Quick updates

Some quick updates from my travels around Europe:

3/28: We arrived in Germany yesterday night. We haven't seen much of the city yet -- the only place we have been is the pizza place underneath our hostel. Our hostel is great though -- it's pretty much just an apartment with three rooms on the sixth floor of a building. I don't know if I'll be updating this blog all that much -- I'm just trying to find things to do while the boys are still sleeping.

3/30: Our walking tour of Berlin began with the hotel from which Michael Jackson dangled his baby, and ended with an exaggerated story of how the Berlin Wall came down three and a half hours later. We then went to yet another market that didn't compare to the ones in London. To be fair though, this was a legit flea market, selling lots of old and broken things that I couldn't think of a use for. Today (Monday) we explored more of the city by hopping on random trams and buses -- the East Berlin Gallery, which is a part of the Berlin wall with lots of graffiti on it, was the best part of the day. We also climbed up the stairs of a monument to get some good views of the city. We didn't come prepared with a marker though, so we couldn't leave our mark on the wall.




4/1: Berlin isn't the prettiest of cities. Potsdam, on the other hand, is a very pretty city outside of Berlin. We went there for the day yesterday. We first headed toward what used to be a Russian village with very cute log houses that have now been turned into a museum and restaurant. As soon as I saw the menu I wanted a sampler of everything! Josh and I shared some Ukrainian Borsch (I don't know what made it Ukrainian vs. Russian), and Josh actually liked it! Then we sampled some fruit and potato and mushroom dumplings and something comparable to London's Cornish Pasty. We then walked through a gorgeous park toward a palace, passing a windmill on the way! We got back to Berlin and went out to a bar, in which you get a glass, and pour yourself as much wine as you want before paying whatever you feel is fair when leaving. They call it a wine-tasting, but that night was not as classy as it sounds.

Today we went to a concentration camp and a Holocaust museum. We're leaving for Prague tomorrow!

4/5: We arrived in Prague Thursday night, and met Steph and Becky! The architecture here is unbelievable. Our hostel is right in the center of the city, and we got lucky because there is an Easter market close to us on the Old Town Square. The next day we did all the touristy stuff and walked around the city. The most bizarre attraction is what looks like the top of the Eiffel Tower built on a hill. Our tour guide told us that it was a response to the real Eiffel Tower and is 1 meter taller than the real deal.

The next day, we decided to go hiking outside of Prague. We took a bus to a small town called Turnov, and hiked through Czeski Raj (I think it means Czeck paradise). It was great to get out of a big touristy city, and see some more of Eastern Europe. The views from the highest point of our climb were unreal, and included some castle ruins and small, isolated towns. We were all tired when we got back, but we went out for my birthday! Celebrating it in Prague was incredible and surreal.

Altough this was a long day, we woke up just 5 hours later to see Obama speak at a palace in Prague! His speach was at 10am, and we definitely didn't get there early, although we had heard that people were planning on being there as early as 6am. This worked really well though, because for reasons I don't quite understand, we got to walk past all the people who had waited for hours and stand close to the podium (I think we estimated 30 yards away)!

I have gorgeous pictures of Prague. I'll post those and fill in some gaps when I get back to London. We leave for Vienna tomorrow.

4/11: Since I last posted, I've been to Vienna and Budapest. I leave for Venice and Rome today!

Paris (Partie trois)

We knew it was going to rain on Sunday, so we planned accordingly. We started the day off by going to the Sacre-Coeur, which is a church on a hill. I was surprised when they allowed us to go in since it was a Sunday, and even more surprised when they didn't kick us out when the service began. Although before we could go in, we had to fend off these guys trying to tie ribbons around out hands.



We then headed to the Moulin Rouge. We could tell we were getting closer as the streets were getting sleazier.


After lunch, we went to our final museum -- Musée d'Orsay -- to see some impressionist art at what used to be a train station.








Overall, Paris was incredible, as expected!

Paris (Partie deux)

I'm leaving today for our big European adventure, so these posts will have to be short!

Even if you've been reading this blog half asleep, you know that I love markets. So, of course, I had to find one (well, a couple) in Paris. I started the day off right -- with a raisin roll. Somehow, in Paris, a raisin pastry for breakfast seemed reasonable. We headed toward Bastille for the market. There wasn't much there though, so we hopped on a train to go to what was claimed to be "the largest market in Europe." That was quite an exaggeration, but I found some gray tights that I've been searching for for a while.


Here are some pictures from our walks to the markets:





Then, we went to Marais, where we met Sam (on purpose, this time). This was an absolutely adorable neighborhood.




From there, we stumbled upon the Centre Pompidou, where we had planned to go later that afternoon. They always talked about how the pipes were on the outside of the building in French class, but this building was way cooler than the pictures I've seen in all the texttbooks.





We went to the modern art museum at the Centre Pompidou. It was a very eclectic collection, but then again, what modern art museum isn't eclectic? Some highlights: a giant bowl, this creepy bride, a giant rug made of buttons, Matisse (I was so excited when we get to this room -- I completely forgot about this artist, but I really like his work!). Some lowlights (?): blow up furniture -- it's comfortable, but museum-worthy?, and 12 empty rooms with ridiculous justifications for them. I walked through every one of them trying to find something interesting. Nope -- just 12 empty rooms.









At night, we went up the Eiffel Tower. It was incredible up there! And at 11pm, it sparkled for 10 minutes, which was a bonus!







Another long day, but not the last! Part 3 coming up!

Paris (Partie Un)

The weekend after we got back from Amsterdam, Josh and I took the train to Paris. This was my favorite trip so far!

We arrived at our very cute hotel on Thursday night, and walked around for a bit to explore the area. Of course, we found a boulangerie on every corner, and crepes available at all hours of the night.

The next morning, being the true tourists we are, we went to the Eiffel Tower. We found it! Now we just had to get closer!




We then met Josh's friend, Lauren for lunch, where we had some delicious croque-monsieurs with salmon.

Lauren suggested that we go to the Jardin du Luxembourg from there. The weather was great that day, and there were tons of people at the park.







From there, we walked toward the Notre Dame, and found this church, called Saint-Etienne du Mont, on the way. We also walked through some adorable streets. I had a hard time capturing the adorableness in pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it.





The Notre Dame was right on the Seine. The stained glass windows were gorgeous.







We then walked along the Seine toward the Louvre. Don't worry, we didn't just snap some pictures without going in. We went in later that night.










We walked throught the Jardin de Tuileries and down the Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe. At this point, I started regretting my (not-so-wise) decision to wear boots with heels that day. About a third of the way up the Champs-Élysées I gave up any attempt to pick up my feet, and merely shuffled the rest of the way. As you can imagine, the speed at which I was walking was pretty excruciating for Josh.


We took a much needed bread-break on our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Our diet in Paris pretty much consisted of bread.

The Champs-Élysées was so long (and I was walking so slowly) that Josh needed another bread-break before we finally got to the Arc. Between the multiple bread-breaks and my pathetic walking, it took us way longer than it should have to get there but we finally made it!



Something was going on as we were leaving, but we didn't understand what it was.

At this point, I felt pretty silly for my choice of footwear for the day, but there was no way I was going to walk back down the Champs-Élysées, so we took the metro back toward the Louvre. Earlier that day, Josh predicted that we would run into Sam (who was in Paris that weekend with his family). I rolled my eyes at that silly suggestion.

When we got off the train, I stopped to look at a map -- not because I cared about my location, but because I needed a break from walking. And, what do you know, I turned around to see Sam and his family in the train station! Suddenly I didn't feel so silly for wearing those boots anymore -- otherwise, we would've never run into Sam!

Our last excursion of the day was to the Louvre. If you had seen us by the end, you would've probably though that we were dragged there against our will, but we were just exhausted from the day. At one point, I found Josh asleep on the stairs. The Louvre, of course, is humongous, and we probably saw .003% of it. Some of my high school art history came back to me, though!


This crowd could only mean one thing.






That was a long day! And that was only the first one. More coming up soon (and by soon I mean today because I'm leaving tomorrow for 3 weeks!).