Berlin, Germany

Berlin wall art... Artists from around the world were invited to come and paint murals of hope, peace, and prosperity on the East side of the wall after it came down.

Berlin wall art...

Berlin wall art...

Official government building... Used by the Third Reich as well.

"Give me your tears Gypsy!"

Museum...

"Authentic" German food...

Drew, Kiera, and me at the restaurant in hostel number 2...

River flowing through Berlin with giant chunks of ice!

Girls of the group! From left to right, its Kendyll, Kiera, Kerri, and me.

Catholic Church that I saw on the walking tour...

Sign at Checkpoint Charlie...

Checkpoint Charlie... one of the entrances from East Berlin to West Berlin provided you had the correct documentation.

Part of the second longest stretch of the Berlin wall that is still standing...

Bundefinanzministerium from another angle...

Bundesfinanzministerium... the Former Air Force Ministry. It was one of the only buildings in the war that was not destroyed, kind of strange since it was the Air Force base.

One of the only buildings still standing in Berlin after WWII... it was covered in bullet holes and had damage from grenades.

Holocaust Memorial...

Holocaust Memorial...

Holocaust Memorial...

In front of the Brandenburg Gate in Paris Platz.

The hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his child from the window!

Hallo, guten morgen! I just got home from Berlin and it was an incredible city! I went with five friends from the USAC group and we all had a blast; it was my two roommates, Kendyll and Kiera, Kerri, Nick, Drew, and I! We left by bus at midnight on Thursday... it was an experience!We all fell asleep pretty quickly, but were awoken by the start of the onboard film. I'll give you a guess as to what it was... Taken. Ha ha! Are you serious?! Could they possibly think of a better movie for six American travelers to watch on their way to Berlin? I don't think so! The next drama arrived in the form of a German police officer... As we crossed the Czech border into Germany a large German police officer boarded the bus to check all of our passports. Someone failed to wake up Kiera, so she was a little startled as the policeman tapped her leg and said good morning! What a riot! We all got a kick out of that. We arrived in Berlin around 5 am and headed straight for our hostel, not wanting to pay for an extra night we decided to crash on various couches and chairs around the restaurant underneath the hostel. Around 8 we all got up, got ready in the bathroom upstairs, and enjoyed the free breakfast provided by the hostel.

We all agreed that the best way to see the city we didn't know too much about would probably be going on a walking tour. Apparently in a lot of European cities free walking tours are given and then you tip the tour guide whatever amount you think the tour was worth... its a really cool concept! I learned so much information that I never would have without the tour. It was crazy to me how much history was present in Berlin. Mainly the information about WWII and Adolf Hitler. I knew all of the stories I heard, but now I am able to associate the city and various monuments with them. The tour started in front of the Brandenburg gate and with us being informed that prior to the fall of the Berlin wall if we would have been standing where we were say 21 years ago we would be shot and killed. On top of the gate, you'll notice in the pictures, there is a giant statue. The statue was actually stolen from Germany by the French, so when the German's stole it back they but it atop the gate and out of spite named the square in front of the gate Paris Platz... The driver of the carriage is also looking down at the French Embassy; now the Germans can say "they own Paris" and they are looking down on the French every day. I thought that was kind of funny! From there we walked to the site of Hitler's bunker... the German's destroyed it and put a parking lot over the top of it. They didn't want it to become a site of neo-nazism so they thought the parking lot would be a discreet way of concealing it. The tour guide said that people now often pay tribute to it by bringing their dogs to the location so they can do their business. Ha ha! We then walked to the Bundesfinanzministerium, which is the Former Air Force Ministry... It was one of the only buildings in Berlin that wasn't leveled in WWII and it was huge! We saw a couple of other major sites and got to walk along the Berlin wall. Hearing all of the history was very surreal. It was not that many years ago that the city and country was literally divided. Very crazy! After our tour we headed back to the hostel only to find that Kendyll had accidentally booked it for the end of April. Oops! Luckily the man working at the hostel was very friendly and helped us find another location. We headed up the block to our new location and it was lights out! At least for an hour or so. We all got ready and then headed back to the other hostel to hang out at the bar beneath it and have dinner... Yummy! Then the festivities began... can you say Jagermeister?! The rest is kind of history... It definitely included some karaoke and pool though!

The next morning we got up and tried to go visit the Sachsenhausen concentration camp... only problem was I forgot my phone at the hostel so I had to go back and get it. Unfortunately we missed our tour time so we decided to go to the Holocaust memorial and museum instead... It was really moving and the memorial is amazing. The memorial itself was pretty incredible. You can see in the pictures that there are just hundreds of these cement blocks and the architect who created it, when asked, says that they simply represent whatever you want them to. I kind of looked at them like the victims of the Holocaust... they were all different heights and that made me think of all the different ages of the victims... From babies to the elderly. It was pretty intense! On our way to the memorial we were also approached by some gypsies... they go around asking if you speak English and then they would have you read this card and ask for money. Needless to say, we weren't really having it. One of them even spat at Kendyll. After the memorial we went on a hunt for the gypsies and made a sign that said, "Give me your tears Gypsy!" I guess gypsy tears are good luck or something. We were going to try and beat them at their own game. It was really funny... and now we are on the hunt! After that we had some "authentic German food"... funny story, we were asking the guy at our hostel where we could find good German food and Kerri said, "Yeah, some good authentic German food." Of course its authentic, we are IN Germany! Ha ha! I didn't actually like the food so much. It didn't have too much flavor... but I am definitely not complaining! Then we went to see the longest stretch of the Berlin wall that is still standing. After it was taken down the Germans invited various artists to come and paint murals on it... pretty cool! Then we headed back to our hostel and started the night early... it ended early too, for me anyway!

This morning we woke up and headed home... It is kind of weird to think that home is in the beautiful city Prague and not Reno right now! Like I mentioned in my previous post, next weekend I am doing a wine tasting tour in Moravia, Czech Republic and then hopefully going to Cracow and Warsaw, Poland the following weekend. After that I think Kenny is coming to visit in Prague... YAY! And right now Kendyll and I are checking into Greece and Turkey for spring break! Lots of travels and blog updates are on the way. I miss you all soooo much! I love you too!

XOXO,

Sarah

More Paris Photos ♥

Here are some more photos that Kenny took while we were in Paris. He has a much nicer camera than I do and is quite the avid photographer! I think some of his shots are amazing! Hope you all enjoy! I am unfortunately starting to miss home a little... I love you guys so much!

XOXO,

Sarah

Paris Photos ♥

A busy street corner near Le Louvre...

The Eiffel Tower by night ♥

The Eiffel Tower by day ♥

A statue on the pond in the garden of the Chateau Versailles... there was more property behind this palace than any one person should ever accumulate even if you are King Louis XIV and Queen Marie Antoinette!

The Moulin Rouge in Montmartre! Pretty impressive!

Basilique du Sacré-Coeur... My favorite site of the trip! I was in love with the Jesus mosaic.

The Catacombs... In this photo you can clearly make out the femurs and skulls and begin to see just how many bones are stacked... Imagine walking through this for about a mile!

Two skulls in The Catacombs...

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, is a second century B.C. marble sculpture of the Greek Goddess Nike. This was one of my favorite statues...

This photo is a view from a bridge right around the corner from Le Louvre. It is actually an old prison that Kenny and I did not get a chance to visit. It is the site where Marie Antoinette was sentenced to the guillotine, i.e. beheaded.

This was my favorite... I call it "Little Boy Choking Out the Goose"... Ha ha! But really it is the L'Enfant à l'oie and it is Greek!

And this, is the infinite Louvre Pyramid... It was beautiful! Surprisingly, this photo is completely unedited too! I was quite impressed!

Weekend in Paris ♥

Kenny and I on the river right outside of Notre Dame!

A crucifix in Notre Dame...

I just love this photo... The stained glass in Notre Dame was incredible!

Notre Dame!!!

Bonjour! What can I say, Paris stole my heart! It was everything I had hoped for and so much more. Kenny and I both arrived at the Charles de Gaulle Airport on Thursday night... While waiting for his plane to arrive I finished the first Twilight book and it was AMAZING! By the time his plane landed the trains had stopped running so we kind of got swindled into take a cab... luckily we were able to share it with some Australian guy. Still, it was about 60€; that is a lot of money! The cab dropped us off right in front of the Eiffel Tower, it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen! As we pulled up it was illuminated and shining so brightly; I was in awe. We got out of the cab and headed towards the hotel, and, as if the Tower wasn't amazing enough already, a light show started and there were thousands of blinking strobe lights sparkling all over it.

Kenny, being the sweet boy he is, took it upon himself to find us the most amazing place to stay. We were about a 10 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower at Hotel Ideal. It was perfect. We decided to hit the hay almost immediately. The next day we got up and went to lunch at this cafe across the street from our hotel. Nobody spoke English but they were so friendly. Kenny and I both decided at that moment to try and learn as much French as possible while we were there. (I kind of became obsessed and now I really want to learn French!) Anyway we just pointed to the first thing on the menu and ordered! YUMMY!!!! That definitely set the standard for food for the rest of the trip, and I promise you, French cuisine does not disappoint, EVER!

Next was our first bout with the Paris Metro... I so wish we had good public transportation back home! We were headed for the Catacombs. We got off at the right stop and walked in a gigantic circle around a little town square trying to find the right street to turn down... little did we know, we were circling the entrance the entire time. Upon realizing this, we found a sign on the door that informed us we were about 10 minutes too late for the last entrance of the day. However, we didn't fret... we headed straight for Notre Dame. How AMAZING!!!!! The ceilings were incredible and everything inside was just so incredibly beautiful! Afterwards we were hungry, so we stopped by a little cafe and had some coffee and our first crepe! Delicious! Then we headed to Le Louvre. I can not even begin to describe the grandeur of this museum. Kenny told me that he read it is the largest museum in the world; I believe it! Just imagine the largest building you can think of and multiply it by 20... that may be close! I am not kidding, it was HUGE! It is home to the famous Louvre pyramid and Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Everything inside was insanely amazing! I was practically in shock! After it closed we headed towards home and grabbed a cheap bite to eat... our new FAVORITE, paninis! We went straight to bed after because we were exhausted!

The next morning we woke up and sought after the Catacombs for a second time. Apparently a long time ago the cemeteries in France were a main source of disease so all dead bodies were extracted from the ground and moved to the Catacombs. They go 60 meters into the ground and lie below the Metro, sewer, and water lines. Basically its just massive amounts of bones stacked along paths for the public to view. There were wall to wall bones; femurs and skulls stacked about 6 feet tall encased other bones against the walls... Very cool! From there we headed to Montmartre which is a famous neighborhood that houses the Sacre-Coeur, a huge cemetery, and the Moulin Rouge. While we were walking down the streets a parade broke out that was very cultural. I think my favorite sight of the trip was the Sacre-Coeur... its the huge white church in the pictures. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the building. Because on the ceiling was a gigantic mosaic of Jesus and the saints... It was probably the size of half a football field and was literally one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The amount of time it must have taken to create such a masterpiece just blows my mind. We also had my favorite crepes of the trip in Montmartre... they had nutella, banana, and whip cream on them, can you say yummy?! By the way, nutella is the best thing ever... it is almost like a chocolately peanut butter. After taking photos in front of the Moulin Rouge we headed back to the hotel to take a nap. And after our nap we met up with Kenny's friend Eloise that he met at a hostel in London. She was a very sweet girl. She took us to a night club that was packed. It was super fun... but drinks were so expensive. Kenny bought us each a drink and it cost 36€!!! At this club I also encountered one of the strangest people I have ever seen in my life. He grabbed my shoulders and sat next to me at several points... That may not seem so weird, but he was wearing a dead fox around his neck. He was kind of the Andy Warhol type. Basically, a total weirdo! Yikes! We got home at about 6 in the morning, I was exhausted!

The next morning we woke up and headed to the Palace at Versailles. It was insane! It was gigantic! We did an audio tour, so we found out some interesting information about the palace and about King Louis the XIV, who built it, and his wife Marie Antoinette. The church inside the palace was crazy and had one of the coolest organs I have ever seen. After leaving the palace we headed to the Eiffel Tower and got some more crepes! We also tried macaroons and they were very tasty! We took some photos of the tower and then took a walk down a neighborhood street. We found a cute restaurant and decided to try our luck again by selecting the dish of the day, and yet again, it was amazing! We got back to the tower right around sunset as it was being lit up. It is so surreal to see something so beautiful in person! Then we rode up in an elevator to the the second tier... what a view! On our walk home from the subway, we decided to conclude our trip with one last crepe stop! Ha ha! We couldn't help it... they are just too delicious!

Finally, this morning we said our good byes to the fabulous city that is Paris and to each other. I'm not going to lie I was kind of a mess as I left Kenny at his gate. It was pretty hard to leave. But I hope to visit him in Madrid pretty soon! This weekend I am headed to Berlin, Germany with some people from my group. We are taking a bus on Thursday night and heading back on Sunday morning... I am pretty excited! The following weekend I am going on a wine trip to Moravia, Czech Republic with a bunch of people from the group, so that should be really fun! I really feel like I am living the dream; everything here is just so amazing! I miss you all and I love you a ton!

XOXO,

Sarah

P.S. I think Paris was even colder than Prague is right now! I was in pain! Obviously, it wasn't too bad though because I failed mentioning it until now!

P.S.S. One last thing, the French people are EXTREMELY nice... don't ever believe anything different. Everyone was so friendly and willing to help Kenny and I out. Our waiters even smiled as we slightly butchered the language; I guess they were happy we were trying!