Cinque Terre, Italy

I am excited to say we've made our way into Italy.  The air is warmer, the water is saltier, and our foreheads are little sweatier.  We came from Switzerland, where all the log cabin homes looked picture perfect and into Northwest Italy where the colourful concrete buildings look ancient and worn down.  After a long train ride we finally made it to La Spezia, a city just in land from Cinque Terre National Park.  We took a (slightly scary) bus ride up the mountain to our hostel in the very small town of Biassa.  The next couple days we spent exploring Cinque Terre National Park, a huge park that runs along the coast of the Medditeranean Sea.  Here you'll find five colourful villages built right into the cliffs.  There are hiking paths that run inbetween each city (or if hiking isn't your thing, you can take a train).  The first day we did the hike in between the towns which turned out to be a LOT of climbing up and down the steep terrain.  Though our calves were in pain the next day, the views we discovered during the hike made it well worth it.  On the second day, we gave our legs a break and took the train... which was an experience in itself.  Can't say I've ever felt so suffocated in a train before.  Being peak season, unfortunately we found ourselves squished into the train rubbing up against a dozen other sweaty tourists.  If you ever get the chance to vist Cinque Terre, we would highly reccomend waiting until at least September so the crowds aren't so herendous.  But despite the crowds, our experience here seemed a bit surreal.  Wandering through these towns we would find the smallest of pathways in between buildings, ancient looking but colourful architecture,  amazing seafood and of course many quaint restaurants selling pizza, pasta, and other amazing Italian dishes.  I'll never forget when we were making our way down into the second small village (we had just decended down from one of the wooded, cliffside hiking paths) and an Italian waiter swiftly passed us along the cobblestone pathway carrying at least three Italian pasta dishes.  The smell that wafted past us was to die for!  It doesn't get more Italian than that.  Where did he even come from? Haha. Oh how I love Italian cooking.  

Interlaken, Switzerland

                                       

Amongst the most breathtaking views in the world, there are a few things we learned about the Swiss while we were here:

1) There is a VERY specific way to do cheese fondue.  If you stray at all from the proper routine, sorry, it's just not Swiss.

2)  The stinkier the cheese, the better the cheese is.

3)  If you are at all OCD, this is the place to be.  The Swiss are all about order and routine.

4)  If you visit Interlaken or surrounding areas during July or August, you are most likely to be surrounded by South Koreans or Chinese.  This is their number one vacation hotspot.  We were the minority at our hostel.

5)  If it is raining the morning of your hike, it's best to just wait it out-- unless you have full rain gear. 

All these things we learned through personal experience.  I am writing this on the train, as we wind through green, luscious mountain towns.  Every turn we take, there is a new sight to take in.  There are log cabin like homes climbing up steep, narrow hills, goats and cows grazing in the fields, and snow capped mountains in the distance.  Switzerland has been beautiful.  

Munich, Germany

One of the first things we noticed about Munich was how green it was.  Huge parks, everywhere.  Different kind of parks than in Prague though... Prague was perfectly manicured, where as the parks here seemed more... worked in?  The city seemed clean as well, making us feel very comfortable here.  We were here for a total of 2 and a half days and were able to rent bikes (wahoo!) and spend a lot of our time outside the city centre exploring what else Munich had to offer.  Our accommodations were a 15 minute tram ride from downtown (or a 45 minute bike ride) but in the end, we were quite pleased with where we were staying.  Looking back at our time here, there are 3 main highlights that come to mind:  The Tent, The English Garden, and our visit to Dachau Concentration Camp.  

What exactly is "The Tent"?  It's where we slept while we were there!  Zack has been booking all of our accommodations (and doing a fine job of it!), and when he first told me about this one, I was a bit weary.  This is how he explained it to me:  "It's a massive tent just outside of the city filled with 100 beds.  It's the cheapest place to stay.  Or you can pay the minimum and they will give you a floor mat and some blankets to sleep on the floor."  Since he booked fairly last minute, we ended up on the floor.  Can you see why I could have been a bit weary?  But I must say, I absolutely loved our stay at "The Tent".  It was way cleaner than I expected, and the people here were extremely friendly.  It was mostly young travellers staying here and some families as well.  When you arrive, they give you a laminated number and you have to claim your spot on the floor.  They have lockers to lock your bags in which was nice, and the showers and kitchen were always kept nice and clean.  To me, it kind of felt like glamorous camping!  The place was surrounded by nature, and you can also pitch a tent in the back if you'd like.  Every night they have a bonfire and there were gravel pathways throughout the surrounding neighbourhoods and wooded areas that we loved exploring.  There were ping pong tables, badminton rackets, and bikes available to rent.  Maybe it was good that I had such low expectations, because it made my experience just that much better!  I loved it here!

Prague, Czech Republic

Praha (or Prague, as we know it in English), is quite possibly the most beautiful city we've ever visited.  It is one of the oldest, most well preserved cities in Europe, and unlike many other European countries, did not get burnt to the ground durning the World War.  This left some of the most beautiful buildings left in their original form.  Going through my photos after our time here, I found I had photo after photo of the city streets, lined with beautiful architecture.  This city is romantic, picturesque, and includes some beautiful castles, including the Prague castle.  It is small enough that it makes walking around the city quite possible, which I love.  

When we arrived at our hostel on Monday, we were blown away.  Nestled at the bottom of a hill, the old style exterior of the hostel did not prepare me for the modern design of the interior.  Think polished concrete, brick walls, high ceilings and tall windows.  The showers were also polished concrete with frosted glass with rain head shower heads.  White linens were on our bedroom bunks with double sized pillows.  We definitely felt like we were at a hotel!  And it was super cheap!  Zack had booked us in different rooms (haha) because I guess that made it even cheaper.  That turned out to be just fine because my room was all girls and I really enjoyed chatting with the other girls.  I love finding out where other travellers are headed, or hearing about their experiences along the way (and seeing as Zack and I are travelling together for 7 weeks, some time apart probably did us well, haha).  The only negative part of the hostel was that there was no guest kitchen for us to use.  It turned out okay though because they had an all you can eat breakfast buffet downstairs in their (super trendy) basement bar (that I'm mad I didn't get any photos of because it was such a cool space).

Berlin, Germany

Leaving Copenhagen and arriving into Berlin was like leaving a quaint colourful city full of tall, blonde (and quite good-looking) people, and arriving into a massive city of concrete and many cultures.  Berlin is rich with history and there are some extremely beautiful buildings, however we discovered that being here for just one weekend was hardly enough time to feel like we could familiarize ourselves with the city.  We enjoyed our stay at the Amstel House Hostel, though the location was not (ideally) centrally located.  We graduated from cycling around Copenhagen to Metro-ing our way around Berlin; and we most definitely missed having Didde's bikes to explore the city with.  Taking underground transit always seems to disorient me (I can't visualize how to get one place to the next, like I can on a bicycle).  So I was definitely grateful to have Zack there with me!  Exploring this city solo would probably not be something I would try to do on my own.  

Copenhagen, Denmark

I think we've found our happy place:  On a bike, cycling around the streets of Copenhagen.  Cycling is a way of life here, and it's just awesome.  Since there are outrageous taxes on owning a car in Denmark, most people here use a bike as their main mode of transportation.  Business women in high heels, moms pushing two children, younger children, students, you name it; they are all out there on their bikes.  The city itself is designed in a way that makes this completely possible with streets lined with raised bicycle paths, ramps to get up and over curbs, and even metal tracks to help bring your bicycle up and down a set of stairs.  Mix that aspect of the city in with beautiful streets lined with cafes, shops, waterways and colourful buildings, we were in our glory biking around this wonderful city.  

Reykjavik, Iceland

Our first impression of Iceland was barren and desolate.  As we trekked our tired selves out of the airport after our red eye flight,we looked around to see a fairly flat landscape covered with rocks and moss.  Though I hadn't slept all night, we ran outside excited to find our shuttle bus.  And then it hit us.  A cold Icelandic gust of wind.  We were tired, hungry and had no sense of time, but that wind definitely kept us awake until we could check into our hostel.  Reykjavik was an adventure and an awesome way to start our journey.  From the culture and people, the scenery, and the copius amount of daylight, we've loved our stay.  Here are some of the highlights: