Girls Trip...

There is so much that went on between last Thursday and finally this Thursday. Anna (her mom and Caitlin's mom work together in Austin - she has been living in Prague for almost 5 years) came into town to visit! I met her outside St. Sebastian for the first time - Caitlin was in class - and that began our adventure. We cooked dinner for her then took her out to Augustiner. It was such a nice night and we all sat outside. Emily's parents from Connecticut were in town as well as other friends of people on our program so it was a fun with all the people who hadn't left Salzburg yet to travel.

Us 3 at the Beer Garden

I think that this picture is so cute - outside Augustiner

Of course we had to stop for some 50 cent kraut!

The next morning we woke up, cooked some breakfast and took Anna to Mirabell Gardens. It's not all blooming yet, but much more than before since it has finally started to get warm.

Caitlin and me in the gardens

After that we just kind of wandered around Salzburg, showed her some of the main attractions, got some pastries, and took some pictures. We then walked down the river to the perfect spot to get a picture of the Aldstadt during the day. (At night it is absolutely gorgeous, but hard to capture in a photo - believe me....we tried)

Salzburg

After packing some sandwiches for the road, all 3 of us headed off in her car to Innsbruck where we would meet the other 2 girls going with us. It was nice just being able to drive and leave at whatever time you want, stop when you want, etc. However, it did feel kind of funny driving around Europe because we haven't been in a car (besides a taxi) since we have been here.

It was perfect timing, as soon as we got to Innsbruck, parked and walked to the track, their train pulled up. The other 2 girls (Megan and Paige) go to TCU and Megan's sister is best friend's with Anna. They had also visited her in Prague this semester since they were both studying in Florence! Hope that wasn't too confusing. But we checked into our hotel and decided to explore Innsbruck. They had never been there so we looked at a couple of the main sites and that was about it.

View from our hostel's street

Us tasting liqueurs

We got hungry so then looked around at a few places before deciding on Augustiner in Innsbruck! haha. It was really nice outside and I enjoyed the food and company.


Our Austrian cuisine


We packed the Skoda (the car) up and then headed for Neuschwanstein Castle (also known to some people as where Disney got the idea for their castles) in Fussen, Germany. This part was really awesome because we were just driving through the Alps and getting to really take in the beauty. It is still amazing to me that there is all this snow at the top in May. I can't even imagine this area in the winter!



Us in front of the Alps - we timed the camera (which was on top of books) on top of the car


Our first sighting of the castle!


OK RANDOM - we pulled into the parking lot of the castle and I'm standing outside of the car just waiting for everyone. A car pulls in next to us and I just glance inside....guess what? It's freaking Alexandra Feehery. She is studying abroad in Germany and we were trying to figure out a way to meet, but it just wasn't going to work out. I have known her since Sacred Heart and then we went to Montgomery together too. What a coincidence, seeing her at the exact day, time, place we are there...


We decide to take a bus to Marion's Bridge to get a great view of the castle. This bridge is like 100 years old, wide enough for 2 people, crowded, and it is windy and high. Let's just say that I was scared....haha. BUT we did get awesome pictures from it.

The epitome of castles

Us eating our packed lunch on the other side of the bridge

See the waterfall - look straight up - the line connecting the two mountains...the bridge where we were

Here is a zoomed in picture from the castle of the bridge



Cool picture of the surrounding area which was gorgeous


An illegal picture I took inside


We then finished up with the castle and started our drive toward Munich. The girls had never been there before either and really wanted to go to the Hofbrauhaus. I had only been once during the day so we went there to get some dinner and have some beers in the crazy German atmosphere.

After walking around for a while, we found a table in the middle of the big room - awesome seats and especially for 5 of us. We order some food and beer and are just having a good time talking. Two American guys came up and asked if they could sit with us, so they took a seat and we started talking. Turns out that they went to Duke and Stanford and work for Microsoft in London...hmmm. loaded much? Basically as the night goes on they order us more beer, we play card games, and they buy all of our food, pretzels, drinks, etc. Let's just say it was around 175 euro...HAHA. Good times.



Paige, Caitlin and Anna drinking their free beer!

Me and my stein

All of us posing for the pic

After the Hofbrauhaus fun, we went back to the hostel to find a 50 year old Indian man in our room (we had 5 of the 6 beds AND the hostel said that no one else was going to be put in there...). He seriously got up at like 4am to start his rituals of getting ready for the day. He would yell out questions to us like, "where are you from, how long are you here, have you been to India, are you taking a fast train??" WHAT THE HECK? haha. He made a HUGE mess in the bathroom where we couldn't really even go in. Let's just say that Megan and Paige took their train home and the rest of us left for Prague!

The drive back was fun just to go thought Germany and then the Czech Republic. There were these yellow fields everywhere so we finally had to stop to take a pic.

Caitlin and me in the fields!

We then decided that we wanted to visit these caves in the CR - so after a long ride through many small rodes we finally made it there. It was pretty sweet to think that this was under some random hill!

One of the main caverns...cool. At one point they turned out the lights and you couldn't see an inch and your eyes didn't adjust or anything. It was pretty freaky.

We then stopped at a little castle/village. It was another nice little stop to walk around then get some ice cream.

The castle!

We got to Prague and went to Anna's house. Her boyfriend Leo had cooked us dinner (chicken, rice, potatoes, spinach, broccoli). It was amazing!! That night we just chilled around her house - which was crazy to think that we were in Prague at this time and watched half of Forrest Gump since Caitlin is apparently not American and hadn't seen it :)

The next morning Anna cooked us a great breakfast of pancakes!! We then went to this chateau, buttttt it was closed...so we opted for the next best thing. The Prague ZOO! It is ranked 7th best in the world by Forbes. I think that it lived up to it's standards, because it was really amazing! It was a perfect day and not crowded at all and we honestly had a great time.

2 little animals

A tiger yawning

One of the best pictures I have taken - looks unreal or like a postcard

After the zoo we drove up to a beer garden overlooking Prague (the Czech Repulic by the way has the most beer consumption/person in the world at around 157 liters/yr). It was nice to relax our feet and look at the city.

Us walking around Prague on the Charles Bridge

THEN we had reservations at Cantina to eat some Mexican food!! haha. It was nice just to be in that atmosphere and get some fajitas. They definitely weren't as good as home, but it was great just to have a taste.

We started walking back to where the car was parked and decided to take night pictures on the Charles Bridge. Anna has a little bendy tripod to set down so it doesn't make them as blurry. It was so funny watching us set this thing up and run to get in the picture. Believe me, we were entertaining everyone. haha.

A good one of all of us and the Prague Castle in the background

We went back, drank some coffee and finished Forrest Gump. The next day our train was leaving at 3 so we had some breakfast and then went to some secret gardens in the city. It was awesome getting to have a guide that has lived there for so long and also plans weddings so knows where the hot spots are. There was barely anyone here and you got great views!!

Caitlin and I at the top of the gardens

Another picture of us in front of the bridge

We then went to get some sandwiches for the ride home, got our stuff and went to the train station. Anna let me borrow the book Lovely Bones so I had something to read on the way home! I also bought an English book for only like 5 euros which was great considering the ones in Salzburg are like 8-11! Long story short, we got home at like 11:30 and was supposed to get there at 10 because our connecting train was late. boo. Long ride home.

It literally felt like we were going back home to the US when we left Prague and Anna. We hadn't seen the people on our program in like a week and it seemed like we packed up to leave. It is really a reality check that we are going home in 2 weeks. scary. I was just saying in my Prague post that I didn't get enough time there, and then I got this opportunity to go back. It was an amazing trip and big thanks goes out to Anna for showing such hospitality by letting us stay with you and your generosity by taking us everywhere we hadn't been yet in Prague. It was a total different experience this time around and I loved every minute!