New York

Went to New York earlier this month. We stayed in Brooklyn which ended up being our favorite borough.

Myra and Roxanna's first time flying!

Had to figure out the subway system.

Brooklyn

Museum of Modern Art

New York Bagel 

Yankees game! 

Day 7

"How do you feel about going home tomorrow?" my roommate asked as we were layering on clothing and preparing for a morning bike ride.

After a lonely day six, I woke up feeling ready to go home. "I had a good time in Europe, I'm dreading the travel back home, but I'm anxious to be home," I replied.

But throughout the day, my desire to go home turned into dread! I didn't want to leave! I loved Prague too much.

After breakfast, we went on a bike tour through the narrow, bumpy streets of Prague. It was difficult because there was about 15 of us wandering through the crowded roads. Plus, the cobblestones made the ride extremely bumpy! But this was an excellent way to see much of the beautiful city at just the right pace.


One of my favorite thing to see on the bike tour was sculptures by the controversial artist, David Cerney. We saw three of his sculptures on our tour.

The first one we saw was this man, probably Sigmund Freud hanging outside of a building.



The second one we saw were these giant babies. These ones were in Kampa Park. From Kampa Park, you can see Prague's TV tower in the distance. These babies crawl on that tower (I was unable to see this) possibly suggesting that babies these days are raised by the TV.





The third one we saw were these guys proudly peeing in a pool shaped like the Czech Republic. The sculpture was broken at the time, but you are able to text a message to a certain number and they will move their hips to pee that message.


We also rode by the Lennon Wall again.

Next to the Lennon Wall, there is a little gate with a bunch of padlocks locked to it. People in love come to this gate, lock a padlock on the gate, and then throw the key into the river below.



The bike tour ended around 1pm. By then, we were starving. I went with a small group of people to eat at a nice restaurant in the Palladium Mall. I ordered the same thing I had for dinner the first night I arrived in Prague. It was so salty and delicious! Yummmmmmmmmmmm!



Then, we were going to all go to a museum together. But first, me and another person wanted to stop by our hotel to use the restroom. We were supposed to all meet in the lobby in like 10 minutes. I was down there, waiting... for like 20 minutes. Apparently the two girls misunderstood me and just went on to the museum we were supposed to go to. And the guy who also had to use the bathroom ended up falling asleep in his room. I got tired of waiting plus I was anxious to get the most out of my last day in Prague, so I ventured out on my own.

I first stopped by a Salvador Dali exhibit in Old Town Square. I wasn't able to take pictures though.

Then I walked across the Charles Bridge where locals sell artwork and jewelry. I bought some photos of the Lennon Wall (as it used to be) for my brother.

By then, it was already almost dinner time. Our group met in the hotel lobby so that we could walk over to a restaurant and have a traditional Czech dinner. This time, the food was just okay. There was a lot of meat, which isn't my favorite thing to eat.

There was live traditional Czech entertainment. At the end of our meal, the dancers picked people from the table to join them in their dancing. One creepy-ish guy came over to our table to pick a partner. Immediately, all the girls pulled out their cell phones and pretended to be busy texting. I was too slow. He picked me to join him! Ahhh! But it was fun!



I meandered through the streets taking in everything! I especially love the way Prague looks in the evening, after the sun sets but before it gets completely dark. I just wanted to memorize everything.

When I got back to the hotel, I reluctantly began packing. That was it. My trip was over. :(

My roommate fell asleep while I was packing, so I didn't even get to say good bye.

I went to bed around midnight and tossed and turned all night dreading the next day.

Day 6 part 2

(Writing from HOME SWEET HOME)

After our walking tour, we had a lunch cruise where we were able to try traditional Czech food. We started our meal off with a shot of something (I think it's called Becherovka?). It's supposed to help you digest your food. Our tour guide said that her grandmother takes a shot of this every morning for good health. She says her grandma is often smiling because it contains almost 40% alcohol.





We also got 4 free drinks on this cruise, so I decided to take this opportunity to try a Czech beer. They say that in Czech, beer is cheaper than water. I'm not a fan of beer or any carbonated drinks so I didn't drink much of it. Oh well, it was free!



From there, we were free to do our own thing. I first went to the Palladium Mall (right next to our hotel) where I HAD to buy warmer clothing. It was rainy and windy. It was about 34 degrees, but felt like 31 degrees according to weather.com. So I bought a long sleeve t-shirt from H&M and a thick black scarf.

I walked over to the hotel to empty out my purse a bit (I inadvertently collect sooo much stuff throughout the day... receipts, fliers, maps, brochures, change etc) and change into my new warmer clothes.

I then walked over to find the John Lennon Wall. I wanted to be sure to get pics of the wall so that I could show my brother. It was really hard to find and I almost turned back to the hotel a couple times because it was soooooo windy and cold! My umbrella kept flipping inside out. I eventually found the wall and took a ton of pictures!





After viewing the wall, I began the walk back to my hotel. It was cold, but I took the long way back. I wandered around the old part of the town and then the new part of the town. I wanted to remember everything about this beautiful city. I wanted to remember the way the cobblestone paths felt underneath my worn out flats. I wanted to remember how windy and cold it was (I've only been this cold like two other times in my life). I wanted to remember the delicious smells coming from the spring market in Old Town Square.

I decided to go through a little museum. I think it was called the Torture Museum. They had a bunch of information on ways people were tortured in medieval times. The museum was dimly lit and they had a soundtrack of spooky sounds playing throughout the room. It was totally spooky. I'm not sure why I came here by myself! Luckily, there was a couple going through the museum at the same pace as I was. I just stuck close to them, being careful not to enter a new room until they did first!




We were on our own for dinner. I just grabbed a orange-apple juice to tie me over until I could decide on a real dinner. I went to my hotel to get a break from the cold. I ended up getting too cozy and ended my day there, without dinner.

Other people on the tour. including my roomie,went on a Pub Crawl where they went to like 3 bars and 1 night club. The pub crawl included lots of free drinks and entry into the club, but I felt like it would be a waste for me. Many of my tour mates came home early in the morning... around 4 or 5!

It was kind of a lonely afternoon for me, so I updated my blog, skyped with JR, and spent some time on facebook.

Day 5

I started off the day with a quick breakfast at the hotel. Then we loaded our bags onto the bus.



Then we were on our way to Dresden, a town about 2 hours from Berlin, near the boarder between Germany and Czech. One interesting thing about this town is that it was bombed during the last few days of WW2.

We had 2.5 hours to explore Dresden and eat lunch. One of the girls I met on the tour and I went in search for lunch. We ended up not eating at a restaurant. I got two pretzels and she got bratwurst.

This girl is interesting. She's hard for me to hang out with because she's really... "frugal" (same girl that didn't want to leave the club until we had 4 people to split the taxi cost). She goes from place to place searching for a bathroom that only cost 30c euro to use. Also, she walked to three different bratwurst stands to see if any one was cheaper. I can understand wanting to be frugal, especially because she's still a student, but why worry about one or two dollars if you already spent thousands on a trip to Europe?

So what ended up really making me mad was this. The reason why we grabbed a quick and easy lunch was because we both really wanted to see a museum called Zwinger. It was actually HER suggestion, but I really wanted to see Raphael's Sistine Madonna so I was excited too. Then, when we got inside, she saw that it cost money to enter (duh!) and was like, "I don't know if we should go in because we won't have enough time to see everything. Should we do something else?" So I was like, "We have an hour and a half, what do you want to do?" and she just kept walking around leading me around the whole damn city. It was too cold to be wandering around like that. I would have gladly paid just to be able to stand inside a building. So I've been avoiding her ever since. Hhaah.

Here's an old picture of me and JR with that famous image taken from the bottom of Raphael's Sistine Madonna. Looking at this copy hanging on the wall of Santa Maria's Straw Hat Pizza is not as cool as looking at the real deal in Europe, but oh well.



Here are some pics from Dresden.





We walked into a Mc Donalds because that girl wanted to find a cheap bathroom. But I thought this was cool... at most of the Mc Donalds I've seen here in Europe, they have a separate section for Mc Cafe which is like a little cafe with desserts and coffee drinks.



Then we eagerly got on the bus (it was super cold outside!) and were on our way to Prague! To pass the time, we did introductions. We had to stand up in front of the bus and tell everyone your name, where you're from, who you're traveling with, when you're leaving the tour, and one celebrity you love and one you hate.

Then, 2.5 hours later, we arrived in Prague. I instantly fell in love with this city. It happened as soon as I got off the bus. I just love everything about Prague.

It amazes me that a driving 5 hours away from Berlin will land you in a city completely different! It's a different country, different language, and different currency! It's amazing to me because if I drive 5 hours from my house, I could be in San Francisco. Yeah, SF has its own culture, but we still speak the same language, use the same money, and have the same governor etc.





After we checked into our hotel, we went out to dinner as a group. I was totally worried about Czech food, because German food didn't appeal to me at all. My tour manager kept saying, "Czech food is wacky!" Luckily, the dinner we were served was AMAZING! It was the most I had eaten all week. It doesn't seem wacky at all. It was salty and delicious!





After dinner, we went on a quick walking tour of the city, just so we could orient ourselves. The streets are narrow, crowded, and windey so it's easy to get lost!

Our tour manager suggested that we see a blacklight show. She warned us that it was weird "like an acid trip" but said it's "totally prague" so of course I wanted to watch the show!



It was... interesting. Weird. It didn't make sense to me, although I heard later that it was supposed to be about Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) growing up. Uhh.... okay. But I'm glad I went. I would totally go back tonight if it wasn't 25 euro. I think it was a bit overpriced.

I came back to my hotel after the show. It was sooo cold outside! I'm not used to this kind of weather. Anything under 55 degrees is "freezing" to me! My roomie was ready to go to bed, so I sat outside my room and skyped with JR/updated my blog. While I was sitting outside of my room, an old lady asked me if I needed help :) and some creepy old man asked me to come in to his room. Hahah. So I decided to go back inside my room and get some sleep.

Day 4 part 2

(Writing this from Prague. I LOVE it here. It's the most perfect place! But anyways, back to day 4...)

Here are some more sights from the walking tour:

The Brandenburg Gate. This gate survived WW2. It's Berlin's most beloved structure. It's super old (built in the 1730s).



Here's a rare picture of me. It's rare because if I want a picture of myself, I have to ask someone else to take it of me which can be a bit embarassing. So, I can't be picky about the way I look in pictures.




We stood by the Adlon Hotel where I got a better picture of it. If you haven't already guessed, this is the answer to the Pop Quiz from a couple days ago. The Hotel Adlon is where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the belcony. Supposedly it was from a room on side of the hotel.



Then we went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. I thought this memorial was super interesting. The architect, Peter Eisenman didn't give us much clues as to the meaning of this memorial. We are able to interpret it however we want. On the outside, the blocks are short and scattared. As we walk down the rows, the blocks grow taller and more structured. It creates a sense of isolation because, even though I was in the heart of the monument with over 30 other tour members, I could only see quick glimpses of them as they too made their way across.





From there, we visited the site of Hitler's Bunker, which is now just a parking lot for some apartments.



Then, we saw the last (or one of the last) Nazi building's still standing. Today, it's used as some office building, but it is often used in Nazi movies like Valkyrie. Our tour guide told a funny story. I guess a few years ago, he was leading a tour on filming day for the movie Valkryie. For the movie, they had to transform the building to make it look the way it did during the Third Reich. They hung huge red flags with swastika's on them. He said he was leading the tour, turned the corner, saw all the flags, then saw the mouths drop and eyes widen on the faces of all the tour members. They thought it was real, but of course, it was just Hollywood.



After that, we were free to do our own thing. I was happy to break away from the group and do some exploring on my own. I walked down a street that had malls and lots of shopping. I didn't buy anything.

I eventually made my way back to Museum Island. I decided to give another museum a try. I usually love museums, so it was weird that I didn't like the one I went to the day before. This time, I had an audioguide so I was able to learn something and understand exactly what it was I was looking at.

The Alte Museum (Old Museum) had lots of Greek, Rome and Etruscan stuff.







A hermaphrodite... Where I finally realized why the word is "hermaphrodite" (Hermes+Aphrodite).


I saw two statues with dogs, but I think this one looks like Roxie.


Juilius Caesar and Cleopatra




After the museum, I bought a sandwich. It was pretty good, except the bread here is super tough! But I liked the sandwich because it had butter and cheese inside! I don't know why I've never thought of doing that! Yummm calories!



I ate my sandwich on the way home. Surprisingly, I found my way home using the U-bahn fairly quickly.

I'm getting more comfortable speaking German words to get help (hello, good morning, please, thank you, and water no gas). One thing is, many German's speak some English but if you don't approach them using German, they generally won't be very helpful. They'll just start speaking to you in German and act all annoyed. So basically, all I have to do is say hello and please in German and they'll feel more comfortable speaking to me in English. Realizing this has helped so much.

Before I went home, I bought some candies from a grocery store. I went back to my hotel, dropped off my stuff and then went back out to do more shopping. It was my last opportunity to shop before leaving in the morning and I wanted to pick up a few things to remember my trip.

When I got home, my roomie was about to leave to view the Brandenburg Gate at night. I decided to call it a night. I skyped with JR for a bit then went to bed around 11pm. Ahhhh sleep :)

(oh yeah... same thing about spelling and grammar... i don't care if it's wrong. Oh and some of my facts might be wrong too. Haha. And leave me some comments, I want to know who is reading this!)

Day 4

Oh yeah, excuse my spelling and grammar errors. When I ask blogger to do my ABC check, they highlight EVERY word because they're thinking I'm trying to write in German. I don't feel like figuring out why this is happening, so just excuse my poor spelling.

After only about 4.5 hours of sleep, my annoying alarm clock went off. Ugh. I took a shower and went to breakfast (late again). I quickly ate my breakfast and got on the bus.

My only planned activity for the day was the Historical Walking Tour. This was the BEST tour. Our tour guide was Amercan but he's been living in Berlin for like 6 years. He was extremely knowledgeable and he communicated his knowledge to us so clearly! I learned so much from this walking tour. I wish that this was the first thing we did in Berlin, it would have been a perfect orientation to the city! But better late than never.


One of our first stops on the tour was on museum island. This is a picture of the Alte Museum. It probably looks familiar to you because Hitler used this area to lead huge Nazi rallies!





One interesting thing about many of the the buildings we saw today is that you can see lighter colored patches all over their facade. These buildings were heavily damaged during WW2. The light color patches on the facade are actually covered up bullet holes! It's taken decades and a lot of money to restore these buildings to their pre-war quality.

We continued down the road to this memorial. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a memorial for fallen soldiers. It depicts a grieving mother holding a fallen soldier, her son. Directly above the memorial, a circle was carved out of the ceiling exposing the mother and son to the elements 365 days of the year just as the soldiers were exposed to harsh conditions during the war.




Across the street, we stood at the sight of a Nazi book burning. Super sad. Reminds me of Fahrenheit 451 or, more recently, the Koran-burning preacher guy. But I loooooooved the memorial there. It was impossible to get a decent picture of it, but I'll describe it. On the ground in the center of the courtyard area, there is a slab of glass. You can look down into the ground (through the glass) and see tall rows of empty white bookshelves. And apparently (I couldn't see it at the time) in the middle, there is a light bulb, always lit to symbolize that it is possible to destroy the book, but you can't destroy the idea <3

Next to the memorial is a plaque which translates to "Where books are burned, in the end people will burn." Which was a quote from Heinrich Heine who lived long before the third reich. That quote is so true that it totally creeps me out!





From where we were standing, we could look across the street and see Humboldt University. Many famous scholars have been associated with this university. Einstein, the brothers Grimm, Marx, and Engels to name a few! Anyways, I can't find the picture that I took of the Humboldt, but here's a picture of a nearby building... I think a faculty building for Humboldt (?).



Then we made our way down Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin's most famous structure which miraculously survived WW2.





We took a quick bathroom break. Here, you have to pay to use public restrooms. Also, if there is a restroom attendant, you have to tip them like 50 euro.




...I'm going to stop here.... I'm tired! I'll blog more tomorrow on my way to Prague.