Well since I have written I have already been to Berlin and to Prague!
When I was in Namur with Amelie (in Belgium), we ended up going out one night to her hometown of Navaugle (which is in Rochefort, Belgium). Her parents live there and her sister was also home. This visit to Navaugle made me fall in LOVE with Belgium! Their family lives in a beautiful home they built theirselves, with a huge pasture and valley behind them lined by a beautiful forest! They have 3 horses, two ducks, 3 or 4 rabbits, 3 chickens, 2 roosters, a cat, a dog, and very soon 3 goats!!! Needless to say, I LOVED IT! I would love to be living there all year, but I had only one night! After meeting her family, we had a delicious dinner and even some cake and sorbet for my birthday. Her parents (Eric and Pascaline) were very patient with my terrible french, and it was wonderful to be able to practice without feeling too embarassed! After dinner (and some very delicious sweet wine) Amelie took me into Rochefort and many of the little "areas" that encompass it. Needless to say, it is beautiful! I was astonished at how green all the field are, how thick the forest is and how beautiful and amazing old stone houses are with their flowers and flowing rivers beside them. We saw an old castle wall, the entrance to a grotto (which apparently is a cave that goes for kilometres), said hi to some nuns, and peered into peoples yards admiring their gardening skills and eyeing up their architecture. It was the perfect ending to a great night in Rochefort! I hope very soon that I can return and spend more time there.
The following morning, we got up very early to catch the train back into Namur and get me on my way to Berlin! It was a 7 hour journey, but with journalling and reading what I wanted to do next it wasn't so bad. I am nervous everytime there is a big travel day because there are so many things that can go terribly wrong! Lucky for me though, none of my trains were late and I made my two connections easily! At Berlin HBF (the largest train station in Europe) I was at first a little shocked at how big the place was, but when I got my ground I found the way to the over ground tram (S-Bahn) and bought myself a ticket! I was headed a bit north to Alexanderplatz station and then taking the U-Bahn (underground) to where I was staying. Germany was the first country that I had to struggle with a different language. In Franch and Belgium my french skills can get me by just fine, but Berlin was another story! Although people told me alot of people would speak english, none of the signs or directions in the transit system are in english! So there is alot of potential for confusion . . . especially since I am easily confusable!
Of course, since I am also very clumsy, I ended up losing my directions the minute I stepped off the U-Bahn and I had to call my brother (for like $12 Canadian for 6 minutes) to figure out where I had to go next! Good thing he was home, otherwise I could feel the panick coming up in my throat, classic Amanda. Anyway, Mark got me on my way and I met Sabina and Josh just in time for a sandwich supper. They are like "friends of friends" that I just met, but were wonderful to me in everyway! I had my own air mattress with a super cozy comforter and luxury huge pillows! After being in hostels for quite a while, this type of air mattress is heaven! Anyway, Josh and Sabina are living in Berlin and working, just for a change of scenery. Sabina is actually german so she speaks fluently and is a wonderful travel advisor. They even gave me a visitors cell phone and keys to the apartment; I dont' know how I will ever repay them for taking care of me!
My first night in Berlin we went to the oldest beer garden in the city. On the way there, I somehow also managed to lose at 20 euro bill, but tried to make up for that disappointment with a delicious glass of wine. Thet next day I did some walking around myself (although Berlin is huge, so it's not exactly the best place to 'wonder' until you get an idea of how the city is laid out. I went to the Pergamon Museum and saw some really cool stuff, including the gates of Babylon. From their I met Sabina and Josh (with their other expat Canadian friends) in Potsdamer Platz for the Christopher Street Day parade! This is what they call Gay Pride in Berlin, and it was AMAZING! There were thousands and thousands of people, and they were all drinking and eathing smoked sausage and pretzels! I dont' think I could have visited Berlin on a better day! After a long parade (and lots of techo floats) I walked up the main street with the group (where Napolean marched into Berlin) and then made my own way through the Tiergarten and around the goverment Reichstag building. That night I was so tired I had to get a train home and just enjoy a good german meal at a cute place by the apartment. As most of you know, I adore eating. So this was a big deal. I have beer rouladen, with sauerkrout and potatoes. I had more wine (of course) and apple schnitzel to finish! Not sure if I spelt that right!
On my second day in Berlin, I went on another Fat Tire Bike tour (love them) and saw more of the city with a little history from our fabulous guide named Ingo. He was american, but born in Germany. He had lots of good stories and told some great history lessons. In the afternoon we stopped at another beergarden (surprise, surprise) right by the zoo and relaxed with one lunches. I met quite a few people on this tour, and it was great to hear about other people's travel experiences and where they are going, etc. In the afternoon we saw part of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint charlie and a few other major landmarks that have slipped my mind at this point! It's great to ride the bikes, makes everything alot less tiring! That evening, I picked up some snacks and Josh, Sabina and I watched "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and guess what, MORE wine! But with chocolate this time so it was much better! It was a great end to a busy trip to Berlin.
The next day I headed off to Prague, about a 4 hour train ride. Prague is beautiful but FULL FULL FULL of tourists! I am getting quite tired of being in the City now, but I am pushing forward and trying to take it all in while I am here! the first night I had a great Czech meal close to my hostel (pork, suaerkrout and bread dumplings) and guess what else?! WINE! But more this time because I realized that each glass was only $1 canadian dollar! Which is ridiculous because in London and Dublin I was paying like 6 pounds for wine which is around $10 canadian per glass! Anyway, I will not tell you how many dollars I spent on wine (because that will give it away too easily) but I will say it was delicious! Just after my last bite though a sudden thunderstorm rolled in so I escaped from the patio into the restaurant and read my book, "Eat, Pray, Love". Everyone should read it by the way, it's very inspiring and has lots of dry humor, just like me!
The first full day in Prague was smoking hot (as was the second day) but I did a walking tour with the Free Europe company anyway. They work on tips only basis and our guide Justin was great. I also did their Castle tour as well, but paid like $12 canadian for that one. Either way I was happy not to have any responsibility; just had to follow along! I met John and Maxime from McGill (Canadians, finally!) and Andrew from the U of T (who is going to the Carribean to start med in August). There were two other med students on the tour too! I have been meeting so many med students its crazy. Anyway, the highlight of this tour was actually nothign to do with Prague! A lady in our group had a seizure in the tram on the way up to the castle. I really don't think she had ever had one before (since her husband was frozen solid) but I actually felt like a big deal because I think I actually (for some reason) knew what to do! For reasons I won't get into, I made the rough diagnosis of a stroke, we called an ambulance and got her off the tram. I think she seized for about a minute (or maybe a bit less), which is a long time for a seizure right? She could understand me, but couldn't respond. So I thought maybe she was having a stroke (or a heart attack) but she had a strong pulse and was breathing fast, but normally. So I am ruling out the stroke (for other reasons I will also not discuss). It will be a mystery I guess if she has epilepsy or not, but I got high fives on the tram! Maybe emergency will be my calling . . .
After that small pause in the tour, we had a great Prague castle tour and I even had 2-4-1 drinks (you guessed it, more wine!) and a veggie burito with chicken. I know I know, not very Czech, but I gotta get a piece of home sometime. After getting some fruit at Tesco, I headed home to plan the next day! Which is TODAY!
Happy Canada Day! I was feeling a bit bummed today, but when I finally forced myself onto a train out of the city, I felt much better amongst the trees and the river. I was headed to Karkstejn Castle, about 30 km south west of the city. BUT since the announcements are in Czech I was totally confused and missed my stop by 5 km! So in the (sort of) middle of no where, I had a feeling I should just get off the train and it turned out to be right! After a few attempts at making contact with civilization, I realized no one spoke english, so I just starting walking back north along the river to where I was supposed to get off! Not an hour later I reached the town and then (after climbing the ridiculously steep town roads in the blistering heat) I reached the castle! YES!!! Sweaty and exhausted I ate my squished sandwich in the same, drank and orange frozen drink thing and went on the tour (by an 'english is my second language' Czech guy, but still good). On the way home I ran to the train (only one an hour goign back to Prague) and met Clarice from Australia, who is studying Clarinet in Budapest. It was unreal how many things we had in common so I got her email and hopefully we can stay in touch!
So to end this email, I wish I had a wonderful Canada Day story to tell, but I went to some beer gardens in a big park in Prague to find some Canadians, but none were to be found! So I had some WINE and koubasa and potatoe pancakes and just enjoyed watching the park around me get pummled with rain (I was covered, thank you very much)! Tomorrow I am off to Vienna for a couple nights and right now I am off to bed! Sorry again for the long novel; I have even left things out! I am thinking of everyone at home, and I hope you all think a small thought of me once in a while! See you all soon, or a couple months!
Love, Amanda xoxo
|
