Extras and Recap

So I have been accused of only telling about the bad stuff and not enough of the good stuff. Apparently I also don't talk enough about Skip. He's here. He exists. Haven't kicked him out yet.

I think the bad stuff just sticks in my head more because it makes a funny story and there's only so many times you can say "this church is gorgeous" before sounding like a broken record. For the sake of posterity, though, I will try to recount some of the good times here.

Geneva: The people were so nice. Incredibly nice. Everyone spoke English and they were very good about it (especially when I would go up to them and start babbling in English like an idiot cause I still hadn't adapted to the different continent). The food was very good - I don't really know what traditional Swiss is, but the pizza and breakfasts were very good. It is really a gorgeous city, and if I had a lot of money I would consider one of the mansions on the lake. And a boat. Cause if you live on a lake, you need a boat.

Lyon - Very quaint and cute. We stayed in the medieval quarter, so all the streets were teeny and most of the buildings looked at least a couple hundred years old. The people were generally very friendly - not like we found in Paris. The church on the hill and the view from it were FANTASTIC. One of the best views on the whole trip, if you don't count the Eiffel Tower. Cause that's just like...cheating. The food....I could pass on the local cuisine. Pig's innards and cow muzzles and grossness. The first night's food was very memorable - pub grub in a very loud, odd setting. The second night I can't recall at all, so it must have been forgettable. Overall, very cutsy city, but I don't know what I'd do in it for more than a couple days.

Paris - There's just too much to say about Paris. The most beautiful city - my favorite church we've visited is still Notre Dame - with awesome museums and churches and palaces. You could spend a couple weeks in Paris and still not see everything you want to - I know we packed our days and still felt like we hadn't seen it all. And yet if I could just do away with the Parisians....their smoking kinda got to me after a while. Tip: always sit in doors in a restaurant. Or anywhere for that matter. Never sit outside. Sad, but true.

Bruges - Just the cutest darn town I ever did see. Definitely stay within the city limits, cause when all the day trippers leave in the late afternoon/evening, the city is nice and quiet and sooo pretty. The food is amazing, too. The fries are skippable - they're not really anything special. The waffles are to die for if you get them made fresh. And the local cuisine - Flemish stew and the like, was pretty darn good, too. The people are also really nice. The guys at the hostel were so helpful and everywhere we went, people would try to help us. It was an awesome place to visit after Paris.

Amsterdam - The dutch were pretty darn nice, too. Our tour there was the most fun we've been on, I think. There's definitely way too much to see in one or even two days. We didn't get to touch Anne Frank's house or any of the museums. But we did meet a bunch of awesome people and have a rollicking good time.

Hamburg - A sedate city (might have just been the constant rain), but still very lovely. There's a lot about WWII here, and if you get a good tour (I recommend the NewEurope one even for the older generation - 'twas a very mixed crowd on our trip) it's really worth it. Plus the gummi bears are awesome.

Prague - In one word - AWESOME. I loved Prague. I wish we could have stayed longer. We didn't get to do the insides of the churches or any of the WWII memorial stuff or any of the museums. It was so incredibly pretty and there was just so much to see, you need to spend at least a day wandering around to just LOOK at everything and get your bearings. The food is good if you steer away from traditional Czech.

Vienna - The underrated city of our trip. Our hostel was just so bad, I know it totally ruined the city for Skip. I am trying to see past that, though. The Shoenbrunn Palace was amazing - beautiful and totally furnished. And the zoo was pretty darn good, too. We didn't get to do any of this other stuff I discovered - the churches, the crypts, the Hofburg, etc. I would love to go back, but it might be hard to convince Skip. Stupid hippie hostel with its hippie drum circles at 3 in the morning....

Munich - Pretty city - we got there during the city's birthday party, so it was a bit more crowded than usual. Everyone is very, very nice. Our favorite cheap accommodation - the hostel was awesome. There's also so much to do. There's all the WWII stuff, the town hall, the churches, and then there's all the stuff outside. I would have loved to see Dachau, but we only had time for one day trip so of course I'm gonna pick the pretty pretty castle over the Nazi concentration camp. But I would like to go back and see it. And the other castles, too. The food was good and the beer was actually drinkable, which is high praise coming from me. I mean, it must be pretty good if the Pope has it shipped to him in the Vatican.

To be continued....