In February we got to visit Vienna, Austria, known for Mozart, the opera, coffee and wiener schnitzel. Just walking through the city made me feel more cultured and sophisticated. The first night we attended an opera, Mozart’s “Tusca.” We got cheap standing tickets in the upper balcony, but it was fun to see everyone below dressed up in fancy dresses and tuxedos, and the opera house itself was lit up and beautiful. Not to mention the songs being belted out at such high octaves!

The next day we toured around, walked by Mozart’s apartment and saw a training session at the Spanish Riding School. They teach the show horses to step military style, so it almost looks like they are dancing. It was still cold, so they had ice skating set up in front of the city hall that went in a track around the park, which I had to try out. I felt pretty cool when little Viennese kids were flying past me on their skates (so I’m a little out of practice). Wiener Schnitzel for dinner is also a must! Austria is definitely one of the most beautiful and scenic countries in Europe, and Vienna is a great city to experience the culture in.

Prague is a beautiful city that should not be overlooked when traveling in Europe. The Czech Republic is pretty different. Not as many people spoke English (which did not help when we were lost looking for our hostel) and the money is strange: 17 crown to one dollar. Yet they have McDonald’s so no fear, I was still able to get a McFlurry!

The weather was overcast and rainy, but we still ventured out to see the midevil looking architecture in the city. There were lots of colorful buildings, pink and blue, which also made the city very pretty. In the Old Town Square we saw an astrological clock and a cute little Czech man singing and playing the trombone. We crossed the Charles Bridge and went up the hill past shops and restaurants selling goulash and dumplings to the Prague Castle, where we saw the changing of the guards.

At night we experienced other things Prague is famous for: the black light theatre (we saw Cats and it was pretty…trippy), absinth (which is the liquor you all might recognize from the movie Eurotrip), and some fun nightlife! So if you ever make it to Europe, make sure to Czech it out.

Alright, not really. I got caught riding the subway illegally and had to pay a stiff 40 Euro fine. But I had to get your attention somehow. Anyway, Berlin is a very interesting place to visit because of the history there, even if it’s very sad history. I highly recommend the free walking tour because we learned a whole lot.

The city of Berlin has been around in some form since the 1200s. The tour started at the famous Brandenburg Gate, topped by a statue that Napoleon stole and was returned to the city after Waterloo. (Nearby is the famous hotel while Michael Jackson dangled a child off the balcony.) We saw many famous thing related to WWII-we stood on grass over the unmarked bunker where Hitler committed suicide, walked past the old Gestapo headquarters, and noticed damage on several buildings from Allied bombings. We also walked through a Holocaust memorial and saw one to commemorate the book burnings, located near Humboldt University, where 29 Nobel Peace Prize winners have studied. The alumni include Marx, Lenin, and the Brothers Grimm, not to mention Einstein spoke there.

In addition to Nazi history, there are also remnants of the great divide between East and West Germany from the times of communist rule in East Berlin, including the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. Our guide told us several escape stories about people trying to cross the wall, some sad and some funny: apparently some guys got across dressed up as a cow! It’s strange to think that the wall fell fairly recently-1989 was in my lifetime. The Berlin’s history goes back very far, but at the same time it’s scary to think that all the sad things involved with Nazism and communism were taking place in the city in the last century.

Carnavale in Europe is the equivalent of Mardi Gras in the United States, which means a real good time. On February first I got my first taste when a few of us went to nearby Bellinzona in Switzerland. People were dressed in ridiculous costumes- everything from American football players to chickens. The whole town was blocked off, and there were fireworks and confetti everywhere, as well as tents and bars set up through the streets!

But this was just the beginning. The next day we traveled to Venice, Italy. If Carnavale is Mardi Gras, then Venice is New Orleans. The weather was pretty gray and rainy, but that didn’t stop people from dressing up in masks and capes to celebrate. We all bought elaborate masks or got our faces painted. Then we spent the day wandering among the canals, looking at famous Murano glass, and waving to people in the gondolas.

That night we went to St. Marco’s Square, the center of the festivities. We met up with friends and met new ones, threw confetti, danced, and had a great time. There were people and lights everywhere. Venice was definitely the place to be for a “Buena Festa!”

Munich, Germany was one of my favorite weekend trips in Europe. We stayed at Jaeger Hostel, and got a free shot at check in! The first morning we went to the concentration camp Dachau, which is right outside the city. It served as a model for the other camps all throughout Europe-Nazism was actually started in Munich.

Walking around the grounds was a very somber experience, and it was so cold. I had on my coat and sweater…I can’t imagine what the prisoners there went through. The crematory building sent shivers down my spine, it was hard to even walk through. The trees on those grounds must have seen so many horrible things.

But not all Munich is depressing. It’s actually known as the beer capital of the world, so we took that to heart and went to an outdoor beer garden. For dinner we had German food, I enjoyed my meatballs but my friend got pork knuckle, and let’s just say it was not what she expected.

After dinner we went to the world famous Hofbrauhaus, which is a huge beer hall with men playing tubas in lederhosen outfits! You sit at huge tables with random people, so we met some really nice German guys that tried to discuss politics with us (Europeans are not George Bush fans). They serve huge 2-liter mugs of great German beer. We went out with them for a while, at one place they played the song “Country Roads.” I got excited and told other people singing along I was from Virginia, but then I found out they only spoke German and just knew the words to the song. Oh well, they were still nice. I love Germans, so friendly!

The weekend we spent in Florence, Italy was a lot of fun. The first night we were there we took our hostel guy Dominico’s advice on where to go out, which turned out to be a door in the wall bar called Lockness, where we are now lifetime members! Take it from me, and remember that hostels sometimes have lockout curfews…

Anyway, the next day we got up early to see the David sculpture by Michelangelo, which was hands down the most beautiful piece of art I have ever seen. I was in awe. We also climbed il Duomo cathedral, 473 steep, claustrophobic steps to the top but the view of Florence was worth it. In the afternoon we got gelato (nothing beats Italian ice cream), shopped, crossed the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge where all the jewelry shops are, and saw Michelangelo’s tomb at Cathedral di Santa Croche.

The last day we spent at the Uffizi Art Gallery, which holds countless famous paintings you would recognize from any art or history book; they had a ton of Michelangelo and Da Vinci stuff. It’s crazy to think that the paintings we were viewing were created before the United States was even discovered by Europeans. Florence is definitely a city of beautiful art, and has pretty good pizza too! Ciao!