Posts Tagged ‘Munich’

Beerland, AKA Deutschland (und Osterreich)

Hello again!  Margaux here, writing to you from the rainy Salzburg Hauptbahnhof (central railway station) while we wait for our train to Prague.  Leaving Salzburg means we’re about to be in an area where neither Alexa nor I know ANY of the language.  In France, we both understood enough to get along since we have a lot of knowledge with the other romance languages.  In Italy, Alexa understood because she’s Italian and has grown up with the language around her.  In Spain, we were totally fine with our 12 or more years of Spanish from grade-school.  In Germany and Austria, I whipped out my 1 year of German that I got my sophomore year at Wellesley, and I was even complimented on my accent once in Munich!

Our last post left us in Dublin, so here’s an update on the cities we visited where my broken German got us around: Düsseldorf, Berlin, Munich and Salzburg.

The flight from Dublin to Düsseldorf is a bit hazy because of the spectacular evening we had in Dublin the night before.  Instead of a hostel in Düsseldorf, we stayed at a budget/1 star hotel.  The price would have been exactly the same for a hostel, and we got to live in LUXURY for 2 days.  By luxury I mean they made the beds and replaced the towels.  My mother wouldn’t have even walked into the room, but to us (after sleeping in a room with 2 random women in Dublin) it was The Ritz. (more…)

Bonjour! Bongiorno! Hola! Hello! Guten Tag!

Hi! Margaux here, writing to you from an internet cafe in Berlin!  Since June 15th I’ve been backpacking through Europe with my best friend Alexa and we are so excited to be able to share our trip with you this way!

First, a little bit about us.  We grew up together since age 3 in Northeastern New Jersey, but we usually just tell people we’re from Manhattan (Bad Habit? We think it’s fine).  After high-school we parted ways: Alexa ended up at U Miami in The Sunshine State (Florida) and I ended up at Wellesley in the exact OPPOSITE of the sunshine state (Massachussetts).  We both just graduated this year and this backpacking trip was inevitable…

Travel-wise, I’d say we’re both quite seasoned for your average college graduates.  Here’s some history:

Alexa: When I was 12 I first ventured into Lugano, Switzerland for a month long stay at an American University named TASIS. After that, I was hooked and travelled back to Italy three times (I’m Italian so obviously that’s my fav country… Margaux won’t stop making fun of me about it, apparently white Juicy pants are “SOOOO Italian.”) I’ve also travelled around Spain, Turkey and the islands of Greece. Outside of Europe I’ve been to Quebec, Montreal and your standard high-school spring break: the tropical islands. I’ve also hopped around the states, from coast to coast.  I’ve never backpacked until this trip… (more…)