It is like a hotel (just take away an "s"), but much cheaper and not quite so luxurious (depending on where you go).  Rooms are set up so you can share a room with three other people, or 7 other people, or even 15 other people.  That's how it stays so affordable for travelers (who, let's face it, have no money usually).  Unfortunately for us, all the hostels were booked for that night, so I booked a room in a cheap hotel for the night using the internet on my phone.  We eventually find our way to the hotel, Zic Zac Rock Hotel.  Oh my.  Each room, is themed, with a famous person.  For example, there is the Prince room, or the Bon Jovi room, and then of course there was our room....the Bob Marley room.  Apparently, in my hastiness, I had requested a smoking room...apparently in my hastiness I had also booked the room for the 24th of June....which was 5 days later...The two gentlemen at the desk were nice enough to allow me to switch the room reservation to the current day, but did not do so without laughing at me a little first.  

We explored the hotel a little, and then I opted to shower and sleep since I was not feeling well.  We called it a night and prepared to explore Zürich the next day.  I woke up feeling quite a bit worse, probably because I was in a Bob Marley themed room...and the air was not the freshest...but none the less, we ventured out and found that God had blessed us with a beautifully gorgeous day.  The air outside thankfully, was crisp and fresh and clean, and the city, amazing.  We walked around all day, going into shops, buying souvenirs, sitting near the lake and lunching in a grand park.  We visited a few churches and did a few touristy things, but not much otherwise...I was content to simply be in Zürich and enjoy the general beauty.  Honestly, out of all the places I went to in Europe, Zürich is my second favorite city (after Salzburg naturally), and I would love to go back.  The people are nice and very helpful, and the city is industrialized, but not in a dirty, smoggy sort of way.  It was a very pleasant city with old buildings mixed in with new buildings and shopping streets with all varieties of stores and people.  I wish I had more to tell you, but with me being sick and us only having a day, all we really did was walk around.  Our train was leaving at 6 something in the evening to take us back to Salzburg so we headed to the train station.

We sat for a while and a train pulled into our gate about 40 minutes before ours was supposed to leave, and it didn't have Salzburg as its destination, so we sat some more til that one would leave and ours would come.  Well then it got to be about our departure time and the train was still there, in our gate.  Quite confusing.  I then heard over the intercom that it was the last call for the train to board and we looked at each other, then looked at the train, jumped up, grabbed our things, and flew to the nearest door of what we now understood to be our train.  What I didn't fully realize at the time is that not all trains list every single stop...and some minor stops are left off and it is to be understood by the supposed all-knowing traveler, where his or her stop is.  Thankfully, I asked someone on the train and he alleviated my fears by saying that yes, the train did in fact go to Salzburg.  Happy day.

Sure enough, we pulled into Salzburg around 10:00 p.m., we grabbed a bite to eat at McDonald's, then I caught the very last bus going to my house that night.  It felt like going home.  It was going home.  And next time, I'll write about my second homecoming...Back to the US I go (but not without trouble of course)!!

Victoria

Auf Wiedersehen Italien! Hallo Der Schweiz!

 Ich bin so faul!! (I am so lazy!!)  It seems that without something to do every minute of my day, I procrastinate the simple things such as writing on here and working on pictures and such.  I apologize for having not written. Well, I shall remedy this problem right now!

Venedig - Venice


I don't know how many of you know this, but train companies  have this really cool option called "Night Trains".  Pretty self-explanatory.  You ride a train...at night...makes sense, right?  Well, there's more.  These night trains have sleeping compartments, with beds, and they also serve you breakfast in the morning, with coffee.  Happy Day!  So Anna and I met at the train station around midnight and then after waiting an hour or so, got situated on our train in our beds.  Now, I normally sleep pretty well in vehicles because of the movement and the bumps, but add a bed to the equation, and I'm a happy camper.  In the morning (around 6:00 am) they woke us up and asked whether we wanted coffee or tea with our breakfast and then brought each of us our food and drinks.  Approximately two hours later, we arrived in Venedig (Venice) and got off the train.  Our first mission: find a bathroom.  We found a bathroom.  Second mission: Find the exact change needed to get INTO said bathroom and USE it...I love Europe, but that is one thing I will not miss - having to pay to use the restrooms.  After freshening up a bit, we walked out of the train station to find an absolutely breathtaking site.  Down the stairs to what I guess you would call a street, you see the river/canal in front of you, with boats and people and buildings.  Something similar to the picture.


We stayed in Venice for only one day and had a train ride at 6:00 am the next morning that was to shuttle us off to Zürich, so we planned on walking around the city, hopefully taking a gondola ride, simply enjoying the city and the sites, and then waiting around at the train station until the next morning (in my head, it made no sense to try and find a hostel to go to bed at 11:00 pm, and wake up at 4:00 am to get ready and catch the train...so we stayed up all night, maybe not the smartest decision, but it worked).  We encountered some interesting people throughout the day, some who were very pleasant, and others who were not..so..pleasant... For those of you who have been following along, you may recall an incident in Salzburg when a guy asked me a ton of questions, wanted my phone number and started to follow me on his bike and I might have lied and told him I had family in Salzburg and that I didn't have a phone or facebook?  Well, that scenario pretty much repeated itself in Venice, only this time, I was from Austria, my travel buddy was my sister, and neither of us spoke very much English.  The things you'll learn about yourself....  


Needless to say, Venice is gorgeous.  The city is a winding maze of confusing streets crowded with people and canals crowded with boats and gondolas.  Every corner turned presents a new breathtaking, unexpected surprise.  The buildings are old and mysterious and there are so many little shops nestled into any little space available.  Then, take into consideration that the buildings are hugged right against the canals which are crossed by quaint little bridges.  I actually got to go on a gondola ride through many of those little canals.  It was wonderful!  The drivers are amazing too. They steer those boats like it's nobody's business!  Now so far, I've painted a picture for you that's quite pretty and nice...but I feel it only fair that I paint the other side for you as well.  Venice is crowded, smells like dingy water and old cigarette smoke mixed with old alcohol, and the streets are so confusing as there is no grid formation.  Now I admit that since I had started getting sick that day and walking around with a heavy backpack isn't a super duper pleasant experience, my opinion of the city might have been negatively affected.  The city is beautiful, and if any of you ever get a chance to see it, I would recommend it, but as for me, one day was enough. 


Well, after a lot of walking, some shopping, eating, and more walking, 6:00 am eventually rolled around and we got on the train (we got to sit first class by the way),   and headed off to our next destination.  Auf Wiedersehen Italien!  Hallo der Schweiz!  (Goodbye Italy, Hello Switzerland!)

Victoria    

"Auf Wiedersehen, Salzburg" und "Hallo, Venedig!"

Well hello there!  It's been a while hasn't it?  Travelling made posting difficult and then after getting back into the states, I was thrown back into my normal hectic, whirlwind of a life, so it's been easy to procrastinate this very important post.  But now it has arrived.  There is a lot to tell, so let the telling begin.  (Since so much has happened, I'm going to section off the events into separate posts, so they aren't as long.)

Auf Wiedersehen - Goodbye

 My last post was almost two weeks ago.  On Wednesday, classes had ended and then Thursday was the Kindergarten party, the final concert with the school, and then the farewell party at the school.  I had spent the morning with my guest family, then had lunch with my school peeps, then went back to the house for the Kindergarten party.  The kid's party was great and all the kids sang adorable little songs in German that I couldn't understand at all.  I had to leave early, however, in order to get dressed (all fancy-schmancy) to go to the final concert for the school.  So sure enough, I ducked out, went back to the house, dolled up, and headed back into town.  One problem - I didn't know where the concert was being held....hmm.  Option one - go to the school first and check to see if there was something posted there.  Sounded good.  I almost got there when I was presented with option two -  sneakily follow the two people that I thought just came from the school and that I thought were fellow students and that I thought were heading to the concert.  Thankfully I am a ninja, so this was not a problem.  After a ways, I called out to one of them and sure enough, he turned around (leave it to me to follow people halfway across town without knowing for sure if I should be following them or not). We walked the rest of the way to the concert together, and the concert proved to be wonderfully entertaining.  Afterwards, we headed back to the school where we enjoyed cake, snacks, and a bit of champagne.  Some people unfortunately, enjoyed a bit too much champagne, and a few of my friends and I ducked out to go, where else, but McDonalds.  There we had an awesome conversation about how God had worked in our lives throughout the trip and shared our testimonies.  It was a wonderful way to spend the evening.
 
  Then came Friday.  I'll be honest with you all, Friday was a horrible day for me.  I do perfectly fine with saying "goodbye" to people that I know I'll see again, but when I don't know if I'll see them...I get a tad...emotional.  I first had to say goodbye to the people at school, which wasn't terrible, but then again, those weren't the "goodbye's" I was dreading.  The Geistberger's were going on vacation and were leaving at 6 o'clock that night.  The waterworks started about as soon as I stepped back inside the house, and that was at 3:30.  It made it worse when Laura, the sweetheart, said this, "Du und deine Familie sollen hier leben und arbeiten (You and your family should live and work here)" and then when Lisa would ask me, "Du fliegst mit? (You are flying with us?)".  I played with Lisa and Laura for awhile and then eventually that time rolled around.  It was about 5:30 p.m. and Lisa came and sat in my lap and wanted me to read her the two kids books she had in English.  It had become our regular thing, most evenings, before or after supper, she would sit in my lap and we would go through the book and she would learn some English words (or at least, she'd repeat them after me).  I managed the books decently well, with only a few cracks in my voice here or there.  Then came 6 o'clock, "goodbye's" were said, we wished each other well with the promise of having stories to talk about on facebook, and then they were gone.

   I went back into the house which was now the quietest it had probably ever been and after a little while, I began to prepare for travelling.  The evening afforded little time to be sad because at 1 am in the morning, I would be getting on a night train and heading to my next destination.  I packed my things, slept, showered, took the bus to the train station, met my travel buddy, then boarded the train.  It was the last "goodbye" of the day:

  "Auf Wiedersehen, Salzburg" und "Hallo, Venedig!" ( "Goodbye, Salzburg" and "Hello, Venice!")

*In an announcer voice*  Tune in next time for "Adventures in Venice!" as well as, "Zic Zac and Zurich!"

Nur Zwei Tage

Maahh!  I apologize for not having posted in such a long time but the end of my school session has been quite crazy lately.  Last time I ended with my post about Vienna.  The rest of last week went pretty smoothly with not a lot of big things going on.  Friday though, I left with two other girls to see Prague in the Czech Republic.  Prague is huge.  I thought Vienna was big.  Wow, hello Prague.  The thing about Prague is, they don't speak German....the language is Czech.  And the thing about Czech is, it is in no way similar to either German or English. Heh heh.  I learned the best phrase you would ever need, and phonetically it goes like this:  MLOO-vee-teh AHN-gleet-skee? It means, "Do you speak  English?"  When they said "no", I would ask if they spoke German, and over half of the time that's how the conversation would end up...in German. That or the opposite would happen; they would be better at English than German but I would try to talk to them in German on accident.
    As far as the city is concerned, it's very pretty, has a lot of history, a lot of beautiful buildings, a lot of graffiti, dirty air that always smells like smoke or alcohol, and tourist attractions that are never free.  Overall, Prague was not my favorite, but then again, I had Salzburg to compare it to, and what can compare to Salzburg??  We also had some issues with our hostel and with transportation.  See, we'd planned on staying in Prague from Friday til Monday, and catching our train on Monday at 13:00.  Then, Surprise!!!  The transportation workers want to strike on Monday!  Great.....  We went to the train station and two of the workers said, "yes...it is definitely happening" then the third said, "Nah, we don't know yet for sure.  Come back tonight or tomorrow morning and check."  Ok.  I can handle that.
    We then headed out to do the things we'd planned for that day and the last on the list was a Jazz Boat. So cool!  They take you on a boat on the river at night and you get a live jazz performance and dinner.  Then you get to see the sunset and then the night all lit up at night.  It was my favorite part of Prague.   After the Jazz Boat we went back to the train station, and Surprise again!  The strike was off. : )     No striking for you!  I was overjoyed because that meant that I wouldn't miss out on another day in Salzburg (which I was missing quite a bit) and the day with my Host family.  But please don't get too excited, we still had issues riding back. Oh, and did I forget to mention that on the way to Prague, the trains were so full that we did not get seats?  We either stood in hallways or sat near the bathrooms.  Thankfully on our way back that only happened once.  Instead, our connecting train to Munich was late, so we missed the Munich to Salzburg train.  That put us about 2 hours behind.  Finally we got back to Salzburg and I apologize to anyone who really loves Prague, but I never intend to go back.
      So now, my last week!  I had two tests on Wednesday and now I'm finished with classes.  Yesterday evening was the farewell party with the Geistberger's and I might have cried...quite a bit.  The funny part was that when I first started crying, I asked for a moment and went up to my room.  When I came back down, they told me that Lisa was so sad for me, that she wanted to coddle me and make me feel better.  Ha ha.  Little sweetheart.  Now it is Thursday.  I have a Kindergarten party for Laura, then the students have a concert and then there is a Farewell party at the school later.  Then tomorrow is farewell day.  I have begun to pack my suitcase and it doesn't feel real.  I can hardly believe that already, ich habe nur zwei mehr Tage (I have only two more days).

I probably won't be able to post at all until I am back in the states because I will be travelling some from Saturday til Thursday....so...until then!!!!

Victoria  (Or as Lisa says, Victoree...the "a" hasn't happened yet, but it is a step up from  "Vih tohr")

Also, here are some pictures.  Sorry for the lack of labels.

Auf wiedersehen Wien!

  Bonjour!   (Just thought I'd switch up the language on ya' a little bit.)

I have plenty to share from Vienna, but before you read any farther, I need you to do something for me.  Click on this link, or search "2Cellos - Smooth Criminal" on youtube.  Then watch, and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOQac1vOEc

Ok. Did you do it??  Or are you lying to me and reading further without following the rules??  Shame on you if you are.  : )  Really though, this is my jam at the moment as it combines Micheal Jackson, cello, duet, ingenuity, good filming, and good looking guys, all into one amazing video.  That has nothing to do with Vienna though, so on to the more important topic, shall we?

Vienna was amazing.  Words won't do it justice but I'll try by at least telling you all the things I did while there.  Thursday we left around 7 in the morning for a 3 hour train ride.  Once there, we stopped at our hostel (Wombat's Hostel) and unloaded into our rooms.  We then took a brief tour of the city on a tram, and then took a not so brief tour of more of Vienna...and by not so brief I mean 3 hours.  That night happened to be the once a year outdoor performance by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.  Wow...may I just say wow?  They played beautifully and the dancers danced perfectly.  The concert took place at Schönbrunn Palace in the gardens so we got to sit outside and enjoy the concert.  A once in a lifetime experience.  That was all that occurred for that night, so we went back to the hostel and enjoyed sleep. 


Friday:  Breakfast started at 8 am and included delicious things like cereal, yogurt, fresh veggies (hopefully not E Coli infested), bread (Brot), meat (Fleisch), and cheese (Käse), nutella (mmm), marmalade, and coffee things for drink.  My host family had introduced me to making sandwiches with marmalade on the bread and then cheese and meat...and oh my it is a tasty treat (see what I did there with the rhyming??).  I had that for breakfast most every day as well as some nutella.   Und Kaffee natürlich (and coffee of course).  We then went over to the Naschmarkt which is a magical place of food and clothing items that greatly resembles a farmer's market...but isn't...because it's magic...I promise.  We stopped at Hofer as well (which is Aldi's) to pick up food (bread rolls and off-brand nutella) and went back to the hostel for lunch.  The music students all met to go on a tour of the old instrument museum and it was so much fun!  The instruments were really cool and old looking (go figure) but our tour guide was probably the coolest part.  He had a cart of old instruments and knew how to play them all.  He would explain a little bit about each instrument, why it was made, what it was used for, and then he would demonstrate it.  The instruments ranged from recorders to itty bitty recorders, to horns made out of tubes, to sitars, to bagpipes.  I now know what my calling in life is.  


After the tour we had time to see the rest of the museum which equates to picture time.  Pictures will hopefully be posted next time, sorry for the cliff hanger.  


After the museum we had a tour of the opera house which was particularly awesome since that night we were planning on going to an opera.   After the tour, we had around an hour to get back to the hostel, get ready for the opera, and get back to the opera in order to stand/sit in line for 2 1/2 hours to get standing tickets for Salome.  I became Frau Haare (Lady Hair) because I became everyone's personal hairdresser.  Calling #2 in life I suppose. We got very nice "seats"....places...and the opera began.  It was wonderful and I am quite addicted already (I wish I would have picked a cheaper addiction....like eating toilet paper or something).  With the opera finished, and our feet very tired, we returned to the hostel once again - another day in Vienna complete.


Saturday:  Most people went to Eisenstadt on Saturday, but I had decided to stay in Vienna for the extra day.  That allowed me to do my own thing and see the sights that weren't on the itinerary.   First on the list, Naschmarkt.  I bought a bag and while ordering it in German, the man asked me if I was from Germany. Haha, sneaky sneaky me.  Next on the list, Freud Museum.  I bought a T Shirt that says, "Analyze Me!" and got to talk to a psych professor from New York.  After Freud came the Butterfly House.  So cool!  As I was heading back to the hostel though, my ear caught the sound of a marching band.  "Music?"  said I.  "Splendid!"  I followed where my ear told me to go and found a parade of marching bands, all dressed in the lederhosen.  After I'd had my fill of marching band, I walked around a bit more, then went back to the hostel and prepared to go to the amusement park (Yep, Vienna is cool enough to have an amusement park).  We got there and decided which rides to ride and some of the girls wanted to go on the ferris wheel and a few wanted to go on one of the rides that somewhat equal death, really super high and really super fast. What made it more terrifying is that when we got there, it started raining...then it started lightning, then thunder, oh and hey, let's add some hail.  God was telling me "no".   Instead we chose what we thought to be a tamer ride, that was not out in the open, called Ecstasy.  Imagine the Scrambler ride, but faster, in reverse, then tilted, and upside.  Ta da!  You have Ecstasy.  I screamed....a lot. 
 We then ate pizza (after the rides...that was planned) and gelato.  As we were leaving, the waiter (again...middle aged) shook my hand, kissed my cheeks (as is the greeting/leaving here), and told me I was very nice and that I should take care....Well thank you Mister Waiter Man. 


That was all for me, so I went back to the hostel while some of the others went to do some more exploring.


Sunday: Earlier breakfast and then off to the Vienna Boy's Choir performance.  Well, I didn't realize that it was actually part of a mass...that was sneaky of them.  After around 20 minutes or so I added a tally to the number of masses I've left.  That makes two.  Maybe I can make it three before I leave.  Two other girls and I explored around the rose gardens and bought some books from a really funny, nice lady.  We then bombarded a cafe with tasty food.  Yum.  Meeting back at the hostel, the group departed for a tour of Schönbrunn Palace.  Wow.  I want a palace. That pretty much concluded the trip, though there were so many priceless moments that had to do with people rather than Vienna itself. 


I am falling more in love with Europe as the days go on and I am also falling more in like with the other people here.  It is going to be an interesting day when I close this chapter in my life.  I believe I will have to revisit it often and write into it, more memories and new made memories as my life goes on.  Auf wiedersehen Wien (Until I see you again Vienna)!  


Until I write again!!!     

Nach Wien!

Hallo so bald! (Hello so soon!)

It has been a wonderful day today - little trouble with my feet, a trip to the market with my fellow German students, a shopping trip into Europark (hee...shopping), and only a little bit of rain.  My life is also near complete now that I am the proud owner of Rapunzel Neu Verföhnt (Tangled)! Thus, happiness ensues. 


In more serious news, I am beginning to take note of how soon my time here is going to be over.  I have but two weeks left, and only two weekends, neither of which will be spent here in Salzburg.  I am already missing the city and the people though I haven't even left yet.  My parents had suggested looking into internships or grad school here...(I hope you were serious about that one). : ) 


But I cannot be sad just yet!!! Next on the list of magical adventures is a trip to Vienna.  Vienna is a beautiful city filled with history of Mozart, Freud, and Schubert, multiple museums to see, operas and concert performances, and swing dancing. At least, there is the possibility for me to go swing dancing...hopefully.  You see, I have felt the withdrawal symptoms of having not danced for some time, these past couple of days.   In fact, it has gotten to the point where I had a wonderful dream last night (one of those real life dreams) in which I was swing dancing.  I wish I could remember the dance moves my mystery dancer and I had done, because in my dream they looked/felt really cool.  (This dream now ranks now at the top of my dream list, next to the one I had in which I was black.)  I am hoping to find some place to go one of the nights, but if not, I will still have a chance elsewhere.  Otherwise, I plan on going to an opera, a symphony performance, and a performance by the Vienna Boy's Choir.  It's going to be a wonderful trip.  We will be there 4 days but I am not bringing my computer so unfortunately, I will not be able to post until Monday or Tuesday.  Hopefully there will be plenty of pictures to show and plenty to tell.


Let the next adventure begin! Nach Wien (To Vienna)!


Just so that you aren't bored, here are some more pictures to entertain.


All from Zoo

Llaaaaammmmmmaaa

Dude....where's my car?

CatMonkey is ready to pounce.....

I iz Lion.

No caption needed.

Meet Jodi and Nancy.  Jodi is a sheep.

This is the '"Sheep" in headlights' look.