Romantic Road

On our second day in Munich, Nicola and I had booked spots on a day trip along Romantic Road! 

For those of you who don't know what Romantic Road is, I copied and pasted Wikipedia's definition below. Much better description than what I was crafting in my mind.

It describes the 350 kilometres (220 mi) of highway between Würzburg and Füssen in southern Germany, specifically in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, linking a number of picturesque towns and castles. 

The morning started around 7:45am when we made our way to Starbucks. Is that a shocker? 

Post coffee, we made our way to the pick-up location that was about two blocks from our hotel. We checked in, and before we knew it, we were on the famous autobahn. The first stop of the day was the Linderhof hunting lodge castle. Yes, you read that correctly. It wasn't just a normal hunting lodge, it was a hunting lodge castle. 

It was gorgeous on the inside (no photos allowed)! It was tiny, but still grandiose. Supposedly King Ludwig II modeled it after Versailles.  Trekking back to the coach, we stopped to take in the Bavarian countryside. Munich had limited snowfall, but the mountain region was another story. 

Insane, right?

A short bus ride down the road, we stopped into the small town of Obermannergau to view the famous Passion Play. The town was quintessential with different story paintings on various houses! 

The final destination of the day was Neuschwanstein Castle. Neuschwanstein Castle was Walt Disney's model for his Sleeping Beauty's castle.  Nicola and I had planned ahead and eaten lunch on the bus in order to have more time to explore the grounds and to walk up to the castle. To get to the castle, you have to walk up a 1.5km hill. Normally, this would not be a problem for most. But add slush, snow, and some black ice, problems arise. And, we know how clumsy I can be!

Walk up the hill

Thankfully, during the walk up and down, I never fell down. A few close calls.  As we moved up the hill, we got some breathtaking views of the countryside. 

We had a tour scheduled inside Neuschwanstein Castle (again, no photos allowed) around 4pm, so that gave us about an hour to explore the grounds outside once we made it to the top. Unfortunately, we didn't know the entrance to the bridge to view the castle from the other side was closed at the top. In the end, we had no time to go down and come up another way to do that. Nevertheless, we still got to explore the grounds and take in the beauty of a castle.

So Cold!

View from the Bottom

It was a great day trip and well worth the cost! Upon returning back to Munich, we met up with  a few friends. Nicola had a friend living in Munich, and my friend, Hannah, lives on the Air Force base. Hannah and I met at Syracuse during my freshman year. She lived on my floor, and we've been friends ever since! The four of us grabbed some traditional food, drank some beer, and danced our night away!

Hannah and me

Nicola and me

Nicola got to spend Sunday in Munich exploring more, but I came back early due to a Thanksgiving potluck and a huge amount of homework. Plenty of more recap posts to come! 

Munich!

Headed to Munich for the weekend!

Be prepared for some recaps about Christmas markets and castles! For now, catch up on my latest recap posts, below, about Luxembourg City and London!

Wandering

I've got a three-day weekend headed my way starting tomorrow. 

And that can only mean one thing…

I'm wandering off to Bucharest, Romania with a friend for the weekend!!

#soexcitedandijustcanthideit

If you follow me on instagram (username: @kewalpole), you will be able to see photos as I post them! 

If not, stay tuned for a few update posts next week!

Upcoming Adventures

Apart from schoolwork, internships, and the social world surrounding the MPA program, I've got a few other adventures in the works for the next few weeks!

Next weekend, I'm headed to Bucharest, Romania! Translyvania and I will be bonding for a few days as I have Veteran's Day off my internship. My fellow intern, Elaine, and I are headed over to check out the city but also taking a day trip to Dracula's Castle.

The following weekend besides doing homework, I'm attending "Fantasia: Live in Concert" at the Royal Albert Hall. Surprisingly, I still have never been inside the Hall despite having lived in South Kensington and having numerous bus routes currently that drive past the building. 

For Thanksgiving, a few interns and I are looking to take the hop west to Iceland! We should be booking out trip to Reyjeviack this week!

In early December, I snagged a cheap ticket to see Andrew Lloyd Weber's new musical, "Stephen Ward." For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge fan of ALW especially "Phantom of the Opera." 

Tired of London, Tired of Life

I acquired a book called, "Tired of London, Tired of Life," awhile back. Essentially, it's a book detailing something new to do everyday in London. I'm a tourist at heart, so this book was made for me. 

A goal of mine this year is to finally complete all of the tourist attractions in London that I have never done. In 2010, I felt as if I was always on a marathon mission to get to the next big attraction whereas in the past year, the things I did in London were still big attractions, but off the beaten track, too! 

This past weekend, I did just that: find some off the beaten track tourist attractions, but spend some time with the favorites as well. 

On Saturday, I took off to find the location where the last D-Day briefing took place. It was actually quite close to my home in Hammersmith. Hammersmith is also an area that I've never really explored apart from the tube/bus station! 

The location was tucked into gardens where a school used to exist. Now, the cite is occupied by a college. You couldn't go inside or rather too close to the building due to construction works, but it was still a sight to see especially due to the significance of the plan that was finalized there. 

From there, I wandered around to my favorite areas of London: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower of London, and St. James' Park.

Buckingham Palace

Tower of London

Second Star to the Right & Straight onto Morning

On Sunday, I showed a fellow Syracuse alumna around Portobello Road before I committed to homework and waiting out the UK storm!

The Blue Door from the movie, Notting Hill 

How would you spend your day in London? Or any place?

Annual MPA Retreat

Another year of the MPA? Another year of a MPA Retreat?

You may remember my post on last year's retreat in Croyde Bay? This year, we headed down to Portsmouth. Specifically, we spent this past weekend at the Mill Rythe Resort on Hayling Island. I had actually been in the area before back in 2010 when I did a public footpath trek through Chichester. 

(And yes, if you do a search on Hayling Island, there are reports of a tornado that happened there yesterday. I was outside when said tornado happened, but did not see anything...)

We left mid-day Friday for the resort. The drive was supposed to take under two hours, but we spent sometime in traffic.  However, as typical MPA students, we made the best of it. A bunch of the dual degree kids that had gone off to Berlin and Paris came back for the retreat, so it was great catching up with them!

When we got to the resort, we grabbed dinner and relaxed and waited for the other busses to arrive. There were two additional busses for everyone who had class late on Friday afternoons.   The rest of the evening was spent dancing, catching up with old friends, and meeting some of the new members of the incoming class!

#orangenation

Saturday morning, the girls and I headed out to the small lake that was on the property before watching Arielle and Jenny take on the challenge of learning how to crossbow! 

Post cross-bows, we headed into the small town on Hayling Island as well as checking out the beach! It had started to rain in the morning, but cleared off just in time for our walk.  

Hayling Island Beach

Day at the Beach

Zaina and me 

The rest of the evening was spent again in typical MPA fashion of drinks, dancing, a birthday, and plenty of laughs! 

First Years!

One of the best!

First Years!

All in all, it was a great weekend away! Plenty of laughs with old classmates and friends, but it was awesome to meet more of the first year class! 

Don't Worry...I am alive!

I know that I posted that I was away last weekend which clearly warrants a summary post.

The delay of the wrap up post was due to having my wisdom teeth out this past Thursday. 

Expect to see normal posts in the next few days again!

Week Recap

Since my last post where I fully admitted to academic purgatory, I tried to add more fun activities back into my life. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my coursework as I have mentioned numerous time. And, I love learning. It's just that cramming 20 weeks into my brain is not something I enjoy. 

On Tuesday, I attended a Local Levo League event. It was held in one of the buildings that was used in Skyfall. And, the view from the office spaces that we were in...was truly amazing! The evening was spent around asking for more. Specifically, we focused in how to approach situations of seeking more responsibility in the workplace as well as approaching the task of asking for a salary raise.  It was truly a great evening, and  I know the knowledge will be helpful in the coming years. Plus, I was able to catch up with so many amazing women that I know call my friends.

Building used in Skyfall

View from the Levo League Event

Wednesday evening, we had a sorority alumnae club event. I cannot recall if I mentioned, but I am now the Vice President of Event Planning for the Pi Beta Phi UK Alumane Club. I had organized the Founder's Day event in April, but I was in Scotland, so I didn't attend. The event this week was a Wine & Silver Spoons Potluck complete with a Cookie Shine. For my Pi Phi readers, I had been in desperate need of a cookie shine! 

Cookie Shine

Members of the Exec Board

And, on Thursday, I got to attend the public event at LSE with Jared Cohen and Eric Schmidt. It has to be the best public event that I have been to at LSE so far! I got there early and wound up in the front row. Despite having a ticket, LSE events fill up quickly. I had to get there an hour early! But, it was worth the wait! Truly inspiring talk about digital media, the Internet, the future capabilities, and the ideas of the changing world landscape. 

Jared Cohen and Eric Schmidt!

I'm off to go do some economics revision and laundry before a night out with a friend leaving for the summer! Stay tuned!

Prague Recap: Day Three

On our last day in Prague, we were determined to do several things still remaining on the list before we headed off to the airport.  One of the first things on the list was checking out the Charles Bridge, now during the day, and the area round it.  The Charles Bridge is one of the famous bridges in the city for numerous reasons including surviving the large-scale floods as well as for the Christian statues placed along the bridge. 

View from the Charles Bridge

View of Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge

After wandering around the bridge, looking at the various goods vendors were selling, we decided it was time for breakfast. Once refreshed with coffee, we found ourselves on the hunt for the famous John Lennon Wall. We did end up being lost for a little bit, but we discovered more churches as well as got to see more of a residential neighborhood because of it. Eventually, we stumbled upon the famous wall. 

John Lennon Wall 

Post John Lennon Wall, we grabbed a few Pilsners and sat along a canal. Before we headed to the airport, we walked along the river encountering many famous statues and just took in the nice weather. 

All in all, it was a great city break! It was the last weekend trip of the semester as the end of the term approaches and spring break begins. It was a great way to start birthday celebrations off! 

Amsterdam Recap: Day One

On Friday evening, Nicole and I jet-setted off to Amsterdam. Our plane was delayed, so we did not get to our hotel around 10pm. We ordered room service and crashed, so we could get a good head start on the tourist activities.

Saturday, we started off getting our I.am.sterdam passes. These passes were for 48 hours and allowed us free or discount admission to a lot of museums and exhibits. From there, we grabbed breakfast.  I had the apple strudel...it was vacation after all!

Apple Studel

Our first stop of the day was to check out Dam Square where the Palace is located! It was a quick walk from where we had breakfast, and it was already buzzing for the day!

Palace

From there, we headed to the Anne Frank House. As we anticipated, the line was quite long as we had not bought pre-sale tickets. Note to those headed to Amsterdam in the near future, buy your tickets ahead of time. While we only waited an hour, it was a bit chilly. It reminded me of all those games at Syracuse I waited outside for.

You couldn't take photos inside the house, but the tour brought you through all four levels. Starting in the warehouse to the office and then up to the areas of the secret annex. While the furniture had been removed and some modern things added, the posters Anne had put on her wall were there along with a few other goods that were left by the occupants. From there, the museum focuses towards what happened after they were captured and sent to concentration camps.

While the Van Gogh Museum was under renovation, some of his paintings were on display at the Hermitage Museum which is where we headed next. Luckily, we got to walk along the canals for part of the journey across town.  The views were incredible. I know I live along the Great Union Canal in London, but nothing compares to the system of canals that Amsterdam has.

At the Hermitage Museum, the temporary Van Gogh exhibit featured seven themes from his life. Again, no photos were allowed. But, we did get to see the famous Sunflowers, several of his self-portraits, and many of the landscapes that he painted in his later life.

With our passes, we got to take a river cruise on the canals. After stopping for a mid-day snack and coffee, we boarded the hour cruise through the harbor and the famous canals. While the commentary was limited, we got to see much more of the city that we would not have gotten to see without the cruise.

Leaning Houses 

Sunset

For dinner, we had some traditional Dutch food before heading home for the evening. The first day was jammed pack with trying to see some of the major sights, but well worth the fatigue! Stay tuned for day two re-cap tomorrow!

Marcus Mumford

Those of you who follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or are friends with me on Facebook, you know I had quite the excitement two weekends ago.  With all of the craziness of school, I haven't had a chance to actually post what happened.

Two weekends ago, as you may remember, I spent the majority of my Saturday at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. On my way there as I had quite the trouble with busses that day, I had to change three times on the tube.

Starting off in Notting Hill, I casually boarded the train, Starbucks in hand, and sat down listening to Mumford and Sons.  Suddenly, I noticed the woman next to me and across from me were looking at this man sitting down across from me as well. There was a woman with him who was talking to him. Then, I noticed others looking around at him as well. Deciding to look directly at him, I'm glad I did.

It was MARCUS MUMFORD!

This was the girl he was talking to. 

 I was that person. I took a photo. I also took off my headphones and verified the voice. It was him! Did not be that fan girl though and tell him that I'm going to his concert in a few weeks. Oh yes, I did end up buying tickets for the concert with Nicole!

It was my first celebrity spotting not at a planned event (yay Queen!)! 

A Birthday Celebration, a Walking Tour, and a lot of Homework!

Well, it is hard to believe that in two short weeks, I'll be on a plane back home to the US for a three week break before returning for the next term. Michaelmas term has flown by. I feel like I just got here the other day, began the pre-semester math course, and now, I'm working on two group projects and final STATA problem sets before they are due in week ten. Nevertheless, it's clear that I made the correct decision by choosing to attend LSE. And, thank goodness, weekly adventures have been able to balance the hectic crazy work schedule that I find myself in.

This past week was my friend, Kaitlyn's 23rd birthday. We planned a mini-celebration post economics Tuesday morning with mimosas, balloons, and some Krispy Kreme donuts. 

Friday evening, we all went out to dinner for her birthday followed by a few drinks to celebrate.  We went to the Blue Lagoon Restaurant on High Street Kensington followed by drinks down in Shoreditch. Here are some photos from the evening!

Birthday Girl, Emma, and me

Arielle and me

On Saturday, Jenny and I met up to use this Groupon tour that we had bought several weeks ago. We spent 10 pounds in total for what we expected to be a guided tour about the royals  of England. Yet, what we got yesterday was little emphasis on the royals. Rather, our tour focused on Coco Chanel, the pelicans in St. James's Park, and Downing Street. It was interesting and fun, but not really what we paid for. 

Hanging out at New Scotland Yard 

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

View of the Eye from the Downing Street Entrance

Today, I'm in the library trying to finish a lot of work, so that is the reason why this post concentrates more on photos than an actual weekend re-cap. Stay tuned this week for some interesting wrap-up posts to the semester!