brief summary of my europe trip:

so guys, i'm back from a highly hectic and stressful trip around europe. 12 cities in 10 days. and we (I) drove to all these places as my friends dont drive. so basically that's about 4,500 kms in 10 days.

Germany:
frankfurt - not much to see..

dachau - first concentration camp started by hitler.

munich - party place! went to Hof BrauHaus (Main Beer House) where hitler first made his evil ideas public. now its got great beer, great atmosphere, no hitler.

Austria:
salzburg - mozart's birth place, "The Sound of Music" locations.

vienna - beautiful palaces, very interesting treasury museum.

Italy:
vicenza - great artwork, some ruins, hot women, and yummy food.

venice - too hyped.. yet ok enough to visit once. took a gondola ride.. felt like i was cruising the sewers of venice. as i said, too hyped. but there was a beautiful church and the ocean front's worth it too.

florence - one of the best cities ever! one of the most beautiful cathedrals (Duomo) i've ever seen. one thing about the Duomo that i noticed - as gorgeous as it is on the outside, the inside is very sparse/plain/bland.. so much so it looks incomplete. beautiful roman theater ruins. awesome museums. the original david sculpted by michaelanglo. da vinci, michaelangelo, raphael everywhere you look. quaint little cafes and restaurants.

pisa - nothing to look at but the leaning tower. felt the 4 hour drive (one way) wasn't that worth it. but yeah, on the bright side, real cheap souvenirs! :)

Switzerland:
zermatt - snowboarding in minus 12C was amazing. i'd do it again if only i'd get over my fear of chopped off fingers due to frost bite.

interlaken - tons of stuff to do (especially in the summer) but not much to do in winter. quaint little town. some locales from the DDLJ (Hindi movie) shoot.

luzern - beautiful mountains, very friendly people, and a winter sports galore. really arty chapel bridge; a water tower that was used as an archive, treasury, prison and torture chamber; a beautiful lion monument carved out of natural rock; plenty of churches; and old city squares.

as many of you will notice, this summary is a shoddy cut and paste job. still trying to recuperate from the stress.

i need a vacation from my vacation.