Brewery: Not sure
Brewery Location: I believe Sweden, but I am not positive
Alcohol: Unsure
While I was in Sweden, I asked for a local beer, and this is what I got. I am not positive about too much other than the name and my experience with it. I tried looking it up online, but I failed to find much information on it. Continue reading
After my disastrous attempt at getting to Sweden, we arrived in a lovely city blanketed in snow.
It gets cold in Cologne, but usually not enough for it to snow, so this was a pleasant change. The first part of our trip entailed my 2 friends and me retrieving a bike that my friend had left there and bringing it to the hostel, which we would later take to the airport to bring back to Cologne. Later in the evening we contended ourselves with walking around the city. At one point there was a Nazi demonstration, and they had the most beat up cars I have ever seen. Continue reading
The night before my friends and I went to Sweden, a holiday was taking place in Cologne where everyone goes out drinking. We had an early flight, about 8am if I recall correctly, but I still wanted to go out with some friends for a while. So we went out drinking, but I knew I couldn’t drink too much or stay out too late. I went home around 9 or so, although I still couldn’t fall asleep until midnight.
My alarm went off at around 5 or so, and I groggily dragged myself out of bed. I had not previously packed, but I was only going for a few nights, so it wasn’t like I needed much. I made sure I had my tickets, I packed some clothes and toiletries and a thicker jacket. I then considered checking my “to pack” list which I keep on the computer (something I will post about later—it’s incredibly helpful).
I figured that I was only going for a couple days, so what could I really forget that was so important? I opted to not check my list and instead left my house. I met up with my friends on the train and we proceeded to travel to the airport in Düsseldorf. About halfway to the airport, it suddenly struck me that I had not packed my passport. I casually brought it up to my friends, and they seemed to think I was joking at first, but I had to stress to them that I was serious. Continue reading
Brewery: Störtebeker
Location: Stralsund, Germany
Alcohol: 5%
This was just a beer that I found for sale in Germany. During the Christmas markets in Germany, you can always find Glühwein, which would directly translate to “glow wine” although it is never called that. In the UK, they call it mulled wine, but I have never personally even heard of it in the USA. Glühwein / mulled wine is usually a red wine that is additionally seasoned with spices and sometimes certain fruits. It is then usually heated up so it is hot, like a hot chocolate or coffee would be. When I first came to Germany, I was skeptical of drinking warm wine, but I eventually learned to love it, and now it’s one of the things I look forward to the most when it’s winter and the markets open up. Continue reading
Brewery: Warka
Country of origin: Warka, Poland
Alcohol: 6.5%
This was just a beer that I picked up in a Polish market here in Germany. It is a stronger Pils, which I guess is the reason that it has a higher than average alcohol content. Continue reading
I woke up after sleeping right next to the illuminating Colosseum feeling nice and refreshed, ready to head out into the city. At first, I simply walked through the city for a while.
A random Roman street
I arrived in Rome via the train sometime around noon. I was tired from generally traveling, as well as my general lack of sleep, so without a specific destination in mind, I simply wandered around the train station. Almost immediately, an ancient looking structure caught my attention and I wandered towards it.
I made my way inside the Baths of Diocletian museum, which had an impressive display of ancient Roman artifacts inside.
In the garden outside the museum
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
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
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