Sunday, December 14, 2014

Switzerland


So my best friend is super impressive and works for the UN in Geneva. She's been bugging me to come visit her for years, and now I don't really have an excuse anymore. So that's where I spent my Columbus Day weekend. I enjoyed Switzerland so much. It was so clean! We had plenty of good food and wine and I got to see how she lives. Probably the coolest thing we saw was the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. That's the hometown of the father of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In fact when he died his body was buried in Switzerland and his heart was buried in Greece. It was an incredible museum, very interactive and surprisingly emotional. The music throughout the museum was fantastic and really helped create the atmosphere. I would recommend it to anyone visiting the area. It was a lovely visit and I can't wait to go again!

Clock tower in Lausanne. 

Lausanne City Hall. 

Walking around the market in Lausanne.

Museum with some of the craziest mishmash of architecture I've ever seen

Winery overlooking Lake Geneva. 



Olympic flame. 

All I do is win. 

Hard to believe that tug of war used to be an Olympic sport.

I remember staying up super late watching the US women's gymnastics team win the gold in 1996. There was a leotard with all of their autographs. So cool. 


A flag from the very first Olympic Games. Pretty amazing. 

View of Lake Geneva.

So excited to spend more time with my bestie!

Nespresso is impressive. 

Lake Geneva from above. 






Munich for Oktoberfest

The real purpose for going to Munich… Drinking! I bought a dirndl and it's amazing. We all dressed up for a friend's promotion ceremony then continued to Volksfest in Stuttgart. We also hit up the Hoffbrauhaus at Oktoberfest in Munich. Super fun weekend. 










Dachau

We went to Munich for Oktoberfest and about the only cultural thing we did was visiting Dachau. I had been when I was 16 on a trip with my German class and it was just as moving 13 years later. It's a haunting place and an everlasting reminder of the depth and cost of human cruelty. 








Dublin and American Football

What do you do when you're the alumni of an awesome football school and you find out your team will be playing in Europe while you're living there? Buy tickets of course!!!! So over Labor Day weekend I flew up to Dublin to party with my people, my Penn State people. 

We felt incredibly welcome. 

On the campus of Trinity College.

I love Penn State but the campus isn't nearly as beautiful as a university founded in 1592. 

We swung by Dublin Castle as well. 

The grounds around the castle were gorgeous. 

St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

HAD to go to the Guinness Factory. Tip: Buy tickets ahead of time to avoid a line. Then just head straight up to the 7th floor where you can get your beer and enjoy a great view. 



We had lunch at the Jameson distillery. 

I love sitting near the field so you can see every nerve wracking play.

Yay we won!!





Molly Malone statue, keeping it real.