Donkey Chain Mister

Two weeks ago I went on my last trip of the semester. Traveling with the family doesn't count for two reasons. 1. the semester will be over 2. it will be much more comfortable and less stressful than traveling alone or with friends. But i'm sure the suspense is killing you. My last trip of the semester was to Munich Germany for springfest. Springfest is like Octoberfest's little brother. Still cool but not as old or as big. But if you know what Octoberfest is then you know what Springfest is. And to answer your question; Yes, Springfest was a sausage and beer fueled ruckus. We are all lucky to be alive.

First let me speak of Munich. Munich is the capital of the Bavarian region of Germany. Let me warn you Bavarians are Bavarians first Germans second. They made that clear. They have alot to be proud of. Bavaria has a very powerful and rich history and a ridiculous countryside. Spring time in southern Germany is beautiful, I can vogue. Munich has a lot of history but the city itself is pretty modern due to a necessary reconstruction after WW2 (way to go Hitler). Speaking of Hitler, Munich was the city where the Nazi party had its start and where Hitler first tried to overthrow Germany, was jailed and eventually did take over Germany...and we all know what happen after that....best tea party ever. Public transportation, museums, parks, food, the beer, soccer team, all of it great. Munich is a great place to visit my faithful readers.

Day one quick synopsis: Went on a bike tour of the city. It was apologetically tourist but I was glad we did it. Munich was such a big city that we saw alot of things we wouldn't have had the time to see. We saw the sights, stopped some traffic and got some good jokes form our Irish tour guide (okay maybe I was the only one laughing) Highlights of the tour A piece of the Berlin Wall, The Hofbrauhaus; one of the oldest beer halls in Germany (500 years) and the location of Hitlers first failed coup ( had lunch there with my friends), The English Park; 8 times bigger than central park. Complete with multiple fake rivers. By far the biggest and coolest park i've seen in  all of Europe. In the middle of the bike tour we stopped in the Chinese Garden, the second largest beer garden in Munich. It could hold 3,000 people. There they sold real German food and 3 types of local beer; only sold by the liter....yes liter. Needless to say things got interesting on the bike tour after a visit to the beer garden. On the way back to the bike shop we stopped by a section of a fake river where the rocks made a continuous wave and some dudes surfing it. It was awesome.

Now the main attraction. What we really came to Munich for: Springfest. Springfest was first a giant carnival with rides, food stands games, everything. Think of your local county fair and then think more German and more awesome. There are two Tents where the party is. One tent that is owned by the Hafbrauhaus, is fancy and is by reservation only. The second one, has a rock band playing, all the young people and beer everywhere. In The mugs, on the tables, on the floor, and guaranteed to be on your shirt.

The tent had thousands of people in it, all drinking tasty tasty local beer by the Liter (again beer only sold by the liter) signing along with band. Standing on the tables, dancing on the benches, yelling "Prost" (german word for toast) and hitting their mugs together. I know this sentence can't do it any justice but IT WAS FLIPPIN AWESOME.

Both Friday and Saturday night were spent in the tents with my friends. Both American and German. With the lubricant of beer making new friends was too easy. Both nights I showed up with my Americans but by the time I had my first Liter in hand I had made new friends. This was made easy by the fact that young Germans and most young eastern Europeans speak good English. They are very educated. They are also very nice once they become your friend, making you eat this, pouring their beer into yours. And about every five seconds we were all yelling Prost for one reason of another.

It was an awesome weekend. I will exclude my story about getting lost in the city my second night. I'll just say its a story... next time you see me and i'll tell you about it. Be on the look out for a video I took while in the Beer Tent and my post about our trip to the Concentration Camp in Dachau.

Its my last week in Florence so I'll do my best to post before I leave. If not I'll be writing from Paris and London.

Legend of Mr. Rager - Kid Cudi (this is the song I put up in my headphones when i'm going to meet my friends at night)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Gv12FvkCo

Eclipse - Uno Hype

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq1hkjfo5cU

Truth - Alexander

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_atFMCUJ1o

Piece of Pisa

I took a third trip up to cinque for a few days to see my Friends Taylor Phillips and Katie Waldie. Both girls are old friends from way back when. It was really fun and kinda odd to be hanging out with people from home in a place like cinque terre. Its not your expected company, but it was welcome company. However I failed to take any pictures of my few days up there. But I did take pictures of my stop in Pisa. Pisa is but an hour away from Florence but I have never gotten a chance to see the sites. On my Way home from cinque I had to transfer trains in Pisa and decided Now was my chance to spend a few hours in the city and see that tower that always looks like its about to fall. You know that one.

Historically Pisa and Florence were two rival city states that fought alot. Pisa was the more powerful of the two as they had access to the Mediterranean sea and a large fleet or trade and war ships. Pisa was a very powerful city state for hundreds of years. Their involvement in world wide conflict is more extensive than you would think. Look it up.

As everyone and their mother knows Pisa is the home to the world famous Leaning Tower. I can vogue...it definitely has some titlt to it. Modern Pisa is much Smaller than modern Florence so it took me maybe 25 minutes to walk from the train station to the Duomo Plazza where the Pisan Duomo, Baptismo and Tower are. The piazza that contains these three main structures is more impressive than i expected and it was a pleasant place to be despite the crowds and countless numbers of people all posing for pictures that make it look like they were holding up the leaning tower... super original

At the end of the day I had one of the better lunches I have while traveling. A simple hamburger and a solid tap beer. Also I was wearing my fiorentia jersey so the guys in the restaurant started calling me Mutu after Adrian Mutu the top striker for Fiorentia. For those who are completely lost; fiorentia is the soccer team for florence and Mutu is a top player for their team. After I responded in the proper Italian we continued to have a brief conversation about soccer. I found the Italians favorite team was Manchester United. What chumps.

Side note: today my friends Kevin, dillian and I went to a local park to play some pick up basketball. We found one half of the they played four on four for money. 2 euro a person to get in the game. We found a fourth guy and played....it was awesome

Houdini - Foster the People (fresh new band)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUGXSiORlDc

You are a Tourist - Death Cab for Cutie (new single)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkk5wViJo-I

Cant be neutral like the swiss, labels going off after I drop this

A few weeks ago I made an impromptu trip to Montreux (roughly pronounced mont-row) Switzerland. If you remember one of my last posts I had an open weekend in april that I wanted to fill with a trip and was still deciding where I would go. Well I chose to go to Montreux and as the pictures will they you there was good reason to go. However as tranquil and beautiful as Switzerland was getting there was a bit of a mess.

I had planned to only spend one night in montreux and come home after I had seen what I could see. However the Italians in driven by their incredible work ethic decided to have all train workers strike every friday of april. I found this out about 2:45 in the afternoon on thursday. I had already booked a night in a hostel so I was set on going. At the train station I confirm what I had feared. I HAD to leave thursday if I wanted to get there at all. The snag... the last train heading up to montreux left at 5:00 pm. I was informed of this at 3:30. I had an hour and a half to run home, get my bags packed, take care of everything i needed to for the weekend...it was a bit of a rush. Also I didn't have anywhere to stay once I got there. My hostel reservation was for friday night and I had zero time to try and book a room for thursday. I hoped on a train to montreux that would arrive at 10:30pm with the notion that I would just "figure it out"

In my infinite wisdom I did not take into account the fact that Montreux was on the french/swiss boarder and nobody for a good 100 kilometers (yes kilometers) would speak Italian or any language I know. It would be all French. That made it pretty tough to just "figure it out". I arrived without a problem, I don't really remember if I ate dinner that night, but I got to where I needed to go. I let my mother know I was alive and assured her I would "figure it out". five minutes later I received a stern call form my father telling me to find a hotel and just pay for it. I was too tired and frenched out to really object. Getting to montreux was a mess but I got there.

Montreux was a "kill two birds with one stone" trip. I had a goal of seeing a real castle and a goal of going to Switzerland. Both goals where meet. Chateau Chillon is the most visited Historic Monument in all of Switzerland. It was how my medieval friends would say "a most pleasant experience, one mustith vist such a grand spectacle. Hath there be a more joyous place?" Chatueu Chillon, was beyond awesome. I pretty much spent all Friday there. The castle as I saw it was about 800 years old, but the oldest structures at the foundation of the Castle were over 1000 years old. It was great. If you find yourself in the area of Chateau Chillon, I highly recommend it. There was too much to see in the castle.

Montreux the city was great. As you can see the scenery was quite exceptional. The people were friendly and the city was small but awesome. Think Tahoe but much classier and bigger mountains. I would actually rival Montreux with Tahoe...however there is one thing that still makes Tahoe better. And it is the lake itself. Lake Geneva was a bit bigger but nowhere near as clean or clear as good ol' Tahoe. Score one for California! Can remain neutral on that Swiss!

Montreux was also a big hangout for some big names in music through the years. Our chap Freddie Mecury actually lived there for a good part of his life, Led Zapplin was a frequent visitor and When the casino burnt down in the 70's the fire served as the inspiration for Deep Purples "smoke on the water". Also every July the city hosts a giant Jazz festival. The greats of jazz came to montreux. There was a park I found that had statues some of the festival regulars. Statues of Miles Davis, Louie Armstrong, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald. Needless to say, a fair share of musical talent had passed through that city.

Switzerland was awesome, I would go back if I could and I'm really glad I made the trip even though I had to do it by myself. Also I made a good discovery. I found out why some people have been mistaking me for a frenchmen (i know, I thought it was a bad joke too). I encountered alot of French and swiss french people. I must say if there was a place where I could blend it. It was there in the French side of Switzerland.

When I get more time I can post about Munich, Pisa, and other things here in Florence. So sit tight

Somebody to Love- Queen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxbFLYa0_bw

Black Dog- Led Zeppelin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2M6yV6mueg

Smoke on the Water- Deep Purple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtEfquKtj6M&feature=related

All of Me- Louis Armstrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFzxo-XI8As

A gesture of good faith

Tis been a near fortnight since I posted last. Believe it or not they actually make us do school work over here and there happens to be a good amount of school work in front of me write now. However I have adventures I need to inform you (the reader...not you specifically) about. I have but two weeks left in Florence and three left in europe. I  have the goal of completing an account of my adventures while still in Europe, cause lets be honest, if I write about my time In Germany while i'm sitting at my kitchen table in PLacerville Califnornia its not quite as cool. Its like Neal Armstrong bloggin about the moon while he is chilling at cape Canaveral. He needs to be doing that crap on the dang lunar module!

But I post this short post as a gesture of good faith. Stick with me for roughly four more days and i'll have a legit new post up talking about Switzerland. I'll post these pictures and song just to keep you here and keep you reading. The attempted mind control will come later (expect it in three posts... maybe) But just keep an open mind about it...

Trapped in my Mind- Kid Cudi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8EH1_jZBl4

Behind the Iron Curtin

Two weeks ago I made the trip to Prague. First off Prague is not in Czechoslovakia, it is now the Czech Republic...news to me. Also there isn't really a physical Iron Curtin separating eastern Europe from the rest of Europe buuuuut I already knew that. However the effects of communism are still easily seen in Prague. The rule of the communist was a very defining period for Eastern Europe and its effects have been lasting. The Czech Republic is still a developing country but they seem to be very motivated compared to Italians. It seemed that these people had learned to appreciate a free market economy and were trying to take advantage of their new (comparatively new) economic and personal freedoms.  This was just one of the many differences between The Czech Republic and Italy.

I meet my friend Shawn and his friends from his program in Prague. They came from Austria; I had to endure a 12-hour bus ride overnight to get there. However the overnight bus was worth it when I got to watch the sun rise over the Czech countryside, I didn't get a chance to snap any pictures of that or the Austrian Alps on the way home. But trust me when I say the scenery was exceptional.

As I said before Prague was completely different than Italy. Different culture, architecture, history, food, different everything. It was also my first time in a country where I had no basis of the language spoken there. Czech was like nothing I've ever seen. There was no way I could have began to grasp the language in a weekend. Thankfully English sufficed for the weekend.

Fun Fact: The Czech people drink more beer per capita than any other country in the world (Czech yourself Deutschland before you wreak yourself) and I can understand why. Every local fare that I tasted was very smooth and very delicious. Even the dark beers (beers as dark as Guinness) were very smooth and sweet. Its fair to say that wine fell about the wayside with the Czech people. But I assure faithful reader it is with good reason the Czech people stick to their brew. To go with their beers the Czech people enjoyed heavy foods. After 2 and half months of pasta and lean meats you know I was in heaven munchin on some sausages and dumplings. I even sampled some beef kulash, a traditonal Czech food...no complaints, but I'm sure I

 Recommend it. 

Prague was a city full of things to see; the St. Charles Bridge, the national museum, The Prague Castel and the Jewish quarter just to name a few. The gothic architecture was awesome, very unique and just a fresh perspective on what I have been seeing in Italy. I also spent some time in a Salvador Dahli exhibit. THAT was interesting. He was a very weird dude. I would argue to say that the hipster culture could find their roots in the character of Dahli. Just look at a picture of him and tell me I'm wrong.

In the end Prague was an interesting break from Western Europe. I enjoyed the Czech culture but can't say that it is really for me. What I can say is for me is the exchange rate from the Czech crown the to euro. It was 24 crown to one euro. An average beer cost 55 crown, you do the math. If you have the chance to see Prague I suggest you do. It is widely regarded as the gateway to Eastern Europe and it upholds that duty well. There are many things to see and do in Prague. But I must note this, if you have to choose between Austria and the Czech Republic I recommend Austria. I mean you can't wrong with the homeland of Adolf Hitler right???? I'm sure everyone in Austria would greatly appreciate you reminding them of that fact.

Be on the look out for a post about Montreux Switzerland. T'was a good trip and I’ll be a postin about it soon.

Bulls on Parade- Rage Against the Machine (very anti-government, goes with the anit-communism of Prague)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-58-36lSqG4

For those who aren't in to the 90's rock/rap group here is a famous former resident of prague

Piano Concerto no.21  - Wolfgang Amadues Mozart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-eLzao63I&feature=related

A second Journey to the Five Lands

I have mentioned it previously on my blog but I will restate this fact. Studying abroad is not easy. You have to eat new foods, drink new drinks and you are forced to travel to far off lands. Unfortunately I was forced to revisit cinque terre. Like I said being abroad is not easy. 

The Trial up the mountain

Our over night trip to Cinque Terre with ISA was one of our ISA excursions and I wasn't about to complain that ISA was making me return to Cinque Terre. There are worse things in this world. This trip to Cinque Terre was slightly different seeing that I was with 30 other American student. I didn't do much the first day I was there. However on the second day I was recruited to be honorary male presence on a hike to vernazza. It was ten girls and me on this hike (there were only 4 guys on the cinque terre trip) I issued a no nagging policy before we hit the trail. 

Monterosso where we started our no nag hike

The hike we made was the only part of the Cinque Terre trails that Marcus and I didn't get to conquer while we were there. So it was all new to me, and it was an awesome section of trail. Wonderful views, slightly challenging at some points and the no nagging policy was not violated. So nobody got pushed off a cliff. We reached Vernazza which is the most famous of the five towns in about 2 and a half hours. We had lunch and relaxed in the Marina. To end the day we caught a ferry back to monterosso. It was an awesome experience. The weather was good and scenery was exceptional. What you expect from Cinque Terre. 

Sweet foot bridge

I also got another chance at some Cinque Terre wine. My recommendation: if you can find it in a store BUY IT. I have enjoyed the wine from Cinque Terre. TIP: don't look for a bottle that says: Cinque Terre, look for one that has a name of one of the five towns (riomaggore, manrola, vernazza, cornliga, monterosso) and you can't go wrong. I should be back in Cinque Terre next weekend, possibly meeting some old friends there. Again; studying abroad is tough stuff. 

doing my thang

Prague post coming soon. Also I’m still deciding on where to go this weekend. I have narrowed it down to Interlaken Switzerland, Trent Italy, or day trips in Tuscany. If you have a suggestion drop me a comment.

Behind Blue eyes- The Who 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfuWXRZe9yA

Throwing up this song for 2 reasons. I'm sure my followers over the age of 30 are getting sick of my new age hip hop, and mixed genre posts. So this is for my faithful over thirty. Also I say a guy playing this song in the metro in Barcelona. (guess who got some euro tossed his way!)

Capri Memory

So its been close to a century since I last posted. The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy with travel a small Internet crisis and the stealing of my beloved bicycle. I have decided to finish my spring break experiences with this post. Something short to hold you hungry barbarians at bay until i can really post about cinque (for the second time) and Prague.

Ceaser doing he thing

The day after Marcus and I hit Pompeii, we took a ferry to the island of Capri. Capri has been a resort island for thousands of years. The first settlements pre-date the Romans and Etruscans. I must say, whomever first decided to row their mammoth skin, saber tooth bone canoe to Capri might have been pre-homo sapiein but had excellent taste for a pre modern human. Capri got its infamous name from the Roman  emperor Nero who had his giants booze filled sex romps at this royal Villa on Capri. Also another emperor who loved capri so much he decided to move the imperial headquarters to capri for the duration of his rule.

misplaced boat


Now my last paragraph presents a valuable lesson; if your name in the history books throw an crazy party, push a few slaves off a cliff, then have all your scribes there with plenty of papyrus to record that crap. ANYWAYS Capri was a nice day overall. The weather was kind and the views were awesome. It was some what of a difficult place to get around by foot but the hikes were worth it. We missed our chance at seeing one of the main attractions of the island the blue grotto (google it) but we didn't take it too hard. Paying some dude named Massimo 22 euro to take us into a giant cave didn't seem worth it. In the end Capri was a great day trip and would be a great place to visit for a while (only if your over the age of 60). Glad I saw, I can mark another world famous site off my list of "things to do in a timely manner"

Be heads up for future posts about cinque terre, prague and wherever i go this weekend, which is currently TBD

Speaking of history books. I turned 21 today. Mark it in your history books. 6th graders will read of my reconquest of the Italian peninsula in one night. It will be part of state curriculum for years to come

Since its a lack luster post I'll give you an exceptional song. check this heat

Ellie Goulding - Lights- (Bassnecter remix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUFCzL6aJKU