The Man with the Orange Stand

This week has been so exciting!

I've experienced new towns and tried new things!

(These are only going to be phone pictures because I don't have time to upload the pictures before heading to CROATIA)

So before getting into my adventures, here were some new things I cooked this past week at work!

This is called Chicken Cacciatora and it's melt in your mouth good!

 This was the apple pound cake we made.

It was a favorite among the students!

So onto my adventures.

On Friday I took an earlyyyy morning train to Florence, Italy where I spent the day. 

 I climbed to the top of the Du-woah-mo and had a breathtaking view of Florence.

This was the best sandwich I have had in my entire life.

I would take the four hour train to Florence just to eat this sandwich again.

It had salami and pecorino cheese and tomatoes and was the best.

 I also had the best gelato in the world.

 Then I took a train to La Spezia, which is the nearest train station to Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre is a compilation of five towns that are all on the edge of these mountains.

When you see pictures of the five towns, you'd think they were fake.

 I started my hike Saturday morning in Monterosso. This was the northern most town.

The hills were covered in vineyards and olive trees.

Then I came across a man selling oranges and lemons so I asked for one and he gave me this flower as well. 

Also, there were cats because this is Italy and there are cats everywhere.

I started on this leg of the trip because I had heard it was the hardest, but also the one with the most rewarding views.

I could see the picture-esque town getting closer and closer.

There it was, Vernazza. The town of my dreams!

So, I began on my hike again and was confronted by the stairs that haunted me on my way to Vernazza. 

These are not your average size steps.

You basically had to do knee highs to get up these things. 

Pure torture.

Corniglia was next!

Then Manarola

Finally, the end was near. Riomaggiore was just down the mountain.

This was me hiking up that last hill and turning around, marveling at what I'd accomplished so far.

The mountain that is furthest away is where I started.

This was the last set of stairs I had to climb. 

My legs were so happy

In this picture, I am standing in the heart of Riomaggiore. 

You can see where I started and where I ended.

31,000 steps and 314 approximated flights of stairs climbed according to my FitBit!

 This beautiful view was on my way home that night.

This puppy perfectly captured how I was feeling on the tram to my apartment

Well I am off to Croatia in about an hour.

I am taking a train to Ancona, Italy, then an overnight ferry to Split, Croatia.

I can't wait to tell y'all all about it!

Ciao!!

NBD

It. Happened. 

I have nothing else to say but I am in shock.

Here are the professional photos.

(I'm the crazy one to the far right......)

Bottom left trying to compose myself

Munich Part 2

The next day I went on another tour, rightfully named the Castle tour.

Our first stop was the Linderhof castle. It was small, but very very ornate in the inside.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I found some for y'all to see online.

Next we headed to this little town that had fairytales on their houses!

This was Hansel and Gretel!

This may look like a photo, but it's all carved of wood!!!!

His carving station!

I ate lunch with two girls on met on the tour, Dee and Patsy.

We enjoyed sharing stories over amazing Bavarian food!

And of course Bavarian cream!

 The most beautiful place in the whole world. I am sure of it!

We went inside, but again no pictures were allowed.

This was on the Autobahn! 

Yay for no speed limits!

We went to dinner that night at a place right in the heart of Munich!

 When I finally got back to the house, I enjoyed tea and biscuits with Peter, who is from the UK!

I attended mass the next day at a church where Peter and Heidrun play music.

It's an English speaking church and afterwards I went to the coffee room and met so many wonderful people!

Then I headed to a place I had been thinking of my whole trip.

Dachau

The bunks when the camp was created in 1933

vs. the bunks in 1945, they took out the middle bars to create more room for more people

I learned that these rooms were created for 50 people, but by 1945, there were over 450 people in each room.

These next few pictures are of the memorials built by different religious groups.

This is a monastery of the Carmelite nuns.

They wanted to be close to the site to continuously pray against violence such as what occurred here.

This was a beautiful memorial to the unknown people who were buried in mass graves here.

I thought long and hard while deciding whether or not to take pictures here.

I walked in and out of the crematorium three times before deciding that I made the decision for myself.

I thought it was important to share these images of the place where something so horrific happened.

This was the second crematorium they build, titled Barrack X.

This was the only gas chamber they had on site.

Dachau was not an extermination or death camp, but a working camp, so this gas chamber was never used for mass killings, fortunately, but many survivors of Dachau stated that small groups and individuals were tested on in here.

 This was the original crematorium, but once they were overcrowded and more people were dying, they had to build the bigger one.

This was the bunker where they kept war criminals and special prisoners who either got worse treatment or special treatment.

They had several priests staying here and gave them this altar so that they could say mass.

I left Dachau and went and had dinner with Peter and Heidrun and then we walked around the city for a bit.

Tiny door!

This was my last day in Munich :(

I finally got to see the infamous surfers! 

This was in the English Gardens and they just jump in and surf and switch off turns. So cool

Next was Olimpiapark!

I explored around here for quite awhile!

The top of the tower had a rock museum for some reason and they had stuff signed by Britney Spears!!!!

 I climbed to the top of the hill up there ^ and had an amazing view!

I then went back into town and explored until I had to leave for the airport.

This was the Nazi Party headquarters.

 There was a strange memorial to Michael Jackson.

What was really strange was that wasn't even his statue

My last (very Bavarian) meal in Munich :(

And off I went, with a beautiful site I might add.

Flying over the Swiss Alps was something straight out of a dream.

So beautiful

The sun was just setting when I got into Italy.

 I booked two more trips in the next two weeks to Croatia and Madrid.

This week I will be working and catching up with what I've been missing in Rome.

Ciao!