One, this is a great song. Alright a while ago (over a month... October 4-8) I was in the beautiful Prague, Czech Republic. Eilis and I had decided to split up while she went to visit her family in Denmark, I headed to Prague for a few days of solitude before meeting up with Ginny in Budapest, but you have to wait for my next blog for that one...
My lovely sister, Meg, had a friend from college who actually moved to Prague and opened a hostel with another friend. I soon got to meet Daniel and David and they showed me the most wonderful hospitality as well as all the staff at the wonderful Mosaic House. My bus unfortunately got in at 5 am, and after going to the metro only to realize I had the wrong currency, back to the atm where I realized I had no idea what the exchange rate was I was just thankful to make it to the hostel. Thankfully they let me check into my room early and after brushing my teeth in the beautiful bathroom I pulled back my curtain to my bed (feeling like I was in a Hogwards dorm with dark red curtains) and slept till noon. I went for a run that afternoon, purely because I took my laundry to the laundrymat and all the clean clothes left that I was wearing were my running clothes. It was a grey day but I headed out for a park less than a km away. Well the run was beautiful and I quickly learned that I loved Prague. I ran past the theatre, churches, over one of the many bridges, and started making my way up a mountain which was the park (the guy at the desk failed to mention this). The views at the top were spectacular and I was glad I did it. On my run home well lets just say my 30 minute run home turned into an hour... But it finished with a sense of accomplishment.
At the hostel I made friends with a girl from australia and we had dinner at the hotel restaurant which was amazing! Nachos and non other than a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger! Needless to say I was happy at the end of the day. The delicious Pilsner Prague is famous for washed it all down perfectly.
The next day was spent doing the free walking tour, having a bagel, yes Bagel in europe! I really enjoyed hearing the history of Prague, though a sad one. The most interesting part was my guide had lived in Prague for 25 years after marrying a man from there. Her mother-in-law had passed away two years before but while alive had lived SEVEN countries but never moved! The country changed that many times from its time with Slovakia, under the communist rule, etc. We also saw the Jewish district which is one of the largest in Europe because Hitler decided Prague should be the city to keep documentation of a distinct race. After the tour I was off to wander the streets. That night I went out with my Australian friend and her two other friends she had just met up with. I had traditional Czech goulash, which was delicious (Mom you would be proud of all I have eaten this trip).
Day three was spent sleeping in, meeting with Daniel and David to pick their brains on how they came to Prague and opened a restaurant. I wandered around that day as well seeing the Castle, crossing the famed Charles Bridge full of people rubbing the statue of the Saint who was thrown from the bridge for good luck. My favorite part of the day was when I found the amazing Lennon Wall full of quotes and graffiti of love and peace, all good things! That night was spent at dinner with David, his wife Brooke, and her parents. They treated me to a delicious dinner and great conversation. I was overwhelmed by their hospitality including David putting me in a private room for the night! It was great! I had my own bathroom and even a computer to skype Erin and wish her a Happy Birthday!
My last full day at Prague was uneventful. I decided to sleep in, traveling, though amazing, is exhausting. After seeing a few sights I headed to the hostel and meet two girls from New Zealand and another girl, Liz, from Australia. We spent the evening together, had dinner and great conversation. Before an early night for my early train ride to Budapest to see Ginny!
Traveling alone was great. It was suppose to give me time for solitude and to contemplate what I wanted to do with the rest of my time in Europe and when I returned. Unfortunately all that really happened was I decided I had to come back to Prague and send anyone I met there as well! Really it was a great break and I was extremely lucky to meet Daniel and David and see Prague and just immerse in its history and raw beauty.
Unfortunately, I have just learned I can not put my photos up on here once they are on shutterfly... that will be interesting when I get home, but here is the link! Prague photos!!!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Eins … zwei … g'suffa! Prost! - German cheers song
See pictures at my new photo site. Click here.
This was by far the experience of a lifetime! Eilis casually brought up Oktoberfest about 2 days before it started (which is actually mid september... go figure) and we said oh we should try to go. I immediatly thought of my friend Ginny who is living in Germany as an au pair for the year, so I emailed her saying we were talking about going to Germany and Oktoberfest. Sure enough she was going for the last weekend of the festival and we decided to meet up with her!
Now incase you didn't know, unless you live in Munich, you don't just decided to go to Oktoberfest one week before and plan to find a place to sleep, tickets to a beer tent, and a way there and back, but thats exactly what we did. We got on the always trusty hostelworld and realized that any room would cost us easy 100 euros a night, so we decided that we would worry about it later and did nothing.
God was taking care of us mom, dont worry, because it all worked out. Ginny said we could stay with her bc her host parents got her a private room in the hotel! We were so excited. Thursday, the day before we were leaving for Munich and meeting up with Ginny, I get a phone call she might not be coming. Her host mom was really sick and might not be able to go so Ginny would be able to go. I told her to buy a bus ticket and get down to Munich, and we could work on getting a tent at a campsite we heard about that was outside of the city. Well turns out the parents didnt come, but the grandparents (who dont know any english) were coming so we met up with Ginny in Munich! After a very confusing time on the metro, a few wrong turns, and a confusing exit, we made it to Ginny and were so happy!
So Friday night while Ginny had dinner with her host extended family, Eilis and I headed to Oktoberfest to get a taste and it was the most overwhelming and exciting thing ever. I always pictured Oktoberfest as a few tables under a group of white tents (like festivals in Marion Square) and a couple of dinky rides like at a small local fair, boy was I wrong! We come up the metro escalator to lights and sounds and thousands of men and women of all ages in leaderhosen and corsette dresses and rides everywhere! It was sooooo crazy. The "beer tents" were infact real buildings, each the size of a convention center (there were 10 I believe) and the food, out of this world. After wandering around jaws on the ground, Eilis and I treated ourselves to chocolate covered strawberries, sugar coated pecans that seriously made me stop in my tracks and buy they smelled so good (and tasted even better)! We then had a 1/2 meter bratwurst! I was very excited about that (for those non-metric thinkers that is 1 1/2 feet). We then had our first experience of the deliciousness that is Oktoberfest liter beers (they only costed 10 euros and had an alchol content of 6.3% aka not dangerous in any way). Ginny met up with us after dinner with the family and we wandered for a bit, learned that Oktoberfest ends at 9:30, very early in my mind! But we werent worried because we knew the next day would be fun.... but really we had noooo idea!
So we slept in because we could! It was so nice being in a room just the three of us. I still wonder what the grandparents thought of us showing up and bunking with Ginny! They got us and we met up with a group of about 10 germans outside the hotel. We met the cousin who planned everything and bought the tickets ect. Then we were walking and enjoying how half our group had on leaderhosen and dresses. The next thing I know we are at a house and there are 40 germans, other than the cousin who planned it and his wife who were in there 30s, they are all over 50, most over 65! They are all friends and family of the host family and they all were sooo nice to us! They even gave us the host parents beer tent tickets and made sure we were taken care of the whole way to the festival. Only two knew english in our group of 40, and off we went to Oktoberfest with a group of germans dressed to the T and feeling like this is how it should be done!
Once we got to Theresienwiese, the field its held in, after an exhausting and overwhelmingly packed metro ride we had the cousin waving his wife's scarf for us to follow him and we meandered through the crowds single file behind tents, past many beirliechen (what germans call people passed out - beer courpse) and finally into the tent. We shuffle past crowds hanging outside in line till people leave so they can get in or just drinking outside in the beergardens. We are immediatly taken upstairs and are suddenly on a balcony overlooking the entire tent Hacker-Pschorr. We have four reserved tables and the family pushes us in one where we can overlook the entire going-ons down below! It is overwhelming. We learn that the tent holds just under 7,000 people as the worlds most delicious salty largest pretzels are placed before us! We also learn that our tickets that we were given have to be bought TWO YEARS in advanced and that HP is one of the first and most famous beer tents! We were overwhelmed with gratitude and joy as the grandparents continued spoiling us with coupons for one free beer each (basically giving you 10 euro)!
We had beer, talked, people watched a ton and took photos of the interesting things going on below. We also enjoyed the wonderful band we had in our tent, especially when they played the "Prost" song every thirty minutes where you had to cheers at the end. Not to mention it was one of the few words Eilis and I knew in German so whenever any of our german family made eye contact with us they would immediatly raise their glass and say Prost! It was awesome. The table behind us had people our age and we soon made friends and I was asked to dance a couple of times! It was so much fun and I loved every minute of it, even the long lines for the bathroom, especially the time I snuck in the exit when a girl was being held by the guard for doing the same thing! Also while waiting for Eilis and Ginny outside the bathroom, none other than John Denver "Country Roads" came on! Not only where they playing the lovely song that makes me think of thanksgivings with the cousins, but everybody knew it! All the Germans were belting it out at the top of their lungs! I joined in just in time for an old beer bellied leaderhosen and hat wearing German to walk by, stop, sing with me and proceed to give me the biggest hug, even lifting me off my feet! Crazy!
We ate brats and talked to Germans, danced, singed and had a good time. After my second liter I looked over at my new german drinking buddies only to see that they were all drinking me under the table! All of them were at least finishing their third! It put us to shame!
At 5:45 our table reservation ended and we unfortunatly had to leave our great seats and lovely family. We of course were not done and went down to face the masses with two new german friends from the table next to us. After 30 minutes fighting the crowd and smoke we left to wander the fair. No one would do any of the rides with me, next time I will go with braver people! We left the park and went to a couple of bars, talked a lot about music and ate delicious fries and of course more sugared pecans! All in all it was a phenominal and all things german day!
The next morning was an early wakeup from Ginny's grandparents picking her up to leave! The grandpa walks in and has a huge scratch and bruise on his nose and two black eyes! Ginny asks him what happened but she didnt really understand them (lack of German kicking in) I find out later from her that he has no idea. All he knows is that he all of a sudden he was gushing blood from his nose and rushed to the hospital in an ambulance where the Grandma had to go and get him after a phone call and expensive medical bill. How he broke it, who was with him, how he was lost by the Grandma is just a part of Oktoberfest that we will never know. I am sticking with the story that he got in a huge fight after sticking up for a girl being harassed and the broken nose came from a liter stien, although the more likely culprit is the ground from a hard fall. I also took about the entire day to recover and decided people that spend more than one day in those tents are crazy and have some deeper reserve than I ever will!
Eilis left in the early afternoon to visit family in Hamburg and Denmark and I had a bus to Prague but not until 11 pm. So I had the afternoon to myself. I wandered around the city, saw the sites and sat in the beautiful park. It was the first beautiful sunny day in a while and I took advantage of it before my long bus ride to Prague. I also found out that there was a small church in the city doing a mass in english at 6! It was so great going to mass and understanding it and the feeling that somethings, no matter where you are, are still the same. In the end I decided that Germany has indeed stolen a piece of my heart! I loved all of my time there and everyone was so friendly, the history rich, and the food impecable! So thank you to all those who insisted I go to Germany, and any one who hasn't, you are missing out!
This was by far the experience of a lifetime! Eilis casually brought up Oktoberfest about 2 days before it started (which is actually mid september... go figure) and we said oh we should try to go. I immediatly thought of my friend Ginny who is living in Germany as an au pair for the year, so I emailed her saying we were talking about going to Germany and Oktoberfest. Sure enough she was going for the last weekend of the festival and we decided to meet up with her!
Now incase you didn't know, unless you live in Munich, you don't just decided to go to Oktoberfest one week before and plan to find a place to sleep, tickets to a beer tent, and a way there and back, but thats exactly what we did. We got on the always trusty hostelworld and realized that any room would cost us easy 100 euros a night, so we decided that we would worry about it later and did nothing.
God was taking care of us mom, dont worry, because it all worked out. Ginny said we could stay with her bc her host parents got her a private room in the hotel! We were so excited. Thursday, the day before we were leaving for Munich and meeting up with Ginny, I get a phone call she might not be coming. Her host mom was really sick and might not be able to go so Ginny would be able to go. I told her to buy a bus ticket and get down to Munich, and we could work on getting a tent at a campsite we heard about that was outside of the city. Well turns out the parents didnt come, but the grandparents (who dont know any english) were coming so we met up with Ginny in Munich! After a very confusing time on the metro, a few wrong turns, and a confusing exit, we made it to Ginny and were so happy!
So Friday night while Ginny had dinner with her host extended family, Eilis and I headed to Oktoberfest to get a taste and it was the most overwhelming and exciting thing ever. I always pictured Oktoberfest as a few tables under a group of white tents (like festivals in Marion Square) and a couple of dinky rides like at a small local fair, boy was I wrong! We come up the metro escalator to lights and sounds and thousands of men and women of all ages in leaderhosen and corsette dresses and rides everywhere! It was sooooo crazy. The "beer tents" were infact real buildings, each the size of a convention center (there were 10 I believe) and the food, out of this world. After wandering around jaws on the ground, Eilis and I treated ourselves to chocolate covered strawberries, sugar coated pecans that seriously made me stop in my tracks and buy they smelled so good (and tasted even better)! We then had a 1/2 meter bratwurst! I was very excited about that (for those non-metric thinkers that is 1 1/2 feet). We then had our first experience of the deliciousness that is Oktoberfest liter beers (they only costed 10 euros and had an alchol content of 6.3% aka not dangerous in any way). Ginny met up with us after dinner with the family and we wandered for a bit, learned that Oktoberfest ends at 9:30, very early in my mind! But we werent worried because we knew the next day would be fun.... but really we had noooo idea!
So we slept in because we could! It was so nice being in a room just the three of us. I still wonder what the grandparents thought of us showing up and bunking with Ginny! They got us and we met up with a group of about 10 germans outside the hotel. We met the cousin who planned everything and bought the tickets ect. Then we were walking and enjoying how half our group had on leaderhosen and dresses. The next thing I know we are at a house and there are 40 germans, other than the cousin who planned it and his wife who were in there 30s, they are all over 50, most over 65! They are all friends and family of the host family and they all were sooo nice to us! They even gave us the host parents beer tent tickets and made sure we were taken care of the whole way to the festival. Only two knew english in our group of 40, and off we went to Oktoberfest with a group of germans dressed to the T and feeling like this is how it should be done!
Once we got to Theresienwiese, the field its held in, after an exhausting and overwhelmingly packed metro ride we had the cousin waving his wife's scarf for us to follow him and we meandered through the crowds single file behind tents, past many beirliechen (what germans call people passed out - beer courpse) and finally into the tent. We shuffle past crowds hanging outside in line till people leave so they can get in or just drinking outside in the beergardens. We are immediatly taken upstairs and are suddenly on a balcony overlooking the entire tent Hacker-Pschorr. We have four reserved tables and the family pushes us in one where we can overlook the entire going-ons down below! It is overwhelming. We learn that the tent holds just under 7,000 people as the worlds most delicious salty largest pretzels are placed before us! We also learn that our tickets that we were given have to be bought TWO YEARS in advanced and that HP is one of the first and most famous beer tents! We were overwhelmed with gratitude and joy as the grandparents continued spoiling us with coupons for one free beer each (basically giving you 10 euro)!
We had beer, talked, people watched a ton and took photos of the interesting things going on below. We also enjoyed the wonderful band we had in our tent, especially when they played the "Prost" song every thirty minutes where you had to cheers at the end. Not to mention it was one of the few words Eilis and I knew in German so whenever any of our german family made eye contact with us they would immediatly raise their glass and say Prost! It was awesome. The table behind us had people our age and we soon made friends and I was asked to dance a couple of times! It was so much fun and I loved every minute of it, even the long lines for the bathroom, especially the time I snuck in the exit when a girl was being held by the guard for doing the same thing! Also while waiting for Eilis and Ginny outside the bathroom, none other than John Denver "Country Roads" came on! Not only where they playing the lovely song that makes me think of thanksgivings with the cousins, but everybody knew it! All the Germans were belting it out at the top of their lungs! I joined in just in time for an old beer bellied leaderhosen and hat wearing German to walk by, stop, sing with me and proceed to give me the biggest hug, even lifting me off my feet! Crazy!
We ate brats and talked to Germans, danced, singed and had a good time. After my second liter I looked over at my new german drinking buddies only to see that they were all drinking me under the table! All of them were at least finishing their third! It put us to shame!
At 5:45 our table reservation ended and we unfortunatly had to leave our great seats and lovely family. We of course were not done and went down to face the masses with two new german friends from the table next to us. After 30 minutes fighting the crowd and smoke we left to wander the fair. No one would do any of the rides with me, next time I will go with braver people! We left the park and went to a couple of bars, talked a lot about music and ate delicious fries and of course more sugared pecans! All in all it was a phenominal and all things german day!
The next morning was an early wakeup from Ginny's grandparents picking her up to leave! The grandpa walks in and has a huge scratch and bruise on his nose and two black eyes! Ginny asks him what happened but she didnt really understand them (lack of German kicking in) I find out later from her that he has no idea. All he knows is that he all of a sudden he was gushing blood from his nose and rushed to the hospital in an ambulance where the Grandma had to go and get him after a phone call and expensive medical bill. How he broke it, who was with him, how he was lost by the Grandma is just a part of Oktoberfest that we will never know. I am sticking with the story that he got in a huge fight after sticking up for a girl being harassed and the broken nose came from a liter stien, although the more likely culprit is the ground from a hard fall. I also took about the entire day to recover and decided people that spend more than one day in those tents are crazy and have some deeper reserve than I ever will!
Eilis left in the early afternoon to visit family in Hamburg and Denmark and I had a bus to Prague but not until 11 pm. So I had the afternoon to myself. I wandered around the city, saw the sites and sat in the beautiful park. It was the first beautiful sunny day in a while and I took advantage of it before my long bus ride to Prague. I also found out that there was a small church in the city doing a mass in english at 6! It was so great going to mass and understanding it and the feeling that somethings, no matter where you are, are still the same. In the end I decided that Germany has indeed stolen a piece of my heart! I loved all of my time there and everyone was so friendly, the history rich, and the food impecable! So thank you to all those who insisted I go to Germany, and any one who hasn't, you are missing out!
Wonderwall - Oasis
Eilis and I headed to Germany with no idea what we were in for! I had no desire to go to Germany a year ago, but I had friends that kept saying, Germany go to Germany, and they were right! It was an adventure with food, beer, people, history, and life from the minute we got there!
We got of the train early in the morning only to see road blocks for the Berlin Marathon! It hadn't started yet, so we made it to our hostel, put down our bags and headed to a coffee shop (a normal one, were not in Amsterdam anymore!) nearby to have breakfast. We crossed the path of the marathon and I thought it would be cool to watch people run by while eating in a warm cafe (it was very chilly and rainy). There was also a very cute band playing for the runners. We sit down and get bagels! I am always happy to find a bagel. Then the first runners come by. Sure enough, 45 minutes later, the street is still full of runners with no breaks in sight. We sat at that coffee shop for well over an hour only to learn that over 80,000 people ran, and it is one of the top 5 marathons (up there with boston and nyc... Who knew?) It was very cool and hilarious that we couldnt get back to the hostel. The rest of the day was spent resting and working on plans for Oktoberfest, which we had decided to go to and meet up with Ginny (a friend from college, Going Deutsch) and our time apart when I head to prague.
The next day, Monday, we did the free walking tour and it was so great. We really enjoyed all the history. We heard about Berlin being seperated, what happened to the city in WWII and all the hardships Berlin saw for so long. We saw the memorial for murdered jews of the holocaust and it was my favorite memorial I think I have ever seen. It was very simple but beautiful. It was over 2,000 concrete slates of all different hights but all about the length and width (to me what a coffin would look like), spread out along an entire city block right in the heart of the city. Our guide said it was to be a constant reminder of all those who lost there lives and that power can corrupt. We also got to see the wall and Check point charlie. During our break we snuck off from the tour to go to the Currywaurst museum to have our first of many currywursts. It was basically a hotdog-brawt with tons of ketchup and spices, but I loved it! We finished the tour with an amazing story of the fall of the Berlin wall and it was so cool to see something you had only read about in class!
Our tour guide told us about a guided tour that they did to Sachsenhausen, a workers concentration camp outside of Berlin. We decided we really wanted to do it because we didnt think we would make it to Poland for Auschwitz. So the next morning we woke up and went on the tour. It was about 5 hours total and it was very moving. I feel like in the states, it is easy to never think about the past, especially when you are as bad as I am about paying attention in history, but this really hit home. In Sachsen house an estimated 56,000 people died. It was first used for political enemies, gehovinus witnesses who refused to hail Hitler, handicap and others unfit for the perfect race but only men. After Hitler found the excuse to arrest jews an entire wing was added on and Jews were brought in, and later sent on to Auschwitz or other camps to be murdered. The camp was later taken over by the soviets (being in eastern Berlin) and used for another ten (I believe) years to arrest and torture political enemies. The camp had a dark history and was hard to take in, but it was interesting, in a I need to see this sort of way.
After our tour we grabbed a bus (it was more difficult than that but we wont go into that) and headed out of the city to an area we were told had great seconhand clothing stores. We were freezing so we had to buy jackets (mine pictured below with a delicous currywurst). That night we went out with Greg, a guy we met at the hostel to Zapattas, a bar/club we heard about from two different locals and decided we had to see it. No one was there, so as we left we ran into three Israeli guys I had met at the hostel the night before. We went to a bar with them and then on to zappatas later for some great dancing! It is always fun making new friends.
We got of the train early in the morning only to see road blocks for the Berlin Marathon! It hadn't started yet, so we made it to our hostel, put down our bags and headed to a coffee shop (a normal one, were not in Amsterdam anymore!) nearby to have breakfast. We crossed the path of the marathon and I thought it would be cool to watch people run by while eating in a warm cafe (it was very chilly and rainy). There was also a very cute band playing for the runners. We sit down and get bagels! I am always happy to find a bagel. Then the first runners come by. Sure enough, 45 minutes later, the street is still full of runners with no breaks in sight. We sat at that coffee shop for well over an hour only to learn that over 80,000 people ran, and it is one of the top 5 marathons (up there with boston and nyc... Who knew?) It was very cool and hilarious that we couldnt get back to the hostel. The rest of the day was spent resting and working on plans for Oktoberfest, which we had decided to go to and meet up with Ginny (a friend from college, Going Deutsch) and our time apart when I head to prague.
The next day, Monday, we did the free walking tour and it was so great. We really enjoyed all the history. We heard about Berlin being seperated, what happened to the city in WWII and all the hardships Berlin saw for so long. We saw the memorial for murdered jews of the holocaust and it was my favorite memorial I think I have ever seen. It was very simple but beautiful. It was over 2,000 concrete slates of all different hights but all about the length and width (to me what a coffin would look like), spread out along an entire city block right in the heart of the city. Our guide said it was to be a constant reminder of all those who lost there lives and that power can corrupt. We also got to see the wall and Check point charlie. During our break we snuck off from the tour to go to the Currywaurst museum to have our first of many currywursts. It was basically a hotdog-brawt with tons of ketchup and spices, but I loved it! We finished the tour with an amazing story of the fall of the Berlin wall and it was so cool to see something you had only read about in class!
Our tour guide told us about a guided tour that they did to Sachsenhausen, a workers concentration camp outside of Berlin. We decided we really wanted to do it because we didnt think we would make it to Poland for Auschwitz. So the next morning we woke up and went on the tour. It was about 5 hours total and it was very moving. I feel like in the states, it is easy to never think about the past, especially when you are as bad as I am about paying attention in history, but this really hit home. In Sachsen house an estimated 56,000 people died. It was first used for political enemies, gehovinus witnesses who refused to hail Hitler, handicap and others unfit for the perfect race but only men. After Hitler found the excuse to arrest jews an entire wing was added on and Jews were brought in, and later sent on to Auschwitz or other camps to be murdered. The camp was later taken over by the soviets (being in eastern Berlin) and used for another ten (I believe) years to arrest and torture political enemies. The camp had a dark history and was hard to take in, but it was interesting, in a I need to see this sort of way.
After our tour we grabbed a bus (it was more difficult than that but we wont go into that) and headed out of the city to an area we were told had great seconhand clothing stores. We were freezing so we had to buy jackets (mine pictured below with a delicous currywurst). That night we went out with Greg, a guy we met at the hostel to Zapattas, a bar/club we heard about from two different locals and decided we had to see it. No one was there, so as we left we ran into three Israeli guys I had met at the hostel the night before. We went to a bar with them and then on to zappatas later for some great dancing! It is always fun making new friends.
Our last day was spent wandering around, going to the Pergamon musuem and seeing the Gates of Babalon! Very cool. Eating currywurst and delicious kebabs and wandering around the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is just a stretch of wall covered in graffiti and it was soo beautiful! Overall I fell in love with Berlin and it is a top rated city so far!
It Goes On and On - Avett Brothers
Amsterdam, home of beautiful canals, crazy bicyclists, bridges, "coffee shops", the weirdest language I have ever heard, delicious two day old chocolate covered waffles, amazing fries with mayo, leaning houses, terrifyingly steep and skinny stairs, and of course the red light district!
So we get into Amsterdam a couple hours late because our flight had "traffic" at 6am so we left the ground an hour late, even though there was only one other flight at the airport that morning... We get on the train towards the hostel and eilis tells me that Amsterdam is full of canals and boats! I am very excited and picturing Venice. Well as we wander around trying to find our hostel I fall immediatly in love with Amsterdam. I don't know what it is about me and water but it immediatly makes any place better. First thing we noticed was of course Dutch! This language seriously sounds like a cross between gibberish and baby talk. No offense to the Dutch but Eilis and I would giggle any time we heard anyone speak!
Eilis has been having a really bad cough over the past couple of days so we decide to go to the Red Cross to get it checked out! Turns out she has broncitis! So we get her meds get back to the hostel, check in and take naps! That night we walked to a chinese place that someone at the hostel recommends. We then wander around afterwards. Our hostel is a couple of blocks away from the red light district and I learn why it is called the red light district as well as the difference between an cafe and coffee shop. As we walk around the beautiful canals with bikers ringing bells and attempting to hit you with there bikes and crossing bridges and windows lit red with half naked women and wiffs of pot hitting us at each turn, I felt like I was in a dream. I just kept looking at Eilis mouth open saying "I mean I dont" "I mean like seriously" "Like why... how..." It was very surreal. So in order to take a break from the overwhelming lifestyle of Amsterdam we go to a cafe and have a delicious Palm beer and decide we really want popcorn and that we will go to the movies!
After googling movie theatres we found one near our hostel. After wandering around for about 20 minutes trying to find it, I realize we are in the middle of the Red Light district and the movie theater is in fact called "Venus" and is probably not the movie theatre we want! So we just hightail it to the hostel and ask them where to go. After a long walk (not in Red Light District) we get to the cenimas, but the only movie playing is Salt (Angelina Jolie action movie). All I will say is we enjoyed it a lot even though it was very unrealistic, I don't like her, and the ending was terrible. It was a movie in english and popcorn!
The next day we did the New Europe free walking tour that has tours in a lot of major cities in europe. It was really great and long! We learned a lot about the history of Amsterdam and that many of the houses lean on purpose to pull sugar to the top floor by the hooks on the tops of all the houses (which Eilis and I never noticed!) We wandered around a bit and had a BAGEL! I was soo happy and excited! We explored the city that day but took it slow because Eilis has to get better! We did of course make it to the Anne Frank House. I really enjoyed it. It was very inspiring to remember reading the book in middle school and actually seeing the space she and seven other people lived in for so long. It was amazing to see what Otto Frank said and all the work he put into preserving the secret annex. He is one of my new heros!
Friday we moved out of the hostel and bunked up with my friend Karly's (see brazil blog)
roomate from Brazil, Sophie. She let us stay with her as Eilis did not feel up to bussing quit yet, and I didnt want to leave Amsterdam! So we wandered around with Sophie and went to a brewery that was by an old windmill! Thats Holland to me! They had four or five different brews so naturally we all got a different one and switched! We found our favorites and ordered another round. A couple of guys sat down next to us and we started talking about all thing Holland and then all things States. It was very hilarioius because one guy, Diederick (pictured below as political buddies), kept bring up politics! One he's dutch why does he know/care so much about our political views, and two I HATE talking politics, it always gets heated! At one point he is just over the table about something or another and I am just laughing about how passionate he is about American politics! Needless to say it was interesting. Then they insisted on cooking us dinner! So off to the grocery store we all went! In sophie's kitchen they whipped up a delicious dinner of rice and peppers cooked in something and salad! It was a fun evening and we loved Sophie letting us stay with her in a comfy bed not in a hostel, even if the stairs are frightening!
Saturday we had a late overnight bus yet again to Berlin! We of course still had things to do in Amsterdam though! So we wandered around Leidsipline, had delicious pancakes (mine had icecream), and of course the Van Gogh museum! I really enjoyed it! I have always loved his Sunflowers painting ever since my Grandma had it and passed her love of sunflowers on to me and my sister. So it was really cool to see the original as well as some of his beautiful works! We also walked around the beautiful Vondelpark and just enjoyed the unique crazy of Amsterdam.
"Sitting here resting my bones" -Otis Redding
Madrid
So Madrid was more of a R&R stop for us. We got there two days before our camino and just planned what we were going to do, did laundry, slept, etc. After the camino we had to go back to Madrid because we had to leave half of our stuff in the bus luggage storage! So we took a horrible overnight bus where they had the heat on all night and it had to be 100 degrees! So needless to say, we didnt get any sleep. Then after we got to madrid we sat in the hostel for 4 hours before we could check in. During that time, we had mcdonalds (closest thing to the hostel) and booked a flight to Amsterdam! We were seriously on the computer looking for the cheapest flight out of Spain that didnt involve France. We just wanted somewhere more laid back that didnt have people who spoke a very confusing language and hated us! So off to Amsterdam we were headed.
We checked into our hotel, napped, and then took the afternoon to travel around and see a little of Madrid. So my knowledge of madrid, other than the fact that they have a restaurant with cheap beer and mini bree sandwiches and a McDonalds that opens for breakfast, but doesnt actually serve breakfast food is as follows. There is a fancy post office, and a cool park that has a small lake where they have a few singles, doubles and fours! I wanted to go out and row so bad, even though starboards rowed all the time (it was a small lake and they just basically did circles). I missed crew a lot. So if you want to go to Madrid, Eilis and I are not the ones to ask for what to do!
So Madrid was more of a R&R stop for us. We got there two days before our camino and just planned what we were going to do, did laundry, slept, etc. After the camino we had to go back to Madrid because we had to leave half of our stuff in the bus luggage storage! So we took a horrible overnight bus where they had the heat on all night and it had to be 100 degrees! So needless to say, we didnt get any sleep. Then after we got to madrid we sat in the hostel for 4 hours before we could check in. During that time, we had mcdonalds (closest thing to the hostel) and booked a flight to Amsterdam! We were seriously on the computer looking for the cheapest flight out of Spain that didnt involve France. We just wanted somewhere more laid back that didnt have people who spoke a very confusing language and hated us! So off to Amsterdam we were headed.
We checked into our hotel, napped, and then took the afternoon to travel around and see a little of Madrid. So my knowledge of madrid, other than the fact that they have a restaurant with cheap beer and mini bree sandwiches and a McDonalds that opens for breakfast, but doesnt actually serve breakfast food is as follows. There is a fancy post office, and a cool park that has a small lake where they have a few singles, doubles and fours! I wanted to go out and row so bad, even though starboards rowed all the time (it was a small lake and they just basically did circles). I missed crew a lot. So if you want to go to Madrid, Eilis and I are not the ones to ask for what to do!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Change Me - Ryan Long
Will finish later, but thought yall might want to see photos!!!
There really is no way to explain the past 10 days of my life, other than life changing.
Eilis and I did a pilgrimmage to Santiago, known as the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, and it was phenominal, exhausting, painful, and so rewarding. It all started with my cousins and Aunt Karen telling me how I have to go to Compostella de Santiago when I get to Spain, and how there is still a pilgrimage and thousands of people do it. Well when I met up with Eilis in Barcelona, I brought it up and a week later we are on our way to Ponferrada to start a 200 km trek across Spain!
We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, we read a bit online and decided to go for it! They have alburgues (like hostels) that you stay in each night only if you have your creditials and stamps to prove that you have walked. So all we needed really was our pilgrims passports and hiking boots (we didnt have the second, but prayed that tennis shoes would be enough). So we got to Madrid, organized what we would and wouldnt take with us to Santiago (we have way to many clothes), and had a little old man at the cathedral get our passports for us (1 euro). Then we headed to the bus station, bought a bag to put all the stuff we were leaving behind in, and after packing and unpacking 10 times in the parking lot of the bus station we were ready! We got on a bus to Ponferrada, realized we would get in to late to stay in an albergue because it would be to late (they close at 10) and figured we would find a place. Well we met a guy on the bus and talked about how we were doing the camino, had no plan, weren´t sure where we were staying, decided to do it three days before ect. ect. all he said was ¨good luck¨. We started to worry about everything, but decided not to stress. After getting to Ponferrada and learning they had a festival, our need for a hotel became greater. We were walking around when suddenly we fell into conversation with this woman from Portugal! Using my awesome portuguese skills she took us to a place to stay for the night and got us a discount! It was awesome! (thats her and her friend pictured below)
The next day we were off! We read that the castle in Ponferrada had stamps (we had to get one at our first place and since we didnt have a albergue we had to get one there). Well we got there around 8 but the place didnt open till 11! after debating and talking to other pilgrims we passed, we decided to wait till 11 and then walk. It was our first day, we were feeling good, we talked to a really helpful girl who said it was only 23 km to the main town and we were sold. So we waited till 11 got our stamps and then set off! We were very excited and I was a little nervous we were walking to fast because everywhere I read said to take it slow. Well we walked for 3-4 hours stopped for a lunch of pb and nuttella.
There really is no way to explain the past 10 days of my life, other than life changing.
Eilis and I did a pilgrimmage to Santiago, known as the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, and it was phenominal, exhausting, painful, and so rewarding. It all started with my cousins and Aunt Karen telling me how I have to go to Compostella de Santiago when I get to Spain, and how there is still a pilgrimage and thousands of people do it. Well when I met up with Eilis in Barcelona, I brought it up and a week later we are on our way to Ponferrada to start a 200 km trek across Spain!
We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, we read a bit online and decided to go for it! They have alburgues (like hostels) that you stay in each night only if you have your creditials and stamps to prove that you have walked. So all we needed really was our pilgrims passports and hiking boots (we didnt have the second, but prayed that tennis shoes would be enough). So we got to Madrid, organized what we would and wouldnt take with us to Santiago (we have way to many clothes), and had a little old man at the cathedral get our passports for us (1 euro). Then we headed to the bus station, bought a bag to put all the stuff we were leaving behind in, and after packing and unpacking 10 times in the parking lot of the bus station we were ready! We got on a bus to Ponferrada, realized we would get in to late to stay in an albergue because it would be to late (they close at 10) and figured we would find a place. Well we met a guy on the bus and talked about how we were doing the camino, had no plan, weren´t sure where we were staying, decided to do it three days before ect. ect. all he said was ¨good luck¨. We started to worry about everything, but decided not to stress. After getting to Ponferrada and learning they had a festival, our need for a hotel became greater. We were walking around when suddenly we fell into conversation with this woman from Portugal! Using my awesome portuguese skills she took us to a place to stay for the night and got us a discount! It was awesome! (thats her and her friend pictured below)
The next day we were off! We read that the castle in Ponferrada had stamps (we had to get one at our first place and since we didnt have a albergue we had to get one there). Well we got there around 8 but the place didnt open till 11! after debating and talking to other pilgrims we passed, we decided to wait till 11 and then walk. It was our first day, we were feeling good, we talked to a really helpful girl who said it was only 23 km to the main town and we were sold. So we waited till 11 got our stamps and then set off! We were very excited and I was a little nervous we were walking to fast because everywhere I read said to take it slow. Well we walked for 3-4 hours stopped for a lunch of pb and nuttella.
We talked about where we were, either at 6 km or 16, I hoped we were at the 16km town because I was exhausted and my feet were starting to hurt... we werent, I lost so onwards we marched! We ran into the three girls from that morning and learned a bit more about them, two were from Barcelona and one was from Uraguay (she knew english). They asked if we knew to put vasaline on our feet to stop blisters and we said no so of course when we made it to the alburgue (like a hostel but cheaper) at 530 we had tons! I had two old blisters on my heels from NYC and they were in bad shape as well as 4 new ones. Well these lovely ladies told us what to get at the farmacia, then just came in with us, got us vasaline and bactine (to clean) gauze and tape and that night after a delicious menu de dia they popped all of our blisters! They were so helpful about giving us advice on what to do about traveling and things to look out for, how to find the alburgues, about the next couple of days and how the next day was 28-30 km up mountains to O Cebriero. They were a God send for sure.
Day 2:
In the morning, we set off around 730, worried because all we saw at that point was the bikers leaving, but oh well we had a long day ahead of us so we had to get going. Our feet were sooo sore and as the sun rose our feet just got numb and we just went. We passed people all day, and they passed us too. I was still amazed at how many people were doing the camino! I was told that july and august were the busiest times but a lot of people still did it in September. I was glad to do it when there were lots of other people doing it because it was cool to meet all these different people. Well day two was bad, from the beggining. My feet hurt at hour two like they did at hour 6 the day before! I was really worried about how I was going to make it up the mountains (we hadnt even hit them yet).
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