I went to Oktoberfest

BEEER FEST.

I can honestly say this was one of the best trips I've ever had in my life. Weeks of waiting finally amounted to a weekend I will never forget.. if I can start remembering it jk.

Thursday.
I have a final, so that already sucks, but it will all be worth it if I can make it through a two hour test.
I ace it. Boom. Happiness Engaged. We run home to pack our bags and start the journey to Munich, Bavaria, Germany.

Nurnberg Train Station

First Leg

1. Train to Pisa: One hour sitting on a step in the exit hall.

2. Train to Pisa Airport: 5 minutes in an actual seat. 

3. Flight to Nurnberg: One hour and 20 minutes in a public bus looking airplane.

4. Subway to hostel: 20 minutes of complete German Confusion.

First leg done. 

Curry Wurst and McCain Chips 

We check into A&O Hauptbahnhof Hostel and meet up with some friends from Spain to get some dinner in the city. Nurnberg was a hidden gem. The only thing I've ever heard of this city was The Nurnberg Trials so I didn't expect much. I was wrong. The city was awesome even though the only timei was saw it was at night. There were huge churches, castles, walls and and these cherry cream pies at McDonald's which were pretty dank. We make our way into a pretty nice restaurant where I can finally eat something other than pasta or pizza. LET DOWN number one. They are out of Schnitzel. What????? A German restaurant out of schnitzel? Whatever, the waiter tells me the Curry Wurst is better anyways. And it was bombdotcom. So after that and a nice pint of German Bier, we explore some castles and the rest of the city and then off to bed. Munich in the morning

Cave Castle

Bretzl Man

Preston and Doug at Church

Campingplatz Obermenzing

Second Leg

5. Train to Munich: 2 Hours stuffed like sardines, standing in a train

 filled with Germans wearing Lederhosen and Drindles

6. Subway to Untermenzing station: 15 minutes of the nicest subway ever.

7. Bus to Campingplatz Obermenzing: 10 minutes of I can't control my excitement.

We're here

The first thing someone hands us when we get to the camp is beer. I like this place already.We get our 8 person TeePee, throw our backpacks down and the take one of the most epic pictures ever to be documented.
We donned our Lederhosen.

It Escalated Quickly.

The festival was Amazing. The pictures do much more justice than anything I can write. 

Preston

Hofbrau Haus

  There were rides and stands and food and countless amounts drunk people from all parts of the world. There are like 6 big Tents, maybe more idk, but each one is from one of the big beer houses in Germany. We chose to go to the Hofbrau Tent, cause it's the best and we hear the most fun. While waiting outside, about every 30 seconds you hear a huge roar of cheers and screaming and the anticipation of whats going on inside just builds more and more. When we finally got it, we found out. People get their 1 liter pint of beer, stand on top of a table and chug the whole thing. When they're done, the whole tent goes nuts.

It's Awesome.

I'm going back next year forsure. 

Getting Fresh in Florence

I've been in Florence for almost 2 weeks now and I'm just getting into the first day here. Sorry, I'm not the best blogger. Anyways I'm here.

Get off the train, first things first, Bruschetta. Fresh tomatoes and basil get in my mouth so yummy, but then I'm like why does this taste weird? Somethings bland and not tasty. I know, strange for Italy. But then I realize its the bread. It tastes like air. I find out that they don't use salt in their bread and it makes its taste like nothing. Apparently bread is a tool for wiping your plate, not for eating plain.

Double rainbow baby

I get the keys to my place, take a cab and climb the 72 steps to the "3rd floor" not 4th cause the bottom is floor zero. Apartments nice. Chic, modern, gets the job done. When I looked out the windows, I just wanted to go Jason Bourne and assassins creed my way all through the city, cause the rooftops are sickk!

A whole day goes by before I meet any roommates and then a young Colburn Mowry walks through the door. A cool kid from Santa Barbara, but the third is still missing. Kevin is no where to be found and not even the staff know where hes at, until 2 days later, he stumbled through the door half naked and beaten. Just kidding, he was fine. His flight was just delayed. 

Canolito

Santa Croce

Doug at Duomo

So we explore the city, I find my IV roommates Preston and Eric and we frolick together buying canolis and drinking cappuccinos. This is Preston's new thing btw, taking pictures of desserts in front of people's faces. I think its funny. There are 2 huge churches in the city we've found so far, The Duomo, and Santa Croce. We decided to do some modeling shots in front of the them.

Aside from the trillion tourists and super annoying street venders that hustle fake Louis v and ray bans and throw squishy balls at the ground so kids will beg their parents to buy things, I like this place. Alot. 

Bridge

The city is split in 2  by the Arno river, and my apartment is on the opposite side from the school, that means a 20 minute walk and a crossing over the bridge. I can't complain when it looks like this. But a UCSB beach cruiser wouldn't hurt.

This is some of the crew, they're cool people.

Kevin always rocks thumbs

The Lions Fountain

I live here now, it's exciting.

I didn't take this

An American in Rome

6:34 am, waiting for my bags in Rome's FCO airport. Even though i can barely keep my eyes from closing, i can't help but notice that everyone on my flight has got there bags in the first few minutes and I'm still waiting here in the same spot watching the carousel with the same Louis V bag go round and round. I slowly realize my bag isn't coming..... i file a report and they tell me it'll come tomorrow because it was left behind in Charlotte. But suddenly a light shown on me and the Santo Nino delivered the bag to me himself, and I was free to Rome... Rome.

My Aunt Leah picked me up in the airport, and having never met her before, it was an excellent first meeting. She bought me my first Italian cappuccino and I think I almost cried. I was in coffee heaven, and it was only airport coffee..

My Aunt Leah - I look gross.

Then the fun started. Took a train from the airport to Termini, the main transport hub in Rome. Then from there the metro to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Chiggity check it out!

Colosseum

Tomb of Unknowns

Old things

 

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

So we walked around and I was just completely mesmerized by how old and huge things were and how completely intact everything was.  The Colosseum was actually smaller than I thought it would be but everything else was massive. Walking through the tiny tiny city streets was a trip, because whenever you turned the corner, another MASSIVE thing was all up in your face! Everything was just plain cool, can't describe it any other way. 

At this point i had been up for almost 40 hours, I was exhausted and I was still running solely on the dried out chicken meal that US Airways provided me. (if it was actually chicken) Time to eat.

First meal: Pizza con Smoked salmon, lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

Then Gelato. This place was killing it! SOO packed and there was a reason why. Dank-tastic gelato.

They eat pizza with forks and knives??

Stracciacello and dark cioccolatte and fresh whip

Then another 4 hours to get to my bed and breakfast on the other side of Rome and then I knocked out for days. 

Next morning, one cappuccino, one cornetto and a train ticket to Florence. 

I Left. Decided to blog it up.

30+ hours of traveling time. No Italian, No money and a little bit lonely.

First leg: Red eye from SFO to Philly.
  The day finally came after days of prep and stress. Suitcase, back pack, briefcase, bag of Parmesan goldfish. Yeee. I can't sleep on planes at all, so red eyes suck for me. I was squashed into the window seat by 2 other big giant old guys that kinda smelled weird and the groggyness was uncontrollable, but I managed maybe 45 minutes of decent sleep.
   Finally land after 6 hours of red eye hell. Its 6:30 am, I'm in Philly and I'm starving. I thought of two things to do where I spent my 12 hour layover. One, get the best Cheese Steaks one can get, and B climb the steps from the Rocky movie and instagram my self straight flexing. Only one of those things happened, but it did happen twice so I guess it makes up. The show "Food Wars" told me about the 2 warring cheese steaks in Philly, the originator and inventor Pat's and the praised challenger Geno's. They are literally right across the street from each other. Literally.

7 am (good thing they're open 24 hours) - 30 dollar cab ride later, and I was in South Philly ordering my first "whiz wit" from Geno's.

Whiz Wit at Geno's

Steak, cheese wiz, grilled onions on a baguette. DANK. Did not realize how good cheese whiz on a steak sando would be. Geno's killed it.

After murking that sandwich, I realized that I had to complete the food wars challenge, so I went to Pat's King of Steaks. Not a mistake at all.

Pat's Dankness with Provolone

Over here though, I went for one with provolone instead of the wiz. So damn good. Pat's killed it. Geno's was good, but pat's meat was just so much more flavorful that i had to give the golden ticket to Pat's. They Won. No offense to the orange neon lighted Geno's directly across the street. Even though I could't finish the second huge philly, I knew the winner forsure.

After the steaks, I wandered into the nice area of Downtown Philly, got some starbucks and kicked it in a park doing crossword puzzles and watching all the people roll through. The nice park turned into a pretty busy place as they set up the farmers market and actual Amish People started selling their veggies. Never seen a real Amish person before this. They have some crazy beards.

I was tired, smelled bad and couldn't wait to get on the next plane, but Philly was great. Definitely have to go back to do those rocky steps. Next stop Roma, Italy.