So far I've been to Koeln for Karneval, Chamonix for skiing in the French Alps, and Madrid. I am currently in Granada and will be heading out for Seville on Saturday. Then Cordoba, Morocco, Barcelona and back to Germany. I have also gotten official word that I will be going to Egypt March 30-April 13. Definitely excited about that trip.
Karneval was insane. There were so many people in ridiculous costumes drinking way too much alcohol. We got to Duesseldorf on Sunday and basically got dinner, chilled out in the hostel, walked around downtown as they were cleaning up after the day's festivities and then hit the sack early. On Monday we got to Koeln by 10 or so because we heard the parade would be starting around 11. We bought some brightly colored wigs and leis, found some prime spots along the parade route and waited beers in hand. Turns out when they say the parade is starting around 11, they really mean, we are lying and will start the parade whenever we feel like. Granted we weren't at the beginning of the parade route, but it didn't start passing by our spot until at least 1:30 or 2. Oh well, they made up for their tardiness by throwing handfuls of candy and flowers into the crowd. We collected enough chocolate to last us for the next couple Halloweens. And once the parade started it seemed it would never stop. I lasted until 4:30ish and then had to go to the bathroom so bad. A couple of beers will do that to you. :-) Anyways, after getting stuck on one side of the parade route, I finally made it to McDonald's and waited in a 30 minute line for the bathroom. At least it was free. Then we all met up along the Rhine and decided to go see a movie. It took us awhile to find the theater, but once we found it we decided to see "Nachts im Museum" (Night in the Museum or something). It was sort of the only option, but we all ended up really enjoying it. It was hilarious, I don't know if it was our lack of expectations or the fact that it was dubbed into German, but it was great. The next day we went back to Koeln and went inside the Dom (Cathedral) and also climbed the tower. Amazing views of the city and a mere 509 steps. Piece of cake...haha. About midnight on Tuesday, Amanda and I left on the night train for Geneva. We arrived about 8:30 or 9 am.
Spent the day walking around Geneva, I think we ended up seeing 24 of the 25 cites on the walking tour we got from the Tourist Office. It was an impressive accomplishment. We also had a delicious 1/2 chicken, potato wedge, salad, bread lunch at a random restaurant we passed by. It was the best deal we could find and quite tasty. We caught a bus to Chamonix, France at 4 and got there by 6. We stayed with a family that Amanda has some connection to through the husband of family friend's sister's uncle's cousin, etc. I don't really know how we ended up there, but they were incredibly nice and welcoming and they have an amazing home. We skiied on Thursday, relaxed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (mostly because the weather was rainy/snowy pretty much the whole time). Then after all that new snow we just had to ski one more day. We decided to ski on Monday, so we got our skis rented and bought our day passes Sunday evening. Then we returned our passes Monday morning when we realized that only a few slopes were open. Then we re-bought our passes when we decided that we would check it out anyways. Turned out to be cold, snowy and basically no visibility. Oh well the snow was gorgeous, fresh powder and it was fun anyways. Tuesday we got on the bus to Geneva airport and flew into Madrid. We spent Tuesday evening walking around Madrid and ended up eating dinner at Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, where all the
food comes in a mini baguette. We didn't realize that until just before our food came, what a surprise! Haha, but it was fun and delicious. Wednesday we caught a bus to Granada and have been enjoying ourselves here since.
We have spent a fair amount of our time at the Alhambra, which is one of the 21 attractions on the list for the 7 new wonders of the world. Everyone vote for it, it's amazing! Anyways more to come...
Karneval was insane. There were so many people in ridiculous costumes drinking way too much alcohol. We got to Duesseldorf on Sunday and basically got dinner, chilled out in the hostel, walked around downtown as they were cleaning up after the day's festivities and then hit the sack early. On Monday we got to Koeln by 10 or so because we heard the parade would be starting around 11. We bought some brightly colored wigs and leis, found some prime spots along the parade route and waited beers in hand. Turns out when they say the parade is starting around 11, they really mean, we are lying and will start the parade whenever we feel like. Granted we weren't at the beginning of the parade route, but it didn't start passing by our spot until at least 1:30 or 2. Oh well, they made up for their tardiness by throwing handfuls of candy and flowers into the crowd. We collected enough chocolate to last us for the next couple Halloweens. And once the parade started it seemed it would never stop. I lasted until 4:30ish and then had to go to the bathroom so bad. A couple of beers will do that to you. :-) Anyways, after getting stuck on one side of the parade route, I finally made it to McDonald's and waited in a 30 minute line for the bathroom. At least it was free. Then we all met up along the Rhine and decided to go see a movie. It took us awhile to find the theater, but once we found it we decided to see "Nachts im Museum" (Night in the Museum or something). It was sort of the only option, but we all ended up really enjoying it. It was hilarious, I don't know if it was our lack of expectations or the fact that it was dubbed into German, but it was great. The next day we went back to Koeln and went inside the Dom (Cathedral) and also climbed the tower. Amazing views of the city and a mere 509 steps. Piece of cake...haha. About midnight on Tuesday, Amanda and I left on the night train for Geneva. We arrived about 8:30 or 9 am.
Spent the day walking around Geneva, I think we ended up seeing 24 of the 25 cites on the walking tour we got from the Tourist Office. It was an impressive accomplishment. We also had a delicious 1/2 chicken, potato wedge, salad, bread lunch at a random restaurant we passed by. It was the best deal we could find and quite tasty. We caught a bus to Chamonix, France at 4 and got there by 6. We stayed with a family that Amanda has some connection to through the husband of family friend's sister's uncle's cousin, etc. I don't really know how we ended up there, but they were incredibly nice and welcoming and they have an amazing home. We skiied on Thursday, relaxed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (mostly because the weather was rainy/snowy pretty much the whole time). Then after all that new snow we just had to ski one more day. We decided to ski on Monday, so we got our skis rented and bought our day passes Sunday evening. Then we returned our passes Monday morning when we realized that only a few slopes were open. Then we re-bought our passes when we decided that we would check it out anyways. Turned out to be cold, snowy and basically no visibility. Oh well the snow was gorgeous, fresh powder and it was fun anyways. Tuesday we got on the bus to Geneva airport and flew into Madrid. We spent Tuesday evening walking around Madrid and ended up eating dinner at Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, where all the
food comes in a mini baguette. We didn't realize that until just before our food came, what a surprise! Haha, but it was fun and delicious. Wednesday we caught a bus to Granada and have been enjoying ourselves here since.We have spent a fair amount of our time at the Alhambra, which is one of the 21 attractions on the list for the 7 new wonders of the world. Everyone vote for it, it's amazing! Anyways more to come...
