Florence – Easter Break in Italy Pt. 2

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The Italian countryside

Following my stay in Venice, I was dropped off by the Germans I carpooled with at the Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. It was already kind of late by then, so I just walked around a bit, spending the rest of the evening scoping out where I would sleep for the night.

I ended up staying right where I was dropped off at – right in the parking garage for the train station for the next three nights. It was an underground parking garage, and I simply walked in via the vehicle entrance and went all the way down to the bottom floor. Figuring that most people would park in the higher levels, I laid out my cardboard roll at the bottom of the stairwell and went to sleep.

*Pro-tip: while not necessarily the safest places, parking garages have proven to be excellent sleeping locations in a bind! Continue reading

Venice – Easter Break in Italy Pt. 1

I spent a semester abroad in Germany in 2012. Since I was there in the spring, Easter happened and with it came a solid 2 weeks of break from university. I wasn’t sure where to go, but I eventually settled on Italy. The only issue was that I couldn’t really find accommodation. The flight itself was cheap, I think I paid around 50€ round trip, but lodging was much harder to come by. It seems that everyone else from Germany also wanted to go to Italy, so all the hostels were either full or only had incredibly expensive rooms left. Couchsurfing also didn’t prove fruitful as everyone was either busy/gone or already had a surfer. Continue reading

Zeta Brewery Exhibition

About a month ago, a Meetup group that I am a member of had an event where the co-founder of the Zeta brewery came by to talk about their beer in Cologne, Germany. The Zeta Brewery is a Spanish beer hailing from Alboraya, Spain and in a country that is traditionally more focused on wine, craft beers are just starting to pick up.

The event was held in an interesting shared living and working space called Wertheim where you could rent out office desks, rooms, and/or residential apartments. They also had a bar which one could rent/use at the ground level, which is where the event was held. Continue reading

Zeta Rauchbier & Amber Ale review

I just barely got to taste these two beers from the Zeta Brewery while they were presenting, so this post will be a brief brush up on both of them.

The first of the two beers I tried was the limited edition Rauchbier called the Zendra.

Brewery: Zeta
Brewery Location: Alboraya, Spain
Alcohol: 7.8%

Carlos, the co-founder of the Zeta brewery and who was the one presenting the beers, said that this was a bit more salmony, but I didn’t quite get that. I am familiar with rauchbiers, though, which is maybe why I wasn’t surprised by the smokiness. For reference, “rauchbier” means “smoke/smoky beer” in German, and when you drink one, you definitely get a sense of smokiness. I love them, but they aren’t for everyone. Continue reading