Germany, Vienna and Prague

Ummm so pretend that the date on this is a couple of weeks ago, because that's when I wrote most of it! The 24th of May, to be exact.

I'm sitting in the train station in Prague, beer in hand and free wifi, killing some time before my flight this evening. I love this place! I met Matt (my brother) this weekend in Vienna and we spent about a day and a half there and the same here in Prague. I've pretty much spent the past two long weekends now surrounded with beer and sausages, and I have absolutely no complaints! I'm starting to think I should have come a little farther east to study. :)

Last weekend was definitely a highlight of my semester. I don't know what it is about Germany, maybe just the ancestry factor, but I am absolutely obsessed. I keep telling everyone back home that I'm moving there after graduation, and the thing is, I'm not so sure I'm joking. I feel like (other than the language barrier, which I'm determined to take down) I really identify with Germany and could call it home more easily than any other place I've been besides maybe Paris (if I had my own apartment this semester, that is).

But anyway. I can't put my finger on any particular thing that made me adore Germany, but I guess it's just the combination of everything! I started out in Berlin and only had one full day there, but I feel like I saw a lot during that short time. I took another free walking tour (these things are amazing!) and saw most of the main monuments and tourist attractions and learned about some of the history of the city, which is just fascinating. Berlin, to me, isn't about the buildings (most of what I saw was pretty modern), but about the story behind the city, especially during the war. I took a peek at the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the holocaust memorial, the Reichstag (parliament building), saw remnants of the wall of course, and a few other memorials and parks and churches. It was a lot to pack in, but the tour covered most of that and then I wandered off by myself some and still had time to relax and drink a few German beers and try the BEST SAUSAGE EVER. Whoever had the brilliant idea to mix curry and ketchup and wurst and bread is my hero. I could eat Berlin's currywurst every day for a month and not get tired of it. Yum.

Then I headed back across the street between my hostel and the train station (i'm getting good at this hostel-picking thing :)) and took a train to Köln, aka Cologne, to see my friend Jork! He was an exchange student in Kansas the same year I hosted Ale (my Italian sister) so I met him through AFS even though we lived in different towns/went to different schools. I stayed in Cologne for about a day and 2 halves I think, and it was wonderful! One of the first things we did was go to a chocolate museum (ummm what more do I need to love a place?), and we also went to the former headquarters of the Cologne Gestapo (it was a great museum...had the prison cells mostly as they were several decades ago), hung out at the river a lot, in both Cologne and Leverkusen (where Jork lives), and tried lots of kölsch (Cologne beer...if i remember what I read online correctly, they have more breweries there than in any other city in the world)...YUM. I met some of Jork's friends and we hung out in bars (went to an Irish pub where they had karaoke my last night there...yessss) and just in general, had a fantastic time. :)

Last week, I spent most of my time doing homework for next week so that I will be able to pack up some things to send home with my brother and spend more time with my friends who are leaving next weekend. We have a little group of 6 that hangs out together and half of us are leaving. It will be sad to see them go and so weird not to have them there anymore (especially my roommate!).

I met Matt in the CDG airport and we flew to Vienna to start our adventures together. We walked all over that city, preferring to just wander and see things instead of planning out attractions and museums to hit up. We did, however, make time for some sachser torte and a lot of coffee before we bussed ourselves to Prague. I enjoyed Vienna a lot, but I'm not going to lie, most of the reason I wanted to go there is because Vienna is my favorite Billy Joel song. That's a good reason, right?

Prague--everyone describes it as an enchanting city, and for good reason! Highlights of the trip were seeing the castle and bridge at night (so pretty!), watching the Czech Republic beat Russia to win the world ice hockey championship (on a giant screen set up in Old Town Square), discovering my beers of choice are porters and yet again, walking around a gorgeous city.