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“5 Euro.  5 Euro.  5 Euro Le Sub 30…”  Yes, that’s right, I’m sure they also have the annoying addictive song from Subway in France too!  I ate here on my last day in Nice, and it was excellent.  First, it wasn’t 20 Euro to eat with a soda, plus I COULD GET A REFILL.  I know it seems like nothing, but even McDonalds wouldn’t refill your soda.  One point – Subway.

For our last bus trip – they organized a quick last minute trip to a perfume factory.  This was something I wen to so I could say I’ve been to one.  They weren’t making anything, since it was Sunday.  Other than the “snif” test at the beginning where you had to find the 10 correct scents – which I only got about half right.

After we got back from everyone loading up on perfume purchases, we went to our room to pack for the next morning then to have one last European meal.

I had the best sea bass I’ve tasted, with some great red wine which was some sort of French mix of Pinot Noir and some other reds.  I was tempted to buy some bottles to bring home, but the wallet was lacking Euros.  Many at my table had deserts which were kind enough for me to try – and I loved every one.  This desert displayed above is a actually an apple pie.  It was flat and had apple in the middle.  I am an American, but this isn’t a bad way to do apple pie.

After eating most were wore out from my long trip, but my roommate, Scott, and I decided to have one more beer at our favorite “large beer” bar.

After we started our first beer, we found a friend from the previous night was there.  Richard is a Brit and it was quite fun to talk about cultural & political differences between us - with some good football (Soccer) discussions.  He likes to travel around the world, and this wasn’t his first day in Nice – so he was able to show us around some fun places that night.  (It did get a little late for my 4am taxi ride to the airport, but made it home without a problem)

So, that is my Europe Trip 2009 in a nutshell.  I want to thank Lew for inviting me on this great trip – and want to thank all the great people I got to know.  I hope to continue these friendships after this trip.  Thanks again – Drake SMaRT!

Brent Travel Europe, Nice

This next morning, I did what I consider a large sin on a scenic trip – slept in!  I couldn’t take it any more.  I had the sea waves by my ears and lack of sleep.  It was glorious.  Here is the view again from our hotel room – only you can see a bit more in the day. So, my roommate and I after getting up started to talk around the city of Nice for some sights and food.  I kept smelling seafood very strong, and thought that is what I wanted to lunch.  I found the source:

As I thought that might be little raw, our quest for food was still on.  So, what exotic place did we find?

It was this crazy place with a “McCafe” whatever that is.  =)  I actually try to do this on every international trip, because even in Hawaii the McDonalds has a different menu (Spam burgers).  Here I had the LeM sandwich with a different bun as you can see.  The fries are still not as good as here.

That afternoon there was a bus ride to go see the country of Monaco – so I jumped on the bus.  Locals had told us that the economy has hit Monaco as well, as there are fewer yahts sold this year.  These are just the fun boats – I didn’t get a good snap of the yahts!  Although it started to rain a bit, this city was beautiful with its garden, guarded palace, and church.

Did I mention the view?!

Lastly, we quick ran up the mountain to see the original Monte Carlo Casino.  With all the lights on the front, made it quite a sight.  We did go in – no cameras allowed, sorry – and since you had to pay to get into any of the gambling room (pretty smart to keep the tourists out like me) there was a little slot room they let us in, and I gave a nice 5 Euro donation to the country of Monaco.

Brent Travel Europe, Monaco, Nice

After departing from Venice at 8am, a nice 4 hours later we are off the bus at Milan, Italy.  This city is well know for the church that Deb, Andrea & I are in front of in this picture and very spendy shopping.

Now, this is a mall!  As you can see this is technically outside, but it has a huge glass roof over the buildings to make it a great indoors atmosphere.  We ate at a very nice place in here where I had my first italian lasagna.

This could have been my favorite church on the trip.  It was beautiful inside, but these windows are what set it apart.  In these little vibrant subwindows each told a story from the Bible.  I could have spent 2 more hours just reading the stories.

After another 6 hour bus ride (this one was a bit long), we arrived in Nice, France.  Above is a clip from the room our awesome travel agent Lew Boehnke of The Travel Center got us, with this view at the Westminster Hotel!  After eating some great sea bass by the Meditratian and having a few beers with our friends that would be departing the next morning, we called it a night.

Brent Travel Europe, Milan, Nice

The next morning we head back over to Venice for my first look at Venice in the daylight.  Wow.  We head to the main square for our 2 hour walking tour of Venice.  She went in and out of every area of Venice. 

No Venice trip is complete without a Gondola ride.  Check out this parking job of this Gondola.  “Like a glove”!

Now, night rides are obviously the best for a couple, but all of us decided to do it during the day as it is cheaper.  When we starting shopping around for a driver, I didn’t know it was going to feel like negotiating a used car.  When he wasn’t seeming to want to budge – I told the group to just walk away because he will call us back (Negotiating 101).  If he didn’t there were 20 others that would step up.  It still cost us all together about 100 Euro.  It was worth it to know what it was all about, so I can bring my bride to Venice someday and show her the best possible time since it is like looking for a good car.  Every Gondola is unique as well as the driver.

Brent Travel Europe, Gondola, Venice

With a very short 2 hour trip we arrive in Salzburg, Austria.  I have been to Salzburg a couple times before while I was attending college, but this time I felt a little more free to just walk around the city.  I went with a group that checked out the churches and looking for a special pastry that she had that last time she was in Salzburg.  I don’t think she ever found it, but the city was great to walk through.  I had a great cheese brat from a one of these street vendors and I thought I liked Johnsonville brats, but this was the real thing.  I didn’t get pretzel, but they look absolutely great!

We actually all found our way back to the bus, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do in Salzburg.  We then departed to Venice, Italy.  This was a big of a long bus ride.  After a couple little naps and about 6 hours later we arrive in Mestre (Adjacent to Venice).  After we got the correct train & water taxi tickets, we were in Venice!

After some great Italian pizza from a local place called Bora Bora, we head for a “local” Irish bar.  These bartenders had a lot of fun with us.  After a good night – then we had the “fun” of trying to get back to our hotel.  The train that we took over to Venice is no longer running.  So, after trying to find some English speaking night travelers we got on the right bus and found our way home.

Brent Travel Europe, Salzburg, Venice

We arrived at the Dachau concentration camp at about 9:30 AM.  This is the first day that we had any weather other than a little rain or flurries.  Today it was snowing/sleeting pretty hard.  It was very appropriate for the mood of this stop.  With all the movie and book knowlege that was previously gathered really hit hard here.  To be able to see the actual fence holding these 60,000 prisoners in at one time and seeing where they slept was an experience.

I don’t believe I ever really knew how big these camps actually got.  I read the number of prisoners they had at one time, but I didn’t understand until I actually saw this model of how large this camp.  Other than walking around the camp and going through the barracks, in the main building they had a very good museum with lots of stories of what a typical day might have been at the camp, and some of the horrible events/experiences happened during the control of the National Socialist (NAZI) party.  This was the first concentration camp that others were based.

Next, we visited the Neuschwantstein Castle in the Alps.  Great picture, huh?  Ok, I might not have taken this one.  It was snowing quite bad, remember?  All my pictures look like a blizzard.  There was about a 20 minute walk up hill to get to the castle tour.  We all got pretty wet.  After our tour we talked back down, and the snow had let up.  It was a beautiful site with all the trees coated in fresh fluffy snow.  I hope to get some pictures from my travel friends that might have turned out.  A new snow balls were thrown on the way down, because you can’t waste good packing snow!

We then departed back to our hotel in Munich.  Since we had such good time at the Hofbrauhaus – we decided to go back.  Here is a little clip from the brewery and sample of the music.

Brent Travel Dachau, Europe, Fussen, Munich

We starting the morning with another nice breakfast at the hotel packed up our luggage and got on the bus for our next stop: the Leipzig MBW Auto Plan.  Now with full disclosure I own a BMW and this was going to be a big highlight for my trip.  They did not disappoint.  They did not allow cameras in the plant, but I was able to find a couple photos on the Internet taken by Thomas Mayer.

These pictures were taken in the main office part of the plant.  As you can see the place is quite large, and the building designers thought it was important for all staff to be able to see what they are producing in their daily job even though they aren’t on the plant floor.  These are real cars being transfered through the office from one part of the plant to the other, and each one can be different.  I will blog about the actual tour sometime later, but there was one fact that really stuck out.  Once you order your BMW from this plant (they mostly make 3 series) even though they have 2-3 month leadtime, you can change any configuration about your future car 4 days before it starts being built since they use JIT (Just-in-time) production.  Amazing.

Once our 2 1/2 hour tour is over, we pile back on the bus departing to Munich.  Over 6 hours later we arrive at our new hotel freshen up – then head out to the Hofbrauhaus!  The Hofbrauhaus is state owned brewery in Munich, Germany.  As you can see – the beers are quite large.  Mix in some great polka music – and you have yourself a party!  Drinking here also proved to be a great workout – 1st the bathrooms were all the way outside in an alley, and 2nd the beers are so large – they help build the biceps.  I will learn that larger beers are possible in Europe, however.

I also want to give a hello to my new german friends I met that live a few hours away.  I am still unpacking and I have yet to find the piece of paper with your contact info on it.  I will give you an shout as soon as I find it!

Brent Travel BMW, Europe, Leipzig, Munich

After about a 3 hour bus rider from Berlin we arrived in Potsdam.  They had a working windmill that you could go through.  I didn’t want to pay to go see it, but a friend on the trip said it probably wouldn’t make OSHA too happy with all the belts moving around.  We got to see them take the sails down as it got more windy, since it was turning the mill too fast.  Got to see many nice buildings and great surroundings.

Then it was time to eat.  Hmmm…what to eat…

Finally it was reccess after our lunch.  Dr Meyer wanted to ride the wooden seesaw – and boy was it fun!

After another 2 hours on the bus we arrive at Novotel Leipzig city, pay for another bathroom break and take some pictures.

We then take our final 3 bus ride for the day and arrive in Leipzig to our hotel.

Brent Travel Europe, Leipzig, Potsdam

After a good night of getting to know some of the other travelers over some pints and singing some karaoke we called it a night for the bus trip to the “Murdered Jews of Europe Memorial” and museum.  After a vague introduction by the guide, we were then instructed to just walk through this memorial.  When you first looked out into the blocks they you could see the top of them all, but once you started walking into it, you got much deeper and could only look in 4 direction in the perfectly aligned columns.  The cement colums weren’t perfectly vertical, as they were designed that way.  This was a very humbling experience.  Once the time was up we went back to the guide to discuss what we each thought that this was meant to represent.  To our surprise, the creator wanted it to be left up to expression, and not by his design.  The one piece it was based off of was the view from the top looked like a lab camp with all the barracks.  Once done, we went below this area to the museum were it told stories of a prisoner and their family through Nazi paperwork, and prisoner letters. 

After we have scratched some of the surface of these stories, we then went to Stauffenberg Museum at the Bendlerblock to have a guided tour of the German Resistance Movement of WWII.  I have not seen the movie Valkyrie yet, but I was told parts of the movie were filmed here, since this is where some of the events actually took place.  I am ashamed of my history knowledge, but I didn’t know the extent of the German resistance to Hitler, and it was very interesting.  There were so many attempts at Hilter’s life that were spoiled due to what seems to be chance.  The guide kept saying he was “saved by the devil”.

After the museum we all split up and started to talk around Berlin.  Many of us went to the goverment building with a large dome on top.  After a very short elevator ride, you arrived to the dome, and then could spiral up to the top for a great view of the city.

After a long day of being a tourist – it was then time to try out the Berlin night life.  We got a tip about a special bar in Berlin that we shouldn’t miss.  After over an hour of map reading and discussing which is the right way – we found the it.  I am not sure exactly what the bar name actually was – but we liked to called it the “Toilet Bar”. 

Brent Travel Berlin, Europe

After the very long plane rides, and alot of people watching at the airport – I am finally in Berlin.  As soon as I got my lugage Lew our travel agent was right there to meet me to get me to the hotel.  The hotel is definitely no hostel.  Glass shower and sink?!  I think I can do this.  =)  There is also a free breakfast with our rooms – and it was a full buffet of usual & German local favorites. 

After breakfast, I was hoping for a little nap after my long flights – but there was going to be a bus tour next, so I didn’t want to miss that.  I have been to Berlin before, but this bus tour was the most complete I’ve had.  Here’s one of the pictures of me at the Brandenburg gate.

After the bus tour it was about 2pm local so we all split up and found some local places to eat.  I had something titled very long, but it was a re sauced chicken meal with rice.  Very good!  (Especially with a couple beers).

I hope to get at least a post in every day – otherwise, I will keep putting out tweets.  You can follow me by clicking on the right Twitter widget.

Brent Travel Berlin, Europe