Eurotrip Winter 2008

Unfortunately no pictures until probably Easter break, but my Michaelmas winter trip route:

Cambridge, UK ->
London, UK ->
Frankfurt, Germany ->
Munich, Germany ->
Innsbruck, Austria ->
Milan, Italy ->
Modena, Italy ->
Pisa, Italy ->
Florence, Italy ->
Rome, Italy ->
Vatican City, Vatican City ->
Venice, Italy ->
Bavaria, Germany ->
Dasing, Germany ->
Giessen, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany ->
Marrakech, Morocco ->
Todra Gorge, High Atlas Mountains, Morocco ->
Tinerhir, Morocco ->
Erfoud, Morocco ->
Merzouga, Morocco ->
Sahara Desert, Morocco, Algerian border ->
Risani, Morocco ->
Marrakech, Morocco ->
Cologne, Germany ->
Sofia, Bulgaria ->
Bansko, Bulgaria ->
Sofia, Bulgaria ->
London, UK ->
Barcelona, Spain ->
Cambridge, UK

*^____^*

A lovely little dinner in Innsbruck

It was dim, foggy, cold and snow flurry-ing ouside, but we decided to brave it in search of dinner. The streets were completely deserted, no restaurant was in sight. We walked down the street, peering at the side streets for places that looked open and offered food, but no luck. The only stores we passed were antique shops. Finally one side street showed a pizza restaurant-cafe that was open.

As we hurried towards it across the street, we noticed a place standing next to us with a dim light on and doors opening to heavy dark velvet curtains, a menu posted outside on the wall. Curious to this place, we decided to visit it first before the pizza place.

The curtains led to another door that was closed, and we opened it to find ourselves in the middle of a quiet bar with a large group of people drinking at a table. Er it didn't look quite like a restaurant, so we paused in confusion for a second and decided to leave, when one of the guys in the table group yelled, Hello hello! Come eat, great food! I guess we looked like we didn't know German. Honestly I thought he was kind of drunk, and/or making fun of us, but he insisted this was a restaurant too so we stepped in and sat at a table.

The bar was very nicely and tastefully decorated with different wood panelling, ornaments, paintings, flowers, and lights. The menu was incomprehensible, I tried asking the bartender/owner but he wasn't responsive to me, then the guy offered to translate for me. He invited me to sit down at his table and introduced the other people around him; his name was Michael. I began to think that maybe he was a nice guy after all, and it was just his Austrian accent and voice that made him sound mocking when he spoke English. So he described the standard Austrian dishes on the menu, and I ended up ordering: one beer, two waters, onion soup, breaded chicken breast with french fries, and Austrian dumpling-type trio set.

The food was all cooked by the barternder/owner's wife in the kitchen. The couple was old in age, but still active. Michael assured me her cooking was superb; it seemed like most of the people who came to this place were regulars and their friends. The food took a while to come because she was also cooking the group table's, so while we waited, we ate the peanuts, walnuts, tangerines, and chocolate that were in a big bowl on our table. Heh we spent the whole time wondering if those cost money, but we ate them anyway.

The food came one by one, it was delicious! Oh my god the onion soup is to die for. In a hot stone pot, thick cheese crust on top, hot soup below with onions and soft bread inside, mhmmmmm. The chicken breasts were lightly breaded and very juicy and marinated inside. The dumplings were heavy on the stomach, but very Austrian/Germany type I know, and very good too -- I just can't eat more than 1.5 of them. We were so stuffed, and then Michael told me he had ordered dessert for us because we had to try it. We waited for quite a while, and we started wondering if I had heard Michael correctly, but dessert indeed came. Three plates of hot crepe with ice creams wrapped inside and drizzled in hot chocolate. Amazingness. I told him it was too much, we were already so full! He laughed and replied that there's a separate stomach for dessert. I was surprised he knew this English idiom, and regardless, he was absolutely right, the three of finished each of our own dessert completely mhmmmmmmm.

We wondered what the final bill would be, if there were extra charges, etc. that foreigners like to place on unsuspecting tourists... but it came out to only 25 Euros for the three of us! Desserts on Michael. Amazingness. We thanked Michael and the owners profusely for their hospitality. What a wonderful meal. We trekked back to our hotel in a bigger snowstorm, but bellies satisfied and happy.

Yum yum :)

Watching TV

[I wish I had an Iphone so I could blog while traveling, but I can only scribble labouriously on paper my random thoughts/stories to transcribe later to blog.]

I like watching TV in different countries even when I have no idea what they're saying. I like watching what their local programs are like, the commercials, what the local news are -- it's an interesting piece of insight into the country's culture. Some sort of recurring theme or specialty always exists in a country's television. Austria likes to depict its lovely alpine landscapes and music; Italy shows either hot girls or leery old men. The US has lots of car commercials while Europe has lots of tourism ads from other countries. The television also proves how similar and globalized humans are. I watched American human tetris, British Weakest Link, British Family Feud (but more intelligent), several Italian versions of Deal or No Deal (with much hotter Italian girls), Italian Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And not to mention the countless spin-offs of American Idol.

Cambridge Formals

so far:

* Gonville and Caius *
- standing at the back of the queue (I said queue! line!) for Superhall tickets while everyone else cut the queue for 45 minutes and being very very afraid that they were going to run out of tickets by the time we got to the front - getting the second to last ticket -
- bringing lots of people - random or not - to normal formal halls to get rid of my tickets - can now eat wherever I want for rest of term :)

* Peterhouse *
- MITers with a bottle of wine each - some guy's birthday party, resulting in a drunken speech on top of the table and mooning us (twice) with English flag boxers - more drunkeness at the bar afterwards

* St. John's *
- quite quiet because of the formal hall boycott - gorgeous hall and food oh my the best - extremely strict porter - one of us almost getting kicked out for trying to penny - taking lots of pictures of hall after the fellows leave the high table - hanging out afterwards and talking half in Chinese the rest of the night about Chinese movies, Chinese food, Chinese cities, Singapore, whatever else random topics

* Churchill *
- launch of Spring Ball theme - seeing white girls with white face powder and their definition of a makeshift kimono - thinking oh god what if the Spring Ball theme is like, Japan or something? - finding out the Spring Ball theme is Neon Sunrise Tokyo, combination of old Japanese culture and the new neon light modern raves of Tokyo - seeing half the dressed up people in Chinese rather than Japanese clothes - a guy in a Hello Kitty costume head that was made out of a de-stuffed pillow - Japanese food for superhall - teaching one to eat with choptsticks! - one talking up an East Asian studies major - going from Churchill room to St John's - trying to learn how to ride a bicycle along the way - making a fool of myself - ending up giving each other and thinking about brainteasers most of the night - meeting the awesomely funny drunk next door neighbor - taking turns going to another "special" room to see if one has the correct answer - me being very happy I solved it first

* Trinity *
- not a day for good food - college bar pool and Foosball - watching replays of Man U v Stokes 5-0 at the bar - as much as I can drink in 10 minutes? okay not really - playing guitar and You Don't Know Jack on the computer - not going to the toga party - riding on the back of a bicycle while driver not completely sober - ending up listening and singing to Chinese songs until 5am

* Girton *
- so freaking far away - thank goodness for friend's car transportation - entering through the back entrance and walking all the way through the college to the front - nice JCRs, swimming pool, squash court, Tesco down the road... Girton is self-sufficient - life after Girton? life outside of Girton? - meeting new people - realizing the whole long hall table is reserved for CUMSA group - no pennying allowed, but secret spooning - pennying dessert - college bar drinking but then half the guys getting banned for drunken rowdiness - very amusing drunks - going on a big walking tour of Girton while making sure one person doesn't throw up - lots and lots of cam whoring the whole night - what a Girton adventure

* Christ *
- tomorrow - supposedly lots of pennying to get ready for :P

this is the way to live [London]

driving into London Chinatown just for dinner
buying ramen yummy ramen for friends
knockoff pocky definitely not as good as real pocky!
meandering around Chinatown
navigating the Chinatown alleyways for Hong Kong Cafe by a friend on the phone
salivating over crispy golden ducks hanging in store front windows
London night time sightseeing by car
taking city pictures through rainy windshields
leaning out the window of the moving car into the rain in order to get better shots

walking halfway across London and seeing it all again in the daytime
Trafalgar Square
Nelson's Column

Buckingham Palace
Westminister Abbey
Thames River walk
not getting to the Tower of London
random sculptures along the sidewalk
obligatory London telephone booth pictures
walking walking talking learning just looking window-shopping where are we going
riding the red double-decker city bus around Hyde Park
Harrod's posh-ness
Harrod's restroom posh-ness
Harvey Nichols being the same as ten years ago
Fifth floor sushi on a conveyor belt
Tube-ing it for the first time
Pirandello, Gieguld Theater lights
cider pre- and mid- drinks
London nightscapes again


waking up oh so early
breakfast in the car
stories and history lessons in the car
Tower of London terror and dark dungeon galore
in awe of the Crown Jewels
hehe Buckingham red guard bears
the White Tower armouries
Henry VIII's enormity
guns guns guns germs and steel
prisoner's chambers and their wall graffiti
rushing madly to Stonehenge
running around Stonehenge like crazy and taking 1000 pictures in 15 minutes
trading cameras and taking more pictures
taking more pictures just because we can
did I mention pictures?
did I mention sheep?
pat pat baa baa white sheep
all the angles of Stonehenge

making a U turn in the middle of the highway to detour to Woodhenge
running around, jumping around
laughing
having Woodhenge all to ourselves
action pictures
fun pictures
random pictures
what a playground
dinner randomly through GPS
the best Peking roast duck place ever

train station parking
taking the train into London
King's Cross, wondering where Platform 9 3/4 is
finally, English afternoon tea
Sloane Street Square
the hotel where Oscar Wilder frequented and was infamously arrested at, accused of sodomy
tea sandwiches
champagne and tea
pastries
oh the art of eating scones
fat piggy
London Bridge (is falling down, falling down...)
dinner conversation
late night train home
first sight of UK snow!
pretty fluffy white snow around London outskirts
white scary-looking balls of hail raining hard and fast

Cambridge by night and by day, beyond words