Munich, Germany

Munich, Germany

Mike and I left for the train station to meet Brad. When we arrived there was an unexpected fourth person added to the group. His name is Ernie. We played hearts on the way. It was my first time playing, but Ernie was mad that I was so close to winning. If he hadn’t cheated and added our scores wrong then I probably would have beat him. We arrived in the hostel at 10pm, about six hours after we left Metz.

We spent the day touring. After an hour of trying to figure out the subway system, we made it to the central part of town. (We learned later that our subway trip would have taken less time if we walked.) On the tour we saw where Mozart lived as a child. We joined a free walking tour. Since the tour guide was very fast and did not allow us to have any time for pictures, we left the tour. We finally arrived at the famous cathedral. It was similar to other cathedrals I had seen, but it had some unique artwork and sculptures. After the cathedral we walked around the central area of town and then headed to the English Gardens via subway. The English Gardens is the place where hundreds of local Munich people enjoy bathing naked in the sun. After taking a short break to rest in the park we headed back towards a museum. Unfortunately the history museum was closed. But we ended up going to the Hafbrahaus brewing gardens. It was a huge restaurant and pub that served beer by the liter. We had some German sausages and each of us ordered a liter. It was a very filling and good tasting meal.

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Beer Gardens (left to right: me, Mike, Ernie, Brad)

Me, Brad, and Mike took a two hour train ride to see some castles. We saw Neuschwanstein, a famous castle, where King Ludwig II lived. I had seen the castle in Sleeping Beauty, but never really thought it existed. The landscape around the castle was more awesome than the castle itself. Mountains, waterfalls, and lakes surround the castle to make an amazing view. The King was very unfortunate because he died unexpectedly at a young age shortly after the castle was built. He was only able to spend a little more than half a year living in the castle before he was found dead in a lake from an unknown reason.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Before leaving for Brussels we had to go to the bank to retrieve Mike’s ATM card because the machine had ate it the night before. We caught the 7pm train and arrived in Brussels around 10pm. Because Brussels is the connecting point between Metz and Amsterdam, we decided to spend the night at a hostel. After having trouble finding our way around, we ran into some Americans (from USC) who were also looking for a hostel. The locals were really nice about helping us find our way around. They spoke English really well and spent a lot of time making sure that we ended up going in the right direction. Fortunately the hostel had some openings and we checked in around 11:30pm.

An alley with several apartment buildings.

Amsterdam is famous for its beautiful canals.

We took the train from Brussels to Amsterdam and arrived early afternoon. My first impression was not very good. Parts of the city are really dirty and hundreds of people wonder the streets high on drugs. It was difficult finding a place to stay. We finally walked into a crappy hotel where some guy let us know about an opening that he had in his hotel down the street. We arrived a La Canna a few minutes later and checked in. The building was half hotel and half drugs. The front desk sold numerous types of drugs. The area we were in was very close to the infamous Red Light District. It was everything I had imagined it to be. Groups of people were singing as they walked through the streets high on drugs and alcohol. Fortunately not all of Amsterdam was this dirty. We walked around and explored some of the most amazing architecture and canals that I had ever seen. We went into the Van Gogh museum. The building was not that impressive, but the paintings were amazing. There were countless numbers of Van Gogh paintings and each one was incredible. The other paintings in the museum were mainly dedicated to the artists that had inspired Van Gogh.

Metz, France

Metz, France
Metz is a very historical city that was first inhabited around 3000 years ago. The cathedral, which is the main tourist attraction, is several hundred years old. Some other frequently visited sites throughout the city include the city park and the main shopping and eating area. However, you can see mostly everything in one day of traveling. Spending a whole summer in Metz got very boring.

The main cathedral in Metz.
Small cathedral near the river.
All my classes are located in this building.