Took a train through the jungle, didn't see any monkeys

The Brazilian adventures continue! Saturday we had free time in the morning, so after a wild night at the Schwartzwald Jordan and I happily slept in. Then in the afternoon we went to the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON). Niemeyer was a very famous Brazilian architect that designed many well-known modern buildings. He’s the guy that completely redesigned Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. Google it, it looks all crazy and futuristic.

The MON was designed by Niemeyer himself, so it was a really cool space. The building was cleanly designed and used a lot of reinforced concrete construction. (Oooooh somebody’s studying Civil Engineering…) The museum itself had a lot of cool modern art exhibits. My favorite was a pop art installation by Frida Kahlo. I usually don’t like museums (they make me sleepy) but this one was pretty rad! What’s even weirder is Niemeyer died on Dec 5^th – right before we came to Brazil! The guy was super old, over a hundred, but still designing buildings! Such a champ.

After MON, we all headed back to the city Centrum. There was a Christmas street vendor market type thing right next to our hotel that was complete with a multi cultural food stand place, so Jordan and I grabbed food there for dinner. I had some less than stellar Pierogies… I had high hopes because I heard there were a lot of Polish immigrants in Curitiba, but I was sadly disappointed. Then, Jordan and I got chocolate covered strawberries on a stick. Such a win – and for only $R 3.50  (a little less than $2). Take that Godiva! Later that night we went out to a bar in the historical district. We chilled out on their patio, drank beers, and ate a plate of cheese. No seriously, we ordered this dish because the only word we recognized was queijo (cheese) and it was literally just a platter of cheese cubes. No complaints here. We even ordered another one.

Sunday was a big excursion day. We took a scenic train to the city of Morretes. The disorderly clustery Brazilian train station made me want to pull my hair out. Damn my affinity for German trains and their efficiency! Now when I say scenic train ride, I mean scenic. I’m talkin’ a train that’s max speed is 30km/h, through the tropical jungle, in the mountains. It was an EXPERIENCE. The train was not air conditioned frustratingly slow - we weren’t even getting a breeze! It took us about 4 hours to go Morretes even though it's only about 60km from Curitiba. Luckily the crazy beautiful views of the mountains and jungle made it all worth it. We saw breathtaking sights, wild blue hydrangeas, and even the occasional waterfall! However we didn’t see any monkeys, which was deeply saddening. The jungle looked like something straight outta Tarzan so you’d think you would see a monkey or two.

Once we got to Morretes we bee-lined it to our lunch destination.  This city is famous for their traditional Brazilian meal featuring meat, fish, and more meat. The first item they brought out was a super slow cooked beef reminiscent of Chipotle’s Barbacoa. (It’s been 7 days since my last burrito, but who’s counting). Then they brought out fried fish, baked fish, fried shrimp, baked shrimp, shrimp balls, and mussels. It was SO delicious! Then we moseyed around the little city and I bought some souvenirs. The city was very interesting… it seems so reliant on the trainloads of people that arrive at noon and leave at 4pm. Kinda bizarre. We were on the slow train for a total of 8 hours that day, but that lunch meal was worth it! That night we stayed in and listened to a choral Christmas performance by adorable Brazilian children.

And that brings me to Monday – the day we flew to Rio de Janeiro! I’ll pick up from there soon, but what I can tell you now is the sand at the Copacabana is super soft, the city is a little stinky, and Brazilian bikinis show off your whole butt! Until next post!

Churrascaria: Where champions are made

This country is awesome. I've been having so much fun eating, drinking, and playing my way through Curitiba. We've eaten like kings and queens and seen many of the sweet sites Curitiba has to offer!

My last post was from Wednesday evening when we first arrived at the hotel. We had just met up with Kyle, and thank GOODNESS we did because we would have really struggled without him. Plus, he's simply amazing so that's nice too. Our Brazilian TA, Ana, gave us a restaurant suggestion for dinner, so we went to Maredo - a restaurant claiming to have "the best burger in the world". While it was delicious, I still prefer Terry's in Cincy. What was amazing at Maredo was their Caipirinha! Caipirinha is a traditional Brazilian drink with cachaça (sugar cane rum), sugar and lime. OMG it is FANTASTIC. Like a Marg, BUT BETTER. I think I'm in love. Dinner was great, the company was better, and the Caipirinha was THE best. Really, it's that good.

Thursday we toured around Curitiba on one of those double decker tour busses. It was a little pricey, but a great way to see the city! Our first stop was the Botanic Gardens. The greenhouse of the gardens is a really cool structure. We walked around and enjoyed the warm weather for a bit before heading to our next destination - the Curitiba University for the Environment. It's a great environmental school built with all reclaimed materials in an old quarry. There's a really cool pathway made out of old telephone poles. Also, we saw a black swan! Natalie! Then we visited the Tanguá Park which is another example of urban space being re-utilized. It had a great view of the city and we could see lavish mansions right next to shack-like houses. Interesting juxtaposition. Our last stop was a TV tower that had INCREDIBLE views of this sprawling city. The amount of high rise apartment buildings is insane! Later that evening we went out for dinner at this Italian restaurant called Spaghetto. The food was AMAZING. We've been eating so well here in Curitiba!

Friday we visited the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) - a partner University with the Niehoff Studio. The professor at UFPR is a friend of Professor Russell and used to teach our TA Ana. It was interesting seeing how different the University is here. It's a public institution, and they have so little money that they couldn't even afford toilet paper. Kinda weird! We ate at the University dining hall and it was also very different. Most notably, they had a hand washing station right as you entered the cafeteria area - very smart! Afterward, we had a short break at the hotel, so naturally I napped. Then later we went out for dinner at a Churrascaria aka a Brazilian steak house.

First of all, let me say that this was the most awesome eating experience I've ever had in my life. And, I like to eat so I've had quite a few glorious eating experiences. This was unlike anything I had ever done before! SO MUCH AMAZING FOOD. So here's the deal... It was about an hour wait to get into the restaurant. During that time I drank a couple of Xingus (my fav Brazilian beer). Then, we get seated and are told we should go to the buffet in the middle of the restaurant. Here's where they try and trick you! They want you to fill up on yummy salads and snackies so you eat less delectable meat. But I wasn't so easily fooled! I was able to nom on the buffet food and also slam incredibly hard on the meats. There are people that just walk around with various kinds of meats on skewers and they shave them off onto your plate. OMGOMGOMG best meat ever. They had it all - steak, filet, pork, beef, even chicken hearts! I wasn't brave enough to try one, but Jordan did! My favorite meats were the filet and the pork thing. So savory! And the beers just kept flowing. OOH ALSO, there was this magical Brazilian cheese thing that was grilled and melty but also still pretty solid. Like I said, magical. And oh so delicious! So I stuffed my face with excessive amounts of food and then ended my eating experience with a fried banana covered in chocolate. Like I said, champions are made at the Churrascaria.

After the Churrascaria a couple of us went out to Schwartzwald - a German bar! It was super Bavarian style so Remo and I were quite in our element. We chatted in German all night and drank beer out of little mugs. We ordered Submarinos which were beers with a shot of Jägermeister in them... kinda gross but we got to keep the little shot glasses as a souvenir so that was cool. Sorry that this post is so text heavy. I've been having trouble charging my camera batteries so I've been slacking in the photo department. Hopefully I'll go back and add some pictures later. Until next post, ciao ciao!

Tampere, Finland

Finland?! Yes Finland. This past weekend I hopped on another Ryanair flight and headed north to the beautiful land of lakes.  In Tampere I was met at the airport my my sweet Noora.  My family hosted Noora as a foreign exchange student during my junior year of high school.  Five years later, Noora got to return the favor and host me for a weekend in Tampere!

After another goofy flight with Ryanair (everything about this airline cracks me up - the great lengths at which one must go to reach their remote airports, the ridiculous classical music they play when boarding the plane, the obnoxious blue and yellow interior, and the celebratory bugle blow when the flight successfully lands...) Noora and her boyfriend Toni met me at the Tampere airport.  It has been about 3 years since I had last seen Noora, and she looked just as cute as ever!  Plus, she has a great boyfriend who is in a band and a super legit skier! During the ride back from the airport, we immediately started catching each other up on one another's lives.  As we drove through Tampere, I couldn't help to notice how serene and peaceful everything felt.  The beautiful scenery combined with the calm lakes and the over all lack of people made me feel very relaxed and welcomed into Noora's country.  We got back to her place (an adorable little efficency apartment - I would expect nothing less!) and headed to the supermarket to grab supplies for dinner.  The supermarket was essentially the same as German supermarkets, except for the massive fish selection.  We grabbed a slab of salmon, fresh veggies, and a loaf of bread and then headed back to Noora's place where we (mostly Toni) whipped up a delicious dinner.  Then we went for a stroll along one of the lakes near Noora's apartment and I got to experience a BEAUTIFUL Finnish sunset.  The sun sets so late in Finalnd (it's still pretty bright around 11:30pm) but the sunsets make it worth the wait!  After our stroll, we got ready for bed, watched some of the Olympic opening ceremonies (which were crazy!), and chatted until we fell asleep.

Reunited!

So yummy. So sooo sososooo yummy.

Hey beautiful sunset!

So beautifuuuul!

Toni, Noora, and I enjoying a lovely sunset!

So awesome!

Saturday was a full day of Finnish adventuring.  We woke up relatively early and headed to meet up with Toni at a bike rental place.  We got ourselves some bikes and started off towards a Finnish breakfast place where I had the absolute best rice porridge I've ever eaten.  After stuffing ourselves full of Finnish breakfast, we set out to bike around the other lake surrounding Tampere (Tampere is situated between two lakes of different elevations and mad made channels run through the city connecting the two lakes).  We biked around the whole day, seeing old factories, well-pruned parks, and an authentic gelato place.  We even biked up the tallest hill in Tampere which is home to an old watch tower and the best Munkki in the city.  We were rewarded with the best view of Tampere as well as the tastiest Munkki!

View from the top!

Munkki. It may look like your ordinary powdered donut, but its oh so much more!

Tampere is a truly beautiful city.  What it may lack in quantity (as the third largest city in Finland, Tampere rings in at about 300,000 inhabitants) it most certainly makes up with quality.  Everything is so clean and well pruned!  The buildings range from old wooden houses, to stone mansions, to brick factories, to new glass apartment complexes.  Oh, and the lakes.  Have I already mentioned the lakes?  Yes?  Oh well, I'm going to mention them again.  The lakes in Finland and clean and calm and freaking gorgeous.  I jumped into one of them.  Yes, I bought a bikini for 6€ at H&M and I jumped into a super frigid Finnish lake (Noora and Toni did too).  Then the three of us snuck into a sauna without paying!  How crazy!  I almost died in the sauna.  The only seats left were in the corner furthest from the hot rocks, so I sat up in the very corner.  Right after some older man in a very tiny speedo poured more water onto the hot rocks, Noora informed me that where I was sitting was the hottest place in the sauna.  Then the heat hit me like a wall.  I could barely breathe!  So what did I do?  Went and jumped back into the freezing lake, and then came back to the sauna where I found a better seating arrangement.  That was truly and unforgettable experience!

In the lake! Cheesin'!

After my crazy lake/sauna experience, we decided to go out for pizza.  We all ate whole pizza by ourselves, and I think with all the biking we did that we earned our pizzas fair and square.  We headed back to Noora's place and gabbed the night away.  Noora and Toni introduced me to the Finnish cartoon series Muumi, or The Moomins.  Apparently it is also a sensation in Japan.  Of course.  I can't believe Noora didn't tell me about this 5 years ago because now I'm kinda obsessed.  Just have a look:

Sunday we got up, returned our bikes, and then headed to this awesome little waffle place.  They served sweet and savory waffles.  I opted for a savory waffle and got one with salmon (when in Finland!), sour cream, and dill.  To say it was delicious would be an understatement.  Then before I knew it, I had to part ways with my Finnish sister and her awesome Finnish boyfriend and head back to Germany.  I think my favorite part of the weekend was discovering that no matter where we are, or what we are doing with our lives, Noora and I can pick up right where we left off and act just like we did back in high school - sisters. 

Just had to include a picture of this epic waffle

And last but not least, me and my beautiful Finnish sister!

Hamburg

This past weekend I made my first foray into Northern Germany and visited my friend Michelle.  Michelle has been living and working in the burg of Hams for about a month now, and I have been wanting to visit, so this past weekend I made it happen.  I got to Hamburg using a good ol' Mitfahrgelegenheit for 22€ each way, can't beat it!  I was a little nervous since my last experience with ride sharing left me stranded in Berlin, but I'm pleased to report this time was much better.  I didn't get into the city until a bit after 10 on Friday evening and upon arrival I was greeted by Michelle at the train station.  Together we headed to a 'Sex, drugs, and rock & roll' themed party at her place of work.  Germans are crazy, designers are crazy, so you can only imagine how crazy a party thrown be German designers was.  Plus there was an open bar.  I'm just going to skim over the rest of the evening...

Fast forward many libations and a few hours and Michelle and I were waking up with große Kater (look it up).  Luckily Michelle lives around the corner from an American style breakfast all day diner called Mamalicious.  It basically saved my life on Saturday.

Thank goodness for Mamalicious. (Note my coffee mug)

After we mustered up some strength, we headed to the Miniatur-Wunderland, home of the world's largest model train!  The walk there was through Hamburg's Speicherstadt - a little island full of old warehouses.  Hamburg is a harbor city with tons of bridges and canals.  Even more canals than Amsterdam and Venice says tourguide Michelle.

Bridge and harbor action

Building the crazy Hamburg symphonie building

Me and a canal running through the Speicherstadt

So this Miniatur-Wunderland.  I'm going to go ahead and say it was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in my live.  The scale, the modeling, the figurines, the DETAIL.  I just couldn't believe it.  Every scene was so intricate, so involved, so well schemed.  There were mini versions of cities in Germany, Switzerland, Scandanavia, and the good old USA.  There was a mini airport with mini planes that would take off, and a mini terminal with mini parking garages filled with mini cars and mini people.  The people were just barely bigger than a Polly Pocket, to give you an idea for scale.  Not only were the trains and the tracks super cool on their own, but the scenes that they weaved throughout were just absolutely insane!  For example:

A couple fornicating in the bushes

A mini music festival

The grand canyon and some pueblos

Mini Hamburg

We were so exhausted after the Mini-Wunderland (and still not feeling our best) so we headed back to Michelle's places for a nap.  After a sufficiently long snooze we made some delicious guacamole and watched Harry Potter movies into the wee hours of the night.  We needed a night in after the craziness that was Friday.  Sunday we woke up feeling very well rested and set off to see more of the city.  We walked around Michelle's neighborhood as well as the Altstadt downtown before eventually heading to the infamous Reeperbahn and red light district.  Conclusion: Hamburg is rad.

A shanty town near where Michelle lives! Safe!

Cool German squalor

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, one of my favorite train stations yet!

Rathaus aka town hall

Super old partially destroyed church whose name escapes me...

Lofty claims on the Reeperbahn...

The harbor. So cool!

Schroeder Eurotrip Part 1

As I excitedly stated in my last blog post… my parents and Trev are here visiting me in Germany!  The arrived to Düsseldorf on Saturday the 16^th and ever since then we’ve been adventuring around Germany and beyond! Monday through Thursday the three of them stayed with my roomies and I in Wuppertal, and while I was at work they trotted around North Rhine Westphalia visiting Köln, Düsseldorf, Bonn and everywhere in between.  I was able to join them for some adventures (mostly revolving around eating) after I got off work, and I was lucky enough to take the day off on Friday so we could all travel to Munich together Thursday evening.  My dad rented a car, an Audi A6 of course, and we drove on the autobahn down to Munich. 

Friday morning we woke up early with an ambitious schedule ahead of us.  We jumped into our lovely rental car and headed south, to Austria, where we found the Zugspitze!  The Zugspitze is an awesome huge gondola that takes you to the top of one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The peak also happens to be right on the border between Germany and Austria, so I was technically in two countries while I was on top of this ridiculous mountain.  The views were truly marvelous, and I even got to eat “Germany’s highest Bratwurst”.  After we spent some time on the mountaintop, we headed back down and started our drive to Neuschwanstein castle.  It was only a short trip from the Zugspitze to the castle, so before no time we joined the other hoards of tourists and headed up to the castle.  It was awesome to see the fairy tale castle in real life, and it’s no wonder King Ludwig would want to build his castle there – the landscape is incredible!

Oh hey Alps! 

On my way up the Zugspitze!

Reppin' my bearcats on a mountain top, the usual.

In the clouds!

Oh hey Neuschwanstein!

Just missing one!

 After an incredibly filled morning and afternoon we headed back to Munich to catch a public viewing at the Olympic Stadium of the Germany vs Greece Eurocup game.  As if we hadn’t done enough that day, we decided to rally and get rowdy with the Germans.  The atmosphere of the Olympic stadium was awesome, and Germany gave Greece a proper spanking so everyone left in a good mood.

German fanatics!

Saturday we woke up a little later and decided to take the day to roam around the city and sample the local food and beverages.  We visited biergartens big and small and enjoyed food and drink.  We started the day at Augusteiner brauhaus where I enjoyed some dunkel beer and German spatzel.  We wandered around the shopping district and saw the Glockenspiel.  After some more walking around, we headed to the Hofbrauhaus München where Ian met back up with us to watch the Spain vs France game.  Spain ended up winning which is unfortunate because they will be a worthy opponent of Germany, in the event Germany makes it to the final. 

Sunday we took advantage of the Bayern group ticket and all five of us headed across the border to Salzburg.  We visited the glamorous palace/state rooms of the regent princes and toured the fortress of a castle.  We got to see the room where Mozart first preformed and walk around inside the walls of one of the most fortified castles in Europe.  I wish that we had more time to spend in this beautiful city, but alas, I had to head all the way back to Wuppertal that evening for work the following week.  My family is going to keep adventuring around Switzerland and Germany until we meet in Paris June 28^th!  Schroeder Eurotrip is going strong!

The Salzburg castle!

View from the top! Beautiful!

SCHROEDER EUROTRIP!

The Schroeders are in Germany! Well... I'm sure there are already a lot of Schroeders in Germany... but as of Saturday morning there are three more!  That's right, my mom, dad, and brother Trev have invaded my apartment and are vacaying in Germany for a couple weeks!  I am so happy to have them here AHHHHH!

While I'm at work every day (bummer!) they will be exploring around North Rhine Westphalia.  Over this past weekend we battled jetlag (I considered myself also to be jetlagged because I had to wake up at 4:45am Saturday morning to pick them up!) and visited Köln and Bonn.  We just roamed around and were our usual silly selves.  I haven't laughed this much in months!  On Thursday we'll all be venturing down to southern Germany and staying in Munich (I can't seem to get enough of that city!) and over the weekend we will see Neuschwanstein Castle and the Zugspitze and of course the original Hofbräuhaus München!

If that wasn't enough to make you jealous, next weekend we're heading to PARIS!  Where we will adventure around the beautiful city of love and eat delicious food and drink delicious drinks.  Oh, and Ian and I will be attending the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS concert there! ONLY JUST MY MOST FAVORITE BAND IN THE WORLD!!!  Needless to say I've got a lot of look forward to these next two weeks, so I'm sorry if my blog is a little neglected!  MIA might be MIA for a lil bit!