Summer Travels Part 1

My parents flew into Frankfurt Saturday, June 25th. I still had one more week of school, but it was neat being able to show them around my city and I was eventually going to meet up with them in Venice. I picked my parents and Lisa and Phil Bauder up from the airport in the morning. Of course their flight was delayed, but I entertained myself with people watching while I waited :) I sat in front of a monitor, looking up every few minutes to see the status. Finally, it said "descending". I was stoked. As soon as I saw my parents coming through the doors, I jumped up and ran towards them, so excited they were finally here.

After hugs and a Starbucks stop, we headed to the ticket machines to get their S-bahn tickets. We jumped on the train and headed into the city. As tired as they were, I had a whole day planned and I couldn't wait to get started. Unfortunately, it was drizzly and not at all like the beautiful weather we had been having, but we were still able to enjoy the day. They came back to my apartment to freshen up and then the Bauders checked into their hotel. We headed out for a tour around the Zeil, the Roemer and over to the Opernplatz Fest near the Old Opera house. There was music and of course, authentic German food. After filling up on schnitzel and rinds-wurst, we headed around the city for more of my walking tour. Lisa and Phil headed back to their hotel to rest up and my parents and I did a bus tour of the city. I hadn't done one since being here, so that was fun. If the weather had been nice, I would have loved to take them on a river boat but we'll just have to do that next time. My dad was about to pass out on the tour bus so I figured we should go back to my apartment so they could take a nap. Three hours later I woke them from their slumber so they could get ready for dinner. We were meeting some of my friends at a restaurant in Sachsenhausen, which is on the other side of the river. I love Sachsenhausen - it reminds me a lot of NW Portland. Anyways, we met up with Stephanie, Ashley and Fiona for some good eats and beer. There were firewords down at the river that night, but we headed back to my apartment to just hand out and then catch some sleep. We spent Sunday walking around a little more and then I took them to the trian station where they left for Paris!

I finished up my week at school, while my parents and the Bauders were exploring Paris, Rome and Pompeii. Saturday morning, I went to breakfast with the gang from school to celebrate Natalie's birthday and then headed to the airport straight after. Flying into Venice at night was beautiful - the waterways were lit up and gorgeous! After figuring out how to catch a bus to Piazzale Roma, I was able to meet my dad on the glass bridge in Venice. They were finishing up dinner next to one of the canals so I joined them in scarfing down a salad and some wine. We made our way back to the hotels so we'd be ready to go early in the morning.

The next day, we hopped on a water taxi that took us over to San Marco where we explored the piazza, snapped pictures of the Basilica and toured Doges Palace. Grabbing some delicious pizza as we wandered through the tiny streets of Venice, we passed several gelato shops, which of course I had to stop at more than once. From San Marco we headed over to San Polo and wandered those streets, eating more gelato and stopping in just about every shop along the way. My dad was loving it :) Dinner was eaten at a restaurant along the Grand Canal and then as the sun started to set, my parents, the Bauders and I took a gondola ride. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this! Although it lasted around 45 minutes, it was only 20 euros a person (because we had 5 people) but it was worth every penny. You go back into the smallest canals and our gondola guy told us history of the city and buildings as we went by. We passed Casanova's house, along with others that I can't remember.

The next day was our last before headed onto Salzburg. I got up early in the morning and met my parents near the train station. We did some more exploring of Santa Croce and Cannaregio and then headed back to catch our train. We were on a mission and pretty much saw most of Venice. The best part was just wandering and getting lost, eventually finding your way to a Basilica or gelato shop or canal. It was an incredible city and I took some beautiful sunset pictures standing on the Ponte Rialto.

First day in Venice!

The new, glass bridge

San Marco

Basilica di San Marco

Piazza San Marco

Mom in front of the palace

The courtyard of Doges Palace

Yum! Gelato!

Parents standing on teh Ponte Rialto

Love the gondolas

Beautiful Venice

Grand Canal

Near where we ate dinner

On the gondola ride

Enjoying the gondola ride

My parents and the Bauders

sunset

We arrived in Salzburg in the late afternoon and Megan was already at our hostel. My parents and the Bauders were staying a block away in a hotel, so it was nice we were so close to each other. We went out for a beer the first night and the next morning we went on the hunt for chocolate croissants and walked around Maribelle Gardens. Lisa and mom did the Sound of Music tour. I had already done it in the winter, although I'm sure it would have been even prettier in the summer. Meg, my dad, Phil and I walked around Salzburg, on the hunt for the perfect apple strudel. We crossed the river into old town, found our strudel, did a little shopping and walked up to the castle. We stopped in at a pub for some Augustiner beer and happened to get stuck for a few hours during a rainstorm. Once the rain stopped, we headed back to the hotel and hostel to wait for my mom and Lisa to finish their tour. We went to the local beer garden for dinner and had some delicious pork, knodels and beer for dinner. Megan and I tried to go out that night, but it was mid-week and most of the bars were closed. There wasn't too much going on, although we did find the Belgian bar that I went to in January. They have the most delicious beer called Delirium. Anyways, we called it a night and the next morning headed to Munich.

Meg and me in Maribelle Garden

Parts of the Sound of Music were filmed here

View of the castle from the gardens

Caught in a rainstorm at a bakery

yummmmm apple strudel

View as we walked up to the castle

Munich is amazing. I love this city. This was my fourth time to the city, but there's always so much to see. I had never done a walking tour before, so Megan and I did the free walking tour by Sandeman's. These are great walking tours and they have them in different cities across Europe. The guides are hilarious and make it informative and entertaining, because they wages come from our tips. So the funnier and more entertaining they are, the more we'll pay them. It's also nice because they recognize that not everyone will be able to pay a lot - we pay what we can afford or what we think it was worth. They want to make the history available to everyone and have a passion for doing these tours. My parents went to Dachau the first day while Megan and I did the walking tour. Dachau was incredible when I went in January. It takes your breath away and is just one of those things you have to do if you're anywhere near Munich. The tour guides there are fantastic as well and so knowledgeable. After our walking tour, Megan and I went back to the Hofbräuhaus to grab some beers and wait in the beer garden for my parents. That place fills up so we wanted to get there early and get seats. It was a beautiful day and perfect sitting outside, sipping on our massive beers. My parents eventually found their way (good job!) and met us for dinner. The spätzle was incredible, as was the half chicken. Yum Yum! My parents did the walking tour the next day and Meg and I just walked around on our own, checking things out and doing a little shopping of course. We met my parents at the train station in the afternoon and hopped on the slow train (cheap train) back to Frankfurt. We got into Frankfurt, stopped by my apartment to freshen up and then went out to meet Fiona for dinner. After dinner we met up with Liz and Tobi for some beers at a bar off the Zeil. It was great sitting around and chatting with everyone, but eventually we headed back to my house since my parents were leaving so early in the morning.

On the walking tour around Munich

The one, the only!

a walk through the market

Everyone waiting to hear if Munich won the bid for the Olympics...

Marian Platz

Meg loving her beer

Mom in the beer garden

where the regulars keep their beer mugs :)

our beer back in Frankfurt

Of course, I, being the great daughter that I am, accompanied them to the airport so they wouldn't get lost :) No, in all reality, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to them at the train station. We stopped for some hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant before saying our goodbyes. It was extremely hard to say goodbye and the tears streaming down my face didn't make it any easier. I miss them so much, but am looking forward to being back in Portland, surrounded by friends and family at Christmas time. In fact, I'm looking at tickets right now...