Vienna and going home

Alright so Vienna Day 2. This day started at Demel's, aka HEAVEN! It's a chocolate cafe where they make the chocolate right in the cafe... omg. We sat and watched them make so many delicious looking food. In the front of the store was a display of cakes, and we def had them all explained to us, and then we picked out one each. I can't remember exactly what Monica's and Cait's cakes were, though Monica had like raspberry in it, and Cait's had like two kinds of alcohol in it. She wasn't tipsy before lunch... nooo. I got the TRIPLE DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE! WOW! One bite was enough to fill the stomach of a grown man... haha couldn't resist the movie reference. cait and I had our pieces of cake, and hot chocolate. Bad idea! It was too much chocolate! I know, I know, is there a thing such as too much chocolate, but yeah there is. Oh boy was it good though! It was the best chocolate I've ever had in my entire life. I still dream of that cake! We sat there for like 2 hours though, I needed most of that time to eat my cake, it was just sooo rich! But I did finish it, as did Cait and Monica.

When we finished our cakes, we left, and I was thankful to be outside. The smell of chocolate was killing me. Oh well, I am happy to say after that breakfast, I was the first to have chocolate again! About two hours later, I reached into my bag and took out a few pieces of chocolate... hehe. We went to see the show at the clock, so Cait could see it, and I took pictures of each character. I took a video the day before, but you couldn't really see some of the characters.

We then walked around the Ring of the historical part of the city. It was a nice walk, about an hour maybe. We started near the river Danube, and ended back up past Museum Quarter. It was really nice, Vienna is sooo beautiful. We went by some beautiful parks that I wish we had time to go through. We ended up by oh guess what, a cafe! It was a really cool cafe, the bathrooms were unbelievable. It's way too hard to describe, there was mirrors in the actual bathroom, and the doors slid, but they were really heavy. The design was just really interesting.
After that cafe, we went back to the hostel, and Monica and I grabbed our bags. We were leaving that night for Frankfurt to begin our trip home. Monica and Cait were going to the Opera, and since it was standing room, I decided not to go. Even with the things in my boots, I could not stand for three hours, especially not in the end of a long trip like this. So they got into line, I got the bags and sat in a cafe for the next four hours. I did a lot of writing and reading, and I had fun. Around 10pm, I left and searched for Cait and Monica. Cait found me, and then we got Monica and headed off for the train station. Side note: They loved the Opera, and thought it was great. I wish I could have gone, just to see it, but I know better than to try and stand for three hours. My feet would never have forgiven me.

We walked to the train station, which wasn't a bad walk, and we just talked the whole way. It would have been more fun if we didn't have our bags with us, but it was cool. We saw another part of Vienna which was nice. I seriously could have spent a week in each of these cities, but in the time we spent in every city was so nice, and we saw a lot of each city.

So Monica and I got on the 11 something train to Frankfurt. Around 6ish we got to Munich, and then switch trains to Frankfurt. It was great because when we got to Munich, the train was getting ready to leave for Frankfurt, so we only had to wait like a minute or two. Our train ride from Berlin to Munich was better, I slept better, this time we just had regular seats and not a compartment. Oh well.

The airport we flew out of, Frankfurt Hahn is basically the Stansted of Germany, so aka in the middle of no where! We traveled a lot of that day to get to Frankfurt Hahn, our last part of the trip was a bus, and we both fell asleep during the trip. It was cool because when I woke up, we were going through some mountains, and we came out of them to a big open field as far as the eye can see and then there was the airport. We waited for awhile there, and finally around 6:25pm we left Germany, and got into London at 6:25pm! LOL!

Back in England, Monica and I departed, I took the train down to Liverpool Street, the Circle line to Westminster, and then crossed the bridge. It was cool, I really enjoyed Germany and Austria, but there is nothing like London. I stood on the bridge and looked at Big Ben, the London Eye, St. Pauls, Westminster Abbey, and I just left at home. It was a nice feeling.

When I got home Kathleen and Amaya jumped over chairs to greet me, which was awesome. I really missed those two! Kathleen had her friends over, so the next post will be about the invasion of Montana.

So ends my trip to Germany and Austria. It was a great, great trip, full of awesome memories, beautiful sights, and a loss of my heart to Salzburg!

Vienna: The old Roman fortress

Hey, so now onto Vienna. The old Roman fortress, where Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations and spent a lot of time there during the Germanic wars, it's where he died in both real life, and Gladiator, and of course the home of General Maximus. WOW! I was in love before I got there. Today though it's the home of way too many palace looking buildings, a lot of churches and really good coffee shops.

So let's start with leaving Salzburg. I was sad to leave... my heart is in Salzburg, it was just so beautiful. Of course I was excited to see Vienna, I mean come on, it's where Marcus Aurelius died! But as always I'm ready for a new adventure. We got our stuff from our hostels and went to the train station. The amount of people going to Vienna was insane... it was so packed! We couldn't sit all together, Cait and Monica got seats in one of the compartments, but I went a few carriages down, and just got a seat. I wrote the whole way, I had 3 hours, and a lot of writing to do, so I welcomed this opportunity. Apparently during the ride, Monica came looking for me, because the compartment had a seat opened, but she couldn't find me... my head bent over my journal that it was really impossible, and she might have not gone down far enough. Oh well. I sat next to a really nice guy, he slept the whole way. So we get into Vienna three hours later, it's like 9:00pm, so still kinda early.

Now our directions tell us to get on a bus or train, but looking at the map it doesn't seem that far away, so we decided to walk. We are all tough, and have been sitting for three hours so we went for it. We asked directions, and if I had to do it again, I would have gone the other way. We found the street, well Monica and Cait had the maps, and I just follow. So we did find it, it took awhile, but it was fine. Our hostel, oh boy, it was behind a bar, and run by a woman. The woman was really nice, but it was behind a bar. I really think there was one room... I'm not really sure though. We got beds, I took the top bunk, Monica got the bottom, and Cait took the bottom bunk of another bunk bed. The woman told us we were sharing the room with some Italians, but we didn't see them that night... we soon found out why. Now, we had decided on the way that we needed something to drink, so we dropped our stuff and went out. We found a cafe not far from our hostel, and had a nice drink. I believe I had hot chocolate. It was a nice little place, and opened late... sweet.

So we went back to the hostel, and by now it was like after midnight, so we used our own entrance into the hostel. It's the next door, but um yeah. We went in, walked through a hallway, and then back outside where there was this door. We couldn't get it opened! We stood there for like 10 minutes trying to open this bloody door! I still don't know how to open it, but it wouldn't open. Finally it did, and we went inside before something jumped us or something. Lol. Oh well. We went to bed, ready to start exploring the next morning.

The next morning, Cait went to the embassy to try and fix her lack of passport problem, and Monica and I went down to the historical part of Vienna. Now let's talk about Cait for a moment. She's traveling around Europe, with her passport in Italy. Not that much of a problem since she is taking trains, but she had the plan to fly home. Well you need a passport to do that, so she thought she could get a temp one, or something that says, yes I have one, but I'm an idiot and I left it at home. We didn't see Cait until like 3pm, and she did have a fun time. She ended up with nothing, no one thought her situation was that much of an emergency and she just ended up taking a train from Vienna to Sienna. So that was solved, but what a problem! Note to self, never, ever leave without a passport.

But to Monica and myself, we first went in search of in search of food. We walked down to the historical part of the city, which was really down the road. Our hostel might be sketchy, but it was down the road from where we spent all our time. It could have been worse. So we are walking down the road, and in front of us is this really old, palace looking building. Monica points it out and says that it is the Hofburg Palace. I ohh and awe, and yeah it wasn't. It took up a block, but it wasn't. But that's Vienna, all these buildings look at palaces. Now granted they were all owned by the Hofburgs, so she wasn't wrong, but it wasn't the palace. That is inside the Ring. The building we saw was the Natural History Museum, and it's part of Museum Quarter. It's right outside the ring, and nice. We went back later for a better look. The Ring though is niiiicccceeee. You go through big arch gates things, and in there is also the Apartments for the Royal Family, and as soon as you pass through the gates is the Hofburg Palace. It takes up like two blocks. It's huge and impressive. In front of the Palace are two statues, they are facing each other, kinda like in battle. I think we figured out that they were father and son... so not in battle. Cool statues though. I like the Hofburg Palace a lot... wouldn't want to clean it, but it's nice. We continued on though, inside the ring, and as soon as got inside, there was some Roman ruins. They were below the ground, so we looked down into them. I didn't see the sign at first, but I thought to myself, "Um looks old... I'm in Europe, looks Roman!" I was excited, and then Monica pointed out the sign.

So we found a cool place to eat, I got tea and a pastry. On this trip I learned to drink tea without milk. I don't mind it, but I prefer it with milk. If it was without sugar, well then that would be a problem. But I just get black tea, and it's good. It's much hotter that way, cause no milk to cool it down a little, but oh well. It was good. After that, we did some exploring of Vienna, saw St. Peters, St. Stephens, a busy street- Graben, and other stuff. We had plans to be at the clock by noon, there is a little show at the clock at noon, just like in Munich, but we hoped that this one actually worked. So we just explored until noon, and then went to see it. The show was cool, a few minutes later noon, there was bells, and for each hour is a different character from history, and they all come out, one at a time. I have videos of this on webshots. The first one is Marcus Aurelius, 11 is some Hasburgs, and 12 is Mozart. But the others... well we have no idea. Well we think Marie Antoinette is one of them. But who knows. It goes in order of history.

So after the show, we continued walking, and went back near the Hofburg Palace to see Museum Quarter, when we saw some military people out. That morning, we saw some stuff, and I thought something was going on, and here it was. It was weird, cars were going by, some with flags on the antennas, and this one guy saluted to some, but not all. The band played when the cars went by. I don't know what it was. There was no pattern. But it was cool to walk, and then the group paraded over close to the Palace, did a few things, and the show was over. They got in buses and went home. It was weird.

We then went for a snack/lunch at this Cafe that was recommended in Monica's Europe book. Some famous author went there a few times, and it said it has good food. So we went... and oh boy. We walked in, and I wondered if we got transported somewhere. It was beautiful! It was like a formal dining hall! I felt rather silly in jeans, but um we got a table, and just stared. Of course on the wall right near us was FRANZ JOSEPH! That dude is everywhere! He and his wife Sissy. I have to wikipedia Franz Joseph, just to find out what he did other than built the city of Vienna. Anyway, so it was nice. I got a salad, and yeah bad choice. I guess I got an everything salad, so it had cucumbers, tomatoes, corn and potatoes. Now separately it's all good, but together? Potatoes in a salad? The dressing was weird too, but I devoured it all, mostly. That cafe was amazing though, it was just so well decorated, and expensive looking. The prices were pretty good, but wow!

So it was nearing 3pm, and we had plans to go to an organ concert at St. Peters. We had hoped to meet up with Cait by now, because she knew she would love the concert. We went though, and we get to the church and there is Cait! She had seen the sign for the concert too, before she got something to eat, and had come back for it. Great minds think alike! Well the concert was short, and really nice. Inside St. Peters is just amazing! It's really beautiful. I actually fell asleep during the concert, I do admit to that. In my dreams I heard the organ going, so I didn't miss it. But I was tired from traveling, and yeah right asleep.

Now that we were all reunited, we went to the Cathedral, and that was awesome. Cathedrals look like museums though, really it's so beautiful, and everything is so well done, but it's a little too much for a church. I like St. Peters, it's not overdone, but it still looks really nice. The Cathedral was really dark, but I took a few pictures because it was cool to see.

After that Cait went back to St. Peters to attend Mass, and Monica and I walked around looking for a good place, well okay a cafe to just sit for a few hours and have some fun. It wasn't until almost time to meet back up with Cait that we found one. It was off the main street, and when we went it was really smokey, dark looking, kinda like a pub. We went in though, got a table, and sat. They didn't have menus, but I got a hot chocolate. We asked about desserts, and he brought us a plate of 5 desserts. Rule number 1, never put a plate of desserts in front of 2 Fontbonne alums... 3 of them were the same, and the other 2 were something else. The 3 were a kind of cake, half chocolate, half vanilla. So we stared at them for a few minutes wondering if we should eat them, and we came to the conclusion that yes we should. We also came to the conclusion that the whole plate was for us, because we were probably getting charged for the whole thing. I had 2 and a half pieces... it was really good. But we sat and talked for like 3 hours, about everything. You name it, we talked about it. It was so awesome. At one point, there was a guy sitting near us, and he got up, paid his bill and then leaned into our table and said, "Goodnight ladies, thank you for the nice evening." Yep, he heard everything we said. I had a feeling he understood some of it, since I would look over and see him smile, but yeah, he understood every word. Oh well. The thing with this cafe was, we were the only tourists... it was clearly a cafe that was for regulars. Not that we were invading, but it wasn't on the main street, and unless you knew it was there, you wouldn't see it. We were looking for it, and it was awesome to sit there for awhile. Granted, we were loud and very American, so we got pegged right away, but it was still fine. It was a quick 3 hours too, we were just having so much fun sitting around and talking.

After that we walked back to the hostel, we planned to grab stuff and go back out again, but we ended up staying in. We had to use the computers for traveling purposes, and the hostel has free tea and coffee, so we just hung out there for a while, did our stuff, and went to bed around midnight.

Ely

Hey, just a quick post. I'm in Ely visiting Jenn and Arthur before they go to the States for a month, and also picking up my package from Karen! There was only one candy cane missing, it was shipping and handling charge, well that's what Jenn says. The package was awesome, three boxes of candy canes, cheese nips, a beautiful necklace from Aunt Liz, my yearly Madame Alexander doll, blow pops, smarties, a sweet Christmas card that sings when you open it (hahaha I had fun with that), some money, a Mickey blanket, and a Pooh tee shirt. Awesome package, it was so cool.

Jenn and I spent today in front of the TV, and walking around Ely. Nice little town. We got some lunch, and then went to Starbucks (for some sugar... hehe), and then came back to the house. Love American TV shows!!!!

Last night I watched CSI and Law and Order: SVU! It was just awesome! So miss CSI and Law and Order. Missed CSI:Miami, oh well.

Going home tomorrow with more American food... yeeaahhh! I'm bringing Amaya back some stuff too! Cannot wait. It's going to be sweet. Okay well bye. Next post should be about Vienna!

Me and Baz outside... oh yeah

So I have to interrupt the entries of my Germany and Austria trip to post this. It's Wednesday now, um, and it's 5:18am, and yeah I'm up and having a cup of tea. I haven't actually been to bed yet, but that's okay. Nye just left, he's been over like every night because he's bored like the rest of us. This is our nothing week, well I just began the nothing week. I had papers due this week, but I turned in today and yesterday. So tonight, well this morning at like 2am, we watched Don't Say a Word, great movie... but Nye and Baz kept wanting Sean Bean on the screen and not Michael Douglas. Hahah. They also were saying that he has the wrong accent, that what he has is not a Yorksire accent, but like a posh London one. I didn't notice that, he sounds like Sean Bean, I've never heard him talk differently. Anyway, so we finish the movie, and we are just sitting around talking and joking, and Amaya noticed that it was snowing. Well the two of us started screaming like girls, we grabbed our coats, my camera, keys and ran outside. We did a little dance, I made a snowball and threw it at her, and we just laughed as it snowed down on us.

Nye and Baz took their sweet time coming outside, but they finally did and we had a huge snowball fight. Like we were killing each other! Boys vs girls of course. It was so much fun. Somewhere along the line it got physical. Oh yeah, I remember, Amaya dropped Baz's hat that she was wearing, and I picked it up and put it on. He said that now it was war, and he charged at me, or I had him... who knows, but yeah he fell on the ground. I don't know if the British know Uncle, but I had him at that point. He admitted defeat, we shook on it, and he started up again. He almost had me on the ground that time, but Amaya came over, and he half flipped over my back, or her back, I wasn't in a position to see. But the main line is... I KICKED HIS BUTT! I was rubbing snow in his face, he grabbed my leg and tried to pull me down, but I just bent my knees a little, and held him down while he was trying to get me down. Hahah, he couldn't move me!

I warned him, I said you don't go after a hockey player. I said I grew up with a brother who made it his job to try and toughen me up by beating me up everyday, I've played boy's hockey, and I'm the one kid on the ice you don't mess with. I have challenged Cashman, I've taken on Broc and Tooch, I've won and held my ground. I've taken on the Panthers, and survived boy's hockey. He said he believed me. Though being a boy he won't admit complete defeat and he says he will take me on when his chest cold goes away, which of course if the only reason he couldn't beat me... oh give me a break! Boys... do they ever learn?

I charged at Nye too, who is taller than Baz, Baz and I are equal in height, but Nye is taller, and I charged at him and my glasses went flying. haha. Opps. Nye beat up Amaya... hahah big surprise there. We should have switched, Baz and Amaya would have been more equal.

It was so much fun! We were out there for almost an hour, and I'm so hyper! I love snow! I did learn why hockey players should never play basketball and baseball... we can't throw! Most of my snowballs never hit their target, which is of course why I charged at the boys. Hockey players like the direct attack!

We did get in trouble for being loud and throwing snowballs windows and cars, mostly the boys, but it was fun! The security guard said he was sorry that he had to yell at us, because he didn't see the problem with us trying to get snow through an open window... hahah oh well.

I might go to bed soon... I do have to be up before 2pm today since I have to pass in something... opps, forgot my 18th century teacher wanted the essay plan!!!!

Salzburg Day 2: The Fortress

So Day 2 in Salzburg started as all the days did, early. I think that morning we woke up around 8am, so later than usual, but still. Monica and I got breakfast at the hostel, and then we went exploring. We had really seen Salzburg during the day, so this was exciting. Cait said that she would join us whenever she got up, she said around like 10. So in our exploration, we went all over,but didn't cross the river for a little bit. We went down some old side streets, which is always fun. There you see all the old stuff, there was some doors that I'm not really sure where they went to, but I took a picture of it. I almost think the doors led into the mountain, it basically right there. But when we did cross the river, it was very exciting because we picked the bridge carefully. We cross the Sound of Music bridge. I took a picture of the bridge, and then going over it. It was so much fun, and of course I sang Do-Re-Mi while crossing. Fun times.

So we then just walked around the historical part of the city, went by different churches, and old buildings. We saw the outdoor hockey rink, and all the little stores and stuff. Salzburg is a beautiful city, I really, really enjoyed just walking around. In Salzburg there are like 4 or 5 bridges that cross over the river, and we walked from the end to the other. It was so awesome.

As time got close to 10, we went closer to Mirabell Gardens where we were meeting Cate. I suggested that we go to a cafe, and rest before walking around Mirabell Gardens and up to the fortress. We found this cool cafe, it's actually on the way to our hostel, but right off the main road, so we didn't go far. I got an delicious cup of hot chocolate.... it was so good. I could live in cafes! I go between hot chocolate and tea usually, and it's always so good.

We met up with Cate at lie 10:45, she had actually been up since 8am, but couldn't check out of her room and stuff until around 10, and her hair was wet, so whatever, it was cool when we met up with her. We walked through Mirabell Gardens, another area they used in the Sound of Music, especially in the Do-Re-Mi song. Basically all of Salzburg was used for this song. The fountain is here, and the little dwarves that they run by, so of course we took pictures of ourselves with the dwarfs. Cait and I just posed with them, Monica got much closer. Two of them carried her. It was pretty funny.

We then walked up to the fortress. Now the tour guide from the Sound of Music really scared us about this walk, he said it was 20 minutes up, and really tough. There is a train like thing that goes up there, but who wants that... with all the coffee shops we had been visiting, we needed the walk. We joked on the way up that we should have brought our climbing equipment, it might just be easier to scale the walls. But really the walk wasn't that bad. It would have been better if I was in better shape, but it was fine.

Cait didn't come into the fortress with us, she really doesn't like museums, which is what the fortress is these days, and she said she would rather explore Salzburg. So Monica and I walked around. We went into the torture museum.. yeah whatever. There was one room, and no one got tortured in it, they just held prisoners in there. I was so disappointed. It's only called a torture museum because there is one room where they had torture devices. It was more of a tour of the history of the fortress, the first room had pictures of the all the Archbishops who had a part in building and expanding the fortress. Work started in like 1000 A.D... sweet. We did go to the top, to the watchtower. Um beautiful. I mean this whole trip was seeing Salzburg at different high points, and this was one of the best. It was a little cloudy, but I think I got my best picture here, the sun rays came through the clouds and hit the Alps... and it was just beautiful. Worth coming up to see. We saw everything, and by now we knew what a lot of it was, which was awesome!

We also went into the Arms museum, saw a lot of swords, the stick figure army attacking, and a few torture devices... these were cool. They were more to humiliate, they were masks, but really cool. I was happy. The last museum we just walked through was the marionette museum. It was just like two rooms but they were interesting to look at.

After that we left, we didn't want to leave Cait by herself for too long. I really liked the fortress, it was just amazing that it was built a 1000 years ago, but still in really good condition. Everything was labeled, like this gate was built in 1450, or this bridge added in 1320... stuff like that. It really was amazing. And the views were unbelievable... I think this is why I fell in love with Salzburg so much, I saw so much of it from above, eye to eye with some of the mountains. Everything is so much more beautiful from up high.

We walked around a little bit more, went into a church or two, and then got some food. It was fast approaching evening by now, and that night we were going to Vienna. I hated to leave behind Salzburg, I thought it was an amazing place, I'd love to go back, and see more of it. The Sound of Music tour was probably the smartest thing we did, we saw Mondsee, which we didn't even know existed, we saw more of the city than we would have, and I love when things are pointed out to me. It's not just some bridge, but a bridge used in the Sound of Music, or that's just not another mountain, but Julie Andrews ran down that mountain in 3 minutes. It was really cool, I still believe I left my heart in Salzburg, it was just so amazing.

But onto Vienna... or Vindobona... the Roman fortress where the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote Mediations, and later died. Or a Gladiator reference... "Has anyone ever been in the army?" "Yes, I served with you at Vindobona." OH where Maximus lived! But that's next time.

Salzburg: Sound of Music tour

The Sound of Music tour. Ever feel embarrassed as you walk up to your mode of transportation, and think oh dear God? Well I did for a second when I saw the bus that we would be taking. It was very decorated, and in big letters, "THE SOUND OF MUSIC" With Julie Andrews and the kids on it. Yeah well, I got over it quickly, because the tour was fun, and they played the soundtrack and Cait and I sang along. Now Monica has never seen all of the Sound of Music... I don't know how but she never did. I suggested she watch it at the hostel, they show it every morning. She didn't like the idea. So the tour, um our tour guide was good, but boy did he stink at making jokes. He knew it so he made bad jokes just so we would laugh at him. Anyway, so the tour started out at Mirabell Gardens, which we did not stop at because it's free and you can go in there any time of the day. Mirabell Gardens is where they filmed the Do-Re-Mi song with the fountain and the grass covered thing. So it first went to Leopoldskron Palace, which is the house they used for the von Trapp house, and it also features the lake. Um beautiful! I think it was on the way there that we passed the Abe Lincoln statue... now want to know how talented he is? He's riding a horse and reading a book at the same time! That's talent, and it's just randomly in Salzburg. It was a gift, but I forget why. Oh well. Anyway.

So the Leopoldskron Palace is awesome, and they had the gazebo outside, but too many people were like jumping over the fence and doing crazy stuff to get to it that it was moved, and we saw it later on in the tour. So from where we were, right on the water's edge, there's the Palace, and in the distance the Alps. I would move there in a second! It was just awesome. I guess when they were making the Sound of Music, they weren't allowed to film inside, so they created the interior of the house in a studio. Also the lake was used for the canoe scene, and they had to shoot the scene twice, and the one they used was when Julie Andrews fell the other way, and the youngest almost drowned! Oh boy.

From here, we got back on the bus and went past the gate where Julie Andrews is singing the confidence song. We couldn't stop, it's illegal to stop on this road, so we just looked at it. I tried to get a picture of it, but it was kinda hard and far away. This is also the gate they used in the car scene at the end, and well whenever they needed the front gate. Near the gate is the trees they used to in the film.

Our next stop was the gazebo which is now at the Hellbunn Palace that was built by Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, a Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. It's a cool place. There is the Month Castle, he built a castle in a month on a bet. So awesome. But the gazebo was put there, but you can't go in anymore, because some 80 year woman was singing and dancing to 'I'm 16 going on 17' fell and broke her hip. So you just stand there, and admire it. Fun times. The whole palace though is the small yellowish color, and if this color is on a house it means it's royalty, cause whoever decided on this rule liked this color yellow and said, 'Only I can use it'. He can have it, it's not impressive. So after that we stopped by the Salzburg High School because it's a great place to view the Abbey that was used in the film and is the actual Abbey. It's like the only Abbey in Salzburg to have a red dome, so it's really easy to locate, but the real Maria was at this Abbey. We also saw the mountain that Julie Andrews ran down in 3 minutes, completely possible, I mean it's only 3 miles down the mountain. Who couldn't run down that in 3 minutes? The real Mr and Mrs von Trapp got married at the Abbey, but hey, this church is awesome. It's up in the town of Mondsee! Oh I forgot to mention we also the saw the bridge used in the Do-Re-Mi song, but since the next day I walked it, let's move on. So after the Abbey that was our last stop for awhile, as we were going to the Lake District to the town where the Church is. Now the real Mr and Mrs von TrappMondsee about a half an hour away. The views going up to the Lake District were amazing, and what we paid for the tour was suddenly worth it. The views and the town of Mondsee are amazing, and I'm so glad I got to experience them. There was one place we stopped alongside the road, and we were told that this was one of the most beautiful views. Well it was foggy, but it was amazing. Not only was it amazing, there was snow! Cait was so excited, she made a snowball, we took pictures she threw it off the mountain. I took so many pictures, but for awhile I just stood there and stared. It was amazing. I fell in love with Salzburg all over again... it made me speechless. So many mountains, and the little town below right on the lake... omg it was just amazing. I couldn't imagine anything like that, I didn't know such beautiful sights existed. That was probably the best part of the town... just so amazing. Soon after that we got to the town of Mondsee, and we were given an hour to do whatever. Our tour guide showed us the Church where they had the wedding scene. First the Church. It's amazing. But it was so interesting because now between the three of us we have a lot of Catholic education... and we never saw anything like this Church. The crucifix was weird, there was blood like running down Jesus' legs, and arms, and the look on his face was probably realistic. He didn't look that happy. The other people, they didn't look so happy either. The looks of agony on everyone was weird. Everything was black with golden vines running up and down them. It was interesting, and we found it actually to be common in Austria. We found it at least one more time, maybe twice. We did see a lot of churches! The town of Mondsee is so cute! They still had up the Christmas decorations, so it looked really pretty. It was dark by the time we finished looking at the church, so we just wandered the streets. There wasn't any chain restaurants or stores, it was really nice. Not a lot of it was opened, but we had a good time walking and talking. We walked down to the lake, and then went back to the bus. Our hour went so quickly! It was nice though, I like the town of Mondsee, but I would probably go crazy in it, like two hours after getting there. There is just not a lot to do. But just staring at the mountains and the lake would keep me occupied for at least an hour. So after that the tour was over and we went home. On the way we drove on the Autobahn, that was fun. They showed a special clip from the DVD Sound of Music, about filming locations, so basically everything we had just seen. It was cool. The tour was fun, Cait, Monica and I had a good time. It was so worth it!!! It was a 4 hour tour of some of the most unbelievable sights in Salzburg and beyond! Cait and I had a good time singing along to the songs too!!!! So that was the tour, after that Cait decided to hit up Mass at the Church right across the street from Mirabell Gardens, but Monica and I decided, hey we haven't eaten in a very long time, and the Mass was in either in German or Italian, so yeah food wins. We went to the first place we saw, and yeah we didn't annoy the waitress with our presence! Actually Cait annoyed her more, but oh well. I got grilled hamburgers, I just felt like some meat. It was good, came with a little salad, and a baked potato!!!! Yummy! I think that's actually why I got it. Cait joined us when we were eating dessert, we got dessert just to stall and for Cait to join us. It was a nice meal, we had a good time. After that we walked around the historical part. It was beautiful at night, the fortress was amazing, all the little streets were amazing. We saw this one store that was all Christmas decorations, and they had them still lit up in the window, so I took a pic for Dad. He would have loved this store, but yeah I wouldn't have allowed him in. That picture would be the closest he would get to it. Oh well. There was another store with just eggs, like colored eggs!! It was awesome. For some odd reason we never found that street again. We looked for it, but I think we just ran out of time. Oh well. Around 10ish I think it was, we departed for our hostel, and Cait to her pension. It was a really good first day in Salzburg. I fell in love with the city at least 15 times. I couldn't wait to explore it in the day time!

Salzburg: Climbing Mountains

So let me continue my trip. Sorry this is taking so long but I like to be exact, and give a complete, well almost complete description of my trip, and it takes awhile. Anyway to Salzburg.

Now before I went to Salzburg, I heard a few things about it, Jenn said it was her favorite city in Europe, it's the most beautiful, and Mary (from Montana) said she had been and loved it, and also that was beautiful. Now I trust the opinions of those two, both of them have traveled around Europe. But I was not prepared for just how beautiful it was. There are no words for Salzburg, I fell in love with it before we even got there. I remember the moment, we were on the train from Munich, and I was catching up on my journal, and I didn't have contacts in, or my glasses on, and I'm sitting there writing about Berlin probably, and I just got that feeling that I should look up. I did, and I looked to my left, and though I am near sighted, I saw them. I got my first look at the Alps. I quickly put on my glasses that were hanging from the collar of my shirt, put them on, and just stared. There is not a lot of things that can take away my breath... but the Alps did. As soon as I got my bearings together, I turned around and motioned for Monica to look up, she was reading a book. I sat there unable to return to my journal, just staring at the Alps, and then the little Austrian towns, and I fell in love again. What I didn't realize is, I hadn't seen anything yet!!!!!

So we got to Salzburg, we have our bags on our shoulders, and we walk out of the train station. It never occurred to me but we cross a border and nothing happened. No passport control, no nothing.. aka, I didn't get a stamp in my passport. Um not happy. Oh well, I will just have to go back, and this time fly. Oh well, so we leave the train station and this woman comes up to us. She knows at once we are tourists, our bags MIGHT have given us away... somehow. But she gave us two passes for the buses that were valid until Wednesday. She said that they were leaving, and enjoy. Okay cool, too bad we never took the bus but hey, it's the thought that counts.

So we found our hostel, it was another really nice place! We shared a room with 6 other girls. I slept in the bottom bunk! I think I've spent one full night in a bottom bunk, and it was one night my water spilt on my pillow and bed, and I took MK's bed for the night since this happened when she was at college. But I tried to remember any other time I've had a bottom bunk, and the only one night I can think of is (yes I have to say this) is the night at the cottage when either MK or Jay (for the life of me I can't remember who) decided they wanted my top bunk for the night, and like an hour later they woke me telling me about creepy eyes outside the window, and I had to give back the bottom bunk. Great, which ever one of you did that, just give the younger one the creepy eyes outside the window. Me, I wasn't afraid though, and since that day no one has touched my top bunk. And I was like um maybe 6 or 7 when this happened. Alright back to Salzburg. Had to tell the embarrassing story.

So at our hostel, Monica got in touch with Cait, her friend from Fordham. Cait is studying in Italy, and when she heard we were going to be Austria, she came along. Well she first went to Switzerland, and then to Austria. Cait apparently found a cheap Sound of Music tour, and wanted to do it, if we did. Now I love the Sound of Music, I know Salzburg is known for it, but all the tours are pretty expensive. I said yes if she found a cheap one. So we went to go meet Cait at Mirabellgarten, which seemed a central location. Cait was staying at a pension not far from the historical part of the city.

Now let me try and explain Cait. Um. Easy, she's the energizer bunny. She's like me when I play hockey. It was nuts. She talks a mile a minute, and I thought it was just because she was on a sugar high after being up since 4am, oh no that's just Cait. She's awesome though, I really felt like I've known her forever. When we said good bye in Vienna, it was sad, I really like Cait, and I can't wait to go to Italy to visit her. I really am meeting so many cool people, mostly Americans (um), but it's all good. So anyway, we met Cait, and we checked out the Sound of Music tour. It wasn't cheap, that was the child's price, which sometimes is the same for students. For students they give a 10% discount, how generous of them. But we discussed, and we went for it. And I think it was the best decision we made.

So the tour started at 2, and it was like 11:00am, so we walked around. Well we actually went to get Cait's camera, but on the way stopped for coffee. I got a hot chocolate and a chocolate frosted donut. Um good breakfast. So we are sittingin this little cafe, and omg, it was so obvious we were Americans. Everyone is sitting quietly, drinking their coffee, and you got three girls by the windows laughing, talking loud, interrupting each other. It was so much fun. I noticed a few people openly staring at us, hope they enjoyed the show. By the time we left the coffee shop, I felt I had known Cait for a while. She did tell her story about how she got to Austria, which isn't hard, but a little difficult when you forget your passport in Italy! I don't even want to know how she did that, but she did. On the train though they check, but they don't really care as much, so she got away with it, but it got a little scary sometimes. She just gave her licence, but um wow, no thank you. The worst part was she was flying home, yeah right. You need a passport for that. Anyway, I'll talk more about Cait's passport problem as we go.

So we left the coffee shop, and started walking to Cait's pension. On the way though, on this cute little street, Monica sees a side street that just goes up. She suggested we follow. We did. It led to a monastery. And then we kept climbing. We walked for a half an hour. We followed a path that led to some woods, and we stayed on the path and just walked, talked and really got to know each other. Well Cait and I. We talked about going to Berlin, Munich, playing hockey (she use to figure skate), college in general, the differences between our school systems and that of the US, we covered it all. And we just kept walking. Soon we were on top of a mountain, looking down at Salzburg, and eye to eye with the Alps. It was breath taking, humbling, an eye opener, and amazing. I could have stayed up there all day and just sat, stared, been deep in thought, and be completely satisfied. I've climbed all the towers possible, but this was something completely different. It was a mountain! I climbed a mountain for FUN! I stood higher than the clouds, well a few, and just stared. I don't think I knew beauty until I stood and stared at the Alps. It was unbelievable, and the fun was just beginning!!!!!

I noticed the time, and said hey we got to get going, we don't want to miss the tour! So we went a little further, looking for a good place to turn around. Who wants to go back the way they came? We reached a wall that did not allow us to go any further, so we climbed the stairs next to it. That was the highest I think I was in Salzburg, not sure, might have been higher on the tour, but more breath taking views. We were where only the monks go. There was a church like building on top of this mountain. Really old looking one. So after gaping at that, and the views, we started climbing down. It took less time of course, and well we made it to Cait's pension to pick up her camera, and to the tour with like 10 minutes to spare. Go us!

I think I will wait on the Sound of Music tour since it's going to be very long, and this post has some length to it already. So Sound of Music tour next.

Munich Day 2: Dachau

So Dachau... I will not lie, it was a hard day. We spent all morning and part of the afternoon at the concentration camp. It was easy to get to, a train, and then a local bus goes right by it. What amazes me is Dachau is a town, people live there. That would freak me out, 'yes I live in a town where there was a concentration camp, it's a beautiful location, lots of things to do'. Er. Anyway.

So we got there about 9ish, haha of course we missed our stop. I guess it was a request stop, so yeah it didn't stop. I don't know how to request in German, but the next time the bus stopped we got out and walked. It wasn't far. So actually I'm writing this without my journal on hand... too many papers in this room and I can't see it. Oh well, I'll do my best. We got audio guides for the grounds, and then we went up a walkway that leads to the gate. Now Dachau is home to the famous gate with the words,"Arbeit macht frei", aka Work Shall Set You Free. Omg, this is horrible but I'm listening to my MP3 Player as I type this and Schindler's List just came on. Great, just what I need. Good music though. Anyway, so all visitors enter the way the men back then did... so in this place where no one is, we enter through the gate. I swear, there was no one around, no noise at all except a crow making too much noise. I felt like I was in a movie or something. It was just creepy. We entered though, and at once my thoughts went to Hogans, you enter into a huge compound. But in being there for 2 seconds you know that this isn't some TV show. My second thought was how did all this happen in such an innocent looking place. You walk in, it's a large compound, but to your right is the museum, to your left in the distance is an example of the barracks, in front of you is a memorial, and beyond that is a creepy looking memorial.

So we walked around, and I had goosebumps on my arms the whole time. You just know that some evil, brutal stuff went on here, you can almost feel it. It's weird, but you can also see hundreds of men lined up every day for roll call, and the guards walking around terrorizing everyone... I've never experienced anything like this before, and maybe I just have a vivid imagination, but it was so real. I'm not even going to go anywhere near being able to understand it all, you can't, from everything I've ever read, you know its beyond understanding, but the place will never lose the feel of suffering that surrounds it.

It's important to know that Dachau was more of a political camp, it had all sorts of people, Jewish, priests, foreigners, anyone, but the majority of the political people came here. It was not the worst camp, but it became a model for others. The Kommandants of Dachau were usually sent to other camps to pass on the Dachau spirit.

So we walk around, first to the right and alongside the museum, past one memorial, and then to the creepy one. It looks like pictures I've seen of the pile of dead bodies... it's appropriate but creepy. As I'm looking around, I really felt like I was intruding. Maybe it was because we were basically the only two people walking around, but I just felt like I didn't belong. I'm not sure how Monica felt, but it was definitely an interesting experience. So we kept walking, and went into the barracks. Now Dachau has three stages... the early years when things were bad, but they were going to get worst. You can see the three stages in the bunks. At first everyone had their own bunk, a hook for clothes, there was a few benches for eating, that was like Stalag 13. The next room had it so two people shared a bunk, they were a little larger, but you didn't have a bed to yourself anymore. That room was all bunks, and in the next room was an eating space. That was after Dachau had been redone, and more barracks built. But the next room was one long bunk, and basically all the men that could possibility fit where squeezed onto the bunk. That was the final years. The conditions just got worse of course. You stand in any of these rooms and just think how did they do it? How did they survive, and a lot didn't. I mean most people don't like sharing a room with more than one person, and here they shared bed space. They had no privacy at all. You stand there and wonder how it came to this... and then you realize you haven't seen anything yet.

Back outside, we walked down the lane that had the barracks, the foundations are still there with a stone that has the number. Even numbers were on the left, odd on the right. As you walk down this lane, you see some of the guard towers that remain, the big wire, the ditch before the wire, and it was here that I realized how ridiculous Hogans Heroes is sometimes. This was an inescapable camp, it was suicidal to try. You wish though it was like Hogans, that they didn't suffer as much as you know they did, even now years later, when you don't even know half of it, you wish for some relief for the ghosts of those who died here.

We walked all the way down to the religious memorials, but the whole time I felt like someone was watching me, and I looked up to the guard towers, and I could just see men with their big guns watching the men of the camp, unmercifully killing anyone who got too close to the wire. Monica and I barely spoke while we were here, so I had a lot of time to think, and I wonder if these people ever thought they would experience something like this, and why them. I'm sure they did, and here I'm thinking, okay what if I lived in a time like this, would I have made it? I still can't answer that. People I think like to believe they would be strong enough, but I think it's more than strength that you need, I'm not sure what it is, but the people who did survive this are remarkable.

The religious memorials were okay, they are meant to ease suffering, but they looked out of place here. Just by the sight of them you should feel at ease a little bit, but I felt nothing. One of the memorials is a church... I wonder how many people go to church here. No thank you. The Jewish memorial was probably the weirdest but most interesting. It was very dark, black, and empty. I can think of a few ways that is appropriate.

Now we walked around the memorials, but then walked outside the gate to the crematorium... oh boy. There are two furnaces here, the old one and Barracks X. Barracks X was built because the furnace wasn't working fast enough. Now I've been taking pictures of the outside, I'm not sure why, I will never forget this place, but maybe it was just something to do with my hands. But I went into Barracks X and my camera went in my pocket. When you walk in to your left is the gas chambers that they say were not used. They look like showers. They only think that they were never used because they never found a mass grave... comforting? I think not. I walked into the middle room that holds the furnaces. Now as I've said I have an vivid imagination but I felt and saw nothing walking through Barracks X except goosebumps on my arms. I wondered why, but I think it's because what happened in here is unimaginable, that someone was okay with this, and did this like it was nothing should baffle a human being. I kept walking and went into the last room without really knowing what it was... it was the Death Chamber. AkA, this is where they put the bodies before they were cremated, and where they put the bodies when they ran out of coal to burn the bodies. I jumped out of that room so quickly. No one belongs in that room, the horror that room alone held is unbelievable. That is also the room that when the camp was liberated, the townspeople of Dachau were brought in and shown this room and asked, "Did you know about this?" The room was piled high with bodies, I saw a picture taken from that time.

Now I'm thinking okay, some people believe that the Nazi party was made up of men who got in over their heads, and maybe that's true but I'm not so sure about Hitler and Himmler. Himmler controlled the concentration camps, and some stuff stuff went on here. How do humans think of this? Are you human if you can do this to someone else?

I didn't stay in Barracks X long, I walked around the building and stopped at the graves that the different religions put in after the liberated for all those who died without a name, or anyone to mourn them.


We went into the museum next, saw a video about Dachau and just walked around reading all the different personal stories about who lived and who died. It was an interesting museum, and you got some information about who as at Dachau, why, and the different changes it went through. We were there until like 2pm. It was a hard day. I'm glad I did it though, it is something that I wanted to see, because it's so apart of the German history no matter how much they try and bury it. The thought that it could go on without anyone really knowing, or knowing and not being able to do anything about it, just is unbelievable.

Well I'm going to end this post here, the rest of the day we just got food, and called it an early night before going off to Salzburg the following morning. I enjoyed Munich a lot, it was very nice, and very different from Berlin.

Munich Day 1: The Hitler Tour

(The New City Hall)


Let's start at the train going to Munich. It was an overnight train so we slept the whole way. It was very Harry Potterish, we went into a compartment, it was cool. Of course we had reservations, so in our compartment were two young people, and I took a seat by the window, and Monica sat diagonal from me. It was midnight, we had been up since 7:30am, so yeah good night. I made my coat into a pillow, put my bag under my arm, and yeah was fast asleep. Well actually that happened as soon as the conductor stamped my Eurorail pass. I had some room on the seat to put my feet up, sweet deal. When I woke up the first time, the guy next to me was gone, so yeah totally stretched out, and fell into a nice sleep. It was so comfortable. By the end of the trip, Monica had the seat to herself too, so we both got a pretty good sleep.

We got into Munich about 8ish, and went right to the hostel which was two seconds away from the train station. Sweet deal! Another nice place too! They gave us tickets for free breakfast, so we put our bags in the back room, we couldn't completely check in yet, and then went to get breakfast. They just had toast, tea, fruit, cheese, and some weird looking cereal, so I had toast and tea. A very English breakfast. It was good. But while we were waiting to check in, I picked up a few things about Munich, one being different walking tours. One of the tours was Hitler and the Third Reich. Now I'm not obsessed with Hitler or the Nazis, but I do spend a lot, er, an insane amount of time watching Hogans Heroes, and it does interest it. It's history, it's not Roman history, but whatever. I suggested it to Monica, I said I could take it or leave it, but it might be a good idea. She agreed. So now it's like 9:40, and the tour begins at 10:30. We left for Marienplatz where the tour begins. Marienplatz is also the city centre, and where we were headed anyway. So we got there a few minutes before 10:30am, and we took the tour. Now I'll bring you through it.

First, it started in the doors of the New City Hall, where we all introduced ourselves. There was like 10 people in the group. He told us a few facts about Munich, like 88% of it was destroyed, 10% hit but still usable, and 2% not touched. Wow. Two of the buildings not touched were Nazi buildings, like SS Headquarters. So we first went to the Hobrau where it all started. After WWI, Hitler got the job of spying on political groups, one being the German Workers' Party. He evidently joined, and in the Hobrau we went to was the place of his first big speech. We saw the banquet hall that he spoke in. Now across the street is the Hard Rock Cafe. It was interesting though, because here in Munich, it's where everything started.. amazing. When you stand in the Hobrau, and you look up, there is the Nazi symbol, the swastika. It was so interesting that it was there of all places. Anyway, so from the Hobrau we went to the Square where the Opera House is, and where the March of 1923 started from. It was also at the hobrau across the street from the Opera House that Hitler once pulled two men out of it, and made them sit through a performance of Wagner. They fell asleep during it, so the next night they had to stand during it. Anyway, so we then followed the route the march took, which wasn't long, just down the street to where the police were, and there was shots fired, and 16 Nazis were killed. These 16 men were remembered by Hitler until he died, he had temples built in Nazi plaza as I call it, next to SS Headquarters, and every year on the anniversary of the march their coffins would be carried down to the spot where they fell, and it was a huge deal. Anyway though, Hitler put up a memorial to them, and when anyone walked by they had to salute. In a small form of rebellion though, there is a street right before the memorial, and people would walk down that street to avoid saluting, because if you walked by it, and didn't salute, in about an hour you would have the Gestapo knocking at your door. Okay then.

So the memorial is right before Oldeonplatz, where WWI was announced. There is a picture of that assembly, and someone found Hitler in it. Crazyness. It's a really nice plaza though, it's all cobblestone, and there is a big statue of someone, and two big lions. It's neat.

From there we went into this garden, a Hofgarten, that features the Staatskanzlei aka government building. Interesting place, it's the most hated building in Munich. It's one of those big old Greek looking buildings, with the columns and everything, but during the War it got hit, and only the middle was not destroyed. After the war they rebuilt it, and it's designed so that the sides are made out of glass... no secrets from the people, and the people know what is going on with the government. The only problem is, you never see anyone inside!! It's funny actually. In front of it is a WWI memorial, a big wooden box with the words, "They Shall Rise Again." It's kinda creepy looking, I mean its a wooden box. Nice memorial. But then the German people are still kind of mad about that, they feel like the government quit on them. Next to the building is the White Rose memorial, for the 5 students and one teacher who were beheaded by Hitler during the War. A few of them were in Poland during the War, and noticed some weird stuff going on, and thought hey this isn't right. When they got back they started passing out leaflets, and yeah they were found out by the Gestapo and beheaded. Not cool. It's a nicer memorial than the big wooden box though.

Across the street from this is the Modern Art museum, which actually Hitler had built, but then it was a classical art museum. He hated the modern arts. The weekend it opened, a good number of people went, but twice that went to the Modern Art Museum which is across the street, and when are you looking at the White Rose memorial, it's behind you. It's not a very good looking building, but of course that was on purpose. So we had a good laugh at that, and after the War it was turned into the Modern Art Museum, just because Hitler would hate that.

After that we went to Hitler's favorite place to get coffee, Carlton's. The owners deny the fact that he came to Carlton's often... too bad it's like a proven fact. No one wants to be connected with Hitler at all. Actually one of the owners tried to convince our tour guide once that Hitler's favorite cafe was down the street... and the tour guide was like ummm ok. When we left there, we were on Brienner Street, which is known for the Night of Broken Glass. A lot of Jewish people lived on that street. There is a memorial on that street, it's a flame inside a black cage and it's for all those who suffered because of Hitler, but people in Munich have no idea what it is for. There is no label on it, people think it's for the 1972 Olympics. There is a street sign for the little area, but it's right next to the street sign for the road, so it's all very confusing. But that's Munich, they have memorials, but they hide them.

Down the street from that is the old Gestapo headquarters, which is now a bank. The building was destroyed, but there is a sign above eye level saying that it was once Gestapo Headquarters. I thought that was interesting. But now we are just about done with the tour, just Nazi Plaza left. We went to see the two buildings that were not hit by the War, but should have been. One was SS Headquarters, and we went into the building. It's a music school now, but wow is it beautiful! Pink marble, beautiful columns, a sweet looking staircase... really nice looking. They haven't done a thing to the building since it was occupied by the SS, but why would they want to? Next to that building and the one across the street were temples that held 8 graves each, so 16 in total, and for the 16 men who died in the march many years ago. Every year on the anniversary of the march, the coffins were carried back to Oldeonplatz, and there was a huge ceremony and stuff, it was pretty intense. It's not far, but still intense.

So that was the tour. From there, Monica and I walked back to Marienplatz, got some coffee, well for me a hot chocolate and a piece of cake, and then we did nothing until 3pm when in the New City Hall the characters were suppose to do something. Well don't get excited they didn't do anything. So disappointing. Actually before then, we tried to climb the tower to the top but it was closed, so we think the two are connected. It was sad though, I love seeing cities from really high up. But after no show of the characters we went back to the hostel to check in, we both used the computers to e-mail home, and then we went back to Marienplatz, and went to the Modern Art Museum. We went in, but there was like 4 shows going on, and each of them was a different price, and we didn't know what the shows were, so we just left. We walked around a little bit more, didn't really see anything exciting, but then we got dinner. We went back to the Hobrau! Now all I can think of is Shultz, so I was so exciting. Monica asked if we could do this, and I was like OF COURSE! One of my favorite Hogans takes place in a Hobrau! There is such a great atmosphere there, but it was so busy we took seats in a less crowded and busy section. It was fun though. Monica got one of the large things of beer, wow it was huge! I don't drink beer, I tried it but ICK! No thank you. She says that since she is in Germany she will drink it, but no thanks. We both got pretzels there, and I just had a salad, I wasn't too hungry. We were there forever, the service was unbelievably slow. It was fun though, just watching the waiters carrying like 6 of those big things of beer! Monica looked like Merry in Fellowship of the Ring when he gets a pint at the Prancing Pony. HAHA! I had a good laugh over that one.

So that was our first day in Munich, after the Hobrau, we walked around more, saw the characters barely do anything at 9, but then we went back to the hostel and hung out there. We both went to bed somewhat early. Thankfully we did, since we were woken up at 5am by a cat fight. Two girls were a little drunk and one of them brought back three boys... and if it wasn't 5am it would have been SO FUNNY! One of the girls was like, "I don't trust you." and the other was like, "Well I never trusted you either." Hahaha, it was just great. 18 people in a room, and we got 2 girls fighting at 5am! That's a hostel for ya! The beds were so amazingly comfy though! So next post is Dachau.

Berlin Day 2: Waffles and eggs, what a day

So Day 2 in Berlin... a nice fun filled day. It all began at 7:30am. The hostel room we stayed in, well when we got back at like 11pm everyone was sleeping so we tried so hard not to make noise. When we got up, it was still dark, and everyone was still sleeping, expect the kid who coughed all night. It was a nice hostel though, we didn't spent any time in it really, but still nice. So our first stop of the day was the Reichstag. The guide book said to be there early to avoid lines, aka we were then a few minutes after it opened. The view in that early morning was awesome. Different than at night, but just as beautiful. I took some nice pics. It was pretty windy, so we snapped a few shots and left.

After that we went to the train station which is basically right next to the Reichstag, this train station is like the main one in East Berlin. On the way, I had my first of many Hogan Heroes references... sweet. We passed the street Otto-von-Bismarck, and all I could think of was one of my favorite Hogans when Hogan and Kinchloe convince a German general that Hogan can communicate with the spirit of Bismarck. Ummm funny stuff. So for like an hour after that, I had two quotes running through my head, "Otto? Otto you old dog" and "I know you were the Chancellor of Germany, but what have you done recently?" Yeah it was fun. On the subject, I forgot when I saw this car that had a company logo on it, it was, "Muller and something" but in another Hogans, Newkirk posing as a man called Muller is accepted into the German army and assigned as a guard at Stalag 13. Yeah that's a bit of sticky wicket.

Anyway back to my trip, it was so much being in Germany and thinking of Hogans! The train station was nice, they kinda all look the same. We got our passes validated no problem, so now we could go onto Munich. After that we tried to walk to Alexanderplatz, but realized it was much further than we thought, so we got on a bus next to the Reichstag. While waiting, I found a Berlin Wall memorial, one big cross, and little ones behind it.

So we got onto the bus and went to Alexanderplatz to take pictures of the Cathedral, Red Town Hall with the Poseidon statue in front of it, and just random things in Alexanderplatz. Right near there we found two statues, one of a man sitting down, the other is standing up... and yeah no label. Weird. In front of them are stone tablets, some with pictures on them, others that look a little carved... it was so weird. But then Germany does not label their memorials, so it could be anything.

When we were done talking pictures we walked north to meet Monica's friend Debbie, who goes to Oxford. When Oxford got out of school, Debbie came to Berlin. So we met with her, and it took us awhile to get there, but we did, and then we walked a while to a waffle place! Food! I was so hungry. Now we are in northern East Berlin, away from all the tourist stuff, and it was awesome. There was these little streets with cute little stores, and it was really residential. It was just cool being away from the touristy stuff. And the waffles were delicious!!!!!! I devoured mine. We were there for a little bit, but then walked on exploring the cute parts of Berlin. We stopped at a cafe, just to rest, and while there I wrote a postcard to send to St. Bs. Debbie had to go to the post office, so I got to mail the post card! It was cool. The post office was in the mall, and we went in, and there is a fruit market. I did a double take. I've been trying to remember, but don't think I've ever seen a fruit market in a mall. It was actually a store, it didn't pack up and leave at night.

I must say there is an awful lot of graffiti in East Berlin. It doesn't look that bad, but if I could read German I'm sure I would find it very insulting. But I'm oblivious, so it looks okay. Another observation I made was, we went into a kid's store. There was no toy soldiers. If there was any reference to war, it was knights, or Robin Hood looking people. No army soldiers at all. I was shocked beyond belief... yeah okay that was sarcasm. Germans, I've noticed, and in speaking with the Germans I met in Spain, they are not proud of their past, they tend to push it under the carpet to forget about it, and no where will you find reference to it. I noticed this much more in Munich, because it was pointed out to me, but especially in Berlin they tend to push forward and not think about the past. After the war Berlin built modern buildings, but for some reason Munich built everything the way it had been before it got bombed.

Well after that, Monica and I left Debbie. We agreed to meet up for dinner, but we wanted to hit up a museum or two, so we did that. We went down to museum island, which was like 5 seconds from our hostel. It was good, because we did have to go back there at some point and pick up our bags. We were leaving for Munich that night, a few minutes before midnight. Or was it after midnight... um can't remember. Anyway the museums... oh wow.

Temple. All these things were rebuilt in the museum! It was unbelievable! On the walls in the room the Temple is in are put back together pieces of panel that feature all the gods. Some of them you can tell who they are.. its so cool! The temple is wicked! My jaw never lifted from the ground! We climbed the stairs of the alter, and went into another room with panels that were put back together, and these panels told a story of probably Hercules, and how he had a problem, and The first one we went to was the Pergamonmuseum, and though smaller than the British Museum, it puts it to shame! There is more Roman stuff in the British Museum, but the British Museum does not have the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, the Roman Market or the PergamonOdysessus saved the day. Oh Odysseus! Other rooms had Greek columns, a copy of the statue of Athena, different art, and then we walked into the Roman ruin. They have a do it yourself Julius Caesar statue... wow. They found a headless statue of what they consider the perfect Roman, and put the head of Julius Caesar on top of it, because Caesar was the perfect Roman! YEAH CAESAR!!!! You're so cool you can have a salad named after you. Joke. Anyway, so I was saying hello to relatives of Augustus, when Monica came up behind me and told me there was a statue of, well haha, I thought she said Maximus. I turned to her and asked, why was there a statue of a general who got kicked by Spartacus. But then she looked at me and said, "I said Marcus Aurelius." I know, I always have Maximus on the mind. So I turn around all excited, it was a young Marcus Aurelius! WHAT! He was dressed in armour, and no beard! All the statues I've seen of Marcus Aurelius have been old! I was so excited.

So after that we found the Market, but it's being worked on, so then we went to find the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, which was amazing. It was huge! Unbelievable!

After that museum we went to the Egyptian museum, which was again unbelievable. It had a lot of mummies, and I could tell some of the dates of the stuff, because some of it looked a little Roman. There was a lot of art, and it was just so cool. Really small museum, but awesome.

So after the museums, we went to a cafe, took a break, then got our bags and headed to another section of Berlin. LOL, it was the gay section. It was completely dead... nothing was going on. Debbie picked it, because it was her last night in Berlin and she had never been in this section before. We met her three friends from her school in the States, and we found a place to eat dinner. The three girls got breakfast, I got eggs and ham, and no they were not green. It was fun, her friends were cool. Debbie is great too, a lot of fun. We hung out here for awhile, but it was getting late, and we wanted to get to the train station in plenty of time. So we left, and headed there, and around midnight we were on the train heading to Munich. It was sad to say good bye to Berlin, it's a great place, and we both enjoyed it. So Munich is the next post... and really our trip is still just beginning!

Berlin... the city not to make jokes about Hitler

Okay so onto Berlin. Monica and I decided to go to Berlin, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna. What a trip. So here we go. Tuesday morning we left at 5 am. Why do trips always begin so early? Monica wanted to be at Hampton Wick at 5am but I convinced her to wake up at 5am, getting up at 4:30? Why bother going to bed? We were flying out of Gatwick at like 8:30am, so not bad. We didn't have any problems getting to Gatwick, and when we got to the airport, we went to check in, and omg the line at the EasyJet booths were unbelievable. Until we realized they weren't for Berlin. THANK GOD! There was no one in line for our check in, and we did that easily, expect that the stupid woman made us bring our bags to Zone G, or oversized luggage. We gave our bags to the guys there, and just wondered if we would ever see them again. It was a little scary.

Went through security fine, a little bit of a wait, but not bad, good plane ride, and we arrived in Berlin. I looked out the window and it was raining and I wondered if we even left England. Customs was simple, Monica got asked all the questions and they asked if I was with her. I said yes, they stamped my passport. Sweetness. So we collected our bags, thankfully they were there, and went to the train station.

We had to go on the train to reach our hostel, but no big deal. We got there though, and we are trying to buy tickets, but the machines are in GERMAN! It hit me at that second that we were in Germany. Oh boy. Some guy helped us though, and we got tickets, and then money and went on the train. We enter a compartment, and there is the guy who helped us... weird. So the train system in Germany is on the honor's system. You buy a ticket but no one collects them, asks for them or anything. So you can not buy tickets... but watch out, they do random searches, and if you don't have a valid ticket you have to pay 40 euros on the spot. So most people just buy tickets so they don't have to go through the hassle. We always bought tickets.

So we got to our stop, got off, went the wrong way, but we did find our hostel. It is off one of the main streets in East Berlin. I liked it at once, a very nice, clean place. I mean with these hostels, we kinda picked them randomly, well we looked at their location, what they offered, and if it was cheap we went for it. So we got lucky. We went up to our room, put our stuff away, and at once left again to start exploring. We went down to Friendrichstadt Street, our favorite street. We were on it every day, because well its the street that our hostel is off of. It's a very commercial street though, and leads to Unter den Linden, which leads to the Brandenburg Gate. It is also the street that has the trees that were 300 years old before Hitler cut them down, and then after the war they were replanted. So we are on the corner of Unter den Linden, and Monica is telling me about the trees, which I knew about but didn't realize that I was looking at the trees. So she told me, and said that it was one of his more stupid ideas, and I asked what did he do that wasn't stupid, and I would give her the whole trip to figure it out. Monica replied that he boosted the economy, and then I said he united the people under a new flag. We both then stopped talking, and then I said, "We are joking about Hitler on a street corner in Berlin... think we should stop? Monica agreed. It was quite funny.

So we went down to the Brandenburg Gate, where that guy um Kennedy, yeah whatever, he said something there. Anyway, I thought at first that Apollo was on top, but then I saw wings, and realized oh it's Victory. It's a very cool gate. We took a few pictures, and then caught a bus to West Berlin to validate our Eurorail passes and get reservations for the train from Berlin to Munich. We caught a bus from Unter den Linden, and went to West Berlin, and on the way saw the Reichstag, a palace, and then entered West Berlin. My first impression was, wow where exactly am I? The States? It's very 5th Ave looking, and then all the usual stores and fast food places. We got off at the train station, and went in search of the ticket counter. Very nice train station, and we found the ticket office. We inquired if anyone could speak English and all we got was a little. Well that was all we needed. Monica actually handled it, she took out her Eurorail pass, and the woman shook her head and said something like not here. Okay, cool. But then for some reason we moved on forgetting that we needed to make a reservation. So we got in another line hoping for someone who speaks English, and we got helped by this cute old woman. Monica still had out her Eurorail passes, we asked if she spoke English, she shook her head but pointed to the woman we just left. She took Monica's Eurorail pass, and brought it to her. Now some German woman are pretty mean looking, and this woman tops that list. She came over saying again that we couldn't validate our passes, but we both quickly said that no we know, we just wanted to make reservations. So that was handled thankfully, and we left.

We just explored one street in West Berlin, Kurfürstendamm Street. It's the 5th Ave looking street. I must say it did a very good job on the Christmas lights, there was a giant nutcracker, and a Santa Claus. We found something to eat, I thought I got a chicken sandwich, but I don't know there was something FISHY about it. It was either really cold chicken, or not chicken at all. Well the bread was good. After eating though, we got back on the bus for East Berlin, most of what we wanted to do was in the area of our hostel.


So we got back, and went to Alexanderplatz. Now by this time it's kind of dark out, and I said at once that we are coming back here in the morning, there are so many picture opportunities here. We saw the TV tower, the Old Red Town Hall, the Berliner Dom, a WWII memorial we think, a library, the Opera House, and I believe that's about it. I love Alexanderplatz, I think it's a cool place. But after walking around there for awhile, we went inside the Berlin Cathedral. The Berlin Cathedral is amazing. So beautiful! Very high ceilings, every inch of it is decorated, and there are tombs in the four corners. Well at least in two of them. Very nice looking ones, beats a place in the floor at Westminster any day. There was even a crypt, so you know our next stop. It was a crypt for royalty, and here we got a nice lesson in German. We figured out the words for son and daughter... it was an achievement. But some people buried here are kings Friedrich I and Friedrich Wilhelm II, their wives, and the mother of King Friedrich II, Prince Louis Ferdinand (died fighting Napoleon), and Admiral Price Albert who was supreme commander of the Prussian army. Also the Brandenburg family is buried here. But the most interesting thing is the dates... the earliest birth is 1525, and the earliest death is 1595. WOW! Some of these coffins were moved from another location when the Berlin Cathedral was built. It was hit by a bomb in WWII, so a lot of work has been done to help preserve these and fix the church which was just completed not too long ago. So there is your history lesson of the day.

Um after that we went to Checkpoint Charlie. The museum stays open late, so we went around like 6ish, maybe. I completely forget the time. So interesting though. I know about the Wall, but not in this much detail. The museum was built by a man who actually just recently died, but he wanted to do something for the people, and to honor those who helped people get over the wall, and show how far people will go to save others. He said (I watched a video) that he wanted to do his part in preserving their bravery, he felt he had done nothing in the Wars. All his friends were executed by Hitler, one was active in plotting his assassination that of course did not work. So this was his part. In the museum was a car that was rebuilt the way it was to transport people in the engine.. that was cool. Very igneous. The stories were unbelievable, how people tried to get over the wall. One family went in a balloon, one woman went in two suitcases, they built tunnels, the car thing, some hijacked a boat, one went in between canoes... it was so unbelievable. It was so fascinating though, learning all of this stuff. We really did have a educational trip. So we were there for a long time, just walking through all the rooms that just held so many personal stories, and models of the different ways people tried to get over. So unbelievable. I really liked that museum though, so full of info. But any time you are in a museum for awhile, my next thought was break time. We found a cafe, actually not far from our hostel, and we took a break.

While we were sitting there, we decided on our next adventure, and it was the Reichstag. You can take an elevator up to the dome and see all of Berlin. Wow, we didn't have to climb 300 steps, count me in! So that closed at midnight, but the last admission was at 10pm, so it was like 9:20, so we rushed over there. We were the last group in. On the way though, we were discussing if the Reichstag is still used today as a government building. I said it was, but Monica didn't think so. Well we got inside, and had to go through security... it is still used. We agreed on that one at once. The views at night were amazing, we both knew we would be back in the morning to get pictures, but I love seeing a city that high up. It was a cool sight, and hope you enjoy the pictures that I got up at 7:30am the next morning to get. But after the Reichstag, we went back to the hostel, showered and went to bed. It was after 11pm, and we had been up since 5am. It was a good day in Berlin though, and we both looked forward to our second, but alas final day in Berlin.