Travels of the Great Jacqui German: April 2013

Monday, April 8, 2013

Czech Republic-3rd Month

PRAGUE! I FINALLY WENT! or WE FINALLY WENT!

I have wanted to go since rocket club in high school where my instructor Pavel Pinkas told me it was the best city in the world and then my German teacher reiterated the fact.

They were right. It was breathtaking.

The trip consisted of walking tours,

shopping,

beer tour,

food,

the market,

cathedral,

bridge,

a concentration camp,

and church after church.

Just gorgeous.

I cannot name my favorite part for there were far too many, a main one being that I got to experience it with my family, but a close second would be that the young ones were the hero’s in mapping out the city ;)

Estonia-3rd Month

All aboard the ferry to Tallinn! Or should I say cruise…

We, the German’s, use to go on cruises as our vacation extravaganzas when we were little. I believe it was because it was easiest for my parents to keep us in check. I mean most of the time we were stuck on a boat surrounded by water, what were we going to do? Haha

Upon arriving five minutes late, we promptly decided on taking the later cruise leaving us only 3 hours to maneuver around the city. We each picked something we wanted to see or do once there when we were on the boat. I was skeptical because of the time restraint, but we not only were able to do each objective, but made it back EARLY, which was a first! And we saw addition sights such as the ghost church!

Estonia was beautiful, full of history, color, and intricate buildings. I can’t wait to go back.

Unfortunately my mom and sister have most of the pictures so you can bother them for photos :p If I receive any from them, I will be sure to upload them.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Norway-3rd Month

I would have never realized that we were crossing the boarded from Finland to Norway if our tour guide didn’t say anything. It was merely a fence. Not a huge electrified fence with patrols every 100 meters. Just a fence. I loved it!

And Norway well it’s an incredible country. Just beautiful. It looked like summer but felt like winter.

The town we visited made us a scrumptious stew. mmMMMMmm just thinking about it makes me hungry. While they are known for having king crab the strew did not contain any.

Now it is common for Finns to sauna, and once they reach a certain heat index they will frolic off to the sea and take a dip and saunter on back. Concerned and intrigued by this I attempted it in Norway where instead I dipped in the ocean, the Artic Ocean. Best description: epic but cold.

I am excited to go back to Norway at the end of May!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Helsinki-3rd Month, Lapland

Lapland was just... purely amazing! We saw and did so much! We cross country skied, rode reindeer, saw Santa, saw an ice castle, some people dog sledded and rode snowmobiles, others ice skated and snow shoed. We saw Northern lights, went in the sauna, played so many card games, made a cozy fire, went down the LONGEST SLEDDING HILL IN THE EU, and so much more!

But one thing I have got to say is that the culture in Lapland was heart warming. I will never forget it.

I especially liked that every night our cabin of 14 students all teamed up and made a family dinner for everyone making sure to take everyone’s likes and dislikes into account as well as all main food groups. I feel so lucky to be a part of such an amazing group of people!