Munich

We arrived in Munich last night. We had origionally planned on comming here just to stay the night on our way to Italy, but the hostel ended up being so cool that we are going to stay another night. The whole place has a living room atmosphere. Last night, I decided to do some drinking... this of course led to me yelling at a TV with a bunch of Canadians watching hockey. Good times. We met someone last night that told us to see Cinqua Terra when we are in Italy. We saw some of the pictures from there and decided that Italy was definitly our next stop. I'll keep you all updated with fun happenings in Munich.

Dresden

So, today is our third day in Dresden. This city is very beautiful, even though, as Sandra said when she first introduced herself, they're still rebuilding. The area that we have been in is kinda like Chicago on crack. There are awesome little shops everywhere. The best part though, and I never thought I'd be saying this, are the bars. There is such a huge range of places here. The ABSOLUTE coolest we found was a place called "Lebowski." Yup. That is a bar, themed entirely on The Big Lebowski. There were murals all over the place, bowling shoes hanging from the ceiling, and the movie was playing with english and german subtitles. Great place... but they didn't have any good sasporilla.

We finally got to see the German again too. For those of you who don't know her, Sandra (the german) was a foreign exchange student at Brown a couple of years ago. To sum it up, she is one of the most rediculous people ever, while at the same time being one of the COOLEST. She brought the stereotype that Germans are obsessed with sex to America. Every other sentence she says is about... buttsex. She is the only girl that still has an outstanding strike at Robin's.

First, Sandra gave us a pretty funny tour of the city. Since there really aren't many historical buildings here anymore, she just took us through the city center. The tour basically consisted of "There's that one famous church, and that is a palace, and that is an opera... that is all we have." She also took us to see the local VW factory, and the Botanical gardens. It was fuckin' cool, and amazing to be able to see her again.

Pictures later. Per usual, this computer isn't capable of uploading them.

P.s. We might be going to England or Ireland.

I finally found a decent computer

...so here are some updated pictures:

First up, is this club that we found near our hostel. You all have no idea how absolutely amazing this place is. We've been back for two nights already and will probably do so again tonight. Basically, it is an old warehouse that a Jewish family stored their business stuff in before the war. It is HUGE. Well, needless to say, Berlin was FUCKED UP during the war by the allied bombings. This warehouse was no exception. It was sheered in half. What is left was recently turned into an art squat and a club. The courtyard is filled with sand and huge sitting rocks. All around is trash art that is freaking awesome (I'm talking halves of helicopters and shit), and alright techno coming from all directions. There are six bars throughout the place, one of which is on the top of the warehouse in a converted balcony. I love this place.

Next up is all of the tourist stuff.

First at bat is Checkpoint Charlie. This was the entrance way between East and West Berlin. Often the point of conflict. it has since turned into one of the biggest tourist traps in the world.

Next up is the Berlin Wall... or what is left of it. Ironically they had to erect a fence to prevent people from taking the wall apart piece by piece.

This is one of the sniper watch towers that were in place along the wall.

This is one of the many memorials the Soviets built for themselves after they breached Berlin in WWII. What makes this site very interesting is, to either side are the first and second soviet tanks to enter the city, and under the stairs are 20,000 soviet soldiers that died in the invasion. The plaques show the names of all of them.

This structure easily has the coolest story out of anything in the city. It was erected to celebrate the German and Persian victory over France. The cool part is what it is constructed of. Obviously the base and the tower itself are constructed of concrete... but the decorations and the angel on top are all made of melted down French cannons from the war. How fucking burley is that??

Here is a good shot of the German parlimentary building, the Reichstag. It is very beautiful. The glass dome on top is supposed to represent the transparency of the new German government.

Last, is something I thought was just totally bizzare. We have had beautiful weather for the whole time we were here, until of course I actually said something about how lucky we are. Well almost right after I did, the wind picked up, and all hell broke loose. This is a picture of torrential downpours in addition to a dust storm created by the high winds. It was INSANE!

Berlin

I love this city. We actually met a group of Americans yesterday while eating pizza. It's funny that it took going to Berlin to meet new people from home. I guess it is just because it is so much easier to pick out Americans here. Anyways, new shoes, new backpack, I'm ready for some walking. Tonight we are going back to that beach party, and it should be amazing (we are staying in a hostel that is but 3 blocks away). Well, here are some pictures:

Berlin

The past two days have been absolutly amazing. We arrived in Berlin yesterday, and were lost for a good while. When we finally found our way to the hostel we had practically already figured out how the city worked. It is just like what I pictured here. I never thought I'd actully ever find myself in a prior Eastern Bloc country. All of Eastern Berlin is the Brycc House's dream. There is graffiti and art houses everywhere. Last night I decided I was going to go a bit nuts, so we headed towards a beach party... in a city that has no standing water. This place was a group of six small bars behind an old apartment complex. There was stones alligned everywhere for seats. The WHOLE building was covered with AMAZING graffiti. I have never had so much fun urban exploring.

TL&TS: Great city + Amazing Beer equals good time.

Hannover Contd.

This city is very bizzare. Upon entry, we were mobbed by a gang of drunk punkard beggars. Mohawks and everything. Immediately afterwards, we found music... comming from the sewer. We couldn't figure it out for the longest time. Next up, and something that Daniel will appreciate, we saw a church with a GIANT pentagram on the steeple. But all in all, Hannover isn't very impressive. I'm just using this as a staging location before I go to Wolfsburg tomorrow. Jesus I am excited. Sorry about the lack of pictures, I haven't had access to a computer good enough to upload them. They'll come soon enough. Goodnight and goodluck.

Hannover

We were in Düsseldorf yesterday, it was a beautiful city. I'll have to post pictures later. I'm at a hostel in Hannover and the time on this machine is almost up so I have to go. I'll have a new cellphone number within the day. I'll keep you all informed. Bye!

City of Liden

We've been staying in Leiderdorp, which is to Leiden as St.Matthews is to the Highlands. Leiden is absolutely amazing. All of the architecture is 300-400 years old, and there is tons to do. Everywhere you look, there is an amazing bar or a beautiful alley. It is seriously something that you would see in an old movie. This is what I always pictured when I thought of The Netherlands. Everything is cobblestone and there are bikes wizzing all around. The market was also very nice. It was there that I finally got to try the Salted Herring, which cemented my Dutch heritage.

Rotterdam

Yesterday, we took a day trip to the windy Rotterdam. It is one of the biggest cities next to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We spent a good bit of time walking around and looking into random shops. I actually attempted to buy what I thought was a cool shirt, it ended up being a nurses uniform (Tourist screwup #1). We also went to one of the coolest art museums I have ever seen. There was alot of Dali and other cool artists there. Also, while we were in Rotterdam, a gorilla escaped from his cage in the zoo and attacked a ton of people, and old lady is still in critical condition. Time to leave; we're going to have a night on Leiden.