Prague

Tyn Cathedral

     Despite this trip happening almost a month ago, I'm finally getting around to writing about Prague. We arrived in Prague at a decent hour of the night, and with the help of a really nice couple exiting the opera we found our hostel quickly. Prague is a small city with narrow streets and it might seem easy to get lost but really everything is pretty close so if you wander you're bound stumble upon some landmark and figure out where you're going. Our hostel was right by the Old Town Square and the rooms had a rustic feel, as in our door was locked with a skeleton key and the entrance to the bathroom was only four feet high. But it put us right where we needed to be. The next day we hit the town for a free tour of the city.

Astronomical Clock

    We had very good luck with weather and Prague is a beautiful town. The Tyn Cathedral dominates the skyline by the Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock is great to see in action. All the figures move, the windows open up and the Apostles parade, and its capped by a gold rooster crowing. The inventor of the clock had his eyes put out by the leader of the city in the 1400's so that he would never make a clock like that for another city. Also each day of the year has a name associated with it, so the last wheel of the clock is really hard to read, but if its you're name day you get to take all your friends out for a drink. Like Berlin, communism is still very much present in the city. They are still recovering from the economic loss and brain drain caused by Soviet occupation and puppet governments. The city is thriving though, and despite the stigma of being in "Eastern Europe" is actually really safe, most people out at night are just drunk.

Propaganda: Communist Bar

     The Czech drink more beer per capita than any other nation, so of course we had a to take a beer tour of the city. Our guide Lucas was a local Czech who grew up in the city and liked leading the tour "Because I love beer." We went to all different pubs and got to try different varieties of their famous Pilsner (unpastuerized, makes a huge difference) and even the original Budweiser. Budweiser is actually a type of beer, the American company just took the name for itself, there's some bitterness left despite all these years. The beer was amazing, and so was the company. We met a lot of other people our age who were travelling abroad. Apparently its the thing to do in Australia. We met fives Australians on the beer tour and none of them had travelled together. They left Australia by themselves, some as much as 6 months ago. They just save up and ship out. Its an interesting way to see the world, since being alone means you're kind of forced to meet new people and out yourself out there. One girl was telling us she was so desperate to speak English with someone that she knocked on the door of the hotel room next to hers and asked if they wouldn't mind her joining them for dinner, simply because she heard them speaking English in the lobby earlier. The tour ended at a bar that was Communism themed. It had all the old communist propaganda as well as some symbols of the new freedom the Czech feel they now have.

Beer tour friends

Palace Cathedral

     The next day we visited the palace, which is really a collection of buildings but still a sight to behold. The cathedral at the castle was started in the 1300's or so, I may be off, there, but wasn't finished until the 20th century. At the front of the cathedral, amid all the images of saints and angels, are four men in business suits, since they paid for the cathedral to be finished they wanted to be on it as well. We went to the National Museum as well, which is really just an odd natural history museum with rooms upon rooms of rocks and stuffed animals. It was a little underwhelming, but the building itself was worth the admission.

National Museum

     Earlier in our tours a guide mentioned that to see the Charle's Bridge (one of the focal points of the city and the connection between the main town and the palace town) as it was in the middle ages, one would have to go on it early in the morning, when there were no tourists and the bridge was by itself. So we did, getting up extremely early we had the whole place to ourselves.









 Prague was one of my favorite cities on this trip. The food was good (dumplings and goulash) and the  whole place extremely friendly. The way our tour guide put it was that every visitor helped Prague shrug off communism and get back into a good economic standing, we were happy to help.

Palace from Charles Bridge

    

Berlin

      We only stayed two whole days in Berlin but it was time well spent. We got in around 5:00am from our overnight train ride with little sleep and no chance of checking into our hostel until at least three that afternoon. We lounged around for a bit and then headed off to take a walking tour of the city. In each place we went we encountered a group called Sandeman's New Europe which is an organization that offers free tours of European cities. The tours are always in English and usually given by people who speak English as a first language but have some sort of connection to the city. To get to the meeting point for the tour we had to take the metro. Unlike London, Berliner's aren't sticklers about the public transportation and since its  such a huge city taking some sort of underground or bus is a must. I only paid for a ticket once during the entire trip and we had to take the metro at least 5 or 6 times.

Brandenburg Gate statue of Victory

      So we met up with Samantha, a spritely British blonde who had moved to Berlin with her boyfriend a few years ago. The tour was excellent, we got to see all the cool places Berlin has to offer while Samantha chirped stories and facts about each place. It was interesting to see how prevalent the old communist split still is. Its in the architecture and the stories behind a lot of the places. It should seem obvious, but it never really hit me until I was there, and in places like Prague or Amsterdam they had histories much older than still affected the makeup of the city, not really true in Berlin. The oldest monument is the Brandenburg Gate, which is from the 1700's. The gate has a funny story behind it. When Napoleon took the city he brought the statue on top of the gate back to Paris. Back then it was a statue of a goddess of peace. After Napoleon was deposed the German's got their statue back, and changed it from a statue of peace to a statue of victory. They then named the square the statue looks over "Paris Square" so from now on the victory is always looking over Paris. Otherwise the entire city was blown up during the second World War so there isn't much left in terms of older buildings.

According to our tour guide this is the "Michael Jackson Baby Dangling Over Balcony Hotel"

Holocaust Memorial

     On our way back from the tour we walked through the Tiergarten, or the Central Park of Berlin and it took us quite a while to get back, Berlin, as I said, is really big. That night we decided to find the Berlin Oktoberfest. The only reason we came to Berlin in the first place was because Munich was too packed for us to get to the Oktoberfest there, and online it said that Berlin itself does indeed have an Oktoberfest. 2 hours of walking through the sketchiest parts of Berlin later we realized that there probably was not an Oktoberfest in Berlin. We ended up on the outskirts of the city near the airport. We stopped by a Burger King to ask for directions or the nearest bus stop and the woman behind the counter told us we had to go to Munich for Oktoberfest. Luckily for us the guy next to us in line heard our problem and offered to give us a lift back to the city. Now, hitch hiking from one of the worst parts of Berlin back to the city center might not sound like a good idea but we were tired so we accepted. He ended being a very nice guy who gave us another semi-tour of the city as he dropped us off at a restaurant packed with locals that served Bavarian beer by the litre. The food was delicious, sausages over cabbage, potato soup, apple turnovers, it was really good and we were so tired we were willing to shell out a little extra dough for comfort food.

Reichstag

      The next day we went to the Reichstag and waited in line for an hour and a half to get inside. It was worth it though, as a free tour its pretty cool on top and offers some nice views of the city. Then we relaxed and enjoyed our vacation for the rest of the day and took our train to Prague at 4:00 in the afternoon.

Amsterdam

      The first stop on our week long break was Amsterdam. Its a charming city that feels more like a big town with a lot of canals. Its a pretty city but in a relaxed sense, like if Paris didn't take itself so seriously. We arrived late at night after two long train rides so we went to bed early, much to the disapproval of Lola, the British girl who shared our hostel room with us. The next day we did a tour of the city by ourselves, just waling around and looking for interesting things. It only takes two hours to walk the entire city, meaning that wherever you stay, you're close to something. We've had terrible luck with places being under construction when we visit and in Amsterdam both the Royal Palace and the Rijksmuseum were being repaired. In the case of the palace the entire thing was covered with sheets and scaffolding so it was hard to tell there was a building there. The Rijksmuseum was great, a whole lot of Rembrandt and a few Vermeers. On the first floor they had a whole exhibit to Dutch maritime history which was really interesting.
      The best part of the day though, was the Heineken Experience. Heineken started in Amsterdam and still has their global HQ there. The beer is no longer brewed at the Amsterdam site so they turned it into a museum/attraction. The entrance fee got you two free drinks at the bar at the end of the tour and you also got a free drink at a tasting halfway through. We got to look at the brewing process and taste the beer at different stages as well as some of the ingredients. By the time we got out it was happy hour at the bar in our hostel. We met some Austrians and joined them for Amsterdam nightlife.
       The next day was more relaxed sightseeing and then we walked around Amsterdam at night, including the famous Red Light district, which is actually not very sketchy and is a big party scene. We found a sports bar that played American football so we got stayed there and got a little taste of home. The next day we saw Westerkerk, one of the tallest buildings in Amsterdam and got good panoramic views of the city. The Anne Frank house was crowded with tourists and the building that people walk through is actually not the house that she lived in. I think part of the tour walks through there but its mostly in a   museum. There are cats in every bar and cafe in Amsterdam. Its just what they do. We were tired and hung out for a while in a cafe while waiting for our train and the whole time right next to us was this cat just hanging out.

      The attitude of Amsterdam is relaxed and a little slower than back in the states. People don't go to bed till 3am and don't wake up till late morning. When we went out we had to actively try to get our check, they're content to let you sit and relax, no hurry. Also they bike everywhere, and really enjoy their bikes. Little things make Amsterdam interesting. There are rows of houseboats and even a museum dedicated to tulips.