Veni, Vidi, Vici

After a short visit to Munich, where Audrey got to see the Hofbräuhaus and enjoyed the Oktoberfest-esque atmosphere…


The ladies departed for Venice on a train from Munich… A train ride that was supposed to be only a few hours long with one transfer, getting them to the port of Venice with a few hours to spare. We soon realized that was wishful thinking, as the train departed Munich late and then ended up breaking down for over 2 hours. The ladies ended up missing the cruise ship, and we now have a new meaning for the phrase ‘missed the boat.’ Andrea and Audrey caught up with their ship in Dubrovnik (only one day late) and had an awesome time on the cruise and were able to thoroughly enjoy themselves despite the rocky start.

I took the overnight train from Munich to Venice (very cool experience) and met the girls after they debarked their cruise ship. Well… I say met the girls, when I really meant to say wandered around Venice for 2+ hours being too stubborn to buy a map, and realizing that Saint Mark’s Cathedral is nowhere near the train station or the port of Venice. So after exploring Venice on my own, ‘read: stubbornly getting lost’ the three of us met up with some of their cruise ship-mates and did some sightseeing. We opted to not take a gondola since they wouldn’t let all seven of us in one gondola, but we were able to see everything we wanted to see in Venice.

We then departed on the rest of our whirlwind adventure of Italy, that took us to 3 other cities all within 72 hours. I'm not sure if any of us have ever been so exhausted from sightseeing... but it was well worth it. Michelangelo's David in Florence was incredible:



The tour of the Roman Coliseum was pretty cool, and the bottles of vino for only €2 still mesmerize me.



Rome is just too great of a place to only spend 24 hours there... but we plan on going back.

No more wars, No more walls!

Berlin was our latest stop, where we were able to learn some more history. We biked the path where the Berlin Wall stood, and were able to see some of the remaining Berlin Wall. The tour guide took us all over the city and we spent a good 6 hours on the bikes... quite an experience. We've definitely decided that we enjoy biking cities much better than walking...

We visited the Reichstag (Parliament), Brandenburg Gate, strolled down Unter den Linden and stopped at Checkpoint Charlie where we saw the following spectacle; attempting to promote some show.
Then we biked past the TV Tower, through Museum Island and learned all about interesting aspects of Berlin. There was so much history to learn, 2 days was definitely not enough time. We saw museums and buildings that were still riddled with bullets, and buildings and churches just missing whole sections. One church was missing the whole entire spire!

We also stumbled upon a hidden gem in the form of a restaurant having an anniversary celebration so all food was 50% off!!! So the three of us ate for a mere $8-10 a person including drinks and really good, hearty meals... I guess I'm just a sucker for a steal of a deal.

This week we've been preparing for the ladies' journey to visit the Mediterranean and they're just about packed. We'll be going to the Munich train station so they can make their departure in Venice and enjoy seven days cruising on the Mediterranean. Yes, unfortunately, I won't be making the trip with them... but I'll at least get to meet up with them in Venice and we'll be touring a few Italian cities. So I won't miss out on all of the fun.