kojetin, cesky krumlov and prague - czech republic

I can't believe it's been like a week already since my last entry! It's been an action packed week and I just haven't found the time.. get ready, I think this is gunna be a long one.. haha..

When we arrived in Kojetin, Kveta was soooo excited to see us! She didn't speak any English, but was going a mile a minute in Czech. It was so funny. Her son Martin spoke some broken English though, which helped get some main words and ideas across. We had lunch with them - another delicious meal.. soup, roasted chicken.. and ice cream! yummy.. After lunch we looked through some pictures and the family tree, then went over to Olina's house which was just around the corner. Kojetin was quite small (with the cutest little train station yet!) and everyhing was very close. There was more family waiting for us there, and Olina's granddaughter, Monika spoke English quite well which was sooooo great! She was a huge help. That evening, Radek (Monika's uncle) took us all to Kromeriz where there was a castle and nice gardens. We also went to the pub that Radek owns and had a pivo (beer!) We asked if we could take a couple of coasters as souvenirs; he laughed and gave us a couple of mugs instead..haha. We were talking about our travels, and how we were heading to Cesky Krumlov the next day, and it turned out that Svatka has a brother there! Our plans were kind of unstable with the trains and connections and a 3hr layover in Cesky Budejovice, plus we were also unable to find accommodation because there was no online availability for bookings. Svatka called her brother up and he phoned around and set something up for us. It wasn't right in the city but it was soo cheap.. Awesome! She also told us about a bus we could take from Cesky Budejovice so we wouldn't have to wait so long for a connection. And better yet, her nephew spoke English and was going to pick us up from the bus station once we got to Cesky Krumlov! It was such a relief to have it all work out for us like that! When we got back home, we had a fire in the backyard and roasted sausages over it. They were delicous. They weren't really hot dogs, but mike made his into one, lol. At the barbeque we were also introduced to a Czech specialty - Slivovice (aka plum brandy!) They poured us a shot and gave us a cup of water to chase it with. We were scared at first but it was realllly good! After dinner Monika took us to the bowling alley/pub that she used to work at and we played a few games. I kicked Mike's butt.. muahaha! When we were done our games we went over and sat with some of Monika's friends and boyfriend. A few of them spoke some English..they were sooo funny and we had a really good time.

The next morning was an early one. We had to be ready at 7 because Radek, Monika, and her cousin, who I think was named Lucy, were taking us to these caves (Treplice I think they were called?) We took the tour (which was in Czech!) and tried to follow along on our little English pamphlets. It was a really hot day and we had brought our swimming gear, so afterwards they took us to this beautiful lake and we went for a swim. It was grrreat! When we arrived back in Kojetin we had some more yummy Czech food - Goulash and Knedliky. Knedliky are these dumpling things filled with fruit (ours were peach) with melted butter and bread crumbs on top. We were a little worried about all the new things we were trying, and didn't want to be rude if we didn't like something, but everything was SOOO good, so thankfully that was never a problem!

After that it was time to catch our train to Cesky Krumlov, so we had to leave Kojetin behind. We probably could have stayed another night, but we already had things booked. It was late when we arrived, and it was nice to have someone pick us up. Martin was there waiting for us as planned and took us to our hotel right away. We made arrangements to meet him the next morning so he could show us all around. After he had dropped us off, we decided we were hungry so we went on a mission to find some food. It was so hot so we had opened all the windows in the room, but the problem was we left the light on too. When we came back the room was filllled with mosquitoes and other nasty flies. Mike went on a little rampage and took care of them all though so it was all good! Yick..we didn't make that mistake again.. hehe..

Martin was our age, and his English was pretty good, and he spent most of the next day showing us all around Cesky Krumlov. It was beautiful little medieval town, with a river winding all the way around it. It was a great orientation for the next day when we explored on our own. After Martin left us, we rented a couple bikes and tried to make our way up Mount Klet, the highest point in the area. The plan was to catch the sunset and get a great view of the town. I guess the memories of our last bike trip from hell had faded far enough from memory when we decided to do this. The memories all came flooding back as soon as we started the ascent though. Ugh it was soooo hard biking uphill in the sun! And, once again, the map we had was crap and we couldn’t follow it. The problem with bike maps is that they are too general and don’t take into account all of the minor turns and junctions where cyclists can get lost! Anyways, we made it probably half way up the mountain, stopped for a second, and got practically swarmed by bees and flies. It was awful. I’ve never heard bees buzz as loud as these Czech bees. It was like a monstrous HUM..and they were huuuge *shudder* One flew by Mike’s head, and he shook his head and his sunglasses went flying off into the bush. We had to try and find them with all these critters buzzing around and it was soo freaky! Mike had to plug his ears and kick around the bush with his feet. I couldn’t stand in one spot without getting swarmed, so I was running up and down the trail aimlessly trying to escape them. Mike finally found his sunglasses, and we continued on our way. If they had been mine, I would have just left them, it was that bad. Then again mine are cheap $5 sunglasses and Mike’s are RayBans =P Anyways, we got so frustrated that we ended up just turning back. It was disappointing, but it was starting to get dark and we didn’t even know where we were going; so it was probably for the best. We had the bikes for 24hrs which was cool, because it made the trips back and forth from our hotel into town a lot faster!

Our last day there we rented a canoe raft and did a cruise down the river. The company transported us up river, and we made our way back down to Cesky Krumlov. There were some parts with little rapids which was pretty cool. The trip took about 4 hours and my legs managed to get a little sunburned…the only place I didn’t put sunscreen! Afterwards we hung out in the castle gardens, had a nice dinner, and walked around the town a bit more.

In the morning, Martin met us at our hotel with his laptop and Mike burned a CD with some Czech music and some of Martin’s favorite songs. It’ll be neat to listen to that CD! Then he took us to the bus station where we caught our bus to Cesky Budejovice where we then caught our train to Prague (which was an hour late!)

Once we arrived in Prague we took it easy for a few hours because we had had a REALLY busy last couple of days. It also started raining reallllly hard which totally reminded me of Vancouver! Haha.. In the evening it cleared up and we went for a walk through the old square and to Charles Bridge. Prague is such a beautiful city, and the view of the castle across the river at night was gorgeous! When we got back to the hostel we hung out in the common room and had some more Slivovice. We met some people and ended up going out to this club with them. It was massive, with 5 floors of different kinds of music. It was pretty cool, but it was the first time I wore the dress shoes I brought, and I now have massive blisters on the backs of both my heels. I want to burn those shoes. I’m NOT taking them with me any further. The blisters are incredibly painful and I think I’ll be confined to flip flops for the next couple weeks at least. Dangit!

Our second day in Prague we explore the Castle area across the river. It was a day with A LOT of walking, and the dirt that got in my blisters felt really good. I thought I should let them air out, but bandaids would have been the better way to go. The walk across Charles Bridge was neat. Statues line each side, including a large crucifix that convicts would pause at on their way to executions back in the day. It’s also filled with street vendors and musicians, which made the walk seem shorter than it is!

Yesterday we explored the Jewish Quarter of Prague. There was a series of 4 Synogauges, the Jewish Cemetery, and Ceremonial Hall that were all included as part of one admission ticket. Each Synagogue around the district was set up as a museum of a different era of the history of the Jewish people. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about a religion I knew practically nothing about before. The cemetery was really neat as well. All of Prague’s Jewish people had to be buried in this one area, and because of the Jewish belief that the body should not be moved after burial, graves were piled on top of each other, and have really shifted over time. The graveyard is packed full of crooked and dilapidated headstones. Afterwards we walked to Wenceslas Square (as in King Wenceslas in the Christmas carol!) and went to the museum of Communism, which was also really cool. There was an interesting video of all the riots and protests that happened in that very square a mere what, 17 years ago? It’s hard to imagine all the oppression and unrest that would have been present here before the fall of Communism. It seems like a completely different city now. Watching that video and old news footage I could understand a little better why my parents might have been nervous about me coming to Eastern Europe, especially if those images that they undoubtedly would have seen on the news are all they remember or know of these countries. It really seems so different know, at least what I can see here in Prague. When we got back to the hostel we ate and just relaxed. There was this one guy who was incredibly drunk and carrying around a mini keg of beer and talking to it like it was his friend. We heard later that at some point that night he threw a chair out the window for some reason (and we’re not on the ground floor!) The police were called and he was thrown in jail for 48 hours. That would suck if he had a plane to catch or anything! LoL…

Today we planned on making a day trip to Kutna Hora, but ended up running some errands and getting tied up at the post office for a few hours..by the time we would have made it out there, it wouldn't have been worth it. Oh well, we'll be back one day I'm sure! Tomorrow morning we are catching a flight to Split, Croatia. I can't wait to lay on the beach alllll day =D

<3 shanon

mike's family, palkovice

mike's family, palkovice
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

mike's family, kojetin

mike's family, kojetin
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

mike's family, kojetin

mike's family, kojetin
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

cesky krumlov

cesky krumlov
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

cesky krumlov

cesky krumlov
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

martin and mike, cesky krumlov

6
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

charles bridge and castle at night, prague

charles bridge and castle at night, prague
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

view of prague from castle gardens

view of prague from castle gardens
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

jewish cemetary, prague

jewish cemetary, prague
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

jewish cemetary, prague

jewish cemetary, prague
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

wenceslas square, prague

wenceslas square, prague
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

krakow, poland and palkovice, czech republic

Let´s see.. where did I leave off?

We met some more people at our hostel in Krakow. There was this family (from north van!) of a mom, two daughters and a son who have been traveling all around asia for the last year and a bit. They´ve been to Mongolia, Afghanistan, India.. all sorts of crazy places.. it was so cool talking to them, and very inspiring! A few others that we met-Sonya, Nick, Brendan and Noel, came to Krakow with us on the same train. We had already pre-booked our hostel so we all didn´t stay at the same place, but we still all got together each night in Krakow. Our first night we all went out to dinner at this place called Sioux. Basically it was this Indian/wild west themed restaurant. I don´t know if they were just bad translations, but the names of the dishes on the English menu were hilarious! For example, there was one dish called "Juicy Manitou cult chopped with a tomahawk by Alan Pinkerton at high noon" (steak) or another favorite was the one called "Killed bison playing dice for his soul so that his flesh remains in one piece" You might think that´s made up, but I assure you its not. I took a picture of the menu and copied it word for word just now.. LOL! Afterwards we went back to their hostel, had some yummy fruity beer and played cards..

The next morning, Mike and I went to the Wieliczka Salt Mines just outside of Krakow. Ugh I wish I was connected through the laptop so I could post pictures, cause this place was really cool! Basically it was this huge underground network of tunnels and caves all filled with crazy sculptures and carvings made right into the salt.. there was even a huge underground chapel. I think the guide said altogether there were like 300kms of tunnels, but we only were able to tour a small percentage of them, about 135 meters below the surface. It was pretty cold down there, but that made up for the hour we had to wait outside inline in the blazing sun.. hehe.. When we got back from Wieliczka, we worked on planning the next bit of our journey. We had a few things to juggle around regarding visiting some of Mike´s family. His cousin in Vienna is going on holidays soon, so we had to kind of kill some more time over on this side of the continent, and Mike was also busy contacting his family here in the Czech Republic. It all worked out great though, and we have decided to go to Croatia for 10 days as a little vacation from the vacation, lol. So many people have told us how beautiful it is - I can´t wait for those beaches in Dubrovnik!

Yesterday we toured Auschwitz and Birkenau, the two main concentraion camps used during the Holocaust. It was awful and I don´t think I can even describe what it was like there. You always hear about it, but to actually be able to connect a place and faces and evidence with the word Holocaust is really something else. Being here I´ve become so much more fascinated with the War and really the history of the last century or so. When I have time I would really love to study it further..

This morning we caught a train to Ostrava, Czech Republic. We almost missed our train, because we thought it came at 8:30, not 8:12!! Train stations here are pretty huge, and when you first enter, there are huge boards listing all the upcoming departures. As soon as we saw what the actual time was, we started RUNNING as fast as we could with our dang heavy packs. It was brutal (especially the stairs), but worth it because we made the train! (it also helped that the train was running 5mins late!) Normally that wouldn´t have been such a big deal, but we had Mike´s family expecting us and picking us up from the station in Ostrava. When we arrived, Lubos and his girlfriend Petra were there for us, and drove us to their town of Palkovice, where we are staying tonight. After a DELICIOUS multi course meal, Lubos and his mom Hela took us to this open air museum place which I can´t remember the name of at the moment! We got there 30min before it closed, so we didn´t have much time.. it was still cool though. Hela bought me a little ceramic weiner dog, which was so sweet of her! It looks just like one of the dogs they have here at the house. After, Lubos took us to the Aquapark which was so awesome! It has been sooo hot over here, and we have been dying to go swimming. It was grrreat. When we got home we spent some time looking at old pictures of Mike´s family. It was neat to see pics of his mom and grandma from like 50yrs ago. Hela explained best she could, although the language barier was quite difficult at times. We made a deal that she will practice and we will learn Czech for the next time we visit!

Tomorrow morning we are off to Kojetin for a night to meet some more of his relatives, and now I´m going to go to bed, with my stuff all spread out on the floor and not locked up. I think I may even leave my money belt out on the nightstand cause I feel daring lol.. Ahhhh its a nice feeling not worrying about people stealing your stuff! hehe..

<3 shanon

warsaw, poland

so the train here wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.. we had heard all these stories about theives and whatnot, but it felt just like any other train ride. That doesn't mean we weren't watching our bags like hawks though, lol..

Our hostel is ok, turns out there is no wireless internet like the ad said, so sorry no pics once again! We have a guy with pneumonia in our room.. he says it's not contagious and i REALLY hope he's right =S. Last night was also brutal... we had the loudest snorer i have ever heard. He was completely drunk, which I don't think helped. Everyone in the 10 bed dorm was awake and laughing at him actaully. No one could believe what we were hearing.. One guy tried waking him up, but even that was impossible.. *sigh* I think he's switched rooms though, so we should be able to get some sleep tonight.

Our first night here we went out for a niiiice meal because things are so much cheaper here. We walked all around and finally settled on this mexican place. We ordered a dish called the "El Presidente" lol, which was this huge plate of all sorts of stuff - chicken wings, quesidillas, salad, chicken skewers.. just piles of food. The waitress even asked if we were sure we wanted that when we ordered because it was so much, but we said bring it on.. and we finished it! well, almost.. except for a few wings, which we had packed up to go. It was soooo delicious!

The next morning, (yesterday) we went to this place called the Russian Market. Basically it's this old outdoor stadium filled with anything you could ever want to buy, all for dirt cheap. I got a tube of Lancome Juicy Tubes lipgloss, ($20 back home) for $3!! Score! There was also all sorts of WWII memorabilia which was really interesting. We kind of doubted the authenticity of some of the items, but if you think about it, why wouldn't there be an abundance of those types of things here? Poland was right in the middle of so much of the action. There was this one vendor that spoke good english, so we talked to him about his items, and felt better about that instead of being ripped of because we don't speak Polish. Mike ended up buying this Nazi medal, one that would have been given to politicians within the Nazi party, not like a soldier's medal. There were so many fascinating objects, and I wanted to buy so many of them - pins, pocket knives, lighters, matchboxes, cigarette cases, all bearing either the swastika or SS logos. They were all very pricey though. Mike's medal ended up costing about 80 Canadian I think. I bought a Jewish armband for about 30 Canadian. During the war all Jewish people were made to wear armbands identifying them as being Jewish. It's a simple cotton band, with the star of David embroidered onto it, with "Jood" written in the middle. I think it's a neat peice of history for me to own, and sombering to think that this probably belonged to someone who never got to see the end of the war.

We had bought an all day transit pass for yesterday, and actaully had quite a few adventures on the bus. We didn't bother learning what buses went where, we would just get on a bus that was headed in the direction that we wanted to go. The problem with this was that sometimes the buses would turn.. lol and take us way in the wrong direction. Also, the stops are a lot farther apart, so we would end up having to walk and back track a lot.. haha.. it was funnier than it probably sounds.. We also went to the old town quarter of Warsaw, and a large park with the Tomb of the Unknown soldier. We also went to the grocery store and stocked up on stuff for dinner and breakfast this morning.. bacon and eggs! The bacon was kind of weird though, but I guess it was better than the toast we usually eat..

Tomorrow we're on to Krakow, where I think there will be more for us to do. We already have a couple of day trips lined up.

<3 shanon

berlin, germany pt. 2

wow.. crazy last couple of days!

On Friday we did some more sightseeing.. we went to the Topography of Terror and Checkpoint Charlie. On U-bahn on the way there, the funniest thing happened! For most of the time, we haven't been buying subway tickets because we've been taking short trips and because there is never anyone to check them. Because we we would be doing a lot of U/S-bahn travel that day, we decided it would be worth it just to get the daypass. The night before we had been talking about it and Mike was like, "wouldn't it be crazy if they had plainsclothes ticket checkers?" Sure enough, the VERY first stop we come to, we get checked my two plainsclothes ticket checkers! It was hilarious.. they were dressed up as American tourists, with loud Florida t-shirts, fanny packs, and cameras around their necks. We couldn't believe it.. we had JUST been talking about it.. good thing we bought tickets eh!

The Topography of Terror is this open air museum recounting all about WWII, the Holocaust and the Nazis. There were free English audioguides (it was all in German) and we stayed there for hours just listening to all of the explanations. It was so fascinating. The exhibit is actaully built into the old foundations of Prince Albrecht Strasse, the street where the buildings of the Gestapo and SS headquarters once were.. It was interesting, there weren't any pictures or explanations about Hitler himself, almost like he didn't need an introduciton..

Afterwards we went to see what remains of Checkpoint Charlie, one of three former checkpoints between East and West Berlin. There was a museum, but we didn't go in because we had to meet Keira back at the hostel for the Love Parade pre party, Love from Above.. which was awesome by the way! It was at this huge arena and it was packed! We got there in time to see Paul Van Dyk spin.. just in case we would miss him somehow at the actual Love Parade..

Yesterday the Love Parade began.. It started around 2pm I think, and goes until midnight. It's this huge techno festival. There are tons of semi trucks that have been turned into parade floats, each with it's own DJ. I think they estimated 2 million people to be there! There were some interesting people and outfits let me tell you! lol.. The parade is in Tiergarden Park, all around the Victory Column (the column used to be in front of the Reichstag, but Hitler had it moved to the park because he thought it would better complement his anticipated victory parades). It took us like 4 hours to make our way from the entrance, down the street, around the Victory Column, and down the other side of the street.. this thing went on for miles and miles and miles.. I've never seen anything like it!

I'm not sure what the plan is for today.. probably just taking it easy. Tonight is our last night in Berlin, and we are headed to Poland tomorrow. It's kind of sad, our time in Germany has come to and end.. I've really loved it here, and we've spent so much time in Germany that we've started to feel quite comfortable here! I think it will be much more difficult heading into Eastern Europe, with a greater language barrier and stuff.. We are going to Warsaw for 3 nights, then Krakow for 4 nights...

<3 shanon

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELAINA!!,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!! (yesterday)

love parade

love parade
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

love parade

love parade
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

love parade

love parade
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

scared lady at love parade

scared lady at love parade
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

love parade

love parade
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

one of the longest remaining pieces of the wall

one of the longest remaining pieces of the wall
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

crosswalk light in east berlin

crosswalk light in east berlin
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

crosswalk light in east berlin

crosswalk light in east berlin
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

what's left of checkpoint charlie

what's left of checkpoint charlie
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

topography of terror

topography of terror
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

berlin, germany

Yesterday was a day with ALOT of walking.. and I learned that although, wearing flip flops means you don't have to dirty a clean pair of socks, it might not be the best idea in the long run..

So yesterday we started by going to the grocery store and getting breakfast and some food for later. I bought sandwich supplies, but it was SO hot yesterday that by the afternoon the cheese was melted into one big glob and even the sandwich meat was melting.. yicK! We then took the S-bahn to the Reichstag (Parliament) and climbed the dome up to the top. The Reichstag burned down in 1933, and the Nazis blamed a Communist plot, but some believe Hitler himself started the fire, using it as an excuse to frame the communists and seize power. Then we walked to Brandenburg gate, one of the last of 14 remaining gates into the city, it was actaully part of a no mands land and went unused while the Berlin wall was still up. It's so weird to think that the Berlin Wall was still up just like 16 years ago.. even parts of their subway systems went unused. The east rented the use of some stations out to the West, but only as a loop around, so one could get out, and the stations were armed with guards. Even the tiles and signs at these stations remain old fashioned from that time. It's crazy to think that so much has happened here so recently. Berlin is a really interesting city.

All of the museums were free after 6:oo last night, so we went to three of them. First was the Egyptian museum (where the bust of Queen Nefertiti is), then the Pergamon Museum (recreation of a 2nd century Greek temple, all with actual excavated pieces) then we went on a 45 min walk over to Potsdamer Platz which is where the Gemaldegalerie (13th-18th century European paintings) is. The last one closed at 10, and we were kind of rushed because we got there at 9.. oh well it was still cool.. We probably should have saved that one for today, but hey, it was free yesterday!

Today we plan to go to the Topography of Terror open air museum, Checkpoint Charlie and the East Side Gallery. Tonight we might also go the the Paul Van Dyk pre party for the Love Parade, which is tomorrow night..

<3 shanon

boticceli's venus

boticceli's venus
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

queen nefertiti

queen nefertiti
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

brandenburg gate

brandenburg gate
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

reichstag dome

reichstag dome
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

reichstag

reichstag
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

munich, germany

Munich was a blast!

We've had a really busy last couple of days, and are now in Berlin. Looks like that free internet didn't do us much good after all cause there was no time for it anyways..

On our first full day in Munich we met up with one of Mike's old roomates from Waterloo named Gunnar, who lives in Germany about an hour away from Munich. We went to a beer garden and he showed us around town a bit. We went to the English Gardens which is this huuuuge park with like a river that runs through it. There's also a man made surfing area at the entrance to the park which was awesome to see. The park was packed with people cause it was such a hot day and we regretted not bringing our bathing suits because we could have hopped into the river and rode it down a ways.. there were so many people doing that! That night was also the night of the World Cup finals. The Munich fan fest area was humongous, and every square inch was packed with people.. The Italian fans went CRAZY when Italy won and this one guy even grabbed Mike, picked him up, and started dancing around with him.. lol it was hilarious!

Our next morning was an early one.. we woke up around 5:45 and caught the first train to Fussen, which is near where the Castles we toured were. We went with this other guy from our hostel, Aaron, who is from Vancouver as well. It saved us on the train/bus cost because we had more people too. We bought this pass called the Bavaria pass which gives up to 5 people unlimited transit travel for one day.. .bonus! It turned out the pass wasn't valid until 9am though, so we had to get off at this little town and wait until 9 until we could get back on the train. We had breakfast there though so it all worked out ok. The other thing was that part of the train track was being repaired so we had to take this 45 min detour on a bus. We had made reservations for our tour of the two castles, and we still made it there in time for those. The first castle, Hoenschwangau was King Ludwig's parent's summer home. He grew up there and when he was older built a huge, extravagant castle of his own called Neuschwanstein, just across the way from Hoenschwangau. The tour of the first castle was a bit of an introduction and warm up for the second, which was a hundred times more amazing than the first. Ludwig never actually got to finish it though, because he was declared "insane" and soon after was found dead in a nearby lake. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside either of the castles, but I did manage to get a few spycam shots.. muhaha.. The hike up to Neushwanstein was pretty steep and we were quite out of breath.. it was so worth it though!

After both tours we hiked up to the bridge behind Neuschwanstein for an incredible view. Im so glad it was a nice day; rain would have really sucked. For the way down we took the trail down the gorge instead, to the base of this big waterfall and we actually climbed right along the rocks to the base of it. The water was sooo cold.. We tried motoring over to the luge course (bobsled on wheels down the mountain) but it was further that we thought and we got there 5 MINUTES too late ! grrr... we were like out of breath and sweating from the hike but the guy still wouldn't let us on.. oh well.. we caught the bus back to Fussen and began the train ride back to Munich.

The next day (yesterday) we went to the Deutsches Museum, which is kind of like Science World, but like a hundred times bigger. They had exhibits on every type of technology out there.. like computers, transportation, astronomy, power machines, boats, airplanes, and on and on and on... Afterwards we went to this huge beer hall called the Hofbrauhaus for dinner and 1L mugs of beer. I got this beer called Radler which had lemonade in it, it was delicious! We were planning on taking the night train to Berlin, but when we went to the train station to make the mandatory reservations, we found out it was full. Crap. So we went back to the hostel but they were full as well. Crap. Checked the other hostels on the street. Full, crap. We either had to sleep at the station of sneak back into our old hostel dorm and sleep on the floor or something. This wouldn't have been a problem because they have no way of keeping track of who's coming and going, but we just ended up staying up all night at the hostel bar with these guys from Scotland and a couple other people from Edmonton instead and caught the 5am train the Berlin. The Scots were CRAZY. The introduced us to a few Scottish drinking games and man do they take them seriously! They made Mike chug his beer just for re-explaining the rules to this other guy who wasn't paying attention.. lol They were so stereotypically Scottish, with the accents and the beer and the singing and banging on the table. It was a hilariously awesome night and sure helped us pass the time till we had to catch our train. We got their emails and might meet up with them in Scotland when we go there.

Now we are in Berlin and just took it easy today. We did laundry, and are going to plan out our next week. We have 5 nights booked here at the Circus Hostel, and might actaully add another because it seems like there is A LOT to see here, with all the WWII stuff and whatnot..

<3 shanon

world cup finals, france vs. italy fan fest

world cup finals, france vs. italy fan fest
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

final fan fest, munich

final fan fest, munich
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

at the hofbrauhaus

at the hofbrauhaus
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

bridge with the great view of neuschwanstein

bridge with the great view of neuschwanstein
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

pollat gorge near neuschwanstein

pollat gorge near neuschwanstein
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

neuschwanstein castle

neuschwanstein castle
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

view from the castle

view from the castle
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

spycam shot inside the castle

spycam shot inside the castle
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

munich

munich
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

english garden park in munich

english garden park in munich
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

gunnar and mike

gunnar and mike
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

glockenspiel, munich

glockenspiel, munich
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

freiburg and rothenburg, germany

time to play a bit of catch up again!

Freiburg was really great.. our hike into the black forest wasn't much of a hike at all.. we just ended up going up to the lookout tower and hanging out there for a while and had our picnic that we packed. Afterwards we walked around the town, found some black forest cake (mike had two pieces, lol) and bought a bunch of stuff for a big chicken stirfry dinner.. so good! That night was hilarious.. our hostel had some boardgames, and we had picked up some more wine so we had a blast making up our own rules to these games that we had never played before. Pictionary was the best! It was all in German, so whoever's turn it was would pick one of the words, interpret it best they could and draw it.. lol it was awesome! Then whoever guessed it would go next. We also had fun making fun of Keira's accent hah.. she was a good sport and tried coaching us but we kept sounding british instead of australian..

The next morning mike and I began our series of connections to Rothenburg, and Keira went to Strasbourg (France). We had to change trains three times (and actually got on the wrong train for one of them but realized it just in time!) but finally made it to Rothenburg.. This place was SOO cool.. It's a completely preserved walled medieval town. The wall alone took 400 years to build, and the bed and breakfast we stayed at was 600 years old! It was soo creaky and noisy with every step we took. All the furniture was hand made by the owner. It was very cozy. I can't even describe how cute this town was. You could walk across the whole town, wall to wall, in about 20 minutes. We also climbed the wall and walked all the way around it.. neato! That night we took the Nightwatchman's Tour which was so cool. This guy (the same one from the Rick Steve's show lol) dresses up as the nightwatchman and takes us on a walk of the town, explaining how things were done and the importance of different things. This morning we went to their Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum it was very informative and really cool to learn about the crazy things they used to do to criminals. The even had a "witch catcher".. which is kind of hard to explain, but basically they didn't want to have to touch them, so it was a long iron rod with this collar thing on the end that they would try and get around their neck. The shopping in Rothenburg was also amazing.. sooo many souvenirs and things I wanted to buy but didn't have room for =(

This afternoon we caught a train to Munich (I didn't want to leave there but we had reservations!) which is where we are now. We have a couple day trips planned coming up, one to Fussen for the Neuschwenstein Castle (The one said to have inspired Walt Disney) and another to Bercherstgaden, where Hitler had a hideout called the Crow's Nest. Both should be really cool! We will be in Munich for 3, maybe 4 nights before heading to Berlin for a week.

<3 shanon

one of the gates into rothenburg

one of the gates into rothenburg
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

the nightwatchman tour

the nightwatchman tour
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

rothenburg from a distance

rothenburg from a distance
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

edge of rothenburg

edge of rothenburg
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

steps up the wall of rothenburg

steps up the wall of rothenburg
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

rothenburg

rothenburg
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

freiburg from the lookout tower

freiburg from the lookout tower
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

black forest cake baby!

black forest cake baby!
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

freiburg

freiburg
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

fanfest in cologne, germany vs. italy

fanfest in cologne, germany vs. italy
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

gameday in cologne, germany vs. italy

gameday in cologne, germany vs. italy
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.

belgium and back to germany

Arrghh.. I feel like I have so much to cover here and it's been so long since the last time I wrote an entry! And sorry, no pics this time.. they're on the laptop but I'm on the hostel computer..

Last I remember we were in Ghent. From there we went up to Brugges, which is only about half an hour away from Ghent. It was a cool town and we stayed at the Snuffel Inn. I always think of Snuffleuffagus from sesame street when I say the name.. haha.. We also found this great pasta place with 3 euro spaghetti.. it was soooo good and the owner looked like Freddy Mercury.. lol.On our first full day we rented bikes from the hostel and began the bike trip from hell. It was awful. Well, the scenery was beautiful, but the map was crap and we went waaaaayyy off the route and took the long way. All we wanted to do was have a nice ride out to the beach and have a relaxing day. It was supposed to take like 45 min, but took more like 2 hours. Once we finally got there it was really nice and sooooo hot (got a little more sunburned.. even though I wore sunscreen!). The ride home was even worse because we were worn out from being in the sun all day. It may sound like nothing, but honestly I think it was the most physically demanding thing I've ever had to do. My legs and body were like shaking. All and all I think we biked like 30 kms or something like that.. it didn't help that it was a blazing hot 35 degrees and we hadn't eaten since breakfast! (Belgium and Germany are going through a crazy hot spell right now) Ughhh.. but enough about that! At the Snuffel we also met our first travel buddy.. lol her name is Keira and she's from Australia.. We hung out for the remainder of our time in Belgium, and she came here to Germany with us as well because she has some extra time before she goes to The Netherlands. She has been here for 4 months already.. but is staying for 8 altogether, crazy eh!

Last night the three of us came back into Germany (Cologne again!) to watch the Germany vs. Italy match at the fan fest. It was extra crazy there because Germany was actually playing. The atmosphere was amazing and I think definitely a highlight of the trip so far. It was especially cool during the singing of the anthems. They really are so passionate about their country and the game of football.. it was very cool! We tried to learn some of the MANY German chants the crowd had going on as well.. everyone just sings their lungs out.. we did our best and got some translations from the people around us! It was quite a sad scene after Italy score that goal though =( You could just feel the energy die and there was just silence. Darnit we were hoping for another big party in the streets!

This morning the three of us caught the train down to Freiburg (where I am right now) which is in the south of Germany in the Black Forest region. It kind of reminds me of home actually! Lots of trees and hills (not quite mountains though!) We went to the store and got a whole bunch of food. It's quite cheap here.. A 1.5L bottle of water was 19 cents, and we got these big bottles of wine cooler for 99 cents! All of my food for the next couple days cost just under 5 euros. Tonight was pretty relaxing.. worked on some planning. We have July 12-18 booked in Berlin so we will be there for the Love Parade. Keira's heading to Rotterdam on the 8th, and Mike and I will probably go to Munich and Rothenburg before we head to Berlin.

Tomorrow we will get some trail maps and do some hiking around the Black Forest.. Don't worry mom, we will leave a trail of breadcrumbs so we can find out way back! (The Black Forest was inspiration for the story of Hansel and Gretel) and try to find some black forest cake! haha..

anywho, times a tickin and I still have to check my email... ta ta for now!

<3 shanon

amsterdam on to belgium

(ok pretend this was posted July 1st.. I've had this ready to go, but we've had no damn internet connection!)

Happy Canada Day!

We haven't been able to find free internet in a couple of days. I'm kind of going through withdrawal, so tonight I'm gonna give in and pay the hostel to use it. Im typing this up in microsoft word ahead of time though so I can just copy/paste quicky and have more time to surf! muahah.. I'm so clever..

I think I left off two days ago, so that's where I'll start! Two days ago was the day we made a day trip from Amsterdam to 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch for short).What a beautiful city! In Haarlem we discovered the Donair.. they are sooo good, and I cant believe I've never tried one at home before! We saw another Donair stand at the Den Bosch train station so we had lunch, then We took a boat tour that led us all around and under the city. There were all sorts of cool bridges and tunnels that went right under the buildings. Its kind of hard to explain, so look at the pics below to get a better idea of what I mean!The guide was all in Dutch, but we got a paper briefing in English. He talked non stop though, so I think we got the brief brief version! haha.. There was a lady sitting across from us from Toronto, visiting her uncle who was Dutch, so he translated a few parts which was cool.

After the boat tour we caught a bus to Sint Michielgestel, which is the town that Oma used to live in. I didn't know what was going to be there or how big it would be, so I though it would nice just to go to the supermarket and have a picnic in a park or something. It turned out that I left the paper Oma gave me with her sister's address on it back at the hostel in Amsterdam (D'oh!), so I called home and got Oma's phone number from my mom. Then I called Oma, who was very excited about where I was, and knew exactly where I was when I said I was at a pay phone in front of a big church! Oma called her sister Ans for me, and she came to pick Mike and I up. She drove us around and gave us a little tour. We went to visit one of Oma's old friends, Dortcha ( I have no idea how to spell her name but that's what it sounds like!), and then saw the house where Oma used to live. Afterwards we went to Ans' home for a while. It was really nice, with lots of farmland around it. Ans drove us back to the train station so we didn't have to try and find a bus that would take us there! It was very cool to visit there, and I'm so glad that everything worked out so we could..

Yesterday we checked out of the Flying Pig and caught a train into Belgium (Brussels). There was no where to stay there, so we caught another train to nearby city Ghent, which is where we are right now. Our hostel here is right next to a castle.. how cool is that?! We did the tour of the castle today, then walked around the city. We had lunch at this soup place.. we got REALLY good soup, two buns and a nectarine for only 3 Euro! I think I know where I'll be having lunch tomorrow.. haha. Oohh.. and we had some Belgian chocolate. From what I could tell it was really good, but I have a cold right now so I couldn't fully taste it =( I hope this cold goes away soon because it's hard to get up early and run around all day with barely and energy.. I've been drinking tea so hopefully that helps.

we are spending tonight at this same hostel, but when we buy internet time tonight we will find somewhere to stay for the next couple of nights, probably in Bruges.

<3 Shanon

mmm belgian chocolate!

mmm belgian chocolate!
Originally uploaded by shanonv123.