Heidelberg, Germany

We went on a river cruise down the Nekar River. We were able to explore a couple of castle ruin on the river bank including this one.
I view from the castle tower (yes, that meant more stairs)
Teri and I sitting in the windows of the castle. The thing I love about castle ruins is that you are allowed to climb all over them. I think I already mentioned that but it is one of my favorite things.
Cartwheeling in Heidelberg. I just wanted you to see the awesome city it was. Heidelberg was my favorite little city I think.
Me in a castle window. Not really anything else to say about it.
Here I am trying to climb up the castle to sit in the window. Most of the students were just sitting in the windows near the ground. Of course I couldn't do that. I had to be different and climb to the taller one. Well, lets just say I needed a little boost from some students. It is interesting how close I get to students on these trips. They actually were taking pictures of me laughing because they thought it was weird that teachers laugh. I guess I am not a real person to them.


This is me making a constipated face. I am so hillarious.
Well, that is the end of the trip. The next day we got on the plane for our 20 hour trip home. Next year you will see me in New Zealand and Australia hopefully.

Munich, Germany

Here we are in Munich, Germany. I really liked Munich but it was the dirtiest of the big cities. Munich is the site of Oktoberfest. Very large open field that is just nothing except for the one month of the year they like to drink. Well if we are being honest they always like to drink.

This is the only picture I took of Dachau concentration camp. I didn't feel that it was appropriate to take a bunch of pictures. I can't even describe the feeling of going to a concentration camp. It was very sobering. How do you even begin to know what these people went through. Two thousand men lived in quarters built for two hundred. The gas chamber which posed as a shower was a little too much to handle. Visiting a concentration camp is definitely an undescribable feeling.

Teri and I in front of a Palace in Munich that I just totally blanked on the name. We didn't actually go in the palace with everyone else because we wanted to spend our time outside in the acres and acres of gardens. We figured we walked about three miles around the gardens of this palace. The funny story is that we went into a little house that was situated in the gardens and a man was there. He started speaking German to me. I obviously didn't know what he was saying so I spoke in English thinking he would know English. He continued to speak in German. Instead of me saying "I don't understand" I just nodded my head and said "Oh, I see." Teri got a big kick out of that because she knew I had no idea what he was saying to me. We laughed at that for quite some time.

Teri and I posing on a bridge. Yes, Teri posed.
This is a look out from Neuschwanstein Castle. The lake on the right is Swan Lake (like the ballet)
This is the castle that Cinderella's castle was modeled after. It was quite the hike. You will notice that it is on the top of a hill. The hike was pretty steep. I thought that I would have a hard time because I hadn't exercised but I was fine. I guess all that walking and stair climbing kept me in shape. Coming down we decided to veer off course and come down a little trail. However, the trail dissipated and we were lost. The girls were looking at me and I didn't have Teri with me. I acted calmly like I knew what I was doing and we found the cafe we were meeting at. My new motto is "just act calm"
This picture was a bugger to take in more ways then one. We were on this narrow, wooden bridge with lots of people. Our tour guide was taking our picture but he kept getting so close. Teri and I hate close ups. I kept moving my head back but tried to keep my chin out so I didn't have double chin. He kept laughing at me so we couldn't take the picture. I told him to back up and he was like "do you want me to jump of the bridge". Then a bug flew into my ear. Not by my ear but into the ear canal. I screamed like a sick hyena which obviously made us laugh even harder. Oh Ana, if only you were there we would have never stopped.

Salt Mine (Austria)

Salzburg translated means Salt town. They have salt mines everywhere. Salt used to be more valuable then gold. We got to go through one of these mines. I think it was my favorite activity we did. You go deep, deep, deep into the center of a mountain by train. Then you slide down a wooden slide even deeper. You ride a boat on a salt lake in the middle of the mountain. It was incredible. We even crossed the border from Austria to Germany inside the mountain. How cool is that?

Here I am in the mine. You can't really see the passage way but it gets two inches narrower each year. Scary

You also get to wear these really cool white jump suits. I bought one to wear on my first day back to school. Don't be jealous.


Tomorrow Munich and Heidelburg and then I'm done.

Salzburg, Austria

The hills are alive with the Sound of Music. Salzburg is where the sound of music was filmed. It was the most beautiful place by far. I believe it was Teri's favorite as well. Some of these pictures also come from Hellbrum Palace. This was the most innovative and fun palace that we went to. The entire grounds of the palace have secret water squirtters all around. So as you are looking through a cool building all of the sudden you are soaked with water. It was fun. The king whose summer palace this was had quited the sense of humor.

This is one of the hydro powered moving statues. I thought it was funny but it is even funnier in the picture.

Teri and I posing at the palace.
This is the garden that Maria and the Von Trapp children run down while singing Doe Ray Me. I certianly got some air. We also saw the fountain, steps, castle, and more.


I view of the city from the top of the castle. I will tell you what... I was sick of climbing stairs by the end of the trip. I bet we climbed a million stairs by the end of the trip. I also guess that we walked an average of 5 miles a day. But to see these incredible views you have to climb the highest tower of the castle.

This is the dinner table at the water palace. You can't really see me but I am sitting on the far right corner. You will notice the hole in the seat. That is where some of the water shot from. Water shot from the middle of the table as well as from the sides. The king used to do this to his dinner guests and it was very disrespectful to get up from the table before the king. You'll notice that the king's seat doesn't not have a water hole. Funny guy.
Here I am pretending I am 16 going on 17. Oh to be young again.

Teri squeezed herself into a little helicopter. I guess the love of helicopters run in the family

Vienna, Austria

Next stop was Vienna, Austria. I have to say, Austria was not what I expected. It is actually very gray. Apparently, a few years ago the government began paying people to paint their buildings so the city wasn't so bland. I didn't have a lot of pictures of Vienna to show sorry. We spent some time at the local market where a Bulgarian man told me he loved me (he was just trying to sell me his cheese). It was the best cheese I think I have ever eaten. I also had a guy tell me he wanted to have babies with me because he couldn't believe I was 29.

This pic us dedicated to Dan. He always takes pictures of himself like this so I thought I would give it a try.


Teri and I in front of Shronbrum Palace (I can't be positive that is the correct spelling). The gardens were amazing. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend enough time here. One of the downfalls of traveling on a tour.
We then went to the little amusement park they have. We rode on the oldest wooden ferris wheel. You rode in a little barn like compartment which rocked when you stepped to each side. The students where having fun making it rock and freaking out Scott.

EuroCup 2008

This post is dedicated to my friends who love soccer and know the magnitude of the EuroCup.

The EuroCup is like the superbowl of Europe. Lucky for us it was going on while we were there. Soccer fans are crazy. Just to give you an example... The night Turkey played Croatia we were in Munich. Germany apparently has the largest number of Turks in Europe besides Turkey itself. After two overtimes and a shootout Turkey pulled off the win. After the win the city went crazy for about two hours. The game ended around midnight so until two in the morning we could hear cars honking non stop and men screaming. Our hotel was right in the center of town so needless to say we didn't get much sleep that night.

Here I am with some students in my Germany attire. I loved the Germany jersey. They play Spain on Sunday for the title of European Master.


Here I am in Budapest at a public viewing area watching a game. They have these viewing areas everywhere. They are free to get into and it is so much fun.

Teri and I at the superstore. They had nothing left. They were completely sold out unless you were really large or really little. They did have some items of the less popular teams but who wants that?

Me in front of the Spain mannequin. I couldn't remember what Spain's colors were so I had to call Armando. I am rooting for Spain tomorrow for the Master. Go Espana! Though I will probably be wearing my Germany jersey.
Another FanZone in Austria. It was during the day so no one was there. They were just playing highlights. Everything was in German so I never knew what they were saying.
For my soccer lovers. I wish you could have been there to experience it with me. It was exciting and a little scary. Those fans are crazy. They make BYU/Utah looks like a playground fight.

Go Espana!

Tomorrow: Vienna and Salzburg (Sound of Music time)

Budapest, Hungary

Our next stop was Budapest. Apparently I didn't take very many pictures here. It was a long bus ride to get there so the first night we just walked around the city a bit. The second day we took our city tour, went to the local market, went to the Bodies Exhibit, and then watched some futbol with the locals.

Here I am touching the golden testicles of this horse. The belief is... if you touch the golden testicles you will have good luck in whatever area of your life you are focusing on. After our tour guide told us the story she said that we could try. Nobody even budged so obviously I was the first one to touch the testicles. The funny part was that I was in a skirt and couldn't climb on the statue very well. I couldn't reach the testicles without showing the world my under garments so Otto (our tour guide) decided to hoist me up. That was awkward!

Here a panoramic view of Budapest. This is their government building. I don't know what the river is called. I can't remember.

Here is me (looking cross eyed) with my kilo of cherries. We went to the local market and the cherries looked so amazing. I bought some and he asked if I wanted one kilo and I said sure not knowing how much a kilo would be. Well, it was plenty that is for sure. They were good though and they sure helped in counteracting all the bread and cheese we ate if you know what I mean. Teri and I also had authentic Hungarian food for lunch at the market. I had stuffed cabbage with sauerkraut and Teri had some rice and chicken thing. It was one of my favorite meals. The Hungarian Forint is funny to spend. One thousand forints is equal to about six dollars. So I bought a pashmina for about two thousand florints. That is weird.

Here we are cartwheeling for Andres website cartwheelsaroundtheworld.com. We forgot about it till Budapest so anything up until then will have no cartwheels.

Slovakia

We visited Slovakia for a couple of hours. We went to an old castle ruin which is one of my favorite things to do. I love the castles in the cities but there is something so genuine about being in a raw castle that hasn't been fixed up for the tourist. You are allowed to climb on them and explore without do not enter signs.

Here is Teri and I. The funny part was trying to get Teri into that window. You would think the jagged rock would make it easy to climb but it was fun trying to hoist her up. Then coming down. She didn't trust me to catch her so she had to jump. Luckily no one got hurt.

Here is a distant picture of the castle ruins. Lovely I say.
Teri at the bottom of some ruins. We had so much fun here.
One of the funniest parts of Slovakia was lunch time. We ate in Bratislava at a little sidewalk cafe. There was this old man who was obviously off his rocker. He was sitting all alone nursing a drink and singing at the top of his lungs. He was sing and then start laughing hysterically and clapping for himself. We couldn't help but laugh at him. He did this for about half an hour. Teri has video so hopefully she will post it on her blog.

Tomorrow's city: Budapest

Prague, Czech Republic

Our next city was Prague. This was by far my favorite big city. It is so beautiful. I have to apologize because both mine and Teri's cameras died half way through this day so I don't have the pictures I would like. We had our friend take some of us so when she sends them I will post them.

This is a picture of the strangest wall I have ever seen. Imagine this gray plaster three stories high and probably 50 yards wide. From far away it looked like eerie people but up close you'll notice it was just gray plaster finger like things. In the midst of it there would be hidden items like a snake or a lion. It was weird. This was the last picture taken before the camera died so you don't get to see the magnitude of the wall. Sorry


Teri, Heather, and I walking down the golden road at Prague Castle. I love little streets like these.
Teri and I overlooking the city of Prague. I wish you could see how beautiful and clean it really was. It was amazing how clean the cities were. I was very impressed.
This was our IKEA hotel room. It was so awesome. We loved it. You could see the castle from our window and we had a sky light. It also had a normal tub shower so we had plenty of room.
The best picture of Prague castle I could get. This is actually the cathedral on the castle grounds but it is the most know building on the grounds.
Teri and I in the cathedral. I just really like how this picture of us turned out. You can see the beautiful glass work.
Me standing in front of a little door. Here is the funny story about this one. Scott (the teacher in charge of the trip) made this comment when he saw this picture. "Tori you are so big". Note to all men... never tell a woman she is big. He meant I looked tall standing by the little door but he needs to remember to say tall not big.
I am being tortured in the dungeon of the castle. I love dungeons. I always search for the little unmarked place below the castle. After I took this picture I saw the sign that said "Do Not Touch the Exhibits". Oops.
Prague definitely had the worst food of the trip. We went on a dinner cruise down the river and saw the famous Charles Bridge (pictures to come later). It was so pretty but the food was not good. It was edible but certainly not worth it. Luckily we didn't have any real terrible food experiences.

Berlin, Germany

I've decided to Post my favorite pictures of our trip by the city. That way you will have something to look forward to rather than getting it all at once. Hopefully I can remember all the fun stuff. I didn't write things down like a should have.

Our first couple of days we spent in Berlin, Germany. Berlin has amazing history. Most of the city was destroyed in WWII so the city is pretty new. We visited the Berlin Wall, Bradenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Berliner Dome, some museums (but my back hurt so much this day that I didn't get a lot out of the museums), and experienced for the first time the chaos of the Euro Cup. More to come later about that. Here are some of my favorite pics.

Down the middle of Berlin there is a stone path that lines where the wall once stood. It is cool to see but sobering to see how the city was divided. I won't go into the history behind the wall because you probably already know so if you want more info let me know.


This is me standing in front of some of the last remnants of the wall. There were actually two walls, the East wall and the West wall. Between the two walls was no mans land which was patrolled by guards and by ferocious dogs. Many people who tried to escape were killed in no mans land.
This is Teri outside Zwinger Museum in Dresden, Germany. The museum was cool but it was so much better outside. The gardens were beautiful. This was the only day it rained on us.

Teri and I outside Checkpoint Charlie museum in Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie was a place in which people could travel from West to East Berlin. West Berliners could go into East Berlin but East Berliners could not leave. There is a museum here that has a lot of info. It shows how people tried to escape and so forth. No pictures were allowed or I would have shown you how people climbed into the littlest places to get across the wall.
Me outside Zwinger Museum kissing a statue. Would you expect any less from me?
Me in the Holocaust Memorial. This is one of the coolest memorials I have ever seen. It was all of these pillars which were all different heights in rows and columns. You could walk through them. It was surprising how confining it felt. I spent a lot of time walking through just soaking it up.

We also saw where Hitler was finally killed. It is a parking lot now. They don't celebrate him in any way but they also don't hide their history.

This is Teri and I in front of a very odd sculpture. You can't see the real essence but from the side it looked like a man's "uhum" instead of arms. We tried to imitate it.



Tomorrow will be Prague (my favorite big city of the trip). Unfortunately, Teri's and my camera's both died in Prague so we don't have as many pics as we would have liked.