Prague

Welcome to the second installment of three from my week long trip to Amsterdam Prague and Paris! We stayed in Prague for two nights and three days and of all the cities we went to, Prague was very surprisingly my favorite.

Now, the fact that I said Prague was "surprisingly" my favorite is not because I din't think Prague would be cool, I just never really thought about Prague before. I mean really, who daydreams all day about visiting Prague? No one but weird people (unless most of you do, then I'm the weird one). 

Not only did I change my mind about the city, I fell in love with it. The old buildings were spared from the bombings that destroyed many like them during WWII because Hitler planned on making Prague his capital city meaning most of them were built between the 11th and 18th centuries. 

We arrived in Prague on Tuesday afternoon and basically just went to find our airbnb because we have issues navigating and then got a pizza from a random hut which tasted better than it probably sounds. It was at this stop that our friend Darby met up with us, bringing our group total up to five.

The next day we went on a segway tour after reading many blogs praising them. Segways are harder to master than you would think but only for about five minutes, during which time you are 100% sure that you will fall off at any minute. While yes, I did eventually fall off (I was the only one who did because of course I was) I think I did pretty well and even managed to take pictures while driving it which all came out blurry.

Stolen from Jayden.
The confidence on my face is overwhelming.

The tour lasted around three hours giving us time to see just about everything in the city, and me to fall off dramatically once. Shortly after the tour began we came across the John Lennon Wall, which was created back when the communist government enforced strict censorship laws limiting the music and entertainment people could enjoy. The wall was originally spray painted with grievances but has changed to Lennon's lyrics and poems. The government would paint over the wall and the next day it would again be covered in lyrics and poems, eventually leading to a clash between the government and students on the nearby Charles Bridge. Today the wall is owned by the Knights of Malta who allow people to continue to graffiti it. To this day I have yet to see two pictures that look exactly the same of the wall. 

"Imagine all the people
living life in peace..."

 On our way back to our airbnb before dinner we decided it was high time to get one of the weird churro type things we had seen all night. I like to call them chimney struedals because I saw one sign out of five hundred or so that called them that and it's really the only name I can remember.

I mean the name isn't wrong.
P.S. This would look better if I hadn't just scooped out most of the whipped cream.

As delicious as those were, we needed real food so we headed off in search of the oldest pub in Prague which we never found. But we did find this cool guy who could breath fire and has crazy strong lungs. He also swallowed a two and a half foot long balloon so make of that what you will.

Not pictured: balloon

Prague was a great trip and so many more awesome things happened and I would love to spend all day talking about it but that gets boring so my last point of interest will be the Charles Bridge built by King Charles IV which was built between the 13th and 15th centuries. The bridge is lined by 30 statues and guarded by three bridge towers, one of which is considered one of the most astonishing pieces of gothic architecture in the world. This happened to be the only thing I knew about Prague and as such I was so excited to see it, excited enough that I got up the next morning and walked the thirty-five minute walk to see the sunrise on the bridge, which is where I got some of my favorite pictures.

My favorite statue, not for any good reason.
He just looks like a boss.

So to all of you who daydream about traveling, add Prague to that list... and segways. You won't regret it.

-Jen

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Amsterdam

So as many of you know, I took a week long trip to Amsterdam, Prague and then Paris, where I was present for the terrorist attacks. Many have asked me if I will do a blog on Paris and the answer is yes, but I will break the week into three different posts, hopefully giving my brain a little more time to process what happened and how I feel on the subject. With that in mind I hope you all enjoy the first of 3 installments, Amsterdam!

We arrived in Amsterdam on on Saturday Nov. 7 and planned to stay there until the 12th. Our plane was crazy early in the morning and so three of us (being cheap) rode the last bus to the airport the night before and slept there overnight for our 6:50 am flight the next morning. Tip: get there early or all of the booths will be taken and you will have to sleep on the floor.

By the time our flight landed in Amsterdam, we spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, attempting to find our hotel, and eating Belgian Waffles (which were not as good but we didn't expect too much.) We also found this wonderful creation called stroopwaffles which they set out free samples of and we promptly ate them all. Sorry. Kind of.

Wandering around the city like tourists.

That night was my first night in a hostel and as there was a total of 7 of us traveling in Amsterdam, we got a room almost entirely to ourselves. The first night there was a very small asian woman who was going to sleep above me but later that night she also snuck in her boyfriend and they shared the bed. Which was weird.

The next day we went on a hop-on-hop-off tour of Amsterdam and a Canal Cruise. Now to clarify, I didn't really expect to like Amsterdam, I don't know what I expected it to be but thankfully I was proven wrong. The city was beautiful and had a rich history. All of the buildings look like something from a painting (mostly because as historical landmarks, they are required to stay that way.) and everyone was very friendly.

One stop on the tour was the National Holocaust Museum, set in an old theater that at one time was a shelter for Jews in Amsterdam. We saw the progression of hate towards the Jewish community and saw the circumstances that sent many into hiding. I think this was my first time experiencing a holocaust museum in the exact spot where these people once walked and can only say that the feeling is indescribable.

This is a post card thrown from a railcar that was taking Jews to concentration camps. Many quickly scribbled these notes in the hopes that their families would get what they believed to be their last correspondence. 

A few others from our group did the Heineken experience and said they loved it while I'm sure, deep down in their hearts, Guinness still wins. Our canal cruise was amazing, taking us all over Amsterdam in the many canals and also passing the Anne Frank House which we visited the next day.

Update on the hostel bed situation: Night two, thankfully the couple was gone and I no longer feared any shenanigans on the bed above me but almost immediately after I had gone to sleep, a very large man got on the top bunk of my very rickety bed and spent the entire night tossing and turning and basically scaring me to death.

I have always been interested in learning about the Holocaust and so it was no surprise to me that I found the Anne Frank House to be so captivating. We arrived around 9:30 am, prepared to wait for a very long time. Thankfully we had each other to keep us entertained however not much could keep the cold away.

"Jenna stop taking pictures of me! I'm cold!" -Alexis

"Wait no take a picture of us!" -Jayden
"Guys STOP! No more pictures!" -Alexis
Laughing and more pictures- all of us

Once inside we were asked to not take anymore pictures, and I whole heartedly believed that I could not take picture that would do this building justice. My heart broke for this young girl as I saw the building she had been trapped in due to hate and violence. For almost 2 years, the Frank Family, the Van Pels Family and Fritz Pfeffer hid behind a bookcase. They made no noise during the day, afraid to even flush the toilet and had to rely on helpers in the office below them for food.

The people in hiding were betrayed (although to this day no one knows who did it) and Anne Frank and her sister died just 1 short month before the Bergen-Belsen Camp was liberated. The only survivor of the house was Otto Frank, who returned and had his daughter's diary published, and the house made into a museum as a constant reminder that this happened to people then and if good men do nothing, it could happen to people now.

Of the entire trip, my favorite part had to be the Anne Frank house and personally, it devastated me. We spent the remainder of the day walking around and generally enjoying the city.

Update on the hostel: 3 of our acquaintances left and so that night 4 of us stayed in the room. By some stroke of luck, we had no roommates. Unfortunately the first two nights our heater didn't work, so we left it on its highest setting. Well that night it decided to work so we all woke up, drenched in sweat. Ooops.

The next day we left for Prague which will be the subject of my next blog!

"I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."
- Anne Frank

London in a Day

I'm writing this blog post from the comfort of my bed here in Ireland, still attempting to recover from what I can pretty accurately call one of the busiest day in my entire life. Four other girls and I decided to fly into London for the weekend but ended up booking flights that left late Friday night and EARLY Sunday morning meaning we had only one day to experience London.

Our flight out of Dublin left at 9:30 pm on Friday, and arrived in London around 10:45 pm. Once we landed we immediately hunted down bathrooms and then tried to find a way to get to our hotel. After asking an attendant we got a bus that would supposedly drop us off a short 10 minute walk from our hotel.

 BOY WAS SHE WRONG.

By the time we were dropped off it was past midnight and about an hour and a half walk from our hotel. So we managed to find a taxi and make it to what could possibly be one of the sketchiest hotels I've ever stayed at (the hotel was part of a chain and they chose not to put the pictures of the dingy hotel on the website, just the nice one) so it was a miracle we survived.

The next day after breakfast we caught a taxi to the Tower Bridge, where honestly I would have liked to spend the whole day standing there waiting for it to raise, but apparently that's "not a good way to experience all of London". Whatever. Little did we know that this would be the start of a day full of insane amounts of walking and bike riding. I think if my feet were sentient and able, they would have gladly killed me after that day.

First stop in London, feet not in the least bit murderous.

After this we decided our best course of action would be to grab bikes and ride to all of our destinations. Unfortunately this meant leaving one of our own behind (does the saying "Never leave a man behind" count if it's a woman?) but it also meant we made it everywhere much faster. After a stop at the Globe Theater we decided to eat lunch at a restaurant called Porky's BBQ owned by a couple from Tennessee. I really enjoyed the food (despite not really liking BBQ) and thought the atmosphere of the place was great.

Did we go to a BBQ place in London? Yes.

We also saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament but of course we got there right when the sun made it difficult to see. Undeterred, we crossed the bridge from the London Eye and looked like the gawking tourists we are, as we snapped way too many pictures of buildings that haven't changed in a long time.

Almost dropped my camera in the Thames for this picture. Worth it.

From then on we went to several more places including but not limited to, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Hide Park, and a lot of other parks. Since it gets dark so quickly here in Europe, one of the last picture I was able to snap happened to be of a statue that I was desperate to get to all day. Peter Pan. Basically my favorite character because I too never want to grow up and I'm sure if I try hard enough I could probably fly.

Don't grow up. It's a trap.

Later on in the night we enjoyed a Jack the Ripper walking tour, and an amazing pizza place where I actually ate calamari. We then walked all the way to our bus stop (an hour and forty minutes away) and made our way to the airport where our plane departed at 6:30 am Sunday morning. We slept all day Sunday and today is the first time I am actually capable of productivity.

All in all my trip to London was wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was a bit stressful at times and by the end of the night we all wanted to kill each other (note: alone time is key to traveling with people) but it will be something that I will remember for the rest of my life. My only word of advice would be to spend a lot more than one day, and to enjoy it!