12 - Metz

Not much?

11 - Barcelona

WEEKEND 11. Barcelona.
Enter TAYLOR and DANIEL.

Friday

• Catch overnight train.

Saturday

• Reach Barcelona around noon.
• First, go to Casa Batló (spectacular architect: Antoni Gaudí)
• Visit the Casa Milá
• Visit Sagrada Familia
• Run into a Colombian snack store! Have buñuelos and empanadas (was on Via Laetania)
• hotel: Saint Jaume Apts, check in. Unbelievable deal: 50€ for weekend, full apartment.
• Montjuic:
• Plaça Espanyol
• Magical Fountains
• MNAC
• Olympic pool, stadium
• Gardens & view of Barcelona
• Poble Espanyol (was closed)
• Metro to Barceloneta. Accident on metro, so walked down Via Laetania -> small city streets with Opera singer!
• Down to port, sat & ate.
• Falafel near Place St. Jaume.
• Walked throgh Barceloneta to the beach.
• Walked the beach to the Gran Casino (near two tall towers).
• Walked by the clubs.
• Headed back to hotel.

Sunday

• Bought bread across the street.
• Metro to Plaça Catalunya
• Down Las Ramblas:
• Baroque Church
• Saw beautiful birds
• Souvenirs
• La Boqueria Market
• Fruit for breakfast.
• Bread store.
• Coconut, nuts, & raisins.
• Sangria, cheap, delicious!
• Lights and electricity in market went out.
• Plaça Reial
• Tortilla Española
• Palau Güell (under restoration)
• Columbus monument & bridge (Ramblas del Mar)
• Metro to Parc Güell:
• Baixanda de la Gloria (escalators)
• Pathway of Columns (tube)
• Terrace: view, sat, & ate. Remember "L'Auberge Espagnol".
• Hall of 100 columns
• Dragon fountain
• 2 buildings/houses & entrance gate.
• Metro to Passeio de Grácia: in search for "pulpo a la gallega" got M&M McFlurry & Hamburger at McDonalds...
• Ran to train to Prot Bow.
• Connection at Narbonne is 2 hours late! It'll be barely in time for our other connection in Metz.
• At Narbonne, train to Metz is 10 minutes late. Then, it'll be 15 minutes late.
• Go get pizza out of train station. It's about midnight.
• Train leaves...without Taylor or Daniel.
• Take immediate train to Paris-Austerlitz.

Monday

• Metro to Gare de l'Est, onto train to Metz.

10 - Paris

WEEKEND 10. Paris.
Enter ...

La Fête National
Versailles

9 - Alps

WEEKEND 9. Lyon and Chamonix.
Enter GARRETT, ...

Lyon
Chamonix
Full Grilled Chicken.

8 - Paris

WEEKEND 8. Paris.
Enter GUSTAVO and DANIEL.

Bus ride. Louvre. Greek column.
...

7 - Route du Vin & Füssen

WEEKEND 7 - Route du Vin, Hohes Schloss, Neuschwanstein Castle.Enter LAUREN, GARRETT, TAYLOR, JOYCE, DAN, JAKE, and DANIEL 

Saturday

• Early, early 6AM #11 bus to train station by Gora, it was raining.
• Arrived at Colmar, headed past garden/square to Tourist Info.
• Went to Monoprix for ham, cheese, & bread breakfast.
• Arrived at bike rental store, 6€/half day.
• Garrett lead the pack out of Colmar towards the famous Route du Vin.
• At edge of Colmar, the girls stopped for a traumatic bathroom break, "with no toiled seats but instead handle bars & a hole in the floor."
• Skipped first town on Route.
• Moved on to second town, where we biked around for a while and then sat for super lunch.
• Best dish: Tartes Flambées.
• ...

Sunday

• ...

6 - Italy

WEEKEND 6. Venezia, Firenze, Pisa, Cinque Terre.
Enter TAYLOR and DANIEL.

Venice
Florence
Pisa
Cinque Terre

5 - Belgium

WEEKEND 5. Brussels and Bruges.
Enter: ...

Brussels
Bruges

4 - Denmark (supposed to be Italy)

WEEKEND 4. Flensburg, Sønderborg, København, and Viborg.Enter TAYLOR and DANIEL (extras: JOYCE and JAKE, at beginning and at end).

Thursday

• Planned to visit Venice, Florence, & Cinque Terre with Joyce and Jake.
• Miss train from Metz. Miss connection to Dijon.
• At train station window, no options to Italy. So ask, "What about trains to Denmark?"
• Made reservations for early morning train to Särbrucken.

Friday

• At train station, found out about a national train employee strike. Train didn't leave.
• We catch next train to Särbrucken, missing all future connections.
• At Särbrucken took next train to Frankfurt.
• At Frankfurt got schedule to Flensburg.
• Arrived at Flensburg, met up with Karen (unbelievable awesome host).
• Drove to Sønderborg, to Karen's dorm.
• Had dinner with danish desert!! Sleep...

Saturday

• Karen brought breakfast.
• Drove to Copenhagen with Karen.
• Arrived at University of Copenhagen. Parked & took bus downtown. Double decker.
• Passed packed soccer stadium.
• Plaza with Swedish soccer fans.
• Walked up and down pedestrian street to Tivoli.
• Ice cream.
• Ate at Turkish restaurant: belly dancer with Taylor.
• Walked down river, saw unicorn building.
• At bus stop, bus doesn't even stop for us! Next bus in 20 minutes.
• Arrive at University of Copenhagen, met cousin, went to room/closet. We basically stayed at the janitor's room.
• Bathroom: at the basement.
• Sleep...

Sunday

• Drove to supermarket, got breakfast. Bakery.
• Parked and walked to square. Pedestrian street again and looked for ice cream.
• Went to the port.
• Saw crazy street brawl.
• Boat tour. Visited:
• New Opera
• Little Mermaid
• Queen House
• replica of David
• "Black diamond" building - new library.
• Hans Christina Anderson's house.
• Cathedral with spiral outside steps. (Unicorn building?)
• Ice cream to car.
• Drove to Viborg (broken GPS). Karen's home town.
• Met Karen's parents & saw house.
• Danish dinner:
• spectacular danish meatballs
• potatoes with parsley cream sauce
• salad with house tomatoes and cheese
• and for desert: danish desert
• Visited Viborg flying club.
• Dad got on airplane but it was too dark
• Saw the german flight stunt team
• Back to house and slept.

Monday

• Breakfast: Rhut Brut and danish cheese, Mom's jam, bread.
• Drove around Viborg:
• saw crazy high schoolers
• oldest church building (1,000 years old)
• train station for tickets & grocery store
• Drove to Sønderborg, picke up stuff and went to port, having about 20 minutes before leaving to catch train.
• Getting off at the port, locked keys in car.
• Panic.
• Call Danish locksmith.
• Arrives 15 minutes later, & tries everything to unlock the car. 10 minutes later, finally, pulls down window and gets the keys.
• Speed to train station, where we miss the train!!!
• Drive speeed to Flensburg, to meet up with the train at the next stop.
• Goodbyes in car, run to train, and catch it!
• Flensburg -> Frankfurts
• Frankfurt -> Hamburg
• Hamburg -> Strasbourg early morning on Tuesday...almost didn't wake up to get off train.
• Meet with Joyce and Jake.
• Breakfast in Strasbourg: Joyce had a blast (haha) of chocolate baniers.

3 - Austria

WEEKEND 3. Salzbourg and Vienna
Enter ...

Salzbourg
Vienna

2 - Strasbourg and Colmar

WEEKEND 2. Strasbourg and Colmar.
Enter DAN, JAKE, JOYCE, TAYLOR, and DANIEL

Friday

• Morning train to Strasbourg.
• Walked to center of town, found the Tourist Information center. Asked for hotels...because Taylor forgot to research any hotels!! Instead she had a bunch of notes on movie theaters.
• Strasbourg cathedral: beautiful, gothic, and massive! Here everyone enjoys the cathedral, while Joyce & Daniel choose hotels to visit.
• Walk down the street, past a merry-go-round and festival, to main street (pretty buildings & pastry shops on the way)
• Find best hotel ever: 10€ a night, in perfect location.
• Walked up, saw red church, "Palais de la Justice."
• Catch the tram towards the river and Petit France. Daniel tell everyone to get off, but doors close and he then stays on the tram.
• Lovely walk around the inner city, by the river, trying to find someplace to eat.
• Found amazing restaurant by the river called "Au Pont St-Martin." Sausage and sauerkraut.
• Walk back to cathedral, with a short night-stroll before sleep.

Saturday

• Pastries for breakfast.
• Walked past cathedral to a small market. Then went down and walked by the river (saw these "Avril Lavigne guys").
• Found a square (supposed to have a market) and had crèpes.
• Got on a tram NOT towards the chocolate museum.
• Got on a tram towards the chocolate museum.
• At tram stop, asked a girl (with the best french accent ever), but she couldn't tell us where the chocolate museum was.
• Figured out bus to museum, took the bus.
• At bus stop, walked down like a MILE up & down the road to the chocolate museum.
• Chocolate museum: very disappointed because we thought we weren't getting any chocolate.
• We ended up getting a bit of chocolate at the end.
• Return journey to the hotel.
• Chill at hotel.
• To Strasbourg cathedral:
• Group of fun street musicians
• Climbed cathedral to top (and Jake ran down!)
• "Nuit des Musées": Free museum night
• Alsacian museum or something History.
• Choir at Cathedral.
• Contemporary Art Museum.
• Back to town.
• Amazing Kebabs for dinner (best kebabs all summer).

Sunday

• Train to Colmar...
• ...where everything was closed. Sunday.
• Walk past garden/square, where there seemed to be a bike race/event.
• Ate good famous cheese pretzels and panini's.
• Ate near main church.
• Old crazy man, with hat, visits and talks. Really entertaining!
• Musée d'Unterlinden.
• Ran to train, to return to Metz.

1 - Luxembourg

Flight.
Luxembourg.