Stephen's Third Free Weekend: Milan, Italy

Stephen's Third Free Weekend: Milan, Italy

For my third and final free weekend, I went to Milan, Italy. Although it is often overshadowed by more famous cities in Italy like Rome and Venice, Milan has a great deal to offer any traveler. In addition to the many famous sites and shopping destinations, I also found that the people in Milan were mostly receptive to tourists and were willing to help my friend and me find our way around to the less touristy destinations. After getting a shuttle from the airport to the central station, we walked around the city looking for a nice place to eat. We found a nice little cafe where you get to pick a meat, pasta, and vegetable all for only 10 euros and based on the server's recommendation, I ate rabbit for the first time (and loved it). After the meal, we accidentally found our way to Sforza Castle and the neighboring Sempione Park, two major attractions in the heart of Milan. The castle is one of the largest in Europe and had several interesting museums, many of which were free admittance the day we went (I don't know if that's standard). After looking at some of the medieval catholic art and the Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi that was housed in the museums, we ventured out in the rain for a stroll through Sempione Park. This park is massive with outdoor cafes, playgrounds for children (or easily amused college students), a running track, and several landmarks including a massive arch at the very far end of the park.

The next day was mostly spent in the Piazza Del Duomo, where the famous cathedral is located. Also found in this area is one of the most famous shopping malls in Milan, where we mostly just enjoyed window shopping because most of the stores were a little out of our price range (particularly the Mercedes Benz store). We also enjoyed walking up the spiral staircase to the the Duomo's rooftop, which only costs 7 euros to visit. This was the most scenic part of the trip as the view offered a combination of beautifully detailed architecture and a great panoramic view of the entire city. I had heard that you could see the Alps from the roof, although it must have been too cloudy when we were there because I didn't see them. After about an hour of lounging on the Duomo roof, we went to the Brera area, an interesting neighborhood to eat and visit that was recommended to us by a local college student. The main site in this part of Milan is a university, which houses a very old library, a botanical garden, and several classical looking sculptures. After touring the campus grounds, we walked to a little cafe and got a nice Italian meal and a bottle of wine. The food was good although not great for the price starting with the 4 euro stale bread that would be complimentary in the US. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and watched some of the European Cup soccer matches and rested up for a 6 AM flight.

Stephen's Second Free Weekend: Dublin, Ireland

For my second free weekend trip, I went to Dublin, Ireland. After checking in to our hostel, we went walking around the main city to find food and see some of the famous sites. The first site we visited was the famous Trinity College, one of the first colleges ever established, founded in 1592. We walked around the center of campus and tried to get into the famous library where the Book of Kells is kept, but the line was too long. While we were in the center of the college, we saw a new bride taking pictures outside the church with her wedding party. After seeing most of the college, we got some cheap lunch on our way to see St. Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral's exterior was fantastic and the courtyard was very picturesque. We didn't pay to get inside the actual building because people were tired from the flight and ready for a nap. After our naps, we got some authentic Irish dinner; corn beef and cabbage before we did a pub crawl. Our tour guides lead us through several pubs throughout the city through several bars and pubs, most of which had great live music and local Irish beers.

The next day, we woke up early to get on a bus to Galway to do a tour of the famous Moher Cliffs. We had a great tour guide who drove us the 3 hours to get to the cliffs. On the way there, we stopped at a little restaurant  in a town called Doolin and got some of the best burgers I've ever had. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with our plans, as it was pouring rain throughout the entire tour. The Cliffs of Moher were an incredible spectacle despite the rain, and the scene was well worth the soaking wet clothes. We walked up to some medieval looking castle tower to take shelter from the rain and got another tourist to take a picture of the group. After walking around to the other side of the cliff viewing area, we went into the indoor museum in an effort to dry off before our 4 hour bus ride back to Dublin. Although we were still soaking wet on the bus ride home, we got to see some other beautiful sites on the ride back that made up for the temporary discomfort. Overall, I had an incredible weekend in Ireland, it is probably my favorite trip of our time here so far and I would love to go back some day in the future.

Free Beer

Wednesday we went to Louven, Belgium for two brewery tours and a city tour. We started the morning at Timmerman’s one of 15 remaining Lambic brewery’s. It was a quiet hole in the wall place who have recently penetrated the US high end beer market after success in Russia. Known best for their cherry, Blanche, and dark (can’t remember ) the name traditional lambic beer. The four things the guide told us to remember about lambic beer are:

It is Seasonal, meaning it can only be brewed from November to April because of it requires Spontoaous fermentation which means that they let it ferment with the windows open because there are special particals in the areas air that gives the beer a unique taste. These particals are only present within 15 km of the city. It is also a Wheat beer and of course lambic beer. We got to try 3 different types of beer and I really enjoyed the raspberry, strawberry, and Blanche. The cheery one surprised me an was very good dispute my assumption it would taste kind of like cough syrup.

After leaving Timmerman’s we went to the Stella factory. Unfortunately they did not have a tour guide ready for us and do we had to forgo seeing how the beer is brewed on a mass production level. But to compensate they allowed us to still have a tasting in which thy taught us the correct way to clean, pour, and hold our Stella beer. It requires 6 steps, including a special way to clean the glass with an up and down swilling of the cup on these brushes submerged in water, then at 45 degree angle rinse the glass while holding in at the base, then to let the tap open for a couple seconds before tilting the glass at again a 45 degree angle until full, remove the glass before shutting off the tap to ensure that the final drop of the tap does not ruin the head of the beer, then using the knife cut off the top and finish the perfect pour with washing the outside of the glass and drying off the bottom.

After, taking our usual souvenir from the bathroom (toilet paper) hehe, we went back to the bus to meet our usual tour guide, Peter, for a tour of his hometown. When we got off the bus we saw the oddest monument, a large silver spear with a large bug pierced. It was apparently a gift from the university to the city for an anniversary, smolizing living one with nature, paralleling how the science program displays insects in the museum. It was a beautiful city, with rough cobble stones and beautiful buildings that made the university. Most of them were built with money from donors who sent their cities youth to the once strict catholic school or were infirmatories. For the most part it looked deserted but Peter insisted everyone was inside studying for their up coming exams. The city tour felt like it went on for ever and ever and eventually we all made Peter stop for waffles and ice cream . We slept most of the way home which was much needed.

Group Trip to Brugge

Today we took a day trip to Brugge and the Toyota manufacturing plant. The beautiful quaint historical town was tainted by whipping winds and cold rain. Shivonne didn’t even have a hood, my sperrys were soaked and I couldn’t find my umbrella I bought I’m Amsterdam. I made myself pull put my iPhone and take a couple photos. I want to take a day trip to enjoy the town to its fullest.
After a lunch of tomatoe soup and lasagna we got back on the bus & went to the Toyota distribution center. Dr. Tokmans brother is the lead logistics manager for Toyota Europe.. Aka he’s got the hookup. We got a private tour of some of toyotas main concept of continuous improvement and finding a balance of efficiency and health/safety. I was surprised by the low technology that the plant works with, communication is done thru bulletin board or white boards, an at its most complex form of scanners to clock employees beginning, specific work done on what vehicle , and the inspection of the work by the team leader. Most of these advancements such as the scanners have recently been implemented. They are currently collecting data to standardize planning
Time for specific installations. I could tell our guide was very intelligent because he was able to simplify a very complex and integrated process into lamen terms in English (a foreign language to him).

Brandie in Luxembourg

I (Brandie) spent the night in Luxembourg this last weekend. I took the train up Friday afternoon, stayed in the Youth Hostel in Luxembourg City that night, then spent Saturday sight-seeing, and came back to Antwerp that evening. The train was a bit hard to maneuver, even with a printed schedule from the station clerk, but definitely manageable. 
Because of other plans falling through, I decided to do my own thing this weekend. I've heard how beautiful Luxembourg is, and our RA, Alex, told me I would be safe traveling alone in Luxembourg, so I made arrangements. He recommended the Youth Hostel and the accommodations were fine. It was definitely a place where I could feel comfortable while traveling alone. 
I picked up a city map from the train station, which proved to be more helpful than anything else I did. That map had a list of all the things to see and had them marked on the map, along with photos of many of the places. I took that map with me on the city bus tour Saturday morning. This is a hop-on hop-off deal. I rode the bus through it's entire loop, which only lasted about an hour. I also noted one of the handful of stops was the train station, so this would be my mode of transport when it was time to catch my train that afternoon. On that bus tour I realized everything I wanted to see was in walking distance of the city center. So I found a bench, sat down, and mapped out a course to see what I wanted.
Luxembourg is where much of Europe's wealth is located. The landscape is beautiful, but not real touristy (lower right). Which is fine, but I was, in fact, a tourist, and I would've enjoyed some touristy things to see and do. But one day ended up being plenty of time to get a good look around Luxembourg City. Some of the high-traffic locations include Constitution Square (above left), William Square (top right), Place d'Armes, and the Petrusse Valley. The valley runs through the city with a stream running down the middle. Between the lowest point of the valley and the highest point in the city are many levels in between. Pretty much that translates to lots of ups and downs. Whether on the streets or on stairs I was constantly walking up or down to get to my next destination. I definitely earned my bus ride back to the train station. 
Another neat thing I saw was the Casemates. These are underground caverns in the face of the cliff above the valley. For 3 euros you can go inside. I don't know what they looked like originally, but they've been modernized with hand rails, safety lighting in the floor, and cages across the openings in the cliff. I'm sure, too, that they've been hollowed out some since they were originally created. Some of the doorways were narrow, as were a couple of staircases, but most of the caverns were spacy and ventilated. But it was definitely neat to walk through them. While there I also saw the changing of the guard in front of the Palace of the Grand Dukes and had my photo in front of the Adolphe Bridge (bottom) from one of the many scenic levels between the city center and the valley. I didn't walk around the new city because the modern buildings didn't interest me as much as the older ones around the city center. I saw the new city on the bus tour and that was good enough for me.
All in all it was a pleasant trip for me. Like I said, it was easy to see what I wanted in one day. The train ride is anywhere from 4-6 hours, depending on stops, so it would've been hard to travel there and back in one day since so much time is spent traveling. I like that I spent one night there, giving myself an entire day to see the city before returning. It worked out well. Even though I walked a lot, it turned into a relaxing and low-key way to spend a free weekend.

Brittany's Third Free Weekend: Porto, Portugal

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Porto, but I was really excited to experience the southern Portuguese culture. Upon arriving we took the metro into the city center to find our hostel. We stayed at Yes! Porto hostel which was the best hostel I have ever stayed in and was a mere 15 euro per night (breakfast included ;). The next order of business was food since it was already early evening and we had been traveling all day. Our first meal was a popular sandwich called the, Francesinha. It's made with bread, wet-cured ham, linguiça, fresh sausage like chipolata, steak or roast meat and covered with molten cheese and a hot thick tomato and beer sauce served with french fries. It was definitely not a light meal but it was unique and tasty. Then we explored the area near our hostel and did a little shopping. Down the street from our hostel is the most interesting bookstore in the world, Lello. We stumbled upon it and it is extremely beautiful.

Lello Bookstore

That evening we decided to walk down by the water to see everything all lit up at night. The bridge in the picture was actually built by Gustav Eiffel, the same guy that built the Eiffel Tower. The bridge actually connects two different cities, Porto and Gaia. Until the 19th century they weren't able to build a bridge because of the deep and fast moving water so the two cities developed different cultures until that time. We had a drink out one of the bars near the water and tried a Latin favorite, the Caipirinha. It's actually Brazil's national drink and Portugal and Brazil have always had close ties. It was super tasty! We headed to bed at a decent hour to get up for breakfast the next morning.

Santa Clara Church

The hostel offered a free tour at 10:30 after breakfast so we got basically a private 2 hour tour of the city. One of the first stops on the tour was the Majestic Cafe. J.K. Rowling actually wrote some of the first Harry Potter book at this Cafe when she lived in Porto. I love Harry Potter so I was so excited to hear about that. We also saw the main market place that had everything from fruits and vegetables to a hair dresser. Next, we visited the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. The construction works at the Church of Santa Clara were completed in 1457, and the edifice was built for the intended use of the Franciscan nuns (the order of Poor Clare). The order owned the church until the 19th century, when the last nun of the order died.We continued the tour and saw a lot of the little city including great views from the bridge during the day time.



Porto!

 



 

 




View of Porto from Gaia.

We went to amazing authentic Portuguese tapas restaurant our last night in Porto. We sat down at the table and you just keep getting small plates brought out to you until you can't eat any more. It was such an amazing experience and the food was fantastic. The name of it was Casa de St. Antonio and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Porto. The four of us that ate dinner had 6 plates of tapas and 2 liters of Sangria between us and our meal was only 46 euro! Porto was  definitely the most inexpensive place I've ever been in Europe and everything was so worth the money we spent!



Casa de St. Antonio



Our last day in Porto we had to do a Port tasting! All of the Port cellars are actually located in Gaia because the sun shines directly on Porto which is not ideal conditions for the wine. We went to Graham's cellars and had a wonderful tasting. We tried the three different versions of Port: ruby, tawny, and white. I wasn't a huge fan of any of them, too sweet for me. But it was really neat to get to try them all and hear about how it's made. It would be wonderful to go on a cruise in the Douro region to see all of the vineyards. I loved Porto and would really love to go back and spend more time there and experience the Douro wine region.

Paris hotel view takes my breath away

Although I only did Paris for about 36 hours, the trip, my hotel, and of course the sites were breath-taking. The picture with the bottles of french wine and cheese is the window sill of our hotel room. It was the most amazing experience I have ever had. I got a chance to use my french limited reading skill, was surprised by the kindness and patience of the french people who were flattered I attempted to immerse myself, and of course the tower was gorgeous even with a bit of rain.