EuroTrip: From Austria to Dachau

On your way out of Austria Contiki will take you to the Swarovski Crystal World Museum where you can buy a ticket as a Me time option. They make you through the museum and show you some weird movie from what I was told. Phil and I did not go on the tour, neither one of us are into Swarovski so we went to the cafe and got hot chocolate which was perfect for another rainy, cold day.

After that short break, it was back on the bus where we made our way to Dachau concentration camp. This was one of the more humbling experiences of the trip for me. I had begun a masters in European Studies and all of my classes that semester had been about the Holocaust. My dad is also German and yes, my grandfather was technically a Nazi as most young men were forced to be under Hitler. It destroyed my grandfather as he was captured early on by the Russians and was held on the Black Sea at a POW camp for seven years. It fragmented my family in more then one ways and I have always felt that.

In some way, I knew by going to Dachau I would make a sort of peace with who I was. It was a very sobering experience. You enter the grounds and it is almost like a park. You walk past the gift shop and down a path until you hit the main gate.

Me at the gates of Dachau

The words on the gate reads, "Work makes you free." However, we all know what a big lie that was. After you walk through the gates, you can feel a change in the air. It's cooler there and there is such a stillness that you can only associate it with the mass death and devastation that occurred there. There is a heavy sadness, but at the same time, it doesn't have the burden, but rather the peace that come after such a sadness.

Most of the buildings are gone, but there are still a few to walk through. One has the bunks of the Jews that were imprisoned here:

You can see how they progressively got smaller as the Nazis move forward with their ideas for the Final Solution. Very terrible. I also noticed how quiet everyone was in walking around, people were very polite and very much to themselves. It is a very personal experience.

Guard Tower

Inside the prison where high-ranking captives were held

The grounds.

After walking around, we walked back to the gift shop and we bought a handmade yarmulke for a friend. We had to rush back to the bus because from here, Contiki takes you into Munich.

EuroTrip: Rome to Venice

I wish I had more to say about Rome, but much fit reminded me of Florence...only hotter. I liked the Colosseum and the shopping. Phil got his sister a really cool wooden bowl here. I also liked going into the Pantheon. It took me back to taking Roman and Baroque Architecture at Rutgers in the musky Art Library with what would become the chair of my department...he was such a stickler. I really hated him by the end of that class, but what had kept me attending were the slides of Italy and all of its beauty.  It kept me going through my junior year and into my senior, where I would get to go to Paris for the first time and completely and absolutely fall in love with everything European.

Phil & I on a Gondola.

We got to do the romantic things like riding a Gondola. I had done this by myself in my teens and it was cool, I had some awesome roommates, but it's very different when you're there with the one that you love. WE really made some amazing memories here like this Gondola ride and when we walked so deep into Venice, I got worried we weren't get out to find me ointment for my bites.

Kelsey, Ellie and I.Venice Summer 2014

We also met up with these ladies and got to have a fun afternoon. Ellie's GoPro never got old. Phil also wanted to feel ever manly here and  bought me a keychain. I had carried all the money in my purse so he had saved for a day or so and I now have a Venetian mask keychain that came from the change he gathered.

Back at the campsite, we were introduced to the Contiki bar and Amnesia...a drink that goes down like juice, but within 30 minutes has you having out of body experiences. Phil and I had two, and I have little remembrance of that night other than the photos from people we were traveling with....

Siobhan and I. 

Hannah and I. 

This was the first and nearly last night that I sort of "let go" and partied. I was too focused on my last graduate classes that I was taking during this trip and my job that I was going back to. Venice, though, was beyond romantic and beyond fun.

I again, was really sad to leave it.

EuroTrip: From Florence Into Rome

I felt rested and rejuvenated after my birthday. I think that this was the part of the trip where jet lag subsided and I was ready for more adventure. This was another early departure for us. We left our nice campsite in Florence for Rome.

Now, for those of you reading this blog to learn more about backpacking with Contiki...please be sure you read my Rome entries. Our TM bragged that this was like an award winning campsite and that we should all be excited. It was similar to the last one we stayed at in that there were two people to a room, four to a cabin and a shared bathroom. However, these cabins were wood ones. And they were old and absolutely disgusting. These were also Contiki cabins which enraged me to no end. I really began to see here how Contiki rips off people by cramming them into these dirty accommodations to make money. I've done budget tours before and I was in now way expecting Rockefeller treatment, but I was expecting to be kept clean and to feel safe. Here, I felt neither. Latches held the doors closed and the campsite is pretty much empty during the day when you're in Rome, leaving your stuff open to anyone with poor intentions.

Also, if you are going to get bedbugs, you will be more than likely to get them here. The cabins are wood so they live in the walls and Contiki just sprays when you complain. They did move us to a new cabin, but that too had bugs. I got bitten badly, but Phil only had a few bites. This is where I really began to hate Contiki. Our TM literally just stared at me when I complained and there was nothing done about it. We had to deal with it for the two nights we were there.

For those of you who have had bed bugs, you haven't seen anything yet! These bugs are HUGE and black, when you roll over, your bed becomes covered in blood from squishing the ones that have been sucking on you. You can literally pick them off your body.

I spent much of my time in Rome feeling uncomfortable, sweaty and tired because we couldn't sleep. Then in the day, you would be in Rome where there is little to no shade and that Mediterranean sun beats down  on you unmercifully. The last time I had been in Rome, I had been 19 and it was March. It was cold and rainy then, but I liked it so much more than the humidity that killed me at the end of August at 28. Now mix that humid sweat with your bug bites and you are just miserable.

I wound up missing the Vatican which was not a big deal to me as I had been there before, but I felt bad that Phil felt he had to stay with me and miss it too. He has never been.

My favorite part of Rome? I think it was finally getting to go into the Colosseum:

From Rome, we would leave for Venice and on to an entirely crazy part of our trip and one that renewed my crushed spirit after the Contiki curse of Rome. 

EuroTrip: Florence

Like I have said, I had mixed feelings about returning to Florence since the last time I was there I felt as though it was such a bust. I was also 19 then and it was also March...and it snowed and rained and was cold.

This time Florence came alive for me. Our first trip into the city, we went to the same leather works store that I was in the last time I was there. This time though, I bought a puzzle ring. A puzzle ring is something from Florentine culture that husbands used to give their wives as their wedding band. A puzzle ring falls apart and is actually pretty hard to get back together, so Florentines did not take them off and if they did, it would obviously fall apart and would be evidence that they were cheating...because who takes their ring off?

I am still trying to figure out how to get mine back together. I had it home for about a month before I had two little girls visit me and in playing dress up, the ring went to pieces. Must love kids! Haha. This is where the real teasing of Phil began too. Every girl that was close to us on the trip began to give Phil a hard time for not proposing in Paris for my birthday and then not in Florence on my birthday. It didn't help that I bought myself this ring.

This still is probably the most fun I had on the trip. We had the most delicious pizza that because of the Italian way, got for free. In Italy they have a receipt system where you order at one counter and then pay at another. We had come late so they messed up our checks and never put our food on it. Our waiter was also so annoyed that he would not come back for us to tell him he forgot to put us on it. We stood and waited for 15 minutes, even bought gelato from their ice cream counter and waited for him to come over. He never did and so we left. 

I also do believe that this lead to the run in with the gypsy woman and the beginning of our bad Italian luck because we were sitting on the steps of a church getting WiFi and Phil came over to get money out of the secure bag and was followed over by a gypsy woman who once she saw money exchange between us, began asking us for some. Phil told her to get the hell out of here and she totally gave him the stick eye of death before she went away. His mom got a very nice gift, but it was there that the Italian curse began. 

We walked around for the rest of the day and hit more shops and Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, which will always be one of my favorite cathedrals because it was the first one I have ever visited. Phil also snapped this ridiculous picture of me:

"I wish I were a real, girl!"

We went back to our campsite, changed clothes and relaxed for probably 10 minutes before we went back into the city and enjoyed a Tuscan dinner. This is also where everyone sang me happy birthday and Phil and I split the tartufo that they had put my candle in. We also had too much red wine and this this picture now exists...it's actually one of my favorites:

Florence is beautiful. Pizza is delicious and when you get to celebrate your birthday there with the man that you love, it's just magical. This was a dream come true within my dream come true. I fell in love with Florence and even more in love with Phil.

We headed back after dinner and fell asleep very quickly. The next day we were up early because we were leaving for beautiful, Roma! 

EuroTrip: Monaco to Florence and Turning 28

8/2014. Florence.

I had mixed feelings about Florence. I had been there before when I was 19. I had done a trip with my college and we travelled all over Italy. That trip, Florence was my least favorite, but it was also the trip that would decide one of my college majors-- Art History.

So, I felt like I owed Florence a second chance and besides, it was my birthday. We spent much of the day traveling, but we did get to Florence at a reasonable time and we got to walk around a little. This campsite was really nice and clean. I was happy to be there and felt a lot safer there than I had when we stayed outside of Monaco.

It was a long day and with my body still on full-blown bloat mode Phil took me back to our cabin and rubbed my feet for probably a good hour after we had another crappy Contiki dinner. We eventually headed back towards the main area, got a real dinner, a couple of beers and sat outside in the Florence night air. Everyone else had gone back into the city and took part in the Contiki orchestrated karaoke night where a lot of people regretted going the following day when the hangover hit from the 2-liter drinks that the bar your TM takes you to sells you "on special." To me, this seemed like a concerning night when one girl from our tour went unaccounted for (and a guy from our tour went to look for her, no one from Contiki) while others were driven back by strange Italian men that picked them up after they drank 2 liters of alcohol in a bar.

That just seemed like a huge recipe for disaster and in many ways could have been had it gone differently.

I was glad to have stayed in that night and had a quiet birthday with my man who really is the best foot rubber, ever...no really, like EVER.

Phil on the other hand was just overjoyed to be out of France where small portions dominate. Phil couldn't wait to be in his country, Italy and immediately fell in love with Joe Pinette's take on France vs. Italy:

Overall, 28 began probably the best any other age had began up until the point. I was in Europe, with the love of my life and we had an entire trip to still go!  

EuroTrip: From the Beaujolais into Monaco

We said goodbye to the chateau and began our journey towards our final French-related stop, but the chateau would be a huge part of our trip because it's where so many of us came together as a group and started to make our friendships. These girls became my best friends and my magnet sister (we were on a mission to get a magnet from every stop):

P Party at the Chateau.

I was particularly excited about this leg of the trip because this leg also meant my birthday. I turned 28 in Monaco and spent the rest of my birthday in Florence. I was excited for Monaco because of Grace Kelly. As an American myself, it's a very romantic story that an American was picked by a prince and married into royalty even if her end was tragic. I couldn't wait, I had even packed a really great dress just for this part of the trip.

The views were beautiful driving from our camp site into town.

By Phil. (philgoestothemovies.blogspot.com)

Beaches in New Jersey do not look like that and the clear blue of the water was absolutely breath taking. Oceans in New Jersey are green and dull, but in Monaco it looked like a beautiful painting.

We walked up to the castle and Phil, Kelsey, Ellie and I all went on to look for magnets after we took our pictures.

By Phil. (philgoestothemovies.blogspot.com)

I was at this point suffering from what some travelers get: body bloat. It started in my feet and then my ankles and then my entire body blew up. It was very uncomfortable and also most unattractive, so I won't be posting pictures of myself, but here's Phil's selfie:

By Phil (philgoestothemovies.blogspot.com)

After the castle, we went back down to the casino areas which was just boring. Neither Phil nor I are gamblers so this was a bust. We walked down to the McDonald's and stood in an insane line to buy overpriced fast food. I was so let down and annoyed for having to have packed a dress that I just walked around in and then sat in McDonald's wearing as we used the WiFi.

We went back to the campsite after that as a cab ride back would have been way too much money and there was nothing to do there unless you wanted to gamble. We stayed at the campsite and hung out at the bar. We drank and laughed and then at midnight, those from the group that had come back with us, all sang me happy birthday. It was a fun night!

This was also one of the two worst camp sites of the trip so we wound up staying up really late because sleeping was scary. The bar closed and we had to go stand by the laundry rooms. Tipsy and tired, we stayed up talking and then the bright idea of what would be referred to as Mission 3AM was born. A guy on our trip brought with him a blue Angry Bird and he would take a picture of it wherever we went and wanted to get a picture with everyone on the trip. So, tipsy on my birthday we all decided it would be a great idea to steal the bird. We did and for the next couple of days we would pass the bird between us and whisper "3AM" to know that Blue was in transit. The bird was eventually given back to him and he was able to finish his mission with Blue.

EuroTrip: Le Chateau de Cruix et le Beaujolais!

I was pretty sad leaving Paris because I just love that city so much. I had some of my best memories there in college and then again with Phil. I was excited though to leave because our next stop would be in the Beaujolais. As a former French teacher, I taught my students all about the Beaujolais nouveau and how this is such a big thing. Obviously we were there in summer so we missed the festivities, but we were still going to stay in the wine region and we were going to be sleeping in a chateau. I have always had a love for chateaus, I always found them to be so beautiful and I loved the history behind them and how families would pass these homes down through generations. We stayed in a chateau that is now owned by our tour company, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a racy past...

Chateau de Cruix. 8/2014

It was originally constructed by the Sarron family, a notorious family plagued with scandal in the medieval period before being sold to the Bellet family where it remained until 1936 when it was again sold, this time to the Bernard family who sold it in 1955 to a cruise company that used it for their employees before Contiki purchased the property (and pretty much turned it into a party house) in 1980. It was a pretty neat place to walk around, there was even an old chapel on site and the architecture was amazing. It's fairly empty now with bunk beds built out of two-by-fours crammed into rooms that were crappily divided to fit in more people. In it's day though, it must have been something. 

I felt okay walking around though you could feel the building's history around you and I am sure it is haunted to some extent. We had windows that would just close on their own. I didn't feel anything sinister there, but Phil did have this weird nightmare about something trying to pull us out of our window as we slept. That night, the window kept rattling even though there was no wind and if you looked at it, it would stop. Creepy!

The views are still amazing. I spent a lot of time outside. It was pretty cold still, but I didn't mind. 

Beyond the Chateau. 8/2014

My favorite time though, was at night. It was just so quiet and beautiful. It was beyond romantic to be there despite all of the craziness that other people staying there created, it was simply magical.

Twilight at the Chateau. 8/2014

After we arrived at the Chateau, we were rushed into the cuvage, where we had our first wine tasting of the trip. Beaujolais wine is young wine and it is red. So, if you like red wine this is where you buy it. We bought a bottle for Phil's mom and one for us. We're saving it for our anniversary in January, but every time I look at it sitting on the dining room hutch, I just want to sneak a little sip. 

Phil, forever being the star of most things, got volunteered to be in the demonstration of how they cut the grapes from the vines. I really wish I had videotaped it, but I just got pictures:

Phil, the grape man. 8/2014

After the demonstration we had wine and hung out for a little and talked. I also am not big on being in huge groups for very long so I started to wander around and take more pictures. I got some more of the grounds and then the view from our window:

Chateau roses. 8/2014

Beaujolais road. 8/2014

From our window. 8/2014

Afterwards, we made our way down to the dining room for dinner. My birthday is still upcoming so we buy a bottle of white wine (which is also delicious) and we have it with dinner. Then we all sat outside drinking wine and getting acquainted with one another. Looking back our time at the chateau is where we all began to bound as a group. Later that night, Phil and I would get separated. I spent much of the night outside because I was just so in love with being in the wine region while he had a fun time in the chateau's basement that they turned into a club. To me, though, it reminded me of every frat basement party I had ever been to over the course of my time at Rutgers. I was okay in missing that. Kelsey would spend much of the night running into either Phil or me and asking us where the other was. We finally found each other long enough for him to give me our room key and for me to go to bed. He eventually followed.

The next day, we stayed by the pool and just hung out with Kelsey while Ellie went on a hike where it seems everyone got lost doing. At the end of your hike you got a small lunch that they were nice enough to bring back for us. The one thing I did not like about the chateau was how wine fueled it was, but if you were hungry there was no food and there was no place to walk to to buy it. A good portion of our tour was prepaying for food, but Contiki meals sucked. They often were flavorless and insanely small portions especially when they took you to the Chateau where the only meals were their meals and you had to wait for specific meal times to then be fed things that weren't all that wonderful. I would have liked to not have had to pay them any money for food and just bought my own as we went. I also did not like how when you were in a Contiki property, they would pick people to serve the food and to bus the tables, on their vacation that they just paid all of this money to do. I felt especially bad for the people who in real life are servers and were enjoying not having to do that while they were away.

Panorama of the chateau (and Phil). 8/2014 

Regardless though, our time there was beautiful and I just loved getting to have that experience as a whole and with Phil. I became very relaxed there and just enjoyed it which was huge for me because coming into our trip, I was totally burnt out from moving and from my job. I really needed to get away and have a fun time with the man I love and we did just that. 

Disclaimer: I really love France and Chateaus. I blame Lifetime and Danielle Steel because growing up I saw the Jewels mini-series with Anthony Andrews and thus began my adoration for this place and my dream that one day I would marry a duke...

EuroTrip: Bonjour, Paris Part Deux

Our following day in Paris was filled with so much stuff and a crazy early start. We had planned to hit the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower.

Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe. We got there before it opened so we stood in line and waited for the doors to open. It was crazy how fast that line grew and how happy I was that we had gotten there early. I had forgotten why I had not climbed the arch when I had lived there in college. I was quickly reminded as to why: to get to the top of the arch, you have to climb a spiral staircase that seems never ending. Even the most fit people that were around us were struggling and panting by the time they reached the top. We stopped and took breaks and still felt awful when we reached the top. Our legs felt like rubber and you just trip over your own feet as you walk along the roof for the first few minutes, but the view was amazing...

Sacre Couer. 8/2014

It was a complete view of the city. I was able to get a few awesome shots, like this one of Sacre Coeur in the distance. The last time I had been to Paris, my professor lived right around there in Montmartre, a fantastic, artistic part of the city. The only part I never liked about that part are the men who try to sell you the bracelets at Sacre Couer. They are very persistent and will try to grab your arm to put the bracelet on you and once it's on, they try to force you to pay because it's so difficult to get the bracelet off.

Paris avenue. 8/2014

I also got to get a solid view of the axis of Paris. It's amazing what Haussmann did for Paris and how even today, it remains very much as he shaped it in to. Paris is just such a beautiful, wonderful city. I don't think I could ever hate it, even on my worst day. 

Eiffel Tower. 8/2014

Afterwards, we stopped at a cafe where Phil got to experience his first Orangina and croissant and pain au chocolat. We decided to skip Notre Dame and head back over to the Eiffel Tower where we found probably the longest lines we have ever seen. So, we hung out and took pictures before leaving the tower. 

Phil took me to lunch at a crazy expensive restaurant next to the tower where we had wine, and cheese and we split steak-frites. It was some of the most delicious food I have ever had. As we left, we got caught in a Paris rain shower and had to wait it out underneath an awning. It was just so very...Parisian. 

We strolled down along the Seine and we watched the boats on the river. I was shocked by how many bridges tourists are just defacing with those stupid locks. We did not put a lock on any bridge because I find it to be such a crappy thing to do. The weight of those locks are destroying major parts of the city and causing such a fade that I was able to find locks on other bridges throughout our trip. And really, do you think your lock of love really stays there forever? It doesn't. They are eventually taken off by the city and the locks are melted down. 

We got lost in each other and the city that day. We walked by the Hotel des Invalides and eventually hit the Musee d'Orsay. We didn't have time to go in because we had to catch our ride back to the hotel. We found two girls from our trip sitting on the bridge and we joined them. Kelsey and Ellie would become our good friends on that trip going forward. This is also where Phil gets approached by a man who says he has dropped his ring. Phil does not wear a ring, but the guy keeps insisting and then demands money until Phil tells him to pop off pretty much. The guy leaves in a huff after begging for money because now he hadn't eaten in days. 

Earlier that day, I had had a woman approach me to give money to the deaf children of Paris which we did not and walked on. She probably would have tried to pick pocket my purse had I not had an anti theft bag that was zipped up and close to my body. I was amazed with how many schemes we ran into. I had never had an issue in the city before, but not that day. 

I was also amazed by our tour company and tour manager that day too. We caught our ride back, but two girls were chasing our bus trying to get on and our tour manager just did not care. He would have had us keep going had we all not started to say something. This was a big issue I had with Contiki. As a tour company that markets to young singles that are often women, I thought as a company they would do more to ensure safety, but as my TM said that day and several times after, "if you're not on the bus when we leave, we assume that you're just having a fun time elsewhere." I had booked the trip before I met Phil and had planned to do this trip alone. That concerned me because I had chosen a tour company for this adventure because I was single and I thought if nothing else, a tour would keep me safe and clean, but what I came to find is how they largely didn't care about either. 

By the end, I was thankful to have gone with Phil because together, we made a great vacation and a lot of memories with one another. I think I would have been miserable had I gone alone. 

EuroTrip: Bonjour, Paris!

Even after the entire trip, as I look back Paris is still my favorite part. I had lived there in college and had creamed about going back there. And now, I had finally made it back. Only this time, it was even better. I had Phil with me and we got to have a lot of alone time in Paris.

Phil & I. We survived snails! 8/2014

Before leaving London, Phil gave me my birthday present early. I saved writing about it until now because he had planned to give it to me in Paris at the Eiffel Tower because he knew that many years ago when I had lived there and was wide-eyed and not even 21 yet, that I had made a promise to myself that I would return to Paris with the man I would marry and finally climb the Eiffel Tower which I had visited a lot, but never went up.

Eiffel Tower. Typical Tourist. 8/2014

Instead though, Phil gave it to me in our hotel room in London. It is a beautiful necklace with a heart charm. In it, there are two amethyst hearts meaning him and I and then around it is a bigger gold heart that represents our love and the bigger heart has diamonds in it, showing our future. He said it's our promise necklace that once we're both better situated, that we will get married. It was perfect. I absolutely love it and it really made London okay even after all of the crap we went through.

I wore it for the rest of our trip.

I wore it our first night of Paris too. We had dinner with our group and then had a bus tour of Paris before we stopped and had champagne and escargot. I had never had it before and probably will not have it again, but it was not as awful as I thought it would be. It tasted like butter and garlic and had a bouncy consistency. Phil swallowed his like a pill out of disgust.

Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower were we took so many pictures, but my favorite is the one of us together.

Phil & I. Eiffel Tower. 8/2014

We decided to head back to the hotel early and spend time alone. We got to bed early because we knew the next day we were going to pack everything in and do something special for my upcoming birthday.