Are from Amsterdam...I told Katie that I just screamed tourist :) The rest are bikes there, street performers, a cute little kid playing with the pigeons :) And Katie being goofy on our night train to Copenhagen :)
More to come!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Whoops...today is our last day in Greece :)
Sarah speaking:
Last post was our last night in Athens...now we're sitting at the tourist center taking advantage of the free internet before we have to get on our ferry that will take us to Bari, Italy at 6pm. We'll arrive there at 8am (gaining an hour, woo hoo!), get on a train at 1:30 for Naples, probably go eat pizza at the famous pizza place from the book Eat, Pray, Love, and then visit Pompei the next day before heading to Rome.
We were on the island of Santorini the past 5 nights. 4 were spent on the island, last night was spent at the Athens airport :) Our ferry got in at midnight (how inconvenient is that!), so we hooked up with a couple from Austrailia that is traveling for a YEAR (and we thought 2 and a half months was a long time!), and scoped out a spot in the airport and tried (and failed) to sleep. Oh well...that means we'll be more tired tonight and hopefully sleep on the ferry. The 4 nights we were in Santorini were great though! The island wasn't necessarily what I expected...I think I built it up in my mind too much. But we had a good time one day renting a 4 wheeler and exploring the entire island,we got to see an amazing sunset in Oia too. Then we spent the next two nights in Perissa, and our hostel was a 6 minute walk from the beach...Katie was overjoyed :) We spent the entire next day at the beach (I hung out in the shade a majority of the day, we both got a little burnt (but Katie did wear sunscreen mom :) We climbed to ancient Thera the next morning (very hot but swimming felt so good afterwards!), then caught the ferry back to the mainland that afternoon.
Our funny story from the night before: we decided to switch to the 24 bed dorm in the basement because it was only 4 euro per person! Our bunks were way in the back the furthest away from the door, so we were completely thinking we were going to have this great night's sleep...well, we were woken up at 4:30am to the worst snoring we had ever heard in our life! But both of us felt too bad to go wake him up since we had never met him before, so we just had to deal with it for a long time until he finally rolled over :) Katie actually got out of bed and videotaped him :)
Thanks for all of the good vibes and for following our adventure...this computer won't let me upload pictures, but I'll try to do that asap...Sorry Anne, we didn't get to see any princesses :( But I'll keep an eye out at the next castle we go to...hi to all the schobels!!!!
Way to use the bikes Missy...we'll have to get together when I'm back in town to catch up! Sue, you have fun with Jordan at the concert...make sure to take some pictures for me! Hi to Dale!
Well, we have to go board our ferry...I got homesick a couple of days ago, and I'm glad that I get to be home come August! And you're right Mom, we will need a vacation from our vacation...that's why you and Susie are coming ;) Tell her good luck in the half marathon! Tell her I'll run one with her in the fall so I can get back into shape :)
Off to Italy! We'll have some pizza, pasta and gelato for you all! (That's all we plan on eating the whole time we're there ;)
LOVE,
Sarah and Katie
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Last night in Greece...tomorrow on to Santorini!
Hello all,
Today was Athens in a day :) We left the hostel at 9am and didn't get back here until almost 6, with only a 45 minute lunch break, so we were busy busy busy! The Acropolis was cool, except that it's been under construction since 2000, so there's scaffolding in all of our pictures, but if you can look past that, it's amazing to imagine what everything looked like way back when, and how they constructed everything to last so long without the use of modern machines! We got to go in a museum and saw all sorts of cool artifacts that were found at the site, and they came up with some really creative ways to do things we take for granted, like time speeches, and keep their wine cool, neat :) Last night we treated ourselves to dinner at a cafe, and even though the food was really good, we decided it wasn't worth the 20 euro we spent, and we're better off eating a large cheap lunch from now on, and having a smaller dinner before bed. That's what we did today, and we each had two of the most AMAZING gyros ever for lunch! SO good, and we loved every bite...of both... :)
Ok, our ferry ride...insane. We got on, and it is more like a mini cruise boat, so we staked out a spot on the deck loungers thinking that would be more comfortable than sleeping on the concrete floor on the deck below. So that meant that in order to save them, we had to spend all day near them, hence, we were in the sun the whole two days...I lathered on the sunscreen (Katie was loving it, she spent a lot of the time tanning :), and tried to read or write in my journal in the shade. The other bad part was that everyone smokes everywhere, so it was hard to get away from that. And we met a few other travelers while up on the deck, one guy who was traveling for 5 monthes, a couple of girls from Austrailia, and then this guy who was probably the most negative person we've met on the trip, and maybe one of the most I've ever met...he complained about EVERYTHING, and was one of those people who doesn't know when not to talk to them when they want to be left alone...kinda annoying and it's hard to be by yourself, you can't get off the boat :)
Bedtime comes along, so KAtie and I start setting up our sleeping bags on the loungers, locking our bags up beneath us (every other deck passenger was doing the same thing, so don't worry mom :), and just as we're getting into our bags...it begins to rain :) We're like, WHAT? The guy on the boat said it never rains! This, of course, gave our negative friend one more thing to complain about...so we had to move to a spot over by the bathrooms on the lifejacket boxes, and tried to sleep there, but it was rattling a lot and loud (it reminded me of trying to sleep on the floor of the bus during my long soccer trips...not good ;), and I didn't sleep much...around 6am, we moved back onto the loungers, and slept for a couple more hours until people started moving around on the deck and going in the pool and stuff...then it was another long day in the sun...
We got into Patras, and these other people we met while getting off the ship were going to find a budget hotel...but it would have been like, 16 euro a person, and katie and I had found a camping site that looked really nice on the website (we checked the website that day on the ship), so we were like, well, let's just do that, it's only going to be 6 euro a person. So we wait for and get on the bus (Really funny, all of the city buses were Mercedes coach buses :), and talked to the guy on the bus for awhile and he says it will drop us off right in front of the campground. So it does, and we get off, the bus leaves...and the campground is closed...it's dark, and we're 30minutes from anything in the main city...great...so we start walking into the campground anyway to see if we can find anyone, and this guy stops us right as we're going in, and is like, the campground is closed, we are repairing from the earthquake (apparently it hit patras more than a lot of other places), and we're like, we have nowhere else to go! So he's like, there's another campground down the road, come on, I'll drive you there...okay, I know we're not supposed to get in cars with strangers, but this guy was old, nice enough to offer,and obviously the owner of the campground we were at. And he has a nice truck...so we get in,kinda nervous, drive 5 minutes down the road,and he drops us off by a sign that says Campground 500 meters. So we start walking, and thankfully it's a lit road,and all of the houses look very nice, but we're kinda nervous we're going to get there, and this campsite will be closed to, and now we're farther out without other options, and these dogs keep jumping up and barking at us from behind the fences as we're walking by, but we finally get to the campsite, pay, and she leads us to our spot.
Now,we're thinking that it will be like the other ones we've been to, where they just have a big field for the tents...but this is more of a camper campground and apparently they are really full for a Thursday night. She points to a spot between two trees that is just large enough for our tent, and right in between two other tents, the couple next to us is just looking at us, and it was really akward. And we were tired and hungry, so got some fries at the restaurant (the cheapest thing on the menu), and by now it's almost 11:30, so we just went right to bed. Got up the next morning, walked to the bus stop, got to the train station, and headed for Athens! So a crazy couple of days, but it was a great adventure, and makes for a good story to tell :) But next time it's late and we're looking for a place to stay, we'll just go to the budget hotel :)
We're off to watch the Greece soccer game at a bar...hopefully it's an exciting one! Hi to all, and don't get too wet, we heard everyone is having a lot of rain it seems. LOVE YOU ALL! Talk to you soon!
Sarah and Katie
Today was Athens in a day :) We left the hostel at 9am and didn't get back here until almost 6, with only a 45 minute lunch break, so we were busy busy busy! The Acropolis was cool, except that it's been under construction since 2000, so there's scaffolding in all of our pictures, but if you can look past that, it's amazing to imagine what everything looked like way back when, and how they constructed everything to last so long without the use of modern machines! We got to go in a museum and saw all sorts of cool artifacts that were found at the site, and they came up with some really creative ways to do things we take for granted, like time speeches, and keep their wine cool, neat :) Last night we treated ourselves to dinner at a cafe, and even though the food was really good, we decided it wasn't worth the 20 euro we spent, and we're better off eating a large cheap lunch from now on, and having a smaller dinner before bed. That's what we did today, and we each had two of the most AMAZING gyros ever for lunch! SO good, and we loved every bite...of both... :)
Ok, our ferry ride...insane. We got on, and it is more like a mini cruise boat, so we staked out a spot on the deck loungers thinking that would be more comfortable than sleeping on the concrete floor on the deck below. So that meant that in order to save them, we had to spend all day near them, hence, we were in the sun the whole two days...I lathered on the sunscreen (Katie was loving it, she spent a lot of the time tanning :), and tried to read or write in my journal in the shade. The other bad part was that everyone smokes everywhere, so it was hard to get away from that. And we met a few other travelers while up on the deck, one guy who was traveling for 5 monthes, a couple of girls from Austrailia, and then this guy who was probably the most negative person we've met on the trip, and maybe one of the most I've ever met...he complained about EVERYTHING, and was one of those people who doesn't know when not to talk to them when they want to be left alone...kinda annoying and it's hard to be by yourself, you can't get off the boat :)
Bedtime comes along, so KAtie and I start setting up our sleeping bags on the loungers, locking our bags up beneath us (every other deck passenger was doing the same thing, so don't worry mom :), and just as we're getting into our bags...it begins to rain :) We're like, WHAT? The guy on the boat said it never rains! This, of course, gave our negative friend one more thing to complain about...so we had to move to a spot over by the bathrooms on the lifejacket boxes, and tried to sleep there, but it was rattling a lot and loud (it reminded me of trying to sleep on the floor of the bus during my long soccer trips...not good ;), and I didn't sleep much...around 6am, we moved back onto the loungers, and slept for a couple more hours until people started moving around on the deck and going in the pool and stuff...then it was another long day in the sun...
We got into Patras, and these other people we met while getting off the ship were going to find a budget hotel...but it would have been like, 16 euro a person, and katie and I had found a camping site that looked really nice on the website (we checked the website that day on the ship), so we were like, well, let's just do that, it's only going to be 6 euro a person. So we wait for and get on the bus (Really funny, all of the city buses were Mercedes coach buses :), and talked to the guy on the bus for awhile and he says it will drop us off right in front of the campground. So it does, and we get off, the bus leaves...and the campground is closed...it's dark, and we're 30minutes from anything in the main city...great...so we start walking into the campground anyway to see if we can find anyone, and this guy stops us right as we're going in, and is like, the campground is closed, we are repairing from the earthquake (apparently it hit patras more than a lot of other places), and we're like, we have nowhere else to go! So he's like, there's another campground down the road, come on, I'll drive you there...okay, I know we're not supposed to get in cars with strangers, but this guy was old, nice enough to offer,and obviously the owner of the campground we were at. And he has a nice truck...so we get in,kinda nervous, drive 5 minutes down the road,and he drops us off by a sign that says Campground 500 meters. So we start walking, and thankfully it's a lit road,and all of the houses look very nice, but we're kinda nervous we're going to get there, and this campsite will be closed to, and now we're farther out without other options, and these dogs keep jumping up and barking at us from behind the fences as we're walking by, but we finally get to the campsite, pay, and she leads us to our spot.
Now,we're thinking that it will be like the other ones we've been to, where they just have a big field for the tents...but this is more of a camper campground and apparently they are really full for a Thursday night. She points to a spot between two trees that is just large enough for our tent, and right in between two other tents, the couple next to us is just looking at us, and it was really akward. And we were tired and hungry, so got some fries at the restaurant (the cheapest thing on the menu), and by now it's almost 11:30, so we just went right to bed. Got up the next morning, walked to the bus stop, got to the train station, and headed for Athens! So a crazy couple of days, but it was a great adventure, and makes for a good story to tell :) But next time it's late and we're looking for a place to stay, we'll just go to the budget hotel :)
We're off to watch the Greece soccer game at a bar...hopefully it's an exciting one! Hi to all, and don't get too wet, we heard everyone is having a lot of rain it seems. LOVE YOU ALL! Talk to you soon!
Sarah and Katie
Friday, June 13, 2008
GREECE!!!
Well everyone, we're safe and and sound in Patras, Greece! the ferry here from Venice took 30 hours...ohmygosh, I never want to be on a ship for that long again...unless it's a cruise and we have a cabin :) We left Freiburg on Tuesday after some much needed recoup time. We got into Venice late, so went right to the campgound, had some pizza and went to bed...we were woken up at 6am by these puppies from this house right across the street (I think they're part of the owners of the campground or something) jumping all over our tent! What the heck! So I (Sarah) jump out of the tent and katie shields them from coming in, and I try to shoo them away but they think I'm playing and they're jumping all over me and biting (puppy bites) at my legs and stuff (good thing I had jeans on when I was sleeping) and I walk over to the house where they're from, and they're all basically hanging on my legs, and there's a woman inside sweeping the floor, and I'm like, Are these your dogs? And she doesn't understand English, and she comes outside and they're still biting at my pants and she kinda shoos them off of me like it's no big deal and they go over to their food dishes...thankfully no holes in the tent, so it's okay Dad :) Time on the watch: 6am...thanks a lot puppies... :) It's useless to go back to sleep for an hour, so we pack up, wait for the bus to come, get to the train station on the island of venice, and have to walk a ways to get to teh port. By the time we get there and get our deck passes (16 euro a piece but all the upgrades are way too expensive), it's like, 9:45 and there's nowhere to store our luggage before the ship leaves at 2, so we take turns going into the city. So we got to see Venice for like, an hour each :) But it was cool, and we were there in the morning before it got super busy, and we at least got to see the gondaliers (sp?). We didn't get to eat any gelato while there though, so we can't wait to get back to Italy after being in Greece to eat some :)
No time left on the computer here at the info place, so more to come when we get to our hostel in Athens!!! We miss you guys, and thanks for the posts! (although, we're already out of Germany Laura, but we did like Munchen a lot :)
Love from Greece!
Sarah and Katie
No time left on the computer here at the info place, so more to come when we get to our hostel in Athens!!! We miss you guys, and thanks for the posts! (although, we're already out of Germany Laura, but we did like Munchen a lot :)
Love from Greece!
Sarah and Katie
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Freiburg: What a welcome relief!!
Hello all! Sarah speaking...
Well, since we last spoke, we were still deciding between Vienna and Munich...and after realizing that the Euro Cup was being played in Vienna, and Katie's friend Nick had no room for us and there was no way we were going to find any open hostels or hotels, we decided Munich it was! So we got up that morning and walked to the top of the Prague version of the Eifel tower, which was really cool because it was a super nice day and we could see the entire city and point out landmarks of what we had seen the day before. Then we walked back down and over to Prague castle, but there were a ton of people there and we couldn't really figure out what was the actual castle, it's like a big complex of buildings so we saw the cathedral, and then we realized that we were a long way from our hostel and had to start making our way back quickly in order to make our train! So we crossed the famous Charles bridge (one of the oldest still standing in Europe), admiring all of the beautiful artwork, wishing we could buy some (it was actually pretty cheap), realizing we had no way of keeping it from getting ruined since we were traveling for two more months :), and basically jogging to get back to our hostel in time!
We made it onto our 1:16 train to Munich with a couple minutes to spare...we were running through the train station, had to go to the international ticket office to purchase a ticket from Prague to the border since our pass wasn't valid for the Czech Republic, then we ran to the train, and the doors closed a minute later :) Stressful at the time, but fun looking back on it. The rest of the train ride was as eventful as getting on! First off, it was the worst train we'd been on yet, and it was super crowded so we scrunched in between some people with all of our luggage. We met a guy from Texas who had been in China studying for two weeks, and he was so relieved to meet with people and be able to speak English since he hadn't been able to talk to anyone for two weeks! Cool, except all we wanted to do was sleep :) So we played some cribbage and Katie was the polite one and was the more talkative of the two of us :) Then we found out that someone had pulled the fire alarm on one of the cars, so we were delayed for over an hour getting to our next stop...which meant that we missed our connecting train and had to wait for another one once we got there. Then when our connecting train got there, we assumed it was the right one because it was the only one listed above us on the platform, and we were like, cool, it came 5 minutes early!....wrong train... :) So we had to get off three stops later, and sure enough, the right train came rumbling along 5 minutes later to that stop :)
We sat with a couple of guys who went to school in Colorado and our friend from Texas, and the three of them talked about all the extreme sports they like to do the whole time. They swore too much for me, but I was polite to them because they had been the ones to inform us that we had gotten on the wrong train before :) So we got into Munich two hours later than expected, called Nathan, met him on a stop on the underground, and he led us back to his humble abode. He lives in an efficiency, so with us sleeping on the floor, we took up the whole room :) But he was very nice about it and didn't complain about us :) We had our first tastes of German beer at the bar near his apartment (which I actually didn't mind!) and ate a burger and fries for a very late dinner, then went to bed.
The next day Nathan gave us a tour of the city, which was cool, not as many cool buildings as Berlin, but they have a big park that I liked. He showed us where he studies, and told us a cool story about one of the main buildings. In 1943 there were this brother and sister who studied there and developed this underground group that opposed the ideals of the Nazi regime. They wrote letters and flyers back and forth secretly for a long time, and then one day, the brother and sister decide to make everything known, and go to the main campus hall in between classes at 9am one day and throw copies of all the letters and flyers they had made, everything they had saying that people needed to oppose what the Nazis were doing, and that it was bad, and so all of these letters are all over the floor in the main hall. Well, someone saw them do it, and turned them in, and they were beheaded for their ideals and actions by 3 pm that same day. So as a memorial to them, there were stones made to look like strewn letters built into the floor of the hall and the sidewalk outside of it. It made me wonder if I would ever have the courage to stand up so strongly for what I believed in, or what it would be that I would stand up for...
We saw people surfing on the river that runs through the park, there's a spot where the water rushes pretty fast out from under a bridge and creates a natural wave that's perfect for surfing, so there were maybe 10 guys taking turns surfing on it...it was funny because there was a sign saying that surfing was forbidden there because it was dangerous :) Oh well, I guess they can only injure themselves.
There were more "nakies" (naked people, this is what Nathan called them which we thought was hilarious when we said it :) sunbathing in places in the park, and he said that there would have been a lot more had it been nicer out...so we were thankful that it was a cooler day :) We got some kabobs (Katie's favorite) for lunch, then let Nathan study and Katie and I went to see the Olympic stadium. It had some VERY cool architecture, and there was an African fair going on, so that was cool to walk around and see...once again, cool things to buy, but no money and no space...so we took pictures :) It was supposed to rain all day, and started looking cloudy, so Katie and I went to the store and bought stuff to make spaghetti and we had a late dinner with Nathan, then decided to go to a really neat beer garden in the middle of the park. So we get there, and find out it closed early, so he's like, well, let's just go to the gas station because I have one other kind of beer I wanted you to try, and then we can just go back and play cards in the apartment. So we jump back on the underground, and when we get out at the stop where the gas station is, we walk over to the steps going up, and water is pouring down them, it is absolutely pouring rain (it reminded me of that part in Titanic when water is pouring down the stairs :), only, not that much water), so we run up the stairs and across the street, get the beer, run back down to the station, take the train to Nathan's stop and are like, okay, it's probably 200 meters back to his apartment, ready to run? And we sprint through the pouring rain, Nathan's ahead of us screaming like a little girl whenever he hits a big puddle that we can't see, I'm cradling my beer like a football and katie and I are laughing the whole way :) We were soaked, but it was my favorite part of the day. We played some yahtzee, cards, then went to bed.
Got up the next day, said goodbye to Nathan, and jumped on the train to spend the rest of the day on them, switching between three different ones to make it to Freiburg. Katie and I got some kind of food poisoning or something, because we both feel sick, so it wasn't the best day we've had so far. But once we got to Julia's, and she was so welcoming, it made it better. We watched the Portugal/Turkey game at the bar where Julia works, then came back and went to bed. I still didn't feel good this morning and didn't think eating a big breakfast was the best thing, so Katie and Julia went with her roommates to this cute cafe (which I'm sitting here being jealous of, you all know how much I love to eat!), and I think we're going to go see a movie or something this afternoon, then watch the Germany Euro Cup game tonight on a big screen at a nearby park that they set up for all the games of the Euro Cup, which should be pretty fun. We were looking forward to a couple of days where we didn't have to do anything, just relax :)
We have liked Germany. It's a fun language to listen to, and Nathan taught us some German like how to say please, thank you, and you're welcome. The Bavaria region where Munich is located is cool, because people still walk around in laderhosen (I don't know how to spell that :), and traditional dresses and aprons :) And soccer is EVERYWHERE here! German flags are all over to support their team, soccer is used in every kind of advertising...it's awesome :) I wish I could see a game, but it's too expensive and it's fun watching it in places where there are a lot of people cheering :)
We're probably heading to Verona, Italy tomorrow, then spending a night in Venice, and taking the ferry from Venice to Patras, Greece on Wednesday, where we will hopefully spend the majority of our time there eating cheap gyros and lying on the beach :) Katie took the camera with her to breakfast, but we'll hopefully post some pictures sometime today...
Three weeks down, 4 weeks til Mom and Auntie Susie get here, and 7 til we're home! It's gone by so fast already, I can't believe we've been to 7 countries already! We miss you guys, thanks for the posts and e-mails, we love hearing from you :) Keep enjoying your summers! Everyone bikes here, so remember, if gas gets too expensive, be like a European and jump on your two-wheeled friend! :)
LOVE FROM EUROPE!
Katie and Sarah
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Prague... I'm in love!
Katie at the keyboard...
As to the title, I mean I'm love with the city (don't worry mom, I did not fall in love in a day with a handsome European man and I'm not dropping out of school to move to Europe quite yet) :) It's been almost a week since our last post and we've seen so much since then! Here's a quick rundown...
After leaving Brugges, we jumped on a train to The Netherlands and spent the day in Amsterdam. We spent way too much money to store our packs at the train station, there were a ridiculous amount of bikes, beautiful canals and architecture, lots of graffiti, the red light district was... interesting, we saw the Anne Frank house (which was very moving), we didn't smoke any weed (although I was tempted to try a space cake), and we ate some flat caramel Belgium waffle things... delicious!
Then we jumped back on a train... however this was a night train that was taking us up to Denmark. We boarded at 7 pm and didn't arrive in Copenhagen until 10 the next morning. We shared our compartment with a lovely lady named Hilly who informed us that we were going to be in the city at the beginning of the National Bicycling week and she was going to be biking across the country. The compartment was a little cramped and hot at times, but I had no trouble sleeping and liked the rocking motion of the train whereas Sarah woke up quite a few times when the train would make random stops. We actually camped for the 2 nights in Copenhagen... I had no problem with this considering the forecast looked good and the campground was right over a hill from the beach. When we got there, we set up the tent and went directly to the beach where we stayed most of the afternoon. We had a lazy day, walked around a bit, and ate some pizza and ice cream for dinner. The next day we went into the city to see the sites. We had planned on renting city bikes because they were free and only had to put down a deposit. However, after arriving in the city, we discovered that they were all rented out. This was fairly disappointing because we'd been walking so much already the past few weeks that our legs really needed a break. We explored the city for most of the day and saw some great parks and plenty of historical buildings. We randomly walked by a church where we heard beautiful music so we went into listen and there was a rehearsal going on with a large choir and full orchestra. We spent some time sitting in a few parks and treated ourselves to an Italian buffet for dinner because we were famished.
The following day, we woke up bright and early, prepared to catch a 9:30 train for Berlin, but found after arriving at the station that the train didn't run at that time until later in the summer so we had to sit at the station for a few hours until the next one. We bought large containers of chocolate milk and played Yatzee for awhile (I won the first game, but then Sarah ended up getting double Yatzee on her last turn of the second game and won hands down!... she started crying out of pure joy and the fact she had just previously said she was a horrible Yatzee player). At this time, a drunk homeless man came walking up to our table. We talked with him for a little while at first, but felt slightly uncomfortable when we started following us around and yelling at us. It was at this time that we escaped to the bathrooms and snuck out when he wasn't looking and went to our train platform so he couldn't find us (Again, don't worry mom. There were a lot of people around and we were entirely safe).
After arriving in Berlin, we had a little trouble finding our hostel. At one point I asked in a little restaurant, but no one spoke English. Everyone was very nice and willing to help so in the end, I had about 5 people trying to give me directions in German and all I could do was nod my head like I knew what they were saying. Luckily, a nice man came in a few minutes later and was able to translate the directions. After finding our hostel (which was in a really nice and well-off part of town). We ended up going to a Greek restaurant (which is kind of weird considering we had just arrived in Germany), but the food was excellent. It was my first time trying a Gyro and I must say that I loved it. Unfortunately, we ordered a bottle of water which ended up costing 4 euro which is ridiculously expensive. Berlin was a great city and very rich in history (especially from the time of WWII). We saw one of two remaining sections of the Berlin wall, the Tiegarden park right in the middle (in which we walked by a field of all naked tanning men), and went to the top of the Reichstag building which is a glass dome with a 360 degree view of Berlin. I had my first doner kebab and it is now my all time favorite food. The last day there, we went to a concentration camp 40 minutes north of the city and it was an extremely moving experience. Unfortunately, we were on a time crunch to catch our next train so we didn't get to read all the stories and descriptions.
We made it on the train to Prague with just minutes to spare. I think that the train ride was my favorite by far because we were in a valley with big hills on both sides and went along a river for most of the ride. There were little old towns and villages all along the river and some castles and homes on really high cliffs. We met a girl named Susan on the train who gave us tips for Prague and she'd never been to the United States, so we shared some info on our country as well. The train station at Prague was a little sketchy and the information desk was closed when we arrived, but we eventually found our way to our hostel. We're in a 6 bed hostel (3 bunk beds), but the hostel isn't fully booked, SO WE HAVE THE ROOM TO OURSELVES! It's great to get a little bit of comfort and privacy and we'd be paying $$$ if we had booked just a double room. We made some spaghetti for dinner, washed our clothes in the sink, and went to bed. This morning, we went on a walking tour of the city. There are so many buildings dating back to before the 1400s and also a great deal of history under the rule of communist USSR. Tomorrow we're going to see Prague Castle and the Charles bridge and then jump on a train to either Vienna to visit my friend Nick or Munich to visit my friend Nathan.
We'll see where the wind blows... as for now we're having a great time and meeting a lot of fun people. We miss everyone and hope everything is good back at home!
As to the title, I mean I'm love with the city (don't worry mom, I did not fall in love in a day with a handsome European man and I'm not dropping out of school to move to Europe quite yet) :) It's been almost a week since our last post and we've seen so much since then! Here's a quick rundown...
After leaving Brugges, we jumped on a train to The Netherlands and spent the day in Amsterdam. We spent way too much money to store our packs at the train station, there were a ridiculous amount of bikes, beautiful canals and architecture, lots of graffiti, the red light district was... interesting, we saw the Anne Frank house (which was very moving), we didn't smoke any weed (although I was tempted to try a space cake), and we ate some flat caramel Belgium waffle things... delicious!
Then we jumped back on a train... however this was a night train that was taking us up to Denmark. We boarded at 7 pm and didn't arrive in Copenhagen until 10 the next morning. We shared our compartment with a lovely lady named Hilly who informed us that we were going to be in the city at the beginning of the National Bicycling week and she was going to be biking across the country. The compartment was a little cramped and hot at times, but I had no trouble sleeping and liked the rocking motion of the train whereas Sarah woke up quite a few times when the train would make random stops. We actually camped for the 2 nights in Copenhagen... I had no problem with this considering the forecast looked good and the campground was right over a hill from the beach. When we got there, we set up the tent and went directly to the beach where we stayed most of the afternoon. We had a lazy day, walked around a bit, and ate some pizza and ice cream for dinner. The next day we went into the city to see the sites. We had planned on renting city bikes because they were free and only had to put down a deposit. However, after arriving in the city, we discovered that they were all rented out. This was fairly disappointing because we'd been walking so much already the past few weeks that our legs really needed a break. We explored the city for most of the day and saw some great parks and plenty of historical buildings. We randomly walked by a church where we heard beautiful music so we went into listen and there was a rehearsal going on with a large choir and full orchestra. We spent some time sitting in a few parks and treated ourselves to an Italian buffet for dinner because we were famished.
The following day, we woke up bright and early, prepared to catch a 9:30 train for Berlin, but found after arriving at the station that the train didn't run at that time until later in the summer so we had to sit at the station for a few hours until the next one. We bought large containers of chocolate milk and played Yatzee for awhile (I won the first game, but then Sarah ended up getting double Yatzee on her last turn of the second game and won hands down!... she started crying out of pure joy and the fact she had just previously said she was a horrible Yatzee player). At this time, a drunk homeless man came walking up to our table. We talked with him for a little while at first, but felt slightly uncomfortable when we started following us around and yelling at us. It was at this time that we escaped to the bathrooms and snuck out when he wasn't looking and went to our train platform so he couldn't find us (Again, don't worry mom. There were a lot of people around and we were entirely safe).
After arriving in Berlin, we had a little trouble finding our hostel. At one point I asked in a little restaurant, but no one spoke English. Everyone was very nice and willing to help so in the end, I had about 5 people trying to give me directions in German and all I could do was nod my head like I knew what they were saying. Luckily, a nice man came in a few minutes later and was able to translate the directions. After finding our hostel (which was in a really nice and well-off part of town). We ended up going to a Greek restaurant (which is kind of weird considering we had just arrived in Germany), but the food was excellent. It was my first time trying a Gyro and I must say that I loved it. Unfortunately, we ordered a bottle of water which ended up costing 4 euro which is ridiculously expensive. Berlin was a great city and very rich in history (especially from the time of WWII). We saw one of two remaining sections of the Berlin wall, the Tiegarden park right in the middle (in which we walked by a field of all naked tanning men), and went to the top of the Reichstag building which is a glass dome with a 360 degree view of Berlin. I had my first doner kebab and it is now my all time favorite food. The last day there, we went to a concentration camp 40 minutes north of the city and it was an extremely moving experience. Unfortunately, we were on a time crunch to catch our next train so we didn't get to read all the stories and descriptions.
We made it on the train to Prague with just minutes to spare. I think that the train ride was my favorite by far because we were in a valley with big hills on both sides and went along a river for most of the ride. There were little old towns and villages all along the river and some castles and homes on really high cliffs. We met a girl named Susan on the train who gave us tips for Prague and she'd never been to the United States, so we shared some info on our country as well. The train station at Prague was a little sketchy and the information desk was closed when we arrived, but we eventually found our way to our hostel. We're in a 6 bed hostel (3 bunk beds), but the hostel isn't fully booked, SO WE HAVE THE ROOM TO OURSELVES! It's great to get a little bit of comfort and privacy and we'd be paying $$$ if we had booked just a double room. We made some spaghetti for dinner, washed our clothes in the sink, and went to bed. This morning, we went on a walking tour of the city. There are so many buildings dating back to before the 1400s and also a great deal of history under the rule of communist USSR. Tomorrow we're going to see Prague Castle and the Charles bridge and then jump on a train to either Vienna to visit my friend Nick or Munich to visit my friend Nathan.
We'll see where the wind blows... as for now we're having a great time and meeting a lot of fun people. We miss everyone and hope everything is good back at home!
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