European vacations

As part of our 4 week holiday in France this year, we made a last minute decision to jump on a train from Metz in Northern France for the 20-minute journey to Luxembourg. We are very glad we did!

As we hadn’t planned this excursion, we knew nothing about Luxembourg, so we arrived at their railway station and were very pleased to find most helpful staff in the tourist office right on the station concourse who gave us a map showing a couple of walks we could do around the city.

During our most recent trip to the UK, Himself and I took advantage of a coupon obtained through one of our credit cards to gallivant around London courtesy of London Pride, one of several tour bus operations servicing the city. We purchased our tickets on the street at London Pride’s Euston Road bus stand, located near our Bloomsbury hotel. Our tickets (good for 24 hours) were purchased for £7 each, a substantial discount from the normal price of £12.

Since I was a kid I have heard all kinds of Polish jokes. So I wanted to find out the truth! I would ask every traveler that I met if they had been to Poland. And no one had been there. So I decided to take a train from Berlin to Warsaw the capitol of the country. Once I got there I was beginning to get sick and it was a drizzly day. The city seemed very "grey and dark". I had read about the city and had a small map, for the adventure began. It was ealy morning and I began walking to the main Castle in the city. It was about ten blocks away. Once I got there I went to the front gate and realized that the castle was closed on Mondays and of course today was Monday. However, the beauty of the castle could be seen from the outside. So I extensively examined what I could and by now it was lunch time….

Review Topic: Sights & Attractions

Frankfurt is known primarily as a business center, but it boasts an impressive skyline, a scenic location on the Main (pronounced as Mine) River and many attractive, homey areas, of which Sachsenhausen is one.

Sachsenhausen is a small district on the banks of the river, where English is farily widely spoken. Like Munich, Sachsenhausen offers many of the old-world charms that people associate with Germany. There are narrow, cobble-stoned streets crossing the area and a good variety of pubs where one can sit among dark pannelled walls and enjoy good beer, sausage, or the local specialty Handkase mit Musik (Hand Cheese with Music), a cheese-and-bread dish that is generally eaten with the hands.

Croatia is a small country (56 000 km2) located in central Europe, on Mediterranean Sea.

Being so small, you would think that it doesn’t have anything to offer. There are you wrong.

In Croatia, you can see thousands of sights, mostly natural and historical. I will describe the best and the most beautiful.

I am a big fan of Siena and would recommend it to anyone going to Italy. If you can afford to go there during "Il palio", this is the best period. Il Palio is a horse race which happens twice a year in one of the old squares of the town. Each borough of the town competes against the others. These borroughs are called "cONTRADA" and come from the medieval past of the City, when it was very much divided. There is a lot of excitement, people from contradas prepare il palio for 6 months a year, and there are 2 of them. The contrada which wins gets absolutely crazy and they party all night long. People from Siena are also very friendly and lively. Go and see by yourself.

Fremde, etranger, stranger

Gluklich zu sehen, Je suis enchante,

Happy to see you, bliebe, reste, stay

I’ve dreamt about Berlin for three years, and finally, just last month. . . First class on the ICE, Mannheim to Berliner Zoologischer in just a few hours. . . and my desire was realized.

ok, i went to Santorini and athens for spring break in February, and all i have to say is, GO! Athens is a little dirty and there is only one good thing there…the acropolis, so two days should cover athens fine. as for Santorini, think paradise, donkey rides, free shots at the bar, and GYROS, GYROS, GYROS! oh, and you have to go to Lucky’s if you go,a sweet greek man who will share some of his green lovely happies, but watch out, he’s a bit of a ladies man. and definately hike the volcano and swim the hot springs…nothing but beauty fun and wonder here…and don’t worry about a language barrier here. greatest part about going in the winter is you see it all and there are no crowds, and its CHEAP!

Killarney is probably one of the most “touristy” towns in Ireland. At night the town itself is overrun with pub-crawlers and souvenir shoppers. The tons of tourists provide a festive atmosphere to the downtown area with shops and restaurants open until 10pm. The magic of Killarney however, is not in the town itself but the lakes and mountains surrounding it.

I am currently entering my 7th month of studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain, and it is awesome. Salamanca is a small town of about 200,000 in the Province of Castilla y Leon, about two and a half hours away from Madrid by bus or train. Salamanca is an interesting city because it blends the old with the new. The center of the city is dominated by pedestrian streets. The main sites are the Plaza Mayor, considered one of the best in Spain, the Cathedral, and the university. However, outside of the city center Salamanca looks like any other modern city with its Chinese resteraunts, movie theaters, and 10-story buildings.