EuroTrip 2007

Leaving home...

Our EuroTrip began at 4 am in the morning on Sunday, September 2nd after a night of packing. After leaving DIA around sunrise, Jason and I easily made it to Chicago to meet Matt and truly begin our trip. Our flight for DC took off only to turn around after 10 minutes due to mechanical errors... how convenient. A few hours later and some re-booking, we made it to Washington Dulles and Frankfurt. After an exhausting day of traveling, we finally arrived in Frankfurt to lost luggage. Typical Monica travel luck, however what would this trip have been without it?

Frankfurt, Germany

September 2 - 5

After reaching Frankfurt, our unfortunate travel luck quickly left us. As Frankfurt is a relatively small city, the transition from home to four months in Europe was much easier. We stayed in a small, serviced apartment and quickly settled with our bare amounts of luggage.

Our first night in Frankfurt consisted of lots of walking around the town and orienting ourselves. We ate dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant (ironically enough, particularly since it was recommended to us by a local), L'Angolo di Oro, and spent time in the main city center. After a couple of days of visiting fountains, the Frankfurt tower, and the Opera house, my favorite part of Frankfurt was sitting in the streets of the main city center, people watching at the wine festival and becoming quickly accustomed to the laid back lifestyle of Europe. The city also gave us time to figure out more plans for our upcoming destinations, learn how to navigate metros, and prepare for hostels. Overall, Frankfurt was a great transition city, however it is very glitzy and new. I would love to return to Germany one day and visit Munich or Berlin.

Vienna, Austria

September 5 - 8

Wein! After an early morning Aer Berlin flight to Vienna, we reached the city and wandered the streets until we reached The Wombats hostel. After about two hours of being in the city, the rain began and did not stop, until our last night in the city. Despite the cold and dreary weather, we made the most of it and were able to truly experience the Viennese lifestyle.

The day we arrived consisted of exploring the city and getting our bearings. We wandered through the city hall and spent the afternoon hanging out in a warm cafe drinking coffee for hours. After a late dinner, the tiring and cold day ended with an early night. The following day continued to be rainy and so we spent the afternoon in and out of monuments and museums. We visited a beautiful cathedral only to discover that Pope Benedict XVI was to be in town the following day (more to come on this...)! The remainder of day was spent at the Haus de Musik, a great museum on music explaining the history of the city, home of Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, and many others. We also spent the afternoon in the Museum Quartier visiting the Modern Art museum (very interesting experience) and the Traum/Trauma exhibit. After an exhausting afternoon of running up and down the city, we went to an early dinner and an evening of relaxing at the hostel. I was later able to meet up with my friend Anoop, and his friend Salman (both also traveling prior to their study abroad programs) and discover the nightlife of Vienna. This first night out in the city truly made Vienna come alive despite the fact that it was still pouring rain. :o)

The late night out led to an early morning the next day, however one that I will never forget. Pope Benedict XVI was in Vienna for a couple of days, and we had the opportunity to see him in an early morning open-air mass. Standing in the pouring rain surrounded by thousands of others, all drenched from head to toe, proved to be a very humbling experience. It quickly reminded me of seeing the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala last winter surrounded by thousands of monks chanting, yet this time it was the Pope and Catholics from all over the world. I can honestly say I will never forget these experiences when, despite all the problems that seem to exist in the world, everything seems to stop to focus on one individual and his vast influence on our world.

This amazing start to the day continued with a tour of the UN building in Vienna (one of four locations in the world), a visit to the Danube tower and lunch at the revolving cafe overlooking the city, and spending the evening in downtown Vienna wandering the shops. After a late dinner, we wandered into Bermuda Triangle - Vienna's main spot for bars, clubs, and students, particularly on a Friday night. I once again met up with Anoop and Salman as we wandered from one place to the next, only to finally arrive at "Flex." If you ever go to Vienna, I would definitely recommend finding this place. Not at all what you would expect, but an amazing experience to be had.

Budapest, Hungary

September 8 - 11

A few amazing but tiring days in Vienna led us to Budapest the next day. After checking out of Wombats, we headed to the train station and boarded our train to Budapest. Arriving in the city, where the sun was shining once again, certainly put everyone into a good mood. Matt quickly joked he was "moving to Budapest indefinitely," and after being there for a few days, you can't blame him. We checked into our hostel, the Budapest Bubble (great place to stay, I would definitely recommend it), and wandered a cute street full of restaurant's before stopping at Leroy's Cafe. A fantastic meal later, and after staring out onto the Danube looking into Pest, we headed back to the hostel to get ready. Matt and I decided to experience the Budapest "All Night Crash," a pub crawl around the city, meaning really a bunch of traveler's from different hostels wanting to go out. Definitely a night I will never forget... how often do you party with a Hungarian and his friend from Barcelona, a few Australians, a group of Irish guys, a couple from London, and a few girls from London traveling? Quite the experience...

The following morning consisted of much needed sleeping in. Despite the late start to the day, we were still able to get a day's worth of adventure in with seeing the Parliament and St. John's Basilica, along with a view from the tower overlooking the city. After switching to the Aboriginal Hostel in the afternoon, we wandered around the Castle district in Pest and spent the evening taking in the beautiful sights and sounds. After dinner in the city, we ran into our friends from the Budapest Bubble from the night before and spent time hanging out in the city with them. Another great night in Budapest that I will not forget involved sitting in the back of bar with a group of young Irish guys discussing everything from international politics to be the best places to go during my visit to Dublin. This is why I love traveling.

Our final full day in Budapest again proved to be amazing. After another late morning, we quickly made our way to the thermal baths in the city park. The afternoon of lounging was so relaxing, and we had the opportunity to once again run into our Irish friends from the night before and Anoop and Salman. We ended our great trip to Budapest with a dinner cruise on the Danube River and a great night's rest.

Croatia

September 11 - 15

Our relaxing evening quickly led us to an early morning ride to the airport to depart for Split, Croatia. Flying over the Adriatic to land in to Split was once again an awakening experience. The water was crystal clear with islands up and down the coast, and I knew (secretly wanting to be a beach bum) these next few days would be great. After landing in Split, we quickly took care of a few traveling arrangements before boarding a bus for four hours to reach our stop for the next two nights, Dubrovnik. After getting settled into our guest house, we spent the evening wandering the Old Town (inside the Dubrovnik walls) and taking in Croatia.

The next morning we awoke to an amazing view outside of our guest house window of the beautiful hillside against the Adriatic. It was going to be a fantastic day. As this was our only full day in Dubrovnik we took advantage of it by spending the day at the old town. We stopped for lunch at "Fresh," a great recommendation, followed by a relaxing walk around the city and staring out upon the beautiful sea for a while. A little bit of shopping and more wandering led us into the afternoon where we decided to partake in the main attraction of the city and walk the walls of the former Dubrovnik fortress. The view from above was absolutely stunning and enabled us to take in everything this city has experienced including its recent violent history. After the walk, we took a nice short break to grab gelato while watching the sunset over the sea. All this before an amazing seafood dinner and spending the evening in a Jazz cafe. This lifestyle I could have gotten used to...


We awoke the next morning to continue our Croatian adventures out at sea by taking a ferry from Dubrovnik to Rijeka, a port city in the north of the country. The ferry left at 10 am on Thursday, September 13th arriving in Rijeka early Friday morning. Needless to say Matt, Jason, and I all took advantage of this time to catch up on a few things as well as stare out into the sea and reflect upon everything we have been so fortunate to experience. After spending a few days in Rijeka, we would all travel to London together before parting ways. This experience allowed us to come together one last time and appreciate our adventures together.

Rijeka continued to be a great experience, however similar to Frankfurt, the town is relatively small. We spent our first day there by exploring the city. While Matt and Jason visited the castle district, I spent the morning wandering the city and visiting the monuments. Like many places in Croatia with its vast history, one can still see where the old Rijeka originally sat versus the new cosmopolitan city of today. This morning of getting lost amongst the history and taking in the culture allowed me to realize how much there is I would still like to learn about the world. After a thoughtful morning, we spent the afternoon checking into our hostel and getting settled, followed by a relaxing afternoon at the (rocky) beach, including a swim in the (very cold) Adriatic. After a couple of hours of sheer bliss, we headed back to the hostel to get ready for a dinner in the city and a night of hanging out downtown.

We took advantage of the next day by leaving Rijeka and traveling to the small, nearby town of Opatija. As a beautiful, resort town in Croatia, one can only imagine how beautiful it is. After again spending the day walking around and exploring, we headed back to pack our bags and get to the airport. Regardless of the short trip to Opatija, this will definitely be somewhere I will be returning one day along with many other locations in Croatia.

Our trip to the Rijeka airport (in which we felt as if we were driving into a nature observatory), was very exciting for all of us. We were off to London where Jason, the first of our group of three, would officially begin his study abroad program.

London, England

September 15 - 20

I've always had a strong desire to move to London and after spending five days there, I am certain one day I will. We arrived late Saturday night (Sept 15th) to a bustling city and checked into Jason's tiny dorm room, quickly nick-named "The Purple Palace" due to his shocking bright and surprising purple walls. :o) After roaming the city at night for a while, we picked up a late dinner and headed back to Wigram Residence Hall. Matt was only to be in London for two days, meaning the next two days were filled with site-seeing and running up and down the city. As Jason is studying at the University of Westminster, his dorm is fortunately only ten minutes walk from all of London's most popular sites. We spent the first day seeing Westminster Abby, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, amongst many other Parliaments. After wandering down the Thames for a while, we discovered that the weekend (as one of the last of the summer), was the weekend of the Thames River Festival. We spent our time wandering around the festivities checking out the performers (of which I posted video- this group of guys was amazing!) and street vendors.

Although filled with tourists, it was amazing to be there and a part of this vibrant city. We finished our night by having fish and chips for dinner, and heading back to the festival to watch fireworks over the Thames.

Monday again proved to be adventurous. Jason awoke early to attend orientation and get accustomed to his home for the remainder of the year while Matt and I wandered off to the London Eye and Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum. Need less to say, we splurged a little bit on the attractions, but it was worth the fun and stories.

Our pricy two days in London slowly came to an end. We were able to meet up with another friend from DU, Bart, also living in the same residence hall as Jason, and catch up before all heading out to dinner at an Indian restaurant- delicious! Our last evening together with all three of us came to an end as we all fell asleep watching "EuroTrip." It had been an amazing two and half weeks together, and I knew this was just the beginning.

After saying bye to Matt the following morning, Jason and I headed out to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. It was an amazing experience, however I wish I understood the significance of the ceremony more. I, however, was shocked, along with many others when the guards started playing "I Love You Baby." A very amusing experience, and it's good to know the guards love their queen...

After changing of the guards, we headed off to Chinatown to wander around and take in all the sights and smells. We then met up with Bart again to take care of some errands the two needed to do, followed by an evening of shopping at the market, making dinner, and hanging out at Wigram getting to know the other's in the building from all over London and Europe.

The next morning I woke up to "pilgrimage" to the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in the suburbs of London. I say "pilgrimage" as the temple is in the suburbs of the city and it took me a an older couple from South London about 45 minutes of walking in what seemed to be a circle until we finally found it. However, this temple in the largest Hindu temple outside of Asia, built entirely of limestone and marble and is absolutely stunning. After trekking to the temple, I went back to Westminster and met with Jason. Together we met up with my friend Amit for lunch. Amit is currently working on his Master's in London, and it was great to see him after a year and hear about his experiences.

Our eventful day continued as Jason and I wandered amongst the many floors of Harrod's followed by a stop at the Camden Town markets. Transitioning from the store of "everything for everybody everywhere" to streets lined with local markets, with a very punk/alternative atmosphere was extremely interesting and an amazing experience.

After a great day of seeing all of London, I woke the next morning to say bye to Jason to board a flight to Ireland. This truly ended our three weeks together, and I was now on my own to travel Europe...

Dublin, Ireland

September 20 -23

Sitting in the Heathrow airport waiting to board my AerLingus flight was an very eye-opening experience. As I sat surrounded by Irish accents in London, it slowly started to dawn on me that everyone was quickly becoming settled in their respective cities while I was continuing to the live the life of a traveler. I was very much looking forward to my upcoming weeks, however, I think this is the point where I officially began to get antsy.

All these thoughts of course disappeared as I reached Dublin. I easily met up with my friend Jess studying at UCD in Dublin and settled into her suite, shortly followed by dinner and hanging out at the campus pub- welcome to Ireland. We then headed back to Jess' place to relax and getting ready, followed by an amazing night out in, as I quickly learned "Publin" or "Clublin," including visits to Temple Bar and Grafton Street.

The next morning, after Jess returned from class, we headed out to tour the Dublin Castle in the city followed by a tour of the Guinness Storehouse at St. James Gate. This amazing day of getting to know the city and experience the culture quickly continued with a quick dinner and an evening of rugby. That Friday, Ireland was to play France in the Rugby World Cup. Despite the loss, being on campus amongst the fierce Rugby fever by far, an amazing time!

The energy filled evening was followed by a day trip out of the city to Kilkenny, Ireland (about two-three hours south of Dublin). As a history-filled medieval town, Kilkenny proved to be an amazing day trip an we had lunch at the famous Kyttler's Inn, saw St. Catherine's Cathedral, were given a guided tour of the city, and wandered through the famous castle of Kilkenny, owned by the Butler family. This trip truly completed my Ireland experience by enabling me to see the beautiful Ireland country side along with of course, an Irish castle.
















This amazing day was of course, followed by another night out in the city of Dublin. After wandering from place to place and meeting many of Jess' new friends and others, we finally went to bed at 3:30 am only to wake up the next morning at 7:30 am to head to the airport.

Rome, Italy

September 23 -29

After a very fun weekend in Dublin, I finally arrived in Rome in the early evening after a full day of traveling - I was exhausted. I met Ariel and and settled into her place, happy to leave my bags in one location for a full week. After settling, she happily showed me the area around her apartment in Trastevere including the Piazza de Santa Maria and the cobblestone side streets of Italy. I knew this was going to be an amazing week. We sat down to a full dinner at a great restaurant including the most amazing tiramisu, then roamed the street markets near the river.

After a great night of sleep, Ariel and I took Rome by storm the next day including a morning of shopping near Via del Corso, the Italian way, and site seeing. We were able to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, stare into the amazing work of the Pantheon, throw coins into la Fontana di Trevi, wander by Parliament, and people watch at the Spanish Steps.


















After an exhausting day of shopping and site-seeing, we headed off to the market then back to the apartment for an relaxing evening of hanging out with Ariel's roommates and a late night gelato run (for the record, that was our second time having gelato in one day - welcome to Italy). The next day proved to be very relaxing, giving me a chance to catch up on everything from the past 25 days or so, while Ariel went to class. We spent the afternoon exploring the Colosseum and looking into Rome's 2,000 plus year history. After seeing the Pantheon and all the sites the previous day, it was so amazing to look upon these monuments and see the intricate work that went into them. Our slow day continued with hanging out at the apartment again, followed by a midnight surprise to Emilia, one of Ariel's roommates, for her birthday.

I woke up early the next morning and quickly headed out to spend the day at Vatican City. I arrived just in time to see the Pope leaving in the Pope-mobile after the weekly Wednesday audience. That's the second time I've seen the Pope in one month! As Rachael called it, apparently I'm "Pope-chasing."



After the commotion of seeing Pope Benedict, I then headed over to the long line in front of St. Peter's Basilica, holding the tomb St. Peter, the first Pope. After finally entering, I was overwhelmed and stunned by the architecture and beauty including Michelangelo's famous statue, The Pieta. This morning of amazement melted into an equal stunning afternoon as I visited the Vatican Museums including the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Rapheal, Michaelangelo, and even Dali. The visit ended with the beautiful Sistine Chapel as well as a walk down the renowned stairs of the Vatican Museum designed by Giuseppe Momo.

The spiritual day at the Vatican came to an end as I returned to Ariel's and an apartment full of celebration for Emilia's birthday. We surprised her with dinner then proceeded to get ready and head out for a night in Campo di Fiori. After a late night of birthday celebrations, we took advantage of the following day by relaxing and again catching up on everything. After living in her apartment for a month without the internet, Ariel and her roommates finally got connected to wireless this day. Seeing the reaction in the others and myself was so interesting, and I was able to see how truly dependent we are on something such as the internet today. Later that evening, we met my friend Julie for dinner and gelato again in Campo. Julie's also studying in Rome, and it was great to hear her experiences thus far, although definitely made me more antsy for Madrid. After a fun night with Julie, I ended the night watching Audrey Hepburn's "Roman Holiday," curled up on the coach on a rainy night in Roma with Jesse (Ariel's roommate).


The next day Ariel and I took a beautiful day trip out of Rome in to Tivoli and visited the Villa D'este. The area was beautiful as it contained ancient fountains, ruins, and gardens (the photo to the right). After an amazing lunch in Tivoli, we wandered the markets before returning home. Our week together came to a close as made a fantastic dinner together and watched "Under the Tuscan Sun."

Madrid, Spain

September 29 - December 23

I awoke early the next morning to bags fully packed for the final time, and more butterflies in my stomach than I imagined. It felt as if I was in Denver again at four o'clock in the morning preparing to fly to Frankfurt all over again. The past twenty-seven days have been amazing, and I knew the adventure was just beginning...