Paris

With Dylan Mercer, Andrea Ramirez and Meghan Nedow

Getting to Paris was an adventure to say the least. After taking two trains, a shuttle, a plane (which was quite scary), another shuttle, the metro (which we were lost in for at least a few hours) and finally a taxi we made it to our first hotel. Needless to say there was no sightseeing that night since we arrived around 10:30 pm. But the next morning our Paris sightseeing adventures began! Once we checked into our second hostel, we went straight to the cathedral of Notre Dame. There is no denying that this is the most beautiful cathedral I’ve ever stepped foot inside. The artwork inside as well as the architecture outside is so moving. Meghan, Andrea and I even lit candles inside. I was surprised that we were allowed to take pictures. Even without my flash I got some amazing shots of the stained glass windows inside. 

Next we were off to the Arc de Triomphe! When we got off the metro we thought we’d be much closer to the arc but we actually had to walk quite a bit. But I think it was for the best since we can now say we walked down the Champs Elysées. To get to the arc, since it’s in the middle of a traffic circle where about 10 different roads meet, we took the underground tunnel. We took a ton of pictures and videos and walked all around and through the arc. We decided not to go up inside because of the price. It was good enough for us to say that we were there. 

Afterwards, we hopped on the metro again to go see the Eiffel Tower. Apparently it takes more than 24 hours to master the Paris metro system because when we got off, thinking we’d be at the tower, we were about 3 blocks from it. However, it was so worth it! We walked all around and underneath, taking pictures and videos. Then we sat in the Champ de Mars, taking more pictures, lying in the grass looking up at the tower. We just kept saying “guys, we’re in PARIS!!” About that time it was starting to get dark and the tower lit up. It was the most beautiful sight…which started more picture taking. But the best part was when we decided to leave. We crossed the street and were waiting to cross again when Meghan happened to turn around and scream “Oh my god!! Guys look!!” We turned around just in time to catch the light show that Eiffel Tower puts on every night. AMAZING! BEAUTIFUL! 

We spent the whole next day at the Palace at Versailles. We walked through the palace and the gardens then all the way out to Marie Antoinette’s Estate. Between the three of us we easily took hundreds of pictures. My favorite part was the infamous Hall of Mirrors in the palace. It was so beautiful; I think we all walked around with our jaws dropped for at least 10 minutes. This palace has to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

The next morning we woke up and went straight to the Musée du Louvre where we saw everything from ancient Egyptian art to of course, the Mona Lisa. Since the Louvre is so large we decided to only see the pieces we were really excited about, like the Mona Lisa and anything by Michelangelo for me. Meghan wanted to see the Horses of Marly and Andrea was excited about The Winged Victory of Samothrace. 

Our last morning in the city of lights, we checked out and headed for the airport where we hopped on a plane for Venice. Paris was an adventure but I’m so happy that we were able to go. It was definitely an experience the three of us will never forget. We saw the cathedral of Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum and the Palace at Versailles in three days. It was whirlwind trip but we have memories and pictures that will last us forever.

---Dylan Mercer

Every Journey is a Memory

For my fall break, my grandmother and mom came over here to visit and show me more of what Italy, Austria, and Germany have to offer.  We made stops in all three countries at various checkpoints throughout our journey.  We made special appearances into Innsbruck, Salzburg, Munich, Dachau, Oberammergau, various castles, cathedrals, and so much more.

One of the first stops we made was about two and a half hours from Brunnenburg, further into Italy.  We walked around the windy, ice cold Lake La Garda for several hours before we stopped and grabbed some lunch at a place with the most beautiful view of the lake.







I also got to see and explore inside King Ludwig’s castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein, that Walt Disney got his Disney castle ideas from. It was so neat to be able to identify the obvious similarities between the two castles.

One of my favorite trips was to the Dachau Concentration Camp right outside of Munich. Although there were too many people with the same idea that day, we literally spent three hours exploring and still did not get to see everything.













Finally, one of the more memorable stops we made was at the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s Tea House.  This was by far the most gorgeous view I have ever gotten to experience. I literally felt like I was on top of the world being at the top of that mountain, overlooking the neighboring mountains and valleys.  This was definitely an adventurous trip wich memories that will be instilled in me forever.

By: Jess Gibson

Ryan Kelley's Fall Break: Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle

Stonehenge is in Wiltshire country, which is in Salisbury plains and was constructed anywhere from 3,000 BC to 2,000 BC. To this day, no one really knows why or where Stonehenge came from; however, there have been some theories. Some say that aliens put the stones there; some say that they were put there for religious gatherings; it is possible that there are bones buried beneath the giant rocks; and some even say that Stonehenge could be an area used as a signaling site; but no one knows for sure.

Bath is about two hours from Stonehenge. One famous writer that all of you should know who lived in Bath is Jane Austen. My tour group got to go right by where Austen resided, and as you should know, Austen was an English and romantic fictional writer. However, Austin never really wanted to live there, but her father made her live there for a good portion of her life. Bath was one of the Roman’s first picks for a new city for them. The Romans are well known for their bath houses, and Bath is one of their finest. The Romans also said that the waters in Bath were magic waters from the water goddess, and if you are sick, you must drink large quantities and you will be cleansed of any kind of sickness if you drank enough of it.

Windsor Castle is the official residence of the British Royal family and was built by William the Conqueror over a thousand years ago. Today, Queen Elizabeth lives there and it is where she calls “home.” During the tour, I went through several parts of the castle, for example, Queen Mary’s dollhouse and the State Apartments.

Queen Mary was the wife of King George V, and the doll house was a large room in the castle and is one of the most famous and exquisite doll houses in the world. It was actually given to Queen Mary as a gift from the people of England. The dolls themselves were dressed in royal clothing and were made from the finest of materials.

The State Apartments is one of the largest sets of rooms in the castle. It consists of dining rooms with all gold walls and ceiling, the portraits of the majority of the kings and queens who have ruled England, King Henry VII’s suit of Armor, and the English armory.

Ryan Kelley

Chestnut Festival at Schloss Tirol

Sunday, October 9, we had ourselves a good old fashion chestnut festival. This was held up in Schloss Tirol where many tourists came to eat chestnuts and watch Megan, Tomer, Nik, and I roast some chestnuts.

It was really fun. We ended up roasting 188 kilos of nuts altogether, which is about 415 lbs. Roasting the chestnuts is a true art. If left on the fire too long without shaking, they become burnt. If they are taken away from the fire and put back on, they explode. We had an average of about four chestnuts per pan explode on us while roasting, which was mostly caused by Tomer, Megan, and me because Nik actually knew what he was doing. All in all, it was fun and we had a blast throughout the whole day.Chuck Solan  

Verona

Out of all of our planned trips I looked forward to Verona the most. I am a Romeo and Juliet fangirl. I can admit it. But Verona is so much more than the setting of Shakespeare’s play.

We started off the day at a restaurant called Ippopotamo which is the Italian word for “hippopotamus” so obviously this restaurant was awesome. The poor waitress had no idea what hit her!

Ippopotamo was in the same plaza as the Verona Arena which is one of the best preserved Roman ampitheaters of its kind. It is beautiful. The coolest part about it is probably that operas are still shown there on a regular basis.

We then headed over to the place most visitors to Verona reach: Juliet’s “House.” While it isn’t Juliet’s actual house, what with her being a fictional character and all, it is a fun experience with a cool museum. Not to mention, the statue of Juliet that had literally dozens of people waiting to grope her chest for good luck. Not joking. Although the house wasn’t really Juliet's house, it was a remarkable representation of what her house would have looked like, complete with clothes and bed.

On our way to the statue of Dante…

We passed underneath a whale bone that supposedly will fall when the first virtuous person walks under it. I swear it looked pretty precarious for a few moments as I passed underneath it.

Maybe.

We then zipped our way past the Castle Vecchio…

Strolled down the river…

And ended up at the Basilica of San Zeno.

Which, by the way, is a beautiful church with lovely frescoes and an amazing bronze-cast door that has scenes carved over every inch of it. When we first got there I wasn’t super excited because we had already been to a large number of churches on our trip to the Vinchgau. However, the church was amazing and held my interest the whole time. Also, they had convenient info pamphlets (in English!) that they handed out at the beginning.

While waiting for the bus in utter confusion we made some new friends who were also from America that kindly helped us find the correct bus to take back to the train station.

This was an amazing trip. Everything went smoothly (it didn’t rain until we were leaving!) and everything was beautiful. Definitely my favorite trip.

Kathryn Farley

Journey to the Vinschgau Valley and Switzerland

Wednesday, as a group, we hopped on a private bus with Sizzo, and headed for the Vinschgau Valley.  It was a very beautiful day to explore various churches, portals, and frescos, as well as taking in the beautiful scenery.  The bus stopped to let us out at various checkpoints throughout the entire trip.  Our trip consisted of visiting four different churches, with our main focus being seeing the frescos and portals. Our first stop was Latsch where we explored a beautiful church dedicated to St. Paul and St. Peter.








Then we were dropped off to climb up to a hill that overlooked the breathtaking view of the valley.

Afterward we explored a church in Mals. From there we went to The Church of St. John in Taufers. Here we all sat down and had a picnic with a beautiful view of the countryside, where we ate delicious sandwiches made by Brigitte.








Before we ventured into Switzerland, Sizzo told us an interesting story of St. Christopher.

Next stop, Switzerland! Although Switzerland was a short experience, it was worth every minute of it. We explored the St. John the Baptist Church before treating ourselves to some tasty chocolate.









On the way back to Brunnenburg, we made a last stop at Von Trapp castle, where we saw the largest privately-owned armory in Europe.

After a full day of hiking and sightseeing, we happily returned home to Brunnenburg.

Jess Gibson and Andrea Ramirez

Hiking to the Cup Stones

The hike to the cup stones took about an hour and a half. The goats wanted to come, but weren't allowed.

We didn't really have any idea what the cup stones were going to look like, but we all imagined some huge stones that looked like cups. To our surprise they turned out to be small carvings on a rock.

The view from that rock was pretty amazing though.

The hike took us through the woods took us past some beautiful and somewhat hazardous terrain.

As well as some very random objects...

After taking a close look at the stones, we were given some possible scenarios as to what the purpose of these carvings was. Some of the possibilities are alien markings (like crop circles), people being bored, or ways of marking a path. It is pretty much left up to the imagination because their purpose isn't known. They are found all over Europe in the same general pattern and have been studied by many people.  

Meghan Nedow