Bled, the Beautiful

This weekend, we went on an adventure to Bled, Slovenia- a place that up until a week or two ago, I had never heard of. Well, I am BEYOND thankful we decided to take a chance and travel there, because it was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life.

We took a very nice train to Bled. A few of us had an interesting layover in a run down train station with no lights, but we all arrived easily enough and in good spirits! Our hostel was full of life and other travelers, and we met a few students from a Catholic university in Portland studying abroad in Salzburg with a program very similar to ours!

Friday morning, we set out in the rain to find a bakery, and I snapped this pic as we walked alongside the road in the pouring rain because we looked RIDICULOUS.

Couldn't believe how pretty it was!

After the bakery, we went and bought rain gear and gloves from a tourist store, only to walk out and find the sun shining and no more rain for the rest of the day. It's okay though, because it definitely rained more the rest of the weekend! We found a place that you could rent a row boat and row to the island in the middle of Lake Bled, so Leah (who we nicknamed Babushka for some reason) was our faithful rower and got us to the island and back! --because we are strong, independent women who don't need no man... to row our boat--

On the island we rowed out to!

After our trip to the island, we found some yummy Mexican food and then hiked up to the castle that sits high above Lake Bled. It had the most incredible views! AND the sun was setting while we were up there! I probably took one hundred pictures. Moriah and Cassidy joined us later that night because they had to take the train coming a day later. We celebrated by returning to that same Mexican place for dinner and enjoyed conversation with two Australian guys from our hostel.

Saturday morning, after saying goodbye to Leah who had to take an earlier train ride home, we got a ride from the hostel to Vintgar Gorge which we explored in the pouring rain, but it was gorgeous as well. I loved this part of the day because we goofed off and spoke in British accents the entire time, and it even felt like we were in Peter Pan because part of it looked like a pirate cove.

This is what happens when you purchase an umbrella for 4 euro. 

We were all about taking selfies in the gorge!

It rained and rained and rained some more, and since most of the activities in Bled are outdoor activities, we struggled with finding something to do. We even went to the tourist center and asked what to do if it rains.. yup, nothing. Movie theater? nope. Indoor ANYTHING? nope. So, we found a spa at a 5 star hotel, and thought it would be fun to swim in their pool, but none of us had swimsuits. We searched EVERY dang store in Bled, but alas, no swimsuits. We called this spa four different times asking if we could swim in sports bras/ if they sold swimsuits/ where we could buy swimsuits/ what else we could do there. We'd all just lost it by this point. Our desperation level was unreal, we were SO wet and everything was just funny. Eventually, we decided to walk in and just ask if we could simply rent a bathrobe and shower. Literally, we looked like five wet rats, with backpacks and broken umbrellas, dripping through this super fancy hotel. BUT, they said yes, and for a small price of 11 euro, I rented a bathrobe and took the best nap of my life inside a Slovenian spa.

We ate a delicious meal at a lake side restaurant for dinner, laughed some more, shared some stories, and relaxed. Exhausted from our day of wandering Bled doing nothing, we headed back early and went to bed!

We woke up early Sunday morning and split into two groups headed for two different train stations to catch our trains back to Vienna. The route we took to our station, Moriah, Sarah, and Olivia had taken the day before after dropping Leah off. Except, they were going downhill, so they paid no attention to how steep the trek was. Well, after getting a little mixed up about where to go, we had approximately 4 minutes to get to our train, and I looked up to see the most steep, never-ending, most horrifying path I have every seen in my life. With like five layers on, and full backpacks, we booked it up the trail, pouring sweat and making animal noises while trying to breathe. When we finally made it to the train station at the top, we looked so funny, ripping off all of our layers and breathing so heavy. We definitely got some odd stares. But by the grace of God, our train was almost 10 minutes late, and we made it on that dang thing!

This weekend, I saw SO much of God's beauty, and I bonded with some awesome girls. But, four days for me felt like forever to be away from my "home" in Vienna. Our next trip is a group trip to Italy and then fall break, which means two weeks away from "home," but it's going to be incredible! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us! And thanks to whoever has been reading my blog and looking at pictures, I'm just glad I get to share my experiences with you! Almost halfway done with the semester, and I've already learned so much!
God bless!

Barely in Berlin

This weekend was a whirlwind. We travelled to Berlin, Germany via night train on Thursday night and headed back the same way early Saturday evening.

When we boarded the night train, Liv and I were crazy stoked! Partially because it felt like the train to Hogwarts, partially because we were going to Berlin!, but mainly because we forgot out meds.

Anyways, we were in a 6 passenger car with seats (not beds) leaving at 9 at night, arriving at 9 in the morning. In the car with us was one of the smelliest men I've ever encountered in my life. THANK THE LORD, Kristen and Sarah worked their magic and got us upgraded to a sleeping car with 6 beds and breakfast in the morning for only 15 euro. This was unbelievably nice! (Besides the snoring, sleep talking German man who kept Sarah awake all night).

We arrived in Berlin rested and ready to go at 9:30 ish and right away bought a metro pass that would take us to our hostel. Our room wasn't ready yet, but they gave us the key to the luggage room where we could keep our stuff for a little bit while we explored the city. Well, we found the luggage room, and because we'd all been on a train all night, we definitely wanted to change clothes. Halfway through changing, we look up to see video cameras on the walls watching us (which would make sense since people keep their luggage there). Whoever was watching those video cameras had just gotten the biggest show. HELLO BERLIN.

We swear this sign wasn't there when we walked in....

Feeling refreshed, we headed to our first stop: the Olympic Stadium. It was used in the 1909. 1936, and 2006 Olympic games and was incredible and so full of history! We ate lunch at a cool cafe at the top  and enjoyed a run in with the Berlin soccer team that plays there. We got to look at the original "stadium" used in 1909, and see a lot of the history from when Hitler was there in 1936. He even stood up in front of everyone at the Olympics and said "The next Olympics will be in Tokyo, but after that, they will be in Germany from then on." HA.

Hot Chocolate with a view!

View of the Olympic grounds. The field closest to the camera is where the 1909 Olympics took place, my picture is taken from the Belltower at the top of the stands. 

Next on our list was the Berlin Wall. We came, we took pictures, we signed our names (and got some dirty looks from locals), and we left.

Side note: The Ubahn (train system) in Berlin is SO slow compared to Vienna's. But on every train ride we went on, there were cute little boys. Seriously. Berlin is like the center of all cute little baby boys. One really liked Olivia and kept trying to pop her bubble gum.

We decided to head to the famous gate in Berlin, next. Unfortunately, there was a small Oktoberfest celebration going on and an oldies cover band was playing a concert there. We ran into some soldiers and one had an American flag so I asked to take a picture with him. NOT A SOLDIER. He grabbed my scarf and pulled me towards him and they all gathered around me shouting "Oh touch me baby! So sexy baby!" while making ridiculous poses around me and kissing my hands and cheeks. I was too embarrassed to even react. Then, one of them walked up and said I owed them 5 euro for the pictures. I thought he was joking, but no, he was serious. Either I pay up, or we had to delete the pictures. I scraped up 4 euro and walked away from the craziest tourist trap I've ever been a part of.

Next, we went to Reichstag which is their government building, where Hitler and his colleagues used to do business. We found out you couldn't go in unless you had a reservation, but that's ok, instead we saw a group of about 30 cross dressers posing for a picture outside.

 On our way to dinner, we came across the Holocaust Memorial which was really cool. Ate at a little cafe for dinner and headed to the small concert/Oktoberfest celebration and fair grounds set up behind the gate. We listened to the music and enjoyed Nutella and Kinder chocolate crepes made right in front of our eyes. One of THE best treats. yumm.

Headed home for the night and enjoyed the nicest hostel we've been in by far!

Saturday morning we woke up early to go to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp about an hours train ride away. This was very surreal and i learned so much. It was really hard especially seeing the execution trench and the remains of the crematorium and gas chambers. Sachsenhausen was actually the first camp to be laid out and designed by a proper architect.

We headed back by train and grabbed our stuff from the hostel so we could a little more explroing before we got on our train home. On the tram, Cassidy got up at a stop to let the lady next to her off, and because she got up, we got up. And because we got up, she got off, so we all got off. And then we realized it wasn't our stop at all and ran back towards the train only to have the doors slam in our faces as we frantically clawed at them  to open. Well, we looked incredibly stupid, but it was very, very funny.

We took the train downtown, grabbed some awesome chicken nuggets at a place called "Fish and Chips" in the train station. We quickly visited the huge Cathedral called the Berliner Dom and did a little shopping at a cute market nearby. I had noticed earlier a sign that said "original Berliner" outside a restaurant in the train station and wanted to go back and try it. JFK is quoted as once saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" whilst standing by the Berlin Wall, which Germans make fun of because it actually means "I am a donut," because that's what they call their special Berlin donut. Olivia, Cassidy, and I wanted to try one of these donuts so we went in the restaurant. Well we walk in and it's the greasiest, smelliest, and grungiest dump of a restaurant I've ever seen. It's dark and there are 3 large guys standing behind the counters. I walked up to a big one in a tank top standing behind the grill and verified that they do indeed sell the Berliner and asked if it's really like a donut. He says yes to both and when I asked him how much, he said, "For you, pretty lady, 2 euro." I said "why not!" and we each ordered one. As he prepared it, I asked him several questions about how good it is and if it's his favorite, and he says "It's good, not my favorite because I don't like pork." I'm like: "... wait what, why is there pork in a donut?" He then proceeded to pull 3 sausages out of a fryer, sliced them, covered them in curry powder and sent us on our way. I couldn't control my laughter at what our "donut" turned out to be. We all tried it out and it wasn't half bad, just not when you're in the mood for a donut!

Our train back was scheduled to leave at 6:30, and after a mad dash for snacks and to find a restroom, we made it on to our train successfully! Sarah worked her magic again and got us another 15 eruo upgrade to a private sleeping car. Kristen, who was wearing a dress all day decided to change quickly and the conductor bringing us sheets may or may not have seen her shirtless. Oops. It was an interesting train ride with lots of strange noises and half the time it felt like we were going the speed of light. At one point, we woke up to the train coming to an abrupt halt, and a backpack flying from one of our bunks and hitting Kristen. Apparently, I made a raccoon-esque noise in the middle of the night as well, when Olivia was holding a flashlight up next to my bed whilst trying to unlock the door. An interesting night, and poor Cassidy didn't sleep a wink, but we arrived bright and early in Vienna just in time to see all of the girls from Okay (strip club down the street) leaving their shift.

Berlin was an adventure, but I loved every second of it!