It's been awhile! It is amazing how time slips by. I have been having so much fun working and traveling that I had hardly noticed how long it had been since I last wrote.In February I traveled to Stockholm, Sweden. I found a travel deal called "blind booking" where you simply enter in your travel dates and it sends you someplace at random. Perhaps Stockholm was not the greatest place to go in the dead of winter, but an experience nonetheless.
I arrived in Stockholm and checked into my hostel, close to the center of town. I couldn't believe how cold it was. The weather had just started to warm up in Germany, so it was a real shock to my system. the worst thing about it is that it was windy and damp. I just couldn't get warm. I ended up spending my weekend indoors. I did a great deal of shopping and walking. I skipped the museums this trip, but rather decided to spend my money on a brunch cruise through the various islands. The ship had to break ice the whole way, but the scenery was breathtaking.
One weekend later, I returned to Paris by train with my flatmate Katharina. My dear friend Casey from high school was working there for a couple months, so I was able to meet up with her. This trip to Paris was far more enjoyable, seeing as I had such wonderful company. We enjoyed sitting in cafes, a second round at The Louvre and many other wonderful museums and walks around the city.
On Sunday, a wind storm crept into the city and nearly blew us over. I could lean into the wind and not fall to the ground. When we first left Casey's apartment, we stopped at a classic french open air market where we purchased fresh cheeses. We grabbed a couple bags of wine, then packed them for the journey home later that evening. We spent the whole day inside, then made our way to the train station to return to Berlin. We had planed to go straight to work in the morning, but we ended up getting stuck at the border of France and Germany due to the storm. After changing trains four times over the course of twenty-one hours, we finally made it back to Berlin. Though we had to call in sick to work that day, we were fortunate enough to have delicious french cheese, bread and wine to sustain us through the journey. I am not quite sure what I think of train travel at this point.
Over Easter break, my flatmates, three other individuals and I travelled to Austria to bike along the Danube valley. We had decided to bike 230 km (143 miles) from Linz to Vienna over the course of two and a half days. Having biked very little all winter and having never been much of a biker, I was pretty skeptical of my own capabilities. Fortunately, I discovered that it is a great deal like long distance running...mind over matter. When you push yourself beyond a certain threshold, it becomes easy to zone out and find a rhythm. It is somewhat meditative and gave me a chance to spend some time contemplating my life.
The worst part of the bike trip was my butt getting sore. At one point, my break started catching and I peddled about 20 km with the break on before discovering the cause of the problem. I was exhausted at the end of that day. The next day, I awoke with a cold and was terribly dehydrated. I didn't think I would be able to finish the trip, but I pushed myself beyond matter and was able to complete the next 80 km without fail. In fact, I had more energy at the end of that day than I had the night before. Now I wonder if my break hadn't been dragging for the entirety of the first day.
We woke up to pouring rain on the last morning of our trip. We had stayed in a bed and breakfast just 20 km outside of Vienna because it was cheaper than Vienna and we could be sure to find vacancies. However, we had not anticipated the rain. Nonetheless, we bundled ourselves in rain gear and completed the last short stretch into Vienna (Wien) where we returned out rented bikes. We spent the remainder of the day exploring the city, then caught a night train back to Berlin. Katharina and I went straight to work the next morning...a little sweaty and smelly I'm sure! What an experience...
Next trip is Croatia with my beautiful mother. She is coming to visit me in May. I am not only exited to see her, but I am thrilled that she will finally have a real vacation for the first time in years.
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