European Adventures!

I got back last night from a trip through Europe with two of my roommates, Kira and Erica. I have a ton of stories, and even more pictures, so I'll just cover the highlights in this entry. Each city has a corresponding facebook album that I've linked to, so check out the pictures if you want!

Our first stop was Vienna, Austria. The highlights:
-Our hostel, the Wombat. It was colorful, clean, and really funky. Also, they had the whole hostel running business down.

- Seeing the opera! We did the very Viennese thing of getting standing room tickets to the opera. This required us waiting in line for a few hours, bringing scarfs to tie our spots on the railing, and standing for the entirety of the 2 1/2 hour opera. Sounds a little bit like torture, no? Well, it was. But it was also really cool to have done. The opera was "The Flying Dutchman" and it was really strange, but I guess I get the impression that most operas are really strange.

- The Vienna Boys Choir- this actually wasn't that great, but I'm glad that we went. We got cheap seats that meant we couldn't really see the choir or any part of the chapel. But still neat.

- Food! There was a lot of pork in Vienna, so that was a bit hard to navigate around but we did have some really good food- primarily wiener schnitzel, Gulash, and dumplings. The desserts were also not bad, and we managed to make our way to the Sacher Hotel to try the famous Sachertorte.

- The Schonbrunn Palace- we took a carriage ride around the grounds and it was absolutely beautiful. We also did a 30 minute tour inside that was definitely worth it.

-Shopping. We found the main shopping street in Vienna, the Innerstaat, and enjoyed walking around and shopping. We also needed to do some shopping because we were not nearly prepared for the cold.

The photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006170&l=389e0&id=1229460136

Copenhagen! The highlights:
-The best part of Copenhagen for me, of course, was seeing Chuck, Lynsey, and Grace (for only a few minutes! sad times!). I got to meet Chuck and Lynsey's host families and see where they are living- and I stayed with Chuck at his house. Even though our visit was short, I got to spend a good amount of time with Chuck and Lynsey and had a really good time!

- The public transportation system: ok, maybe this is not a highlight- but I definitely got to know it well. Also it's a million times better than Israel's system so that was nice. I actually liked being able to understand the train system somewhat, and get around a bit on my own (especially when Chuck was lame and made me go into the city alone... kidding)

- The round tower! Its this tower in the city that was built so that the king or ruler or whoever of the time could ride to the top on his horse! So it was basically a big spiral all the way to the top. Pretty cool. Also, the views were great.

- The weather during our visit was pretty horrible, but I really liked Copenhagen! I would definitely go back- maybe during the summer would be nice.

Album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006171&l=871db&id=1229460136

Paris! Highlights:
-First I'll say that I really loved Paris and didn't have nearly enough time to do everything I wanted. So I'll definitely be back.

- Free tour! Our hostel had flyers for a free tour of paris- it's given by college students who work solely off of tips. The tour took almost 4 hours but was definitely worth it- it was a great tour! I saw more of paris than I ever could have hoped.

- Notre Dame- since it was the first friday of the month, they had what they believe to be the crown of Christ out to be seen by the public. I didn't go up to see it in person, because it was mainly there for Christians to approach it and kiss it, but it was neat to watch people honor the relic.

- Monmartre Tour- this one was not free but I decided to go on it anyways. It was really nice- we got to see the cafe where Amelie worked in the movie (as well as the park and grocery store in the movie), the restaurant where Picasso traded his paintings for food, Van Gogh's apartment, and the beautiful Sacre Coer Church. It was really nice.

-The Louvre- it was really great to go, but overall I found the Lourve overwhelming and the Mona Lisa slightly disappointing. Still, I got to see some pieces of artwork that I studied in art history, so that was really cool.

- Things I wish I had time to see: The Musae D'Orsay- I tried to go, but the line was too long! I heard from 5 or more different people that it is the best museum in Paris, so I'm sad that I missed it!
The top of the Eiffel tour- the lines were also too long for that too, which was also a bummer. Oh well, i guess I have a reason to go back now!

Album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006172&l=79e60&id=1229460136

Now I am back in Jerusalem, briefly, and classes started last night. It should be an interesting semester- and I think I'm looking forward to being in real classes again.