Germany

This post via Brian.  We arrived in Munich on Friday at noon vis Montreal, Paris.  We took the train into the city and traveled to our hotel by way of a great subway system.  Our hotel was a very well appointed and comfortable European style hotel.  We met Amy's, and our, friend Theressa in Marieplatz on Friday afternoon with her friend Lisa, after which we toured the city and had dinner at a fabulous beer garden.

Saturday morning, early, Amy arrived from Fierenze and met us at our hotel on Saturday morning. After a fabulous European breakfast, we toured many parts of the city, some of which we had already seen, climbed to a high church steeple for a view of the city, then went to a beer garden for lunch.  We then toured an historic palace for the afternoon.  Lastly on Saturday we went to a beer, craft and music festival at the Olympic Park.  It was a great time getting to eat many new foods and getting to see a great variety of new crafts.

Sunday we took the train to Theressa's home town of Erharting in Bavaria.  Once there we went to Burghausen on the Salz river and toured the castle.  It was a long, 1 KM, castle of great historic value and mostly untouched by the second world war.  This is significant because many structures in Bavarian cities and towns were damaged by American bombs.  That evening we joined Theressa's family, all of us dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing, and went to a local fair.  It was very much like a Vermont country fair, except for the food and the beer, and a very entertaining and unique experience.

Monday, we rose early to drive to Nieswanstein, a 3 hr drive, to see the classic castle of new origin(1800's) that was the prototype for the Disney castle.  It is the castle that you have all seen with the Bavarian Alps in the background.  It was a beautiful day with weather and views to do the site justice.  We did extensive hiking around the site and saw the castle from many different points of view.Lastly, we drove home through the Austrian Alps and the rolling farm land of southern Bavaria.  What beautiful country, with tidey farms, well kept houses, and great roads. Once we returned to Erharting we joined Theressa's family at the local beer garden for local beer and gastronomic delicasies.

Today, we drove to Salzberg, toured the city.  Nothing of great import, but a none the less beautiful city located at the base of the Austrian Alps.  On the way home we did a quick tour of Hanger 7 the collection of aircraft and automobiles(Formula 1 and NASCAR) autos of the owner of Red Bull. We finished our trip with a swim in a local lake to cool us off from the hot weather.We ended the day with a family dinner at Theressa's home with her family, with the best chicken that I have ever had. It was  harvested earlier in the day and cooked on the spot.

Wednesday, we are off to Erlangen, where Theressa's attends school.  We will let you know what we find there.

Bye Florence

I need to keep this short because I'm leaving for the train station in an hour. My parents should be in Munich now, but I haven't heard from them yet. My exams went pretty well, I'm just glad to be done. Yesterday afternoon I went to the Medici chapels and they were amazing!! After that I packed. Today I just packed and then went to the historic soccer match, which was AMAZING!!! It was so cool. You should all look up a little bit of it on youtube. Basically its guys wrestling and beating on each other and throwing a ball around. I saw two guys leave the field on stretchers, but then I had to leave so I could come back in time to get everything ready to leave. I'll post tomorrow once I'm with my parents! woohoo for a 7.5 hour train ride!!

--Amy

last week

I need to keep this quick because I have two finals tomorrow, but I just wanted to update you guys. Monday I had classes and then went to my aunt's house for dinner. It was just as fun as last time and the food was excellent!! On Tuesday in cooking class I ate sea food! We had pasta with tomatoes and clams and then my group made stuffed mussels. I tried everything and loved it! Today I went shopping with Lisi to buy my presents for my parents and I hung out with her for a little while. Really thats all of the interesting stuff that has happened this week. I need to start packing and I'm a little afraid that I have too much stuff!! I'm definitely not ready to leave Florence on Friday and its coming up too fast!! I'm sorry this is so short but for now I need to keep studying!!

--Amy

Back in Florence, again

Today we took a tour of the Jewish ghetto and other not as touristy parts of Venice which was cool. Then we had a couple of hours free to get lunch and do whatever before hopping on the bus and driving back to Florence. I made my risotto again for dinner so I can try to use up all of my food i've bought since I've been here and it was absolutely delicious. I unpacked, and now I have to get to work on my paper due on tuesday!! This is all I'm writing for now, because I seriously have to get to work. Happy father's day to any dads who read this blog, and especially my dad!! I love you and miss you and CAN NOT wait to see you bright and early Saturday morning!! 

I'll write again tomorrow

--Amy

Venezia!

Yesterday morning we got on a bus and drove to Venice! We grabbed a really quick lunch before seeing a blown glass demonstration. After that we toured the Doge's palace and the basilica and then had a break before dinner. Our dinner was pretty good, but definitely not like all of the other group meals we've had. But I tried fish!! Today we walked around the city a bunch and we have the rest of the day free. I shopped with some girls and didn't spend too much... just bought a small glass, a pair of earrings and bracelet. I think I'm going to try to find a replacement pinky ring because all of mine keep breaking :( We're on our own for dinner tonight and I think we already scoped out our place. I have my heart set on some four cheese pasta!! Hopefully I'll get some work done on my papers this afternoon, and just keep it low key. tomorrow morning we're doing another walking tour before driving back to Florence. I'll post again once we get back tomorrow night, and hopefully we'll have our actual internet back so we don't have to keep stealing from the other building!!

--Amy

Wednesday and Thursday

Yesterday was an average day. We went to the Palazzo Vecchio in my first class, and he just lectured in my second class. I did however somehow end up getting an 89 on my hard midterm!! After classes, I came back to the apartment and got a decent amount of work done on my papers before going over to my aunt's house for dinner. Febrizzio made pasta with bacon and it was really good. Then we had a delicious salad and some sliced meat. For dessert we had gelato over fresh blueberries and some dessert wine. Today, we did a walking tour of some Renaissance palaces, and went to Pitti Palace in my second class, and now I'm working on my research paper. Tonight is just going to be a chill night of laundry and packing for Venice tomorrow!! Not sure if I'll be able to get internet in Venice, but if I do I'll try to post at least once while I'm there.

--Amy

cooking class

As the title implies, that was the only interesting part of the day. This morning in my first class he lectured for a little while and then we went to Santa croce, which was pretty cool, but its nowhere near as amazing as other churches I've been in here in Florence. I had a pretty easy midterm in my second class and then we analyzed some texts by machiavelli, and honestly, that was really boring. Then I tried to get a head start on my paper, which I actually have started writing. Then cooking class!! Tonight we had a tomato soup type thing, i think? I thought it was supposed to be tomato soup, but it was dry and clumpy, so it wasn't really soup, but whatever it was, it was really good! Our second course was a tomato bean dish on the side of fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, and fried zucchini. I made the chicken, tomatoes and zucchini with my group. The bean dish was better though, because everyone has had fried stuff like that. But we fried it in olive oil so it was a little different. For dessert we had an orange cake with almonds on top (but of course I couldn't eat the almonds). It was interesting to say the least because it was kind of hard, so we were supposed to dip it in a sweet dessert wine. But it was still really good. Sorry today was so boring, but its going to be like that for a little while since I have so much work to do in such a short amount of time!! I'll post again before we leave for Venice on Friday!

--Amy