Ice is an Amazing Thing

Sorry I have not posted in a few days, there was a slight issue with internet use and I am making up for that now in Munich. So, brace yourselves for the longest post in the history of this blog.
Well, I am not sure what the deal is, but there seems to be a general lack of A/C usage in Germany. Also their trains suck, especially after I was so spoiled with awesome Czech trains. Dianna and I are currently en route to Munich on the most uncomfortable train ever. There are what appear to be signs informing us of the air conditioning on this train, so I am not sure if they are not using it intentionally to make us suffer, or if this particular train does not have it, or if it is so ungodly hot outside and there are way too many people and their bags stuffed into too small of a space and the combination of such things cancels out any affect the air conditioning would have.
It is time for me to list the little things that I completely miss about the states, and what I am looking forward to upon my return.
1) ICE- in general, I have not encountered any use of ice in beverages in Europe. When I am sweating like a pig in 90 to 100 degree weather, all I really want is a free water filled with ice. But even the things that they refrigerate are not that cold at all, which is extremely disappointing.
2) Free water- I am so sick of drinking lukewarm bottled water after lukewarm bottled water. I just want to be able to go to a restaurtant and be presented with a nice glass of cold, ice water and be able to drink as much as I want of it for free.
3) Free bathroom usage- all I really have to say on this topic is when nature calls, you should be able to take care of that without having to drop ,70 euro.
Okay, now I should probably stop complaining and get to the good part. Lake Constance was truly quite a wonder. I know that I never would have visited this heavenly location if not for my friend residing there, so I am extemely thankful for that. It was also an ideal spot because of it's proximity to both Switzerland and Austria. Because of that, we were able to take a day trip to Bregenz, Austria to do a bit of walking around on the mountain there. It was a gorgeous mountain, we are talking lush greenery, gorgeous views of more mountains and Lake Constance, and even a small zoo and playground at the top. I particularly enjoyed when an elderly German man went down the slide while smoking a cigarette in the playground.
Also, fun fact time, Bregenz is where part of Quantum of Solace was filmed during the scene where they were at the opera. So, now maybe I will recognize it when I see the movie next, although that may not happen because it was not a very high-quality flick.
Ah this will be an enjoyable train ride, there is a lady sitting across from me staring angrily and a group of drunken teen males behind me, conversing much too loudly to be acceptable in public with two six packs on their little table. In a couple more uncomfortable hours, we shall be in Munich and ready to start another adventure.

Berlin Stories and The Worst Car Ride EVER

8/24/11

Wow, Lake Constance is amazing. I almost thought that I would never make it here, though. My friend Anna who lives here arranged for Dianna and I to get a ride with a girl from Berlin to Lake Constance yesterday at 8:30 AM. Everything was going well at first; we met up with her fine and she seemed nice enough despite the difficulty she had understanding Dianna and my English. The ride in the car was supposed to take 8 hours, so we should have been there by 4:30. Timewise, we were doing amazingly until we hit the halfway point. Around noon, we hit the WORST traffic jam I have ever been in, let alone seen or heard about, in my entire life. To make matters worse, it was on the hottest day in Germany for that year- about 102 degrees. So, we were completely stuck in a stop-and-go traffic jam for literally three hours and resulting in Dianna and I playing a game where we listed all of the things we would rather be doing than being stuck in a car with NO A/C in that horrible, horrible traffic jam. Upon reaching the end, it turned out that it was all the result of a tiny amount of construction- I have never been so pissed off in my entire life.

Berlin August 22, 2011
I am amazed at the sheer amount of strange people that Dianna and i have encountered thus far on our European adventure. I guess the list is about at this point: British bartender in Copenhagen, creepy Copenhagen guys, the cool Copenhagen kayak guys, the sketchy smokers, the Air Berlin eye-candy seating host and sex-obsessed army Bryan. I should probably elaborate for all of your sakes.
1) British bartender in Copenhagen: on our first night in Denmark, Dianna and I went to the Old English Pub where we encountered a very friendly bartender. He kept telling us not to convert the prices, and we chatted about our trip and it was very pleasant.
2) Creepy Copenhagen guys: Dianna and I were walking in Copenhagen to try and find a place to eat our delicious supermarket dinner when all of a sudden we were stopped by two guys asking us for directions, but were clearly not lost at all. They said that it was obvious that we were Americans, which is not the first step towards making a good impression, and we parted ways, only to be chased down by them two minutes later when they asked if they could join us to our destination. They were alright, one was from Africa and one from Portugal, but we were very happy when we parted ways from them.
3) Cool Copenhagen Kayak Guys: Dianna and I were enjoying a 5$ bottle of wine along the pier and in the water below us were three men in kayaks. They were friendly, requested that we please not drop our bottle on their heads, asked us what our plans were in Copenhagen, and then were on their merry way. It was nice- they were not creepy, simply friendly and interested, and gave us a good impression of the locals.
4) The Sketchy Smokers: okay these guys were totally creepy. Upon the departure of the kayak guys, these two men in about their late forties parked their boat directly underneath us. They said "hi" to us and then they were clearly gossiping about us in Danish for a long time while smoking about 20 cigs.
5) The Air Berlin Eye-Candy Flight Attendant: This guy was amazing. He completely made the flight from Copenhagen to Berlin. He was one of the most attractive men I have seen in my entire life and it made me wish that the flight was longer than one measly hour.
6) Sex-Obsessed Army Bryan: He was an um...interesting....person. Basically, we were in the bar in our AMAZING hostel and he spoke to Dianna while she was getting a drink and was really enthused to learn that we were from the states, and especially that I was born in MD because he was from there. So, he sat with us and went on and on about how he was in the army and how he loved photography and then decided to give us a WAY too detailed account of his trip to the zoo where he watched elephants have sex. It was extremely graphic and unnecessary and his horrible descriptions will never leave my brain. Thank you so much for that, Bryan....

I hope they make I Heart Berlin T-Shirts...

With Berlin... it was love at first sight. And my first sight of it happened to be the unbelievably sexy flight attendant for Air Berlin. I was skeptical about them as an airline until I sat down and saw that amazing piece of eye candy walking down the aisle. I wish it had been a longer flight just so I could check him out a little bit longer. Also, they gave us free chocolate muffins. So... A+ for Air Berlin. They have climbed up the airline-quality ladder right to where Czech Airlines is. If that hot man leaves their service, however, it might be a different story.

Oh Berlin, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways (so far, and I have only been here for a couple of hours):

1) Super attractive flight attendant man

2) Friendly residents- Dianna and I were hopelessly lost looking for our hostel and three nice people led us to the hostel.

3) NORMAL PRICES! I could not have been any more excited when I saw that a cocktail was only 4 euros. I wanted to hug the waitress upon realizing that truly, not everywhere is like Copenhagen.

4) One of the best hostels of my life thus far. I thought that nothing would ever be as amazing as Yes! Hostel in Lisbon. However, this is a gorgeous building, has one of the cleanest restrooms I have ever seen in my life, and an awesome bar right downstairs. Maybe I will just spend the next two days sitting here and drinking and playing pool instead of actually seeing the city...

Wow, this place is wonderful. Tomorrow we will go to see the Holocaust Memorial, Hitler's bunker and the Berlin wall. I almost wish I was staying here longer!

The C in Copenhagen stands for: Costs a LOT

So if any of you are planning a trip to Copenhagen, you must be aware of the following:
1) Be prepared to spend the money you would hope to spend in about 10 days in just one. No joke. I cannot emphasize enough the sheer cost of absolutely everything there. Perhaps it seemed so extreme to me because of the drastic constrast from the Czech Republic's low prices, but regardless, I was disappointed and I feel like it limited my fun a lot.
2) In Denmark, every credit card needs a pin. I am not sure how this is the case, because I feel like a lot of credit cards in the states do not even HAVE a pin. That is for debit cards. Therefore I am confused because where is this alleged credit card pin supposed to come from? If it does not exist in the first place, how is one supposed to know it?
3) The birds poop on you. Or maybe I am just so lucky and they only poop on me, who knows. Either way, it was one of the grossest experiences of my life and I really thought I was going to throw up. It had amazing accuracy, too.
Now it is time to complain a little bit about the hostel. Shockingly, the hostels were also unbelievably expensive, so we decided to go with the absolutely cheapest one possible, Danhostel, but not the one that was downtown in a central location, but the one that was ungodly far away. In retrospect, it may have actually been cheaper to stay in the central one because it would have meant no expensive bus fares to the city center every day. Also, when we got there they informed us of a lot more fees that we needed to cover such as renting linens since we did not bring our own and the fee for the "guest hostel card" which is one of the most vague expenses I have ever heard of. Also, we got the pleasure of sharing a room with some of the most obnoxious people I have ever encountered. They did not in any way attempt to be quiet the first night when they came in around 3 or 4 AM and they also turned on all of the lights and were talking in a normal volume and getting ready for about an hour. Also, they left at the crack of dawn on our last day and did the exact same thing.
Okay i feel like I have been complaining this whole time. I just want to clarify that most of the issues stemmed simply from insufficient funds. I had as good of a time as my pocketbook allowed and still did enjoy the sights. Tivoli gardens was a very nice area, there were stunning flowers and fountains and it was really pleasing to the eye. We even got to go on one ride, Hans Christian Andersens Wonderful World, because the worker felt bad for us dumb Americans that could not figure out the credit care machine. It was essentially the Danish version of the It's A Small World ride in Disneyland, but it featured all of the H.C. Andersens fairytales and did not feature a horribly repetitive tune. On that same note, we also went to go and see the Little Mermaid statue. Once again, the H.C. Andersens version, not Disney. So in this case it was a depressed mermaid. She really did look lonely, but at least she was surrounded by more gorgeous flowers, a nice park to stroll around in, and one of my new favorite fountains. I am not sure who it was of, it was some goddess-type woman with a whip riding a chariot pulled by four bulls. It was quite a sight, however.
Now I am waiting at the airport in Copenhagen next to my friend Dianna who is fast asleep. Living proof of the fantastic sleep quality providad by Danhostel. Our flight to Berlin has been delayed 40 minutes. Oh the joys of traveling :)

Last Thoughts on Prague

Wow, the Backstreet Boys just came on in the cafe I am sitting in and I just got way too excited about that...
So today I discovered another one of the reasons that everyone seems a lot more angry in Europe, whether they truly are or not. Here, there is always the issue of language and language barriers, one of which leads to the appearance of everyone being totally pissed. When I run into people here or hit them on the bus with my suitcase which seems to happen much more than would ever be considered normal, I never know which language I need to say "sorry" and/or "excuse me" in. I have thankfully learned it in various languages, but I don't want to say "prominta, lo siento, izvinitye, je suis desolee, sorry" so I just kind of awkwardly walk past and mumble whichever one comes to mind. Point being that despite my sincere desire to apologize for my spazzy nature, I just feel like I can't.
In the past few years, I have been on many, many different airlines including some of the best like Southwest and some of the very worst, like Ryanair. My new favorite by far is certainly Czech Airlines. They are friendly which is awesome, give you a meal even on a short flight (mine was 2 hours) and wine and the best coffee I have had in a long time. Today i will be flying with Cimber Sterling, whose name alone sounds extremely suspicious, so wish me luck on that one.

In case anyone happens to be going to the Czech Republic anytime soon, I have a few tips for you:
1) Do NOT stay at the Hotel Svaty Jan. Not only is it completely impossible to pronounce that name, but it is likely the most overpriced and overrated hotel in which i have ever stayed. The hotel is located in a historical building that upon passing I initially thought was some sort of important monument. This might sound cool, but basically just seems more like a creepy horror movie set. I was terrified by every tiny sound I heard and my room had vaulted cielings and windows facing a dark, sculpture-filled courtyard with cast-iron bars over them. My room was right next to the lobby as well meaning I could hear the obnoxious doorbell sound made everytime someone needed to be buzzed in. Worse yet, the employees were typically smoking outside, talking loudly with eachother so it echoed throughout the building, or napping on the lobby couch and so they never heard the first ring, meaning I had to hear the horrible doorbell sound at least three times per guest. The hotel allows dogs, which I suppose is good for their owners, but not good for their room neighbors who are trying to sleep and do not want to be woken up 6 times a night (I'm refering to me). On the second day it got even BETTER when a SECOND couple with a dog checked in and was staying across the hall so the dogs would bark to each other. How nice. The employees were all horrible, too. I mostly just had to deal with one woman, but she never really seemed to be doing her job. She also seemed beyond annoyed whenever I asked her for anything. I wanted to suggest to her that maybe customer service was not the best job choice for her personality...
2) Tip two would be to go to the Charle's Bridge during one of two times: ridiculously early or in the rain. I was actually rather surprised at the deterring powers of the rain, it turned the bridge from being covered with tourists packed together like sardines and almost unable to move to a lovely, almost empty and extremely charming place to be.
3) It's not just about the Pilsner. Everyone seems to think that it is the absolute best beer without a doubt of the Czech Republic, but I enjoyed the dark Kozel much more.
4) AVOID Cafe Mystic at all costs! This little restaurant may seem charming at first, but that is an extremely decieving facade. The name is fitting, however; the waiters provide you with a "mysterious" menu which conviniently leaves out the prices. Upon asking for a menu which does include them, you can instantly discover why. They also include a few mysterious upcharges on the bill which jack the prices up about 20%, and then are extremely evasive explaining these charges.

Bats Flying Amock and a Strangled Tavern Mistress

I know that you are all quite intrigued by that title there. So, without further ado...

Yesterday the Farmers and I (family friends who also happened to be in Prague) decided that we wanted to have a unique Czech experience and do something that was not listed in the guidebooks. The hotel clerk woman told us to go to the zoo because it is one of the top 10 in Europe and not very touristy. Not touristy is completely right. On one hand it meant much lower prices. Food there was unbelieveably cheap. At one point the worker just got too confused when we tried to speak English with him and charged us way too little but just wanted us to leave so he told us it was ok.

First strange thing: admission price for dogs. People here are crazy about their dogs, I have never seen so many Yorkshire terriers in handbags with bows in their hair. So, people would rather pay than leave their dogs at home while they spend the day at the zoo. Second really strange thing was the sheer amount of naked children running around, and in some cases nature would call and they would take care of it in the nearest patch of grass... not normal. Third thing was the indoor exhibit called the "Indonesian Jungle". As we entered, there was a whoosh of air and a bat flew right by us. Yes, there were bats freely flying around in the entire building. And there was a pitch black hallway at one point and they were flapping around madly, it was terrifying. Upon opening the curtain to leave the terrifying hall, one was waiting on the other side and flew right into my friend's face. How is that even legal!?

All in all, it was definitely quite the experience and the animals were really active and interesting so I would recommend it, just not the bat building unless that kind of encounter sounds fun to you.

Tonight we went to a restaurant recommended by Rick Steves. The name translated to The Rope-Maker's Wife and on the menus included what was labeled as the "charming" story about her. She was a lovely woman who seduced all men, but she only loved her husband and was always faithful. However, she often got lonely because her husband was always off making ropes in foreign lands, so she asked him to build her a pub so she could stay entertained. He did so, and there were always men oggling her but she was still faithful. However, her rope-maker husband heard that she offered her customers "other services" (direct quote from the menu) so he rushed home to strangle her with his self-made rope. Now she is doomed to haunt the pub forever until she helps everyone with their love problems. Nice story, right?

Ah, family...

I am really happy that I went to visit my grandfather's village. I got to meet my great uncle who looks exactly like James Cromwell. They call him Unlce Standa which is short for some Czech name which I could never remember, let alone try to spell. So i will refrain from that. Anyways, he was so nice and showed me pictures of my grandfather's family and showed me around his home which is the one in which my grandfather was born. He also did a shot of Slivo with me and he gave me what is equivalent to 60 dollars in cash. I love family.