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Monday, September 27, 2010

More from Deutschland

A large part of Euro-trip was to have an educational and historical journey to learn more about our world and history and how things came to be. This of course included a sobering visit to a concentration camp, in Dachau. Dachau was actually classified as a work camp and, initially, prisoners who were "rehabilitated" were eligible for possible release. However, as the war ran longer, Dachau became a concentration and death camp.

The gate at the entrance to the camp bears the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" which translates to "Work brings freedom"

This memorial had a life-size poster timeline with informational details and pictures of the progression of the war and of Dachau from an intial work camp to an eventual extermination center. This photograph was particularly disturbing, showing malnourished prisoners

The ovens that the Nazis used to incinerate prisoners

We were in a very somber mood after our Dachau visit, and headed to Stuttgart next by train to visit a music friend from PYP that I hadn't seen in about 6 years. It was wonderful to catch up with her and her new husband and to see the sights of Stuttgart.

Fabian and Laurel. Such gracious hosts and wonderful company and conversation. Thank you!

Stuttgart is a famed industrial city known for producing Mercedes-Benz and Porsche cars. We of course visited the Mercedes museum. The whole time we were there, I was wishing for Grandpa to be there as I'm sure he would have been fascinated by the progression of cars and been able to explain all the mechanical aspects of what we were seeing.

Me breaking the rules and touching an older-model Mercedes

We discovered the good, rich food of Germany at Oktoberfest, and went on to find a new favorite dish: maultaschen. This is a traditional Swabian (Southern region of Germany) dish that is kind of like a dumpling filled with minced meat, spinach and herbs. Absolutely fantastic! Can't wait to try to make this at home, or better yet, find a restaurant that makes it. :)

Another favorite dish, spätzle, a type of noodle dish akin to a very cheesy and rich mac and cheese

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Austria and Germany

Had a wonderful day trip to Salzburg, Austria where we got to tour Mozart's house and see his instruments, manuscripts, letters, and other artifacts from his lifetime. Definitely helped me to understand and appreciate his music a little more, hope to catch a concert at some point in Europe!

Salzach river with the Alps in the background. Salzburg is where "The Sound Of Music" movie was filmed...can't you just picture yourself roaming through these hills, singing "The hills are alive..."?

Our next stop was Munich, Germany for the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. Basically, imagine a larger than life carnival filled with ginormous tents, packed with picnic benches and many drunk people squeezed together from Germany and all over the world, wearing lederhosen and dirndyl outfits, chanting and singing and drinking and having an absolute blast.

Yes, our waiter carried 11 steins (large beer mugs) at once, no small feat. That's about 60 pounds of glass and beer (a liter in each stein); they do this all day and deliver steins every 5-10 minutes. Imagine the workout there!

Reunited with Kappa sisters at Oktoberfest.

We had an eventful 3 days with high school buddies as well and a nice mingling of groups. This was also about where Europe started to disregard my high metabolism.

Must eat high-caloric food while you're drinking. Some delicious Southern German food...imagine hearty holiday comfort food and this is about what we had for every meal

Inside of the Augustiner tent, one of the more famous breweries. Note the folk dressed in lederhosen (guy trouser outfits) and durndyls (female maiden outfits). Of course, you can see the band and singers at the front of the hall, and people standing up on benches to sing, sway, and clap to popular songs, many of which were older American hits

After all that food and beer and physical exertion from dancing, it seems like a great idea to go on one of the many carnival rides! You can only imagine how people felt when they got out of these rides ;P

Monday, September 20, 2010

Switzerland

My first impression of Switzerland was from the fabulous trains...an upgrade from what we were used to in Italy and Greece. The trains were more high-tech, roomier, had many more amenities like electrical outlets and were just so darn sleek! They also are very timely and we arrived into Interlaken right when we expected and found that the whole city (and country) was similar to their train system--clean, efficient, and beautiful.

Our train!

Having some Swiss Toblerone chocolates while on the train. Food (and everything else) was extremely expensive in Switzerland, so we opted to get groceries instead of eating out. Switzerland, not being in the European Union, has their own food regulation laws, thus the exceptional quality of their food. We had some of the best milk and cheese and fruits I've ever tasted.


My first time bungy-jumping! The Goldeneye bungee jump is on the Verzasca dam in Switzerland. Made famous by the Goldeneye James Bond movie, this jump is roughly 750 ft. and the second tallest in the world, and the tallest jump without a guide rope. I was under the weight limit by about 3 kilos, but went ahead and rounded up my weight so that I could do the jump. What a rush!!

View of the Verzasca dam that we jumped off of.

Scott flying!

We also went canyoning which required us to dress in wetsuits, and follow a guide as we trekked through the rocks and pools carved out by rivers flowing down the Alps. Never have I zoomed down natural rock slides head first nor jumped into 4-ft deep pools in sideways cannon balls. What an exhilarating 2 hours!

Switzerland is truly like something out of a picture book. Beautiful alps, grazing animals, charming cottages with red flower boxes under windows...

Here I am with my pack on, the Alps in the background, and a beautiful day for traveling!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Italia

Hello! Just a brief little update with some pictures from Italy. I am currently in Spain and there is supposedly a country-wide strike tomorrow, so nothing will be open. This should give me plenty of time to do some major updates! Hope all is well back home, we are loving the 70+ degree sunny weather. :)

Scott checking out the petrified wood from Ercolano...sister city to Pompeii that was preserved by volcanic mud and ash in 79 AD

Roman bed still standing in original form after thousands of years

Touching the walls of Ercolano...even paintings and sculptures were preserved in unbelievable condition!

Some appetizers, grilled vegetables, bruschetta with various pates including olive and liver

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Corfu

Corfu island in Greece turned out to be absolutely amazing and relaxing. We awoke to the aroma of something deliciously smokey and found the hostel's open air rotisserie with chickens lined up, being barbequed for our (free) dinner. We decided to walk around the beach in the meantime to sink our toes in the velvety sand and dip our feet in the warm, salty waters of the Ionian Sea. We also climbed up some rocks for great views of the Western Corfu coast. Some interesting bit of history was the Greek myth that Poseidon apparently fell in love with a beautiful nymph, abducted her (as was custom in Greek mythology) and brought her to the island and, in marriage, allowed her to name the island Korkyra. Their child was named Phaiax and, thus, the residents of Corfu were called Phaiakes which translated in Latin to Phaecians. Though there is lots of history and old fortresses in Corfu, we didn't have many days to check out all the historical sights. I'd definitely love to come back though!

Our amazing BBQ chicken at our hostel

After this, we came back to the hostel to our delicious home-cooked meal. We found out that our hostel owners had been running the Sun Rock hostel for 25+ years, and had 4 children ranging in age from 11 months to 23 years. They also owned some land on Corfu and most of the food we ate came directly from their land...fresh chicken eggs, home-made feta cheese, vegetables and fruits from their plants, wine harvested from their grapes, olives and oil from their trees, etc. They really seemed to live the life. We also discovered that there were actually 12 or 13 kittens running around the hostel, so it was a joy to watch them play and to cuddle them. My favorite was the one named Princess. Scott was particularly keen on the skinny runt named Matt Damon. :)
Kitty Princess

Greek pancakes...they are an airy kind of fried dough, topped with cinnamon and honey. So yummy!

The view from our hostel terrace. The water is so clear you can wade out waist-deep and see your toes through the water, as well as little fish that live in the sea

Picking fresh figs off of the tree after a swim in the ocean. Yum!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Yasu from Greece!

Hello from Greece! Hope everyone is doing well and GO DUCKS!!

It's hard to believe that in the last week, I've traveled by plane, train, subway, ferry, shuttle, bus, car, and by foot. I have also managed to sleep in beds, bunks, chairs, benches, boat decks, the floor and somehow am still alive and kicking. What an adventure!

My plane ride to Greece was quite uneventful, I had a wonderful flight attendant that allowed me a window seat at our descent to be able to view the beautiful islands as we flew into Athens. The water was a deep aqua blue and from the plane we could see boats dotting the calm waters, and perhaps even a dolphin or two. As soon as we departed the plane, I booked it through customs to go find Scott. I was initially a little worried that we weren't going to be able to find one another, but as soon as I headed toward the exit, the sliding glass doors opened and I saw his head bobbing in a sea of people. What a great day! I hadn't seen Scott in over 2 months and it was so good to finally be able to talk and pick right back up where we left off. As I was pretty jet-lagged, we headed to our hotel to drop off my backpack and take a nap. That night, we walked around and found a kebab shop where we had a delicious kebab pocket. There are apparently kebab stands all over Europe, and I now understand how people live off of this for every meal. My kebab was basically two grilled chicken skewers that were wrapped in a pita pocket filled with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, tzatziki sauce (kind of a cucumber/yogurt mixture) and some spices. It was also only 2 euro which is incredibly cheap for a meal, as I have learned in this past week. We also sat in this beautiful square where there were many locals and couples sitting around, listening to an impromptu band, enjoying popsicles and other ice-cold treats. The later it got, the more merchants we saw come set up blankets with fake name-brand purses, belts, sunglasses and other items. I guess big cities are the same in this way everywhere!

My first meal in Europe at a local kebab and gyro stand. They shave the meat off these packed meat skewers and fill a pita with the delicious seasoned meat, vegetables, and different types of sauce and they are topped with french fries in Greece. Delicious!

The next day in Athens, I was still battling jet lag, but we started off the early afternoon by a trip to the Acropolis. We had previously seen the Acropolis lit up at night as it was quite close to our hotel. It's really fascinating here how there is all of this incredible history and architecture, yet a modern world of people living in the midst of it. I can't even fathom waking up in the morning and looking out the window to see the Acropolis, or living in buildings with foundations that are centuries old, it's really kind of magical. My impression of the city of Athens was that it reminded me a lot of my home town of Taipei, Taiwan. Between the Diesel-fuel-smelling air, the motor scooters and cars not seeming to follow any sort of traffic law, the mangy dogs on all the streets, vendors and merchants set up on every store front, I really felt kind of at home. Scott and I even practiced a bit of bargaining with a street vendor for some sunglasses. The only thing I didn't really enjoy was the constant smoking everywhere and the litter of cigarette butts everywhere. This has been prevalent throughout Europe so far and I really will be looking forward to the clean, breathable Oregon air and delicious tap water.

The Acropolis at night, lit up in all its glory

Patsa stew. Soup made from the intestines of a pig. It's supposedly great for hangovers and certainly was a great chicken noodle soup replacement for our colds

At the Acropolis, I saw some other fellow Asians that would end up being some of the only ones I saw so far in Europe. There are simply no Asians anywhere, except Japanese tourists, whom are apparently joked about in a friendly way across Europe. People have been very curious as to my heritage and I've even had random people come up to me at train stations or on the rain to say "Asiatica?" or "Where are you from?" It's been quite interesting and definitely made me more aware of my skin color. The best part is when I walk around with Scott, people almost always automatically speak to us in English or try to con us into buying expensive trinkets. I guess we stick out like sore thumbs here, haha. The Acropolis was very beautiful and ancient. I couldn't believe how it withstood so many wars and natural disasters to still be standing. There are constant relief efforts and restoration projects to help preserve the structures even more. It is also amazing that all of the building materials and marble were hauled up this hill and everything was built with such thought and care to the point that each column has significance and is built slightly curved so that when looked at from different angles, one actually sees a straight line. We also visited the Ancient Agora of Athens where we saw the ruins of a famous concert hall where we could envision the many festivals and musical acts that occurred there. I am excited to hopefully see a concert soon!

Parthenon at the Acroplis. Notice the machinery as they are continually working on restorations due to structural complications from environment, war, and previous botched restoration efforts

The Erechtheion at the Acropolis where Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and where Athena produced the olive tree

After another night in Athens, we left the city by train to Patra, Greece where we were planning to take a ferry over to the island of Corfu for a few days. Patra was a quaint little town and there, I had my first experience with a child beggar. I don't know if it was the fact that we looked American or were eating outside in a cafe, but halfway through our meal, this young girl approached us with sad-looking eyes, pointing at our food then to her mouth, speaking Greek the whole time. She looked dirty and like she could use a good meal, so I went to get a to go container and gave her my leftovers. She immediately began chowing down on my leftover kebab and I felt better knowing that she was having the food rather than I. However, pretty soon after this, another little girl approached us and was insistent upon us giving her money to buy a kebab. We could tell she was begging in Greek, saying "please, please, please" over and over again, and it broke my heart to say "sorry" and walk away. As we headed away from the cafe, we saw her approaching other customers, and then saw a square full of kids about her age all presumably beggar children. It was at this time that I was thinking it was about time to get out of Patra.

When we got on our ferry at midnight, we had no idea it was going to be rather a large ship, almost like a cruise. There was a swimming pool, showers, a bar, restaurant and probably just about any amenity you could imagine. This was, of course, for the delux patrons who had rented cabins or rooms for the night. We had decided on deck passage to save quite a bit of money and figured that it would be warm enough and a short enough ride (6 hours) that we would survive. So we go to the top deck and find two lawn chairs, place them side by side and put on some warm clothes to bunker down for the night. All was going well and we fell asleep even before the ferry took off from the dock. Then, all hell broke loose. I woke up freezing cold after an hour with wind blowing off my towel/makeshift blanket and tried to rearrange myself so that I was curled up into a ball. Scott and I tried to cuddle for body heat but we kept a fitful sleep for the next few hours. Finally, I couldn't take it any more and announced that I was going to go sit downstairs where it would hopefully be warmer. Keep in mind that when we got downstairs, all of the benches and floor space had been taken up by other deck passengers, who were more saavy and had brought along sleeping bags, hammocks, and some even air mattresses. Scott and I found a spot on the ground by a wall where the wind would hopefully be blocked for the last hour of the ferry ride. We fell asleep for a short bit, then I woke to the feeling of wetness along my side and back. Of course, it had begun to rain, and our packs and towels and clothes were now wet. We decided to take our chances and go inside the ferry, where we saw nice, dry, warm families who had camped out in the entrance area on the rug. If only we had known this was possible at the beginning! The rain did not stop when we docked, and continued for the rest of the day. I had conveniently looked aside at the guidebook which had said Corfu was one of the "greenest and most beautiful islands of Greece, with the highest percentage of rainfall." I suppose that was a good learning lesson, haha. Our hostel sent a van to pick us up after a few hours of waiting at the ferry dock. We were quite tired and wanted to just go to sleep. By the time we got to the west coast of Corfu, we had seen the foliage and greenery and breathed the incredible-smelling mountain air. Because of the weather, lots of herbs and olive trees grow in Corfu, combining to give the air a fresh smell. Upon our arrival, our hostel hostess gave us a warm welcome with tea, and a delicious omelette breakfast with home-made feta cheese. What a wonderful welcome! I was beginning to like the island more and more. We also were checked out by 3 kittens who had apparently been strays and congregated at the hostel where the owners fed them. They were so cute and a nice friendly change as both of us were missing our animals from home. We then took a nice, warm nap as the rain pitter-pattered outside our window.