The hills are alive...with beer and churches (Austria)

I love Wienershnitzel. and Austian monk-made beer. and any type of Wurst.

This past weekend I traveled to Salzburg and Wien (Vienna) by train from Geneva. It was a spectacular time. We left Geneva at 7PM on Thursday night, arrived in Salzburg via nacht train at 4AM, then toured the morning-ghost town until things opened and we were able to get some Austrian breakfast. I traveled with Abby Anderson, Molly Gilmore, Ginnie Fridell, and Kevin Creighton. After seeing almost all of the old town before it even opened, the girls departed Kevin and I and left for a 4 hour Sound of Music Tour. We opted out of this, decided to climb the towns overlooking cliffs and searched for the Augustiner brewery and abbey. After much searching, we found the brewery and were appalled to discover that a beerhaus was not open at 930AM. I mean, who would see that coming?

After walking, drinking beer, eating, walking and drinking beer, eating and walking, and a mix of all three, we met back up with the girls and decided to have an early dinner (around 430). We ate at the oldest restaurant in Europe, the Stiftskeller, founded in 803 and situated in a cellar right next to the St. Peter's church, a beautiful building right under the cliffs with an amazing graveyard. That night, we took the 3 hour train to Vienna and planned our time while there. This is now Friday night.

Saturday morning, we decided to walk Vienna and see every single chuch we could, taking in all the Gothic architecture and beautiful Hapsburg influenced palaces, parks, and squares. Kevin and I continued enjoying the fine Austrian beer everywhere we went, while the girls watched on in amazement.

Really I cant explain our trip more than a pile of amazing food (incapacitating amounts of wienerschnitzel), great gelato in Vienna, about 10 churches all with different splendid grandeur and lots and lots of beerhauses, biergartens, kindergartens, kinder chocolate...

Regret: not bringing a pedometer to Europe, I wished i could log all the space I cover.

More pictures will follow.

A Fruitful weekend

Hello again friends and family. I did not travel outside of Geneva this weekend (unless you count a day excursion to the French Alps to hike, but we didnt go any further than a bus, a tram, another bus, then a 3 mile walk to get to the mountain, and I dont count that), but I did make many plans for future travel. This upcoming weekend, I am planning on hitting Vienna and Salzburg, Austria with Kevin, Molly, and Ginnie. The weekend and week after that is my Spring Break (early I know), and I am heading south with Thomas, Amy, and Alaine to see Sicily, then back up north for the Cinqeterre. In Sicily we are staying in Taormina and Siracusa, with day excursions to climb Mt. Etna, the biggest volcano in Europe, still currently active and spewing liquid hot magma (had to say it). We will also see the beautiful Aeolieon Islands, where the God of Wind (from Homer`s Oddessey) resides. The train to Taormina from Geneva is a measly 20 hours. Aside from planning and hiking, chocolate is the other main point of this post.

Swiss Chocolate. Let me count the ways I love thee.

Lindt, Caillier, Melchior, Toblerone, etc, etc...

In America, I am not much of a chocolate eater. But, this is no America friends. The chocolate here is possibly the greatest thing ever. Whether it be noir, blanc, truffle, avec 76% cacao, or tiramisu infused, they all taste better than the best chocolate you have ever had in the puny land of Hershey. I scoff at Ghirardelli, Hershey, Tollhouse (the chocolate chips).

Moral of the story - It is worth the trip here, if not only for the brown sweets.

Also, enjoy this picture of (L to R) me, Lorena, Kevin, Amy playing in the Swiss snow.

Madrid, Oh how ye toy with my heart.

Hello friends.

I have returneth from Madrid and there I have learned many things.

1. Chorizo al infierno, although means `sausage from hell`, is not that at all. Spanish people do not know how to make spicy food, although they can make one hell of a Paella and Sangria. Besides this, Tapas was all I ate over the weekend. For those that do not know, Tapas are like little appetizer dishes that people order several of to make a whole meal, normally for dinner, which takes place between 9 and 11.

2. Siesta is fantastic. Siesta is a midday nap where the whole city basically shuts down from around 2-5. However, on our stilted time frames, we decided to take ours from 6-9 for some off reason.

3. I can never keep up the Spanish. Not the language, that was fine, but the nightlife. These people expect me to eat dinner at 10pm, go out at 1am, then come home at 6am. Not gonna happen. At best, we may have made it to 3am on friday and saturday night. Lame, i know, but my body was not made for this type of life. Lucky for me, neither were my compatriates, and we were all in aggreeance on when to turn in.

Highlights of Madrid- The Prado museum is amazing (tons of Jesus pictures). The Place de Mayor is a cool square where we saw a horse dancing show; seriously, dancing horses, it was crazy. Pulpo Tapas (octopus) is really really salty, way to salty if you ask me. Met North Star friend Josh Frost and he was able to show us some of the sights. Saw roughly 40 hookers all on one street near the Puerto del Sol, one of them hissed at Thomas which was funny.

In the most ignorant words possible, Madrid is like a more expensive, cleaner Mexico.

Pictures include dancing horse show and Thomas with Paella and Sangria.

More pictures for those without facebook - I am gone in Madrid for the weekend, this should keep people happy

Alaine, Kevin, Me before our trek up the cliff to the Monastery of Death






Drinking some Vin Chaud atop Villars-Bretaye resort. Beautiful mountains, easy skiing.

I love my bright yellow turtle. You could spot me from the farthest peak in this picture with it on. Imagine skiing whilst looking at that. Thats the most dangerous part of Alps skiing, the view.

Spectacular Spectacular

Please enjoy the Alps in my Union Suit. Lord knows I did.

This past weekend, I fulfilled a lifelong dream of skiing the Alps. It was amazing. Although we may have chosen a resort that was a bit to easy, Gryon, it was still a blast, and the hostel we stayed at, Chalet Martin, was this unbelievable Swiss Chalet. After a day of skiing, we decided we should relax at some Thermal Pools in the nearby town of Lavez-Les Bains. If you parlez francias, you know the meaning of that. Anyhow, upon traveling down the Mt., and taking a train to St. Maurice to catch the bus to the pools, we (Alaine, Kevin, I) discovered that something was wrong with the bus schedule...we couldnt understand it.

So, like great travelers, we changed our plans and decided to hike up a cliff face to a monastery we spotted just outside of town. Upon asking a very nosehaired man directions, he scoffed, decided we were crazy, told us it was at our own danger and described where to start ascending the 1600 steps up the cliff. We soon understood his manner, because as we where climbing, the ice and snow that had just befallen the region had started to melt under the midday sun. Un petite peu dangereuse. So, we devised a safe-ish system of hugging the wall and covering out heads whenever we heard a loud noise and made our ascent, then eventual descent as we discovered the beautiful monastery carved into the cliff. All in all, a great trip I would say.

Prochaine semaine, Madrid avec Amy, Thomas, et Kevin.

The Ghost of Mt. Pilatus

As you can see, I visited Luzern and Berne this past weekend with Ashley, Shirin, and Kevin. As soon as we arrived in Luzern, we went straight to the Mt. Pilatus(after dropping our bags of at the hotel), to buy our gondola tickets. The gondola cost us only 29CHF each after a 1/2 off discount with our Swiss Half Passes (good for 1/2 price on trains, busses, ferries, its a good deal) and it was totally worth it.

The gondola right up was unbelievable and divided into 3 legs. The first 2 were in a small private one, only fitting the 4 of us. At the end of the second leg, we had to get out, were able to walk around where there was a restaurant, a zip line, a ropes course, and the longest alpine luge ever (as kevin claims, but it was realllly long, so i believe him). Then, we boarded the big gondola with about 20 other people. This one only runs one at a time, unlike the other, which wa smor elike a ski gondola. This is where they filmed the Bond movie with Jaws, where the restaurant blows up at the end. This is also the same gondola where the fight scene took place, so you can imagine how I felt. If you cant, I was slightly scared. I only held back my urine because I think my bladder was pushed up to my heart out of fright. Its not that I am scared of heights, but more like I am scared of old machines I put my life in the hands of. Like doctors.

However, once we got to the top, it was alll worth it. The view was amazing, and made me want to get to the top of every mountain possible. It was windy as all hell though, and I wish I had brought that scarf I found abouve the particle accelerator at CERN. Its a nice scarf although sometimes I think it is radioactive. Oh well, worst comes to worst, I get a superpower, eh?

I hate long posts, so I may write more later, but for now, mountains are great, scarfs are free, and Burma-Shave gives you long lasting glee.

More Pictures

The Weeping Lion of Luzern
Some Bears of Berne


A view of Berne with (L to R) Ashley, Me, Kevin, Shirin