Foreword:
Greetings again to you and yours from rainy ole Berlin City, Germany!!! Matthew and I have been having quite an interesting time here in lovely Berlin. Tons and tons of walking. I swear, if weight is not lost on this trip, I will cry. lol. No, this trip has been so much fun. Matthew and I fly back to the states on Tuesday July 1st.
We have enjoyed our time here so much, but we miss our families, home cooking, and just the normalty of American life.
Some things Matthew will miss: Laugen Bretzel (Pretzels), everything being really old and historical, Schnitzel, and good dark beer.
Some things Emily will miss: Brötchen (hard rolls), Milka Chocolate, (no not käse spatzel, I think I have finally worn myself out of that phase, bascially, eat eat until you can't eat it anymore, lol), using and improving my German skills, German ice cream, and the Deutsche Bahn railway system.
Some things Matthew will not miss: not having ice, not having free water, not having refills, not being able to have as much ketchup as he wants for free, having free choices for drinks instead of having to have beer with every meal because it is the cheapest option, plain sparkling water.
Some things Emily will not miss: not having ice, not having free water, not having refills, not being able to have as much ketchup as he wants for free, having free choices for drinks instead of having to have beer with every meal because it is the cheapest option, plain sparkling water.(lol, look at how American we are). lol. While some of these things may sound silly, they are the truth. You have to pay for condiments, of which you only get one small package. There are no free refills. You have to pay for water, and most water is carbonated. We are quite homesick at the moment and really longing for home and the ones we love. It has been tons of fun, but it is time to head on home!!!!
06-28-08 Chill Day
Well, today was a very chill day. I had tried to plan a bunch of things that we could do, but guess what? It rained basically all day, lovely isn't it. We decided to sleep in today, since all of our days have been early and fairly packed full of things to do. We slept in till about 10 am, and then we decided to get ready and check out since check out is at 11am. Matt, Tyler, and I had planned to go to the Berliner Dom and Charlottenburg. Well, neither of those two things happened. After check out, we were pretty hungry, so we decided to grab some cheap food from an imbiss. We all had curry wurst and Matthew and I each had a small pommes (french fries) with it. The food was alright and there was enough to constitiute 3.50? for lunch.
We were on our way to Charlottenburg, when I decided that we should go to the zoo tomorrow and with our Berlin cards, we get 25% off the entrance fee. I wanted to check out how much it would cost and how much we would get off, to even see if it was worth it. Well it is about 12? for an adult, 9? for a student, and we would get 25% of a normal adult ticket. I think it acutally works out cheaper to do the student ticket, so I believe we will do that instead and spend the whole day at the Berlin zoo. After the price check, we had seen a flee market on our way to the zoo, so we decided to hitch back a stop on the subway to check out this awesome flee market.
While we were waiting for the s-bahn (subway), there was a man in liek a white body suit, with sprayed pink hair with white closepins in his hair, and then one half of his body covered with pink closepins and the other with blue close pins. The front of the suit was open to expose this man's chest. It was awkward, but funny as hell. We couldn't stop laughing silently to ourselves and we took a picture of him. This man had to be in his late 40's early 50's. I still don't know what to think of it, and to top it all off, he was wearing a pair of bright pink loafers. Finally after many trains had come gone and had problems, we finally found one that would take us to the place where we wanted to go. When I talk about this flee market, you just have to imagine like a side street completely filled with personal verndors. We spent at least a good hour and a half there. I spent 20? I bought a pair of old Opera glasses for the Opera tonight and a gift... (oooo... who's it for????)
Anyways, the flee market was huge, there were probably around 100 some vendors. It was bascially an antiques market and I swear, had it been in the states and I would have been able to transport stuff home safely, I would have bough thalf of it up! At the Flee market, there was a crepe stand and I had to give way into having a Nutella crepe. It was so tasty and worth every penny of the 2?'s I paid for it!!! YUM!!! After the flee market,Berlin was just soaked, it had been raining hard core the whole time. We considered still going to the Charlottenburg palace, but none of us really felt we could afford the entrance fee, so then we thought we might do the grounds, but after all that rain, the grounds would have been complete mud. It would have been miserable to say the least.
We thought still about going to the Dom, but I mentioned that there was also an entrance fee for that, and so we all decided that some things needed to be saved for the next Berlin trip, so we went back to the zoologischer garten stop and foudn a grocery store by complete chance. Let me preface this by saying that Berlin is extremely expensive. I had forgotten how much so. This grocery store was like such a wonderful relief.
We all decided to buy dinenr there. Matt and I both got a 1.5 liter of apfelschorel (basically, carbonated appel juice), a thing of 4 puddings, and a bag of peanut flips or in Matt's case a bag of paprika chips, all for 2.38?. That is the cheapest meal we have had here so far!!!! We are so going there tomorrow. Usually on sundays in Germany, everything is closed including grocery stores, however, this grocery store is open tomorrow, so when we go to the zoo, before hand we are goign to the grocery store, stocking up for food on the day, and bringing it into the zoo with us. We are quite pleased with ourselves and our stroke of genius that we will now be getting a ton of food, for very little cash! BOOYAH! We decided to eat our lunch\dinner outside of the Lipstick, powder, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedenknis kirche. We found one bench that was not completely soaked, ate some food, went into the Kaiser building again and went into the powder church again.
We were going to go back to Ka De We, but Matthew and I were draining and so Tyler went by himself while Matthew and I went back to teh Hostel to check in, shower, and get ready for the opera. We got ready fairly quickly and decided that since we were ready with over and hour and a half before show time, that we should spend some time on the internet, so thats what we are doing. It is pre-opera time right now, we are both in black. I am waring a black dress with a black over lay and the 3? shoes that I bought in Köln (Cologne). Matthew is wearing a Short sleeve, black button up shirt that we bought him the other day at H & M for this Opera, since there is a dress code. (We might return it after we are done, we'll see, we were just desperate for him to have something to wear).
Now it is time for us to leave, but not to worry, I will update the rest of the night once we get back!!! Lots of Love, Biss Dann!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
End of Program and Potsdam....!!!
6-27-08
Hello loved ones and friends once again. I am pretty proud of myself, minus pictures, I have been keeping you all pretty well informed. I hope you are all enjoying the blogs and not finding them boring.
So today was the end of our program, we all basically set our alarm clocks for around 6:47 this morning, but we slept in till 7:30. hahaha. In our hostel, BBC (The Brits) is filming something. The have basically been filming here since we got here and I believe today was their last day of filming. This was the day in which we had to take breakfast in the basement which is usually used of raving and night clubbing, because they were filming in the nude. Lol. There were posters up saying that only 30 selected people could participate. The two main guys were talking to a few of our girls yesterday and asked them if they wanted to be in their BBC thing, and the girls were up for it, until the guys said " Oh, and by the way, you would have to be naked....." hahaha, yea right! No way man!
So they were filming the nudy scene in the breakfast bar room and we took breakfast in the basement. lol. Breakfast was surprisingly fine. There was no crying, I wished people well and I hope that everything goes well for them. After our breakfast and goodbyes, Matthew and I went to our rooms, showered, and packed. At about 9:10, we went downstairs got a locker for our luggage and headed out to Potsdam.
We were able to take a regional train all the way from the trainstaion closest to us to the Sansoucci park. The ride was around half and hour and we were able to get there just fine. When we arrived in Potsdam, we came to a path and we basically took it and came right upon the Neues Palas. This is a huge Palace built by one of the Friedrick Willhelm's of Prussia (there were 3, I think) I believe it was built by the first.
We decided to do an English audio guided tour and because we had the Berlin card, we were able to get in for 3€ per person! It rocked. It was two huge levels of Awesomeness!!!! The palace is basically almost completely rococo in style. Very lovely. My favorite room in this palace in the Grotto room, this is a huge room on the entry level, it is made to look like an undersea grotto with sea monsters on the walls made out of shells, huge like underwater things (Rocks, minerals, shells, attached to every surface, etc). It is a truly impressive room.
After the Neues Palas, we walked the half an hour walk down to the Sansoucci Palas. There are no reduced rates here besides student rates. The normal rate is 10€ for adults, 8€ for students. After the gigantic Neues Palas for 3€, we were feeling kinda jipped, because the Sansoucci palas is beautiful , however, the tour is like 15-20 mins by audio guide, and I personally like the Neues Palas better.
We were a little placated in the fact that with our fee, we were also able to see the Bildgaleri. This is the first Gallery of its kind for art work. It is a huge rococo building on the Sansoucci plot and it is filled with something around 134 pictures, including 2 Rembrants. The buidling was extremely rococo inside, and out of the three times I have been here this is the first time I have seen this part.
Mom, we did not get to see the kitchens, they are not free this year, nor were they included with our ticket price! As I said, Jipped!
After seeing all the wonderful pieces that Sansoucci had to offer, we walked over to the Chinese house and looked at it from the outside. Matthew and I were going to try to find the house where the Potsdam agreement was signed. I was there with a tour group when I was 16, but we were so incredibly pooped, not to mention we spent 11€ on entrance fees today, that we just decided to go home and stick it out till dinner.
We were able to catch the train right away pretty much, and basically slept on the way back into Berlin. After getting back, we checked into our new room for tonight in our hostel, then we went up and talked with Tyler, a guy from our group who we made our reservations with and is staying with us and heading back to mayen with us on sunday.
We talked and napped a little bit, and then we met up with a friend and went to a Shisha bar. We sat and talked and had a good time, and Cher had to go to the Becks Concert, so after she left, we went to the same restaurant that we ate at for dinner last night, matt and I both had cheap, but delicious Spaghetti Bolognese and a beer.
Dinner was good and soon there after around 8, we decided to head for the Reichstag again!!!
Tonight we got in. We waited in line to get in for about 1 hour, however, this is like the only free thing to do in Berlin, so we didn't complain.
When we got in, we were all pissed that we had forgot our cameras, It was beautiful and clear out, where as the entire day in had been very cloudy and sprinkled and rained a little bit for a while. Matty really enjoyed it, especially since it was free. The glass Dom on top of the Reichstag is so cool, because it just gives you the best view of Berlin!
On our way back from the Reichstag we met a few people from Minnesota and some from Michigan. It was a combining of the two worlds. We chatted with these people for a bit, it was nice to speak some English for a while.
When we arrived back at our rooms, tonight we are in a 5 person mixed. So, it is Matt, Tyer, myself, and an older Japanese couple. bwahahahaha! lol. It is so funny, thank god it is only for one night. I am unsure what precautions to take with old people from Japan, since like Custom is everything to them. haha. We'll have to see how it goes.
Well....it is late here now, and I am quite exhausted. I will update again tomorrow with our goings on, depending on the weather, we are planning to go to the Berliner Dom and Charlottenburg. Lets hope for good weather. La Boheme is tomorrow night, Matt and I are very excited to see it!
Hope you are all doing well. Somebody comment to let me know that you are still faithful to the blog, lol!
Love to you all! Biss Dann
Hello loved ones and friends once again. I am pretty proud of myself, minus pictures, I have been keeping you all pretty well informed. I hope you are all enjoying the blogs and not finding them boring.
So today was the end of our program, we all basically set our alarm clocks for around 6:47 this morning, but we slept in till 7:30. hahaha. In our hostel, BBC (The Brits) is filming something. The have basically been filming here since we got here and I believe today was their last day of filming. This was the day in which we had to take breakfast in the basement which is usually used of raving and night clubbing, because they were filming in the nude. Lol. There were posters up saying that only 30 selected people could participate. The two main guys were talking to a few of our girls yesterday and asked them if they wanted to be in their BBC thing, and the girls were up for it, until the guys said " Oh, and by the way, you would have to be naked....." hahaha, yea right! No way man!
So they were filming the nudy scene in the breakfast bar room and we took breakfast in the basement. lol. Breakfast was surprisingly fine. There was no crying, I wished people well and I hope that everything goes well for them. After our breakfast and goodbyes, Matthew and I went to our rooms, showered, and packed. At about 9:10, we went downstairs got a locker for our luggage and headed out to Potsdam.
We were able to take a regional train all the way from the trainstaion closest to us to the Sansoucci park. The ride was around half and hour and we were able to get there just fine. When we arrived in Potsdam, we came to a path and we basically took it and came right upon the Neues Palas. This is a huge Palace built by one of the Friedrick Willhelm's of Prussia (there were 3, I think) I believe it was built by the first.
We decided to do an English audio guided tour and because we had the Berlin card, we were able to get in for 3€ per person! It rocked. It was two huge levels of Awesomeness!!!! The palace is basically almost completely rococo in style. Very lovely. My favorite room in this palace in the Grotto room, this is a huge room on the entry level, it is made to look like an undersea grotto with sea monsters on the walls made out of shells, huge like underwater things (Rocks, minerals, shells, attached to every surface, etc). It is a truly impressive room.
After the Neues Palas, we walked the half an hour walk down to the Sansoucci Palas. There are no reduced rates here besides student rates. The normal rate is 10€ for adults, 8€ for students. After the gigantic Neues Palas for 3€, we were feeling kinda jipped, because the Sansoucci palas is beautiful , however, the tour is like 15-20 mins by audio guide, and I personally like the Neues Palas better.
We were a little placated in the fact that with our fee, we were also able to see the Bildgaleri. This is the first Gallery of its kind for art work. It is a huge rococo building on the Sansoucci plot and it is filled with something around 134 pictures, including 2 Rembrants. The buidling was extremely rococo inside, and out of the three times I have been here this is the first time I have seen this part.
Mom, we did not get to see the kitchens, they are not free this year, nor were they included with our ticket price! As I said, Jipped!
After seeing all the wonderful pieces that Sansoucci had to offer, we walked over to the Chinese house and looked at it from the outside. Matthew and I were going to try to find the house where the Potsdam agreement was signed. I was there with a tour group when I was 16, but we were so incredibly pooped, not to mention we spent 11€ on entrance fees today, that we just decided to go home and stick it out till dinner.
We were able to catch the train right away pretty much, and basically slept on the way back into Berlin. After getting back, we checked into our new room for tonight in our hostel, then we went up and talked with Tyler, a guy from our group who we made our reservations with and is staying with us and heading back to mayen with us on sunday.
We talked and napped a little bit, and then we met up with a friend and went to a Shisha bar. We sat and talked and had a good time, and Cher had to go to the Becks Concert, so after she left, we went to the same restaurant that we ate at for dinner last night, matt and I both had cheap, but delicious Spaghetti Bolognese and a beer.
Dinner was good and soon there after around 8, we decided to head for the Reichstag again!!!
Tonight we got in. We waited in line to get in for about 1 hour, however, this is like the only free thing to do in Berlin, so we didn't complain.
When we got in, we were all pissed that we had forgot our cameras, It was beautiful and clear out, where as the entire day in had been very cloudy and sprinkled and rained a little bit for a while. Matty really enjoyed it, especially since it was free. The glass Dom on top of the Reichstag is so cool, because it just gives you the best view of Berlin!
On our way back from the Reichstag we met a few people from Minnesota and some from Michigan. It was a combining of the two worlds. We chatted with these people for a bit, it was nice to speak some English for a while.
When we arrived back at our rooms, tonight we are in a 5 person mixed. So, it is Matt, Tyer, myself, and an older Japanese couple. bwahahahaha! lol. It is so funny, thank god it is only for one night. I am unsure what precautions to take with old people from Japan, since like Custom is everything to them. haha. We'll have to see how it goes.
Well....it is late here now, and I am quite exhausted. I will update again tomorrow with our goings on, depending on the weather, we are planning to go to the Berliner Dom and Charlottenburg. Lets hope for good weather. La Boheme is tomorrow night, Matt and I are very excited to see it!
Hope you are all doing well. Somebody comment to let me know that you are still faithful to the blog, lol!
Love to you all! Biss Dann
Thursday, June 26, 2008
More Berlin...
6-26-08
Hello loved ones big and small, one and all!
We have spent yet another day in Berlin. Today we woke up a bit later and got going pretty quickly after breakfast.
The first thing we did today was we walked from our Hostel to Checkpoint Charlie. We did a tour at the Check point Charlie Museum. the man who did our tour was a bit crabby, and I did not really care for him. He kept trying to rush us, We basically saw like 5 things in the entire museum, which is saying something, because the last time I was there I am sure I spent at least an hour and a half if not more. We saw like nothing of the Museum and I really thought it was a shame.
After the tour, we decided to try to barter with stands people for stuff from the USSR and the GDR. Neither Matthew or I bought anything, but a lot of our friends bought the Russian fur hats with the flaps that tie up that you can untie and put around your ears when it is really cold out. Most of the hats are made from real fur, I was tempted, but didn't.
After some bartering, we decided to head over to the Berlin Hbf to make our seat reservations for our overnight train from Berlin to Mayen Ost Sunday night. We got a train going out at 12:30 am. So basically we will just have to try to sleep on the train. At least this way, we will get to see the Euro Cup final. Tonight Russia played against Spain and Spain won. So it will be Spain against Germany for the Euro Cup on Sunday!!!!! YAY!!!!
While there, we also waited with John to pick up his girlfriend. She had flew in, and had taken the train from like Stuttgart to Berlin. When he saw her, he threw down his things and ran to her. I must admit, I did get misty, it was such a sweet reunion for them after having been apart since May 15th.
So after the reunion, Matt, Tyler, and I grabbed a quick thing to eat at Ditsch, and then we were off for Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center. At the Sony Center there is a History Museum of German Film and T.V. It was very interesting. We also got a guided tour through this one, and our tour guide was 15 mins, late, but in his defense his other group had showed up late and so he had just finished a tour and ran to meet up with us.
We only did the Film part of the Museum with our tour guide. We could have done the T.V. part on our own after the tour if we wanted, but we still had other things to do. The tour was very good, it detailed black and white silent, black and white, and color movies. There were 3 rooms dedicated to Marlene Dietrich alone.
This place was really cool because it really spent a lot of time on old films, and only at the end did it get into modern day films. After the tour, he told us that we could go through the special effects part of the museum. Matthew and I did that with a few others and Matthew enjoyed that part the most. They had a costume from Alien (one of the Aliens), the Darth Vader Suit from Empire Strikes back, and the body suit from Robo Cop.
Matthew has been preaching this whole trip about how he will not leave Germany without seeing an opera. Well, it just so happens that La Boheme is playing at the Deutsche Oper on Saturday night, and we were able to get reduced tickets for around something like 17-18€ per person. We are both really looking forward to it.
After getting tickets, we decided to go to Ka De We, which I basically dragged Matthew to, we went to the 6th floor of 7, this is the food level. Matthew and I basically bolted through it, and Matthew kinda complained that this wasn't really his thing, so after that we left.
Maybe we will go back sometime when we have more time, he was just feeling too pressed for time to stay and look at the levels. So we got on the subway,came back to the hostel, and got ready for our farewell dinner tonight. We all went to the Cafe Orange on Oronionburger strasse. Felecia paid for all the food, which included dessert, the only thing we had to pay for were drinks.
For dinner, I had veal cutlets in a mushroom sauce, with vegetable rice and a side salad. Matthew had a rump roast steak with scalloped potatoes and a side salad. For dessert I had a fruit ice cream bowl and Matthew had Chocolate Mousse.
We really wanted to go to the Reichstag tonight with our friends so we busted our butts to get there in time. We got there at 5 to 10 and there was still a line out side, but there was a man standing there and he had roped the remaining people off and would not let us in, even though it was 5 to 10pm and they stop letting people in at 10 sharp. JERK!!!!! I was so pissed. We were all upset.
We took some pictures of the Reichstag, went to the Brandenbuger Tor, took pictures there, went to the Jewish memorial, and then we spent time walking through that. Overall, the night wasn't Completely ruined, though Matthew and I both had stomach aches from walking so fast just after eating and we both have numerous blisters on either feet now.
The day was pretty ok overall, we got a lot accomplished. Tomorrow, our program ends at 7:30 am after we have breakfast. We are relieved but saddened at the same time.
Tomorrow we plan to take the train out to Potsdam to see the Sansoucci palas, the Neues Palas, and the house where the Potsdam agreement was signed. Hopefully we can squeeze it all in.
Hope you are all doing well, I will update later tomorrow!
Biss Dann ;)
Hello loved ones big and small, one and all!
We have spent yet another day in Berlin. Today we woke up a bit later and got going pretty quickly after breakfast.
The first thing we did today was we walked from our Hostel to Checkpoint Charlie. We did a tour at the Check point Charlie Museum. the man who did our tour was a bit crabby, and I did not really care for him. He kept trying to rush us, We basically saw like 5 things in the entire museum, which is saying something, because the last time I was there I am sure I spent at least an hour and a half if not more. We saw like nothing of the Museum and I really thought it was a shame.
After the tour, we decided to try to barter with stands people for stuff from the USSR and the GDR. Neither Matthew or I bought anything, but a lot of our friends bought the Russian fur hats with the flaps that tie up that you can untie and put around your ears when it is really cold out. Most of the hats are made from real fur, I was tempted, but didn't.
After some bartering, we decided to head over to the Berlin Hbf to make our seat reservations for our overnight train from Berlin to Mayen Ost Sunday night. We got a train going out at 12:30 am. So basically we will just have to try to sleep on the train. At least this way, we will get to see the Euro Cup final. Tonight Russia played against Spain and Spain won. So it will be Spain against Germany for the Euro Cup on Sunday!!!!! YAY!!!!
While there, we also waited with John to pick up his girlfriend. She had flew in, and had taken the train from like Stuttgart to Berlin. When he saw her, he threw down his things and ran to her. I must admit, I did get misty, it was such a sweet reunion for them after having been apart since May 15th.
So after the reunion, Matt, Tyler, and I grabbed a quick thing to eat at Ditsch, and then we were off for Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center. At the Sony Center there is a History Museum of German Film and T.V. It was very interesting. We also got a guided tour through this one, and our tour guide was 15 mins, late, but in his defense his other group had showed up late and so he had just finished a tour and ran to meet up with us.
We only did the Film part of the Museum with our tour guide. We could have done the T.V. part on our own after the tour if we wanted, but we still had other things to do. The tour was very good, it detailed black and white silent, black and white, and color movies. There were 3 rooms dedicated to Marlene Dietrich alone.
This place was really cool because it really spent a lot of time on old films, and only at the end did it get into modern day films. After the tour, he told us that we could go through the special effects part of the museum. Matthew and I did that with a few others and Matthew enjoyed that part the most. They had a costume from Alien (one of the Aliens), the Darth Vader Suit from Empire Strikes back, and the body suit from Robo Cop.
Matthew has been preaching this whole trip about how he will not leave Germany without seeing an opera. Well, it just so happens that La Boheme is playing at the Deutsche Oper on Saturday night, and we were able to get reduced tickets for around something like 17-18€ per person. We are both really looking forward to it.
After getting tickets, we decided to go to Ka De We, which I basically dragged Matthew to, we went to the 6th floor of 7, this is the food level. Matthew and I basically bolted through it, and Matthew kinda complained that this wasn't really his thing, so after that we left.
Maybe we will go back sometime when we have more time, he was just feeling too pressed for time to stay and look at the levels. So we got on the subway,came back to the hostel, and got ready for our farewell dinner tonight. We all went to the Cafe Orange on Oronionburger strasse. Felecia paid for all the food, which included dessert, the only thing we had to pay for were drinks.
For dinner, I had veal cutlets in a mushroom sauce, with vegetable rice and a side salad. Matthew had a rump roast steak with scalloped potatoes and a side salad. For dessert I had a fruit ice cream bowl and Matthew had Chocolate Mousse.
We really wanted to go to the Reichstag tonight with our friends so we busted our butts to get there in time. We got there at 5 to 10 and there was still a line out side, but there was a man standing there and he had roped the remaining people off and would not let us in, even though it was 5 to 10pm and they stop letting people in at 10 sharp. JERK!!!!! I was so pissed. We were all upset.
We took some pictures of the Reichstag, went to the Brandenbuger Tor, took pictures there, went to the Jewish memorial, and then we spent time walking through that. Overall, the night wasn't Completely ruined, though Matthew and I both had stomach aches from walking so fast just after eating and we both have numerous blisters on either feet now.
The day was pretty ok overall, we got a lot accomplished. Tomorrow, our program ends at 7:30 am after we have breakfast. We are relieved but saddened at the same time.
Tomorrow we plan to take the train out to Potsdam to see the Sansoucci palas, the Neues Palas, and the house where the Potsdam agreement was signed. Hopefully we can squeeze it all in.
Hope you are all doing well, I will update later tomorrow!
Biss Dann ;)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Berlin Biatch!
Hey everyone. Are you excited to here about our Travels? I hope so!
Well, I let you know that we all arrived in Berlin yesterday. It was a very hectic day, but not at the same time.
After I left you, I went and got settled into my room. Our room is a bit larger, 6 girls in this room. But it is going ok. No problems yet. After we took a little time to settle in, Felecia surprised us, by taking us on a one hour boat tour on the Spree River. It was very nice. We saw a lot of buildings. We are pretty close to everything but Ka De We and the stuff next to it.
After the Spree tour, Matt and I came back to the Hostel and decided we would be food, since we hadn't eaten lunch like everyone else.
All I could think of was trying to get cheap food, so I took matt to what I thought I remembered as a cheap place to eat: Potsdamer Platz, I was wrong, I got it mixed up with Alexander Platz. Potsdamer platz is where the Sony center, Gemelde Galerie, etc. are. It is a high class place. Well, matthew and I went into the sony center and we decided to eat at the same restaurant my mother and I ate at when we were there last summer (Alex's). We each had spaghetti bolognese, with nothing to drink. The food was good, but the portions could have been more. We took a stroll around the Sony Center and we saw that there is a Cinema Star Imax Theater there, and guess what? All films showing there are in their original language! So we went and saw the new Indian Jones in English!!! I really liked it, and I think Matthew liked it too! Good Action!
After we got out from the film, we decided to walk a bit. We walked to the Brandenburger Tor (The Brandenburg Gate), on the way we stumbled upon the memorial for "The Murdered Jews of Europe." It is an interesting memorial with huge square blocks of varying heights over a wide expanse. It is very ease to lose someone in there at night of they don't stick close by.
We got to the Brandenburg gate and we saw that it was all set up for the European German Football showings. There were 3 huge screens spread out from the back of the Brandenburg gate to the Victory Column. There is a huge stage, food and beer stands as well as a huge ferris wheel 4€ per person. We did not go. However, we did walk from the back of the gate to the Victory column. Quite a walk, at least 30 mins or more.
When we got to the victory column, we found a bus, took some alternative routes and made it home.
6-25-08
Today, I woke up at 7:30, showered, and ate breakfast at 8:30. After Breakfast, we took a 3 hour tour by bus. We saw basically anything that was worth seeing in Berlin, The Berlin Wall, The Kaiser Wilhelm Gedenknis Kirche, The Sony Center, The Dom, The Reichstag, The Brandenburger Tor, etc. It was a very nice tour.
After the tour, we went to a restaurant called the 12 Apostles. It is a pizzeria and pasta place. Lunch was on Felecia, and drinks we on us. Basically, just like that night in Dresden. I had a very tasty yellow and green pasta with awesome tomato based sauce and mushrooms. Matthew had a very spicy pizza. We each had one pils to drink. Personally, I hate the Berliner Pils, I think it tastes awful.
As I was trying to feed Matthew some of my pasta, I spilled it all over his Germany T-Shirt that he was wearing for the soccer came against Germany and Turkey. He was not happy.
After lunch, We came back to the hostel, I hand washed his shirt and jeans and dried them with a hair dryer. It was my penance since I had told him not to spill on himself and then I went and did!
Finally, I had it all done and we did a bit of shopping, not much, me really, Matthew just came with, to keep me safe and keep me company.
When we were finished with shopping, we went back to the hostel to get ready to go to the Brandenburg Gate for the game. Of course, our group got going way late, so we got there and we couldn't get in at the first check point, nor the second or third. Finally, we stole through the trees of the Tier Garten and we found an opening. Matthew and I had to leave the group behind in order to do so. Too bad, but we wanted the experience.
Well we got it, we were stationed at the 3rd screen back, the one closest to the victory column. It was hot, people were pushing, people were disorderly, it took forever for the game to start. When it did, we had several mishaps, including a vendor stand collapsing from fans standing atop it! When I say people, I mean like 50 people on top of a thing the size of my kitchen, which is very small for those of you who know.
When Germany would score, people would jump up and down in joy, which to be honest, they jumped up and down on my exposed flip flop feet. It was a good time, but when we started, we had a pretty good view, and by the end we had been pushed into the view of a vendor and couldn't see much. We only stayed until half time and then we left, which was also an adventure.
We got on the subway and basically ran back to the hostel after getting out of that mess from the Brandenburg Gate.
When we got back to the Hostel, we stood in the entry way to watch the end of the Game!!! Germany won 3-2!!!!!! Yay!!!! Germany is going to the finals on Sunday!!! We are so excited, because we have watched all the games and taken part in the EM for this year. I love soccer, I wish it was America's favorite sport!
So that is what has happened to far. I hope that you are all doing well and that life is fairly simple for you. We are doing well, tomorrow, Thursday, we go to the Museum of Film and T.V. as well as Checkpoint Charlie. I am excited for the first, but I have already been to the second.
I will update tomorrow with all of our exciting news. I believe that I will have no time to upload pictures anymore. This makes me very sad, because I so want to show you all what we have been seeing in these last few days here. I will try, but I cannot guarantee anything!
Yay Germany!!!! Berlin is awesome. Hopefully tomorrow after the museums, we will try to take in the Charlottenburg and grounds and for sure the Reichstag at night!!!!
Take care everyone. We have less than a week left here!
Biss Dann
Well, I let you know that we all arrived in Berlin yesterday. It was a very hectic day, but not at the same time.
After I left you, I went and got settled into my room. Our room is a bit larger, 6 girls in this room. But it is going ok. No problems yet. After we took a little time to settle in, Felecia surprised us, by taking us on a one hour boat tour on the Spree River. It was very nice. We saw a lot of buildings. We are pretty close to everything but Ka De We and the stuff next to it.
After the Spree tour, Matt and I came back to the Hostel and decided we would be food, since we hadn't eaten lunch like everyone else.
All I could think of was trying to get cheap food, so I took matt to what I thought I remembered as a cheap place to eat: Potsdamer Platz, I was wrong, I got it mixed up with Alexander Platz. Potsdamer platz is where the Sony center, Gemelde Galerie, etc. are. It is a high class place. Well, matthew and I went into the sony center and we decided to eat at the same restaurant my mother and I ate at when we were there last summer (Alex's). We each had spaghetti bolognese, with nothing to drink. The food was good, but the portions could have been more. We took a stroll around the Sony Center and we saw that there is a Cinema Star Imax Theater there, and guess what? All films showing there are in their original language! So we went and saw the new Indian Jones in English!!! I really liked it, and I think Matthew liked it too! Good Action!
After we got out from the film, we decided to walk a bit. We walked to the Brandenburger Tor (The Brandenburg Gate), on the way we stumbled upon the memorial for "The Murdered Jews of Europe." It is an interesting memorial with huge square blocks of varying heights over a wide expanse. It is very ease to lose someone in there at night of they don't stick close by.
We got to the Brandenburg gate and we saw that it was all set up for the European German Football showings. There were 3 huge screens spread out from the back of the Brandenburg gate to the Victory Column. There is a huge stage, food and beer stands as well as a huge ferris wheel 4€ per person. We did not go. However, we did walk from the back of the gate to the Victory column. Quite a walk, at least 30 mins or more.
When we got to the victory column, we found a bus, took some alternative routes and made it home.
6-25-08
Today, I woke up at 7:30, showered, and ate breakfast at 8:30. After Breakfast, we took a 3 hour tour by bus. We saw basically anything that was worth seeing in Berlin, The Berlin Wall, The Kaiser Wilhelm Gedenknis Kirche, The Sony Center, The Dom, The Reichstag, The Brandenburger Tor, etc. It was a very nice tour.
After the tour, we went to a restaurant called the 12 Apostles. It is a pizzeria and pasta place. Lunch was on Felecia, and drinks we on us. Basically, just like that night in Dresden. I had a very tasty yellow and green pasta with awesome tomato based sauce and mushrooms. Matthew had a very spicy pizza. We each had one pils to drink. Personally, I hate the Berliner Pils, I think it tastes awful.
As I was trying to feed Matthew some of my pasta, I spilled it all over his Germany T-Shirt that he was wearing for the soccer came against Germany and Turkey. He was not happy.
After lunch, We came back to the hostel, I hand washed his shirt and jeans and dried them with a hair dryer. It was my penance since I had told him not to spill on himself and then I went and did!
Finally, I had it all done and we did a bit of shopping, not much, me really, Matthew just came with, to keep me safe and keep me company.
When we were finished with shopping, we went back to the hostel to get ready to go to the Brandenburg Gate for the game. Of course, our group got going way late, so we got there and we couldn't get in at the first check point, nor the second or third. Finally, we stole through the trees of the Tier Garten and we found an opening. Matthew and I had to leave the group behind in order to do so. Too bad, but we wanted the experience.
Well we got it, we were stationed at the 3rd screen back, the one closest to the victory column. It was hot, people were pushing, people were disorderly, it took forever for the game to start. When it did, we had several mishaps, including a vendor stand collapsing from fans standing atop it! When I say people, I mean like 50 people on top of a thing the size of my kitchen, which is very small for those of you who know.
When Germany would score, people would jump up and down in joy, which to be honest, they jumped up and down on my exposed flip flop feet. It was a good time, but when we started, we had a pretty good view, and by the end we had been pushed into the view of a vendor and couldn't see much. We only stayed until half time and then we left, which was also an adventure.
We got on the subway and basically ran back to the hostel after getting out of that mess from the Brandenburg Gate.
When we got back to the Hostel, we stood in the entry way to watch the end of the Game!!! Germany won 3-2!!!!!! Yay!!!! Germany is going to the finals on Sunday!!! We are so excited, because we have watched all the games and taken part in the EM for this year. I love soccer, I wish it was America's favorite sport!
So that is what has happened to far. I hope that you are all doing well and that life is fairly simple for you. We are doing well, tomorrow, Thursday, we go to the Museum of Film and T.V. as well as Checkpoint Charlie. I am excited for the first, but I have already been to the second.
I will update tomorrow with all of our exciting news. I believe that I will have no time to upload pictures anymore. This makes me very sad, because I so want to show you all what we have been seeing in these last few days here. I will try, but I cannot guarantee anything!
Yay Germany!!!! Berlin is awesome. Hopefully tomorrow after the museums, we will try to take in the Charlottenburg and grounds and for sure the Reichstag at night!!!!
Take care everyone. We have less than a week left here!
Biss Dann
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Bye Dresden!
6-23-08 Last day Dresden!
So yesterday as I said, we took a tour of the Schloss. It was a guided tour with microphone head sets, the only different thing was the fact that they were all synced with one microphone. The tour guide wore it on the side of her face and it picked up everything. It was nice, because she was such a quiet talker that we were able to turn up the volume to hear everything she said. Of course it was all in German and sometimes we drifted in and out of what was being said. The schloss is not like one would think. Since everything in Dresden was basically destroyed, this schloss was rebuilt to house like royal items. There was a boat cleverly carved out of Ivory, The only Green Diamond of its size, little figurines, a gold china set of art that had more than likely never been used but cost as much as one palace. Can you imagine that? I was just appalled.
After the tour of pretty things, Matt, Eric, and I went to the Semper Opera House and took a tour of it. Thank god there were reduced student rates for 3:50€ per person cause otherwise it would have been 7€ a pop and the tour was not worth that. The opera building was quite impressive and when Matthew inquired as to how many singers the opera employed, the guide said 160 persons, but also mentioned with a knowing smile that they were currently looking for singer roles to be filled. lol. Nice huh? Too bad he cannot have them just yet.
After the Semper Opera tour, Matthew and I went to the Swinger palace right next door and walked through the courtyard taking silly pictures of ourselves! IT was a great time. We then went back to the Hostel till 6, doing our last tagebuchs (journals) for Felecia!
At 6, Felecia took us into the altstadt to a bar called "Planwirtschaft". However, Paula, had found a pottery barn with handmade pottery and I went in search of it. I found a few things I liked, purchased them and then I went to the Bar to meet up with everyone.
We all sat down, our waiter was quite cheerful, probably the nicest waiter I have ever had in Germany. I had a radler, some chili coconut soup, and a planters breakfast. It was way too much food I must admit, but I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was famished. Matthew had two beers a Dunkle and then his first Guiness! He liked it I think, yay for the Irish! For dinner he had a Long noodles in a tomato sauce with jager schnitzel (bascially hunter's meat) It was tasty.
We enjoyed ourselves there for a while until the food and drink were gone and then set off in search of a jazz club that had been recommended to us by some locals. After a very long search, and Calvin being pushed into a fountain By Renee. Lol, let me just say, huge fountain, very dirty, Calvin sitting on the edge looking into its depths, Renee creeping up behind him and just giving him a slight tap on the shoulder, (she never meant for him to actually go in, it was just to bait him) however, Calvin went in back first with passport, hotel info, and money in his pockets. He was terribly good natured about it and we all took pictures of him making sad faces. It was a good time and we all laughed.
But like I said, we spent a very long time looking for this jazz club and when we finally found it we saw that it was not open on mondays. Poor luck.
The group separated a bit, some going to do their own things and matthew and I went with a bunch to a Bier garten )Beer Garden).
The city landscape looked so beautiful with it lighted up at night! Matthew and I refrained for having anything more to drink, which I think is to our credit, because we were certainly pushed to from every angle. The truth is, that Matt and I just can't spend money the way the rest of them here can. They would all spend as much as they like, but matthew and I are trying to see if we can at least have some money when we come back. (mom, don't worry, I am fine for money, please do not put any in my account for me. I am more than fine, because I have been fairly frugal)! ;)
Finally about an hour later, I was cold, and people had finished their beers so we returned to the hostel. I turned in quickly and so did matthew it had been a long day for sure.
6-24-08 Berlin!!!!
Today, we got up, ate a hurried breakfast, had our rooms checked out by 9:10 and were at the train station in no time. We waited there for an hour for train. Thankfully we only had the one train today. Less stress for sure. We got here and are currently at the hostel waiting to check into our rooms. I will update later!
Biss dann!
So yesterday as I said, we took a tour of the Schloss. It was a guided tour with microphone head sets, the only different thing was the fact that they were all synced with one microphone. The tour guide wore it on the side of her face and it picked up everything. It was nice, because she was such a quiet talker that we were able to turn up the volume to hear everything she said. Of course it was all in German and sometimes we drifted in and out of what was being said. The schloss is not like one would think. Since everything in Dresden was basically destroyed, this schloss was rebuilt to house like royal items. There was a boat cleverly carved out of Ivory, The only Green Diamond of its size, little figurines, a gold china set of art that had more than likely never been used but cost as much as one palace. Can you imagine that? I was just appalled.
After the tour of pretty things, Matt, Eric, and I went to the Semper Opera House and took a tour of it. Thank god there were reduced student rates for 3:50€ per person cause otherwise it would have been 7€ a pop and the tour was not worth that. The opera building was quite impressive and when Matthew inquired as to how many singers the opera employed, the guide said 160 persons, but also mentioned with a knowing smile that they were currently looking for singer roles to be filled. lol. Nice huh? Too bad he cannot have them just yet.
After the Semper Opera tour, Matthew and I went to the Swinger palace right next door and walked through the courtyard taking silly pictures of ourselves! IT was a great time. We then went back to the Hostel till 6, doing our last tagebuchs (journals) for Felecia!
At 6, Felecia took us into the altstadt to a bar called "Planwirtschaft". However, Paula, had found a pottery barn with handmade pottery and I went in search of it. I found a few things I liked, purchased them and then I went to the Bar to meet up with everyone.
We all sat down, our waiter was quite cheerful, probably the nicest waiter I have ever had in Germany. I had a radler, some chili coconut soup, and a planters breakfast. It was way too much food I must admit, but I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was famished. Matthew had two beers a Dunkle and then his first Guiness! He liked it I think, yay for the Irish! For dinner he had a Long noodles in a tomato sauce with jager schnitzel (bascially hunter's meat) It was tasty.
We enjoyed ourselves there for a while until the food and drink were gone and then set off in search of a jazz club that had been recommended to us by some locals. After a very long search, and Calvin being pushed into a fountain By Renee. Lol, let me just say, huge fountain, very dirty, Calvin sitting on the edge looking into its depths, Renee creeping up behind him and just giving him a slight tap on the shoulder, (she never meant for him to actually go in, it was just to bait him) however, Calvin went in back first with passport, hotel info, and money in his pockets. He was terribly good natured about it and we all took pictures of him making sad faces. It was a good time and we all laughed.
But like I said, we spent a very long time looking for this jazz club and when we finally found it we saw that it was not open on mondays. Poor luck.
The group separated a bit, some going to do their own things and matthew and I went with a bunch to a Bier garten )Beer Garden).
The city landscape looked so beautiful with it lighted up at night! Matthew and I refrained for having anything more to drink, which I think is to our credit, because we were certainly pushed to from every angle. The truth is, that Matt and I just can't spend money the way the rest of them here can. They would all spend as much as they like, but matthew and I are trying to see if we can at least have some money when we come back. (mom, don't worry, I am fine for money, please do not put any in my account for me. I am more than fine, because I have been fairly frugal)! ;)
Finally about an hour later, I was cold, and people had finished their beers so we returned to the hostel. I turned in quickly and so did matthew it had been a long day for sure.
6-24-08 Berlin!!!!
Today, we got up, ate a hurried breakfast, had our rooms checked out by 9:10 and were at the train station in no time. We waited there for an hour for train. Thankfully we only had the one train today. Less stress for sure. We got here and are currently at the hostel waiting to check into our rooms. I will update later!
Biss dann!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Dresden!!!
Hi everyone!!!!
Well, yesterday was very stressful, seeing as it was again a travel day! We all got up around 8, had breakfast, and got out to the trainstation. Our train was delayed around 10 mins yesterday. It was ridiculous, and while we only had one train exchange, we basically had to beg them to call ahead and make our other train wait for us. When we got to the Leipzig train station, we all had to book it for the train. Thankfully we all made it there safely.
After having gotten on the train, we were on it for what seemed like forever. We finally made it into the Dresden Hbf and we went to our Hostel. Our rooms in this Hostel are 2 people rooms, very nice. Since we had 11 girls and 10 boys, there was one room with jsut one person in it. I got that one person room! So nice. Each of the rooms have their own bathroom and shower! Major Score!!!
However, when we arrived at the Hostel they would not let us check in until a certain time, so they let us put our luggage in their storage room and we all went in search of lunch. It is about a 10 min walk into the inner city, and let me just tell you guys. Even though Dresden was 85% destroyed in WWII it is the coolest city building wise that I have ever been too!!! It is so completely insane with all of its gothic buildings. to try to impress upon you how destroyed Dresden was, let me just say that tehre are buildings that are still being rebuilt to this day!
We found a chinese restaraunt and thank god i9t was very tasty. I had noodles with chicken and matt had something with schezaune sauce. We both enjoyed it very much!
After lunch, we went back to the Hostel and we checked in, we got settled in, washed up a bit, etc. Because of the fact that yesterday was miserable with heat and humidity. So we were all basically sweating to kingdom come!
After the hostel, we went on a 2 hour city walking tour. Yay city tour, because they seem to be our lot in life on this trip. haha. (not really laughing)!
Anways, the man who gave the tour was a bit weird, I almost felt like becuase he knew that German was a second language for us, that we must have been deaf, because he would fix his eyes on someone and he would just go to town, almost shouting the info in your face.
We saw a lot of really awesome buildings, since they seem to grow like crabgrass here.
After the tour, we were treated to a gorgeous dinner by our program director Feleica Lucht. Basically it was our money, because we paid for the program, but it was less money out of our pockets.
We went to a lovely beir garden, which was actually really fancy. Felecia told us to oder what we wanted for food, the only thing she didn't pay for was drinks. I had a passion fruit juice and a bottle of water. For dinner, I had a very tender lamb chop with potato rosemary noodles and mixed veggies. IT WAS SOOOOO GOOODDDDD!!!!!
Matthew had a Weinerschnitzel with a ton of Hollondaise sauce, white asparagus, and huge potatoes. It was a very good night.
After dinner, we took the tram back to our hostel, and we prompty upon entering chastied by the Hostel staff to be quite. It was only 10:30 but she felt the need to tell us to be quite several times! It was ridiculous. After we got to our rooms, both matt and I showered, then we spent some time together.
After Matthew left, I spent some time reading in my book and went to sleep. It rained sometime during the night, thank god, because the temp. is down today, but still humid!
Today we are doing a tour of the Schloss and then a few of us are going to do a tour of the Opera house.
biss Dann
Well, yesterday was very stressful, seeing as it was again a travel day! We all got up around 8, had breakfast, and got out to the trainstation. Our train was delayed around 10 mins yesterday. It was ridiculous, and while we only had one train exchange, we basically had to beg them to call ahead and make our other train wait for us. When we got to the Leipzig train station, we all had to book it for the train. Thankfully we all made it there safely.
After having gotten on the train, we were on it for what seemed like forever. We finally made it into the Dresden Hbf and we went to our Hostel. Our rooms in this Hostel are 2 people rooms, very nice. Since we had 11 girls and 10 boys, there was one room with jsut one person in it. I got that one person room! So nice. Each of the rooms have their own bathroom and shower! Major Score!!!
However, when we arrived at the Hostel they would not let us check in until a certain time, so they let us put our luggage in their storage room and we all went in search of lunch. It is about a 10 min walk into the inner city, and let me just tell you guys. Even though Dresden was 85% destroyed in WWII it is the coolest city building wise that I have ever been too!!! It is so completely insane with all of its gothic buildings. to try to impress upon you how destroyed Dresden was, let me just say that tehre are buildings that are still being rebuilt to this day!
We found a chinese restaraunt and thank god i9t was very tasty. I had noodles with chicken and matt had something with schezaune sauce. We both enjoyed it very much!
After lunch, we went back to the Hostel and we checked in, we got settled in, washed up a bit, etc. Because of the fact that yesterday was miserable with heat and humidity. So we were all basically sweating to kingdom come!
After the hostel, we went on a 2 hour city walking tour. Yay city tour, because they seem to be our lot in life on this trip. haha. (not really laughing)!
Anways, the man who gave the tour was a bit weird, I almost felt like becuase he knew that German was a second language for us, that we must have been deaf, because he would fix his eyes on someone and he would just go to town, almost shouting the info in your face.
We saw a lot of really awesome buildings, since they seem to grow like crabgrass here.
After the tour, we were treated to a gorgeous dinner by our program director Feleica Lucht. Basically it was our money, because we paid for the program, but it was less money out of our pockets.
We went to a lovely beir garden, which was actually really fancy. Felecia told us to oder what we wanted for food, the only thing she didn't pay for was drinks. I had a passion fruit juice and a bottle of water. For dinner, I had a very tender lamb chop with potato rosemary noodles and mixed veggies. IT WAS SOOOOO GOOODDDDD!!!!!
Matthew had a Weinerschnitzel with a ton of Hollondaise sauce, white asparagus, and huge potatoes. It was a very good night.
After dinner, we took the tram back to our hostel, and we prompty upon entering chastied by the Hostel staff to be quite. It was only 10:30 but she felt the need to tell us to be quite several times! It was ridiculous. After we got to our rooms, both matt and I showered, then we spent some time together.
After Matthew left, I spent some time reading in my book and went to sleep. It rained sometime during the night, thank god, because the temp. is down today, but still humid!
Today we are doing a tour of the Schloss and then a few of us are going to do a tour of the Opera house.
biss Dann
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