BERLIN 5/16-5/18
Berlin was very different from what we expected. It was huge and spread out. We took public transportation and walked around the whole city. It was very quiet, especially compared to New York, which was surprising considering it's the capital. When we arrived, our cousin Bobby and his girlfriend Dana picked us up from the airport. It was so nice staying with them and catching up! They live right down the street from a jazz club David Bowie would perform at (see pic below, Faith loves Bowie). We then explored Berlin a bit by seeing the Holocaust Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate. We were pretty exhausted after not sleeping on the plane, so we just hung out at the apartment that night.
The next day we checked out the East Side Gallery, where there are beautiful murals on the Berlin Wall. We went on a 4.5 hour bike tour which we would recommend 10/10. This city is very ~bike-able~. We learned about so much of the history and heard a ton of crazy stories about the Berlin Wall, WW II, and certain monuments in Berlin. The tour guide said some very interesting things: in East Berlin, residents could get free education, but then they would go work in West Berlin. The Westerners told those in charge of East Berlin to "fix it" because the west was tired of taking care of the east. The east then decided to build a wall to trap in their residents. This is different from what we learned in school. Another thing that stuck with me was visiting the plaza where Hitler burned history books. It's unbelievable that he tried to destroy history. I had heard, and clearly saw, that Germany's approach to its past is to confront it and educate everyone as well as possible to ensure the history is understood and won't be repeated. A different approach than the US. The rest of the tour was great and we even saw Angela Merkel drive by on her way to Parliament! That night, Dana's family got to town and we all went out to dinner. I learned you can mix dry white wine with sprite and it makes it nice and sweet ;)
The next day we did more walking. We first stopped by Bobby's office where we got to see a lot of cool products (check out nokking.com). We then went inside the Pergamon on Museum Island, which unfortunately was very underwhelming. We had a great lunch at a food stand called Mustafa's in Mehringdamm. Definitely recommend! That night we again ate with Dana's family and had wiener schnitzel and baked potatoes as well as German beer! We enjoyed our stay so much and it was sad to leave the next morning!
We arrived in Prague very tired, so we just walked around the first afternoon. Things to note about Prague: it's THE most romantic city in the world and it has THE best ice cream in the world (citations needed). It also consumes the most beer in the world (Austria is second, Germany is third, and Ireland is sixth @all of you about to look up that list). The first night we went to an amazing Italian place, away from the tourist area, called Osteria Da Clara. It's a small place where the menu is only written in Czech on a blackboard; luckily the waiters spoke English.
The next day we went on a free walking tour of the city. Our tour guide was entertaining and we learned about a lot of the history, like the fact that Prague was the center of the Holy Roman Empire at one point. For lunch, we had some of the best burgers of our life at Meat & Greet. While we haven't tried Czech food yet, the international food here is delicious! After lunch, we "czeched" out Prague Castle, which was actually part of a much bigger complex. It had a great view of the city.
For our last day, we began the day by going to a different part of town and hanging out at a coffee shop with the locals. After attempting to go to a beer garden during all of our previous days but getting lost along the way, we finally made it to the Letna Park Beer Garden, which had a great view of the city. We ended the day with delicious ice cream from Creme de la Creme and some Netflix :)
Berlin was very different from what we expected. It was huge and spread out. We took public transportation and walked around the whole city. It was very quiet, especially compared to New York, which was surprising considering it's the capital. When we arrived, our cousin Bobby and his girlfriend Dana picked us up from the airport. It was so nice staying with them and catching up! They live right down the street from a jazz club David Bowie would perform at (see pic below, Faith loves Bowie). We then explored Berlin a bit by seeing the Holocaust Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate. We were pretty exhausted after not sleeping on the plane, so we just hung out at the apartment that night.
The next day we checked out the East Side Gallery, where there are beautiful murals on the Berlin Wall. We went on a 4.5 hour bike tour which we would recommend 10/10. This city is very ~bike-able~. We learned about so much of the history and heard a ton of crazy stories about the Berlin Wall, WW II, and certain monuments in Berlin. The tour guide said some very interesting things: in East Berlin, residents could get free education, but then they would go work in West Berlin. The Westerners told those in charge of East Berlin to "fix it" because the west was tired of taking care of the east. The east then decided to build a wall to trap in their residents. This is different from what we learned in school. Another thing that stuck with me was visiting the plaza where Hitler burned history books. It's unbelievable that he tried to destroy history. I had heard, and clearly saw, that Germany's approach to its past is to confront it and educate everyone as well as possible to ensure the history is understood and won't be repeated. A different approach than the US. The rest of the tour was great and we even saw Angela Merkel drive by on her way to Parliament! That night, Dana's family got to town and we all went out to dinner. I learned you can mix dry white wine with sprite and it makes it nice and sweet ;)
The next day we did more walking. We first stopped by Bobby's office where we got to see a lot of cool products (check out nokking.com). We then went inside the Pergamon on Museum Island, which unfortunately was very underwhelming. We had a great lunch at a food stand called Mustafa's in Mehringdamm. Definitely recommend! That night we again ate with Dana's family and had wiener schnitzel and baked potatoes as well as German beer! We enjoyed our stay so much and it was sad to leave the next morning!
PRAGUE 5/19-5/21
We arrived in Prague very tired, so we just walked around the first afternoon. Things to note about Prague: it's THE most romantic city in the world and it has THE best ice cream in the world (citations needed). It also consumes the most beer in the world (Austria is second, Germany is third, and Ireland is sixth @all of you about to look up that list). The first night we went to an amazing Italian place, away from the tourist area, called Osteria Da Clara. It's a small place where the menu is only written in Czech on a blackboard; luckily the waiters spoke English.
The next day we went on a free walking tour of the city. Our tour guide was entertaining and we learned about a lot of the history, like the fact that Prague was the center of the Holy Roman Empire at one point. For lunch, we had some of the best burgers of our life at Meat & Greet. While we haven't tried Czech food yet, the international food here is delicious! After lunch, we "czeched" out Prague Castle, which was actually part of a much bigger complex. It had a great view of the city.
For our last day, we began the day by going to a different part of town and hanging out at a coffee shop with the locals. After attempting to go to a beer garden during all of our previous days but getting lost along the way, we finally made it to the Letna Park Beer Garden, which had a great view of the city. We ended the day with delicious ice cream from Creme de la Creme and some Netflix :)
Thanks for joining me, Faith! It was so much fun, even all of our naps :)
Bobby!!
ReplyDeletealso the bier garten u are too classic
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