Berlin - Be There

When I would ask locals where they would suggest traveling to, they would always always always tell me that Berlin was their favorite city.  That got me very excited to experience it for myself!

Fortunately I was able to use up the last couple days on my Eurail pass and got to Berlin in a breeze.

Our hostel was absolutely amazing.  It was located in East Berlin, right next to a subway stop, a restaurant and bar downstairs, big room---the whole enchilada!  The first night we got there, we ate dinner at a lovely Cuban restaurant, where the waitress was speaking a combination of Spanish and German and English.  It was a nice change to get some Spanish spices back in my life!  Later, we went to a club that had three different dance rooms.  One of them had a band playing from Portland, so we enjoyed the set and danced the night away.

The next day, we went out on the town!

We started at the Brandenburg Gate, which is the last surviving gate of Berlin's old city wall.  The gate was the beacon of Prussian Berlin that showed how divided the city was.  Street artists and postcards all flaunt this structure, but nothing does justice more than seeing it in real life.  It was touching to recall the struggles for freedom that the gate has seen all throughout history.

***Unfortunately, my photo application on my computer shut down when I was uploading my photos, and they were deleted.  I am sure they are somewhere within the world of my computer, but I am still trying to find them.  These are picture I borrowed from my friend's camera.  At least I still have the priceless memories :)

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

After some lunch, we walked down toward the Berlin Cathedral.  On our way we passed the Birkenstock shop and that made my day :)  Oh how I miss my birks!!  The Cathedral was bombed in 1944, and I have the most incredible, yet eerie picture on a postcard from the bombing.  Today, it is decked out in gold and beautiful sculptures.  Here is a glorious picture of it today. 

The Berlin Dom

Back up the main street, we passed Humboldt University, Museum Island, and came upon the German Parliamentary Building.  Unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn't go inside, but the outside was glorious in itself.

Deutsch Parliament Building

Near the Parliment building, we found the Memorial for the Murdered Jews.  I had seen countless pictures of the amazing memorial and heard great things about the museum.  I was blown away by the quality of the museum and was touched by the letter that were displayed from children in the Holocaust written to their parents.  As if the museum didn't cause enough emotion, walking out into the memorial was breathtaking.  Being in the middle of the huge cement blocks took away all of he noise of the rest of the city and really offered reflection time.  It became very eerie once the sun went down, but a very humbling experience overall. 

The memorial.  So quiet.

That night, we went to a delicious German restaurant to fulfill our cravings for schnitzel and beer.  After, we went to a hole in the wall hotel that was hosting a small band.  It was one of the most 'hipster' places I have ever seen.  I loved that in the lobby they had accumulated hundreds of books from past customers.  I enjoyed reading coffee table books about America's National Parks and Budapest's sights while we sipped on cool beer and listened to cool jams.  How Berlin of me. 

The lobby of the hotel where the band played. 

 On our last day, we took a trip to Potsdam to see some of the Berlin Wall.  It was very moving to see such a big part of history with my own eyes.  I enjoyed imaging myself back in history and how life would have been different if I lived there.  Now, hipster artists have expressed their peaceful and forward opinions on the wall trying to inspire viewers.

I loved this quote.

Yes, I DO Love Berlin!

The Luckiest Weekend Ever

As you all know, last Friday was 11/11/11.   Ever year, Maastricht and cities throughout Europe throw a major festival and party celebrating the countdown toward Carnival.  Since it happened to be 11/11/11, the party was 11 times more amazing than usual years.  At exactly 11:11am (the time of day when you are supposed to make a wish) confetti flew into the air and everyone in the city enjoyed wishing for anything and everything for a full minute. 
I had heard about carnival before, but I never really thought too much about it.  From February 19th through the 21st, there is a massive party full of costumes and drinking for all ages.  I was bummed I wasn't going to be here to experience that party, so being here for the grand opening celebration was just as good and so much fun!  The entire Vrijtof square was closed off and full of costumed people.  The restaurants had cleared away their normal outside seating to make room for the hoards of people that were coming in from around the Netherlands and surrounding countries.  Apparently Maastricht has the best party in Holland :)  I'm not surprised!! 
The music that was playing was all American songs, but they were sung in Dutch!  We would recognize the song and expect to hear English, but it was so fun to hear it in a different language and dance with everyone.  During the day, the town of Maastricht was as busy as I have ever seen it...only this time it wasn't full of German's doing their shopping sprees, but rather a bunch of crazy looking people drinking and eating and having a great time.
Later at night, it was just as crazy.  I have never seen Maastricht so dirty or so wild at night.  Every single bar and club was packed full.  We enjoyed bar hopping and celebrating with locals.  

The huge stage looked so out of place in the square.

 

 

Some costumed gentlemen.

My friends and I celebrating...just because!!

Post Carnival.  A little dirty :)

Not many people can say that they have been to three major cities in their country in just one day...but now I can!  Last weekend, me and three friends decided to use a day on our Eurail Pass to explore the Netherlands some more.  We started out our day on the train to Rotterdam.  The train ride went by quickly, as we caught up on some reading from my Netherlands travel book.  Once we arrived in Rotterdam, we decided to go to the Delfthaven windmill along the water's edge.  The town was very charming and much quieter than Amsterdam, yet it still had the charm with the canals and boathouses.  We enjoyed a picnic of take out Chinese food and sat by the canals and basked in the sunlight.  I am so satisifed I finally saw a windmill up close.  How could I not if I live in Holland!?!  It was MUCH bigger than I expected and looked quite roomy inside. 

In the capital of Delft Pottery

Dutch Houses.  Straight Up!

Delfthaven Windmill

Beautiful Holland :)

After exploring the Rotterdam area, we hopped back on the train to Utrecht.  With a population of 40,000 students, the city is definitely built to maintain a scene for rambunctious kids.  It reminded me so much of Maastricht, only it was a little bigger and it had canals.  As we walked to the big church in town, Black Pete(s) came marching out of the church handing out 'kruidnoten' to little children.  Black Pete is Sinterklass' helper and he has a black face because he goes down the chimney and gets dirty with soot.  It was fun to experience this Dutch Christmas tradition in person.  I will also say that the church was beautiful, even though we couldn't go inside.  It was very gothic and was accompanied by a sky-scraping clock tower. 

Black Pete(s)

St. Martin's Cathedral 

 

Even the cats here are so Dutch

A night scene of the canals in Utrecht.

It is starting to get dark SO early here, but we weren't finished traveling for the day.  Since Amsterdam is only about 25 minutes away from Utrecht, we decided why not go for dinner!  We enjoyed delicious dinner pancakes at the famous pancake and crepe restaurant right down the street from Anne Frank's house.  It was very fun to be back in the city and know my way around.  After dinner, we took a walk down the shopping street and visited a favorite coffeeshop for some cappuccinos to keep us awake for the ride home.  A quick stroll down the red light district (since one of the girls with us hadn't seen it yet) and I definitely won't have to visit that part of town any time soon! 
With only 5 weekends left here in the Netherlands, I am realizing that there is still so much I want to do and so little time!  I will keep you updated on how I spend the rest of my time here :)

Visit from Moeder en Vader

As some of you may know, my lovely parents came across the Atlantic last week for 9 days of fun filled Netherlands adventures!
It was so much fun to turn the corner in the city square and see my parents sitting at a table waiting for me to come sit down.  They looked like locals and we had such a fun time exploring the city and surrounding areas.  Having friends and family in town gives me a great excuse to go tour the city myself and find surprises I even I have never seen before!
It is convenient that I only have class three days per week, especially when I was trying to spend time with my family that of which I hadn't seen in months!  The first few days we spent exploring my town of Maastricht.  I have said it before, but Maastricht is a much bigger city than it appears!  Tours of the Catholic church in town, boat trips, tours through caves, and exploring the old town wall kept us busy.  Of course, we still had time to grab some great meals and sip on some refreshing brews.  Favorites were Bavaria Beir and Leffe Beer accompanied by a nice plate of frites (french fries) and mayonnaise.

We got so lucky with the great weather!  Photo credit:  Dad

Lunch outside in November.

In the Roman River Lookout Tower.

Mama and I in the park

Daddy and I in our new scarves.

The delicious bakery at the market.

Strolling in the charming city park.

Maastricht, being such a hub for traveling allowed us to take a day trip to Bastogne Belgium to see the area where the Battle of the Bulge was fought.  Of course, dad enjoyed the WWII history and feel of the entire town.  We searched around town and took a minute to remember that the entire town was in ruin when the American's liberated Belgium.  We found a fabulous museum with incredibly lifelike wax figure dioramas as well as touching photographs from the war.  It was interesting to compare pictures that the museum had on display and pictures of how the town looks now.  There was certainly a lot of clean up and reconstruction that occurred!

Mom and I enjoying Belgium beer, ham and chocolates.

It was a little confusing getting there...

Dad and I in Bastogne.

 

Overall, it was an amazing 9 days and it was so magical having my parents here in Europe experiencing the city and country I have been living in.  They made friends with bartenders and hotel managers and all raved, "how different they were than most Americans".  What a nice compliment!  It was also a plus to get to eat 'real' food for some time.  Pasta, chicken and bell peppers gets a little old after a while.  Thanks mom and dad!  I was definitely proud to say that that English speaking couple were my parents :)