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Published: October 21st 2010
Hello! Guten tag! Alo!
Updating from a slightly sleazy internet cafe in Berlin. What is one to do? I have to keep the fam in the loop!
Amsterdam was crazy. Everything I thought it would be. Cute little leaning Dutch houses and a ton of small canals, a bajillion bicycles. Seriously those Dutch love their rides and so do I. Cute girls on bikes. It was one of Justins favorite sceneries haha.
We didnt get too many pictures though. That is ok. We spent most of our time there just walking pretty much the entirety of the city, which isnt huge, but is a lot for the very limited hours we had there. We went all over, to all the awesome shops and I wished I had brought an extra suitcase for all the stuff I wanted to buy. Or I wish I had the time to find a post office. That whole mailing things home idea has seriously become impossible. Oh well. Anyway, we did get a good picture of the two of us at a bar where our super nice bartender offered to and we gladly agreed. He was funny. Think his name was Franz. 😊 Then we went to a bakery that was featured in the movie Oceans Twelve. Quite tasty! Left me feeling a bit tired though.
We went to one of the vegan restaurants that Kate had printed out for us called Pristine. It was on the other side of the city and ended up being quite a walk, but I suppose I should have read the reviews first. One thing on the menu in this little hole in the wall bike shop in the burbs. Not quite fantastic. Teo and Kate would have probably really liked it though!
Red light district was exactly what you always imagine it to be. Le fin on that.
So after another longer day of travel yesterday, we arrived in Berlin. We are really spending much more of our time than we expected on trains, trams, subways, ect. Something to know for next time.
So we got here after dark, and I had pretty good directions to our hotel. We got there, and on the email that the lady from the hotel sent me she states that my key would be in the safe 3 meters to the right of the main entrance. Well- Matt you should have been here. Literally, a tiny dial combination lock embeded into the side of the buildings brick. I was so lucky we found it! Phew. First adventure of the evening. The second adventure was figuring out the building. The Propellar Island Lodge (unique hotel of the world) is pretty hard to describe. It is located in a standard building with more than one occupant, like a walk in apartment building type place. The main lobby is half of the second floor and then there are two floors above that also house rooms for the hotel (as well as private apartments for Berlin residents). So we have our key, we made it into the lobby, after figuring out the light situation, as they were all off when we arrived. Turns out they all have master switches that go into standby mode after being on for about 2 minutes. Genius to save electricity, bogus to try and manage while in between flights of stairs lugging my 50 pound backpack.
Anyway, made it to the main lobby and the place was crazy. Art everwhere, colors, textures, it felt kind of like a fun house. Have to admit, in the night time when it was quiet and felt deserted, the two of us were pretty freaked out. Which was only worsening when we found out our room was 2 floors above on the the 3rd floor. Got to the third floor landing, lights went out, and our light would not go back on. Greeeat. Then, we cant figure out which door to open, as there are no signs. So we are just trying a random door in this building in the dark... eek. Not a good scene. Good news was I pulled out my directions and in fine print on the bottom there it was! Go through the door on the right, then take a left.. Woot! So we found our room. Which is insane. Definitely a place to go for the fun of it and a cool place to see, but I would not recommend for those looking for a luxurious or even relaxing vacation, haha. Quite an adventure.
Our hotels have all been great. No complains so far from me. Justin isnt a huge fan of our current one, but like I said above, definitely worth the adventure!
Now I am just about a week away from being home. I am incredibly sick, head cold, runny nose, super nasty cough, vertigo the whole 10 yards and I have been sick for about a week. Feels like it may be getting the best of me today, and I ended up taking it pretty easy with a leisurely stroll down the by the Berlin Wall. It has recently been turned into an art gallery, of which we got awesome pictures. We walker up to a much more successfully vegan restaurant called Vegoworld.. So delish! And we got to see some city scenery on the way. Again, insane shop-ortunities missed, but alas, I will just have to come again to shop! Then we called it a night. Decided to take the long way home by above ground train. Berlin is huge and could not possibly be seen in day.
I should mention that on the way home we got in a bit of trouble with the law. It many of the cities we have cisitex, we have found that the trains (subwayss, metros, etc) are aparently honor code only. (like, we know you bought your ticket. we believe you. its fiiiine.) But the two of us have been super good about buying tickets for every train, checked or not. Then today, we broke that rule. I have to say it was mostly Justins fault. I did protest at first, saying I didnt feel quite right hopping a train without paying. But I caved. And wouldn't you know it? The checked. They pulled us off at the next stop, and made us pay a nice hefty fine of €40 a piece. That is what you get for breaking the law, folks! Always buy your ticket.
So now, after that embarassing mishap, and my nose running all over the keyboard at this sketch palace, it is time to retire to my crazy ass work of art hotel room and sleep another evening.
Berlin, I apologize to you. I am sure I have not done you justice. Perhaps, another day. Tomorrow, to Prague!
Everyone! Leave me comments. What is happening back home? I miss you all and love you so so much!
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Matt
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Gutentag
Hello friend! Thanks for the detailed updates! It sounds like you guys are really having a good time. Things are pretty slow around here. We had a random Wednesday night party the other night for my friend Doug who is moving to CO. And this Saturday there is a huge bash for a triple birthday at Tyler's house. Jessica had to cancel her trip here this weekend b/c she lost her passport. Booo. That is a funny story about getting busted by the police! At least you got off with a fine though! Marc bought a VW cabrio as a surprise for his girlfriend's birthday in May. He is gonna fix it all up and make it super sporty. So in order to keep the secret he is storing it in our garage in exchange for a set of golf clubs he gave me. Not a bad deal. So when you get home you will see a red VW convertible hiding in our garage. That's it for now... hope you start to feel better! Be safe and we love you. See you soon! Matt