Never Goodbye!

Day 61. We woke up rather early and rather late today, saying goodbye to Noah at the crack of dawn and then going back to bed for quite some time. Dave and I went to the store and bought a brunch for everyone and then we all prepared the meal together (Jalapenos burgers minus the bun with a delicious salad and lots of fruit. I swear I am eating more good food here than I have anywhere else, I always so full!). After brunch, Hen, Kat, and I rode our bikes to museum plein and I went to the Van Gogh museum while Hen and Kat enjoyed the sunshine in the park next to the museum. The Van Gogh museum was excellent and I got to see some of his most famous works like his Self Portrait, the Sunflowers, the Room in Arles, Wheatfield and Crows, etc. I love Van Gogh!! The museum wasn’t overcrowded and I got as much time as I liked in front of all his works. I loved it! The temporary exhibition going on was on nature and I thoroughly enjoyed those works as well. My favorite though was a statue upstairs on the 3^rd floor called ‘Solidarity’. It was of two guys embracing and it was fantastic, very moving. After the museum I met back up with Hen and Kat and we rode our bikes through the city back to the main station to return our bikes (It was so weird having to walk through the city once we return the bikes!). Dave suggested a good Thai place for dinner so we walked to China town and ordered from there and took our meal to the Nuiewmarket area. We bought some beer and then sat down on a wooden round table and ate our delicious meal (thanks for the suggestion Dave!) by some tiled mosaic couches along the canal. Back in Frieburg, Tom had given me some Lego pins he wanted me to pass on to other super awesome fellow travelers, and I couldn’t think of better people than Hen and Kat, they are SO GREAT! So I made them close their eyes (which was a bit of a challenge due to a crazy lady who had just come up to us) and then placed the pins in each of there hands. They were so excited about getting a Lego piece like my necklace that they gave me a monster hug, and it felt so great to pass along the tradition as Tom did for me (Thanks Holger!! You HAVE to meet these two, you will love them!). It was getting a bit late at this point, and I wanted to see the Red light district at night, so we walked through it one last time and ended up in Dam square where we hung out for a bit before catching to Tram back to Dave’s (We learned our lesson the first day here, his flat is just a little too far to walk). We relaxed for a bit and drank some wine before we got ready to go out (we were determined to go out tonight and Dave knew of a close-ish party going on). We finished our wine and then…DANCING!! We went to a very underground house party way out of the city center for a taste of what real Amsterdam is like. It was lots of fun and we danced all night long. I ate a sandwich along the way to the club and then finished it outside and danced some more. I was quite stuffed by the end of it all and I was glad to have Kat walk with me back to Dave's (Thanks Kat!!). We talked for hours and hours again and then we passed out upstairs in Dave's neighbors spare room. I once again tried watching The Walking Dead before sleep... but again to no avail. I was asleep before it even started. Ah well, such a fun night regardless, and we finally made it out!

Day 62. Gah!! Where did this weekend go already?? I have been having so much fun with Hen and Kat that the weekend seems to have flown right on by. Today we slept in again and then we all made a brunch together, although Dave did most of the work. He bought some meat from the local butcher and grilled it up and made a salad and cheese and bread and more of the dipping salad we keep snacking on (I think I may have an addiction…). I am always so full here in Amsterdam. I haven’t been starving once and am always stuffing my face (Haha, I blame the sandwiches!), but it has all been relatively good food so I’m not terribly worried. Today is my last day with Hen and Kat! I am so sad to see them go. It is so hard making such great friends and then knowing you won’t get to see each other again for quite some time. It is one of the biggest downfalls of travelling, hmmph. We caught the tram with all our stuff to the central station and stored our bags in the lockers there. At the station, Hen found one of those old school four shot photo booths and we just couldn’t resist taking some photos together. After dropping off our stuff we walked to the World Press Photo gallery. It was really, really cool. It’s a competition for photography taken from important events, issues, topics, etc. from the world press of that year. It had photos from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, issues in Egypt, endangered rhinos, shark fins, and even a really touching story about a man married for 65 years caring for his wife with Alzheimer’s (It almost made me cry). It was quite a good exhibition and I loved the photography and informative world news. We walked back towards the train station where I told Hen and Kat “see you later” (Never goodbye!) and how much I loved them and then we embraced each other one more time. This weekend was so nice and so great travelling with friends. I will miss them so much, but will hopefully see them again just as soon as we can figure it all out. Dave was a wonderful host (Seriously Dave, thank you so much again!) and I will miss Hen and Kat and Noah and now Dave so much! After numerous hugs and kisses I walked to the Anne Frank house and museum. After waiting in line for about 50 or so minutes I got to go inside. It was very interesting to see the secret annex and I kept remembering my high school’s play about Anne Frank. The museum was nice with lots of history and information all through the house and I got to see actual pieces from her diary. Very cool. After the museum I walked around Amsterdam one last time soaking in its atmosphere, going into all the coffee shops I could find, and finally figuring out my way around the city. I bought and ate a pastry since my last one wasn't anything special, and I just finished buying a Buddha cheese sandwich when I noticed the time, gah! Where does it go??? I hurried to the train station, got my bags and jumped on my train. Nothing says a relaxing evening like a 15 hour train ride, woot woot! Tomorrow is Copenhagen!! I started another The Walking Dead marathon on the train ride (finished season 2!), the police came to check that I wasn’t a secret terrorist (I can’t believe I got away, haha).  I had my ticket checked, ate some fruit, and then went to sleep. The pastry was delicious and hit the spot. Win.

Amster-DAMN! (Think HIMYM)

Day 59. AMSTERDAM!!!!!!! The were no problems with the overnight train to Amsterdam, everything went smooth.  I slept with my adventure bag filled with my valuables and had to use my sleeping sack on the ridiculously small bed, but I actually got some decent sleep. When I woke up I was pretty disoriented and I almost got off at the wrong stop, but after figuring out where I was (literally and in my head) I still had a ways to go so I laid back down and rested for another couple of hours. I am not really sure what I was expecting upon leaving the train, maybe a mountain of green or everyone to be passing a peace pipe, but upon leaving the train I saw neither of those things and was greeted with a very nice looking city. Right outside the centraal (the double a’s is on purpose, that’s how they spell it) train station there is a parking garage… for bikes! Amsterdam is a crazy awesome city for bikers. They have their own bike lanes next to the car lanes, their own traffic lights, parking garages, and it seems that everyone has a bike! To top it all off, people on bikes always have the right of way. So if you get hit by someone on a bike, guess whose fault it is?? Yup, it’s your fault. Learn to move out of the way faster buddy. I learned real quick that when you hear a bike’s bell, you had better move and you had better move fast. As I was photographing the church across the canal (Amsterdam has so many canals!!) I saw Noah! I gave him a huge hug and we went immediately into sharing with each other all that had happened in the last two months. He had lived in Amsterdam for 2 years in the past so he showed me around some of the streets close to the main station while we waited for the girls to arrive.  We went to a coffee shop and I bought a pastery and my very first sandwich in Amsterdam!!!!! Wohooo!!! I have been so excited to go to Amsterdam and buy a sandwich, everyone talks about it and I can finally check it off my list! He then brought me to a nice café where I ate my pastery and enjoyed a very nice café latte and some incredible tea!!!! (And just in case you are wondering it was legitimately incredible). It had lots of mint leaves in hot water plus freshly squeezed orange juice. Perfect! Oh my goodness it was so refreshing and delicious! I am definitely going to be taking this simple recipe home with me. Apparently the bathroom at this café was on the list for Europe’s nicest bathrooms and they were definitely amazing. Tile and mirrors everywhere in intricate patterns with greens and blues and yellows for a sun piece, very nice. Noah and I talked some more, and then headed over to the train station to meet up with the girls. Noah bet me an ice cream that he was right about where the girls would come out of the train, and I was confident that he was incorrect so I took that bet (and won). We were supposed to meet them at the “Meeting point” but I didn’t think they would know what that was (It’s a big sign that actually says “Meeting point”, but I didn’t know that upon arriving and didn’t think to ask someone so I presumed they would do as I did and wait just outside the center exit of the station. Which they did). We eventually found them outside and it was so great seeing Hen and Kat again!!! Ugh, it was as if we had never left each other. We gave each other such a tight and long hug. Instant best friends with a million and one things we each wanted to say. The pastry I ate was very very mild (I was a little disappointed, they had gotten such hype!), so I was still hungry. We were going to be staying with one of Noah’s friends Dave, so we walked all the way across Amsterdam (literally the entire city) with all of our stuff. We didn’t realize how far of a walk it was, my shoulders wanted to MURDER me by the time we arrived at Dave’s flat about an hour or so later. Dave was so nice in greeting us and making us feel welcome. We got situated at his flat and ate a nice snack that we picked up along the way (Dutch salad dips with a baguette). Not wanting to walk all the way back to the main station we caught the tram back (I don’t know why we didn’t just catch it to Dave’s house in the first place, I think we all underestimated how far it really was and didn’t want to spend the money thinking we could walk) and rented our bikes! Holy everything on two wheels with bells!!! You can’t go to Amsterdam and not rent bikes. It. Is. AMAZING!! I already mentioned how the city caters to cycling, but what I didn’t know before is that you literally fly. I now know what being “high” in Amsterdam actually means! Dave bought us amazing chocolates and we biked to north Amsterdam, catching a ferry across the canal. We saw the newer “I Am Amsterdam” sign and all got tea, coffee, or a beer at a nice outside café. I climbed on the sign to the top of the “I” (which was actually pretty high up, I had to have a boost getting up and help getting down) and we took some pictures before we biked all around the city. We crossed the city in no time at all; traveling by bike is so fast and efficient! Amsterdam is literally a maze of canals and all of the houses pretty much look exactly the same - red bricks, five stories high, and three windows across (can you imagine trying to orient yourself when you eat a sandwich?? I don’t know how they do it. It’s not exactly a walk in the park, let me tell you …because it’s a walk in a city, duh  - lame joke, haha). There were lots of street performers, Brazilian fighting dancers, break dancers, someone telling stupid jokes trying to get a bigger audience before balancing a bike in his mouth, and many more.  We rode back towards Dave’s house and went to a huge park to ride around for a bit, it was so much fun! We ate the sandwich that I bought by a lake in the park and all five of us got very stuffed (imagine if I had ate it myself, dear god)! It was a challenge, but I felt compelled to destroy the massive sandwich so I ate it until there was nothing left to eat. We all were laughing, and talking, and just having a great time together. We were slightly nervous about riding back on our bikes to Dave’s after eating, but I wanted to prove that I could do it, so I started riding and they were quick to join. WE FLEW!!! (If you do it you will agree!). It was crazy, such an amazing experience!! It didn’t feel like I was merely on a bike, but steering myself high above everything else. It was incredible! We all made it to Dave’s safely, but along the way we had to pass (what was to me) different “levels” on the way back. Navigate the streets, pass a car here, up a ramp there, narrow passage here, don’t get hit by cars (we played an epic real life Frogger game with our bikes and traffic, I probably almost died), don’t run into anyone, obey traffic lights, etc.  The “levels” seemed to be increasing in difficulty as we got closer to his flat, haha. It was so much fun and eventually we all beat the “game”! Chaining up our bikes proved a little difficult for me, but with that accomplished (Thanks Kat) we went inside for some dinner. We were very giggly and chatted a bit while eating more delicious snacks before Dave served us an amazing meal, twice! Then we continued eating and talking, catching up and swapping stories the entire night. We had vegetable lasagna, and veggie pasta, some chips, a small snickers bar, and gummy bears. Yummy (talk about stuffed)!! We talked until we passed out in our beds. I attempted to watch The Walking Dead… and of course fell asleep (Thanks again Kat!). Such a great first day in Amsterdam with such amazing people!!

Day 60. Today we slept in (no surprises there), we got cleaned up and then decided to ride our bikes and go for a picnic. We wanted to go into the country side a bit, but we were quite sore from the bikes (seriously sore, I didn’t think we even biked long enough to get sore. My butt was in some pain when I sat back down on the bike seat) and tired from the previous night so we settled on a nice park in the city instead. Our morning brunch picnic was very nice, it sprinkled for like 3 seconds and then the skies cleared and it was sunny and warm. It felt so good to lie down in the sun and just relax. The food was great and the company was even better. Dave and Noah rode off to meet up with one of their friends and Hen, Kat and I talked and relaxed in the sun. I tried to get on a rope swing that was far too high for me (The Dutch and Danish are so tall!) and we ate so much food we were completely full. We had this cream covered in chocolate dessert that was melting in the sun but oh so tasty. Dave and Noah came back and then went to another friend’s exhibit in the city center, so Hen, Kat and I got to explore Amsterdam.  We rode our bikes to the city and found/Kat recognized a really cool bell tower/church. The bells were chiming away to some pretty intricate songs and after chaining up our bikes we stumbled upon a couple museums. Dave had given me a small sandwich and I ate it as we walked around. It was merely a pleasant sandwich, not enough to really stuff me and we walked around so see what we would find. We stumbled upon a cheese museum where I got to try some SUPER old Gouda cheese that was very tasty (the pesto cheese was also really good). We saw a tulip museum and wanted to go inside until we realized it was just a museum about the history of the tulip, not a museum with actual tulips. In fact, the tulips bloomed very early this year, so I really wanted to go see the fields and fields of tulips, but it was already pretty late in the season and they had already been harvested. Drat. We found a great niche of a store and got some great souvenirs for pretty cheap. We walked past the Anne Frank house and then rode our bikes more towards the city center where we walked through China town and many many coffee shops. In one of the shops I bought a sandwich!!! We rode our bikes to the square that put the dam in Amsterdam, haha, no really. We rode our bikes to Dam square, the main square in Amsterdam. Across from the white spire in the center of the square is the royal palace, a massive and impressive building and it is right next to the red light district (Hello prostitutes beckoning me into your lit window, I am gay and have a boyfriend, but thank you for the offer. I hope you have a nice day (a lot of the prostitutes were on their cellphones, I thought that was kind of funny because of how casual they were)). We walked through the red light district and then went into a huge shopping center for a bit where Hen got a nice dark blue watch. After a missed text and a little miscommunication we met up with Noah and Dave at the illusive “meeting point” outside of the centraal station. Hen, Kat and I had already shared some fries under the pouring rain that lasted about 7 minutes and then was gone (The weather is crazy so close to the Sea), but we joined Noah and Dave for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. (Maggie, my Sensei, you would have been so proud of my skills at the restaurant!) I got some soup and we ate and then we rode our bikes back to Dave’s flat, picking up some wine along the way home. We hung out at home drinking the wine and we ate a quick snack. We were really planning to go out, but it just didn’t happen, haha, we just have too much fun together. Hen and Kat got stuffed with me and we got silly and then super tired and I passed out cuddling with Hen attempting to watch The Walking Dead again. Oh how I love Amsterdam!

Pictures in Berlin!!

Welcome  to Museum Island!

Biggest bird bath ever.

German Flag and Berlin Flag. So is it Bear-lin then?

To the Mothers of the war.

Book burning memorial.

"No, you move YOUR tank first." 

I got my passport stamped, haha.

I really love that the entirety of the Berlin Wall is on the ground where it was.

Speaking of the Wall...

I don't know whose face outline that is supposed to be, but I like mine better.

Jewish Memorial.

You literally got buried.

The Reichstag.

Brandonburg Gate!

Homosexual Monument.

Global Stone Project!

Coolest walking man ever. 

Video killed the radio star, but that's the tallest radio tower in the world.

WHERE IS WALDO ??? i dont know .

Macca, Rachel, Taryn, Joyce, Sofia, and I at dinner/ our own personal beer garden.

Wait, there is a dragon fountain outside my hostel?? Win and Hostel plus 2. 

Potsdam Palace number one

Number two (P.s. This is definitely a married mans bachelors pad.)

Only an honest man can walk through the gate and not have the Eagle drop a stone on your head. 

Number three.

Wicked sweet statues to be placed on the palace.

And one of my favorites, number four (There are many more)!

And five, getting a good idea of how cool this island is yet?

Wall memorials along the Berlin Wall.

What a watch tower with a section of the wall would have looked like.

The "death strip" (minus the deadly part...just sand).

Inside the dome of the Riechstag

German government is locked down!

Topography of Terror. Be afraid.

One of my favorite art pieces along the wall.

East SIDE (gallery)!

Get some, Nazi's.

Blank face.

Aww thanks Berlin, goodbye to you too!

Berlin Baby!

Day 57. Today I got up early to catch Anthony on Skype. We skyped and got to chat with each other for a bit ( =D ). I also finally got my confirmation to visit the Reichstag (I am still pretty surprised you have to register online to go in the building)! I was debating taking a day trip today to Potsdam, and I eventually decided to be a little adventurous and just go for it. Potsdam is about an hour or so away from Berlin on an island. It has lots of palaces and what they call “castes,” but I didn’t deem them to be castles by my standards at all, just extremely nice big buildings, i.e. an island full of palaces (Definitely my cup of tea). I arrived around 2pm, just in time for a bus tour to be leaving (I didn’t realize how big Potsdam was, so I was originally planning to just walk everywhere… but after seeing a map, that wasn’t really possible, so on the bus I went! (And I am not quite sure how I get so lucky with my timing but whatever I am doing I am going to KEEP doing it)). Potsdam was pretty cool. I had to listen to headphones as the tour guide was speaking German to the other 6 or 7 tourists on the bus, and I had to sit at the back of the bus… (Haha, racist much? No, I was told to sit there so I could hear my audio guide, plus it was better for taking pictures anyway). So I was pretty segregated, but in my own world looking at the palaces and all of Potsdam so I didn’t mind. The town itself was very nice and I had a nice history lesson on its development, rulers, and numerous palaces. I wished I could have gotten off the bus and explored some of the palaces (Like the Asian styled Drachenhaus (Dragon House), the Orangerie, and the massive botanical gardens.) instead of only having a short time at the three main ones. But at least I was a pro at snapping good pictures on the moving bus (all except the Dragon House, gosh darn trees blocking my view!). At the three bigger main palaces where we got off the bus for 20 minutes or so the German tour guide spoke to me in English after he finished explaining the history in German, so luckily I didn’t miss out there. At the Neues Palais (New Palace), which was built merely as a display of grandeur, I saw some really nice statues that were very old and going to be placed on the palace (it was still under some construction). All in all Potsdam was great and I was glad that I went. I got some groceries on the way back for dinner and snacks for when I get hungry throughout the days for my adventure bag and then I figured out my ticket to Amsterdam. Another overnight train… let’s cross our fingers its better than my rickety train ride to Portugal. But I am SO EXCITED to see Hen, Noah, and Kathrine again (we planned to meet up 2 months ago in Amsterdam when we met in London and we are sticking to the plan!!)!! The weather was windy this morning, but was lovely and sunny all throughout my day at the palaces. Yet, as I hopped on the train to head back to Berlin it started raining pretty hard. I swear Mother Nature and I are best friends; we totally get each other (haha, but really. We are.). I got back to Berlin and wasn’t quite ready to call it a day. I wanted to see another bit of the Berlin wall and was told there was a memorial/monument not too far from my hostel. I jumped on the subway from the central station and found it no problem. Man was it intense. It was a long segment of the wall with descriptions and videos of how it came to be built, its various reconstructions, stories of people trying to escape, and finally the wall coming down. They even had markers on where tunnels had been dug, where a church used to be, where houses caught in the middle of the wall used to be, and a large section of the wall with the “death strip” still intact. I would be lying if I said it didn’t hit a heart string and brought me close to tears. Some of the stories and videos were so moving, especially because of how recent all of this was. I just can’t understand what brings people to act the way they do to such extremes. It started to rain as I was walking along the wall looking at the exhibits and watching the various movie clips, which added to the mood of what I was reading. I made it back to my hostel and relaxed the rest of the evening, made my dinner (ham and peppered cheese on a cheesy bun), and eventually went to bed.

Day 58. I have almost past the 2 month marker, wow! I feel like with just about a month left of travelling that time is just going to fly by! Today I woke up, showered and packed my bags, checked out of my hostel and stored my stuff in the luggage room, and then went to explore the city one last time. I had a scheduled tour of the Reichstag at approximately 11:45 and the Germans are not kidding around. My name was on two separate lists (And first off I had to register online at least 3 days in advance to even get in) and I went through 3 different security check points. The main doors to get in the building itself was like a space lock. They wouldn’t open the doors until the previous doors had shut and locked behind you. But the building was very cool and it was worth the visit. It’s the German parliament house for where the government meets and public policies are decided. I got to go up on the huge glass dome on its winding walkway and the roof for a 360 degree view of Berlin (love it!). The dome itself was clear glass to symbolize Germany’s now transparent government. It had a middle mirror section to help spread natural light and shades that moved as the sun moved to not allow in too much light. It caught the rain in its opened top which helped filter air and provided energy, and you could look down through the glass to see meeting in session. I got an audio guide for the walkway up to the top of the dome and it talked about the buildings I could see off in the distance as well as some of the Reichstag’s history. After the German government building I walked to the Topography of Terror exhibit. It was just in front of a section of the Berlin wall that we passed on our free walking tour, but I wanted a chance to read and see the exhibit. It followed the history of Berlin with how Hitler came into power, the effects of the war, key events, details about those in concentration camps, and then the aftermath of the Berlin wall. The exhibit itself goes into more detail and has computers were you can listen to stories and the building itself is built where the main Soviet headquarters was. It was similar to the memorials I read yesterday along the wall and was again very quiet and somber. I walked back to Checkpoint Charlie so that I could get a stamp in my passport! I only wanted one stamp and talked the guy down on the price, sweet. Having accomplished a stamp in my passport I also wanted to see the East Side Gallery, so I caught the metro all the way to the other side of Berlin. West side of Berlin is awesome! There is graffiti everywhere, but its artsy graffiti so it doesn’t look trashy or rundown at all and is instead just very alternative. I tracked down Watergate and Berghain, two of the clubs I would have loved to go to had I been here on a weekend and then crossed the water, spotting the molecule man, to the east side to see the gallery. The East Side Gallery is a long section of the Berlin wall that has been painted and graffitied to be a work of art. Some of the artwork along the wall was great and others I didn’t like so much, but all in all it was incredible to see how the city took something that was so negative and turned it into monument and a work of art. After walking the length of the wall I was hit with a wave of tiredness, and my feet ached. So I went back to my hostel to chill until my overnight train. As I got out of the metro I looked to the sky and it had been lightly raining earlier and I got a rainbow goodbye. Oh Mother nature, how I love you. I got to skype with Anthony again before I caught my train and we had a little mishap with the computers at the hostel. I laugh at it now, but I was horrified and incredibly embarrassed at the time. Don’t ask; I took care of it. I watched Slumdog Millionaire as I waited for my midnight thirty train to arrive and then before you know it I was on my way to Amsterdam!! Which by the way, it didn’t hit me that I was going to Amsterdam until about 5 minutes before the train arrived (it was 25ish minutes late). I have heard so many stories about Amsterdam, and seen so many movies. I was very excited to be about to experience the city first hand and with friends!! It’s funny how sometimes it still hits me that I am here, in Europe, travelling, and having the time of my life.

Mother I'm a wall away now.

Day 55. Today I slept in again, but not so late that I lost a day (Although, I do love being able to sleep in for a change ad not feeling bad about it) and then packed my things to catch the train to Berlin! I am excited for a new city and for new experiences, but I easily could have spent weeks in Prague it was so great with such fantastic people. If you ever go there, you HAVE to stay at THE MADHOUSE. I have seriously lucked out with my hostel choices the last few cities and it makes a world of difference. This has been one of the best hostels so far and when I come back I will be staying here for sure! The staff is amazing, the atmosphere is fantastic, the beds are very comfortable, the rooms are so nice, it is very clean, a full kitchen with everything you need, nice showers, good internet, super fun nightly activities and it is small enough that you get to know everyone and really feel welcome and enjoy every minute of your stay. I cannot recommend this hostel enough! If you are going to Prague, this is the hostel to be at! (Thank you for an amazing time Rod, Kraig, and Chris!!) I left with Andy and Mike and we didn’t realize that it was a Sunday…. So the tram was ridiculously late. We missed our trains and had to wait at the station together for the next batch to come around. Not after too long we said goodbye and I was off to Berlin! I worked on my blog at the station and then finished catching up on the train, watched a movie, and then dozed off for a bit before we arrived in Berlin. I was a little nervous about arriving at night, Berlin being a big, legit city and all, but pat me on the back I found my hostel without any problems (And had to take the S-bahn AND subway to do it. I know, I know, I’m cool). Today is MOTHER’S DAY!! I am so incredibly grateful for my mother and all the love and support she gives to me. I would be incredible lost without her and love her more than any amount of words could possibly express (Seriously Mom, you are amazing and I love you to the stars and back again). Thank you for being my mom and thank you for always loving me no matter what (I know it’s not easy and I am sure there were times you wanted to strangle me, but I am sure glad that you didn’t)! I was so lucky and got to Skype my mom and my family tonight. I waited until they got home from church (About 11:15 pm my time – 9 hours ahead) and then got to see all their lovely smiles and faces. Jayna was beautiful in her prom dress and my grandparents surprised my family with a visit. It was fun seeing all of them and I was glad I got to see my Mom on Mother’s day. I was exhausted from travelling as I usually am and went right to bed after skyping, when I wake it’s will be to German adventures, yippee!

Day 56. Today I got up early and sat outside in the sun to read my book for a bit while I waited for the free walking tour to start. I made myself a jelly and nutella sandwich for breakfast and enjoyed the sun.  I love free walking tours! Brewer’s Berlin Free walking tour (Go on this one, trust me) was so excellent, and it made me realized how much I love history. I got super jipped in high school and at community college in my history classes (If Mrs. James still works at Central Valley, she should be fired, just saying) and it made me grow to hate history. I have always not liked history and for the life of me I can’t think of why, it is so interesting!! (Maybe it’s all the names and dates that can be monotonous, but I seriously just despised all of my history classes and would always fall asleep.) Being here in Europe and learning so much about a countries history has been so incredibly amazing. I literally get to see the history unfold in front of me and I love it, this is such an amazing experience! Berlin has so much history that today was no different. I learned all about the Berlin Wall, the West and East Germany dilemmas after the wars, the rise and fall of the soviets, so much more, and then got to see all of it right in front of me. Talk about an interactive crash course in history, it was so cool! We started our tour on Museum Island and got to see some of the oldest museums in Berlin (It was Monday so they were all closed… but still cool to see the impressive architecture), and apparently Berlin has more Museums/exhibits than London and Paris put together, wow! We saw a really cool monument dedicated to the women of the war inside of a building with a single hole in the ceiling to let in light. There is only the one statue in the entire building, which adds to the already very somber effect of the statue. Next we walked to the spot where they had the burning of the so called “politically undesirable” books according to the Nazis. This was a hole in the ground looking into all white room and empty bookshelves. As I love to read this was a cool monument to the thousands of books thrown into the fire. Also in memory of the book burning, across the street from the square is an outdoor bookstore open every day all year round save for Christmas. Other cool sites were Checkpoint Charlie (One of the main access points through the wall for political leaders. They had a tank standoff at one point during the Cold war at this checkpoint) and the spot over Hitler’s bunker where he shot himself, which you will be happy to note there is now a playground and residential apartments (and there was black children playing when we went there). Win. We also got to see an original section of the berlin wall and learned all about how it was set up and guarded. There wasn’t just one wall, but two and a “death strip”. The entire West Berlin was literally walled off so that people from East Berlin could no longer get into West Berlin. I guess I always assumed it was just a wall splitting the city in half where people could just drive around the wall, not completely caging off the entire West side (Shows how good my history lessons have been). I just don’t understand why they had to go to such extremes to stop the flow of refugees. Another very cool thing to see was the Jewish monument. It takes up an entire block of the city and is quite literally a maze of tombstone-like big grey rectangles of varying height. The ground is also in waves so that the “tombstones” literally feel like they are burying you as they get larger and larger towards the center. It reminded me very much of the Jewish cemetery in Prague. Some stupid kids were running around and playing tag/hide and go seek so I yelled at them to be respectful as I was lost in thought staring at these completely unmarked “graves” (no one is buried there, I asked). It was another very somber experience and very interesting memorial. The Reichstag and Brandonburg’s gate were right around the corner, both very impressive and it’s there that we ended our tour. The tour guide was amazing and I tipped him well. After the tour I made some friends, Sofia from New York and Rachel from Michigan, Macca from Argentina, and Taryn and Joyce from Canada. Together we walked through Teir Garten Park and saw the monument for the homosexuals in the concentration camps. It was very similar to the Jewish one as it was a very large unmarked tombstone-like grey rectangle with a screen on one side showing clips of what I deemed to mean perseverance. Other monuments for those in the concentration camps other than the Jewish are also being constructed. We also saw the Global Stone Project that I thought was super awesome in the Tier Garten. Each of the five rocks came from a different continent leaving a “sister” stone in its original origin. The stones all have a different meaning and they are aligned in a circle and polished so that on June 21^st at high noon the reflected light of the sister stones connects with the stones in Berlin and draws five invisible straight lines. The viewer then connects those lines to form a circle of light connecting all of the stones in the circle. Way cool. We walked back to the hostel and regrouped, and I finally had to buy new chapstick. I used mine to the very complete end. I could literally get nothing else out of the tube (a sad day indeed). Oh well, the German chapstick isn’t bad, it just wears off to quick and I have a chapstick addiction (Lucky for me Anthony is bringing me some chapstick, yippee!). We were going to go to a beer garden but were far too hungry for the food served there and decided to make our own beer garden by eating outside in the nice weather at a cheaper restaurant. Dinner was excellent and we all talked for hours. It actually got pretty cold in the evening so we wrapped ourselves in blankets that were provided on the backs of our chairs until we decided to go elsewhere. We looked for a club to go dancing, but it was still far too early in the evening for anywhere to be good (its Berlin, the party doesn’t start until at least 2 or 3 am), so we found a billiards bar and played a fun game of pool instead. I was so tired from walking for 7 plus hours that after one game I was definitely ready for bed. We exchanged information to keep in contact and called it a night, walking back to our respective hostel’s where I was quick to fall sleep.

Pictures in Prague!!

Just a castle on the hillside on my way to Prague, no big deal.

Look at the hills!!

A palace!

As far as the eye can see, fields of yellow!!

Can you tell the time??

Astronomical flop, I mean clock.

Which tower is bigger than the other? Or is one??

Sometimes I feel like time is slipping away, so I moved it to the freezer.

Elephant giraffe with a crystal pyramid on its back.

You know me and trees!

Live mannequins! 

The center of Prague!

Gah! Voldemort's back!! (Actually I figured out what it is for, Don Giovanni!)

Its the same height as the Eiffel tower with the hill that its on... hmmmmm, jealous much?

21st century standoff.

Chaz and Lewis!

The Charles bridge and the castle!

Now that's a shiny dog!

Oh hello Prague!

So beautiful!!!

Yes, that's the castle... no no, that back building is the cathedral.

I know... I was pissed when I walked inside too.

Ok, but this is pretty cool. You could pull it down and everything.

Yippee! Secret St. Charles Bridge spot acquired!

I'm on the John Lennon Wall!

I had no idea at the time, but it kind of looks like I have a graffiti tiara....

Love locks baby!