it does thunderstorm in south france

I love thunder!! The last three days have been awesome. First parts of the day are super sunny and nice, then I get the treat of fabulous dark clouds and rolling thunder and a sprinkle of lightning. I've missed watching a good storm.

I have 4 weeks left in Montpellier before I take off backpacking. I'm really looking forward to that. But of the next 28 days, I'll only be in Montpellier for just over half. I have a trip to Greece and another to Barcelona planned before exams.

I got back last Wednesday from 8 days in Germany and Austria. I started an 8 hour road trip to Stuttgart, Germany with two of my German friends. That night, we stayed at Julia's house, then picked up Melissa from the bus stop. That evening we headed out to Lindau, Germany, a town on Lake Constance, to her summer house. It was absolutely beautiful there. You look across the lake and you're staring out at Austria and Switzerland while in Germany.

After a night in Lindau, Melissa and I took a train to Salzburg, Austria. We treked to our hostel at 12:30am while all the locals were heading out to the bars, because it was past midnight on Good Friday. It was a hike, but quite pretty seeing Salzburg lit up at night like that.

We had three full days in Salzburg and they were as sunny as ever. We sat by the river and had picnics, got attacked by bees, went on the Sound of Music tour, walked through many flower gardens, and did a bit of damage shopping. It's quite a pisturesque town. Just as you would expect it (if you've seen the movie).


A few of our favourite things...
- Mirabel Gardens (they ran through these in the movie and they are even prettier in real life)
- Radler (beer mixed with either Sprite and lemon, or lemonade)
- Wiener Schnitzel (I was nervous ordering it, because I really didn't know what it was, but it tasted really good)
- 8pm nightly screenings of The Sound of Music at our hostel (we watched it twice)
- The fun Aussie sisters we bunked with
- Picnics by the river
- Being in four countries in one day (on our drive back, we were in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and then France)

nein sprechen zie deutsch

So last time I left off, I had just come back from Italy. I have been to Germany twice since then, and I will be heading back in two days.

I trained over to Stuttgart on the 25th and stayed a few nights with Melissa in the house that she has been working in as an aupair. I met the family briefly before they headed off to Berlin. The entire house is incredibly white. Everything except for the hardwood floors. The only thing I could think of is, 'My mom would hate this house.' That being said, it was incredibly cool.

The au pairs (yes, plural. They have 3 aupairs... and only 3 kids) have their own living quarters on the first floor. Below them is the cellar (virtually a store inside the house. They buy in bulk.) and the dad's office. Upstairs is two more floors for the rest of the family. The views of the hils littered with cute German houses are amazing. And the fresh, chilly air felt so nice.

Panoramic view from the top floor

We shopped and wandered around Stuttgart and Esslingen (the actual town she lives in, just outside of Stuttgart). The main drag of Stuttgart was really neat. There was a lively feeling on the streets mixed with a heavy sense from the monuments and buildings that hold so much German history.

A little bit of Konigstrasse, (Stuttgart)

The last day, we went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. TOO COOL! The building is in the shape of the prism logo and was designed for visitor to start at the top and walk down a spiral of car history. At the end, we ended up in the current showroom attached to the museum. I did some wishful thinking car shopping in the convertibles.

Can't you hear it screaming, ''Take me home!!!''

HANNOVER

I only got back from Hannover this morning. A whirlwind of a trip. I left Friday night, flew to Hahn (just outside Frankfurt), stayed overnight by myself at the airport hotel. Left the next morning to Lubeck (north of Hamburg), then took a train to Hamburg, then another to Hannover. Finally got there at 3:30pm and met up with Meghan (who got there the night before from Milan) and Melissa (who was coming from Stuttgart).

Supper consisted of a bag of 10 mini croissants, split 3 ways. Then we went to the Pink concert at 8 and had an awesome time. We had standing floor tickets and made our way quite close to the front (about 10 rows of people back). Melissa used her German and befriended a girl who had a broken leg. The show was incredible, with acrobatics and the whole shebang. Definitely worth the effort to get there. Topped the night off with Pizza Hut :) hah.

P!nk

Just a few acrobatics...

The ride back was just as lengthy as the way there. Meghan and I spent 20 hours on trains and in the stations. But this is what you get when you choose cheapness over speed.



And in other news...

My birthday was a blast. Danced until almost daylight, (we saw the bakery owners going to open up shop on the walk home...). But a few of us came away with a couple bruises. Mine involved a bike.

The day after was the first day where we didn't have french class. So we celebrated with Anti-French night and homemade burgers à la Julia followed by beers at a pub.

Julia and her delicious burgers

Oonagh and I