More pictures from Germany

The hofbrau tent which is huge.  You can only see part of it in this picture.
Robin and I.
Robin and I at the castle.
All my girlfriends and I at the castle. 
All of my girlfriends and I at Oktoberfest.

Germany- Oktoberfest and the Neuschwanstein Castle

The view from the top of the mountain where the castle is looking down on the village.
The beautiful castle!

The castle again.

One liter of beer!

My friend Yvonne and I, aka the blondies.

A view of Oktoberfest from the top of the Ferris wheel.

   I had a wonderful time in Germany.  It is a beautiful country! I love being able to travel to a different country for a weekend.  We left on Thursday night and spent all night driving the 8 hours to Munich.  We got to the hostel in the morning, changed and went into the city.  Friday was rainy which made getting into the beer tents impossible.  How Oktoberfest works is that different beer companies sponsor tents where only their beer is sold.  Once the tents are full, which happens at about 10am, they only let people into the tents as others leave.  So since it was raining no one was leaving the warm dry tents.  So instead we went to one of the restaurant tents which only took about 10 minutes of waiting to get in.  I had the most amazing roast chicken (German food is amazing!)  and a Shandy which is a mixture of beer and lemonade.  It sounds like a weird combination but it was delicious.  The drinks only come in one size, a liter.  After eating we hung out in the tent for a while and then walked around the festival.  Despite being known for the beer it is actually very family friendly.  There are a lot of people that bring their children and it is like a fair almost with all the food stands, rides and games.  Robin and I went on the ferris wheel and we were able to see the whole festival which was cool.

 

 Saturday was going to be crazy at Oktoberfest because it was the last weekend and the weekend before had over 1 million visitors.  So instead of braving the crowds we went to the Neuschwanstein castle which is about two hours from Munich.  This is the castle that Walt Disney used for the basis of the Cinderella castle in Orlando. Public transportation is amazing in Europe and it was an easy train ride.  The countryside was beautiful and the town Fussen where the castle is is at the foot of the Alps.  It was a perfect fall day and all the leaves were changing.  I really can't describe how amazing the castle was.  We stopped for lunch in the little village at the bottom of the hill where I enjoyed roast pork and potatoes.  Then we walked 30 minutes uphill to the castle.  In order to get inside the castle you have to take a guided tour which turned out to be great.  The guide was very informative but also short and sweet.  One whole floor of the castle isn't finished because King Ludwig II who ordered the castle to be build died before it was finished.  We of course toured the finished part which was very ornate.  I loved the whole day and would definitely recommend the castle to anyone going to Germany.

Sunday I went back to Oktoberfest.  This time we got into a tent and fortunately found a table that fit my seven friends and I.  On one side was a group of Italians and the other side was some guys from Scotland on a bachlor party trip.  We got some attention being young American girls and had a lot of people either taking pictures of us or asking to be in pictures with us.  Generally everybody was really cool and I had a lot of fun talking to the guys from Scotland.  The atmosphere of the tent is crazy.  There is a lot of singing and standing on benches and tables.  Of course with a tent full of people drinking there are some negatives like one guy who felt the need to relieve himself one table over.  Before leaving I had some bratwurst and chocolate covered strawberries.  We left at 4pm and spent the long bus ride watching movies which made it go by pretty fast.

 Basically it was an amazing weekend and I'm so excited for my next trips.  

More pictures from Milan

A few more pictures from Milan.  The top one is me along a river.  The next one is from the silk factory we went to.  The last one is the Duomo in Milan.  Contrary to popular belief the Duomo is not specific to Florence, but rather is a generic term for the main church or cathedral of a city.  

  I'm leaving for Munich in about an hour.  I'm so excited for Oktoberfest!  I'll be back late on Sunday so I'll try to post pictures on Monday.  

A few pictures from Milan

I know there are only two pictures, but that seems about all blogger wants to let me upload at this point.  The top one is Robin and I in Lake Como.  The bottom one is me outside of the Zenga factory.  More pictures to come hopefully. 

Milan Recap

I left for Milan On Wednesday morning.  The first day we walked around, went to Corso Como, a concept store.  We also saw the Duomo and the main downtown area.  On Thursday we went to Lake Como which was beautiful.  It is an hour outside of the city and the equivalent of the hamptons.  We walked around the town for a bit and then we had a appointment at Montero which is a prestigious silk factory.  First we went to their archives which dates back over 100 years and the designers use it for inspiration.  We also went to their store which is like an outlet because it doesn't have the markup of a retailer.  Then we went to their factory which was amazing.  We got to see the new fabrics for designers such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada.  The fabrics were for the Summer 09 line.  On Friday morning we got to go to the headquarters of Armani.  Since it is fashion week in Milan the office was very busy with buyers looking at the Spring lines.  We got to see the stage where they had their fashion shows and the catwalk.  After Armani we went to a vertical wool factory outside the city.  We learned all about the production of wool. On Friday night Robin and I tried to find a Thai restaurant because we needed a break from Italian food but it didn't go well and we ended up at an Italian restaurant.  The good news is that I got the most amazing dessert there.  Saturday was our last day and we went to a trade show.  A trade show is when a bunch of vendors set up booths to display their products and buyers for stores go around and look to see find new merchandise.  The trade show we went to was for women's ready to wear and accessories.  I found the coolest jewelry designer, Tomoko Tokuda.  

We got home on Saturday around 8pm.  I went out that night because it was a friend's birthday.  I proceeded to spend all of Sunday doing nothing and relaxing which was really nice.  

  Tomorrow we are having a potluck for our entire program just to hangout.  Robin and I are making bruschetta to take.  Then tomorrow night at midnight I'm leaving for Munich and Oktoberfest!  I'm really excited to go to Germany since I've never been there.  I'm really looking forward to eating German food and see the festival which gets 6 million visitors a year.  On Saturday I really hoping to go to the Neuschwanstein castle.  

  I've been trying to add some pictures but it isn't working now.  So I'll just post this and see if the pictures work later.  

One Month

So I've been here for one month.  I can't believe it, it feels like so much longer.  This weekend turned out to be sunny and beautiful and I took advantage of it.  On Saturday I went to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens.  They are in Florence across the Ponte Vecchio on the south side of the Arno.  The palace used to belong to the Medicis but now houses several museums including the Costume Gallery which I visited.  We walked around the Gardens for a while, they are huge!  There are a few cats that live in the gardens that we found too.  It was a very relaxing day and so nice to be around nature.  That is one of the down falls of Florence, no public parks!

  On Sunday I went to Pisa to see the famous tower that supposedly is going to fall down in the next ten years.  The day wasn't that eventful, just walked around and took a lot of pictures in front of the tower.  

  I'm going to Milan in two days which I'm so excited about.  We get to go to the Armani headquarters, Lake Como, a silk factory and a trade show.  Pictures and more info about Milan to come when I return on Saturday.

Ikea and heart shaped pizza

On Wednesday I went to Ikea with a few of my friends.  It is starting to get quite chilly at night and the heat will not be turning on until November, and even then we can only have it on for two hours a day.  Needless to say we needed some blankets.  It turned out to a fun afternoon.  We ate swedish meatballs in the cafe which were delicious and made me feel at home.  I also found a kiosk for children that had computer games.  Since the Italian was at a child's level I could understand most of it.  I also got to color, play memory and that game where you have to find the differences between two pictures that Weeg is so fond of.  I got a comforter, a new pillow, two rugs, a hamper and a fleece blanket.  Now I will survive the winter wrapped in blankets in my frozen tundra apartment.  

  On Thursday Robin and I went out for lunch after classes to a restaurant around the corner from our apartment.  Our "lukes" if you will.  We know two of the waiters and they made us heart shaped pizza which is a sign of acceptance in the Italian culture.  

  We also had a meeting about our Milan trip yesterday.  It was really pointless and boring but it did make me excited for the trip.  We leave on Wednesday.