I'm back home now, but no worries--my blog isn't! I'm still reliving the memories of my travels and study abroad experience through my pictures that I am just now getting a chance to go through. My last trip of the semester was probably one of my favorites--six of us girls, Anna, Matie, Erin, Liz, Hillary, and I went to Munich and Salzburg for the first weekend of April. It was just the kind of trip we all needed--very low-key and without a specific agenda. We had yet to experience the German culture, so it was a new and unique experience for all of us. The language barrier was quite rough, and I'm sure we looked like complete idiots trying to order off the all-German menus, but it was hilarious nonetheless. We realized upon getting to Munich that we didn't even know how to say "Munich" in German (or "hello" or "thank you" or any of the other basics for that matter!), so in our attempts to read the German spelling ("Munchen"), we began to call it "Munchkin." We even all bought these super touristy winter hats that said Munchen and wore them all around the city. Let's just say we got quite a few stares, but we could have cared less!
In Munich, we went to Marianplatz, the main square buzzing with activity, visited some churches in and around the square, and climbed a nearby tower overlooking the whole city. I honestly couldn't tell you the names of these churches or specific places, partly because I can't remember, but mostly because I cannot even attempt to spell them in German! I do know, however, that each and every church we visited was unique and definitely measured up to the European standard for Catholic Churches (I've seen my fair share of churches this year!). Later in the afternoon, we walked through the markets and tasted some delicious food from an all-natural stand where the lady explained (in English, thankfully!) what everything was and how it is made. Our favorite were the dried "apfel" chips of which we purchased many! After the markets, we made our way to the English gardens, a park that is even bigger than Central Park, for a leisurely stroll in our munchkin hats :)
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| View of Marianplatz from the clock tower |
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| Climbing the clock tower |
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| Tasting goodies in the German markets |
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| We even tried on Bavarian Dirndls (even though the sign in the dressing room said not to take pictures!) |
That evening for dinner
we went to the Hofbräuhaus, the famous beer hall in Munich. It was a pretty entertaining experience since none of the six of us are major beer drinkers, but on the menu, you have to order beer by the liter! We ordered lots of food to go with it including a few too many giant soft pretzels and slowly nursed our beers all evening until it became almost impossible to put another piece of food in our mouths. It took a little help from the other girls, but I did manage to finish my full liter of beer--and it was good too! I just know that after the beer plus the several pretzels and large portions of meat, I definitely can't eat German food every day! It was good, but I was glad for our Italian food on a
daily basis...my stomach is much better adjusted to it!
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| One liter...here we go! |
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| Sporting our "Munchkin" hats at the Hofbrauhaus! |
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| We did it! |
The next morning we packed up our bags and boarded our train to Salzburg, which is about an hour and a half away from Munich. I had been looking forward to going to Austria all semester, and it definitely met--and exceeded--my expectations! We couldn't see the hills very well because it was a bit foggy and cloudy, but the town itself was very quaint and easy to see in a couple days' time. We only had Saturday there so we just made up our plans as we went, hitting some, but not all, of the Sound of Music sights while enjoying the local culture. Our day started with a very necessary coffee stop, which turned into a very fun local experience. We went to this adorable bakery/breakfast place where we had apple strudel and vanilla chai lattes. The waitresses didn't speak much English but they brought out a few copies of the translated menu for us and we got by :) We liked the place so much that we came back the following morning!
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| Yumm...wish I could go back to this moment in time! |
In the early part of the day, we wandered around the city on a self-guided tour to find all that Salzburg has to offer. We found some of the Sound of Music sites, a couple churches, and then even climbed up to the fortress to enjoy the beautiful views of the city outstretched before our eyes.
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| Fountain that Maria dances around while singing "I Have Confidence" |
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| The cemetery that Hollywood used as the model for the scene when the Von Trapp family hides from the Nazis |
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| Climbing up to the fortress |
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| Amazing view at the top of the fortress |
During the afternoon, we went to the Nonnberg Abbey where the real Maria lived and studied (as well as where parts of the movie were filmed), the string puppets exhibit, and the Mirabell Gardens, the site of the Do-Re-Me scene with Maria and the children.
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| Outside the gates of the Abbey asking for Fraulein Maria! |
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| Dancing around the fountain like the Vonn Trapp children :) |
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| Enjoying the Mirabell Gardens |
That night, we channeled all our Sound of Music energy and excitement into actually watching the film which is shown on a nightly basis at our hostel. It was so strange to watch it after seeing many of the filming locations. We were kept very entertained by an interesting guy who worked at the hostel and kept on coming in to the room where the movie was showing making random comments. Matie even snapped a few photos of this character--this one may or may not be my favorite pic of the whole trip!!
I loved this trip because I really got to know the girls I traveled with better. Between our imitating Portia Prebys and Riccardo Riccardi, sporting Munchkin hats 24/7 like total tourists, trying on German Oktoberfest costumes, singing and acting out the Sound of Music our whole way through Salzburg, and attempting/failing to pronounce German words, I don't think I've laughed so much in one weekend's time! Shoutout to my Smick Munchkins + Hillary--thanks for one of the best weekends ever!
