We arrived, and yet again, didn't find an available hostel or hotel until our fourth try. It was near the Sheraton, Hilton, Crowne Plaza, etc....except ours was called Hotel Manhattan...name sounds nice, right? The hotel was no Hilton. But, it was the first time we had our own room since the beginning of the trip. We walked around the city. It was cool to see all the "important" buildings. We also did a bike tour, which rounded out our trip nicely. We saw the the EU Parliament and many other buildings tourists go to Brussels to see. We rode through some [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Bruges (or Brugge, in Dutch) early afternoon on Friday. Busy on the streets again due to the holiday of Ascension and Labor Day. We were denied at three hostels. By the time we got to the third one, we set our bags down to formulate Plan Z. Jan, the hostel receiptionist, took pity on us. First, we asked if we could store our bags there while we walked around town....all night...maybe camp out in the park. Just kidding...but we did consider it. Then, while we cooled down at the hostel bar, he received a phone call from another [View Full Entry]

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Today was another holiday - not sure which one though. We overheard someone say it was a religious holiday? There were not nearly as many people walking around and much less craziness in general, except for the carnival in the middle of the streets. Karen went to the Anne Frank house, while Angel wandered the streets outside - a very sobering experience. The rest of the day was spent exploring Amsterdam. Not much else to say, pics coming soon! [View Full Entry]

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Another day of uneventful travel!! We made it to Amsterdam without a hitch. It turns out that April 30 is Queen's Day in Amsterdam, which is technically a birthday party for the Queen. But in reality it is a HUGE party. Everyone wears orange (we don't know why) - sorry TN folks, but there was way more orange here than at any UT game. There were over a million people here in a few streets, with tons of street vendors, concerts, and craziness. We had no idea what we were walking in to, but we had a wonderful time. It was [View Full Entry]

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Sightseeing day in Berlin. We saw the Brandenburger Tor, which was the famous backdrop where Reagan demanded the wall came down and also the background when it actually fell. Then to checkpoint Charlie, where we learned a lot about Berlin during WWII. This was the most guarded entryway between East and West Berlin. The whole city has markers where the wall stood - hard to believe it was less than 20 years ago when the city was still in such turmoil. We walked to northern Berlin, which is not really touristy but is actually known for the throngs of well-dressed babies [View Full Entry]

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We made it to Berlin without any travelling issues - a first for us!!! Berlin is by far our favorite city so far. We stayed in a dorm with about 50 other people - guys and girls - and 4 showers total. But it somehow all worked out and we never had to wait around for someone to finish. We took a long walk around the city. First to the Riechstag where Hitler took over Germany, then through a gorgeous garden (Tiergarten), and down to the shopping district and hit up some German stores - the Germans definitely have their own [View Full Entry]

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They really do sell shirts here that read "Czech us out." We walked around Prague, to the Royal Palace, through the quaint streets, and to the Petrin Tower. Then we rewarded ourselves with Thai massages that seem ubiquitous here. It was a super relaxing afternoon, and we finished the night off with a good Czech meal at a cool pub. Off to Berlin tomorrow morning, assuming we don't encounter another travel mishap. [View Full Entry]

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Long day today. Left Munich, missed the earliest train by a couple of minutes, reserved a later one, then missed the stop we needed to get off at in order to make the transfer to Prague. Highlight of the day...at one of the stops, an elderly man took interest in our traveling woes...thus began his 15-minute monologue in German. We have no clue what he was rambling on about...but he did manage to produce a post card of him surrounded on a soccer field with soccer balls. He signed it and handed it to us. Wolfgang Piedre is apparently the Harlem [View Full Entry]

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In true Karen/Angel fashion, we waited around Platform 27 for the train taking us to Neuschwanstein Castle, only to discover we were supposed to be at Platform 32. But we eventually made it to the idyllic town of Fussen, and then to the Castle. The Castle is the model for the Cinderella castle at Disney world. It was built by this crazy King Ludwig II and is the inspiration for most of Wagner's opera's (Wagner was rumored to be Ludwig's lover). After the Castle, we ran into a small stand run by a couple guys grilling wursts and rocking out to [View Full Entry]

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Frankie, of Mike's Bike Tours, took us around Munich. We saw the buildings all tourists are supposed to see...with of course a trip to second largest beer garden in Germany. On our way back, it started pouring but that didn't spoil our fun. We saw some surfers riding the man-made surfs in one of the rivers in town. Then, we quenched our thirsts with a couple of weifbiers at the world-famous HaufBrausen Beer Hall. Probst! It was actually packed with tons of Football fans from St. Petersburg, so it was interesting to be in a German beer hall with fans chanting [View Full Entry]

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