Munich was the largest party for us, because it was the first place where beer was actually affordable. We stayed in a hostel dorm room with 40 people and usually started off our evenings with a few drinks at the hostel bar (by the way, we stayed at Jaeger’s Hostel). The hostel was uncomfortable at times for obvious reasons, but it was an incredible place to meet fun, outgoing people. I covered our first and most epic night in an earlier post, and most other nights had the same theme – meet fun people, eat a lot of meat, and drink more beer than ever before.

Going out in the evening in Munich works a little different than anywhere else I’ve ever been. Being the capital of Bavaria, a beer-centered culture whose infrastructure seems built for the efficient consumption of beautiful bubbly beer, beer gardens (or beer halls) are everywhere. A beer garden is basically a very large building that people go to first to drink beer and second and third to eat and socialize, respectively. These places are centered around beer, and each garden only serves beer made at that particular garden: the beers of Munich. Working men walk around in lederhosen and the women waitresses wear traditional Bavarian dresses. We fell in love with this culture and went to a number of different beer gardens: Hofbrauhaus, Augustiner Keller, Augustiner Braustuberl, and Viktualienmarkt. Hofbrauhaus is the most mainstream garden of them all, and it’s easily the most touristy. We liked Hofbrauhaus the least, but I suppose it’s one of those landmarks that everyone has to visit. On the contrary, the Augustiner Braustuberl was hands down the best beer hall.

Apart from going out at night, we managed to do a lot during the day as well that wasn’t as beer-centric. We took a trip to Dachau, the first ever internment camp. The experience was indescribable, so refer to the photos instead. We also visited Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the castle that influenced the Walt Disney castle.

Learn more about my Europe trip here.

Salzburg was the first city we visited that I could actually see myself living in. Nestled in the mountains and centered around an ancient, epic castle, the city, with a population of just 140,000, has tons of character to latch on to. It lacks mainstream sights, which creates an atmosphere that never made me feel like a tourist, though the friendly locals helped as well.

We greatly enjoyed the meat-and-bear-centered diet, though I admit I wasn’t able to enjoy it to its fullest due to a bad sickness I caught while in Salzburg. During the day we found beautiful places to sit and think and drink and eat, and it was wonderful. Salzburg is one of those places that, when described to friends, doesn’t sound that appealing. But when visited, Salzburg doesn’t cease to amaze. Salzburg was my second favorite city that we visited, and I’ve heard many people refer to it as their favorite European city.

Totally worth mentioning is the train between Venice and Salzburg. The train weaved through valleys and under mountains of the Italian and Austrian Alps, where every so often little towns with numerous ski chair lifts would be visible through the thick, green trees surrounding the train tracks. The trip was magnificent and really made me want to return in the winter with my snowboard gear at the ready.

If you travel to Europe, then Salzburg should definitely be a priority. I absolutely loved it.

Learn more about my Europe trip here.

Venice was a must see, at least according to Eric, but I didn’t enjoy it that much. The canals were fabulous, but I felt like the entire city was a tourist trap. Only a romantic getaway would motivate me to visit Venice again, and I’m confident that traveling with a significant other and more money to spend would make Venice much more enjoyable.

We also took a short trip to Murano, one of the islands close to Venice city. Murano is known for its glass making, where all sorts of objects are created – vases, chandeliers, trinkets, etc. We walked through a free tour of one of the factories and were amazed at the skill of the glass masters.

Learn more about my Europe trip here.

Florence was my favorite city in Italy, mostly because it’s small, clean, and authentic. Unfortunately we only spent two nights here, so we were really only able to see some sights and eat some food.

The Duomo, located in the center of Florence, is a really neat church with a beautiful facade and a colorful interior. The second church of Florence, also beautiful, houses the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Bernini. The Piazza del Michelangelo was also stunning, with its panoramic view of the entire city.

For me, though, the highlight of Florence was one particular meal we had. We ate at the highly recommended restaurant called Mario’s, which is right next to the main market. Mario’s is a family-run joint that is only open 12:30-3:30pm, Monday-Saturday. They’re only open for lunch because they buy all of their ingredients fresh that day in the morning and can’t buy enough to stay open for dinner. Every employee inside was of the same family – cousins, parents, sisters, and brothers. Parties share tables with other parties and order from a menu that changes so often, it’s only communicated vocally.

Dustin and I started off by ordering a meat pasta. We also ate Morgan’s soup because she found out after ordering it that she was allergic. Other Americans sitting close to us let us know that we really needed to get a Florentino, which is the staple Florentine food. We asked our waiter to give us the smallest steaks they had, and a few minutes later he came out with a monster. He was carrying a large plate with both hands that housed the largest slab of meat I had ever seen. He said in his thick Italian accent, “Ehhh this all we have. It is 1.2 kilos. It’s OK?” Dustin and I looked at each other and said with utter confidence, “Yes.” We were so amazed by the steak that we asked the waiter to take a picture of it for us. He insisted that we come into the kitchen with him, so we did. It was awesome to feel so at home in such a foreign place.

The steak was easily the best steak I’ve ever had, and I’ve never been so full in my entire life. We were so full that we didn’t eat dinner that night nor breakfast the next day. It was awesome.

Florence was wonderful :).

Girl advice: Dustin wore a Schweinstaggerjersey around a lot, and he got lots of compliments. If you are looking to attract girls in Europe, then where the jerseys of popular European soccer players.

Learn more about my Europe trip here.

Rome was the first city we visited in Italy, and it was quite a city. Capital of the Roman Empire, the city is riddled with historical sights and insanely stunning architecture. The food was fantastic, and the locals were friendly.

We visited the Vatican City, Vatican Museum, Coliseum, Ancient Roman City, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, and Piazza del Popolo. Each of these places deserves its own post entirely, but I have too much else to write about :). Of these sights my favorites were the Ancient Roman City and Piazza Navona.

Italy is stereotyped as having great food, so we thought it best to splurge. The stereotype is correct. The best meal I had was a bacon-mozzarella pasta followed by sliced filet served with tomatoes and basil. It was unbelievable, and I ate so much that I didn’t eat breakfast the next day.

I loved the feel of Rome, with its ancient infrastructure and cobblestone streets. I was also reading “Angels and Daemons” at the time, which made the city come alive, despite the story being fictional.

Learn more about my Europe trip here.

Barcelona was absolutely awesome. The trip started with the most fun train-ride ever. We had three three-hour trains between Nice and Barcelona; the first two were standard, boring trips, but the third was legendary. We were happy to be out of expensive Nice, so we treated ourselves to a few beers at the train station bar. At first the train seemed pretty normal, but at the first stop, just a few minutes after we got on, a slew of kids with camping backpacks boarded the train. These kids had just finished some sort of summer camping trip, and they were ready to rock. The camp counselor started singing camp songs, the kids followed suit. Having taken two years of Spanish in high school, I was feeling confident in my Spanish singing abilities, so I tried my best to sign along with all of the kids. They were laughing at me, not with me.

After a few Spanish songs, our group decided to try and whip out some English songs that they would know. We sang the “Macarena,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “We Are the Champions.” Only shortly after our on-key (not) harmony, a passenger on our train complained that the noise level was irritating, so we stopped singing. The rest of the train ride was spent speaking broken Spanish to 11-year-old Spanish kids. It was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had.

Barcelona was tons and tons of fun. During the day we swapped between sight-seeing and beach sitting. My favorite visits were those architected by Gaudi: Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. Let’s just say he can make some ridiculously insane cathedrals, buildings, and landscape. Sagrada Familia was easily the most impressive building I’ve ever seen. Las Ramblas, the famous, busy promenade, was also a sight to see. It’s a huge street with lots of walking traffic and the best statue performers I’ve ever seen.

The food in Barcelona was also unbelievable. I ordered tapas as often as possible. Tapas are little finger-food dishes that are shared between the table to make up a complete meal. My favorite tapas were Spanish Omelets, spicy potatoes, salamis, ham, tomato-bread, and olives.

At night we wouldn’t even go to a bar or club, which I somewhat regret now. The bars and clubs are known as some of the best in Europe, but we were too cheap to pay expensive covers. Instead we just hung out in public places such as squares, Las Ramblas, and playgrouns, bought one-euro beers from the beer-men (guys that just walk around selling beer), and had a grand old time with miscellaneous people we would meet. Bargaining with the beer-men was also a lot of fun. The best I did was 10 beers for five euro.

War story: our flight left Barcelona airport, a 45-minute train from downtown Barcelona, at 8:30am. We discovered that we would be unable to get to the airport in the morning, so we were forced to spend the night in the airport in order to catch out flight. We stayed up as late as we could, drinking Port and playing Hearts, settling into “bed” for only a few hours of “rest.” It was miserable and also kinda fun.

Learn more about my Europe trip here.

Naughty Nice wasn’t that naughty in our experience, probably because we were too cheap to go out much. As expensive as Nice is, there’s plenty of cheap eats and activities to occupy the time of a starving college student. And by expensive I mean insanely expensive; we watched the Eurocup championship, where Spain met Germany, at an English Pub and spent 7 euro ($10.50) on a pint of beer. It was terrible. We spent plenty of time at the pebble beach, learning how to juggle with rocks and finding large rocks to pull us to the ocean floor while we ran across it. We did splurge on one or two meals, and the food was wonderful.

The highlight of our Nice stay was our trip to Monaco, the richest country in the world. Our mode of transportation was 125cc rental scooters that only cost 36 euro for the entire day. We made the 30-minute scooter to Monaco, checked out the scene, and scooted back. While we were in Monaco we saw the Monte Carlo a.k.a. BALLER casino, tons of sick cars, ridiculous yachts, and the palace. I’ve never seen so many Bentleys and Rolls Royces in one place, and each car had a driver as well!

War story: none of us can read French, and Monaco street sign signs aren’t that comprehensive for non-French speaking people. On our way back from Monaco, Dustin led us onto a freeway with a 90 kmph speed limit; our scooters maxed out at 50 kmph. No sooner than we realized the blunder, a Porsche screamed by us going what we thought was 150 kmph. We ended up turning around, got off the freeway, and made our way back the correct way.

War story: to put a scooter on its kickstand, you have to pull the scooter back towards you and kick the kickstand down. Dan and I were putting my scooter on its kickstand, and as we pulled the scooter back the boiling hot muffler touched Dan’s leg. He got a pretty good burn. Watch out for the mufflers on scooters.

Nice was a lot of fun, but I wish we spent time in Cannes and Antibe, which are smaller cities in the French Riviera.

Learn more about my Europe trip here.