Berlin: The End of Our Euro Trip

Once we arrived at the main train station we spent some time trying to figure out the metro system so we could get to the generator hostel. The Berlin train station is by far the largest train station I have ever seen so far. It is basically a shopping mall sitting on top of a shopping mall sitting on some railroad tracks. We were able to get some food, probably McD’s, I really can’t remember at this point but it had become pretty standard for us to eat at McDonalds whenever we could. It was so dang cheap.


We got to our hostel and had no problems checking in. We brought our things up to our room and met our two roommates. They had had a pretty late night and were in no condition to be woken up yet. The Generator hostel surprised me. It was about 10 stories of rooms and had a couple of rooms for internet usage, one smoking and one non-smoking. There was a big dining room and a big kitchen where hey ad buffets for breakfast every morning. The best part was that it was free! All you can eat for free! The hostel was the cheapest one we had come across as well. It was only 10 Euro a night. They had a big bar and an outdoor seating area to have some drinks or eat some food out in the sun. They also had a projector for movie night which we did take advantage of the first night in. I finally got to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I also found a copy of Max Tivoli in my locker which is the book that Benjamin Button is based off of.

We got some food at a kebab stand that was right outside the hostel which sold some HUGE kebabs. We are all about cheap and delicious. We didn’t venture anywhere on this evening though. We decided to stay in and catch up on internet stuff and to just relax for one evening. We planned on going to bed a little early so we could get up to make the free walking tour in the morning.

Our guide was British and a little goofy looking but was very intriguing. He had many bad jokes to share with the group but was very knowledgeable. These free tours are the best way to go when travelling on the cheapy cheap. The guides only work for tips but always seem to do an amazing job. We got to see the the Brandenburg Gate, a view of the Reichstag building, and all in embassies in Pariser Platz and then walked to the holocaust memorial. This is not what I had expected the memorial to be but I was absolutely fascinated with what the artist had done. Our guide said that people either love it or hate it but I definitely was in awe in the presence of all those concrete pillars. The next stop was a parking lot which is where they discovered Hitler’s bunker to be at the end of the war. The community did not want to have any remnants of the place so they filled it in and paved it over. We also got to see the remains of the Berlin wall, checkpoint Charlie, Gendarmenmarkt, the book buring memorial, and museum island. We tipped the man afterwards for an awesome tour and then decided to stay and lay around for a while.

Before going back to the hostel, Lindsey bought some hair dye to touch up the red in her hair and convinced me that it would be an awesome idea if I did it too, even though I have no red. Why not? We headed back to the hostel afterwards and ate some more kebabs before going up to our room. 3 Euro for a kebab the size of your head is a gift from God. Not the healthiest meal but it is one of the most delicious.

We got back to the room and Lindsey introduced me to the wonder of dying hair. She went first and then used the left over’s on my head. It was a cool feeling. It looked like my head was on fire while the dye was settling. It was a little tingly but I must say I was a little excited. I had to wait 30 minutes and then I rinsed it out in the shower. It turned out pretty good, Lindsey does good work. It was kind of like raggedy Anne and Andy. I showed Ramsey who was on the internet downstairs who told me I looked so lovely. I think by lovely he mean gay but what can you expect. Boys will be boys.

There was supposed to be karaoke going on in the bar which we were excited for because we hadn’t done since Albufeira in Portugal. Everyone got tired though and wimped out. There was an overload of underage kids about anyways. It was like a high school in the place. The average age had to have been 17 or younger. I waited until about midnight for the singing to start but it never did so I went to bed myself. Of course, as soon as I laid down my head I heard the bar crank up the tunes. It went on till about 3 in the morning too. They sand a lot of old American classics like Do Wah Diddy and of course Michael Jackson galore.

We hit up the breakfast buffet for the last time before checking out and then got our things all packed up for our journey out of Berlin. We had planned on taking a train to Frankfurt even though our Eurail passes were expired. We were just going to buy a ticket but realized it would have cost around 75 Euro a piece for the trip. No way. We did a little research at the train station and decided to rent a car instead since we didn’t need an international driver’s license to drive a car Germany. We just had to catch a bus to the Berlin airport to do so.

I was so excited. I get to drive on the autobahn! The For Focus was in Lindsey’s name but we all had a turn at driving except for Brandon. I couldn’t resist. I had to see how fast I could get the Focus up to. Lindsey was screaming at me every time she heard me accelerate. I only got it to 185 km per hour before she forced me to stop. We decided to take a detour near Duben to see some of the German countryside. We ended up near some farmland where we parked and went on a little nature hike to the top of a small hill. We didn’t have to be at the airport until 6 am the next day anyhow so we figured we would see as much as we could while we had the chance. We also got to stop in Jena for a quick bite to eat.

I only had to stop once along the way to fill up the tank. It was a little after 1 in the morning so needless to say I was running on E myself. I ordered myself a large coffee and an energy drink to keep me awake for the rest of the trip. Considering I have a low tolerance to caffeine I figured this would be enough to make it to the airport. I wish it would have been sunny out because it seemed like we were passing through some amazing countryside but I will never know for sure. It took another three hours to get to the airport but we did make it in one piece.

There was nobody around to receive the keys for the car but there was a drop box to put them in. For some reason I felt like I should hang on to them until I knew for sure when our flight was leaving and if we were at the right terminal. Brandon accompanied me inside where w had to walk through a labyrinth of hallways before we found the check-in area. We looked at the departure board but could not see our flight anywhere. It was nearly 5 a.m. at this point and we knew our flight was scheduled to leave at 8. The terminal was almost completely empty. All of the information booths were closed except for one. We asked the man if our flight was on time and he informed us that we had arrived at the wrong airport. We were at the Frankfurt Main airport and we needed to be at the Frankfurt Hahn airport. It was over 70 km away from Frankfurt Main. I couldn’t believe it. I was already tired and delirious from the lack of sleep and I was beginning to crash hard from the caffeine I had had earlier. We had to hurry. We got back to the garage and did a quick search to find a way out. The rental car drop off point was there to receive cars and not drop them off. We were sure we were going to be locked in. Luckily there was a button on one of the gates that opened it. It lead to a one way street going the wrong way but we had no choice. We had to bail out of there. I hit the button and quickly ran back to the car to get our asses out of there and headed toward Frankfurt Hahn.

I was having some major issues staying awake. The rest of the gang was sleeping and the music wasn’t helping my situation at all. I needed a big dose of caffeine but had no time. We needed to get to Hahn and fast. We were about 15 minutes out when I dosed off and quickly woke right before smashing head on into a guard rail and a passing car. That was the dose of adrenaline I needed to make it the rest of the way. We finally found the drop off point after doing a few loops through the town and got checked off by the rental car agent who had arrived at the same time as we did. I was not in a good mood. We still had to get inside and separate our bags to meet the baggage weight requirements for the flight. However, we were right on time. We made it through without anyone going over the limit and were waiting patiently to board at our gate before we knew it.

A Day of Discovery in Denmark

The next day we checked out of the hostel and headed to the Carlsberg brewery. Johnny and I really wanted take the tour but the others did not. We went anyway. It wasn’t the most amazing experience but I did get to try some good beer and have my first brewery experience. The gang got quite impatient outside but it was there loss. We went and got our train reservations to Berlin afterwards and then had lunch at a Korean buffet place with Johnny. He had to take off right after lunch.

Once he was gone we went back to the hostel to drop off our packs because our train wasn’t scheduled to leave until after midnight. We heard there were concerts going on all every weekend in Tivoli so we decided we would spend the rest of the day there. I’m glad we did. It is a beautiful Amusement park with some great shows going on. We were serenaded by Copenhagen symphony and entertained by the Tivoli play as well. We even went on a giant tower swing ride that had an amazing view of the entire city. The main act on this night was Cassandra Wilson. She did a very good job. I am not the biggest jazz fan in the world but she could really sing. After the show we walked around and saw all of the beautiful lights that the park is known for. Lindsey scored some free ice cream from Cold Stone which was amazing because it was: a. Cold Stone in Denmark, and b. it was free!

We returned once again to our hostel to retrieve our bags and then walked back to the train station to board our seated sleeper to Malmö Central and then Berlin. Bye bye Denmark, hello Germany!

Rendezvous in Copenhagen

I had been in communication with the group via email before arriving in Denmark so I knew when and where to meet them. The most recent email I had received from them had said that they would be getting in around 9 o’clock. I left the train station at 10 a.m. and walked to the hostel that I had booked for us a couple of nights prior. It was called the Backpacker’s Hostel. It was a big place with huge dorm rooms that ranged from eight man dorms to 64 man dorms. It was like a concentration camp almost. The place was only OK on the whole. It was hot, the showers were tiny, and you had to pay for breakfast. Not good. They did have a patio with a couple of grills, though, and the charcoal was free to for all to use.

I got on the internet for a while in hopes that there would be a message from the gang but there wasn’t. I decided to go walk around while I waited for them instead of just sitting around and doing nothing. I am glad that I did so. I got to see some really good street performances while I was walking around. I saw an alternative bluegrass band, a comedian juggler, and Native American Indian tribal music. I don’t know what they were doing in Denmark but it was one of the best performances I had seen. There was something about it that reminded me of the Karate Kid, which is most definitely a good thing.

I then walked to the port area which was packed with drunken people just sitting all along the canal walls. It made me a little jealous. I decided that it was time to head back to the train station for 9 o'clock’s second coming of the day. I walked passed Tivoli once more and realized that this place was not just a park but it was an amusement park! Right next to the train station as well. I got to the train station at 8:30ish and waited until 10:30ish. No sign of the gang. They had to have arrived by now. I said screw it and just walked back to the hostel hoping they would be there. Thank goodness, as I was walking up the entrance I saw Ramsey sitting in the lobby reading his book. I was happy. I walked up to the room where Brandon and Lindsey were sleeping and threw some hugs on them. Linds, Ramsey and I thought it would e good to go for walk to soak in the night air. They had been on trains all day anyhow and it would do them some good. Brandon stayed back and slept.

We walked by Tivoli and to the pier where I was earlier. On our way back Lindsey and Ramsey discovered that by returning cans and bottles to convenient stores and super markets you could make so money and decided to raid every trash can we came across on our way back. It didn’t take them long to learn which cans were good and which types were unacceptable. It became a game for them. There was a lot of competition though. It seemed as though every place we went to people we constantly coming up to us asking us for our water bottle and empty cans.

Before meeting up with the gang, I had been in contact with a girl by the name of Rikke. She was the friend of Alex, our French Canadian friend we had met in Barcelona, and was informed by Alex that we would be coming to Copenhagen for a few days. I talked with her over the phone and set a time and place to meet up on the following day. It was the third of July. The four of us were on our way to meet up with Rikke when we decided that we were going to grill tonight. It seemed right to uphold the American tradition

We met up with Rikke at the train station and went with her to a nearby beach. This beach was all grass and had a diving platform! It was a perfect day for it as well. Denmark was having a heat wave. She had brought some drinks for us as well. This was the first time we got to try Bulmer’s. It wasn’t as good as Strongbow but it was a tasty treat for a hot day. Ramsey and I did a couple jumps and dives from the platform as well. We saw many little kids doing it and thought that we couldn’t allow them to show us up. After all, we are American and it was the most American holiday of the year. Well, all it took was one dive and I managed to throw out my tough American back right away. You win Danes. I will just head back to the grass, sit down, drink my cider and be quiet.

Rikke’s friend stopped by the beach to hang out with us for a while. Hr name was Julia and was a biochemist. They invited us to come with them to Julia’s apartment that night followed by a visit to Den Glade Gris, which translates to The Happy Pig. How could we not?

We said goodbye and then walked back to our hostel stopping by a grocery store along the way. We picked up some Danish hot dogs and some corn on the cob for the main meal. We also had potato salad and Lays potato chips for side dishes. It was a perfect 4th of July meal. Oh yeah, and Beer! We grabbed some charcoal from the reception upon our return and commenced the grilling out back. We met a lad from England by the name of Johnny. He was eating alone so we invited him to eat some of our delicious American cuisine. We told him about the Happy Pig and he said he would meet us there.

The night was amazing! We spent a couple of hours out on patio at Julia’s telling stories and getting to know each other. We then got to see her apartment and listen to some popular Danish music. It was very funny. I think it is amazing how almost everywhere you go in Europe you will hears some type of American music but back where I come from we are not exposed to hardly any European music. It would be nice if I could break these language barriers so I could understand what I was listening to. We didn’t spend too much time there. We left shortly after 11 pm and walked to the metro so we could get to The Happy Pig. The clock struck midnight while we were on our way so I busted out the iPod so to play Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American”! Lindsey and I sang it loud and proud. It was so much fun. It made me think of all my family and friends back home and how much I am starting to miss them.

We arrived to our destination, running into Johnny on the way and grabbed a booth before it got too busy. The drinks were expensive but we needed to celebrate! We partied hard until about 4 in the am and said our thank you and farewells to such an awesome group of gals. Brandon, Ramsey, Lindsey, Johnny, and myself walked back to the hostel after that but we luckily ran into a little guitar session from one of the street performers and a bunch of tourists in the middle of Town Hall Square. He played and we danced until the sun came up. It so amazing! People of all origins and races from all over the world were singing and dancing to the same songs together. It was such a great experience. Once we saw the sun coming up we went back to our hostel and slept.

Bone Chapel Baby!

We got off the tram in Sedlec after heading in the wrong direction and back again and found ourselves inside the Cistercian monastery. It had some interesting history but everything was somewhat modern and they were still refurbishing the place. It wasn’t the most impressive cathedral I had been in but it is hard to be overwhelmed on the church front after witnessing St. Peters Basilica twice. The Kostnice Ossuary was mind blowing, though. 40,000 bodies rearranged to create magnificent pyramids, chandeliers, coats of arms, and crosses. It was an eerie feeling being amongst so many skeletons. I was speechless. This was definitely one o the most fascinating things of the entire trip I would have to say.

We managed to walk back and got some lunch near our next destination. It was called the Church of St. Barbara. This was a cathedral that I was impressed with. They had a three dimensional rendition of the Last Supper where the disciples were actually sitting around a table in the same fashion they were in the painting except they were not all sitting on the same side. This was the first time I had seen The Last Supper portrayed this way.

We were going back to pick up our stuff from the hostel we had stayed at but a large storm had managed to creep up on us. We ducked inside the entrance to an underground mine exhibit and figured we would take a tour since it was raining out and this was underground and all. I mean, who doesn’t love caves? We asked when the next tour was going to be but we had unfortunately missed all of the English tours and they had only one more tour left that had just started. This tour was in Spanish. At that moment I wouldn't have had it any other way. We jumped on the Spanish silver mine tour bandwagon and tried our best to comprehend what was being said. The only people on this tour, besides us, were a couple from Spain. They were very nice people. Vanessa is much more fluent in Spanish than I am considering I am not fluent at all. You can only retain so many Spanish words from two years of high school Espanol classes with Senora Gibbons. No offense. She is an amazing teacher! The best part was that we got hard hats, lab coats, and big flashlights! I really enjoyed the tour. It must be the miner in my blood. Thanks pop!

By the time we had finished the tour, the storm had blown over and the sun was back out. We had switched hotels because we had failed to make a reservation at the previous hostel and it was booked by the time we returned. We found another that was even nicer, though. It was in the centre of town for the same price and had an even better set up than the previous place. We had a TV this time. Something neither of us had seen in a while. Legally Blonde was on in Czech which got Vanessa excited. I can’t say that I am a fan but I tried to watch for a couple minutes. It was intriguing trying to interpret the Czech into English without the subtitles.

The next day, we were on our way back to Prague so I could catch my train to Denmark to meet back up with all of the others. We hit up the internet cafe and said farewell for the last time. It was so awesome that we had made such a great new friend via Princess Cruises. Who would have thought? She was off to Croatia next. We exchanged some pointers and then were back on our own. So long kiddo!

Kutna Hora Arrival

The train to Kutna Hora was packed full and HOT! We managed to walk through every single car before we found a cabin that was empty. Well, almost empty. There was a guy in there with us who talked on his cell phone the entire time. I just plopped my head phones in and stood out in the hallway next to the window. The fresh was heavenly. I just let the breeze cool me down and listened to some Avenged Sevenfold tunes and thought about all my friends back home. This was the first time I had started feeling a little homesick.

It took an hour to get there but we managed and ended up at a pretty nice hostel for pretty cheap. It was here where Vanessa had found out that she had received another acceptance letter for Grad School. She was on cloud nine. I was happy for her. It made me think that I should maybe get back to school as well, maybe not med school but definitely on the track to a Masters. Seattle maybe?

We went on a brief tour of the small town and ate dinner at a REALLY good place. The mixed grill was amazing! We also got to try cow tongue for tapas. I was impressed. It kind of felt like you were making out with your meal while you ate it but once you got passed the taste buds, it was delicious. We also got to see the monument dedicated to the victims of the Plague. We didn’t have much time though before the rains came and washed us off the street. No complaints. We were ready to sleep. I was very excited to see the bone chapel!

Man in the Mirror in Prague

The alarm hit at 6 in the morning. I was not accustomed to such early risings but I managed to get my butt out of bed. I found V at the train station right on time and led her toward the campsite. We did the train bridge thing although it was train less this time around. We got back to the bungalow and jumped on the gang to wake them all up. We were originally going to have V stay at the campground with us in a different bungalow but there was talk of maybe to going to Poland and Auschwitz instead of doing another night in Prague. We laid out a game plan and got an idea of what the train schedules were going to be. Even though Poland sounded like it would be amazing, there was a bone chapel in a town near Prague called Kutna Hora that I really wanted to check out. I remember looking into it the last time I was in the Czech Republic with my best friends but never made it there. Lindsey, Ramsey and Brandon chose to head to Poland while I decided that I would do another couple nights in Czech so I could see the bone chapel. Vanessa and I found a decent hostel online and made a quick reservation. The five of us then walked the bridge one last time with a train coming at us with our packs on! Scary stuff man!

We checked out a Salvador Dali exhibit that was taking place in a building in Jan Hus square. There was also a magnificent gathering of Michael Jackson fans in the square blasting his music and spreading pictures, posters, albums, drawings, lyrics, candles, flowers, and other memorabilia all over the pavement. I thought it was great but the others are not true MJ fans and couldn’t appreciate what was happening. Nobody’s perfect ;). When “Man in the Mirror” came on, I wished for nothing more than to have all of my dear friends there with me tearing it up right there in Jan Hus. Oh what good times we have had listening to that song. Rest in peace dear MJ.

This was one of the most fun days we had had in a while. We took some great pictures in front of St. Vitus Cathedral next to the Prague Castle with all the other tourists around wondering WTF we were doing. We were definitely stealing their vacation thunder for that brief moment but hey, when you are in the zone, you are in the zone. After our hilltop shenanigans we stopped by a used bookstore and then got some good grub and beer. The next stop was across the St. Charles Bridge to see the night’s entertainment and stare at the river for a while.

It wasn’t long until we were saying our farewell to the gang for a few days. This would be the first split we had done for more than 24 hours, at least for me. They were going to stay together for Poland. We hugged it out and then saw them off down the metro stop stairwell in Wenceslas Square. The next order in business was to get some cheap wine and then explore the narrow streets and alleyways of old town Prague. It was a great night for it as well. The rain had finally subsided and the temp was good. It was great getting to hear more about Vanessa’s experiences abroad and her giddy anticipation to start grad school. We were also looking forward to Kutna Hora. Bone Chapel here we come.

Where am I?...

Once again, were woken to the pacing of Brandon. Nobody had smiles on their faces. It was cold and overcast and only about 6 o’clock in the a.m. the best part was that we still needed to get to the train station and gather our things so we could find a campground. We knew the general location of most of the campgrounds in the city so we thought we could just walk over that way and see what we stumbled upon. The best part about this trip was walking over a train bridge that didn’t allow but barely had enough room for a person to cross with our massive packs. We made it without any casualties. The bad news was that all of the campsites weren’t open until 10. We had a while to wait yet.

We parked ourselves on the sidewalk underneath a bus stop kiosk and waited a few hours until the campsite offices opened. The site we decided to stay at was pretty cheap and had a bungalow for the four of us. We through our stuff down and tore our gear off like it was infested with flesh-eating flea-mites. I had never been as comfortable as I did at that very moment in my entire life. It didn’t take long to fall into dream land.

We spent the rest of the day on a walk in what we thought was going to be toward the city but ended up leading us almost out of Prague. At least we got to witness our first Czech bowling match that was taking place at the Troja Chateau. We didn’t stay long. Just long enough to understand how the game was played. We then continued to follow the river long enough to realize that we were never going to make it to the city centre heading in the direction we were going. We stopped to admire some snails and eat our din din and then headed back to camp.

The topic of Christmas came up because whenever I put my iPod on shuffle there is usually a random Christmas tune thrown in every 10 songs or so. We discovered that this night was the one half mark of the year before Christmas! So I decided that it would be appropriate to play Christmas tunes all night long. It most definitely was. We went to bed a little early since I had to be up early to meet Vanessa at the train station in the morning, the third time getting to see our favourite cruise-mate. Merry Half Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Homeless in Prague

We pulled into Nadrazi Holesovice somewhere around 10 in the a.m., I believe? Once again, there was no plan. Just show up and settle down wherever we see fit. I remembered the streets of Prague little bit from my trip in ’07 but not all that well. We wandered through Wenceslas Square and eventually made it to Jan Hus square where we discovered what appeared to be a festival of some sorts. There were booths set up selling cheap food and beer and also a stage constructed in the middle of the square. We had found a flyer stating that it was the first annual Prague festival and that there would be music from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. This was great news! We decided that there was no need to find neither a hostel nor a campground. We could just attend the festival and stay up all night long! We’ll just worry about a place to sleep tomorrow! What a great idea! Or so we thought...

After dropping off some things at the train station we got back to Jan Hus square and caught the tail end of some Czech band that I was not all that impressed with. Once there set was done, they started tearing the set down. We couldn’t understand why. The flyers said that the show was supposed to go on until 4 a.m.! I was not in a good mood after all of this. Our shows were cancelled, I was a little hyped up from a confrontation with a drunken Czech man, and we had no place to sleep. Good thing I had brought some drinkies for the show. They went down in a hurry.

After visiting a few bars and getting a little more intoxicated than I had planned we managed to find a McDonald’s to get some lat night cheap treats. Well, in true Burich fashion I managed to fall asleep sitting down at our table inside the restaurant. We were quickly tossed out of the place once the night mangers caught a glimpse of this. It didn’t matter much to me because right outside was a little sausage and sandwich stand and even though I had just ate this was an incredible discovery to me. Once I ate my ‘I think it’s chicken but it’s really just cheese’ sandwich we were off to find a place to bed down. A bench by the riverfront? Yes Please!