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.

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!

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.

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).