Partyin' in the streets of Berlin with the locals as they claimed to be celebrating their Labor Day, but we know they were secretly throwing a welcome to Germany party for us...because we all know that we are a BIG deal in the States :-D
Amy and Mandi Lynn with their over-sized sausages, upon setting our sites on them we knew they had to be ours...there is just something about something that is larger than life; hard to pass up!
So this was a lovely upper middle-aged German man we met on the streets of Berlin; he could speak no English, but was determined to talk to Mandi anyways. It was a very animated conversation with many non-verbals as he attempted to get us to understand him. When we asked him to take a picture with us, he latched on to Mandi and snuck in a kiss on the cheek right at the last minute...priceless!
Thank goodness for signs with pictures...otherwise we would have been so very out of luck! Getting into Berlin made everything 'real' and the excitement began as we attempted to find our way to our hostel...which was above and beyond anything we were expecting!
Prior to our overly excited departure from Chicago we decided it would be a grand idea to stop and get our holiday started out in nothing less than rock star fashion; however, our phones did play a big part as we were saying goodbye's to some very important people.
Unfortunately Krystal dropped out of the margarita fun early and Amy and I were left to show Krystal that this trip was all about 'going big, or go home.' Since Krystal was unable to keep up she thought it would be cute to pipe in and attempt sarcasm, but Amy put her in her place before Krystal could even finish her question...thus this quote was born, "What's wrong Mandi, is your straw broken?" Amy retaliates, "Oh shush Miss One and Done!" Oh my...and the fun began :)
So our first Euro Train experience was better than we could have ever conceived it to be.We were in first class, had amazing seats that pulled down into beds, and felt extra special and grateful for our wonderful travel agent.Krystal was very excited because it was her very first train ride.The language barrier became a slight issue once again as we heard Praha and decided that this was the stop we needed to get off on.Not too long into the train station, and speaking with many people who had no idea what we were asking them, we encountered a man who helped explain where we were and had one of the men who worked for him give us a taxi ride to our hostel.By this time we gave in to the realization that we should have went to the second Praha stop which was much further into the city.
Despite our crazy trek we did make it to our hostel in a fairly decent amount of time, where it quickly became obvious that we had been more than spoiled by our first hostel encounter.Needless to say, this hostel was much older and consisted of larger rooms with very unfriendly French natives.The individuals in our room and the hostel itself were so unimpressive that Krystal went to a hotel to check on prices, but we chose to stick it out in the Chili Hostel and hope for the best.To our advantage we made friends with some younger European ‘babies’ and made an executive decision that it would be a grand idea to switch rooms and hangout with them for the duration of our stay…good choice on our part!
Our first adventure into the city of Prague sent us in search of Kron (the currency they use in Czech).How entertaining it was if you all could have been watching the three of us try to mentally convert the currency.‘Do we really need a 2000.00 note?’Apparently we did, and oh boy did we feel rich because it is not very often you get to hold a single bill that large in your very own hands, but the money did not last long.Tip for the European newbie’s,do NOT open the peanuts, do NOT eat the bread brought to your table if you did not order it, and watch out for the extra plates..those will cost you!However, dinner was excellent, but after a long day of travel we decided the best option for the evening was to get a bottle of vino and head back to the hostel where we could take the opportunity to play games and get to know our new friends/roommates; the night was a grand success!
I'm not sure what we expected this to be like, but this certainly is much better! After getting situated at the Wombat we headed on the "U" to the festivities in the streets. The town was busy with different types of people from across Berlin that came out to celebrate their holiday. Bands were set up all over, the restaurants had street stands with many German tastes (no pretzels thus far), and there was dancing everywhere. It was quite a site to see. After those festivities we headed back to our hostel for dinner and late night fun at our roof top bar. We have a ton of new friends from around the world and just cannot get over how great this is already. We are not out to hit the streets and see some of the history Berlin has to offer.
Our second day in Berlin was filled with many adventures. So, to start the day, Mandi awoke and frantically got us up in attempts to make our historical walking tour. Upon showering and beginning to get ready, our blow dryer decided it had too many volts for European sockets, and caught fire!! This basically ruined our morning, and we had to go back to bed. After our "nap", awoke to find we had missed our second tour, and decided we needed to make our own! So, we ventured on the "U", aka train, and made it to Potsdamer Platz, the site of many war and Holocaust memorials.
We were able to see the Brandenburg Gate, the original site of entry into Berlin. We saw parts of the remaining Berlin wall and had our passports/visas stamped with Checkpoint Charlie and other entry points during WWII. In addition to these historical sites, we stumbled across this amazing playground of hundreds of concrete rectangular structures called steles. They were of various heights and covered more than an acre of the city. We immediately dubbed this the "concrete jungle" and began frolicking, jumping, and posing for photos in this "park". We were amazed at the beauty of the structures and the view we were able to see from them. As we left, we noticed a sign forbidding such activities and felt bad for breaking the city ordinances. We felt even worse however, when a a hostel-mate, the next day, pointed out that we had been frolicking on the Holocaust Memorial!! :( Again to prove the point on ignorant Americans.
On a better note, we discovered that there are other universal entities besides a smile. STARBUCKS!! :D It's everywhere and you can order your venti skinny vanilla latte the same way. After our Starbucks we visited "soldiers" and various street performers, along with the police, for photos. Our soldiers were more taken with our American spirit than expected, and before leaving, had professed love to us. Krystal bowed her head in shame, but admitted she enjoyed the flattery. We were a bit more concerned with dinner and joining our new friends for our last evening in Berlin, and ventured back to find food.
Our last night in Berlin, was spent at the Wombat "skybar" with our new friends from around the world. Amy decided to call it a night at 12am, Mandi stayed out a bit later, and Krystal decided it would be best not to sleep, for fear of not making our train in the morning.... and missing out on more new friends! Don't worry, we successfully navigated to the Berlin train station and boarded our train to Prague!
It would be helpful if we spoke German. However, to quote Amy, "There is something that is the same in every language--The Smile!" Our travels have started out great. We have arrived safely at our hostel in Berlin, despite some not-so-clear directions. We are checking in to Wombat hostel and then are in dire need of beer and pretzels. Turns out Berlin is throwing us a welcoming party! ... Ok so it's actually their Labor Day. We are out to help them celebrate and perhaps discover some German food and traditions! More updates and photos to come soon!
Eurotrip 2010: Amy, Krystal and Mandi take over Europe!
We are leaving from Chicago O'Hare Friday April 30th in the evening and return Sunday May 16th. Here's what our plans are:
Saturday May 1- Arrive in Berlin! Monday May 3- Travel to Prague Wednesday May 5- Travel to Vienna Friday May 7- Travel to Munich Monday May 10- Neuschwanstein (castles!) Tuesday May 11- Florence Thursday May 13- Rome
Follow along with us and we'll try to post great stories and pictures. Will be missing you all!
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