Dobry den (“doh-bree den”) from Prague!

We have endured a few more soggy days, but the architecture of the city remains just as stunning when painted with raindrops. The best piece of advice we received was to “look up”. The centrum of the town is the largest single area that is preserved by UNESCO, which essentially means it is a very important part of history worth preserving. We imagine one of the hardest parts to maintain would be the cobblestone found everywhere. Not ideal for walking in heels or riding a bike without a proper sports bra.

We arrived early afternoon and checked into our hostel, Mosaic House, with ease, and while our accommodation was a 26 bed female dorm, we were enamoured by the huge bathrooms, mirrors, and hair dryers!

The Astronomical Clock!

Using our handy map from the concierge we navigated our way around the crooked streets to Old Town Square. With umbrellas and camera in hand, we admired the Astronomical Clock, which has a fascinating story. There are 365 names on the clock (one for each day of the year), so each Czech citizen celebrates not only their birthday but also their “name day.” Likely just a second excuse to go to the bar, not that you need to as drinking in public is entirely commonplace! We ventured up the winding staircase to get a view from the top of the entire city. Not bad in spite of the foggy skies.

We muddled around the square before heading to our meeting point for our EPIC Bike Tour. We changed into leggings for the bike ride and fuelled up with a pre-tour pilsner. When in Prague! We were the only two indomitable (or pre-paid) people on the tour in the rain. Our guide (a friendly guy from California) gave us the option of doing the Classic Tour or Panoramic Tour. We naturally opted for the one with more hills, biking and less history. What a great choice! Since it was just the two of us we were able to chat the entire time and learned a ton about the city. We pedalled our way up to the Prague Castle, which is no longer enclosed by a moat or turreted walls, but holds the Guinness World Record for the largest “castle” in the world. Through Letenske Sady Park we saw incredible views of the city and the Metronome, (where interestingly there once was a giant inflatable statue of Michael Jackson). Other sites we took in during the bike tour included the Charles Bridge, the John Lennon wall, a bridge with lovers’ locks, the Pissing Men, and a cool podium that magically amplified your voice in the castle.

The bike tour was followed by a traditional Czech meal – chicken stuffed potato pancakes with a side of cabbage and pint of pilsner. Not our standard fare but enjoyed and followed with dessert of pancakes and “forest fruit,” or field berries as we refer to them. After dinner we changed back into our drinking pants and strapped on our wristbands that permitted us to an hour of free drinks at the Pub Crawl company’s bar. We made more friends with travellers from the Netherlands, France and Italy, and played a game (21 or Monkey) we recently learned in Berlin. We will definitely be bringing back the rules we remember to Canada! While we were happy with the amount of free drinks we took advantage of, we were definitely not the winners of the drink-your-face-off competition. Oh to be young and reckless again! We travelled with the large group to two other bars before retiring to our hostel. A solid night out and sound sleep sealed our first night in Prague.

Much better!

The second morning we grabbed breakfast from Bohemia Bagel, and, armed with our umbrellas once more, we set out to do some more discoveries. We visited the Jewish Cemetery and Spanish Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter. The Jewish Cemetery was used from 1439 to 1787 and is the oldest Jewish Cemetery in Europe. During Nazi rule all cemeteries, save for this one, were destroyed as Hitler wanted it left intact so he could build a Jewish museum in Prague after he had succeeded in his mission. There are over 12,000 tombstones and many more persons buried there.

We hopped on board another free tour around the city and took in more history, raindrops, and photographs. A walk across the Charles Bridge was a must! What a beautiful city with incredible architecture!

To finish off our night we made lightweight-rower-sized Greek salads (we had to push through to finish them) in Ziploc bags, and picked up some chocolate ice cream for dessert. Divine!

GOOD NEWS JUST IN. Munich’s forecast does not include rain! We will have to have a round of drinks for that! Until next time, stay classy San Diego!

Peace Out Berlin

Party on the S-Bahn

Cold, tired, wet, and slow.  Yesterday in Berlin reflected how we were feeling (not that drinking the night before helped). We took a trip out to a nearby suburb, Potsdam where we marveled at the peculiar architecture of the city. A past emperor decided to build the town’s structures to imitate buildings from all over the world. Nothing seemed to belong, which was exactly what he was going for. Due to the inclement weather and our lack of vivacity, we decided we would rather be idle tourists on a bus rather than drowned rats on bikes. With our international student cards in hand we received our first discount of 3 Euro :) We have been quite the proud, penny-savers!

Potsdam's own Brandenburg Gate.

 

Oh my! Bus tours rock! (not)

The city was beautiful with many palaces, gardens, barracks, arcs to the city, castles in the hills, and elegantly built mansions lining the streets. Although we could not get many decent pictures from inside the bus, we were still happy to have experienced the town with our headsets set to English and droopy eyes scanning the scenery.

After returning from Potsdam on the S-Bahn, we were feeling hungry and no more awake than when we left. Set out in search of a new hair dryer as we overheated ours the day before, and an optimistic dinner of salad, we hit up a department store. What type of department store, one with 5 floors nonetheless, doesn’t sell hair dryers? Preposterous! Not to mention Janelle’s fury that her hair straightener doesn’t work over here. Helloooooo one month of bad hair days!

Wake up sleepy head!

Heather bored on the S-bahn.

We left the department store with some cream cheese dip and bread sticks in hand and ended up finding a great little Thai restaurant on a side street close to our hostel. The food was absolutely delicious and served by a friendly man from Thailand who (guessed correctly by Janelle) had come to Berlin in pursuit of a love affair sparked with a tourist on vacation in Thailand. We decided we will only be bringing men back to Canada if they can cook as well as he did.

The rest of our evening was spent reading, blogging, finishing Janelle’s billing for work, facebooking, and sleeping (or trying to, at least). This was what we would be doing at home on a day like that, and exactly what we needed to refuel for today’s train ride to Prague and adventures in sight.

            This morning we woke with rain on the windows, a grey sky once again, and weather forecast from Prague not looking any better. Heather seems to have contracted a sore throat today so we may be taking it easy once again. We have finally made it to our seats on the train after annoyingly seat hopping due to everyone stealing or switching seats. Eventually a German mother took control and puppeteered the passengers into their rightful places. Danke! We are happy that we are simply moving towards Prague together, regardless of where we sit. “I would rather starve than miss the train” – as quoted by Heather. Well put!

            We have an “EPIC BIKE TOUR” planned for 5pm tonight with subsequent traditional Czech dinner and pub-crawl. Hopefully Mother Nature will be in better spirits this evening and let these girls have some fair-weather fun!

Farewell for now friends and family, we shall catch up with you when we get settled in Prague and have found our energy once again.

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Good thing we brought rain jackets and a positive attitude because Berlin has been a little bit rainy and rude. While our hostel is great - spacious, clean, friendly staff, and all you can eat breakfast buffet (unlimited chocolate cereal and yogurt! We've missed you), the rest of the city is not nearly as welcoming. The buildings are huge, imposing structures and are a direct reflection on the history of the city. Only after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 did the East and West divisions of Germany unify to form the current capital city as we know it now. Prior to that, the city was divided between socialism and communism by the small but effective structure. The wall is now "protected" as a historical artifact from visitors destroying parts of it to take home as a souvenir. Vendors will try to sell tourists "authentic" pieces of the Berlin wall, but we did not fall for that trap. The wall, as we see it now, was the fourth generation of the wall (the first version had just barbed wire to top it, then they realized that you could use it to pull yourself over, so a rounded cement cylinder was added as a better defense) and has been rebuilt 11 times, so it is unlikely that any piece found in a souvenir shop is indeed authentic.

We learned several history lessons by stumbling upon and joining a free tour that began at the Brandenburg gate. The guide was great and we discovered several memorials we may not have seen on our own. We were thankful to have a better understanding of a massive memorial to the holocaust, Checkpoint Charlie, and to see where Hitler's underground bunkers and place of suicide was. After learning a few hours of history lessons we hopped back on our bikes and made our way through the well-developed bike lanes of Berlin. We stopped and took several pictures of big and/or shiny things (we are easily distracted and excited by things that catch our attention as you may know). We also made our way to find a beautiful church, Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church, that was nearly destroyed during WWII. The building is undergoing reconstruction for preservation so we could not see the fallen peak of the top of the church, the result of the war.

We explored for a great deal of the afternoon, biking through Tiergarten park, well-known streets, and stopping for some deliciously novel German baked goods. When we decided that we had seen enough of the city (and felt a little sick from the quickly eaten baked goods) we checked into our hostel, had showers, and did some laundry. You appreciate the efficiency and convenience of washing machines (or hard-working moms) when you are hand-washing and wringing out your clothes in the hostel sinks.

After a back-packers dinner of cheese, bread, cucumbers, and carrots we put on our faces and hit up the hostel bar. After seeing how much fun we were having playing some loud card games, a pair of dutch travelers invited us to play some games with them. We threw back a few rounds of Berliner Pilsener (not a huge fan - but hey, we didn't have to buy them!) and learned a few new games, facts, words, and customs from the Netherlands. There are in fact 12 provinces of the Netherlands (Janelle thought they were joking...but who knew!?), if you cheers in the Netherlands and clink your glasses you are in fact being slightly rude (good to know!), and we also decided that the dutch are just backwards - we say "eh?" and they say "he"! SO, the next time someone makes fun of us Canadians for following questions or statements with "eh", we've got backup!

We tried to see the evening social scene of Berlin as we had heard it was quite progressive, but for whatever reason (likely our lack of speaking German, because it was definitely not our looks!) we were denied. Shocking, we know! These Berliners have no idea how we tear up the dance floor. The first bar we went to they said that if we weren't on the guest list, had never been there before, or weren't with a local, we could not go in. The second bar we were blankly told that "you guys are not getting in tonight". HOW RUDE! I guess we should work on our German accents, and make some friends with some locals today or call it an early night and get a good rest before we take Prague by storm tomorrow.

This morning we had some good old breaky (more chocolate!) and planned today's adventures. We are going to leave the bikes at the hostel and try to stay dry (wish us luck!) by taking the S-bahn out to Potsdam.


We don't have the patience to wait for more pictures to upload at the moment, so bear with us and enjoy the post for now!! Expect pictures a little later today - but I suppose it would be still pretty early for you guys as it is a 6 hour time difference.

Hope the weather is cooling off in Kingston, although what we left behind seems a lot more appealing than this crap we are having here!

Update: PICTURES FROM PARIS!

We just posted some pictures (below) from our second day in Paris. Enjoy!

Amsterdam Adventures: only 40 Euro???

If there is one word to sum up Amsterdam it would be “cool”. The locals dress very casually, which was perfect for us in our worn-in clothes. The weather was quite cool, so it makes sense that scarves, layers, and baggy clothing was the uniform of the masses.

It was a great experience, and we definitely took it all in. We waited to check into our hostel by doing a bit of retail therapy for the colder weather. When we were able to check in to the hostel we were shocked by the state of disarray. Luckily the hostel was yet to be cleaned, because this was quite impressive. There were bottles beyond bottles, next to sheets in shambles. We would like to give a very thankful shout out to the cleaning staff at the hostel for doing such a great job of rectifying the late night events of travelers the night before.

We ventured through the streets of Amsterdam to find a canal boat cruise, and then leisurely enjoyed a Heineken before boarding the cruise. The cruise was enjoyable but a little too slow paced for our liking. The highly packed houses were beautiful, the houseboats wonderfully weathered, and the many bridges were charming. Everywhere you looked there were bicycles. Locked up in jumbles and heaps along every street possible. There is an old joke in Amsterdam that if you shout “that’s my bike!” at a group of cyclists driving past, roughly 5 of them will hop off and run away leaving “their” bike behind.

After the boat tour we continued to explore the city, walked through the red light district (not nearly as glamorous feeling as later in the night). We grabbed some dinner from the main street, bypassing the omnipresent dutch fries and mayo, and grabbed falafels yet again. We then toured the Sex Museum before heading back to the hostel for 7-8pm happy hour drinks. Two-for-one Heinekens? Yes please! Another round, OK! The rest of the night was QUITE the adventure featuring two new American friends, another view of the workingwomen of Amsterdam, and a trip to the infamous Sailor bar (Kev you would have loved it!). It’s probably a good thing we were only in Amsterdam for one night as we don’t quite know how we could top that experience.

This morning (Heather surprisingly cleaner than expected and not as hungover as Janelle) we toured the house of Anne Frank after waiting for 1.5 hours in line.  Well Janelle waited for the first half of the time while Heather searched for the near-to-impossible to find bathrooms in the city. Good thing she carried change with her because I think half of our budget has gone to liquid purchases and bathroom fares. Our patience was at our finest, and the time we spent was entirely worth it. What a remarkable piece of our history.  The rooms were larger than Heather imagined, but we could not imagine not being able to ever leave.  It was a deeply touching experience.

The line-up for Anne Frank huis

Missing my car, bb!

After Anne Frank we rented bikes and toured around the city. We went to Albert Cuyp market and wandered around before sitting down for lunch. Two large open-faced sandwiches nourished us and gave us the energy to hop back on our bikes (no helmets in Amsterdam), and ride around Vondelpark. This was much less chaotic and nerve-wracking than the cobblestone, pedestrian covered streets along the river. We managed to return the bikes in one piece without any accidents to report!

yummmmmmm!

We said farewell to Amsterdam with postcards, pictures, 2 American Air Marshall pins from Philly, a glass from the sailor bar and a tiny wooden shoe key chain (Tina – a substitute for ones for Janelle’s feet, as they would be too heavy to carry) as memories of our adventure. We then headed to the train station an hour prior to our scheduled departure as cutting it so close last time was a little too stressful for our liking. We took a 12 hour overnight train with sleeper cars and essentially slept for most of the journey. We met some friendly kiwis in our couchette and chatted for as long as we could keep our eyes open (about 2 hours until we passed out at 7pm and were awakened by the steward at 5am when we were to arrive in Berlin – I guess we were tired!). It was a fun experience, minus the loud snores of our couchette-mates that kept Heather up for half of the night. She still can’t believe how it never woke Janelle up.  

Our early arrival in Berlin (5:45am) meant that while we could drop our luggage off at the hostel but could not hang out there until after 8:00am. We searched for some coffee and food (settled for Dunkin' Donuts..we know we know) and had a bit of time to regroup and plan our stay here.

We are now strapping on our running shoes and hitting the bike lanes for some self-guided tours of the city! Love and miss everyone already, but we still aren’t ready to come home!

Love from Berlin,

Janelle and Heather.

Au Revoir Paris!

Well that was a close call. 

View from underneath the Arc de Triomphe

Our fitness levels definitely came in handy yesterday morning. There is nothing quite like running for a train that is about the leave the station, with 19kg backpacks on our shoulders, a 8kg front pack, and side bag bottle of wine/food/sweaters etc. The heart sure was pounding. Yet somehow we managed to make it. Hallelujah! Lady luck was on our side.

Looking good, as always!

Self shot with the Eiffel Tower

Beautiful!

Great views of the city and less work than stairs!

After the other day’s sleep in and leisurely breakfast we took the metro down to l’Arc de Triomphe and gawked amidst the crowd of tourists. Never before have I seen so many tourists in a city. It is truly overwhelming. Next we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to catch bus #69 (Thank you Anne for the recommendation!). A tour of the city for 1,90 – yes please! We stopped off near the opera house because the bus was getting stuffy and our eyes had wandered across some creperies. Just the fix for Janelle’s car sickness! A lovely crepe with nutella and banana, and a McLatte to give us another boost. Then we headed back towards Musee d’Orsay only to discover it is closed on Mondays. Devastation.

We were appeased by a walk through les Jardins Tuileries and a ride up a ferris wheel from a festival that was in town. Amazing views of the city! We ventured down to the Louvre to get maps so we can plan our route through the 12miles of galleries when we return.

L'As du Falafel with the ladies. YUM!

We picked up a few souvenirs before meeting up with Caitlin and Heidi for AMAZING falafels. The line outside of the restaurant was longer than queues for Harry Potter on opening night. We soon realized why. Delicious, fresh pitas, and attractive servers make this a place I would recommend to any traveler passing through.

Up top!

In front of Notre Dame

The girls had not yet seen Notre Dame Cathedral so we walked off our dinner on the Ile de la Cite, and then through various neighbourhoods and along the Seine. Upon picking up groceries for the train we secured another bottle of wine. It was only appropriate to drink it as romantically as we had the evening previous. The location was Sacre-Coeur, perched on a hill overlooking the entire city. The hike up the hill was thoroughly worth it. Beautiful views, fantastic company, and another perfect end to our day.

Heather's new boyfriend. Pucker up!

Sacre-Coeur at night.

Yesterday morning we woke early (hello 5:30, I've Heather missed you!) to visit Sacre-Coeur again, this time running shoes cushioned our feet. We snapped a few shots of the city and were heckled by Parisiens left over from last night’s drinks. We definitely weren’t laughing when we realized we had run down the wrong side of the hill. Idiots. Fit idiots nonetheless! Lungs and thighs burning, we got some good character building in this morning. The slight detour explains our rush to the train station (don’t worry we were able to shower!), and narrowly making the train. We breathed a big sigh of relief, and vowed to never cut it that close again.

Parkour!

Sacre-Coeur in early morning light.

Yea, we workout. Not many would run up the hills we did.

Inside the Louvre

Next stop, Amsterdam for some exploration of the city’s wonders: canal boat cruise, House of Anne Frank, bicycle tour of the city, tour of the red light district, …sex museum, condomerie, and other various markets and museums of the area. We will return home well cultured. Don’t worry Moms, we’re not going to the Prostitution Information Centre. We’re not that low on cash… yet.

We will let you know what we got up to later today!

Dag!