Prague, Czech Republic

Well this post is a little delayed since we went to Prague (in the Czech Republic) last weekend, but better late than never, right? We started the weekend early- leaving Friday night around 9:00 PM. To be honest, I didn't know a lot about Prague, so I wasn't too excited about our long night of traveling. Luckily we had another sleeper train, which always makes the ride go quicker!

We arrived in Prague around 11 and we were ready to see what the town had to offer! In order to navigate our way around the city, we bought a weekend pass for Prague's "light rail" system. This ended up being an extremely easy and efficient way to navigate the city. After wondering around lost for a while (this seems to be a reoccurring thing for us) we were all sweaty and ready to shower at the hostel. Unfortunately, we couldn't check in until later, so the three of us girls had to get ready in the lobby's water closet (literally the size of a small closet). Extremely tricky, but like we kept saying, "It's just part of the experience!". Once we finished getting ready, we let our bags in the hostel's luggage room and headed to Prague's "black market".

The square in which the black market is located reminded me of a Farmer's market with all of the various booths. However, when you stop to look, the sales people whisper "Louis Vuitton" and take you into these hidden entrances. Behind the entrances there are back rooms filled with stolen high-end, designer items. It was definitely a creepy and cool experience that we definitely took advantage of (spending a little too much money!).

After a long day of shopping, we headed back to our hostel for a nap. When we opened the door, we got quite a surprise. What we thought was a "4 person, private room" ended up being a giant room with eleven beds, with only four made. A little weird, but it actually ended up working out nicely, as we had a kitchen and bathroom to ourselves. Our other "roommate" (an older middle eastern man) was sleeping by the time we got back, and left early in the morning, so we were basically alone in our rooms. He did, however, leave us a 1/2 full bottle of Vodka with the note, "Happy Drink. Bye..." a nice gesture, but we decided to play it safe, and steer clear.

Our company at the restaurant

Once we were rested and refueled, we decided to go to the restaurant next door for dinner. Not only did it have great food, but it had great company... First of all, the food. For my meal, I got potato gnochi with cabbage and sausage. It tasted just like spaetzle with sauerkraut and bratwurst mixed in-- yum! Something to try when I make it home (wink wink, mom!). Now, for the company. Turns out the Czech, mens futbol (a.k.a. soccer) team was hanging out at the restaurant after their game. Since it was a small restaurant, a large team, and we were the only other people in the restaurant, we got to talking to them. It was entertaining since they spoke very little English. One guy understood "Minnesota" and "Ohio" when we told him where we were from, but kept referring to Iowa as "farm".

Amy, Hailey and I ready to hit the town

After saying goodbye to out new friends, we decided to go out and see Prague's night life. The big attraction is "the biggest club in central Europe"-- a five story night club with each floor being a different genre of music. The interesting thing is that all of the music in the club (and the rest of Europe for that matter) is all "American" music & sung in English. I don't know if I would enjoy listening to music if I couldn't understand it, but hey, whatever floats your boat! Overall it was a very fun night with a lot of great memories!

Sunday morning we were up and at 'em early as always for our usual hostel breakfast. From there we walked around the new and old squares of Prague. They were both very pretty and the sightseeing was a great way to spend our morning before catching our train.

This adventure home was a little different as we took a bus on part of our trip instead of a train. It was a two-decker bus with roomy seats so I can't complain. Plus I can now say I have traveled Europe by "planes, trains, and automobiles"!

By the time we got home I was exhausted so I went to bed early to get ready for yet another week of camp! Just 2 short weeks and I will be home in the good 'ol USA! Sending my love to all of you back home! :)

Berlin, Germany

Brittany & I in K-Town

As another long week of camp ended, it was time for yet another trip. This time, Berlin! We began our weekend by going out in K-Town (Kaiserslautern) Friday night just Brittany and I. We explored the town’s nightlife by walking around and catching up with one another. It was nice to have some time just the two of us!  We also stopped to get my first Doner kebab! Doner is a type of lamb meat, which they use to make sandwich/wrap things with. You can get all sorts of different toppings and enjoy it however you want. It was delicious! By the time the night was done, I was dead tired, but still had to pack for the next day as we were leaving bright and early!

My first Donar Kebab

Needless to say, 7 AM came around WAY too quickly! Luckily another train ride meant more sleep! It was nice to get some napping in (as the train ride was 6 hours long!) but by the time the train stopped, my body was cramped so I was ready to get out and see the town! The first sight we saw was the Berlin train station, obviously. Doesn’t sound too exciting, but the train station was HUGE! It was full of lots of shops and restaurants and was roughly 5 or 6 stories high! It was amazing! We found out on our tour that one wing of the station was supposed to have a longer ceiling, but they built it wrong. Now, when an ICE train pulls in, part of the 1^st class car has to walk outside without a ceiling! Interesting!!

Metropol Hostel

On our adventure in the train station we found that of the many restaurants was Starbucks! Brittany and I immediately ran to it as we are the coffee lovers of the group and were dying for some caffeine! After getting our dose of coffee, we were ready to find our hostel. For the weekend we stayed at Berlin Metropol Hostel which was right in town, and a nice place to stay. To be honest, I haven’t found a place that I haven’t liked and usually I’m pretty picky about hotels!

Brandenburger Tor

After checking out our new living quarters, we picked out a map and got out on the town. Unfortunately the weekend full of rain put a damper on our walking tour idea, so instead we headed for the trusty hop on, hop off bus tour. Our first stop of the tour was the Brandenburger Tor, which is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin. The sight itself was really cool, but I wish our tour guide would have given us more history on the site. This actually ended up being a reoccurring thought for me during this weekend of travel. On our bus we had a live tour guide switching between English and German. Because of this it was kind of hard to understand what he was saying, so I kept missing information. I also feel like they were more like “here is this site” instead of giving the significance behind it. Oh well, I guess that’s what the internet is for! J

Our next stop was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which was hauntingly cool. The museum top is full of concrete slabs, with  a museum underground. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t get a lot of history on the site but here is what Brittany found online (thanks Brit!)

The Memorial

"The memorial consists of about 2,700 concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern covering 19,000 square meters. The slabs are 2.38m long, 0.95m wide and vary in height from 0.2m to 4.8m. The ground slopes unevenly. Visitors are encouraged to walk between the slabs; the memorial can be entered from all sides and offers no prescribed path. It opened to the public on May 12, 2005." -http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/berlin-holocaust-memorial

Brittany, Joan and I at the movies!

Once we finished checking out these sights we got some stuff to eat and went shopping. I once again got Bratwurst and Sauerkraut! If I keep going at this rate I will be the fat German lady my dad was teasing me about! After this our night was winding down and we were trying to think of things to do with bad weather. I’m not sure whose idea it was, but soon we were all decided on going to a movie! We saw ‘Bad Teacher’ and although it might be lame to spend time on a movie when you’re abroad, it was a very cool experience (and also part of our Camp A homework!). The best part about the movie was that you are able to get beer at the movie theater. It’s so funny how beer pops up everywhere here and is more normal and affordable than buying pop! haha my mom & dad would’ve loved being able to have beer at the movies! J

The whole group!

After the movie we grabbed a quick drink at a restaurant in the Sony Center, which is the huge complex where the movie theater was located. By the time we were done chatting we were all exhausted and ready to call it a night!

Sunday we woke up early and got ready for another day of sightseeing. Lucky enough for us, breakfast was free at the hostel so we took full advantage! Throughout our hostel experiences it seems the typical breakfast here consists of rolls with meat and chesses, along with cereal and coffee. Enough to get us fueled up and ready for the day!

The group at Checkpoint Charlie

As we wanted to go back and make sure we saw everything we wanted to see, we decided to hit up the hop on hop off bus yet again. This time it took us to Checkpoint Charlie and areas of the Berlin Wall. Checkpoint Charlie (or "Checkpoint C") was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. It was so cool to see a site that is such a significant symbol in history. At the checkpoint you can also pay to get all (or some) of the stamps in your passport that you used to need to get across the wall. I paid to get a few, which I’m glad I did as my passport has become my friend these past 10 weeks!

Remains of the Berlin Wall

After an exciting and busy weekend I was ready to come home and get ready for another week of camp! I also got to talk to my mom and dad on the phone, which I love!! Our phone calls make it feel like I’m just at school, but they are also getting me more and more excited to see my parents soon! Just 2 1/2 more weeks of camp and then I’m home to Minnesota and then off to ISU! I can’t believe how fast this summer has flown by! More to come later! Thinking of all of you back home! xoxo