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.

Karaoke Pop Stars

After our day tour of Leuven, the entire study abroad program pretty much decide to go out to karaoke together. This place near the main square in Antwerp makes a big deal about being air conditioned was mostly filled with Americans actually. We met people from Wisconsin who were leaving to go home the next day. It was a chance for the whole group to get up and act silly. We all pretended to know this country song, while secretly looking out of the corner of our eyes at the words. I thought I was the only one doing this but later learned no one had any clue what that “popular” song was. We sang all the way home and it was the perfect ending to a long week…

Brandie's weekend in Munich

 For the second free weekend, I (Brandie) went to Munich, Germany with five other people from the program. We had a good time, even though it was a quick trip. We flew Ryan Air because it was the cheapest way to go, even after paying for the cab ride to and from the airport in Brussels, and the bus ride to and from the airport in Munich. One of my travel buddies found an apartment available for weekend rent, which was perfect for the six of us. It wasn't too far from City Center so we were able to walk just about anywhere we wanted to go. We ate lunch on Saturday at the famous Hofbrauhaus. On the second floor of this restaurant is where the Nazi party started. It's famous with locals and tourists alike. You can see the large pretzel and liter of beer (top left) from there. We bought the pretzel from a lady walking around selling them out of a basket hanging from her neck, just like people do with snacks and drinks at ballgames. We also took the opportunity to visit Munich Residence and Gardens. Munich Residence is the former palace of the monarchs of Bavaria. We toured the Residence and the Museum. The gardens are beautiful, complete with fountains and gazebos. Some photographers were shooting pictures of a wedding party while we were there. One of the photographers had two little flower girls in one of the fountains while he took pictures. We saw this as a green light to do the same. So Jess and I got into one of the fountains as well (top right). It was cold, so Jess took a little longer to step in fully. But she did.

The thing that I found so interesting was that Munich wasn't flashy or distinct. I kept waiting for an exotic view to take a picture of and it just didn't come. Everything looks so normal. I don't know whether this is cultural or a direct result of the impact on the region from WWII. But it was homy and pleasant. The City Center contains some older buildings with a distinct look to them. There are several clock towers here. We were able to go up to the top of one of them where we could step outside and take pictures of the city from a bird's-eye view (bottom left). There's a giant glockenspiel in City Center that plays at certain hours. We thought it played every hour on the hour but I was there at 4 "on the hours" and it didn't play at any of them. Clearly I was there at the wrong times for it. But it was beautiful nonetheless. I also liked the market areas on the streets off of City Center (bottom right). They provided such a friendly homely atmosphere. Before we left for Munich, I searched the Web for what to do and/or see. I read that Munich is one of the best places to live. I now know why. There's something about it that makes it feel like a giant neighborhood. I'm so glad we took the opportunity to visit. I'd be happy to return any day :)

Brittany's 2nd Free Weekend: Budapest



Parliament building lit up at night



Chain Bridge

      I landed in Budapest on Thursday evening and tried to get to my hostel as soon as possible. Carolyn and I had already booked a night cruise on the Danub through our hostel to see all of the monuments light up at night while enjoying a bottle of champagne! We made it just in time. The Parliament building was especially beautiful all lit up. After the cruise we were dropped off at a near by club for some dancing.



Former Royal Palace



Fishermen's Bastion

       The next day we slept in a bit and then decided to start some sight seeing. We were staying on the Pest side of Budapest so we headed over to Buda to see the former Royal palace and the surrounding district. To get to Buda you need to cross a bridge. The Chain Bridge is the oldest bridge that connect the two parts of the city. Today Buda castle houses museums, a library, and a theater. Also on Buda side is the Fishermen's Bastion. According to town legend, this section of the medieval town wall was defended by the fishermen's guild, although the reality was probably different. After exploring Buda we headed back to Pest, where a Hungarian Wine Festival was taking place. We decided to get some food from one of the carts and try some of the wines. My favorite was definitely the Rose and Merlot. I had no idea that Hungary produced such good wines! After hanging out at the wine festival we headed to the Opera House. We had bought tickets earlier in the day for Macbeth by Verdi. Our tickets were only about $10 and the show was fantastic. It was a wonderful production with more special effects than I expected. After the Opera we headed back to go to bed early. Our hostel had organized a pub crawl but we wanted to wake up early! If you like to go out at night our hostel was perfect, it was self proclaimed a party hostel, Carpe Noctem Vitae was the real name so definitely check it out if you plan on going to Budapest!



Wine Festival

 



State Opera House





The next morning we got up early and went to the Szechenyi Bath house near the city park. We wanted to book massages so we went early before having breakfast. We grabbed some crepes for breakfast and headed back to the baths. This was truly a unique and different experience. The bath house was made in the early 20th century and has 15 different baths with all different temperatures. My favorite was the large beautiful bath outside. The day we went it was overcast and chilly but the bath was heated almost like a hot tub so it was perfect for lounging and enjoying the neobaroque architecture of the surrounding building. I highly recommend getting a massage while there. At only $15 for 30 minutes it was a wonderful value. 

Inside the Szechenyi Bath house

Hero's Square

After a day of pampering we walked around the city park and visited the castle there. There happened to be a Belgian Beer festival going on. We grabbed some street food as a snack and wandered some more. The park is beautiful and a short walk from Hero's Square. But they had the whole bridge blocked off because they were shooting a movie right next to the Square! Apparently since it's a very inexpensive place to shoot a movie they are always shooting something in Budapest especially since this particular area of the city is reminiscent of Paris. After a full day we went to a nice restaurant for a traditional Hungarian dinner. Hungarian goulash is usually a soup or stew consistency with meat, potatoes, and sometimes a few veggies. It is delicious! After dinner we went out with our hostel to a few live music venues which was a lot of fun. On Sunday we had a few hours before our flight so we tried to go to the Market but since it was Sunday it wasn't open unfortunately....everything is closed in Europe on Sundays! We just wandered and grabbed a leisurely breakfast before heading out to the airport.  Overall Budapest was amazing, it had everything to offer a tourist, beautiful architecture, inexpensive, great night life, and friendly people. Can't wait for the opportunity to go back!





Hungarian Goulash