Our first stop was Paris, the city of love! It was also the city of the first hostel I have ever stayed in. We stayed in the Montmartre neighborhood. It was located right next to the Sacre Coeur and the metro, so it was quite easy to get into town. We spent the first day walking to the Notre Dame, Champs Elysse, Sacre Coeur, the Louvre, and the Arc de Triumph. It was a very long, but exciting day. After a long day, we decided to go out for a traditional French meal, which consisted of chicken and lamb. Following dinner, we went out for a few drinks and enjoyed the Parisian night life.
The second day we reserved strictly for the Eiffel Tower. It was on the agenda to climb all the way to the top! After about 600 steps and two elevator rides, we made it to the Tower's Summit. After experiencing some breathtaking views and more steps, it was time to walk around the city again. There was an outdoor festival going on, so it was nice to walk around and listen to some music. One thing that really took us by surprise were the amount of Irish people in Paris at the time. Apparently, it was the last rugby game of the season, so we also got to experience the excitement and competition of the Irish and the Parisians (the Irish won in case you were wondering). After two long days, it was time to board our train to take on our next destination: Munich, Germany.
When boarding our first overnight train of the trip, we were not quite sure what to expect. But luckily, we had booked the sleeper carts. Getting sleep that night was pretty easy, and in the morning we arrived in Germany bright and early. Unfortunately, the hostel we were staying in wouldn't let us check in until about noon. That was super unfortunate due to the fact that our train arrived in at 7 in the morning. When we got to our hostel, we were astonished how beautiful it was. It was so nice, clean, and had such a friendly atmosphere. We decided to wait out the time and get breakfast. When we finally got our room, we got ready and then head out into town. We spent the day getting to know the area, appreciating the fantastic street performances, and shopped around. When the night came about, we went to our first brewery/beer garden of our stay, Augustiners. After an authentic German dinner and beer, we headed back to our hostel and hung around there for the night.
The second day in Germany, we were fortunate enough to take a guided tour through the concentration camp memorial of Dachau. It was such a humbling experience getting to learn about the history of the camp. A lot of the memorial sight gave off such an eerie and unsettling vibe, especially in the roll-call square and the crematoriums. After a day tour of Dachau, Jordan and I decided to go on the "Beer Challenge" which was a tour that took you to the most well known beer gardens of Munich. Unfortunately it was cancelled, so we went to the Hofbrauhaus and spent time there. We ended up meeting up with some people from our hostel, and had a nice night out.
On our last day in Germany we spent time walking through the Viktualienmarkt, which is an outdoor food market in downtown Munich. After that, we found a nice spot by a river, and stayed there for a while. After a nice and relaxing dinner, we got an authentic dinner of Schnitzel, and then headed to the train station to head to our final destination: Venice.
This overnight train was definitely not as nice, we however, did find our own Coachette. After a night of barely any sleep, we arrived in Venice. We checked into our cozy little Bed and Breakfast, and got ready for the day. Our host was nice enough to pretty much plan our day out, so we followed his recommendations. We went to grab some coffee and breakfast, and then headed to the Fish Market (taking a Venetian Gondola to get there). Following the market, we headed around to San Marco's Square and got lunch there. After lunch, we decided to take a boat ride out to Murano, the well known glass blowing island of Venice. We stayed there for a few hours and walked around the different glass shops, and we even sat in on a glass blowing factory (they were making cups at the time). We finally decided to head back to the main land, and got dinner. For dinner, I had the Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia, which is a traditional squid with ink sauce pasta. It was delicious, and a nice way to end the day.
On our final day of the trip, we just took it easy and walked around the island and shops some more. Finally around 5pm, it was time to head back to Rome. After such a long time away from Rome, it was super nice getting back. It was an exciting and unforgettable trip!
