Jordan and Rachel: Off the Beaten Path!

Every Morning (or at least monday through thursday, the days we are fed) we wake up to Christa, the Rössl cook, saying GuttenMorgen! She is so cute and dressed in the old traditional Austrian style. Breakfast is really good. We have an assortment of cheeze, meats, bread, cereal, fruit and eggs! It cheers us up every morning around 7 am. We had class today and after class, we took a quick nap. At 230, we were supposed to go on a hike with ManFreid, but since it was raining, he took us to a mall about 20 minutes from our Rössl, where we could buy cheap hiking boots. It also had normal clothing stores, a grocery store, and lots of cafes in it. As Manfreid puts it, tennis shoes are not good for hiking because you twist your ankle, slip, fall, and die...very subtle...so we decided to invest in a really cheap pair of hiking boots because falling down the side of the Alps is just not in our itinierary. After the mall, we came back to the Rössl, did some homework, raided the vending machine, and hung out in Cadie's room and ate cheese and crackers and just chatted for a while! Hopefully tomorrow it will be a prettier day!! SO we are caught up for now on our trek through Europe!!
Ciao!

So today we had our first day of classes. I had Management and then and Art History class. My art history professor is really coola nd very knowledgeable andf rom LSU. My management teacher thought it would be fun to assign a group project where we have to write a 10 page paper and do a 30 minute presentation...im really looking forward to it... Rachel had Travel and Tourism and Sports History. She really likes both of her classes but is switching form Sports History to Hapsburg history (same teacher, Hapsburg just takes you around teh city and is very central to Austria). I am switiching fine art classes - same teacher, jsut different time periods and the new class covers more sculpture! After class we took a nap because we were still exhausted, because we didn get any sleep because of the "silence ordinance" and still from our hike. We went to the market to get a few snacks, and then later went to Mamma Mia to grab a bite to eat. It was raining so we came back t the Rössl (where we are staying - like a hotel, sort of) The next morning we went on a day trip to Munich. I was required to go because of my Art History class and Rachel came because she wanted to! I was required to go to a museum with my professor where he took us around th emuseum and we analyzed different paintins...it was pretty interesting. After that Rachel, Meghan, and I made our way to the Markt Platz - kind of like the town center, where the Glockenspeil is. We did a little shopping while we were waiting for some of our friends to return from Dachau (a concentration camp on the outskirts of Munich). When they met up with us we ate at a cafe that was founded in 1363 - before Columbus sailed the ocean blue (obviously) and we had meatloaf- which does not look like american meatloaf. It literally looks like meat cut from a loaf of meat....it was yummy though. Our waiter, not so nice, but food-- pretty good. We did a little more shopping and watched the Glockenspiel (the big clock tower with life size puppets) perform. Then we headed to Hoffbrauhaus which is a big beer bar palce. We sat there for a while and then Rachel, Katie, and I left to catch the 8 oclock bus back to Innsbruck. The next morning we went on a day trip to Berchstgarden (spelling???) or Hitler's Eagle's Nest. We took a two and a half hour bus ride to the base and then a 15 minute bus ride on busses with speciual breaks designed to go up the steep incline and winding turns of the mountain. We then got in an elevator that went 432 m up to the top. The view was absolutely goregous, and we had lunch at the top and took pictures. After we climbed back down to the bottom, our professor took us to the place where Hitler's and his top two men's hosues stood, even though we trespassed and they were demolished, every single brick even, because the Germands want to shrine to Hitler. We also went to the museum and the bunkers. We then headed back to Innsbruck. In Innsbruck, on Sunday, everything is closed pretty much because they are a highly Catholic town that closes almost everything down Saturday around noon and doesnt open up until monday. So what did we do for dinner?? Well, luckily a cafe lliterally 20 feet from the Rössl was open. The Mona Lisa Cafe was very yummy! I had a yummy salad and Rachel ahd a yummy vegetable plate thingy and then we got delicious gelata!! Since there really wasnt anything to do in Innsbruck and we had class the next day, we turned in! It was a really fun weekend over all!
Ciao

Hello!!!
So wea re now officially in Innsbruck, Austria which is literally the heart of Europe. You can take a train anywhere else in Europe and be there between 1 and 6 hours. Its prett< phenomenal! So our dorm is a lot better than the young and happy, mainly because it is just me and Rachel in a room and we arent sharing with naked, old, or disease infected people. We got to unpack finally too, and we have both realiyed that we have no clothes, and it gets really cold here and not just a night! ITs been raining alot, practically every day, which is no fun. Oh, and in our bathroom, we have a lake, because we havent yet figured out how to shower without flooding the bathroom...we´re working on that. So we noticed when we got here that everyone seemed to know eachother. Mainly because they all go to Georgia and are in a fraternity or sorority, and we have yet to meet anyone from LSU. So our second day in Innsbruck we explored the town a little bit more. We had our opening ceremony at a theater type thing in Old Town Innsbruck. It was long and boring. After the ceremony they had free dinner for us - a yummy buffet with a Jayy band playing. They were really good and I fell in love with the trumpet player who had dreds (he looks like the guy from stargate Lauren!!!) So we were eating and we met a few girls who were here from UNO having their art displayed, they were really nice. We also met a few other girls who were from LSU and shared similar feelings about our company thus far on the trip! So we became fast friends. We met this guy from Harvard who has been in Innsbruck for a year. He took a group of us to this place called the Treibhaus (pronounced Tribe House) where live bands play practically every night! There was a Veneyuelan band there that night and it was alot of fun! We left around 120 am and turned in for the night because we had to wake up to go on a hike at 10 am. So we are all thinking, this is our first hike of the semester, it will probably be easy, we´ll be done by 1 ish. Little did we know that Manfreid ( our gorgeous austrian brawny cultural affairs coordinator) had other plans in mind. Since this is the only day that we could have an extended hike, we did. So the hike all together tooks us 7 hours. We walked up the alps, stopping quite a few times along the way. We made it to this little cafe, about 90 minutes from the top, and had some yummy food! Rachel, Katie, Cadie, Meghan, and I met two local Tirolians who were a gorgeous mountainbiking couple. They were really nice and we talked with them for a while. So we made it to the top around 130ish and stayed for about an hour and then hiked back down! It was absolutely gorgeous the whole hike! Ive decided that if I hike the alps a couple of times a week, Tiger Band Pre Game will be a breeze After we cleaned up we all went out to this yummy Italian restaurant and then out for gelato. We turned in pretty early becuse we were exhausted and we started class the next day. A few things we have noticed about Innsbruck..they really like their Pizza, there are so many pizza palces around town, cars have to stop when you walk across the street, and they have a silence ordinance that starts at 10 pm which we can tell you from first hadn experience, no one on our group seems to respect. Its been a fun few days!!
Ciao (this is how they say goodbye!)

Day 6
Today we woke up and had a delicious breakfast at a cafe down the street from our hostel...Apparently we can´t even make it 30 minutes before we need to sit, but hey we have been doing a lot of walking! After breakfast we decided to do a little shopping and we walked around Champs-elysees and Rue de Reville (where I spotted the famous KARL LAGERFELD (his name ust be in caps everytime it is written so that you understand the importance of him and my excitement which has yet to wear off ) We had lunch at a little sandwich spot on St. Michel and relaxed in front of the Louvre. We shopped a little bit along our street before returning to the hostel. We then set out to find dinner, both of us craving greek food and remembering an area we had happened upon (when we were lost) that was full of greek food! So we start heading in the general direction of this greek food alley, or so we think....instead we end up like circling the area 5 times and finally finding it 2 hours later! But hey we saw more parts of the city that we probably wouldn´t have found otherwise. So we finally find a greek restaruant -- and they gave us free wine for eating there (good or bad??) but it was relatively good - different then our adored Baton Rouge Greek food, but still yummy... This was also the night that Spain played Germany for the world cup and won! All of Paris was rooting for Spain! So it got a little crazy! After dinner we headed back to the hostel to get some rest because we were exhasuted!

Day 7

We had to be checked out of our room by 11 am today so we had to move all of our luggage downstairs into the luggage room. We then hopped on a metro (our favorite form of transportation) and headed to the Centre Pompidou. We walked along the shops near the Centre Pompidou and then finally went inside. Now from my point of view, some modern art can be very good, but the majority I believe to be childish...paint splatter i did when i was 2, primary color squares I did when I was 3.Here are a few of my favorite pieces: The glass skeleton obviously hanging by wire said to be floating in thin air.....a little confusing, the battle of Achilles portrayed by two big red blotches with the words the battle of Achilles written out, and my favorite, a knotted rope hanging from the ceiling....like one you would climb in gym class...True Works of Art, the talent portrayed in these last three examples is undeniably ingenuis.... We did ride the glass elevators up to the top which gave a very pretty view on such a gloomy day (it was cloudy) We then did a little more shopping on the Ile de Louis and around our hostel. Our cab came to pick us up from our hostel at 730 to take us to the train station. We got to the trainstation, parked our 140 pound luggage (together) at a cafe and sat there for aobut 2 hours until our train left. Now the train ride was interesting.. We were in a couchette which had 6 beds and im pretty sure it was an 8 by 9 cabin with 6 beds, three on each side...not very big. And Rachel and I were in the middle bunks. We had two Asian friends on the bottom bunks, one which we are convinced had SARS because she was like coughing up a lung the whole night, and then a German friend on top who was very nice and helpful. THe guy who checked our tickets was not very nice ...our first encounter with the Germans.
Anyways after our 12 HOUR train ride to Munich, we have to find our way to the Munich airport to meet up with the UNO group. So we take the S-Bahn which is a metro system in the direction of the airport (hopefully) Thank God the last stop happened to be the airport where we all had to get off else we would have ended up God knows where. So after our 12 HOUR train ride and 1 hour metro ride to the airport we have to find COncourse B or C to meet up with UNO, unfortunately the lady at the information desk had no idea what a concourse was and said try the terminals...luckily while makíng our way to concourse b or c I spot a UNO Innsbruck sign outside, so we hurry on over and secure our seats on the busses to Innsbruck, which happens to be a 2 hour drive. SO here we are, we havent showered in two days, woke up 5 minutes before the train stopped so we couldnt go to the restroom or chagne or anything, after riding in a non air conditioned metro for an hour and trekking through the air port to find a bus, we must have looked gorgeous. We were exhausted and delerious....another great day of traveling. So we finally arrive in Innsbruck around 130 pm, check in, get settled into our room, shower, change, explore the city a bit, and go to the Mensa (the cafeteria) to have our orientation. So now we are in Austria, getting ready to start our second part of our trip!
I would say good bye in German, but I don´t know how yet. SO
Danke (Thanks) for now

Day 4 continued-Day 5
So we never actually found that jazz club that we were looking for, instead we hung out at the club across the street from our hostel (very short walking distance) We only planned on staying for a little bit but then we met some Parisians who were all Physic majors. They were all pretty good looking and very nice! They all spoke English and helped Rachel with her French when she needed it (which of course wasn´t very often-hehe). Then we went downstairs where there was a dance party going on...and btw Parisians dance very funny compared to Americans. And they like electro music, a newer version of techno - very weird. After we left the little club, we returned to our hostel and hung out with Joaquin- the cool portuguese host at the young and happy. It was our last night to see him . When we got into our bedroom, I was convinced that one of our roomates was sleeping naked because all you could see was her upper and lower back, eew!!! She was like in her fifties and didnt talk the whole time. Oh the people you meet. So the next morning we get up and we headed to the gorgeous opera house on Champs-elysees. It was absolutely magnificent! Before we toured the inside though, we had a little sit down (because thats what we do best) at a nearby cafe to have some coffee (orange juice in my case). We then headed over to Sacre Coure which was absolutely gorgeous...from the outside We never actually made it inside because we took one look at the 200 steps we would have to climb and decided to sit at the base and take pics (hence the title)...but in our defense, our book did say that it is not known for its beauty inside and that it is not extraordinary on the inside! We then walked to the Moulin Rouge, which I have to say was mighty disappointing -- its not the Nicold Kidmann- McGregor atmosphere we would have liked to see, but of course we got a picture. Also, it seems to be in a very sketch part of Paris - our least favorite section. Now I bet you cant guess what we did next....we headed back to the louvre to tak our daily nap Its a very parisian thing to do, we were just trying to submerge ourselves into the culture as much as possible. We then went back inside the Louvre to see a few exhibits taht we didnt get to see. And then took another nap! After returning to our hostel and changing, we met up with my sisters best friend from high school, Jacqueline Hickey, and ehr boyfriend Cedric. We met them at their apartment which was so cute!! and they made us a very yummy dinner! They happen to live in a building which is like one of the big houses that used to have everyone in the family stay there, which is soon to be sold. Anyways, KARL LAGERFELD totally lives there so I got a pic of his car and his door!! Im pretty sure that it is destined that we meet at one point in our lives!! After our delicious dinner we went down to the garden where the son of the houses´owner was having a wine gathering! It was phenomenal and totally Parisian! IT was very surreal, Rachela nd I just kept looking at each otehr and being like are we really here?? We then went to a going away house party for some of Jacqueline an Cedric´s friends! It was so cool!! All and all it was a pretty amaying night!!
Au´Revoir