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Bonjour! We are in Nice, France and have some time to update (and free internet- woohoo!), so I thought I start with Munich and Venice- Susan and Carolyn will write about Florence, Cinque Terre (not whatever i called it in my last typo-filled blog), and then Nice/Cannes/Monaco.
Munich
-So as we mentioned last time, we ended up rerouting and heading to Munich before making our way to Italy. The first night we got in about mid-afternoon, so we had a little time to find our hostel and settle in before heading downtown to check out the city. We ended up meeting a guy and girl from Arizona State who were also backpacking, so we spent the night hanging out with them and another guy from Australia. They were a lot of fun, and we got to see Munich at night while we roamed the city with them. One crazy thing from the night was meeting a guy from the States who knows my friend Lawson, bc Lawson was his financial aid advisor at Queens University in NC. So random!
-The next day we went back to see all the sites in the daylight, including the glockenspiel, which is essentially a
giant cookoo clock in the city square. We also climbed to the top of it to get an aerial view of the city.
-We had a tradition Germany lunch of pork and sauerkraut with a nice big pretzel and some German beer at the Hobfrauhaus. (I must admit I missed the waffles and fries of Belgium. But don't worry, we managed to find gelatto even in Germany)
-We did some church touring, and then wandered through the English gardens where we saw one of the craziest things I have ever seen. There's a decent sized river that runs through the gardens, and at one part there is a tunnel where the water goes under a bridge. At the mouth of this tunnel the water moved in weird waves perpendicular to the banks of the river. Where this all happens there were SURFERS, wetsuits and all, surfing across this river. I know it doesn't sound that amazing, but in the middle of a formal English garden in Germany, it was just so weird. Look up Munich garden surfers on youtube and check them out.
-We have to give a big shoutout to our awesome Munch roommates, Sarah and Amber, who let
us shower in the room after we had checked out, but before our overnight train ride to Venice- thanks again!
-Now to the overnight train....ugh. Imagine putting six people in a train car the size of a normal bathroom and expecting them to sleep. Thank goodness we were the only 3 people in our cabin, both for our sake and the sake of anyone who had to be in there with our smelly backpacks and shoes. It was pretty awful, but we survived and woke up ready for VENICE!
Venice
-We LOVED Venice-- it was so amazing to be in a city and not see a car the entire day. Most of our day was spend exploring the many narrow and winding streets along the canals. We also took a water bus down to the other side of the city (decided against paying 80 euros for a gondola ride. insane.)
-We walked down to the famous Piazza San Marco where we went in the Basilica and went to the top of the bell tower to see a view of the city (they say on a clear day you can see Croatia, which I'm not really sure if we saw
or not). There was also some sort of important event going on, but because of our limited Italian we're not sure if it was a government protest, or an awards ceremony for a sports team. Trust us, it could have been either one.
After Venice we jetted off to Florence, which the other girls will write about soon. We're pretty sure by now we have used almost every form of transportation, including walking, plane, taxis, metros, buses, trams, bikes, a water bus, etc. We are well traveled, well fed, and having a blast! (although a little exhausted). We're also starting to forget where we are and what language we're supposed to be speaking (or attempting to speak), so our "thank yous" are usually a mix of danke, grazi, merci, and of course, thanks.
Ok, gotta go, there are a lot of people waiting for a computer. (I have never seen Facebook in so many different languages). Auvoir! -Carly
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Mara
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fantastic
sounds like you ladies are having a fantastic trip! i love the updates... gives me something to read since I have no one to talk to... and update to you... made it to boston safely and start the job on Monday. Saw the condo for the first time yesterday and should close on it by June 30 (crossing our fingers). Can't wait to hear all about the rest of France! :) happy traveling!--ciao!