Lets get all caught up...Prauge and Vienna!

Soo it's been a few weeks since this blog has been updated, our apologies, but we have honestly just been having to much fun to sit down at the computer for a half an hour or an hour and write :)

Brenna last wrote about Berlin and since then we have been through Prague, Vienna, Dubrovnik, and today is our last morning in the Cinque Terre. So lets begin...

Prague!!

Prague was  a great city, minus the rain that we had almost every day that we were there! We stayed in this hostel, which is actually an elementary school that is converted into a hostel during the summer, called Hostel Olet. We kind felt like we were in a concentration camp because there we literally just tiny beds set up in the middle of a class room, with the nice added touch of childrens artwork all over the walls. It turned out to be really fun though, we got a huge room to ourselves, along with Jillian (one of Lilys friends) and Lily, who followed us to Prague for the three nights.
On the first day we were all pretty tired, so we just grabbed some food and went back to the hostel to play some games and went to bed early. We woke up the next morning and it was raining, but decided to go into town anyways. After an hour of debate we finally joined a free walking tour that took us through the older part of the city and up to Prague Castle. It was about three hours of walking in the rain, but we had a good time non the less. Prague castle is huge, I think I read somewhere that it is the oldest midevil castle in Europe, someone may need to fact check me though.
Over then next couple days we did a little walking and a lot of sleeping and lying around in our hostel playing games and drink delicious Czech beer, which is, no joke, cheaper than water!!! One night we met up with two girls that we actually met in our Berlin hostel for some food and beer. On the 4th of July we met up with some friends from Western, Lauren and Jill, who are both studying abroad in Prague this summer. They took us out to a really nice Asian dinner and then we went back to their place before going out. We met a ton of their friends from all over the state and a large group of us went down to this club to celebrate the 4th! It was a really fun night and especially fun seeing people from back home.
On the last day we slept in until about 1pm, grabbed some burgers from this place called Yes Burger, delish, then slept some more before catching our 10pm train to Vienna.
All in all Prague was really fun...I know I missed a lot of detail, but I pretty much covered everything relativly important and worth knowing!


Vienna!!
Ill just start off by saying I think Vienna is my least favorite place and I can probably speak for everyone else in the group as well. The hostel we stayed in was way outside of town and kind of a dump. I mean the rooms were nice but they really had nothing else to offer us but a bed.
We got to Vienna at 6am and couldnt check into our hostel until 2 I believe or maybe even later than that. So we dropped our bags off and headed out to find some breakfast. The boys really wanted and "American" breakfast, bacon and eggs, but there was no chance of finding that in Vienna, but we walked aroud searching for it anyways. After and hour of walking and no food, we decided to catch the train into town. After walking around town for an hour we still hadnt found anything so unfortunatly we had to resort to McDonalds and Starbucks! At around 9 we decided to do a tour of the city on one of those Hop on Hop off buses. Dont ever ever do that. The information and the audio on those buses is so dry and after having traveled for 10 hours it literally put everyone to sleep. We spent 18 bucks just to fall alseep on the bus. We did get off at a few stops, but there really wasnt much to see.ube riv
On the second day we headed out to the Danube River and spent the day swiming and relaxing.
So thats pretty much is for Vienna...really nothing exciting happed, probably because our hostel was so far out of the way and we were all really tired. We also only spent two days there!

The group split up after Vienna, Jonny and Erik headed to Rome and they are now in New York. The five of us, Nick, Alan, Emma, Brenna, and myself went south to Dubrovnik!!

DUBROVNIK IS AMAZING AND THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH! And because of this is deserves its own post, with lots of descriptive detail, but unfortuanly I dont have time to write about it just yet.

We are leaving for Florence this morning so I will write more when I get there!

Berlin!

Hallo! (That is not a type-o, it is hello auf Deutsche)

Sorry for the long gap in blog posts but as you can imagine we have been incredibly busy with our travels. So I will attempt to update you all on our journey thus far. Getting to Germany was quite a chore, but we finally made it to Berlin unscathed and learned a very valuable lesson along the way. Never assume that a train leaves from a certain station, in other words, double check your ticket! However, the first full day in Berlin proved the increased travel time well worth it.

            In the morning we decided to take advantage of Berlins free walking tour. We met our guide, a charming Britt named Sam, at the Brandenburg Gate. He was full of interesting and pertinent information as well as some fun, erroneous stories. On our tour we visited Hitlers last stand, where he committed suicide along with his new bride, the Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie, Humboldt University, where our guide as well as Albert Einstein have both attended college, and a wealth of towering museums. One of the points that I found most intriguing was at Hitlers last stand. The Germans have chosen not to commemorate the spot where the most evil man in history met his demise. Instead they have built a drab gravel parking lot over the site where the bunker once stood. Wouldn’t Hitler just be rolling in his grave to know that a parking lot stands where he took his own life?

            That night for dinner we trusted good old Rick Steves and went to a traditional German restaurant downtown. We all tried and enjoyed some of the Berliner cuisine, I got the Schnitzel, another tried the curry wurst, and brats, etc. Overall, we had a great dinner and I think that Erik especially loved his gigantic German beer!

            The next day we took another tour from the same company to Sachenhausen Concentration Camp, a slave labor center 45 minutes outside of Berlin. Although we prepared ourselves for what we about to see I don’t there was anyway to be fully ready mentally for what we were about to see. For me, it hit when I saw the famed “Arbeit Match Frei” on the camp gate. During its operation from 1936 to 1945 the camp interned around 200,000 gays, Jews, Gypsies, and members of the opposition. Thirty thousand of those people never left the grounds and the majority of the others were sent to other camps designed specifically for extermination. The guide explained that Sachenhausen was one of the first concentration camps in Germany and set the standard for how prisoners across Europe were dehumanized and then extinguished. The hours that I spent at Sachenhausen were by far some of the most solemn and moving of my 22 years. I think that I can speak for the group when I say that the visit stay with us for the rest of our lives. I don’t think that I have ever had a better understanding for the need for a peaceful coexistence of people on earth.

            That night we revisited an Italian restaurant that we ate at the first night and attempted to lighten the mood with a couple beers. Some of the members in our group hold that the penne there was some of the best they had ever eaten! Later we packed our bags and prepared for our trip to Prague!

More later!, Love, Brenna

Amsterdam!!!!

We have spent the past two nights in Amsterdam and it is probably my favorite place we have been so far. I think most everyone else agrees. Minus maybe Alan who has now caught Brenna's sickness and hasn't been able to really enjoy everything as much. Lucky for Brenna she is feeling all better and can now taste and smell :) The first day we got into Amsterdam we walked around and explored a bit. Everyone here is super nice, Erik asked the tram conductor which stop our hostel was at and he not only told Erik but went over the intercom and said "Jonny four stops" and preceded to let Jonny know after each stop how many stops were left.

After walking around for a while we decided to go to the Sex Museum, so basically we walked around and looked at porn.... it was quite strange but we figured we could experience the sexual part of Amsterdam without going to a sex show or buying prostitutes (a lot cheaper too).

I had amazing birthday yesterday we started the day visiting the Anne Frank house. A little bit depressing but really neat to see, I am glad we all went. The space that they shared was actually a lot bigger than I imagined. I think we are all really enjoying the culture and seeing all the historic places but feel slightly ignorant about what we are actually seeing. My advice for future travelers make sure you research everything before you go. I knew this before we left but somehow thought I would manage. On my other adventures I have been spoiled, it is a lot different traveling without a history teach whispering random facts in your ear :) (Love you Mom).

After the Anne Frank house we went to the Heineken Brewery and did a tour of the brewery which was actually pretty neat. We got to see how the beer was brewed, play games, go on a virtual ride and got a free sample followed by two beers at the end of the tour. While we were sitting enjoying our beers people gave us some of their free beer tokens so we all ended up getting three beers each which was a nice little birthday plus :)

I forgot to say that Brenna and Katie bought me three balloons for my birthday while walking back from the Anne Frank house and tied it to my wrist which I wore for the rest of the day, I think I was down to one before the Heineken experience though. They are difficult to manage in the wind with bikes and trams and what not.

P.S the transportation system here is so crazy!! To cross the street sometimes you have to cross five lines of traffic. The bike lane, the car lane, the tram lane, the other car lane, and the other bike lane!

At night for my birthday we went to dinner in the big park here and then sat by the canal watching the boats go by and listening to people sing and play the guitar. It was probably my favorite evening of the trip. We walked around the red light district at night which wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Just a little bit sad seeing the prostitutes in the windows, we saw a couple of them get costumers. Super strange.

Today Lilly took us to a little town where her Aunt and Uncle live called Aalsmeer, where we went to the lake and went swimming. Then Lilly took us back to her Aunt and Uncle's house where a few people went on a bike ride and saw the town. I could move to Aalsmeer right now its a really cute town. You should check it out if you haven't heard of it! A couple of people got burnt at the lake, we unfortunately didn't bring sunscreen because we were told that it was supposed to be stormy, which didn't end up happening until this evening. We have been having really amazing weather everywhere we have been which has been really nice. We are having a real summer.

Everyone has been getting along swimmingly and I think we are all just having a really great time and enjoying each others company. We of course miss you all and hope everything is going well at home! Brenna is no longer sick and it seems like Alan is getting better so hopefully by Berlin everyone will be all healthy! Don't worry about the e.coli we have been told that it was only in some sprouts coming out of Hamburg and some seeds from somewhere else so we should be safe!

Hope all is well!

Sending love from us all!

BonJour!!!

We made it to Paris!!!

Barcelona was a blast, definitely the party city of our trip :) we had a great time. On our last day there, the group split up, Jonny, Brenna, Alan, Nick, and Lily went on an all day kayaking tip, while Emma, Erik, and I did some more sight seeing.
We took a gondola up to the top of a very large hill, I wouldnt quite call it a mountain, that over looked all of Barcelona. At the top was a beautiful old castle. We spent an hour our so walking around and taking pictures. After that we went to the beach, Emma and I decided to "do like the locals do" (we sent erik away of course) and we spend the rest of the day there.

We got to paris yesterday and spend the day walking around the streets, touring through Notre Dame. and we had a great dinner at a restaurant that Brenna took us to. All the girls ordered Mac n Cheese, it was soooo YUMMY!! Today we climbed the Eifle Tower, well we climbed 2/3 the way up then had to take the elevator the rest of the way. At the top you could feel the tower moving beneath your feet when the wind blew hard enough, it was pretty crazy!! Tonight we are going on a pub crawl with our hostel then spending the day tomorrow doing some more sight-seeing, to the Louve and the catacombs I think!

Sorry is there is a lot of misspelling in this, they dont have spell check on these computers in english haha :)

Hi! It is Emma! We have arrived in Barcelona after a long sleepless train ride. Which wasn't super awful but still I am quite tired. For some reason I cannot seem to escape sticker bushes.. Our last day in Lisbon Katie, Jonny and I accidentally took the long way down from the castle and I got cut by some stickerbushes while hugging the wall trying to avoid speeding cars down road not meant for pedestians. Barcelona is amazing so far everyone seems to be having a good time despite getting lost on our way to the hostel. I tried to take everyone to my favorite gelato place but failed miserably and then found out later that it actually closed down. Fail for Emma today. There was a huge rally on las ramblas today apparently there is a new government in Barcelona or maybe all of Spain and funding has been cut so everyone was gathered to protest. There were thousands of people it was crazy and they are still marching in the streets at 1130. We all tried paella today and sangria it was delicious! We miss you all and wish you could be here joining in this experience with us. You are in our thoughts and in our jokes. Brian if you are reading this Nick, Alan, and Erik were a little late for dinner today. Although really they were on time just everyone was ready for them. But anyways we all called them Brian Colbo for taking showers at the last minute. I can't really figure out this keyboard too well which is why my typing might be strange, but I hope that all is well at home. Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers!!! Love you all!!

Ginjinha!!!

Tonight is our last night here in Lisbon, it's almost sad to leave so quickly because we have gotten to know our way around here pretty dang good!

Yesterday we went to this beautiful little beach town called Cascais (google it!!) and sat in the sun and played in the sand. We made some new friends last night at the hostel bbq, four girls from Switzerland, Sev, Celina, Paulina, and another who's name I cant remember. The four of them, the seven of us, and about five other people from the hostel went on a pub crawl led by Sean and Bridgett, two people that work here at the hostel. Its unbelievable how cheap drinks, shots, and beer is around here, 1 Euro each!!!

One of their local drinks here is called Ginjinha (pronounced Gin-ginger) its a baby plum liquor. The shot is served to you in a dark chocolate shot glass...take then shot then eat the chocolate. It was absolutely delicious, but probably the cause of some minor headaches this morning.

The bars around here don't really open until like 1 or 2 in the morning so we didn't get home until around 4:30am! Needless to say we let ourselves sleep in tell about 11:30 today.

Today we went to another beach called Costa de Caparica, it's a quite a big bigger than the one we went to yesterday and had some pretty big waves and lots of surfers. We are all napping at the hostel right now and are going to join in another bbq tonight with the hostel, this time an authentic portuguese dinner apparently...they have been cooking for the past two hours and it smells DELICIOUS!!!

Tomorrow nights we leave for barcelona on an overnight train, Portugal has been amazing but we are excited to move on!

Our First Night at the Chillout Hostel in Lisbon!

We got into Lisbon at around 9:00am yesterday morning and spent the entire day wandering the clean, cobblestone streets! The city is absolutely gorgeous! We grabbed our first beer and lunch at a little cafe called BS, brenna spotted it and said we had to go there because its her initials (Brenna Sandstrom). Then we were able to check into our hostel, The Chillout Hostel, the girls Alan, and Erik took the private room and we shoved Nick and Johnny into an 8 bedroom mixed dorm, unfortunately for them its all stinky boys!

Then we set out on the streets again, this time walking all the way down to the water and over to this GIGANTIC castle, the Castelo de St. Jorge. It was big and old, but the views overlooked pretty much all of Lisbon! 

Walking around in the sun all day and the 8 hours of time difference made us all pretty tired. One of the guys, Sean, cooked us a delicious bbq of chicken breast, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, and potatoes (yuck), Brenna and I split a bottle of wine and then hit the sheets. I think all of us slept better than babies, except we all woke up pretty early, stupid biological clocks! 

We all just got done eating breakfast, instant coffee (GROSS), toast and chocolate cereal and now we are headed to the BEACH!!!

Love you and miss you all