I <3 Berlin!

I heart Berlin..

..it's all over every postcard in every color you can think of!
I <3 Berlin.

And its pretty accurate as well. I got to Berlin last Sunday night. I stayed at one of Sabastian and Luisa's friend Rene's place until Thursday (I think this sentence is just one big grammatical error #oops). He was great!  We spent the whole night just talking.. we meant to watch some Big Bang Theory, but it didn't happen because we talked so much!  It was great. I could already tell I was going to have a good time there.

The next day, I went on a free walking tour of course!  This activity is Miranda's favourite!  A chance to see the city, learn about the history, and meet other English speaking people!  All for free!  Well.. not really free, because you should tip at the end. There is soo much history in Berlin, it's unreal. I loved learning a lot about it on the tour. We visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, but a lot of people don't like that, because it was not only Jews that were murdered, so people usually call it the Holocaust Memorial now.

We went to the remains of the Berlin Wall, which once divided east and west Berlin, and the wall is all chipped. This is because when people used to visit it, they would chip off a piece to take with them, it was a thing, everyone did it, but then they put a barrier around it to block anyone from getting to it, so they could have the wall there as a reminder still. We by n passed a bunch of Trabi cars and went to Checkpoint Charlie.There are TONS of Christmas Markets here!!  it seems that every square I went to, there was a market! 

During the tour I met a kid named Jordan, he was from Michigan!  I was sure to mention that OSU beat Michigan of course. He just graduated from a university in California!  Soo much cooler than Michigan.  After the tour we decided to walk around together and get a bite to eat later on. We went through the big Christmas Market by Alexanderplatz, it was soo nice to go through it with someone!  And not just alone. Later we got dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant!!  Haha not German at all!  Lol. Then we hung out the rest of the night and experienced some Berlin nightlife.

On Tuesday, I got a good message from a couchsurfing host earlier in the day. It was someone, Anson,  saying he got 2 tickets to Cirque du Soleil for me for my birthday!  We talked prior to this when he asked me if I would want them, and of course I said Yes! I met him that night outside the hotel that Michael Jackson dangle the baby off of, and got the tickets.  Then we we went and got a drink at a local pub. He works for Cirque du Soleil as a cook, and has been doing it for ten years! I met some of his friends, one of them being the Singer in the show! I met a famous person!!  ;)  We made plans to hang out the next night after the show for my birthday!!  Yaayy!!  I was soo happy I had birthday plans! 

I walked all around Kreuzberg, a really artistic area in Berlin the next day. Graffiti, many styles and buildings laced the quarter. It was nice just walking around there. I Also got to talk to Kevin this morning!!  I woke him up at 4:30am oopsies! Sorry! It was a perfect birthday present though:)

Cirque du Soleil-Corteo was amazing. I took Rene!  It was incredible. The stage ran though the middle of the tent and there was audience on both sides. It's soo cool How I'm awed by the acts and everything they were doing, the incredible flips, dancing,juggling.. but then realizing the music that's being played is actually from a small band in each of the four corners of the stage, and THEN realizing the singing is coming from the male and female usually posted at each end of the stage (one of which I met)!  It was awesome! 

Here in Germany, and maybe all of Europe, at the break or intermission, they sell alcohol right along with the soft drinks, popcorn and candy.  I like how it isn't seen as such a negative, irresponsible thing here.  It's nice that here, people don't just binge drink, they don't do it at home (in the US) either, but here just because you enjoy a beer doesn't mean you're an alcoholic lol it just means you enjoy the taste of a beer or a cocktail. They also don't have an open container law, you can have a beer walking down the street, it's not a big deal. I think that's great.

After the show I hung out with Anson and some of his friends.. I experienced a Turkish bar, a rocker pub, and a club. Haha that cracked me up.

Some cool experiences:
- Ping pong with locals.
- Big Bang Theory ...in German.
- Ferris wheels/merry-go-rounds in every Christmas market.
- Cheese and Ham filled pastries.. I don't know what they're called but they're German deliciousness!!
- Birthday in a foreign country.

Hamburg

I woke up and had breakfast with Luisa yesterday, a cappuccino & eggs with feta, and then had another cappuccino! 

I did the free walking tour at 1 in the city center. I tell ya, these things are the best!  It was fun, the guide was British and really funny, it got pretty cold near the end of it, and it was insanely foggy the whole day but thebguide   I met 2 people, Shae from Australia and her couchsurfing host Felix! Mann, these people are everywhere! I love it, I love couchsurfing. They were awesome and after the tour we got a kabab together, which was flippin delicious! We bid each other goodbye and based it on fate if we are to meet again.

Later on Luisa and I cooked some pasta, then enjoyed a pina colada, some wine, cheesecake, then some Bacardi and gummie candy throughout the night with her friend Sabastian!  It was such a good night full of laughs, smiles, friendship, pizza and music! Before we knew it, it was 5am!  So naturally, we then stayed up till 6 lol.. and then didn't wake up until after 12 today Hah! 

After we got going we went to breakfast around 1:00 (13:00). Breakfast in Germany is cold cuts a lot. Cold cuts are like slices of cheese, cucumbers, and some sort of clicked meat. Where we would generally put this between 2 slices of bread to make a sandwich, here they first butter or put cream cheese on the bread or roll, then started layering the goodies on, when you're done you don't cover it with another piece of bread but eat it as is with the meat cheese or cucumbers on top. I like it :) 

Afterward, we headed to these Scandinavian seamen's churches, where sailors would Hinton church after their long journeys, and there are little markets and TONS of food to buy there outside each of the church buildings.  It's really close to the harbour too, so after battling the insane amount of people at these markets, we headed to St. Michels church to go up the tower and have a 360° view of the city! We hung out inside a bit and saw the church, then went to the top of the tower... IT WAS FREEZING!  But really awesome and fun:)  We had a great view of the sunset when we got to the top, and of the harbour and city. It was clear today, unlike yesterday when it was really really foggy!  Then we headed back, I had to pack up my stuff and we had to say goodbye:(  I always hate this part about couchsurfing.  But we did plan a trip for some summer in the future to Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the northern caps.. so we'll see each other again then :)

I'm on the train now, listening to Christmas music, getting into the Christmas spirit. It's going to be tough without my family and I will miss them an incredible amount, but it will be ok too.  Even in times that I get sad, it doesn't have to be a negative thing, it's just a feeling that will pass, and I know I will be experiencing really good Happy and different times here as well.. who knows.. maybe I'll even experience new ideas and things to bring home with me for next year!

Something that's really become apparent to me while travelling, is that there is no wrong way to do something, just a different way of doing it. And I love that I'm learning soo many different things throughout this experience.

Some things I've learned today:
- Germans (Luisa and Sabastian) like to have me try to say words in German and then laugh at me when I'm totally off on the pronunciation lol <3
- They have 2 Christmas days PLUS Christmas Eve in Germany!  - we need to get on this way of doing Christmas! 
- There're more I just can't think of them right now...

First day in Berlin tomorrow!!  Aaahh!! I'm soo stoked!!

Also, I think I may buy myself a little stocking..

<3 M

Back to Deutschland! Hamburg, Germany

And of course... My train WOULD break down on the way to Hamburg.. but I was able to get ahold of Louisa, my host, to tell her. When I arrived (about hour late) we went to her flat to put my bag down and then headed out to find something to eat!  We ended up going to a baked potato place.. I had the Mediterranean one, and Let me tell you.. it was more delicious than Chipotle! Afterward, we walked through the tunnel underneath the harbour!  Then had a great view of the city from the other side.. it was really nice. No skyline though.. that's what America is known for.. not cities in Europe.

The next day I lollygagged half the day, doing couch requests, showering, cleaned some clothes, then finally headed out around 3:30 lol.. when it starts getting dark (it gets dark around 3/3:30 here).... I grabbed lunch at a nearby bakery (sidenote, cappuccinos are becoming my new mocha), then headed toward the tourist information office in the main train station, haptbanhof, for a map, and then.... it just so happens, with my amazing luck! That when I finally head out, it starts raining!  Seriously!? Right when I go out to walk around the city, when I FINALLY get out and about.. it starts raining.
I didn't let it deter me though!  I walked around a bit.. Haha it was in the wrong direction I wanted to go.. but I walked around!  Lol I passed many shops that I decided to go into, and I got more warm socks! Since I only brought one pair.. Then I set up shop in a cafe.. where they had mochas!!  I got a white chocolate mocha, caught up on my journal, and chatted with the baristas. 

I went to the Freezers game tonight; the Hamburg / Berlin hockey game.  It was awesome!!  My couchsurfing host, Louisa works at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, and she ordered me a ticket for the game! 

Let me just talk a bit about this experience..  first I was late, then I couldn't figure out where to pick up my ticket.. and no German knew the words "pick up" ..when I finally found a person who did, they told me the wrong place to get my ticket, Haha then the lady at that ticket window directed me to another entrance... Which was locked.. of course. So I went into the next closest entrance but it looked very VIP, so I had my doubts about this one because it looked like the rich person entrance.  Haha well, sure as shit that was where I was supposed to be!!  Weird though.. they didn't give me a ticket, but a wristband.. made of ribbon, and then just told me to go upstairs. I figured it would lead me to an area like in the Gund Arena where there are different entrances based on your seat number.. little did I know, I'd be walking through long closed off and really classy looking hallways, with people to help me if I needed anything every 50 meters, which opened up to a really nice bar/lounge.  There was a number on my wristband which told me where to go.. I thought it was a seat number, Nope! It was a lounge number!  VIP to the max!

The game was great, a lot of fun, and the Freezers (Hamburg) won!!  It seems no matter where you are, the tunes of the cheers are the same.. the only difference is the words in the cheers... they totally weren't in English (of course), but I forgot for a second that I was in a foreign country, until I was yelling "Charge!" and..  they weren't yelling that at all lol.  I will say though, that they have a lot more chants than we do for hockey (maybe it's this way for all sports here too?) It's really cool.. I was in the lounge just above the cheering section of the crowd, it was great!

I'll actually write about the city of Hamburg tomorrow.. when, hopefully, it isn't raining..
(Soo glad I found a jacket and boots...)

<3 M

Amsterdam: the land of canals, 800,000 bikes, and over 1000 bridges...

I got to Amsterdam on Sunday night, stayed in a Christian hostel, it was a bit nice.. and cheap!  Only 13 euros!  I ended up staying up talking to the workers there and just writing in my journal. The workers there were so great, I really connected with one, Franzi, she was soo sweet and I felt a little disappointed I was only staying there for one night.

The next day, I went on a walking tour of the city, met a guy named Glen from England, and we ended up talking quite a bit throughout the tour which was nice.  The guide, David, took us all throughout Amsterdam; the red light district, passed some "coffeeshops," (which I did not go in, might I add), showed us some buildings with pee guards in the inside corners of doorways etc.. (photo below), tons of canals, the Anne Frank House, Dam Square (which has an ugly monument and palace), and Nieuwmarkt (which has a castle in the middle of it)!

After the tour, I met up with my couchsurfing host, Simon, he's actually not from Holland, but from Austria. And he is wonderful!!  I could tell right away that it was going to be a good next few days. He rode me around the streets of Amsterdam on the back of his bike for a bit, the cobblestone was a bit much for my butt, but I managed to find a comfortable way of sitting on the back of it. Then we got tea and played some pool. After we headed to the theater at the university, and saw a movie there with a bunch of his friends!  When it was over, we met up with Liz, another couchsurfer (who I met in Gent)!  And we headed back to Simon's place.  He made us dinner, and by the time we were all done eating and talking, it was already past midnight!

We went to bed and the next morning we slept in then all had breakfast together! It was good. Simon had class and would meet us in the center after, and Liz and I finished up.. took forever to get going, but it was ok, because we had some great laughs and conversations.
We walked around the city center then met up with Simon.. actually, we came up from behind him and  scared the crap out of him in Dam Square! and then walked a bit more. Went passed the Anne Frank and Liz and I went in. After going through, we met Simon at a nearby cafe, but on the way, went past the Cheese Museum!  We went in and sure got our fill of samples!! ...really though, I was incredibly full after lol.  We headed around the city center a bit more, Simon went back to do some work as Liz and I wandered all around the city. After, we headed back to Simon's place, had dinner, hung out and talked, and just had a really great night hanging out.

Liz left the next day:(  We are hoping to meet up at another point in the trip though, Berlin maybe!!?? I spent sometime this morning looking for a host for Hamburg.. and found one!!  Her name is Louisa.. she seems great and I'm excited to meet her.. looks like I might be seeing a hockey game while in Hamburg too! I went into the city center and met up with Simon, and we went to the "I amsterdam" sign and through museum square, got some photos :) and then I wandered a bit more, he went back to do some work and I headed back later on. We had dinner together and just hung out for the night, watched some How I Met Your Mother episodes :)  This morning, I got ready, packed up and headed out around 12:30.. I'm going to miss Simon, he was really great. 

Hamburg here I come!  

So I'm on the train to Hamburg and met these awesome people from Vancouver Island, Canada. .They are on a 4 month trip and going to spend a month in Italy and then 2 in India!  We chatted pretty much the whole way to Hamburg. It's soo nice meeting other travellers while travelling.  :)

Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

Just a few things about Antwerp...

  Lots and lots of places to get diamonds!!

Last place I got Belgian fries and a waffle.. sigh.

Went to a punk show here on Friday, NoMeansNo. And Let me tell you.. for every 20-30 dudes there was 1 girl.. I chuckled a bit lol.

The train station is gorgeous!

Saw a beautiful sunset there along the water.

That's all.. onto Amsterdam!

Gent/Ghent, Belgium

For the past 6 days I have been staying with my most wonderful couchsurfing host Didier. I was planning on staying a few days in a city called Gent in Belgium, but after his amazing generosity and awesomeness, I ended up staying for 6 days!  I visited other towns in Belgium as well while staying here, such as Antwerp, Bruge, and Leuven (which I've already written about I believe).

Gent is smaller than Brussels.. and I Love it!  It has a lot of younger people, because of the Uni (university) in town. It also has A LOT of bikes!  Everyone bikes!  People don't look both directions crossing the street too look out for cars, they look out for bikers! It's awesome.. they make it seem utterly ridiculous that some people back home don't have bikes..

On the first day I arrived Didier and I went to a cafe called Mokabon, it was an awesome local cafe that had an insanely vintage feel, the barrista (well it was a guy, so barrister?) even made the drinks on a stage/platform higher than the tables. I loved it :)

The buildings here are awesome. They kind of look like a boxed Christmas tree at the top of them (say if you were to stack sugar cubes into a triangle,that's what the tops look like), and the architecture throughout the city is absolutely gorgeous! There are also many Gothic churches. At one point, I was just walking around the city, when all of a sudden a castle was in front of me!  It was such a sweet surprise!!  The beer is great as well. I've, been able to try many different kinds.. not binge drinking though mum don't worry, just enjoying some beer. I really wanted to taste them, and they are great! Also.. the glasses for them always match the beer you're drinking! I swear, they must have billions of glasses behind the bar because they serve a lot of different beer!

I have been soo utterly touched by my time spent with Didier, I don't think I could have ever asked for a more wonderful experience.  He is such an amazing person, with so much trust, strength, and plain awesomeness, that our relationship grew into such a wonderful friendship while I was here.

I will gain soo many memories while travelling, but this one will remain very close to my heart..

Leuven, Belgium

Today, my friend Didier (who I'm staying with) and I went to Leuven for the day!  It was great.. we took a train there and just walked around all day!  It was more city like, not as much as Brussels, but the buildings definitely looked more like city buildings than Bruge or Gent (my Gent post will be coming soon)... Meaning, they didn't look like Christmas trees at the top of them:) It was still small though.. around the size of Bruge, we could walk everywhere.

We passed quite a few churches, heard a lot of bells ringing, and quite a bit of shopping streets. One building sticks out in my mind though.. it was soo peculiar looking.. when I saw it, I just thought, if there was a skeleton of a church, this is what it would look like. All the walls of this (what I think was a) church were laced with statues.. there was no just flat wall it was just statues upon statues all the way up to the tipsy tops of the church. I have a few photos below of it. Its actually not a church at all.. just looked it up, it's town hall lol.

It was quite a bit chilly today, colder than it has been for sure, so after about 2 hours of just wandering down quieter, off the beaten path streets, we sat in a cafe and just talked and defrosted for awhile. ;)  it was soo nice..  and warm.. and full of great conversions together. It's going to be sad once I leave Didier's..  I've been here since Monday and am thinking I'll be leaving on Saturday after a punk concert we go to tomorrow night!

We're headed to an Irish pub for dinner tonight :) looking forward to some Irish coffee and some bangers and mash!  And maybe even some English speaking people too!

Nope!  Had pasta carbonara!  And it.was.delicious!  We also had cider (which they serve with ice!!) and Irish coffee!

Yum!

Bruge, Belgium

I came up from Gent to Bruge for a little day trip :)   I've seen the name of this city spelled 3 different ways: Bruge, Bruges, and Brugge. I'll stick with Bruge because that's the first way I ever saw it.  Also there's different pronunciations.. broosh (like rouge in the Moulin Rouge) and broog-eh or broog-a. Bruge is a bit smaller that Gent.

Every building here is made of some sort of brick, whether it be red, painted white, brown, purple, yellow, natural, or painted gray, there are just a TON of awesome looking brick buildings!  I wish I my eyes were a camera or that I had a GoPro camera stuck to me.. but then I'd REALLY look like a bloody tourist!  I wish I could really show you how all these brick buildings/houses are also all connected, with cobblestone roads in between. I tried my best with the following photos. It's soo great to just walk around here all day, I had no problem spending 7 hours just walking today.

It might be the most romantic little city I've been to yet, with romantic parks, architecture, and swans.. it a good thing I'm travelling alone......... Not! But in getting away from the fact I have no one to kiss lol, in fact.. this park I'm in right now would be good for some intense hide and seek!

I also stumbled upon this really awesome comic book shop. And upstairs they had tons of posters, it was great! My friend Matt Long would've peed his pants in here!  I would've gotten you one Matt, but I don't have room in my bag and you wouldn't have understood it anyway, it being in Dutch lol.

Let me just say.. walking past a waffle or chocolate shop every 5 meters is really beginning to kill my budget. Also, the garages behind houses/flats... They aren't for cars, they're for bikes!

I feel like this would definitely be a good Christmas city.. there are constantly church bells playing songs throughout the city, and for some reason, it just reminds me of Christmastime! Maybe it's just because.of the weather, or the fact that I'm excited to spend it in Europe! (Even though I'm going to miss my family like an insane amount of crazy)! Also, I went to my first Christmas shop today!!

Random note:
- Had Waffle #6 today.. aaand
- Have I mentioned yet that in more places than not so far on this Euro-trip, servers in restaurants take orders with an electronic pad!?  Cuz they do!  I had no idea they did that!  Technological life of the future...

Brussels (Bruxelles) - Europe's Capital; the Heart of Europe

Brussels is very big compared to Luxembourg. Right when I got here, in the train station alone, I was a bit intimidated. I had to get a metro.pass this time!  Throughout my time here, I visited the Grand Place (which is a big square) during the day, and at night!  It was pretty huge and the buildings were gorgeous!  I also visited the peeing boy, Mannekan Pis I believe he's called.. when I read about it they said it was a statue of a boy peeing and sometimes he even pees beer! Well it was a bit smaller than I imagined.. like, incredibly smaller lol. The statue was probably honestly as big as my forearm.

My next day there, I visited the Atomium and Mini-Europe. The Atomium is a big chemical structure of an iron crystal. It is a HUGE tourist destination of Brussels, and they say it is the Eiffel tower of Belgium. Before I went in it, I walked around the park nearby, the trees were beautiful yellow and orange color, and the ground was laced with leaves!  I paid to go up into the different atoms (all you guys out there who aren't good at chemistry, the atoms are the balls in the photo lol), and I got to see a panoramic view of the city and park. Again, the trees looked awesome, but I wouldn't pay to go up it again.. seeing it from the outside is sufficient.  Afterwards, I headed over to Mini-Europe which was just next to the Atomium, across the street. And I must say, it would've been a lot more fun if I had gone with someone.. the person I would probably have the most fun with there is my cousin Justin.. we always goof off and take the most ridiculous photos with the most ridiculous things.  But it was still pretty cool. Mini Europe had smaller models, built to scale, of all the tourist destinations in Europe. It was actually pretty cool seeing all the things I've seen already, all the things I plan on seeing, and the places I don't have planned for this trip, but probably need to plan for the next one.

I also had Many Belgian waffles.. 4 in the past 2 days.. I used them to replace my meals lol.. not the most nutritious thing but they sure were delicious!!  Also, the fries and sauce = amazing!!  And breakfast came with the hostel :)

Some things I've noticed:
- there are a lot of beggars here, especially in the train station.
- waffles = excellent.. very very sugary.  They have vans/booths/kiosks on the streets that sell them for 1.50-2 euros! #hellyeah
- there were a TON of Americans in my hostel that were studying in Denmark or Italy.
      - most of them were from Cali #ofcourse
- a lot of people come here on the weekends from Luxembourg because they say it's boring there... #what !?  I loved it!
- and a lot of people come here to work from Spain.

<3

In Ghent now, and LOVING IT!  Everything about it!