Spring Break: Berlin

I already said how we had some mix ups and a rough start to Berlin, but after that I felt like it only kept getting better. When we were forced to not sleep, we decided to grab breakfast. The café in which you could eat at the hostel cost 5 euro for a breakfast buffet and a glass of oj. That was amazing. It seems expensive for breakfast, but it had several delicious items including nutella, which thinking back now, I should have taken some packets for the road. There was also fresh fruit, granola, meats and some delicious cheese.
After the experience in Paris when I almost ostracized myself by becoming a drill sergeant, I decided to tone it down. This day we walked to the wall and then saw checkpoint Charlie, a famous gate in the Berlin wall. There is apparently an amazing museum, but after much confusion we did not go in and I didn’t bother making a fuss, because everyone was tired and on edge. The wall I have to say was quite disappointing. It was thinner than I expected and there was just a street. It’s been 20 years and there is no memorial at the most famous part of the wall, the only part (or one of maybe 3 parts) that is still standing. When we got there there were no tourists and the wall was fenced off for construction. Apparently they are finally getting around to creating a memorial there. After the slight disappointment, we tried to find a good place to eat. We were pretty much unsuccessful and everyone was about to kill me, so I was quite relieved when we found a bar that seemed good. I had the signature Berlin sausage, the currywurst. I’m not a fan of curry, so I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t bad. When we finished we made our way back to the hostel and went to our room. That was a glorious moment. The inside of the hostel wasn’t fantastic, but the space was well used and it looked nice. At that point that wasn’t really important though, because we quickly passed out. Rather than going out to sight see, we went to eat and some of us continued the night (because Berlin is hailed as the best night life in all of Europe). Our meal was fantastic, I had a shwarzbier with a pork dish that had mushrooms picked from a forest and what I think were turnips. The last part was a red vegetable that appeared to be a cabbage sort of plant, but it didn’t taste like what I thought it would taste like. It was sweet and almost a desert. The best part was this fancy restaurant was delicious and also less than 20 € for a meal. After our extravagant dinner, the guys went to the clubs while the girls returned to the hostel. We went to a street called Oranienburger Strasse and ended up starting at a bar and moving to the club next door. Of all the clubs in Berlin, we ended up at Zapata, a Spanish influenced bar. How does that happen? Quick side note: Berlin does not get dressed like Spain. I thought that they would look dressy euro, but slightly different, but they do not. Germany, or Berlin felt like America light. Almost every young person I saw looked like a punk rocker kid that I could see at school. However this dress continues into night. There are a select few clubs that are necessary to dress up to go to, but those are almost impossible to get into. The club I have in mind has had high profile customers like George Clooney. The next morning we got up, checked out at 12 and went to some more historical places. We saw the Brandenburg gate where Napolean took the statue on top and then Berlin reclaimed it about 5 to 15 years later (not sure on the time frame). In the same square sort of area we saw the American embassy and the hotel Adlon where Micheal Jackson held the baby out the window. Next we went to the Reichstag, which was my complete purpose for going to Berlin (well, maybe just one of the main reasons). It was quite impressive and it was very easy to see the ideas behind the architecture. Obviously the architect wanted to retain the history of the country, but show the new direction of the country. The outside has a giant dome of glass and all the windows are large, plain, pane windows. All this glass is there to represent no secrets in government. Along these lines, entrance is free and from the top of the dome it is possible to see directly down into the senate chamber. The line was long, so we decided to return later. Next we went to the Jewish Memorial. It is quite interesting with huge stones standing in a square and it is possible to get lost in the middle and find random people while walking around corners. I also had some amazing photos from there. Honestly it was one of the most fun parts of the trip. I know it sounds horrible, but we were practically playing tag in the stones. However, looking back I feel like that is sort of what the memorial is about. Underground is the musuem and above is a world full of decisions to be made, and find your direction out of the dissarray. Even through the destruction and devastation that is presented in the stones there is an openness to exlpore and there are voices of kids enjoying life. The memorial musuem was not as impressive as the one in DC, but the exit opens up into the middle of the maze of stones which I thought was very appropriate. By this time we were getting tired and weighed down from souvenirs, so we headed back to the hostel. After a few hours of waiting, maybe only one or two, we went back to the Reichstag at night. That was quite impressive, but I was surprised that the dome was open to the air. There are some pics on Picassa (or will be) of the Reichstag. When we left we went to a fabulous dinner under the S-bahn. It was not too expensive and quite an experience. I had a huge meal called the grill platter. It was absolutely phenomenal with almost every type of meat. Well... I think that's it. I feel drained. If I think of more stuff, I'll come back and post some more facts. We returned to the hostel, spent the night in the airport and flew home. It's good to be back.

Spring Break: Prague/Praga/Praha

The morning bus from Vienna was not bad at all. I wasn’t tired, but found that I was able to sleep on the bus a little bit. Prague I found to be a bit dirtier than Vienna and not entirely enjoyable at first. After a day I got used to it and didn’t mind the filthy look so much. On a good note, the weather was better. Sure it would hail randomly while it was sunny out, but it was a good contrast to Vienna where we got soaked in the cold. I think the highlight of Prague could only be one of two things: the hostel or the prices. We began our stay with a nice lunch at a local place and wow was it delicious. I had a traditional dish for less than 10 dollars with a beer that was only 1 dollar (about 22 crowns). After that we returned to the hostel that had an absolutely amazing layout. The Internet did not work, but that didn’t matter because we basically had an awesome flat to ourselves. The first room had 3 beds, a kitchen table and a kitchen with a huge bathroom off to one side. Through a doorway near the kitchen there were two other bedrooms with two beds each. The whole place was absolutely wonderful and the best part was we were able to have a great time without breaking the bank. Sure I ended up spending a decent amount, but how else are you going to live? The two nights we were there we cooked dinner. I didn’t have much of a hand in the process (a very good thing too), but most of the group lent a hand to preparing the dinner. We all went to this supermarket called tesco that was in a mall. It had everything, and very cheap. We had pasta both nights, but also had crisped bread with tomato and cheese one night that I absolutely fell in love with. Rather than trying to find the nightlife of Prague, we relaxed at the hostel and drank and were merry. Since we were in Prague, we went out on a limb and decided to try the much-hyped absinth. Now I can say from experience that there are no hallucinations and it tastes like black licorice. I know I will not be going out of my way to find that again. I am disappointed that I didn’t try it, but there was this other drink called grog that Matt bought. We spent three days in Prague and walking around it was nice, but I wasn’t really impressed by anything. It felt like everything we did was just look at an old building and move on. Even if there was a history to the places we went, we didn’t know it. The St. Charles Bridge was beautiful and the town square was nice, but honestly I had the best times at the hostel living it up and chatting with everyone. Another highlight of Prague was the McDonald’s, easily the best in Europe that I have tasted. I bought a sandwich called the cheese and fresh (which doesn’t make much sense, but whatever) that came with fries, cheese curds, a drink and a muffin. I guess I paid for the amount of food (almost 9 dollars for the meal) but it was absolutely delicious and I was stuffed (without even getting my fries because I left the counter without them). The worst part of Prague was trying to get to Berlin. We had to take a night bus that left at 12 and arrived in Berlin at 430. What a pain. Not only was the bus station awful (no inside seating and it was in a shady area of town) but also it was almost impossible to sleep on the bus. There were several stops, including one in which a police officer looked at all our passports and searched some of the bags. I got enough sleep, but some people were slightly sick at this point, so they were unable to survive in Berlin. Since we arrived so early, there was no way to enter the hostel until about 8. Therefore, we waited in the bus station for hours until we could hop on the metro and arrive at the hostel. Once we arrived we could not move into our room because it was unavailable for check in until 2, which makes sense since check out is at 12. If we wanted to crash there we would have had to pay another night which I was like, uh no. Also the hostel misplaced our reservation. Our reservation was placed for Wednesday night rather than Thursday, so we technically had no reservation. However there was really no problem and after that the hostel became possibly the best in Europe.

Spring Break: Vienna cont'd

I’m writing this entry on the plane home from Berlin. We had a great trip, ending with another sleepless night, but of course I can’t sleep on airplanes, so this is how I’ll be passing the time. I believe I left off that we had gone to an Opera in Vienna (fantastic by the way). That night we decided to have our McDonald’s from another country. I must say, every McDonald’s I’ve been to in another country tends to outdo any in the States. In Vienna they had the best of Europe, so we could get the El Mac or the newyorker. Of course, we went with the newyorker and then as a side, we had some shrimp. The shrimp were not amazing, but not horrible either. That feast was quite good and quite filling, so we were ready to return. Back at the hostel, we drank some beers and watched youtube videos until we were ready for sleep. Fast forward to the next morning, we didn’t have much else to do in Vienna. We had been around and had seen everything that we needed to see. That day we went to the oldest Ferris Wheel, the oldest zoo and a palace that was supposed to rival Versailles. Let’s just say it didn’t come close, but the palace was nice and interesting nonetheless. The Ferris wheel was dull and expensive (8.50 € for a 10 min ride). Rather than buying a pass for that, we went to this really cool café that was hidden in away in a neighborhood not far from the wheel. I can’t remember the name, but the floor was curved and the outside was a strange mosaic. Inside I had a delicious strudel and hot cocoa. There are some pics of that place that will be up on Picassa. Everyone was pretty tired at this point, so the majority of the group went to the hostel and Andy and I went back downtown to buy a souvenir shot glass and look at times for ice skating. When we arrived at Stephenplatz (or something like that) I grabbed a shot glass and we hurried over to Vienna’s town hall or Rathaus. Previously we had seen that there was a skating rink that had a path into the park and lots of food, so we were thinking about going that night. It wasn’t that expensive, but when we got back to the hostel, we passed out. Once we woke up it became a mission for food rather than going skating, so there ended our time in Vienna.

Spring Break: Vienna

Wow, I feel overwhelmed when it comes to how much I have to write about on this blog. I have yet to begin the entry about Loyola, but I have to skip ahead because this trip to Wien has been so awesome and inspiring for writing. I was extremely tired from staying up almost all night the night before leaving watching Ratatoille and saying goodbye to Marli's hermano and tia (sister really, but calls her an aunt, like dude in english). I don't know why hermano (don't know his name something like Valdicci) came because there are no jobs in Madrid, but I guess it was worth a shot in his mind. Needless to say he didn't find one and is now returning to Brasil, why Tia is joining him I have no idea, but now we will go from 9 people living in the piso to 8 and Tia won't be cleaning. It may get a little dirtier, but I think it will be nice with all Americans and Marli because the others honestly complicated things. It's not that I didn't like the hermano, but I just thought he was a difficult person to read and never quite understood him. They were leaving at 6 in the morning like us, but there wasn't enough room in the car so we ended up taking the metro. It was not a problem and I will most definitely take the metro back to the airport even though I have so much luggage. Well, maybe not because if enough of us need to go it would be 11 euros or less for van service. Anyway, we made it there fine, had some jokes with our friends on the metro because they thought we were at the terminal and we were on the same train as them, and enjoyed watching the sunrise from the terminal. I was pretty much in a daze and was so tired that I passed out before the plane got to cruising altitude. I tried to stay awake during the beginning because I was expecting a meal, but it was a good thing I ate a sandwich and a granola bar cause you had to pay for food and drinks. Very strange being as it was an Iberia flight.
When we arrived it was cold and we had to leave the plane onto the runway, experiencing for the first time winter again. Shucks. Really. Madrid has been so amazing weather wise that I decided it was normal. Wrong. Vienna has really been depressing actually. lol. I don't really like using internet lingo, but this is a blog and it was meant to be funny. I mean I'm in Vienna right? I shouldn't be complaining, but it is dreary. Constant rain and hasn't been above 45 degrees. Now I'm done complaining, because I had the most amazing night here tonight.
I'm sorry I had to jump a little ahead in my story, but I don't want to forget how this was. Short detour (like all my stories), the rest of the group (Matt Wade, Calli and Bree Walvisch, Kelcey Towell, and Rachel Dratnol) bought tickets from a street guy as soon as we went downtown the first day, but I was like no way dude. Andy and I had been through the street selling stuff enough in Paris and I knew what I wanted to do while I was there. This guy sold the others tickets for a musical performance for 20 euro or so with one free champagne drink. Now what we did. We left slightly late, but thanks to my euro book I knew about a little used service at Staatsoper. I thought our "show" started at eight and we arrived at 710, so that was a slight issue, but nothing big. Ok, so now that you're dying to know what we did... we saw an opera called Onegin. FOR 3 EURO! Amazing right?! We got there slightly late which was unfortunate, but we only missed 10 min. We had a coat check for free and saw an amazingly high quality italian opera (i think) with english subtitles. I'll admit I was not interested at first because I have been jaded by the old buildings and the things you can do in Europe. However, by the end of the first act I was amazed and very into the performance. By the end of the opera I was dying for another performance. Simply marvelous. I'll continue soon, but I wanted to get that off my chest and onto "paper".