Melissa: Feeling Small

Vienna is really just as I had imagined. I conferred with Elisa and Jesse about what the right word was to describe the majority of the buildings within the city center and "grandiose" didn´t work because there are a lot of grand things in Europe. "Majestic", no. "Royal", no. I think I might just have to settle with the Lonely Planet description of the buildings being "Marzipan-like". Vienna has made Elisa and I revisit our favorite phrase to say in unison from our visit to Rome three years ago "this looks important..." as everything is big in scale and just dominating and ornate.

What are some highlights? Hmmm...learning about the Empress "SiSi" who has a cult following and whose pictures adorn many souvenir shops was kind of cool. She was the beginning of the modern celebrity (but royal so much cooler than the Paris Hilton of today). She dieted like crazy and had her daily exercises, wrote poetry about wanting to be free and was assassinated to make her even more available for idol status. The SiSi exhibit was arguably less cool than learning about the crazy dining habits of the Viennese royals. They had some ceremonial meals where they didn´t even eat the food- all meals lasted no longer than 45 minutes but where 30 courses and everyone´s meal was considered over when the Emperor was done. We were satisfied with our sausage stand lunch...

After a couple of palaces and museums we were ready for some alternative activities. We stopped by a daily market to pass by the dozens of identical Mediterranean stands and happily ate our purchases in a nearby park. It has been pretty hot here so we have been seeing cool shade whenever possible. We have also been doing a lot of walking- at least three miles a day- so yesterday we treated ourselves to a tram ride around the city walls to give our feet a rest and to still be able to see the city around us.

As far as night time activities go:
The first night we chilled and went to bed by 12.
The second night we hung out in our hostel´s bar and chilled with some Brits from our room and challenged some Brazilian guys to foosball, finally gathering a posse to go out with. We went to a club called Flex. We knew that there was a different theme every night and that the theme tonight was Electro. What we didnt know is that the cover was 10 euro and that Electronic music could be so boring. We were severely disappointed because it was a cool space and fully packed with people. Promising, but we just couldnt get into it. We ended the night with a fatty sausage that we could not help blushing at after seeing how the sausage was slid into the bread encasing- so mature, I know.
Last night, our third night, we decided to have a very authentic Viennese meal of Chinese food. I think the restaurant was appropriately named Happy Buddha and I rubbed my belly at the end of the feast and understood why Buddha was so fat and happy. BBQ pork, Cantonese Duck and Bok Choy really hit the spot after so many other greasy alternatives. We took the metro into one of the main platzes afterward to walk off our meal and engage the city night vibe. The coolest thing we saw was probably this spontaneous street performance- two white guys were singing American hits all night but we caught a song where two black guys decided to remix the white guys Dylan song making for a very cohesive, raw performance. These are the moments that remind me why I fly miles and miles away from family, friends and familiarity.

Jesse left us this afternoon after a morning of coffee sipping and ice cream counting and good people watching in general. So Elisa and I are own our own again and planning a meal of 50 cent zucchini that we picked up at the local Penny Store- We leave for Bratislava tomorrow morning so we shall see how tonight ends up going. The great thing about being in a traveling mindset is that you are open to any number of possibilities.

Elisa: Austrian Nights

Elisa and Jesse, alternating navigators of the trip, scour the maps while Melissa sits back and documents


Melissa in front of the giant screen set up for the annual Opera Film Festival


Draped in hanging paper at the newest exhibit at the art nouveau Secession Building


At the summer palace gardens

We have been in Vienna for 3 nights now, and each one has been quite a bit different... The first night was by far the lamest, as we were very tired and arriving from munich. Jesse went to his hostel and Melissa and I went to ours, met our cool British roommates, stayed up late chatting and having a beer, and then went to bed. The next night was a bit wilder. Jesse had checked in to our hostel, so the three of us got dressed up a bit and ready for the night. Then we headed to the bar of our hostel, where there were many people to talk to while drinking...you guessed it, more beer! After playing some foosball, a big group of us took the metro to a club on the edge of the Danube River called Flex. We had to pay a 10 euro cover charge and wait in a long line (on a Tuesday!), but we had a lot of fun dancing once we finally got inside. It was sweaty and hot and the techo music got old, but the people watching was great and it was a really fun time. Around 2 in the morning, we left and got some great sausage at a stand, which really hit the spot after all the dancing excersise! When, after a bus, a walk, and a taxi, we finally got home, we slept like babies...last night was also lovely, but in a calmer, more sedated way. The three of us just had dinner at a very good Chinese restaurant (we were so sick of sausage!). Then we took the metro into the center of town and walked around the old street and admired the lights and beautiful buildings. It was a wonderfully pleasant evening, with people milling about and the air warm and fragrant. A particularly nice moment was when we saw three guys playing Sunday Morning (by the Velvet Underground)on their guitar, and three other ghetto black guy jumped in and rapped very well between choruses. It was so great and spontaneous that people in the street clapped when it was over.

Anyway, Jesse left thise morning to meet his parents in Munich again, and we are leaving to Bratislava tomorrow morning. We are going to cook in the hostel kitchen (green beans and zucchini) and see if we can chat and meet people in the process. Maybe we will share our food? But maybe not! :) Either way, nights here in European hostels are a lot of fun.

Melissa: Munchen musing

Our reunion at the beergarten where we got our first schnitzel


at a metro stop, snails with our homes on our backs, waiting to meet our host


Alex's car pulled off of the road to take a moment to capture the lovely Bavarian countryside


A glimpse of the beautiful (but slimy)lake we took a dip in.

Writing from our newest hostel in Vienna and hoping to catch up with this blog before time gets away from me. You would be surprised how much one can do in a mere three days. In retrospect, Munich was a nice city. But sort of nice in that way that girls say "he is so nice" but we really know what that means. We actually got a more well rounded experience of the city because we came at it from two different angles- one from a corporate feeling hostel near the train station and the other from a small apartment in a Munich suburb while couchsurfing. Although it might be debatable which experience sounds more worthwhile or fun in the least, the latter was hands down more rewarding. Actually we have one person in particular to thank about us even having a place to stay the second night. Without the very high recommendation that he gave elisa on the couch surfing website we would not have been accepted by our host (who told us later that the high praise elisa received was why he took a chance on taking 4 people into his small place for two nights). Thank you Bocefus, wherever you are.

Anyway, rain caused us to remain in our Wombats hostel with the other backpackers who were too wimpy or unmotivated to go out in the rain. Elisa and I had just been reunited with Jesse and Cal so we had enough catching up to do to provide a worthy excuse of falling into this categorz. But hanging around travelers who are all 20 something and all intoxicated, listening to American music, and trying to create some new form of interaction is not always that stimulating. We were in bed by 12:30:)

The next night proved to be a lot more exciting. Alex, our awesome host who is a parttime freelance editor for technology pieces and also a partime DJ, had invited us to the club he was working at that night. So after a day of palace touring and cake eating we went with him to a local Bavarian restaurant and tried potato and bread dumplings as well as this sweet sauerkraut that was actually quite good and then we worked our way to the venue. After some espresso drinking and efforts to rouse up some energy, we made it to the riverside complex that was starting to be speckled with real live German locals. Most of the ones that stood outside of the club, that was sponsored by a local clothing company, looked young and I think I had one of my first experiences where I felt old at a club. Hmmm...didnt care for it much. But we got in and Alex hooked us up with free beer for the night (and even smuggled in some gin and tonic we had mixed earlier for us- such a nice guy) in between his DJing. The rest of the night was a haze of really good songs and much needed dancing time. We really knew most of the songs- as most of them were in English and largely American- but it was cute to hear a German song come on and then see all the locals start singing. German hipsters are strange. We taxied home happy campers.

Well I have 6 more minutes on this computer before my time is up and I need to get to bed so Elisa and Jesse and I can have enough energy to go out and start seeing Vienna tomorrow. Looking through our LonelyPlanet on the way here stressed how much there is to do in Vienna- coffee, wine, Freud, Klimt, Sacher torte, the Governator. We have much more in store for us.

Elisa: Leaving Munich tonight!

the Heidelberg castle

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Elisa and our host Ben before our cake feast


us after the downpour


us before the downpour

Hello all. So much has happened since we last wrote, and unfortunately, according to the timer on this internet station, I only have 7 minutes to write about it.This is just about Heidelburg, with more details to come about Munich.

Melissa and I arrived to Heidelburg that day after Frankfurt, and locked our bags up in the station because we planned to meet Julie and her boyfriend, who we were couchsurfing with, late that night. We explored a lot of the city, which was beautiful and sunny, with a gorgeous river running through it and a castle rising out of the wooded mountains above it. The cobblestone streets were merry and we got some gelato in a small cafe. That night, we met Julie and her boyfriend Ben, who are Americans living in Germany and serving in the army. They were incredibly friendly and quickly offered us a glass of wine and chatted a bit with us before showing us to a nice pull out couch.

The next day, Ben took us to see a beautiful garden by the schloss (castle), and Melissa and I wandered around in the sunshine of this manicured park. Reaching the other side, after much walking and far from any shelter, it started to pour. Torrents of rain basically drenched us until we were like dripping rodents, and we crawled to a coffee shop to warm and dry ourselves under the hand dryer in the bathroom. We were happy when Ben came to pick us up again and took us home to change. We then visited the main castle of Heidelberg, up in the mountains, riding through the beautiful hillside in Ben´s little car. The castle was in half ruin and the view of the town and river below was beautiful. That night, we cooked Ben and Julie some Thai curry and bought them a bottle of wine. We then went with them to the house of one of their friends, who was having a birthday. There, we stayed up late singing kareokee/guitar hero and drinking wine and chatting with our hosts. It was lovely.

After saying goodbye to Julie and Ben, we took the train to Munich. Cal and Jesse were supposed to meet us at the train station, but we had given them the wrong time and after much confusion, didnt meet them until hours later at the hostel! It was such a wonderful thrill seeing them, as it had been weeks since I had seen Cal and months since I had seen Jesse. And seeing them in such a foreign place was so exciting and yet so comforting! Like coming home to something new. It was beautiful sunny day, with occasional showers, and we did what any good German would do-- we went to a beer garten! But Melissa can talk more about that.

One thing I would like to mention about Munich, more in depth, was a particularly amazing day: yesterday. The four of us decided to couch surf with Alex, which I am sure Melissa will touch on in her post. In the morning, we walked to a beautiful art gallery by the river, which housed Van Gough´s Sunflowers and a beautiful Klimt painting and many other wonders. It was only one euro admission on Sunday. Afterwards, we lounged on the grass in the sun and ate some delicious sorbet while chatting and people watching. The four of us then wandered to the English Garten, a huge urban park larger then Hyde or Central park, complete with nude sunbathers, many beer gartens and bike paths, horses, and even a strange wooden pagoda with a traditional German band playing music in it. After a pleasant walk there, Alex and his adorably kind girlfriend Susanna came to pick us up with their car.

The day got even more wonderful from there. They took us to a beautiful lake about 30 minutes outside of town. Not only was the lake incredible, but the drive (Alex took the scenic route) was stunning. We were awed at the quaint villages dotting the Bavarian country side, the traditional homes, forests and mountains-- so close to Munich! We were out in the country within 5 minutes of being on the autobahn! Our hosts took the time to stop so we could take pictures, and told us all about Bavaria and their country in general, answering many questions and asking many back about California and the US.

The lake itself was perfect. The water was surrounded with trees, the sun barely lingered in the sky, and the families were far and few between, leaving us a perfect patch of grass to settle our blankets and snacks on. We all put on our bathing suits and went on a giggly and invigorating swim, splashing and relaxing before get out shivering and scarfing down our snack on the blankets. It was a perfect afternoon with people who, literally 24 hours before, had been complete strangers. They opened their arms to us and showed us a Bavaria we could never have seen on our own. Couchsurfing is revolutionary. It is the opposite of alienation and of tourism. I cannot emphasize enough how inspiring it was to see a system so successful in its goals.

Now we are in Vienna and the city awaits us in the morning!

Melissa: border crossing

elisa and christine prepare a lovely lasagna lunch

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Melissa in front of a spice stand at the biweekly Narbonne market

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Elisa and Juliette in one of the many sweets stores in touristy Provence

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We pose for a picture before the amazing fireworks show in Carcassone

Well it was a rude awakening- quite literally-going from living in a castle to living in a ten person dorm room. Okay so technically elisa's aunt's house is not a castle but it might as well be with the tall fortress walls and moat (okay so it is a swimming pool). I awoke this morning to elisa's head peering into my bunk bed. After checking the clock I signaled to her that it was only 7:30 and we werent supposed to get up for at least another hour but she was looking around for her earplugs in the bed that she made but didnt sleep in (because when we retired to our room last night around 1:30 she experienced a Goldilocks sort of moment and said to me "there is someone sleeping in my bed!"). I was in and out of sleep anyway because when you are sleeping in a bunk bed that squeaks and the person below you gets up to leave at 5am, there is really no way to sleep soundly. I am starting to realiye how much of a burden it is to be a light sleeper on a backpcking trip. My ear plugs are no match for hostel rooms. So we got up early and took advantage of the free breakfast buffet. We mourned for a moment over our farewell to good french baguette and then tried as best we could to welcome in whole grain sliced bread. Also, if you put enough milk and sugar into your coffee it can be ok.

Yes, we are far from southern France it seems but what littel we have experienced of Germany so far has been quite pleasant. The woman at the airport who gave us free plastic spoons to eat the tabouleh that elisa had packed for our dinner, the bus ride from the ryanair-way-the-hell-out-there airport into Frankfurt was nice and getting to our hostel from the train station was easy as pie. The landscape felt distinctly different here than southern france with seemingly boundless stretches of trees and lots of clean cut looking plots of wheat, corn, barley. The bus driver was a bit creepy but he said "Danke shen" enough times to where I think I can pronounce it properly now. Even the German beer has been nice to us so far. At the bar of ths hostel, amongst a bunch of music playing, hot heat, and the air of new begginings we sipped our beer with a new friend and thus began our departure from vacation mode into traveling mode.

Pics from Southern France shown above.

Summer 2009. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW BEGINNING

For those loyal enough to have followed us back in the days of Europe Round 1, with Joy Makdisi in 2006 (you know who you are), we are pleased to report that a new blog is now in session. Melissa and I are planning on conquering Central Europe this summer, and we will be reporting back to you, faithful readers, the great majority of our adventures.

Our first stop is Frankfurt, where we are now. After spending a wonderful few days in Paris with my father (and much good food: Anne´s brandade de moru, many sweets, cheese, etc that my father bought us, which included a confounding existential crisis in both the yogurt and cookie section of the supermarket), we took the train down to southern France to visit my family for a week (more good food: homemade fromage blanc, Flora´s macaron, Phillipe´s poached peaches, Nathalie´s poulet au curry, Fabienne´s coca, Tata Jocelyn´s cake aux olives, my mom´s lasagna...). We visited Aix en Provence, and little villages in Provence, Carcassone for Bastille day, and generally lounged by the pool and the lunch or dinner table ad nauseum. My kind of vacation.

But now, we are beginning the second leg of our journey, which I described to a good friend as the "lock up our bags neurotically and find our beds in the dark" part of our trip: hostelling and backpacking. Last night, as Melissa will soon report, was a stark reminder of the vast chasm that separates staying comfortably with one's family and paying to sleep in a bunk beded room with 7 strangers. We will also be couchsurfing a bit as well (look it up if you arent sure what that is- it is a really cool concept, but we havent tried it out yet...): tonight we are scheduled to be sleeping at Julie´s house in Heidelburg.

Feel free to leave us messages, feedback, advice, scoldings, whatever. More soon!