Germany trip

Salut!

This weekend we're planning to hit Munich and Schloss Neuschwanstein! We will head over to the train station tonight and figure out our itinerary from there. If we have time, we may try to see smaller towns around the area, but our main goal is Munich.

As a side note, if you want to order a glass of wine in France, you should say:

Je voudrais un verre de rouge, s'il vous plait.

A bientot!
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Luxembourg: Day 2

Day 2 started out with checking train/bus schedules at La Gare, then getting some breakfast on a street corner cafe. I brought along a roll and orange I'd been hoarding so I ate that, but got some black tea with milk and sugar. They give you a little pitcher for the milk, and it made me feel like I was participating in a quaint tea party.

We caught a train that would take us to a bus stop and then up to the Chateau Vianden. We sat in a compartment with an interesting man who was casually drinking a beer and snorting a bit of snuff right on the train, but we figured, c'est la vie. The train and bus rides were pretty scenic, and we saw a lot of fields and clusters of houses and cows along the way.

We drove through a couple small villages, including Diekirch, on the way up to the castle. Vianden is kind of touristy, with lots of cafes and restaurants, and since it was a beautiful day, tons of motorcyclists and fancy car fanatics were out riding. We saw a good many tiny dogs prancing around--they're the perfect accessory, we've come to find, in all the places we've been so far.

We had a long hike up the winding road through the village up to the Chateau Vianden. The castle was very impressive, way up on its perch on the hill; I don't think I've been to a castle, outside of the faux one in the Magic Kingdom, until today. From what I collected, it's been around since the third century, and since then it's been a continuously growing project. Many different people have restored it, and it's still undergoing some construction. The architecture was beautiful, and there also was a cartoon art exhibit that was displayed inside. It was for a regional competition to depict either stay-at-home dads or house-husbands. Pretty hilarious stuff.

We split up for dinner, and a few of us went to a nice bar/cafe on the street where I got the meatballs/salad/fries dinner. It was tasty, and afterwards, we got delicious ice cream with real fruit in it (mine was lemon and raspberry). We saw Victor Hugo's house right there on a street corner, and there's a hotel across the street named after him and a bookstore of his works set up inside the house. We enjoyed the day for a little longer and then caught a bus and train back to the City, hung out in La Gare for a bit, and then headed on home to Metz. All in all, it was a relatively inexpensive, entertaining, and very successful trip.

I'll let you all know what we plan to do next!

Luxembourg: Day 1

Back from our first weekend trip! It consisted of two days crammed full of adventure, and I'm pretty exhausted (and have lots of homework to begin soon), but it was amazing.

We left planning a little late (a lesson learned that won't be repeated next time), but the seven dudes I'm traveling with and I managed to finalize plans on Friday night to go for a two-day trip to Luxembourg. We left Saturday morning from Metz, stayed the night in the City of Luxembourg, and saw Vianden before heading back to Metz Sunday evening.

La Gare de Luxembourg (Lux's train station) is quite unique on the inside, with high-arched painted ceilings and beautiful stained-glass windows on the ends. There's a WWII memorial inside for some sort of victims; we couldn't tell what the reason of their deaths was from what we could read on the bottom, only that they were victims of some horrible thing. It was relatively cheap to get there by train, around 14 Euros.

We found a place to eat right nextdoor to Hotel Yasha, where the nice owner drew a napkin-map of the city for us and highlighted a few places to go see. We saw the city cathedral, a few war memorials, noticed and appreciated that there's a big street named after FDR, admired the huge valley that opens up towards the city center (there's a big old fort/battlement thing down inside the valley), and got into the Musee national d'histoire et d'art Luxembourg (Lux National History and Art Museum) for free with our student status.

Afterwards, it was about dinner time so we stopped at the White Rose sports bar and watched some football (the original kind). This is the place where I had my first EVER beer--so now I have an interesting story to tell whenever somebody asks me where my first beer was, if that ever happens. The brand was Diekirch, a local favorite that is made in a town not much more than 20 minutes away. We actually rode through it on the way to the castle on Day 2.

After dinner, we checked into our hotel, where we met two Israeli girls who were on a 12-day trip through Europe. One was an officer in the military, and the other was just finishing up her service and is going to start back at school this coming fall. They told us of their travels through Belgium and recommended a few hostels to try. We all went to get dessert at a local restaurant, where I got a strawberry crepe, and then a few of us went out to watch the Milan v. FC Bayern Munich (I hope that's spelled correctly...) game while the rest of us crashed at the hotel.

Continued...

Downtown Metz

We had a field trip yesterday evening to downtown Metz, a really neat place filled with tons of history and little shops and restaurants and cafes.

From what I gathered from the trolley tour (the way you say it in French sounds like "tralllay" to me), parts of Metz were burned down by Attila the Hun, some of it was built by Napoleon's grandkid Napoleon III, and a few of the landmarks date back to the fourth century. I can't even fathom that span of time... the US is a little over 200 years old... and the fourth century was the years 300-399... so that makes Metz over 8 times older than my home country. That's hard to wrap your head around. And Metz is but a baby compared to countries that are several thousand years old. But that's a different story. Today, a couple of us went back downtown to check train times at the station, and afterwards, we walked through the gigantic Metz cathedral. It was absolutely and immensely breath-taking. Afterwards, we got some delicious gelato from a little stand on the street and walked back to the bus stop.

For some bizarre reason, Metz kind of reminds me of NYC. Although it's MUCH older and grander, it shares the same idea of growing up and inward over time and in the process becoming a cool mixture of cultures and ideas, new and old. On the bus ride in, I saw a tiny gas station crammed into the lot between two gigantic ancient buildings, and I wanted to take a picture, but we were going too fast. All I can do is tell you I saw it.

Tomorrow my group and I are heading to Luxembourg. Yes, in case you're wondering, that wacky picture up there includes most of the members of my group. We're going to try to catch the 8 or 9 AM train so we'll need to catch a bus around 7:30. The French students (who attend Ensam, one of the many colleges that are located in the Technopole) love throwing parties (and they're in the middle of exams, go figure), and tonight's theme is "kitsch is sexy." I felt bad telling them I couldn't go, but I'm sure I'll catch one before the end of June, when they get off for break.

One Tech guy said he might go and wear a toga, you know, to represent "Animal House" since it apparently is an obvious kitschy reference (and easy to do since we all have the bare minimum clothing we could fit on the plane). Well, I mentioned that movie title to a couple Ensam students, and they had no idea what I was talking about. Funny enough, I hear a lot of American music blaring through my window all the time, and they know a lot of pop culture references, but it's sometimes hilarious when you find out which ones make it across the globe. It's surprising how some of the ones I grew up with never made it, and some I don't really care about are still prevalent. For instance, they'd never heard of "Animal House" but they'd heard of "I'm on a Boat" and "Welcome to Miami" along with the downfall of Tiger Woods. And earlier today, at the bus stop across the street, a few Techies and I saw a girl wearing Hammer-Time-inspired pants. Guess they haven't found out yet that that craziness died a long time ago...

Anyway, I'm going to try to get a chunk of my reading done before tomorrow so I can fully enjoy myself in Luxembourg. Big shout-out to Julian for recommending some good stuff to try while we're there! I'm really excited for our first weekend trip! Be prepared for some awesome pictures, and cross your fingers for us so we don't lose anything on the train... :)

-Rachel


P.S. While I'm adding pictures to finish this post, I'm hearing "Hotel California" blaring outside, and now I hear "Losing My Religion." I guess America does have the best music.... :D

Breakfast

Yeah, I know what I've said about my lukewarm regard for Nutella in the past. But I have seen the error of my ways and shall repent for it is amazing on this magnificent French bread. Next time I'll follow the trend and buy a €0.35 baguette, but for this week I'm going to enjoy this deliciousness instead.
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At the Technopole

Arrived around 4 Metz time from the train station by taxi. Sorry Dad, it warn't cheap. But I'm alive and didn't get lost on the buses or mugged so at least only positivity came from this experience. Maybe I will be comfortable enough to avoid it on the way home.

Orientation tomorrow, then a tour of the Wal-Mart-esque store Cora, then some mad planning for adventures. School starts Wednesday, a whole two days after the real Tech starts. Yes, you should be jealous. The dorm is nice, with a kitchenette, bathroom, and shockingly, no roommates. Kind of strange, but hopefully I'll spend more of my time here outside it rather than in it.

After a brief but frightening loss of crackberry internet service and ability to send/receive emails on this all-consuming device, it started working again. Cross your fingers so conditions stay that way! Thankfully, the crackberry comes with its own set of switchable adapters. That can't be said of my laptop, but soon that should be fixed.

All in all, I'd say the first day I've ever had in another country was pretty awesome. It's interesting how we all can be so similar yet so different at the same time.

Goodnight! :)
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On the train

Finally made it out of Chicago and to Paris. I'm trying to remember my manners by saying "parle vous anglais?" and "merci" a lot. The French people either think it's funny or just boring so I'm not so worried about it anymore.

I'm not lying when I say I jumped onto the train as it was leaving (yes, moving out of) the CDG station, with my baggage thrown in after me. For a minute I felt like it couldn't be the right train, but the conductor guy punched it so it must be legit. We shall see, I suppose.

You can tell from the telephone pole picture that we are zooming along quite fast. I wish I could get a better view of the countryside for you guys--it's definitely not American, but in a good way.

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More Chicago

Flight to Paris got delayed, but no worries. Just more time to read a good book.

You may be able to tell that I'm a bit bored. O'Hare has some cool stuff including lots of restaurants, a gigantic floating globe/flag hallway, and some of the most scarily intelligent toilets I've ever seen in action.

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Chicago

First stage: Accomplished.
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Charlotte

After much crazy driving and freaking out, I have made it through my first trial--Charlotte airport security. Wish me luck! :) And yes, I have Charles with me.

-Rachel
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Lock and load

Here's a picture of my 49.6 pound suitcase. I don't know what that is in kilos, but it better make it through airport security without some horrendous fee attached to it.

All that's left now is cramming every electronic device I own into my backpack and praying that I remember all the different chargers. Oh, and toiletries. Can't forget those. Might come in handy if I get stuck in Chicago. :)

Official countdown: 1 day.

-Rach
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Crackberry operational

Hi everybody!

This is a test to see if my shiny new phone can update the blog. This is so cool!

Official countdown: 5 days.

-Rachel
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More preparations

Astoundingly, managed to pack the car (with some much-appreciated help) and drive all the way from the ATL to Statesvegas yesterday. The scope of what I'm about to do has finally started to stress me out.

This week is going to be an insane scramble, but optimistically I'll have everything important with me when I board the plane. I dread the "uh-oh" moment that always happens when you remember something you obviously forgot.... As long as it's more along the lines of "uh-oh, I forgot my chapstick" instead of "uh-oh, I forgot all my pants" I think it'll be okay.

Happy Mothers' Day! :)

Official countdown: 8 days

-Rachel