Munchen Munckins.. Oktoberfest!!!

Salut!!!!

This past weekend I was in Munich to celebrate Oktoberfest- one of the world’s largest fairs. Just think the EX on major steroids with over 5 million people. Crazyyyyy I know! It was held in a park filled with huge beer tents, tons of food stands, rides, and lots of drunk Bavarians. The first day we arrived it was pouring rain- but everyone was in such a happy mood since it was the very first day Okotberfest began. So we sucked it up, got soaked, and waited in the rain like true Bavarians to celebrate! The tents were a lot of fun--- you can see in the pictures below but its basically a huge tent filled with tables and bands—everyone in large groups of family and friends- drinking beer, singing, and happy and cheerful as ever. It was such a welcoming and fun environment to be in. So we drank our litre beers- (which lasted me a few hours and took 2 hands for me to hold) and danced and drank the night away. We were shocked by how many Italians were there too. We met a hilarious group of Italian men there for a bachelor party. It was so refreshing to be able to communicate with them since German is nearly impossible to comprehend. So I was glad to have met Italians, felt like a piece of home.  We did manage to squeeze in some sightseeing in the midst of partying and drinking. We went to see the beautiful English garden, the Olympic stadium and we even made it to the BMW headquarters where we saw all the nicest cars on display. We also managed to discover that the man who rented us our apartment, Teddy, was pretty famous. Turns out he was Michael Jackson’s assistant manager and good friend for 7 years. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!!  On that note we googled his name to confirm and snooped around his apartment for a while. Turns out google proved his title and we found some photos in his apartment of the legend himself. Knowing this information, Al (as resourceful as she is) decided to call him which worked out in our favor —he ended up inviting us to Munchen’s wealthiest hotel for a brunch and he gave us wristbands to get into the beer tents without having to wait. He was such a nice man!

All in all Oktoberfest was a lot of fun. The food—well…not my favorite aside from the delicious German sausage, but it’s definitely a MUST DO! It ended up being worth every raindrop, every penny, every hour lost of sleep, and every ounce of beer!

p.s. these photos aren’t as scenic and architectural as my previous ones, but funny nonetheless. They pretty much sum up my weekend as best as I could for you guys. Hope you get a good laugh! PROST! ( means cheers in german, thats about the only word I learned he he )

Lots and lots of love,
 
-C

Got lost trying to find our apartment so we got a ride instead!

 

English Garden

Olmypic Stadium with the travelling crew

 

 

Shielding ourselves from the rain- our scarves come in handy

 

Traditional bavarian meal...Beer, Pretzels, and 1/2 a chicken 

 

 

Finally made it in our tent!

 

 

Even in Germany you find italians.. forza!!

 

Espagne!

 

Hola!!!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to blog this week.. just been trying to get into the routine of things now that school has started and 8 a.m classes are a reality. Luckily, I bought myself a nice tall thermos from starbucks so I can have a nice cup of red rose tea while listening to my professors mumble with their heavy accents.

Back to my travels….My weekend in Barcelona was great. We travelled with 2 other friends we met here which was a lot of fun. Definitely hard at times trying to satisfy all of us—whose hungry, whose feet hurt, who needs to pee (usually me), who doesn’t like walking—but we survived nonetheless. We arrived in Barcelona Saturday morning. We decided to spend Friday at the beach to relax. But the relaxation part didn’t really happen since every 5 seconds your hear (CERVESA, CERVESA), (MOJITO, MOJITO) from the men trying to sell it on the beach lol. That night we had our first Spanish paella and sangria.  By the time we finished it was 12 and we planned to go out but little did we know people in Barcelona don’t party until 1:30. Unfortunately, we were all so exhausted and didn’t make it to the 1:30 mark so instead we chose to snuggle in our beds instead of latina dancing. The next day, we decided to do the hop on hop off bus tour thanks to my Spanish tour guide and lovely friend jess who recommended it. (Thanks pooks, you saved my feet a lot of pain from walking the city)! We did a full day of touring and saw all the famous tourist attractions like the Sagrada di Famiglia, Park Guell, the Olympic stadium and lots more. That day I also had my first tapas experience EVER. It was muoy muoy bien. I took lots of pictures and posted some below since I know most of you are all food lovers. That night, we were determined to make it to 1:30 to go out and we did! YAY. Now I can officially say I’ve partied “Barcelona style”. Our last day in Barca we went to a famous market called   “La Boqueria Market” which had all fresh food stands and then we shopped around. To end off our night, we treated ourselves to dinner by the water—paella and a pitcher of white and red sangria. Perfect way to end our weekend! Overall, Barcelona was beautiful. The architecture, the tall buildings… everything is just WOW.  Next stop…. Munich’s very own Oktoberfest.  

p.s just wanted to say that I’ve hit the one month mark of my stay here!!! Yayyyyy… I’ve seen 3 countries, 8 cities and spent $$$$$ well….. I’ll leave that part out. Guess time really does fly when you’re having fun. Can’t wait for what the next 3 months has in store and to share it with you all!    

Lots of love,

Xo

-C    

Fun in the sun

 

    Catalunya National Muiseum of Art  

Showing off our guns in the Olympic Stadium  

Tapas

Sagrada di Familia

 

Park Guell

 

 Partying like latinas  

La Boqueria Market.. CHEERS!

 

                

Perfect way to end the weekend... sangria, paella, and good friends !  

 

La vie a Lyon!

Salut!!!

Soo glad you are all following my blog. I’ve gotten so much positive feedback from everyone..so I’m glad I decided to put one together for you all to enjoyJ  I’m missing you guys. Before I start blabbing about myself and my travels just wanted to give a small shout out to my sister… congratz on finishing writing V!! Finally you can resume back to your stress-free self. So proud of you…I know good things are coming your way! On that note, I’d also like to wish all my family attending Luca and Adelina’s engagement a great time. Sad I can’t be there to party with all my cugiiii since we know it’s next to impossible to get us all in a room but I’ll be thinking of you guys and sending all my love. CHEERS!  

Now back to blabbing about myself… everything in Lyon is fantastique! Starting to finally get into the routine of things. I don’t start school till Monday but I’ve had French classes this week every day for 2 hours. You will all be glad to know I have made my way to school and back BY MYSELF in one piece without getting lost!! (WOHOO!) My plan is to return home having a great sense of direction and understanding of public transportation. Fingers crossed ( he he ). Aside from school this week, I’ve spent a few days venturing out and exploring the beautiful city of Lyon since we haven’t been here much in between our travels. This past weekend, we visited Le Parc de la Tete D’or.. it was a beautiful park, filled with people bike riding, having picnics and just going for a stroll. We decided to rent the Velo-V bikes and bike around the entire park. We also strolled through the zoo in the parc and visited some lions and elephants. On the Saturday morning, we visited a bunch of markets nearby. We started off at the market near our place by the river to buy groceries. It was filled with delicious fruits and veggies, fresh flowers, cheese, baguettes... The pictures below will do a better job describing it. We then made our way to an outdoor market in Croix-Rousse where I made my first 15 euro vintage handbag purchase! Saturday night we planned to have our first girls night out in town. In Lyon, drinking is allowed pretty much at all times of day and in public places. So we bought a bottle of rose, headed down to the river and sat on the grass with all the other local lyonnaise people- drinking wine, sharing stories and giggling. Then we went to a bar/ club on a boat that was docked on the river. For those of you who think French party any classier than we do in Toronto, your mistaken. It was pretty much the same old sweaty packed club that were used to in Toronto… only cuter men and cheaper drinks ;) They even play all English music. It was hilarious watching French people mumble to the words of Drake!  Anyways, so far Lyon has been great to me. No complaints at all. I think my only complaint will be the extra pounds I put on from all these baguettes. But that can easily be fixed with a chicoria cleanse when I’m home! Anyways that’s all for now… looking forward to more stories ahead to share with you all. Next stop….. BARCELONA! 

All my love,

Xo

-C



    

Strolling through Le Parc de la Tete D'or

 

La vie Lyonnaise est tres belle

 

4 on 4... perfect fit!!


Chef in training

Daily dose of fromage and saucisson

One word.... Mmmmmmmmm

Pre drinking by the river with the Lyonnaise crowd

Pop, lock and drop it

 

 

 

La Suisse

 

Hello again!

Hope you are all enjoying my blog so far. I’m going to try my best to blog every week so you can all know my whereabouts. Last weekend I left Lyon and travelled to Switzerland for the weekend. Ahh the beauty of living in Europe… within 2 hours you can hop on a train and be in a new country. Its magnifique! Our trip to Switzerland was very spontaneous. We didn’t know much about what to visit aside from its famous chocolatieres and fromageries but it turned out to be our most exciting trip yet. The saying really is true… “sometimes the best things in life are unplanned”. We decided to leave Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m. As newbie travelers, we made the mistake of assuming we would know our way around the train station and where to pick up our tickets. We also made the mistake of stopping for a croissant and café au lait on the way. So yes.. we ended up missing our 6:45 am train to Geneva. Luckily there was another train at 8:30 am … so we sat and ate another croissant while anxiously awaiting our train. Geneva was very pretty… it was a small city- quaint, old and antique. Although it was freezing cold and rainy, we managed to visit all of Geneva’s landmarks, stop for lunch at a small café where we had our first Croque Monsieur and visit a few chocolate shops. On Sunday, we took the train and decided to visit Gruyere. This was my favorite place yet. It was just breathtaking- hard to put in words but it was the crème of cottage living. We visited the gruyere cheese factory and got to watch the whole gruyere cheese-making process, visit the cheese caves, sample some of Gruyeres finest and even say hello to some friendly cows while strolling through the town. Then we trekked all the way up a hill to visit Gruyeres famous Chateau and town. After a long hard walk we stopped and treated ourselves to fondue avec pain et pomme de terre! All in all, Switzerland was perfect. Heavy on our wallets and tummies, but worth every penny and calorie !  

Bissous bissous
-C

Gruyere cheese factory

Beautiful view of Gruyere

Garden in Chateau du Gruyere



Mmmmmm fondue

"All is well that ends well"

Famous flower clock in Geneva 


Le sud de France !

Salut!

 

As you all know, I came here for a semester to study abroad. But what that really means is a semester of travelling! Our first stop was the south of france. After getting settled in our apartment in Lyon, we took a 1 hour flight to Nice and spent a week travelling the coast of France.  I had my first hostel experience in Nice where I went from my Melissa Classic mattress to a bunk bed. But it didnt turn out as bad as I anticipated. Luckily we had really nice roomates so we didn't have to worry about tucking our passport under our bed and sleeping with our purses. YAY! Also, in staying at a hostel for the week we met many new people from all over the world-- Germany, England, Paris, Portugal, Austria, Morocco.. the list goes on. Although Nice was beautiful and I could've easily sat on the beach for an entire week lying by the shore and soaking up every ray of sun, we decided to venture out and explore the coast of France. We hopped on the train and visited a new place every day. We saw Monte Carlo, Cannes, Antibes, Villefranche and Cap D'ail. All were more beautiful than the next. But for me, Cap D'ail was that "hidden gem". So if any of you make it to the south of France, I strongly recommend visiting this unique little island as I'm sure you will have the same "jaw dropping" moment I did. All in all our first trip to the South of France was a great success. Beautiful weather, great shopping, delicious food, endless sightseeing... c'est parfait!

-C

Paella Valencianna....mmmmmm 

High life in Cannes



Hostel family !




Cannes- Walk of fame

Leap of faith... in Cap d'ail

Monte Carlo