The Journey Continues

        As I mention in my last post, I decided last minute to go to Pisa after my parents left. The city is very pretty and seems like a popular place for college students and universities. Seeing the leaning tower of Pisa really was spectacular. Photos don’t quite do it justice because it was intriguing to see it at every angle and to look at the tower’s grossly shifted base. However, as far as I know this was about the only thing to do there. In that area there was also a cathedral, a museum, and a handful of other things, but I decided against paying to visit them. I instead relaxed some after my tiring two weeks with my parents as well as doing some more last minute planning because I still didn’t know what would be next!

        After Pisa I decided to go to Milan since it seemed like the next logical place to stop on my way to Germany, but also because hostels were very hard to find in most of the other Italian cities and towns! Personally I did not like Milan very much. There was a lot of shopping there, but that doesn’t appeal me anyway. Its cathedral seemed very typical to me, despite it being one of the favorites of a couple of people at my hostel. There are plenty of museums in the city, but I never paid them a visit because of disinterest, high prices, or mandatory reservations.

Here's some fortifications in the city. This was about the most impressive thing I saw

        From Milan I made the long journey to Munich, Germany where I met another internet language contact, and now very close friend, Andrea. But I will dedicate a post to my stay there later because we did so much and I spent a total of two weeks with her. During my first week with her I took a daytrip on my own to Innsbruck, a very attractive city in Austria, right between Germany and Italy. I didn’t have much time for sightseeing, but it is a nice, colorful place that is no doubt even more beautiful in wintertime due to the surrounding mountains.

It's known for its beauty during the snowy winters. Maybe I'll have to go back sometime.

        After my first week with Andrea, I went back on my own to see Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. I actually left at 4 a.m. to accompany Dominik, a truck drive and colleague of Andrea’s husband, for his delivery to a town outside of Berlin. Mercedes trucks are now my preferred method of travel! Well, next to paragliding.

The cabin was so nice and spacious! Definitely a comfy ride

        I thoroughly enjoyed Berlin because it had some of the richest history of all the cities I’ve seen. This was especially important for me because it mostly took place in the 20^th century, recently enough to feel a strong connection to the events and atrocities that took place there. My favorite sight there was the Topography of Terrors, an incredible, detailed, and fascinating outdoor exhibition of Hitler’s reign that is overlooked by a surviving piece of the Berlin wall. It takes a long time to go through and has a lot of reading, but it’s free! Despite going twice in two different days, I never even made it to the indoor part of the exhibition.

        Every other sight is equally amazing, especially the pieces of the berlin wall. I still have so much to see in this city, I would need at least a week more. It is a very nice, spacious, historic, and cheap city and I have decided that I would love to one day work there (or in Munich). Also, just by chance, I saw the annual gay parade after hearing the booming music from inside a museum. It was interesting to say the least, but also fun.

 Definitely one of my favorite examples of graffiti. 

This side of this section is free for anybody to write or paint on. The other side is dedicated to murals 

Another great thing I did there was go to the public viewing of Germany playing Greece on the street between Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. It was called the "fan mile", an appropriate name considering there were several hundred thousand fans filling the street!

        Prague was a nice surprise because I didn’t know anything about it. I loved the colorful architecture and many sites have a medieval theme, namely the castle area. The castle isn’t really a castle, but rather a walled area with several historic buildings such as the cathedral and an old palace. I believe that  it's the main sight along with Charles Bridge.

Just beautiful 

The church near the middle of the picture is where the "castle" is 

The Charles Bridge. It's also filled with street vendors

        The next city I saw was Vienna, but it was one of my lesser favorites. It’s a very nice city that is rather modern and very very clean, but maybe this was one of the reasons I didn’t like it so much. Of course the architecture isn’t all so modern, but it still felt like a lot of the same thing.  Some of the buildings and areas are spectacular, but overall the feel of the place didn’t match with me. Also it’s a more expensive place, it made me miss Berlin’s prices. There are many museums here, but I didn’t go into a single one! I guess I just wasn't in the museum mood

Some great non breaded Schnitzel wrapped in bacon. We made friends with the owner, who subsequently gave us (me and a hostel friend) cake and 2 shots for free!

        Budapest was definitely a cool city and a big change from the perfectly clean and proper Vienna. One thing that really impressed me was the Parliament building. I really enjoyed the tour of it and I thought everything about it, the size, decoration, architecture, was amazing. I would love to return to Budapest one day to see a couple of museums and to enjoy their famous spas, but the city as a whole it didn’t strike me as anything really spectacular. I think I need to dig deeper next time.

Budapest is beautiful at night, so I took a long walk along the Danube river.  

 In the assembly hall for the House of Representatives (in the Parliament Building)

The Holy Crown of Hungary. It's cross was actually mistakenly damaged in the 17th/18th century, but is now one of Hungary's main symbols. (under the Parliament Building's dome)

The Parliament Building's dome

A great meal to enjoy while watching the Eurocup (unfortunately when Germany lost...). Hungarian Goulash, salad, bread, and great beer. 

        After my brief stay in Hungary (1.5 days) I took a night train back to Munich (for my next week with Andrea), which was a pretty cool experience. It definitely made the long train ride feel very short, but my only complaint is that the beds are just a little too short for me and I didn't feel as rested from the sleep. I believe I'll need two more posts to finish my trip, but I'll try to get them done ASAP! I arrived home yesterday, so I'll definitely have time to finish it up soon!

I was on the top bunk, which was great in this particular train because there was plenty of space to sit up! I think I'd always recommend the top one because it's right next to a space to put your luggage, so it's probably more secure