Snackpoint Charlie

I’d like to start this post by mentioning that Bill would like to answer any and all questions you may have about anything. Not just this trip, but anything. He’ll address them in his own posts along the way. So if you have any questions, about science, music, his childhood, just leave a comment and he’ll get back to you. Seriously.

So Berlin. Berlin is such a beautiful city. We were there for about 3 days, and it wasn’t nearly enough time to see the whole city, but we tried.

Our first day there we did a little walking tour of our own through Museumsinsel, which is sort of an island with a few museums and the Berliner Dom on it. We actually walked up a few hundred steps to get to the top of the dome which had a great view of the city. Totally worth all those stairs, but I wouldn’t have turned down an escalator. You’d think they would’’ve updated those old churches with them by now...

We kept on through a park in the middle of the city, really peaceful and calm - I guess every big city needs something like that. We ended up on Kurfurstadam, which is a long street modeled on the Champs Elysses (sp?) in Paris. It’s a great spot for people watching and beer drinking.

The next day it was dreary and rainy, so we decided to take a double-decker bus tour around the city. It was a cool tour and I’m not at all embarassed that I was “that guy” that takes the tourist bus. We picked it up at Checkpoint Charlie, which was the spot in the Berlin Wall where American soldiers had a checkpoint. It’s set up really well, with a wall talking about the history of the Berlin Wall and all the things that have happened since it went up in the 60’s. Keeping the whole area classy was an adjacent line of stores called “Snackpoint Charlie.” Nice.

The tour took us all over Berlin, past lots of things we hadn’t seen the day before and can’t remember the name of today. It was really beautiful though; it’s a huge city and there is such a neat mix of old and new architecture throughout. I think the next time I summer in Europe I’ll leave a little more time for Berlin...

Are People from Hamburg called Hamburgers?

Getting our hands on the car was a pain in the ass that I won’t even get into, but we finally got it. We finally got moving, but we didn’t really know which way. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that you can’t read signs in foreign countries while driving. You can obviously figure out the numbered highways (when you can find them), but we didn’t know the words for north, south, east or west, and really had no idea where we were. We both got a little wound up trying to figure out where to go, and ended up going back and forth on one main road. When we finally got it right, we saw this fantastic grafitti that reminded us of what it’s all about (If you can't read it the spraypaint reads 'RELAX FUNS').

We drove for a few hours before reaching Germany, where we decided to stop for some food. It didn’t occur to us until we entered this diner that neither of us knew a single German word, not please, thank you, water, or anything else. In Amsterdam everyone speaks English without fail, so it wasn’t an issue. Not so in Germany. We sat down at a table and glanced at the menu, and tried to sound things out enough to determine what we might get if we ordered certain things. When the waitress came we tried to order water, and after a bit of confusion she left and came back with 2 glasses of sparkling water. Close enough. We ordered safely, soup and a salad, and got back on the road.

When we were in London my friend James’ girlfriend Sely recommended that on our way we stop by her hometown of Hamburg, so that’s where we were headed. We didn’t have a hotel booked or any idea about the city, so we were a little nervous getting there. We drove through the center, which is just gorgeous, and ended up in the equivalent of a Motel 6 on a quiet corner. It was pretty stressful navigating through a strange city with no idea where we were going, so we decided from now on we’ll have our place to stay decided before we get there.

We got in pretty late so we laid low that first night, but the next day we set out for some sightseeing. We walked quite a bit, passing cathedrals, beautiful lakes, and tons of beautiful buildings. A lot of the architecture is pretty old, though there were parts of the city that were completely destroyed in WWII and had to be rebuilt. We went to the top of the steeple at St. Nikolai, which is now a memorial for the war, and were able to see photos of what the area looked like before the bombings. It’s been really fascinating to see the toll the war took on different areas in Europe. I didn’t see much of that during my last visit, so maybe it’s just more apparent in Germany, but I guess we’ll see as we continue. Only 10 more weeks! :)

Hamburg is a beautiful city, fairly small, but a lot of cool things to see in the little area. We were only there for one full day, so we probably could’ve seen a lot more, but we were just stopping by on our way to Berlin.

Amsterdam!

OK, back to Amsterdam...

As I mentioned, we took a huge cruise ship over to Amsterdam, so we didn't do much on that first day there.  We did a little walking around our area, went to a movie (Ironman - you could pass on that one), and took it easy.  The place we stayed was a studio apartment, so we had a little kitchen and bathroom; it wasn't huge but it felt pretty homey.

The next day Ryan got in so we were quite a bit more ambitious.  We wandered around the city and got well acquainted with the various beers that are brewed in and around Amsterdam.  I might also mention here how crazy that city is set up.  It's set up like half a bullseye, with the train station right at the top, so every street curves, and if you want to go in a straight line you have to do a lot of zig-zagging through the streets.  In addition, all of the streets have crazy names, we stayed right off Neuverbergwoold or something along those lines, just to give you an idea.  There were several times that we left Ryan's hotel to return to ours and ended up on the opposite side of his hotel.  Ridiculous.

One of the days we did the museum thing, visiting the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum. The Anne Frank House was incredible - obviously a little depressing but so interesting. It’s hard to imagine such a quiet, unassuming city being involved in the war and all that went along with it. Walking through the office and then the annex there is a lot of information to take in, with quotes from the diary, tvs showing footage from the war and interviews with one of the helpers, and various artifacts from the house and that time period. Needless to say, it was pretty upsetting, but worth seeing.

The Van Gogh Museum was pretty cool when we finally got there. Because of the wacky city set-up we ended up taking a few detours, but we got there about an hour before closing. There are a bunch of Van Gogh originals and letters to his brother, as well as a brief biography in pieces around the exhibit. There are also originals from artists that influenced him or were influenced by him. That museum is definitely worth checking out if you’re in the neighborhood. There are a few other museums in Amsterdam, but we were museumed out, and decided to call it a day.

One of the days we were in Amsterdam we had an easy day, just hung around Ryan’s pool and relaxed. That was a nice one. Most of the evenings we ate awesome food (they have great Indonesian and Thai food, fyi), and made our way through various bars in the different areas. The red light district, which you’ve probably heard about is just like you might’ve imagined. There really are full length windows lining the streets with half naked ladies on the other side trying to make a living. It’s pretty disturbing, but I guess legalized prostitution works for the Dutch. It’s just so weird to be walking along a cobblestone street with a canal to the side, maybe a few ducks swimming by, someone on a beach cruiser riding by, and then you make a left and there’s a line of windows and almost nude ladies.

Our last day in Amsterdam we rented vespas (no, not motor scooters) and took a ride to the beach. This was the highlight of our visit (actually, I think Ryan’s was leaving the Anne Frank House - way too disturbing), it was so much fun, though a little treacherous in the beginning. We had to start by maneuvering through the narrow streets of Amsterdam to get to the road that would take us to the beach. Though it’s a very bike/vespa friendly city, it’s still a bit confusing to figure out where we were allowed to go.

The way out to the beach was amazing. Part of that was riding the vespas, which are so much fun, but the other part of that was the scenic path we followed, with thatch-roofed windmills dotting the way, and fields with ponies, cows, and sheep, and when we got nearer to the beach, enourmous, gorgeous houses. Once we got to the beach we zoomed by all the traffic with our sweet vespas, and found parking spots amid the thousands of bikes that were already there.

The beach had good and bad parts. Good - At the top of the beach are lavish clubs with pools, chaise lounges, good food, drinks, music, and all the other luxuries often lacking at a beach. Bad - The beach itself was so crowded it was hard to find space to lay down. Good - The sand was really nice, not pebbly and rough like I was sort of expecting. Bad - The water was green and sludgy and freezing. Bill went all the way in and came out covered in a disgusting film. Good or Bad, depending - Lots of bare boobs on these European beaches. It wasn’t totally topless, just enough to make me a little uncomfortable. I think Bill and Ryan were OK with it though, as they went on more than one “booby hunt.” It makes it weird to take pictures at the beach though, because you just feel like a perv. All in all, it was a nice time. I, of course, got burned, and now have a watch tan, which is even less attractive than it sounds.

The way back from the beach was lovely too, but a little bittersweet since we knew we had to give up our Vespas at the end of it. That evening we had some fantastic dinner along a canal for our last meal. The next morning we said goodbye to Ryan at the airport and went to pick up our Euro Car...

Photos to follow, stay tuned :)

I suck...

It's just way too much fun to travel around Europe, and I haven't found time to post. We're in Berlin now, but there's plenty of good stuff that happened through Amsterdam and Hamburg. More on that soon...

I'm sure all of you reading this (our moms) are on the edge of your seats :)

Londo Dundo

The last time I wrote we had spent the day wandering London, and, well, we did that again on Saturday.  This time we started at Trafalgar Square, where Bill made me take some goofy photos atop one of the lions in the square, and we followed that up with goofy photos in a London phone booth.  Just turn your computer because I have no idea how to turn this picture.

We then boarded a boat (with our lovely hosts, Gavin and Lisa, pictured to the left) that took us up the Thames, past the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, and plenty of other bridges before we finally made it to Greenwich, which is where the time around the world is determined.  The town is also known for a naval university that was built ages ago.  In fact, they were filming a movie there that was set ages ago, which would make sense.  The rest of the evening was spent in Knotting Hill catching up with a few friends from SDSU, dancing amongst the british merriment.

Sunday Bill and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary by going out to a nice dinner and wandering around the very busy streets of central London.  It was crazy even on a Sunday night around midnight.  It reminded us of being in Times Square with all the tourists about -not our favorite environment. 

Monday was our last day in England, and we ended it with a boat ride to Holland.  It took a few hours to get out of London to where the boat took off, and then it was an 8-hour trip across the North Sea.  The boat itself was huge, the size of a regular cruise ship, and it had a little casino, cafeteria, bar, movie theatre, and lots of tiny rooms, like the one we were in.

We arrived in Amsterdam yesterday, and we love it here.  It is such a beautiful city, with canals all over and cobblestone streets.  It's really a shame that this city is well known for legalized prostitution and marijuana; while those are certainly perks, there's so much more to it! :)

More on Amsterdam later...

Londo!

Wednesday was quite a long day.  We ended up leaving for the airport at 6:30 in the morning and didn't reach Lisa's "flat" until just after midnight.  Of course there's a 5-hour time difference, but after flying, customs, taking the tube, finding the bus, and getting here, we were pretty exhausted.  

Nevertheless, we made it.  Now we're just hanging around with Lisa and her fiancee Gavin in Crouch End, a neighborhood in Northern London.  We're getting used to the time change, the pound (damn you, worthless dollar!), and actually being on vacation.

Thursday we stayed pretty local, checking out the neighborhood and it's awesome British pubs. The first stop was at a pub with a bar game called table skittles, which Bill and I plan to bring back to the states.  I'll include a photo later (we don't have a british converter, so I'm typing on Gavin's computer), but it's a game that requires you to swing a wooden ball on a chain around a post toward 9 dowels set up on end, and attempt to knock them all down.  Sounds pretty straightforward, but it gets a bit tougher when you throw a few beers in the mix.  Hmmm....

Yesterday (Friday) Lisa, Bill and I got a little more adventurous and made our way to Central London via a double-decker bus.  The ride was a highlight in and of itself; nothing like seeing the city from above without having to actually navigate the crazy left-sided traffic.  I just can't get used to cars coming from the right every time I cross the street!  If this blog stops abruptly you'll know why.

We got caught in a downpour, which has become pretty common for us on this visit, but made it to the Globe Theatre for a tour.  This is the third Globe to be built, and because there is no record of what the first two looked like on the inside, it's just an educated guess as to what it might've been.  Therefore, our tour guide preempted every statement with "We don't really know, but we think" and then continue with what the floor "might've" been made of, how the interior "might've" been painted, or how many people "might've" attended.  As you can guess, it left a bit to be desired.

We laid low last night, but are looking forward to meeting up with some college friends this evening.  I'll be sure to add some of our photos when we're able to get back on Bill's mac, so check back to this post in a week or so.  

Cheerio!