Innsbruck day trip...

As soon as we got back from Spring Break on Sunday, we had a day trip to Innsbruck that Friday. Lucky us right! We left at 6:30 in the morning and stopped at Swarovski Crystal factory/museum/store about 20 minutes away from Innsbruck. The museum really didn't make any sense at all - it was like 25 rooms of random art and stuff....anyways.




The mouth of the entrance to the museum

We also stopped at this other place to see the Olympic ski jump and a little castle and gardens. It was a really nice break and beautiful as well!





An overhead view of Innsbruck - a very nice place settled in the Alps. Too bad that day that we went was all foggy because I would have really liked to see what they looked like all around the city. But it seems as if on every trip we take there is rain or its extremely cloudy. I think that is just how Europe is really...


A peacock at the castle!




Schloss Ambros



The olympic stadium. It's also going to be one of the sites for the Euro 2008 soccer tournament. Austria and Switzerland are hosting it this year.

The Ski JUMP!

A picture of us in town

Another picture of Innsbruck

Our group then just took a tour of the city with Andreas and got to walk around all day after that. We really only had time to go to one museum so we choose to go to the Bell Museum. It was kind of far away, but we just took our time, got a sandwich and meandered over there.

The many colorful buildings of the city

The Golden Roof in the middle of the old city

And here is the bell museum...its been making bells since 1599 as you can see.

Inside the factory. I was sad that they weren't working on it, but at least we got to see what it looked like.
Some of their bells that they have made

Me in front of the sign

Their bells that they make are all made out of bronze which actually is not that common. They had examples of different bells made out of different materials that you could ring and see how they sounded. The bronze one echoes a lot longer than the others and I really thought that it had a fuller sound. It's much more expensive this way, but the quality is also better. This company also made the 2nd largest bell in the world and its hanging in the Alps.

We needed a little something sweet after all that, so found a nice little pastry shop and got a pastry! Trying different Austrian pastries is a must!

I'm obviously very excited.

Overall it was just a day trip, but I think that it was the right amount of time as well. It reminded me a lot of Salzburg, but just more mountainous.

5th stop...Athens...

So we took the 8 hour ferry back to Piraeus - the port by Athens, then take a taxi to the hotel - its really late when we get there. I think it was around 1am - one of the reasons why we were late getting in is that the ferry has to stop at probably 5 ports on the way back in. At one of the ports we see a band waiting to greet someone off the ferry. We start to look closer there are a lot of Greek Orthodox people dressed up and down there waiting. There are also police holding people back. Finally we see/and hear the reason why. The leader of that particular island had died and they were bringing him back to the island he ruled. We were standing looking down and they have his casket open and we see him lying in it with his head bobbing around. It was one of the weirdest/interesting things by far that had happened on the trip.

Friends we met along the way

Anyways!!! We just take showers and pass out from exhaustion again. Literally we are at around 15 days gone from Salzburg now and it's starting to wear us out. The next morning we wake up to go see the Acropolis (high point of the city) that has the Parthenon on top. We kind of wander our way that way stopping at a place called Crepes of the World that was also great!

Bright and colorful as well as delicious!

What was really cool is that we got into the Acropolis area for free! :) Once we got to the top we really wanted to take some jumping pictures again. It literally was a perfect background to do it. We start taking some with all of our cameras - suddenly we hear a LOUD whistle and looked around. Yep...they are doing it to us... Whoops? So we just keep walking and go behind this area so the guard couldn't see us. We kind of still didn't know what we were doing wrong, what's the harm in jumping and getting a picture? Well obviously it wasn't allowed. The man didn't see us, but then saw Caitlin doing a handstand and grabbed Clayton's camera. He made him delete like half of his pictures. Oh well at least we had backups!! :)

HAHA. Caitlin's handstand

Basically we should be in a Gap commercial!

Macy and I posing on top of the city!

Another Greek theater

The Parthenon stands alone

Us in front of the Parthenon

Me and the Parth.

Me sitting in the Theather of Dionysus

The theater from up above

Athens

So we still explored around all the Greek ruins and that was pretty cool as well! We wanted to try this place in Caitlin's book (which honestly has led us to some awesome places) and it was authentic Greek food (as if we hadn't had enough...haha). So we walk there and realize that no one really speaks English...so we just sit down and order drinks (coke..aka coke). Then we are waiting on menus, no one comes, so we realize we are just supposed to go up to this window and look at the food then order. He is telling us what most of the stuff is in Greek (or a few words in English - clams - I know I dont want that) and I get the chicken in tomato sauce with broccoli. The chicken literally fell off the bone it was so tender and moist. YUMO (in the words of Rachel Ray).

My dinner

So we went back to the hostel after making a little stop for gelato and asked the manager when the hostel bar would open. haha. Apparently it's supposed to be open every night, but it wasn't so the only reason they opened it was because we asked. This guy was the bartender, manager, owner, I think everything. Once again being Greek he was super friendly and invited us to play cards with him. It was a great time and finally we got tired enough, walked up a flight of stairs, and went to bed.

Us in the bar for our welcome drinks

Macy catching a peanut snap in her mouth! Look at it in the air.

The next day was finally our last day and we checked out and took a taxi to the airport. The funny part was that our taxi had screens in the backs of the seats, 2 screens for him to have in the front, and woofers in the back. I was thinking...I hope this doesn't cost more because of the entertainment we are getting here. First he had on a DVD of Robbie Williams but changed it later to Madonna. WOW if I never realized she was gross before, now I do....

Nothing else too exciting happened, took the flight to Vienna then a train back to Salzburg. By then I had had the best vacation in the world but was ready for my home again. I didn't say it the entire trip, even though I was thinking it, but I am so thankful that everything worked out perfectly (transportation, safety, and board).

4th stop...Santorini...

I'm going to try to keep it "somewhat short" even though so much happened!

So we left Rome and flew to Athens - we got into the airport at around 10pm or so and met Macy there. That night we stayed at the airport because we had to leave at 5am anyway to catch a taxi to the port to take the ferry - no use wasting money on a hostel that we would be in for like 2 hours. So we "try to sleep" haha, then get to the port, which let me tell you Greek drivers are freaking crazy. I felt like I was in a race car flying down the highway - then again there was no one on the road at that time except my other 3 friends racing in the taxi next to us. :) We get to the port and see our ferry and start to get really excited even though we are swamped.


Our ferry which is kind of like a cruise ship...haha

Nothing really happens for about 8 hours that we are on the ferry - just seeing the most amazing Greek buildings on cliffs and clear water all around. We arrive at the port and look to find our host coming from the hostel. So I'm thinking that it's just going to be us 6 going with him....nope there are about 30 people...and his bus can hold around 12 plus luggage. The thing is that we called ahead of time to say that we would arrive then, like we were supposed to...other people didn't, so they weren't expecting that at all. AND of course the good guys always go last, so we had to wait for like 3 trips just to get to the hostel. Good news, they were the nicest people in the world - it was a hostel that was family run and really nice for only 9 euro a night!!! IT WAS GREAT!!! (Villa Manos)

Our hostel


We wanted to get something to eat, so we go to the office/dining room to ask for some recommendations. They told us about this place - Tabasco. It seriously was AMAZING FOOD I can't even explain it. haha. But then we walked back home and it was sooo windy (we just wanted to lay out on the beach the entire time...looks like that might not be happening).

My food the 1st visit at Tabasco


My food the 2nd time at Tabasco

The next day we planned on getting up around 8 or 9, yeah that didn't happen with our lack of sleep we woke up at like 11:30. late start hehe. We wanted to rent mopeds all in Italy, but never got the chance so we thought that we would here! Well because of the wind that was definitely not going to happen so we chose 4-wheelers instead.... We rented them for this whole day - over night and also for the next. It was a deal through the hotel and we got them for 15 Euros a day, but Caitlin is kind of scared to drive so she just rode on mine.






4 of the 5 four-wheelers outside our room


Me petting a horse while we stopped on our 4 wheelers

We wanted to grab something to eat too, so we stopped in this place called Lucky's Souvlakis. This would be the place to remember. The food here was also AWESOME!!! I loved the chicken pita - it was just so fresh and delicious!


Lucky's - our favorite fast food joint

If you are in Greece you have to have baklava

We kind of walked around for a bit, then really wanted to beach it. I thought that there was a beach right down the street from us...well it was kind of - just down a different one. We found it and walked around the black sand beaches for a while. The black sand is from the volcano which created the island. It was still incredibly windy, but we collected some beach glass and just played around.

The black sand beaches


Us jumping on the beach :)




Picture of Santorini - gorgeous

Later we wanted to go back into town, eat, then go out. So we all took showers and got ready then headed into town. Thinking cheap and good, we went back to Lucky's. We ordered some pitas and a beer each (Mythos - Greek's choice). So we met Lucky - obviously the owner/manager and he was awesome!! In general, Greeks were some of the coolest people that I have met. They are super friendly and super giving....as we are about to see. He tells one of the people to work there to get some Ouzo for us...what is Ouzo you might ask? Just a liquor that Greeks drink with lots of meals and at gatherings. It tastes like black licorice....if you like that flavor - good for you! He gave all of us (6) free shots....twice. Then he fills up a liter mug with Mythos and brings it straight to me and I'm just like cracking up. He literally refilled me glass over and over - I obviuosly shared the wealth with everyone else too. :)

But then we found this one place called "Town Club." Basically the only people there were the bartenders and us...hmmm. We definitely started the party. They had people there that got drinks for you, but also danced with you all night. haha. It was an extremely fun night - then we just went home after we got tired.

Emily, Macy and I at Town Club

Another trip to Town Club

So the next day again we think we are going to get up early again to go to different beaches. Nope...around 11 again. But it was ok, we just got some food and Lucky recommended this one beach because the mountain/volcano would block the wind so it should be better! We 4-wheeled basically across the entire island just exploring and stuff. It was absolutely amazing. We found it and just laid out for a while, even if it was still kind of cold.


Me on the beach - look at the cave in the cliff in the background


Caitlin and Emily running into the water and them cracking up. Nope I wasn't that brave.


A view of the city when we were 4 wheeling


The island


Picture of me and Santorini!


Amazing white houses

Then we went out to eat at Tabasco again and it was just as amazing as the first time, if not better. Their fried feta was to DIE FOR! Another night of Town Club and Lucky's followed which was just as fun.


Really weird cloud formation that we saw...


The next morning we took the 4 wheelers back and bought some souvenirs. We then had to walk back and check out. Basically after that we just went to wait for the ferry and reflected on how great Santorini was. It literally was just exactly what I had thought of Greece - hospitality, beauty, and excitement. I can't wait to go back sometime in my life...we want to have a reunion in 2020 - so get ready cause here we come!!!