Yes I turned 21 finally on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011. A rainy day here in London but hey I didn't let that get me down! I woke up early getting coffee and worked a bit on my midterm paper (the only midterm paper I had). Then I had class and after that I walked around Oxford Circus (the main shopping drag of London) then decided on a nice place for Lunch. I ordered my first "legal" drink, a cute little strawberry daquiri haha it was the most delicious thing ever, and complimented my pasta quite well I thought :) Then I went and got my nails done at this spa called the Beauty Lounge. After that I had one last class and then Alex, Abby, and I met up with Eric to get some dinner before the show. We ended up seeing Phantom of the Opera. The show was phenomenal, the singing incredible. I even cried a little at the end. Honestly couldn't have asked for a better day here :)
So now... to spring break adventures!
Friday (Feb 25) Alex and I began our journey in Salzburg, Austria. For all of you who don't know it is the town that was made famous by Mozart and the lovely Sound of Music movie! The town is so picturesque situated in the middle of the snow-topped mountains. We did a little exploring when we got there then had a great dinner and ended the night with some famous truffles and prosecco haha
Saturday: We got up early for the infamous SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR! haha we had to, I mean we were in Salzburg come on! We had this great tour guide who even sang all the songs, she was hilarious. We saw all the major sites in the city where they filmed including the Mirabelle gardens where they sing (Do-Re-Mi), the house by the lake, the pavilion where Lizel sings 16 going on 17, the row of trees where Julie Andrews skips down, and then we headed out to the Lake District towards the church pictured at the end of the movie. The Lake District in Austria is absolutely STUNNING! My pictures almost look fake, but it really is that beautiful. We stopped in Monsee (the town with the church pictured in the movie) and had a little Apple Strudel (which our tour guide had been describing since 930am when she picked us up!). Yes I am huge fan (so is Alex, look at the pic ;) haha) That night was our last in Salzburg so we did a bit of shopping then went out to dinner at this great restaurant not far from our hotel.
Sunday: Travel day! We got up early to grab the first train to Prague! The journey was a long one with two train transfers. We did a lot of reading in our Harry Potteresque train compartments haha It was a really pretty train ride. We got to Prague around 5, checked in at our hotel the Czech Inn (get it? lol) grabbed some dinner and then enjoyed the great bar that was in the hostel. Relaxing first night in Prague.
Monday: We got up to do the Free walking tour that our hostel recommended. This tour was about 3.5 hours and honestly showed us ALL the big sites of the city. We started out in the old town, moved around to the different squares, the Jewish Quarter, the national theater, walked around exploring the different types of architecture, and ended at the bridge leading over to the castle. Now this tour was quite educational I must say. I didn't know much about the Czech Republic's history, but wow is it a complicated one. They have been called like 10 different names in the past century, just recently did they gain their independence, becoming the republic it is today. But let me share some of Alex and I's most memorable facts from the tour:
1. Hugo Boss designed the Nazi uniforms. He joined the Nazi party as a business opportunity, that's how he became so rich! And now ironically he has a huge store in the Jewish quarter of Prague.... weird
2. Mick Jagger (yes, of the Rolling Stones) was the one who funded the lighting up of the Prague castle at night
3. Also the Jewish Quarter of Prague is preserved so well because Hitler wanted it to stand as a reminder of what the extinct race of Jews was to look like. How disgusting is that? I mean honestly the guy was truly mental.
4. Jews at one time in Prague were only allowed to be buried in the Jewish quarter. We visited the cemetery that is so very high above the ground level... why... because they have been piling bodies on top of one another and it is estimated over 17,000 bodies are buried in this graveyard. And this thing is not that big.... gross.
After the walking tour we decided to do the Castle tour that the same company offered as well. This tour was very small only 5 of us and the tour guide, so needless to say we got to ask a lot of questions. We hiked up, yes literally Hiked up, to the castle and explored the massive palace grounds. Its interesting because the castle isn't all one building it's like a village all in itself. The church though built in this magnificent gothic style was my absolute favorite though. Yes again, stained glass windows there made me melt. And the mosaics on the outside of the church were really neat too! Man was it freezing in there though haha
After the tour we headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. We had plans to meet up with Alex's best friend who is studying in Prague for the semester. We met her at a traditional Czech cafe. And she recommended a great Czech dish, very good. But wow do they like their meat and gravy there haha it's almost like the British! We had a great time with her and her roommate learning about life in Prague. Man I am glad that there isn't much of a language barrier in London haha I can't imagine trying to learn Czech... not a pretty language!
Tuesday: We had a lazy day walking around the city. We had lunch and then headed over to see the famous Charles Bridge. This bridge is huge and yes, tourist central, but it is full of neat statues and great views of the castle. Then we walked over to the John Lennon (of the Beatles yes) Wall. Now this wall reminds me of something that my roommate Jezelle would want erected on her wall. It's a cool mural/free-for-all of spray painting that is all about peace, love, and happiness. Embodying the true hippie spirit of the 70s, there are so many great Beatles lyrics painted on the wall. It's just a really neat spot hidden in the middle of Prague. After our day of exploring we headed back to get ready to meet up with Kristen again for another dinner. This place she took us to the next night was really neat, it was a small cafe but it was kind of in a basement with a fire and lots of candles. The food was once again awesome, and it was fun to just sit and chat and enjoy the atmosphere. Great last night in Prague!
Wednesday: Another travel day! This train thankfully had no transfers so it was a pretty smooth journey to Berlin. Although here is my rant about eastern Europe. People here need to start understanding that Dogs are NOT people, they should not get their own seats on trains or be allowed to go absolutely everywhere people do. I mean honestly these are not cute cuddly little dogs either... these are huge massive dirty things. I am sorry but I normally have no issues with dogs, but these dogs were annoying and smelled awful and made my eyes water and me sneeze. I mean honestly people they are ANIMALS! Sorry but it was really annoying and gross all the time to be in such close quarters with them. At least in London people know to leave their dogs OUTSIDE the restaurant & shops, but oh boy not in eastern Europe, dogs are honestly regarded as people and it's just not right. Sorry... there's my way to long rant. I apologize ha
Thursday: We signed up to do the "BEST TOUR OF BERLIN" or that's at least what our brochure said haha but overall the tour was great, and our tour guide was a really cool guy named Espin (and who would of known... he was British haha). He walked us all around Berlin starting in the Jewish Quarter at the biggest synagogue (which is truly beautiful). We walked through the parks (which Berlin has A TON) saw Museum Island (which is exactly what it sounds like, museums all situation in between the channels of the river), saw the biggest Lutheran Church, saw where Hitler used to stand and address his troops. We saw the building where one of the attempted assassinations was, it's funny but the Germans hated that Tom Cruise was cast as the guy who made the most famous attempt to assassinate hitler. I don't blame them, he wasn't very good. We saw the memorial to all victims of war, which was honestly really emotional. It's in this temple with just a statue of a woman holding her dying son and above her is an opening in the ceiling so she is always exposed to the elements. I thought it was a truly well done memorial. We saw the square where the students burned the books & the memorial to that is cool too. It's the glass opening in the floor where you can see a room full of white empty bookshelves, all to symbolize all the thousands of books that students burned during the Nazi regime. We saw the French Square, Checkpoint Charlie, the remaining part of the Berlin Wall, the new museum about the Topography of Terror on the spot where the Nazi had all their offices and planned out their awful designs of what the "new world" would look like. Then we moved onto the monument to all the Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Now this memorial is truly interesting, it's a ton of concrete blocks that are all different heights and at different angles. It's weird I can't explain my opinion on it, because looking at it from the outside it's not real interesting, but once you walk around and inside the maze it becomes more powerful. Finally we ended at the Brandenburg Gate and the old Parliament Building. So yes it was a very full day! We even saw the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his kid out of haha yes it's in Berlin!
Berlin is a really neat city, yes it is full of Graffit, like everywhere. But it's almost one of those cities that has a confused identity. It's trying to be more modern and updated but it has so much history that it still attempts to preserve even though much of it was destroyed in the bombings during the Nazi regime and then the Communist Regime. It has a complicated history kind of like Prague, but Berlin has a different sort of character, a different beauty. It's full of young people, many artists, but also we noticed lots of young families with lots of kids! Apparently it is a very kid friendly city, lots of parks and good schools. Kind of interesting we thought! I really liked it alot there, it's hard to explain why but the feeling of it is neat.
Friday: We had breakfast at our usual Memory Cafe (because it has delicious pancakes!) and then decided to check out the shopping! I got my very first pair of Birkenstocks woo woo! I thought hey, when in Germany! I am a big fan of them :) we had a late lunch because the night would be taken up by... the Katy Perry concert, oh yes! It's funny because when we got into the city I saw a poster for it and the date was friday and i thought Hey why not just see if there are any tickets left... and there was! Only about 32 euro too! The concert was in a pretty small area (if you can really call it that) but it was cool because it was all general admission so you could stand on the floor or sit anywhere you liked. We decided to sit pretty close to the stage and had a great view of the show. Katy Perry is truly an amazing performer, I was a little skeptical to see her live cuz her singing isn't always as good, but she was phenomenal! She is so fun to watch! She had a whole video storyline going and each song had its own theme to it. The whole stage was decorated in candy like in the California Girls music video. The dancers and backup singers were all fantastic. It was such a fun concert to be at! She sang all my favorite songs and we even got up to dance finally towards the end. It was a great last night in Berlin!
Saturday: Very chill day, had breakfast then just killed time until our flight that night. We were definitely ready to get back to London, back to English, back to knowing where we were going, back to reality haha
Overall awesome spring break! Alex and I had a lot of fun together and we got to see and do a ton! Now back to two weeks in London before the next adventure. I am honestly exhausted from all the traveling, glad to have some time in London for awhile and regroup!
Got another busy week this week. I'll try and post again this next weekend :) Hope everyone at home is doing well and is getting ready for their own spring breaks! I miss everyone! Thanks for bearing with my long post, below are some of the many pics I took during the week! Enjoy :)
Love from London xoxoxoxo
Hey sweety....I'm lovin the tours without the sore feet! Your writing is amazing!
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