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Eurotrip 2016
  • MitchaRu
Sep – Nov 2016

Eurotrip 2016

A 71-day adventure by MitchaRu Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 3, 2016
  • MitchaRuEurotrip 2016MitchaRu

    A day in oslo

    September 5, 2016 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Our flight to Oslo in the new 787 dreamliner was nice, although we learned that Norwegian does not include food or beverages on the 7 hour international flight unless you pay extra or flag them down for a glass of water. Another standard airline fee to add to the growing list.

    Oslo itself was probably the cleanest city we've been to. It is also one of the most expensive but we had an enjoyable stay.

    Based on recommendations from friends, we walked to the Vigeland Sculpture Park filled with hundreds of nude statues. Certainly interesting, and a beautiful large park. Then we walked around the city and had some mussels and fries and Herring for dinner at a small Norwegian restaurant called Nokken. An Uber drove us home since we were tired from several miles of walking our first day.    Read more

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    Guinness factory

    September 6, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Lovely day for a Guinness!

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    Slàinte to Dublin!

    September 8, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Hi guys, it's Rupal! This is my first blog post so let's see how this goes...

    Right now we're on a bus to Galway which is in the west of Ireland to see the more scenic side of the country where we'll spend two days. We woke up at 5:30am this morning to pack our bags and walk to meet the bus which was a bit difficult after a beer and whiskey tour last night! So I guess we say so long to Dublin or Slàinte to Dublin which means cheers in Irish Gaelic.

    OK I need to take a second to get off track because right now our bus driver is singing a song and cracking jokes in the thickest Irish accent while everyone is mostly asleep. I guess he likes to hear himself speak which I'm ok with because the Irish accent is awesome!

    Speaking of accents, yesterday we spent the afternoon in a local pub after a walking tour of the city to rest our legs and hydrate with a pint where we people watched the locals and tried to make sense of what they were saying; which is more difficult than you think!

    It's fun to remove yourself from the situation and think if we weren't in that pub or in Ireland or on this trip the locals we see everyday would be doing the same thing; we just get to witness them in their natural setting and see what their lives are like!    Read more

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    Connemara, Ireland

    September 8, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We made it to Galway yesterday and headed out for a bus tour to Connemara which is off the beaten track full of untouched scenery, ruins and a castle! I'm glad we decided not to rent a car for this trip around Ireland because driving on the left hand side on rolling hills and narrow lanes would have been stressful in itself not to mention the occasional sheep crossing the road!

    Our first stop was the Kylemore Abbey built in the 19th century by Sir Mitchell for his wife. No not my Sir Mitchel but at least he got the hint ;)

    Afterwards we made several stops to take in the scenic views which speak for themselves and had been exactly what I imagined Ireland to be like...cold, rainy and beautiful!    Read more

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    Aran Islands

    September 9, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    We've been off the grid for a day or two but there's a good reason why! When you're in the middle of the Atlantic on a remote island there isn't much of anything around including access to the internet.

    On a cold rainy morning we left Galway and took a ferry to the Aran Islands which are off the coast of Ireland. The choppy seas and gusty winds definitely didn't have me too excited about getting to the islands however once we arrived I knew we'd have an experience we'd never forget! Since we knew we couldn't bike around the island in the rain we scheduled a ride on a covered carriage with a local man named John and his pony Jack. John grew up on the island making a living as a fisherman for 27 years but retired some years back and decided share his beloved island with tourists like us. He was the nicest man always making sure we were dry, warm and comfortable while he was getting rained on the whole time! John was a bit difficult to understand since he grew up speaking Gaelic and didn't learn English until later in his life, but he did a great job giving us the perfect island experience showing us how the locals live on this dark and gloomy island which has a history of inhabitants dating back 3500 years!    Read more

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    Cliffs of Moher

    September 10, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    No words needed, enjoy these amazing pictures of the Cliffs of Moher! These pictures don't do justice to seeing the Cliffs in person. With perfect weather and no rain we got to spend an afternoon at Ireland's second most visited site after of course the Guinness factory.Read more

  • MitchaRuEurotrip 2016MitchaRu

    Galway, Ireland

    September 10, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We didn't know what to expect from Galway, but read good things and knew that most of the best sightseeing was close by so we made it our home base for a few days during our West Ireland day trips. We were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked this city! A college town with a great pub scene in the Latin Quarter made for two very entertaining nights. The pubs were huge, filled with character, plenty of characters, and great live music (including popular songs like Galway Girl and Galway Bay).
    We highly recommend a visit if you're looking for fun nightlife, but be sure to bring your rain jacket which seems to be a requirement anywhere in Ireland!

    Oh and I think it's just a fad at the moment but ironically the Irish seem to enjoy Coors light more than their own beer, but not us 😜.    Read more

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    Northern Ireland

    September 11, 2016 in Northern Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Irish (I wish haha) we could go back to the beautiful landscape of Northern Ireland! It's hard to compare the scenery of the north and south but both in their own ways were equally perfect!

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    Belfast

    September 12, 2016 in Northern Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    It didn't occur to us how Belfast in Northern Ireland was a city with such recent history that is still evident in everyday life. Northern Ireland which is its own country is full of modern day religious/political tension dividing the city of Belfast between the Protestants who support British rule and the Catholics who support the traditional Irish culture. We took a black cab taxi tour to the various parts of town and saw murals that depicted the history and even saw the gates that are still closed every night between the two parts of town. The craziest thing for us was to learn that not many people are religious anymore but still practice this hatred for each other. Almost 90% of schools there are still segregated in 2016!

    Our favorite quote from our taxi driver was "these Protestants are more British than the Brits!" He did a great job giving us insight into the traditions still held including the annual bonfires by the Protestants which are quite massive and held right in the center of town and showed us the steel walls put up to divide the two sides which now a days has messages of peace and love written on it from tourists, as well as dents from rocks and burn marks from molotov cocktails. We got to leave our little mark as well!    Read more

  • MitchaRuEurotrip 2016MitchaRu

    London, United Kingdom

    September 13, 2016 in England ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    From Ireland we flew to London where we spent three nights. It was nice relaxing and not doing any of the tourist things in the city which we've done previously. This time we focused our trip around visiting several friends we have living there which was a lot of fun! We went out to local pubs and restaurants and even got to catch a football match. We had great seats a few rows behind the goal in Fulham's supporter section. They were losing 0-1 most of the match until they tied it in the final minutes of stoppage time. Great game and great atmosphere in a 100+ year old stadium.Read more

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    Brugge: Beer, waffles and chocolate!

    September 15, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    What more could anyone want from a city that has the best beer, waffles and chocolate?! This was our second visit to Brugge and it was just as great as we remembered. We love this city not only for its food and drink but also because of its quaint feel and charming character. We'd highly recommend a visit or next time we plan to go back we'll let you know!Read more

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    Dusseldorf, Germany

    September 17, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Not much to report here. We spent a night in Dusseldorf and we weren't really impressed by the city. We did learn though that the drinking age in Germany is 16 years old and that there aren't any laws prohibiting public drinking. Those two combinations above left us thinking Dusseldorf was a pretty interesting place once the sun set. We also noticed a lot of middle eastern people in the city which was probably due to the German intake of refuges in the past year or two. Not too much of an identity to this city, but we'll cross it off the list. We did however have our first authentic German meal at one of the local breweries.Read more

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    Cologne, Germany

    September 18, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We were in Cologne for two nights at the first Airbnb we renteded on the trip. It was a nice change to have a little more space than just a hotel room but as Americans everything is just smaller to us in Europe. We even managed to order in one night with this bicycle service we kept seeing all around town called Foodora. We ordered Thai food for a change off a German menu and it wasn't that bad! Luckily Mitch downloaded this awesome app on his phone that allows you to scan any text like a menu, website, etc that will be translated to English. Its saved us at several places so far!

    Aside from that, Cologne was an interesting city. Its history dates back to the Romans which also can be seen around town with archived ruins that are still preserved. There is also the Cologne Cathedral which took several hundred years to build starting around 1200 that sits in the middle of the city. It is a pretty sight from near and far espeically across the Rhine River at sunset.

    During our walking tour we learned quite a bit about the WWII history, which around 90% of the city was destroyed. Fortunately the cathedral was not destroyed most likely because it was used as a navigation point for the bombers. Still today they find bombs in the ground around the city when they start new construction and have to take precaution to have them removed carefully.    Read more

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    Neuschwanstein Castle

    September 21, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We struggled getting up in time for this day trip from Munich after "briefly"checking out Oktoberfest the night before, but it was definitely worth the trip.

    King Ludwig II of Bavaria built this castle in the late 1800's and died a few days before it finished. He was a bit crazy, but certainly had the vision to build a stunning castle. This castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney when he created Sleeping Beauty's castle. We thought it was much prettier from afar especially because of the beautiful scenic backdrop it was set in.Read more

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    Oktoberfest

    September 24, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    This was our longest stay in one city so far but it was much needed. Although we didn't do much besides attend Oktoberfest it was ok because we got such a local experience! There is no event that compares with people from all parts of the world coming together to enjoy a beer in massive "beer halls" or what we'd call tents! We met people from the US, Germany, Australia, Luxembourg to name a few, we learned some Germany songs, we ate a lot of German carnival food and we had a great time! It was a lot of fun seeing everyone dressed up in the traditional clothing which we contemplated buying but decided not to since we wouldn't have room to pack them anyways. We're glad we could check this off the bucket list and I'm sure we'll be back at some point!

    Side note: We're writing this post on a train to Salzburg Austria which is our next stop and are pretty pissed because we just got charged 72euros for accidently getting on the wrong train!! We had bought a regional train pass and took the non-regional train which isn't marked anywhere! There's nothing more frustrating than these German ticket checkers who are the rudest people then dare to say "have a great journey" after he just charged us twice the cost of a ticket in addition to the one we already paid for! Moving on...    Read more

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    Salzburg, Austria

    September 25, 2016 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    It turns out we needed more recovery time than expected after Oktoberfest, as we started battling a cold in Mozart's hometown - Salzburg. We found out the hard way that no pharmacies or grocery stores are open on a Sunday so we had to fight through our colds by taking it easy, but we still managed to enjoy our limited time in this beautiful city. The scenery is unique, nestled in the Alps with a river running through it, buildings carved into the cliffs, a castle overhead and an old wall surrounding the town. They also had a lively atmosphere in the town due to their own Oktoberfest celebration; their culture seemed similar to the Bavarian culture we experienced in Munich, but a smaller town feel.Read more

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    Hallstatt, Austria

    September 27, 2016 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    It took us 3 hours on the public bus to get to Hallstatt but it was totally worth it! The trip went by quickly even though we had to change buses 3 times since most of it was spent admiring the scenic drive through the mountains and small villages of the Austrian Alps. We also got to watch all the local kids get on and off the bus since we quickly realized they don't have traditional school buses.

    Once we made it to Hallstatt we came upon such a tranquil and pristine view of the lake that surrounds the tiny town in the heart of the Alps. We rented a little cottage apartment right by the park where we got to sit out and enjoy the swans in the lake. The following day we had a little adventure where we went to the ice caves formed over 10 million years ago and hiked the Alps to get some amazing views and fresh air! We also discovered a new hobby we hope to take up one day.... paragliding! How cool would it be to soar about the mountains and experience things from another perspective!?    Read more

  • MitchaRuEurotrip 2016MitchaRu

    Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

    September 29, 2016 in Czech Republic ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    It's about 8:30pm as I am writing this post waiting for Mitch to wake up from a nap. I just took one before him when we came back from our walking tour of Vienna (that we'll write about later) which made us both pretty tired. We're almost back to normal from being sick so that's good news but I think a few more naps after long days of sight seeing should do the trick.

    Anyways, I just wanted to give you all a quick update on Cesky Krumlov. We decided to jump to the Czech Republic after being in Hallstatt since it was closer to get there on the way to Vienna rather than backtrack. Since I'd already been to Prague the most popular Czech city we landed on coming to Cesky Krumlov instead because we'd read that it was a smaller Prague with less tourists and cheaper prices. We'd have to agree on the cheaper prices, Mitch was happy about his beers costing only $1.60! There were still many tourists but definitely less then Prague so Mitch was able to get a good feel for a medieval Czech city which is surrounded by a winding river. The history of the town was interesting, especially seeing the recent communist influence 25 years ago.

    Ok, time to wake Mitch up so we can head to dinner and have a traditional Austrian wiener schnitzel which I'm sure we'll post about next time!    Read more

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    Vienna, Austria

    October 1, 2016 in Austria ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We're a little delayed on posting about Vienna but here it is. We enjoyed the city with beautiful weather our first day which made it even prettier to walk around. The city is full of beautiful architecture and a vast cultural scene. There are many museums, the opera, and influence of the Royal Hapsburg family the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire all over.

    The second day was a bit colder so it entailed doing some laundry, jumping in coffee houses and taking it easy. We decided to take advantage of a free museum that occurs every first Sunday of the month and waited in line for 30mins only to get inside and find the museum was only in German! That made for a quick visit! Wiener Schnitzel and apple strudel followed for dinner and hit the spot.    Read more

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    Budapest, Hungary

    October 4, 2016 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    It started out a bit rough in Budapest after going to the wrong area at first, but it proved to get better for us, and ultimately was a good time. A lot of that was credit to Burke's recommendations after living in Hungary for about a year.

    Budapest has a diverse and sad history over the years, which much of it was discussed in Vienna as well as Krakow. We learned at the Auschwitz tour (more to come in the next post) that 400,000 Hungarian jews were killed in less than 2 months.

    The food was delicious, we enjoyed the market filled with salami and delicious baked goods, and we enjoyed the "bull's blood" wine. The ruin pubs in the Jewish district were fun as well. We did however find on multiple occasions that the people were fairly rude, although after some research this seems to be somewhat a part of their culture and a result of their turbulent past. Certainly quite a different experience from Vienna considering they are fairly close together.    Read more

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