Berlin
On the plane from Barcelona to Berlin I happened to sit next to two young Berlin women. They noticed I was reading a guidebook to western europe and were very nice to give me some tips. By far the most important bit of information the gave me was when they said, "You know there is a public transportation strike, right?" Well, of course, we had no idea. Due to the compact nature of most European cities, this could have been a non-issue. However, Berlin is NINE TIMES the size of Paris. But don't worry they said, everything starts running again on Monday...to bad that was the day we left. However, it didn't seem to bother us the whole time we were there. The only possible drawback we experienced as a result of the strike, was that we only saw the neighborhoods of Mitte, the old soviet sector, and Kreuzberg, the old american sector.
So once we got settled we went out to find bikes to solve our mobility issue. Problem was we weren't the only ones looking for a bike to battle the transportation strike. Several hours, attempted phone calls and meters of walking later, we finally found a store that had two bikes left, phew. The guy at the bike store was from Chicago and extremely nice. He even let us rent without our passports. He also gave us great advice on where to go and what to see. It was all thanks to him that we made it to the Potsdamer Platz. Despite missing out on the best metro system in the world, I think Berlin by bike is absolutely the best way to go. Even in the raining cold days for mid-March. There are specific bike lanes on almost every road and the city is completely flat. Just follow the lead of the locals, and you'll be fine. Also, one last note about getting around in Berlin, nobody jaywalks. I suppose its good practice, and quintessentially German, to follow the rules, but coming from Spain, where the locales literally take pride in not following their own rules, we found it unique.
Berlin had the best food for the best prices out of our whole trip. I don’t think we had a bad meal in the city. We ate mostly on the main street of Kreuzberg called something like BergmannstraBe. Every time I would try to say any street or monument names I would just pronounce the first syllable then start to trail off, because it is rather impossible to the untrained ear. Overall, Berlin is a very modern city, drenched in history. If that makes sense? The gray skies, Soviet-esque streets and other reminders of the melancholic past of the city serve as a backdrop to a bustling metropolis. I also felt least like a tourist in Berlin. Maybe it was because of the blonde hair, probably because it seemed the locals far outweighed the tourists. There was no place completed taken over by tourists like Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona, and I liked that about the city. I felt like I had an authentic experience.
Prague
On the train from Berlin to Prague the conductor came on and we all looked at each other and said, “that’s definitely not German?” It was at that moment when we knew we had crossed the border into the Czech Republic; we were officially in Eastern Europe. After exchanging some of our Euros for Koruna we took a cab to our hostel (we never quite figured out the exchange rate, but we knew that 100 Kourna was practically nothing). In my personal opinion, the worst hostel I have stayed in, but the location was great. We were a “block” away from Old Town square, or Staré Město. (I put block in quotes because the entire city is a labyrinth, there is not a single straight street, I swear).
While waiting to reunite with Julia and Emily, who had spent the weekend in Barcelona and flew into Prague, we explored the Old town square. The square was full with booths of souvenirs, delicacies, goats being born (see photo album for story) and music/dancing on the stage. I assumed Old Town Square was just always like this, but then someone told me it was for Holy Week. So I am glad we came during this week cause this square was my favorite part of Prague. We would come and buy bratwurst, chocolate covered fruit, hot wine, stroopwaffles and especially a Czech version of a cinnamon, sugar and almond pastry-donut, everyday.
The weather in Berlin had been poor, but the weather in Prague was just plain schizophrenic. It would go from clear and sunny, to blizzarding, to raining, to sleeting within one hour, then do it all again. It was really insane, even with several layers on. At one point Julia, my roommate from Miami who goes to school in Nashville, asked Kelsey and I how we deal with living in a place like this. We gave the usual response of “Well, I guess you get used to it” and she responded by saying, “So you get used to being miserable?!” Let’s just say her point was well taken. So our entire trip was spent taking freezing cold walks from one sight to the next trying to get inside as much as possible. While having an amazing time, of course!
Amsterdam
On the plane to Amsterdam I noticed a guy wearing a Syracuse sweatshirt. Then when we were waiting for our bags he sat next to me, so I had to ask. Turned out he was from Brazil, was a foreign exchange student at Whitney Point High School and now lives in Madrid. Crazy huh? Although, it seemed like one of these places was not like the other…I’ll give you one guess. Still, he epitomizes just how international the crowds of tourists were in Prague and Amsterdam. Part of this was probably due to holy week, which at least in Spain, Italy and Ireland, the entire population has a week off.Amsterdam was amazing because it felt like an enormous small town. Every street looks like a Main street, with quaint, tall, dutch houses on either side of a canal. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be on a sunny, warm summer's day (don't worry, I won't continue to complain about the weather, cause I know most of you reading this are probably thinking welcome to freakin' club!). Almost everyone in Berlin spoke English, and due to big tourism focus in Prague we were able to communicate fine, but in Amsterdam everyone speaks flawless English. It really is amazing. Also, the dutch are very friendly.
We hadn't realized it when we booked our trip, but we had the shortest time in Amsterdam because we arrived late at night and had to leave early in the morning. But we made the most of the two days we had. We saw the Van Gogh Museum, a interesting photography museum, and the outsides of a bunch of other museums, like the Anne Frank haus and the Rijsmuseum. We also walked through the red light district, visited a few coffee shops, and I personally fell in love with hot Belgium waffles with melted chocolate on top (dad, you HAVE to try them!). Since it was at the end of our ten-day long trip, it was nice to just be able to relax, which is what we mostly did.
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This trip marked the end of my euro-travels for the semester. I have a month left to soak up Barcelona, then back to the States (but we all refuse to think about that... yet). Seeing all the very diverse and unique cities was such a great opportunity. Although, there is no doubt in my mind that Barcelona was the best choice to spend a semester. It felt so nice coming back home. God, I love that the beautiful, sunny, warm, lively city of Barcelona is what I call home ::sigh of contentment::
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