Croatia

We had the privilege of going on a two day free travel at the end of our Germany/Austria tour. For the second day I went to Vienna. It was fun but pretty average and there's not really a lot to tell about the trip other than I found a really awesome guitar shop with some of the most beautiful guitars I have seen in person. For the first day, however, I went to Croatia to see the Plitvice lakes. We left Freilassing, Germany at about 00:30 Monday morning to begin our long trip to Croatia. We took that short train to Salzburg, Austria where we got on an overnight train that would get us to Zagreb, Croatia around 9am. The train was not very crowded and had compartments, so I was able to sleep pretty well throughout the entire ride, except for when we were woken up by Slovenian and Croatian immigration officers for our passport stamps. They basically make you feel much sketchier than you actually are, the whole time speaking a language no one in our group could even attempt to understand. We arrived in the city of Zagreb, a city full of graffiti, seeing some remnants of the war that had happened there. We got some Croatian Kuna from the ATM and then got directions to bus station. Luckily, when someone says they speak a little English, it's usually plenty for the circumstance that you are in. We walked to the bus station and saw more graffiti and worn out buildings, but besides that Zagreb looks pretty similar to most other modern European cities. We got our bus tickets and waited for the bus and then began our 2 and a half hour ride to the Plitvice lakes. The landscape in Croatia is beautiful, reminding me somewhat of East Tennessee at first (rolling hills with mountains in the distance) to SW Virginia (being in the mountains). The trees were colorful and there were lots of beautiful vistas along the ride.

The park itself was beautiful. It consists of countless lakes with even more waterfalls, all linked together throughout a mountainous area. The water was a bright turquoise color and you could see deep into the water even from a far distance away. From any place in the park you could hear the sounds of at least one waterfall, but generally you could hear several. It's really hard to put into words the sights that we saw there. God truly is the greatest painter, sculptor, and creator that there could ever be.

I don't know how to describe Plitvice, so I just won't. I encourage anyone who can get anywhere near Croatia to go, but I have one tip for you. Make sure your bus ticket to the parks is for a round trip. The website for the lakes tells you that the bus ride back is free, but in my experience it is not. None of us had any cash because we had withdrawn just enough for our one bus ticket and some food but luckily a girl on the bus could speak English and told the bus driver our situation. He allowed us to ride up until the first ATM where we got out and got money to pay him for the trip. He then got us back to the Zagreb bus station in one piece, although he was a bit of a crazy driver.

We got on a train that night back to Salzburg and slept most of the way, running into those friendly immigration officers once again. Luckily all of us had legitimate passports and were not accused of smuggling people out of the country, so we made it back alright. I'm extremely glad I got to see one of the most beautiful National parks in the world.

UK Tour

So I haven't been on this blogging thing. I don't really know if I like it...but I have to do some for class so I guess I will. It's been so long since I've blogged that I can't even remember everything. Instead of trying to fill the gap I'm just gonna write about the last 10 days in the UK and hopefully be able to fill in the gaps later. Maybe. Probably not. 

We rode a train through the Chunnel to get to London, where we would start and end our UK tour. After arriving at the St. Pancras station, we rode a bus to Paddington station and from there took a train to the University town of Oxford. 

We stayed at Keble College in Oxford, and took a tour that evening.  The architecture in Oxford was possibly my favorite, a mixture of modern and antique. The rooms we stayed in were very modern, and very cool. I would definitely live there, the only downside being the bathroom was right outside my room instead of actually in it. Still I only had to share it with one other person. In Oxford we saw several places where Harry Potter was filmed and just got to experience the fun of a university town. 

After breakfast in a Hogwart's worthy dining hall, we left for Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's home. We saw his birthplace and his own house, as well as where he was buried. Stratford is a small, beautiful town and would be a beautiful place to live. There is a massive park along a river with cricket, rugby, and football (soccer) pitches. I even saw a family playing a strange variation of baseball with 5 bases, a tennis racket and a tennis ball. Stratford has a lot of character, especially in the White Swan, the hotel we stayed in. I believe it's the oldest hotel in Stratford, and possibly one of the oldest buildings. It looks small from the outside but actually takes up most of the block it is based on. 

I haven't mentioned how great it was to be in English speaking countries for a while, definitely spoiled us for when we came back to Belgium. 

This is only a first taste of our UK trip but I'm preparing for my Scandinavian trip now so I'll have to try and update this thing later...hopefully. 

Week 1 Europe 22-28

Arrival
Pretty easy flight to Brussels, but I was extremely tired. Train ride to Verviers was nice but I couldn't sleep at all. Got to the facility and then went out to eat pizza and explore the town a bit. Fairly average day but we were extremely tired by the end.
Wednesday
Wednesday we got to sleep in a bit and only have afternoon classes. Simon finally arrived so everything was "lekka" after that. Not a whole lot went on that day either.
Thursday- Aachen
Thursday we had morning classes then went to Aachen, Germany. We did some group touring which I didn't much prefer, so I usually stayed on the fringes of the group or wandered somewhat away while still in earshot. With the group we went to the cathedral there and had some good discussion regarding the amount of money that would be put in to building something of that magnitude. After that we went on exploring on our own and got dinner: bratwurst and fried potato for me. It was excellent. We then had about 3 hours before the train would leave for Verviers so Davis and I went on exploring on our own. We found Aachen University, a large and prestigious German university focused on applied sciences etc. We found the main building and saw several students. My German definitely came in handy when I saw a sign that said verboten, which means forbidden. We turned around and left that building, continuing on our exploration. We found a large Stadtgarten and spent a lot of time exploring and admiring the landscaping. Both Davis and I have interest in landscape engineering and the art of "artificial" nature. We then exited the other side of the Stadtgarten, walking through the less touristy part of the city, getting some Eis (ice cream) and just experiencing the people and the beauty of the city, while having good conversation as well. That pretty much concluded a very long and very fun day.
Friday
Friday we mostly had class during the day, but after dinner Davis and I went out to the Music Festival in the city with some other friends. We saw several awesome bands play and had a great time. Live music is probably something I would rather do than almost anything else. Not a lot to say but tomorrow we go to Bastogne!
Saturday- Bastogne
We left for Bastogne around 8:34, got there about 11:30 or so. We rode a bus for our first time and were a little confused because when we got on the bus the driver didn't ask us for money or anything. We knew our Eurail pass would pay for busses like it does trains, but the guy didn't even ask to see them. After about a half hour ride through the beautiful south Belgian countryside we arrived at the Bastogne-Nord (North) bus station. We started walking towards the city and encountered the statue of the Werewolf from Neffe, a creepy little statue that can probably be seen in some of my tagged Facebook pictures. From there we walked around a bit until we found a small sandwich shop and got some excellent panini. Then we went to a museum that showed the Battle of the Bulge from the perspective of the civilians of Bastogne. It was a well put together exhibit with a lot of pieces that you could touch and experience. After that we went walked a good while to the Mardasson Memorial which was dedicated by the Belgians to their American liberators. I recommend the memorial to anyone who enjoys WWII memorials, and especially those who have a direct relationship to the event. 


We took a lot of pictures around the memorial and found a small grove of trees and just had a good time. I guess I should mention that the group I went with was me, Davis Shoulders, Rachel Hoyt, and Shelby Womack. Awesome travel group, we are definitely going to use that grouping more often. Anyway we headed back to the city to explore the downtown area. We walked around until we found a map, and then decided to go visit the big park near the city center. It had a small hedge maze and some strange modern art. After we got there it started pouring down rain so we took shelter under some trees for a minute. After it didn't let up for a while we decided to walk back to the main street and check out some shops. We went in some really cool looking shops but the cheapest things in them were over 100 Euro. I saw an awesome leather jacket for 500 Euro..certainly not gonna afford that. It was getting to be close to leaving time so we tried to find somewhere to eat before we caught the bus. We saw a crepe place open and everyone wanted that but Davis said he wanted real food and I failed to convince him that crepes could be considered such. They do make them with meat and cheese and such. What a bum. So we explored a little more but the thing about Europe is that almost nothing is open between 5 and 6 o' clock. Luckily we found a nice little place to eat, but by the time we got our food (pasta stuff) we had about fifteen minutes to eat it. After scarfing down some food and paying (The guy wouldn't make change for me so I had to scrounge for an extra 2,20 E, jerk) we hustled down some back alleys on one of Davis's famous shortcuts that actually always turn out to work really well. When we got there a bus was getting ready to leave but I'm positive there was going to be another bus a few minutes later. Anyway that bus left and then came back and the driver yelled at us asking where we were going. So we told him Libramont and he yelled at us to get on..in French of course. So I guess he was leaving early. Not really sure. That started our messed up journey back home to Verviers. At first it was uneventful. Made our first train after the bus and talked some philosophy. But then when we went go get off the train the door wouldn't open. Rachel pushed the button but I think we waited to long and the train started moving again. So we missed out stop. Well we got off at the next stop and tried to reroute ourselves, but it made it so we wouldn't be able to get back by curfew, 2300. So here we are in Ciney, a small town in Belgium, trying to find a phone card. Some guy tells us we won't be able to get one anywhere there. You have to use a phone card to use a pay phone. Weird I know. Luckily I found somebody's internet from their house and used it to tell the adults we would be back late. We then got on a train and went back one stop to where we should have gotten off, but then had to wait about an hour for the next train. So we explored that town for a little while and then got on our train to our next stop, Angleur. Now the tiny town of Angleur's train station is not even a station really, just 4 tracks and a couple stairs to get you back onto a small side street. Graffiti everywhere and just the sketchiest place to be. We were there from about 2300 to 0 hours. We just hung out and talked some more, and the hour went by quickly. Like I said this was a really good group to be lost with. We took a lot of pictures and had a lot of fun. I wouldn't want to be lost with anyone else. It's impossible to do this story justice so I won't really try. In the end we got back all in one piece without getting mugged or stabbed or anything more interesting then just hanging out in sketchy places all night. Note to others: Getting lost in Europe, if done correctly, can be one of the most fun things you will ever do.