Stonehenge and Bath!

So now that all the travels outside the UK are over, it's time to explore more of England and make the most of these last few weeks. Yesterday we had a trip to Stonehenge and Bath which was super fun! Stonehenge was interesting...it's the middle of absolutely nowhere and the area is abundant with sheep. I wish I could give you more information, but the audio guide was awfully boring so I turned it off. But basically, a very long time ago some very innovative people took some very heavy stones and placed them at what is now Stonehenge, and no one knows why they put the stones there/what they used them for, or how they could possibly have moved such heavy rocks.

Next stop: Bath, a quaint little town three hours away from London. Of course we got to see the Roman baths which have been there for sooooo long, which was really cool. But, even more important in my opinion, Bath is where JANE AUSTEN used to live at one point!!! I walked by the house she lived in, and right down the street from there is the Jane Austen Center, which is like a Jane Austen museum and therefore amazing. :) My friend and I had afternoon tea at the Jane Austen Center tea room where all the waitresses were dressed in Victorian costumes, so fun!! We were in such a Jane Austen mood after that visit that when we got back to the dorm last night we watched Sense and Sensibility. Love that movie! And I'm currently reading Emma, since now that Anna Karenina's over I can actually just read for pleasure.

Little town of Bath :)

The main Roman bath 

Piece of one of the main parts of a Roman temple...I remember the description saying something about how this was really unique because it combined Celtic and Classical designs. 

The only natural hot spring in the UK 

Me and Jane Austen :)

The white door...that's Jane Austen's house!!!!

Alexandra at the Jane Austen tea room :)

Sounds like a great motto!

I can't believe there's only four weeks left...time is flying by!! 

xoxo,

Sarah

The rest of our awesome Switzerland trip

On Saturday we took a train to the small city of Luzern (technically spelled Lucerne the Swiss way). The city lies on a river with a lot of cute bridges and pretty much only winding cobblestone streets. Normally I tend to plan out days like this with exact directions to get to particular destinations, but Luzern was perfect for aimlessly wandering and discover all sorts of tiny narrow alleyways, really old buildings, and plenty of places to enjoy some fondue. Swiss chocolate is in fact incredible, and all the baked goods (especially the pretzels!) are quite yummy as well. I don’t mean to only blog about food, but I guess that’s what happens when you travel to France and Switzerland! So on that note, we ended our day trip to Luzern with traditional Swiss chocolate fondue at a really cozy fondue restaurant right on the river. 

Definitely enough Swiss chocolate to get us through a train ride

Lucerne!

A lot of cheese in Switzerland...almost as much as cheese as there is chocolate

Another pretty church....for a group of Brandeis kids we really did visit quite a lot of pretty churches...

Luzern at night

Fondue restaurant

We spent more time on Sunday wandering around Zurich. Turns out that on Sunday EVERYTHING in the city is completely closed. Even Bahnhofstrasse, the main street of the city, was totally dead and we felt like we had the entire city to ourselves! It was freezing but while walking along the river we managed to find an open cafe where we warmed up with Swiss hot chocolate. Also, we happened to come upon the Occupy Zurich protesters (a LOT smaller than the protest camp at St. Paul’s in London!), and a few of the protesters overheard us talking and got really excited that we were form the States. The two kids talking to us were the kindest protesters I had ever met! (The ones in London were kind of creepy..). I love everything about this city. I love that even though the streets and cafes can be crowded it’s still so peaceful and quiet (kind of like in Paris but more down to earth). And Swiss people really are SO nice. From all my recent travels, Swiss people seem to be the friendliest towards foreigners. Every local we met was so genuinely outgoing towards us. 

Our hotel

Empty Bahnhofstrasse on Sunday 

Protesters...although I don't know what anyone could possibly complain about in Switzerland!

I want to live right where this picture was taken
so I can wake up to this view every morning :)

yummy rich Swiss hot chocolate :)

Bare streets of Zurich

Three days is definitely not enough for Switzerland and I am definitely coming back to this amazingly great country. 

xoxo,

Sarah

Switzerland day 1: Exploring ZURICH!

This weekend my friends Megan, Jacob, Alexandra, and I are in Switzerland, getting one last trip outside the UK in before final exams and essays start taking over our lives. We’re staying in Zurich, and today we spent the day exploring the city. They speak German here, which is my far the biggest language barrier I’ve ever experienced (even in Paris, because since I’ve learned some Spanish, it was very easy to understand basic signs because Spanish is so close to French). But the people here are SO nice and friendly, and most of them speak English, so we haven’t had too much trouble getting around. 

This city actually feels like a fairytale. Narrow cobblestone streets with little houses of all different colors, medieval churches with high steeples, all surrounding a main modern street, Bahnhofstrasse, which is like Zurich’s 5th Ave and is known to be one of the most, if not the most, expensive street in the world.

We arrived at the hotel early this morning and even though we were exhausted we went straight to Bahnhofstrasse and walked down the street, eventually going off on a cute little side street and ending up in the heart of Zurich’s old city. We visited the three famous churches: St. Peter’s Church is Zurich’s oldest church which actually has God written in Hebrew above the altar to symbolize the importance of traditional biblical languages. It was put there during the Zwingli Reformation in the 1500s, which, inspired by Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation, ultimately led to the creation of Switzerland’s Evangelical Church. The Fraumunster Church is famous for its Marc Chagall stained glass windows, and the Grossmuster Church was cool because we could climb the stairs all the way up to platforms where we got gorgeous views of the city. 

Alexandra, Megan, and I by the Limmat River that runs through Zurich

Marc Chagall's stained glass in the Fraumunster church

Grossmunster Church

View from the top of Grossmusnter Church

Megan looking out onto Zurich

The adorable streets of Zurich!

Alexandra, Jacob, and Megan

St. Peter's Church!

Hebrew above the altar!

On our wanderings we tried delicious Swiss chocolate and yummy, doughy, pretzels. By the way, no one was kidding when they said this is the most expensive city in the world - the prices here are a little crazy for our student budgets!

We crossed the Limmat River and walked around the colorful, lively Niederdorf neighborhood where we stayed for dinner and had cheese fondue, of Switzerland’s most famous dishes. Honestly though, not my favorite - a little too cheesy.  

After dinner we walked around some more, because Zurich is such a wonderful city and I could walk around here for ever and ever, and for dessert we ended up at Sprungli, a famous Swiss chocolatier. Besides for beautiful chocolates and pastries they sold Luxemburgerli (or what are known as macaroons in every other European city), but here they were especially heavenly. 

Time for some Swiss pretzels!

Niederdorfstrasse!

Fondue!

Swiss chocolate...sooooo goooood

Megan and I enjoying out mini Luxemburgerli!

Tomorrow we’re taking a day trip to the little Swiss city of Luzern which should bring us a little bit farther into central Switzerland.

xoxo,

Sarah