This weekend was so amazing. I went to Prague and met up with the bethel group and another friend from BU Ashley Perkins. Prague was somewhere we both wanted to go so we decided to meet up.
So the journey started for both Ashley and I pretty early Friday morning as we both got up around 4:30 to get to the airport.
So I had to take a train from Heidelberg to Frankfurt to catch my 9:30 flight. The train ride was about an hour and a half. So I got to the airport at about 7:30ish and was surprised that the place was empty, no security line or anything.
However, after I made it through security they bought me aside for a ‘special check,’ so I followed the guy into the security office where he checked my electronics for explosives-I passed the test.
So after the 45 minute flight from Frankfurt to Prague I met up with Ashley and we toured downtown Prague for the afternoon. We were planning to meet up with the bethel kids but their tour started at 9 and we didn’t leave the airport til 10:30. From what it sounds like we didn’t miss much. The one interesting thing we found Friday afternoon was the Prague TV tower. It has a modern design and it has babies crawling up the side. Don’t ask, I don’t know why.
So we got back to the Hotel about 4ish and we just relaxed until the BU people got back from their tours.
So Friday night we went out with the bethel kids for dinner. It was so much fun to catch up with Dan and the other people I knew, on top of that our meal was covered by Bethel. I didn’t feel bad having them pay for it, after all I didn’t use so many meals on the mandatory 15 meal plan freshmen year.
After dinner we explored around the city a bit and then Ashley and I went back to get some well needed rest. Oh, and our hotel room was SOO big, we couldn’t believe how nice it was considering it was only €22 a night.
So Saturday morning we met up with the Bethel Kids at their hotel, only about a 10 minute walk from ours, good planning by me . Tom had scheduled a tour of Prague which he invited Ashley I to join. The tour itself was not the most exciting tour, but we saw most of the important buildings and tourist attractions in Prague. The tour lasted a few hours and we had the afternoon to explore the city before we met back at the hotel for our dinner cruise at 6. The dinner cruise was fun, I had so much chatting and getting to know some other people on the trip during dinner. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming which was so nice.
So Sunday morning Ashley took off for the airport at 4am for her 6am flight and I saw the Bethel kids off at 9, which left me with the morning to check out the o2 hockey arena.
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend, probably one of the best of the entire trip. I’m looking forward to seeing all my friends and family next month.
Eric
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Fall Break
Ok, well this could get long.
We'll start from the beginning a very good place to start...
Part 1: Airport..
So I took this disocunt airline Ryanair, something like Southwest, the flight was about $40. So the airport is Frankfurt-Hahn, which is really nowhere near Frankfurt, so it's about a 2 hr journey from Heidelberg (HD) to Hahn by bus.
So I get to the airport on time to check in when I run into problem 1, I was supposed to check in online, and since I didn't it was a 40 euro fee, shoulda read the email from ryanair...
So now that I was off to a frustrating start I got onto the Boeing 737 en route to Barcelona Girona.
Part 2: Barcelona
So I get on the bus in Girona which is about an hour north of Barcelona. The catch about Ryanair is their flights fly into cities about an hour away from major cities so you always have to take a bus into the city.
So I get into downtown Barcelona witht the address to the hostel, so I take a cab to the hostel where I run into problem 2, I had the wrong hostel. So I check my email at the hostel and find the address to the right hostel which was about a 3km walk. (I was out of cash for a cab) So after about 30 minutes of walking I was in the vicinity of the hostel, I asked a few locals and they pointed me in the right direction and I stumbled across the hostel.
Coincidently, the Bethel guys had some issues of their own and got their only about 10 minutes before me, about midnight. So we chatted a bit then hit the sack prepping for day 1 in Barca.
Part 3: Barcelona 2:
So we get a metro pass which was good for the weekend which was sweet cuz the metro was one of the best in europe.
The first day we went and checked out most of the major tourists places and the Mediterranean. Mostly checked out the city and walked around.
Later in the day we walked to the FC Barcelona fotbal store where we found out the game we were planning to go to was Sunday at 9 PM not Saturday at 7:30. More details later.
So that freed up Saturday which ended up being pretty cool.
We used the day to take a gondolla ride from the pier to the Olympic village (Summer Olympics in Barca, 1992) So we checked out the village most of the afternoon then went back to the hostel to relax for the night.
Sunday morning checked out a few more structures around town then went back to the hostel to get ready for the fotbal match between FC Barcelona and Real Zaragosa.
While waiting we chatted with these 2 crazy Aussies who were traveling the world. They had sold all their stuff and were using the money to travel the world. They had some crazy stories not worth repeating, by pretty funny.
So we got to the stadium, Camp Nou early to check it out. It was pretty big capacity seats 98,000, so pretty big. The game was sold out which was pretty cool. FCB won 6-1, RZ wasn't much a test.
So after the game, which about 11:30, we went back to the hostel and grabbed our bags and made our way to the bus station to spend the night. The first bus for the Girona airport left at 3AM, and since our flight was at 8 we wanted to be sure to have enough time.
So let me tell you about getting on a bus in Barcelona at 3AM. Every man for himself. Basically its a made rush for the bus pushing and stoving, no organization whatsoever. So me being the competitive aggressive person that I am, I pushed my way to the middle and got on the bus. However, the other guys were more like deer in the headlights, and no one else got on besides me, so i had to get off and encourage the other guys to be a little more aggressive. So we got on the next bus and got to the airport a few hrs early where everyone was pretty tired.
Part 4: Pisa
So we got to Pisa at 10, and we were super tired.
We checked out the leaning tower for about 2 hrs before we checked into our B & B. Which ended up being some ladies apt which she rented out, but it was actually super comfortable, and the free breakfast was amazing, prolly the best cresent i've ever had, hands down.
So Tuesday afternoon after walking around Pisa a little we took a train to Rome.
Part 5: Rome
So Mark booked us at a Country Club for 16 euro a night, so we didn't really know what to expect, especially since it was 40 minutes outside Rome.
So when we reached this CC it ended up looking more like a camp, but everyone really liked, and it had a really good restaurant so that made us happy.
So Wednesday, my only day in Rome, we saw the Colliseum and Vatican. One thing that was interesting about Rome, was that the metro was dirty and nasty, compared to those in HD and Barcelona.
When we got back to the CC on Wed night, they were filming an Italian movie right next to our cabin. it was pretty cool.
Im getting tired of writing, if you can't tell....
Today was a LONG DAY, 6am wakeup, 6:30 shuttle to metro. 8am train departs for Pisa. 11am arrive in Pisa, flights leaves for Hahn at 1:30. Arrive in Germany at 3:30. 2 hr bus ride home, get back to HD around 6:30.
Ok so that was loong, kudos if you actually read the whole thing
E
We'll start from the beginning a very good place to start...
Part 1: Airport..
So I took this disocunt airline Ryanair, something like Southwest, the flight was about $40. So the airport is Frankfurt-Hahn, which is really nowhere near Frankfurt, so it's about a 2 hr journey from Heidelberg (HD) to Hahn by bus.
So I get to the airport on time to check in when I run into problem 1, I was supposed to check in online, and since I didn't it was a 40 euro fee, shoulda read the email from ryanair...
So now that I was off to a frustrating start I got onto the Boeing 737 en route to Barcelona Girona.
Part 2: Barcelona
So I get on the bus in Girona which is about an hour north of Barcelona. The catch about Ryanair is their flights fly into cities about an hour away from major cities so you always have to take a bus into the city.
So I get into downtown Barcelona witht the address to the hostel, so I take a cab to the hostel where I run into problem 2, I had the wrong hostel. So I check my email at the hostel and find the address to the right hostel which was about a 3km walk. (I was out of cash for a cab) So after about 30 minutes of walking I was in the vicinity of the hostel, I asked a few locals and they pointed me in the right direction and I stumbled across the hostel.
Coincidently, the Bethel guys had some issues of their own and got their only about 10 minutes before me, about midnight. So we chatted a bit then hit the sack prepping for day 1 in Barca.
Part 3: Barcelona 2:
So we get a metro pass which was good for the weekend which was sweet cuz the metro was one of the best in europe.
The first day we went and checked out most of the major tourists places and the Mediterranean. Mostly checked out the city and walked around.
Later in the day we walked to the FC Barcelona fotbal store where we found out the game we were planning to go to was Sunday at 9 PM not Saturday at 7:30. More details later.
So that freed up Saturday which ended up being pretty cool.
We used the day to take a gondolla ride from the pier to the Olympic village (Summer Olympics in Barca, 1992) So we checked out the village most of the afternoon then went back to the hostel to relax for the night.
Sunday morning checked out a few more structures around town then went back to the hostel to get ready for the fotbal match between FC Barcelona and Real Zaragosa.
While waiting we chatted with these 2 crazy Aussies who were traveling the world. They had sold all their stuff and were using the money to travel the world. They had some crazy stories not worth repeating, by pretty funny.
So we got to the stadium, Camp Nou early to check it out. It was pretty big capacity seats 98,000, so pretty big. The game was sold out which was pretty cool. FCB won 6-1, RZ wasn't much a test.
So after the game, which about 11:30, we went back to the hostel and grabbed our bags and made our way to the bus station to spend the night. The first bus for the Girona airport left at 3AM, and since our flight was at 8 we wanted to be sure to have enough time.
So let me tell you about getting on a bus in Barcelona at 3AM. Every man for himself. Basically its a made rush for the bus pushing and stoving, no organization whatsoever. So me being the competitive aggressive person that I am, I pushed my way to the middle and got on the bus. However, the other guys were more like deer in the headlights, and no one else got on besides me, so i had to get off and encourage the other guys to be a little more aggressive. So we got on the next bus and got to the airport a few hrs early where everyone was pretty tired.
Part 4: Pisa
So we got to Pisa at 10, and we were super tired.
We checked out the leaning tower for about 2 hrs before we checked into our B & B. Which ended up being some ladies apt which she rented out, but it was actually super comfortable, and the free breakfast was amazing, prolly the best cresent i've ever had, hands down.
So Tuesday afternoon after walking around Pisa a little we took a train to Rome.
Part 5: Rome
So Mark booked us at a Country Club for 16 euro a night, so we didn't really know what to expect, especially since it was 40 minutes outside Rome.
So when we reached this CC it ended up looking more like a camp, but everyone really liked, and it had a really good restaurant so that made us happy.
So Wednesday, my only day in Rome, we saw the Colliseum and Vatican. One thing that was interesting about Rome, was that the metro was dirty and nasty, compared to those in HD and Barcelona.
When we got back to the CC on Wed night, they were filming an Italian movie right next to our cabin. it was pretty cool.
Im getting tired of writing, if you can't tell....
Today was a LONG DAY, 6am wakeup, 6:30 shuttle to metro. 8am train departs for Pisa. 11am arrive in Pisa, flights leaves for Hahn at 1:30. Arrive in Germany at 3:30. 2 hr bus ride home, get back to HD around 6:30.
Ok so that was loong, kudos if you actually read the whole thing
E
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Recently
Well I haven't wrote anything in the blog recently because nothing extraordinary has happened. Although, last weekend I went to Stuttgart which was about a 40 minute train ride there at 8:30AM and 2:45 ride back at midnight, the trains aren't as efficient at night, clearly.
This week I came down with a nasty throat infection or what the Germans call angena. I stayed in bed for 2 straight days and it couldn't have come at a worse time since I am just about to take my midterms this week, 2 on Monday.
Anyway, I leave for Barcelona on Thursday, pending I don't relapse this throat deal, I'm looking forward to it for many reasons, I get to see Dan and the Bethel kids, I get to have to Ryanair experience, and I get to see a new city.
Well, short post, but that's all I wanna write,
Peace to you
Eric
This week I came down with a nasty throat infection or what the Germans call angena. I stayed in bed for 2 straight days and it couldn't have come at a worse time since I am just about to take my midterms this week, 2 on Monday.
Anyway, I leave for Barcelona on Thursday, pending I don't relapse this throat deal, I'm looking forward to it for many reasons, I get to see Dan and the Bethel kids, I get to have to Ryanair experience, and I get to see a new city.
Well, short post, but that's all I wanna write,
Peace to you
Eric
Monday, September 28, 2009
OKTOBERFEST!!
Okay Wow. So I went to Oktoberfest with some kids from school this weekend, and man it was a blast.
I didn't really know any of the kids who I had rented the car with, but it was the cheapest thing to do and I really wanted drive on the autobahn :) So another Schiller guy named Elias and I found two other people to rent a car with, we ended up with an Audi A4.
On the way down it took nearly 5 hours because of road construction (a familiar feeling) and traffic. When we got into Munich we dropped one of the guys off because he was staying with another friend, then we headed to a small town (Bavarians call them villages) outside Munich where Elias lives. We met up with some of Elias' friends that night who were all going to Oktoberfest the next day and invited me to join them!! I was pretty excitedd to go to Oktoberfest with Bavarians (people from south Germany). Or as they like to say Bavaria is south OF Germany.
So Saturday morning we woke up at 6:45 to catch the train into Munich. Yes 6:45, you have to get there early or you won't get into the tent.
So if you check out some of the pics on FB you can see what the inside of the "tent" looks like. It's best to be inside because there you can get the full experience. They have live music which really gets people energetic.
So we sat inside for about 2.5 hours before we got kicked out, due to people reserving the table about 10 months ago.
After we left the tent we went to the biergarten, which is just another huge terrace with tables and beer. We sat there for the majority of the day, drinking beer and eating food.
The best thing about Oktoberfest is the clothes. Men wear the traditional Lederhosen while women where Dirndl. Lots of people think this is a German outfit, and it is, but only people in the southern half of Bavaria wear them-one thing I learned while being with the Germans.
Well there is so many more details I could share about, if ya wanna know more i'd love to tell ya.
Last thing, on the way home we had some open road and I got the A4 up to about 220 km, which is about 135 mph.. Very fun, but tough to drive that fast for a period of 10 minutes.
Hugs and kisses
Eric
I didn't really know any of the kids who I had rented the car with, but it was the cheapest thing to do and I really wanted drive on the autobahn :) So another Schiller guy named Elias and I found two other people to rent a car with, we ended up with an Audi A4.
On the way down it took nearly 5 hours because of road construction (a familiar feeling) and traffic. When we got into Munich we dropped one of the guys off because he was staying with another friend, then we headed to a small town (Bavarians call them villages) outside Munich where Elias lives. We met up with some of Elias' friends that night who were all going to Oktoberfest the next day and invited me to join them!! I was pretty excitedd to go to Oktoberfest with Bavarians (people from south Germany). Or as they like to say Bavaria is south OF Germany.
So Saturday morning we woke up at 6:45 to catch the train into Munich. Yes 6:45, you have to get there early or you won't get into the tent.
So if you check out some of the pics on FB you can see what the inside of the "tent" looks like. It's best to be inside because there you can get the full experience. They have live music which really gets people energetic.
So we sat inside for about 2.5 hours before we got kicked out, due to people reserving the table about 10 months ago.
After we left the tent we went to the biergarten, which is just another huge terrace with tables and beer. We sat there for the majority of the day, drinking beer and eating food.
The best thing about Oktoberfest is the clothes. Men wear the traditional Lederhosen while women where Dirndl. Lots of people think this is a German outfit, and it is, but only people in the southern half of Bavaria wear them-one thing I learned while being with the Germans.
Well there is so many more details I could share about, if ya wanna know more i'd love to tell ya.
Last thing, on the way home we had some open road and I got the A4 up to about 220 km, which is about 135 mph.. Very fun, but tough to drive that fast for a period of 10 minutes.
Hugs and kisses
Eric
Monday, September 14, 2009
I Amsterdam
So this weekend was quite the experience. I went to Amsterdam with a friend I met from Schiller. Her name is Araceli and she is coincidentally from Mpls.
So Saturday at 5AM we left with another friend from Schiller, his name is Philipp-- he is spending the week in Brussels. Phil borrowing a car from someone at school so we drove there. I was pretty excited because I knew there wasn't going to be many people on the autobahn so we were gonna blaze a trail. It took about 4 hrs from HD to Brussels, and the top speed was hit about about 230 km/h which is about 140 mph. I'm hoping to rent a car sometime soon so I can drive that fast-legally.
So when we got to Brussels Araceli hopped on a train to Amsterdam. It was a very scenic ride thru Holland and Belgium. It was about a three hr train ride but we didn't mind because we were both pretty tired.
When we finally got to Amsterdam we learned that there were NO hotels or hostels available cuz there was a media/tv conference in town all weekend. So we weren't really sure what to do, but we went to this travel agency and they had just got a fax about an available hostel/hotel/apartment. Yeah it was weird, ill get back to it.
So by now it was 3PM and we were happy about getting a place to stay so we ventured over to Vondelpark where they have to big "I amsterdam" sign. We took some pics then headed over the van gough museum which was very interesting. After that we headed to the place we were staying.
Okay, so this place we were staying was basically an apartment that a landlord rents out. So we ring the foorbell and the guy comes down and shows us the apartment, it was a bedroom with bunk beds, a kitchen living room, and bathroom, so it was pretty big, but we only spent 7 hrs there-sleeping. So after we checked in we headed into the city at about 9pm to check out the night life.
I didn't really know what to expect in the Red Light District, but it certainly was an experience. Basically it was a lot of "Coffee shops," Restaurants, Souvenir Shops, Bars, and prostitutes. We didn't spend a whole lot of time in the RLD cuz we were super tired, but I will say I saw enough of it for a LONG time.
I went home actually kind of sad because the city is filled with so much sin. Seeing the prostitutes was a hard thing to see because I felt so bad that these women lived like this.
So came home around 12 and enjoyed a good night of rest. We woke up Sunday at about 8:30, checked out of the apartment and headed over to the Ann Frank house.
This was pretty sweet because it has so much historical significance. We spent about an hr here than had some lunch and went on a Canal ride. The canal ride lasted about an hr and took us thru the streets of Amsterdam.
After the canal ride we did some shopping and killed some time before we left at 6. We rode home with some girls from Mannheim, a neighboring city of HD, I found them on mitfahrgelegenheit, the website like ride share.
We got home at about 11 Sunday night and I was to bed right away.
The End.
Eric
So Saturday at 5AM we left with another friend from Schiller, his name is Philipp-- he is spending the week in Brussels. Phil borrowing a car from someone at school so we drove there. I was pretty excited because I knew there wasn't going to be many people on the autobahn so we were gonna blaze a trail. It took about 4 hrs from HD to Brussels, and the top speed was hit about about 230 km/h which is about 140 mph. I'm hoping to rent a car sometime soon so I can drive that fast-legally.
So when we got to Brussels Araceli hopped on a train to Amsterdam. It was a very scenic ride thru Holland and Belgium. It was about a three hr train ride but we didn't mind because we were both pretty tired.
When we finally got to Amsterdam we learned that there were NO hotels or hostels available cuz there was a media/tv conference in town all weekend. So we weren't really sure what to do, but we went to this travel agency and they had just got a fax about an available hostel/hotel/apartment. Yeah it was weird, ill get back to it.
So by now it was 3PM and we were happy about getting a place to stay so we ventured over to Vondelpark where they have to big "I amsterdam" sign. We took some pics then headed over the van gough museum which was very interesting. After that we headed to the place we were staying.
Okay, so this place we were staying was basically an apartment that a landlord rents out. So we ring the foorbell and the guy comes down and shows us the apartment, it was a bedroom with bunk beds, a kitchen living room, and bathroom, so it was pretty big, but we only spent 7 hrs there-sleeping. So after we checked in we headed into the city at about 9pm to check out the night life.
I didn't really know what to expect in the Red Light District, but it certainly was an experience. Basically it was a lot of "Coffee shops," Restaurants, Souvenir Shops, Bars, and prostitutes. We didn't spend a whole lot of time in the RLD cuz we were super tired, but I will say I saw enough of it for a LONG time.
I went home actually kind of sad because the city is filled with so much sin. Seeing the prostitutes was a hard thing to see because I felt so bad that these women lived like this.
So came home around 12 and enjoyed a good night of rest. We woke up Sunday at about 8:30, checked out of the apartment and headed over to the Ann Frank house.
This was pretty sweet because it has so much historical significance. We spent about an hr here than had some lunch and went on a Canal ride. The canal ride lasted about an hr and took us thru the streets of Amsterdam.
After the canal ride we did some shopping and killed some time before we left at 6. We rode home with some girls from Mannheim, a neighboring city of HD, I found them on mitfahrgelegenheit, the website like ride share.
We got home at about 11 Sunday night and I was to bed right away.
The End.
Eric
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Bonn for the weekend
Well, I spent the weekend in Bonn with the bethel crew thats there. Dan, Dan Chang, Kenny Lui, Laura Barton, Mark Stockhowe, and Jen Swanson (her dad's name is Todd, haha (Todd Swanson)). I used this service called mitfahrgelgenheit which is basically a ride share program, it costs me 12 euro for the ride up, pretty cheap. When I got there I didn't know exactly where to go which was my fault because I forgot to write the address down. So it took me an hour and a half to get about 10 minutes where i needed to be.
Friday night I was introduced to this game called big 2's which is a really sweet game, we played some much over the course of the weekend.
Saturday, we went to Cologne where I saw one of the biggest Cathedrals i've seen. (pictures on fb) Since we didn't really know what to see there we just wandered around for about 2 hrs and didn't see much. ---Next time i'm going to have a plan when we go to a city---
One thing i've notcied about cars in germany is that they're all clean, and well kept. I have yet to see any car with mud or dirt all over the side. and if they put a dent in there car, it's fixed almost immediately.
The ride home i also used to ride share service which was a little more interesting, I rode in a 9 person van and it was full. We had to make three stops so it took a little longer to get home than i anticipated but i made it back.
One thing that was fun about using this service was that I got to take the autobahn which was awesome, I think the top speed we reached was about 100mph, but some cars we doing about 120 which was pretty cool.
Thats it for now, peace.
Friday night I was introduced to this game called big 2's which is a really sweet game, we played some much over the course of the weekend.
Saturday, we went to Cologne where I saw one of the biggest Cathedrals i've seen. (pictures on fb) Since we didn't really know what to see there we just wandered around for about 2 hrs and didn't see much. ---Next time i'm going to have a plan when we go to a city---
One thing i've notcied about cars in germany is that they're all clean, and well kept. I have yet to see any car with mud or dirt all over the side. and if they put a dent in there car, it's fixed almost immediately.
The ride home i also used to ride share service which was a little more interesting, I rode in a 9 person van and it was full. We had to make three stops so it took a little longer to get home than i anticipated but i made it back.
One thing that was fun about using this service was that I got to take the autobahn which was awesome, I think the top speed we reached was about 100mph, but some cars we doing about 120 which was pretty cool.
Thats it for now, peace.
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