Take a tour of Rome with Tour Guide Mathilde

Roma! Even though I considered myself an Italian afficionato after studying abroad in Ferrara, Italy and traveling the country for 5 months or so, I hadn't been to Rome since I visited Southern Italy with my parents the summer before my freshman year of high school. Needless to say, Megan was also really looking forward to experiencing the history and the country within the country, Vatican City, so I seriously looked forward to experiencing this city sans-parentals! Plus, although this is a very large city with an overwhelming number of things to see and visit, it is still a city you can WALK. I love not having to rely on another form of transportation and just experiencing the random streets of the city while attempting to find your hostel...little did I know I would become the official and "tour guide" for a good amount of people later in that trip! More to come...

Finding our hostel was similar to getting up on the right side of the bed in the morning...just a good start. Situated near the historical center, we dropped our bags (where they were immediately "disinfected," aka sprayed with something? didn't realize I've reached "dirty traveler" status!) and walked towards the, oops wrong way, okay NOW towards the Coliseum! I hate to see it but...been there, done that. The Coliseum is truly an impressive structure but there are soooo many tourists that it really takes away the grandeur of the monument and instead makes it feel "DisneyWorld"ish. I wonder exactly how many backgrounds of Asian tourists' pictures I will actually be in. I wager it is a larger number than either you or I would guess. So we joined in, posed in front of the former gladiator ring (did you know it was common to give mercy to gladiators and they didn't really kill for sport except during the Dark Ages? Sorry, Russel Crowe) and Constantine's Arch. Although we did not mimic many European teenagers who have been continuously posing, Vogue-style, in front of historical monuments and picturesque backgrounds. What happened to just smiling or posing Vanna-White-style? More on this to come, I'm sure. We walked around by the Circus Maximus and then to a great spot overseeing the Roman Forum where we did NOT want to pay to go inside. This view was the best you could get though, so score. Then off again, passing Trajan's Column and wandering back towards our hostel where we chilled at the coffee spot across the street. The espressos in Italy are my favorite, just make as long as you don't mistake the espresso shot for an actual shot--like I did the first time I ordered an espresso-- and they are the perfect pick-me-up during the day.

Ready to experience the nightlife of the city, we went and ate some apperitivo which was essentially a buffet of finger foods with a large beer. Having forgotten my wallet (it happens), we returned to the hostel and proceeded in making friends with the groups of people that were hanging in the kitchen and common areas...mutually agreeing that tonight we are all going out and might as well find a fun place and walk together! Yeah! Okay, finishing up drinks...let's go! So we all kind of walk and talk, nobody walking in any particular direction so I look down at my map and yell "Follow me!" not realizing that my phenomenal map reading skills would ensure me being the pub crawl guide for the rest of the evening, if not the rest of the trip. Just like my mom always says: A job done well gets another job. Mothers are always right. And soo...off to the Trevy Fountain! Success...off to the Scholars Lounge! Seriously success. Ended up playing fun drinking games and making bfftn (best friends for the night) with a few hostel peeps. Definitely a fun time! Somehow, someway, I also successfully navigated the way back to the hostel (true skillz, yo) so, go me.

The rest of the trip consisted of touring the Vatican City (doesn't go well with hangover) where we got a guided tour in order to skip the line and then STILL had to wait in line in the "tour group" line. Woof. Avoided rain showers, yet again, drank coffee, wandered the streets, got ready for night number two. FREE spaghetti night! Of course it would be a great time! The spaghetti was delizzioso (I think it tasted better because it was free, you know how those things go) and I drank a taste of some Chilean liquor called Pisco which is DELICIOUS as well (and also free) and then I pointed out that I knew where a dive bar nearby was...signing on as tour guide for night numero dos. Dive bar found,aka Goldmine in Rome without the dance floor, where we had flaming Dr Peppers! Yes, please. Next stop was across the street where we had to ring a bell before being admitted and then had to become part of the "club" receiving a membership card to the "Darts Club" where Megan promptly declared she was horrible at darts simultaneously scoring a bullseye. Girl. Power! Up again early-ish, Pantheon, pope socks, and gelato in our future. Dominated the old town on foot and EARNed that gelato though, thankyouverymuch. Italian dinner tonight nearby our hostel, and a nice nights' sleep attempting to catch up on blogging (not working, but trying!) before getting ready for tomorrow's FLIGHT to Parisss and train to La Rochelle where we rendezvous with French pal Pierre and his Frenchie buddies! And we thought we had partied in Rome...

Northern Italy aka Gelato Paradise

Before I can get started on the wonders of Northern Italy, I must let you know that the entire time we were here I had a crick in my neck from cramping into the top bunk of the 6-bed sleeper on the train from Budapest to Venice. I apparently looked like a boneless rag doll as I squeezed my 5'8" body onto a seemingly 3 and a half foot platform. Fortunately, I brilliantly drank 4 beers whilst reading in the other train car soas to lure myself into sleep...unfortunately it allowed me to pass out to the point where I did not wake up when in an extremely uncomfortable position. Nevertheless, Italy was STILL awesome as it is scientific fact that gelato cures any and all illnesses and cricks. Look it up.

VENICE

We decided to spend just one, full day in Venice before heading to Bologna later that night. I love Venice and have traveled here a few times when I studied abroad 3 years ago (only about 1.5hrs away), but it is so expensive and I am so cheap that staying overnight was not necessary or needed. That might be redundant but it still holds true. We deposited our baggagli in a deposito (bags in storage) and set out to see the romantic city of Venezia at approximately 7:30 in the morning! Yes, not much was open, but to be honest it was very enjoyable seeing the place without the inevitable onslaught of Asian and American tourists. Don't fret, we got our fill of them later in the day when then arrived EN MASSE from taxi boats. I knew there were lots of Asians in the world but how they all knew to go to Venice on the same day, I will never know. AND each and every one of them using an umbrella (for the sun) and wearing a bonnet, gloves, long sleeves and pants, an interesting combination of stripes and plaid and...you guessed it...taking pictures. The Americans were visible from a mile away. I think you can guess why. Okay, OBviously I am overexaggerating (sometimes the Asians wore graphic tees too), and I will now get back to the point.

Venice! We made our windy way following the signs and my vague memory over the canals, through small squares, over the Ponte di Rialto, and eventually to Saint Marc's Square and Basilica. The Basilica was not open yet, so we walked along the large waterway watching cruise ships, gondolas, fishing boats and water taxis do their thing. Getting lost in Venice is one of my all time favorite things to do...just don't get put off when you catch a whiff of something not-so-pleasant. It is part of the experience.

Just as we arrived back in San Marco, ready to wait in the long line for half an hour, the overcast sky turned an ominous dark grey. Not worried because we NOLA girls can take a little drizzle, so we held our own until the drops visibly transformed into buckets of water being poured on the hundreds of tourists unprepared for the rain. It looked and sounded like someone was shooting or flashing or something in the middle of the square as the horde of foreigners literally screamed bloody murder and ran for shelter, stuffing themselves underneath anywhere with a roof! Megan and I were fortunate enough to squeeze into a cafe where we waited out the sudden storm with an espresso. Cin cin! Once the rain died down, Megan and I donned our pink ponchos and went out to brave the continuing drizzle. We definitely looked cool too, as the ponchos were entirely see-through. In this oh-so-fashionable state we made our way back to the train station to catch a late afternoon train to the city of Bologna.

BOLOGNA

So I know that the title of this blog post is gelato paradise, and Bologna is truly where this paradise begins. But before I could lose myself in the sugary goodness, Megan and I had to first find the correct bus to take us to our hotel which was a bit out of town. Even though we had perfectly clear directions to take Bus 25 towards one particular direction, the only Bus 25 we found was going in the opposite direction. I asked THREE separate Bus 25 drivers in broken Italian where we might pick up the other bus and they all pointed in a direction to the right...little did I know that they were referring to across the street and not in this train station parking lot. So after 45 minutes we finally got on the right bus. Can we not catch a break? Well, no, we cannot catch one, because then we couldn't find our hotel and had to walk around aimlessly in what seemed to be Chinatown Bologna (karma really will get ya) before we were directed to our not-too-shabby hotel. I mean, they had Teen Mom on TV! Dubbed in Italian, of course. Talk about high class.

Gelato time! We bussed back to the train station so we could walk to the city center. Stepping off the bus I glanced some darkish clouds in the distance and, in a fit of insanity, decided to curse Mother Nature. She apparently took the curse as a dare because it immediately started raining on us. Again. Without our ponchos. So we gave in and bought a €3 umbrella from a street vendor and snuggled together under it from overhang to overhang, eventually deciding to just stop for dinner before gelato. We had some beers with apperitivo, shared a lasagna and veal (and a liter of wine) and downed our basket of bread...but blah blah blah this is not important because post-dinner I finally got my gelato!! If you ever go to Bologna, remember this. Look for the two towers and go as close as you can to them and then look to your left. Here you will find the #2 best gelato in Italy, in my opinion. Choose some crazy flavor that has won an award recently, because they are always winning awards, and walk around with your due gusti (two flavors) in a cone. Heaven! The biggest difference I have found between gelato and ice cream is the consistency. Ice cream is more icy, melts more quickly, and seems to be less dense while gelato just KNOWS you will want to savor the flavor, melts only into the bottom of your cone, and stays a thick, creamy consistency until you lap up the last drop. Not to mention that the cioccolatto fondente is so flavorful that the chocolateyness haunts my dreams... Anyways, post-gelato we found some bars in the university area that were acceptable to our tastes (aka cheap) and sat outside while Megan yelled at the gypsies passing by ("NO I do NOT want a squishy blow-up doll with a huge head! GO AWAY") until we decided to head back to catch the last bus...after getting a deliciozo kebab, of course. Top 5 thankyouverymuch. As we devoured these kebabs I started rambling on to some Italian man also waiting for the bus and discovered that he was from Naples. Of course, my response to this knowledge is an attempt to grill him about the mafia, as we all know the Comorra is the leading mafioso family there. If you don't, read the book. I apparently love to talk about controversial things when slightly inebriated (take your pic: politics, origins of race, religion, the universe, et cetera) and so when he dodged the question and became quiet I winked at Megan and finished my kebab. As we were stepping off the bus the man was writing down his phone number and telling me that if I go to Naples I should give him a call...and I proceeded to ask, this time, if HE was in the mafia. He promptly tore his number off of the page, hopped off the bus, and speed-walked in the opposite direction without saying a word. I either touched a sore spot there or he IS IN THE MAFIA! I am betting on the latter. I hope I don't get whacked now.

FERRARA

In the morning after a failed attempt at hitting up the Bologna market which was conveniently not open on Sundays, we proceeded to have a shopping spree at Zara...I needed more cute shoes, these Italian ladies were not approving of my lesbian sandals. Oh, and we almost got arrested for not having a ticket for the bus. That was fun.

ANYwho. Arrived in Ferrara and trekked it towards the direction of the hostel. I assumed I would be able to dominate this town, what with having lived there for 5 months, but of course I had never been in the area where our hostel was. Stopped into a kebab shop and asked for help and a very nice Ferrarian boy actually escorted us to our hostel. We think his name was Jamal, but he spoke no English. When he deposited us at our hostel we thanked him graciously and he asked for our phone number...I replied "purtroppp non ho un cellulare!" as I waved around Megan's iPhone which we had been using to read directions. Clarification: this phone does NOT work as a cell phone bc we only use it in airplane mode, but seeing as Jamal nodded, blushed, and speed-walked away I think he was just embarrassed and "got the picture," or so he thought. Sorry, Jamal!

On to the best gelato in the city...the area...the COUNTRY! K2 is beyond words. I really do not know how to describe this other that when I took my father here 3 years ago, declaring it to be the best gelato he would ever try in his life, he skeptically looked around and I could see in his eyes that he was going to enjoy telling me that he has had better during his longer, more gelato-experienced life. Instead, one taste of that mint chip (his favorite) and his eyes widened and he struggled for words. GO ME! The "Nonna Amelia" flavor tastes like Christmas in your mouth and the dark chocolate is so thick and creamy it almost doesn't taste cold...just, heavenly. I think I ate mine with my eyes closed so that my other senses wouldn't dull the taste. Sigh. From here we walked passed the Castello D'Este where I stared at the monster fish in the centuries-old moat even after Megan got bored and walked away. Passed the Savanarola statue, native of Ferrara, saw the Catedrale, walked through the Jewish Quarter and up the shopping streets to ANOTHER gelato place called Baluardi. Very delicious as well (of course I got another gelato) but my favorite thing about this gelateria is that the workers remembered me!! I was saying how it had been 4 years and the guy goes, "No it was 3 years ago"...CORRECT. I wonder how much gelato I ate for them to actually remember when I was there, as new students arrive every semester. Go me, again.

Dinner consisted of two ridiculously large and delicious pizzas from Pizzeria D'Este along with a jug of the house red wine, and we finished our night at Brindisi--the oldest bar in the world! It is said that Niccolo Copernico (aka Copernicus aka heliocentric theory) went here with his fellow students when he was a student here in Ferrara... and at this time the bar had already been open for 20o years. COOL BEANS! Although I think that the bathrooms haven't changed since Copernicus' time because they remain a turca, aka hole in the ground that you have to stand over. Megan enjoyed that one.

Italy, especially Northern Italy, will remain one of my favorite locations that I STILL need to explore further. There are touristy towns like Pisa and Verona where I have yet to visit, and other non-touristy ones that portray the real Italy...the countryside, the friendly people, the fresh food, and the gelato. I cannot wait to return! But first, off to ROMA...

Buda...Pest...BUDAPEST

I think sometimes when you hear that a place is AH-MAY-ZING it tends to set an expectation a bit too high, which you inevitably prove wrong. Probably because you are looking for it, like I do. Sadly, this was my experience with Budapest. Don't get me wrong!! Our trip was far from a bad one, and the city I am sure has some fantastic things to do and see that we probably just missed out on; my comments are more in relating how Budapest fell compared to other cities we've visited in Europe. And I mean, come on, who can follow Prague?

Firstly, we arrived at the train station semi-late and it really wasn't the most comfortable place to be walking around. Lots of loiterers and some people advertising hostels right on the train tracks (we later were told these are run by the mafia and they don't "allow" other hostels to advertise here. Good thing we planned in advance) and when we finally found an ATM around the block we could not for the life of us figure out how to get a 10,000 note changed into coins for bus tickets. I don't know why men love large bills so much, but I detest them! Just give me small notes and change already! Not to mention...a 10,000 note bill?! TALK about monopoly money. So, frustrated, we just hopped on the bus and promptly missed our stop in Pest, heading over the river and far away from our hostel. Switched busses, headed back, and searched for our hostel for another 20 minutes, passing the front door twice without even realizing it. It was just one of those days. After climbing 4 flights of stairs, things finally began looking better when we got to our cozy loft hostel, full of friendly travelers and nice amentities. I drank a beer and considered the day a success.

The next day (of course I slept in until noon...not the best decision) we had a traditional 4-course meal for only €5 with some guys from the hostel, including the mustached owner who hailed from Mexico. Things were DEFinitely looking up at this point (who doesn't love a great deal?!) despite the fact that we did not want to pay for water and therefore were parched, so we headed over to the local market located in a massively large, two-story building. The bottom floor housed local foods which was majority dried meat, while the upstairs balcony was full of tourist junk...I mean local paraphernalia. I don't know why I just dissed this because I definitely bought a gift here for my brother (high quality, of course) but I will not reveal the item here because my gifts are all surprises. Sorry I'm not sorry! I debated buying my other brother a cool communist lighter but was wayy to cheap to pay 500 crowns for that. No way, Jose! Yes that actually is my brother's name thankyouverymuch. Post-shopping we opted for...more shopping! At this point I was getting sick of my shoe options after my cute sandals broke in Prague, options being: lesbian sandals (aka Chacos), stinky TOMs, Vibram non-toe running shoes, and "fast flats" which are cute but sadly have no sole. Don't worry, like the good history majors we are Megan and I planned our route past the Jewish Synogogue (one of the largest in Eastern Europe) and the Opera House (not as pretty as Vienna) but the highlight of the walk was definitely finding attractive, beaded, white sandals! All the men reading this are thinking, "Who cares?" but you know what...these European women look at your shoes first to judge you. I do not joke. So having these killer sandals definitely put me in a good mood AND they're Italian, as all adorable shoes are, so I acquired some quality digs. High-five, Mathilde!

On our way back towards our hostel to take much-needed showers, we came across a...beer festival? Things are DEFinitely looking up! As we all know, Megan and I are serious lovers of beer, so this was right up our alley. On the other hand, zero people spoke English and in order to buy beer we had to wait in a long line and then attempt to buy tickets of 500 crowns each by miming what we wanted. In the end though, we drank beers with the Hungarians and listened to authentical Hungarian music. Winning! And the night wasn't even over yet. Got back to the hostel, showered, and drank more beer in preparation for a night out with the friendly hostel-goers and, again, the mustached owner. We walked to a very cool bar with outdoor seating in what looked to be like old, cut up cars and other very interesting furniture, and Megan and I tied in a very aggressive game of foosball. These Europeans loooove their foosball! Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to try Absinthe, but good ol' Megan here overheard some Americans ordering 3 shots of it and shot her gaze their way, "Did you mean FOUR shots of Absinthe?" Why yes indeedy, they did mean 4!

Sadly, this was our last night in Budapest. The next day was spent desperately trying to book the hostels for Venice, Bologna, and Ferrara because we all-too-late realized that now that it is mid-June the high season for traveling has begun. No more last-minute-and-we-still-don't-have-to-pay-a-lot. No more last minute with full availability, either. So we walked across the river to Buda, just to say we went there, and had to head back to catch our train on time which, fortunately, we did. All in all, you can see that this was far from a bad trip. Its just that we did not get to see the beauty of the town (which apparently resides in Buda) and most of the cultural things we did involved drinking. Not that I'm complaining, of course!

Drunken Monkeys: Prague

Let me just start off by saying that if you have been to Europe and NOT been to Prague, you have not been to Europe. Well, that's obviously a straight up lie, but Prague is EXACTLY what I would imagine a European town to look like, smell like, feel like, taste like, cost like, be like. So. Amazing. No complaints...although you will probably complain after reading this because I have a feeling this blog post will be novel length. Go get an ice water (just the idea of this makes me insanely jealous, ice water is a forbidden fruit over here apparently) and take a potty break now and then come back.

Getting lost on the beautiful, winding streets that you cannot pronounce to save your life...inexpensive yet highly alcoholic yet at the same time delicious beers brewed in-house and cheeeap...hilly parks full of slugs, rose gardens, and the short, squat cousin of the Eiffel Tower...ornate bridges crossing a stunning river...historical clock tower that not only tells you the time and date and position of the sun but also what you should name your child on this particular day of the year...delicious hearty food with strange combinations like meat & cranberry sauce & gravy & whipped cream...gelato that can stand next to Italy's best from a place called "Cream and Dream" (not a joke).....these were only a few of the many things that we experienced whilst roaming this fantabulous city. Not to mention cheap prices of everything and an AIR CONDITIONED HOSTEL. Paradise, I declare!

The 5 hour trainride from Berlin to Prague was both wonderful and terrible. Wonderful because I finished the Hunger Games series, terrible because the AC on the train was not working so we essentially sat in a sweaty box with 4 other strangers. For 5 hours. All's well that ends well I guess. The day was saved by our arrival to St. Christopher's "The Mosaic" Hostel a short metro ride, tram ride in the wrong direction, and then tram ride in the correct direction away. Brand new with a bar downstairs, Czech language audioteachingbook in the downstairs bathroom (cool idea even though I still couldn't repeat any of the words correctly...just sounded like a jumble of consonants), friendly hostesses, private brand-new bathroom, automatic blinds, did I mention air conditioning?! After high-fiving, Megan and I headed to a small, nontoursity restaurant recommended by the cute girl at the front desk where we had the cheapest, most filling, stunningly delicious meal that we have had in a while. The beer there was brewed in-house and quenched the thirstiest of thirsts, the garlic soup had melted cheese in the bottoms and croutons on the top, the potatoes were made into pancakes, and the meat/whipped cream/gravy/cranberry combo was weird and delectable. I am salivating remembering this meal. Back at the hostel we attempted at drinking more but were sung into exhaustion by the strange, hippy-Montana two man band with an interpretive dancer flailing about with a yellow scarf. I literally don't think I could make this up if I tried.

Day 1 began with walking along the picturesque streets (I really need to learn another word besides picturesque to describe a city...but that's what it WAS) and experiencing that which is the old city of Prague. Too beautiful for words. At one point, though, just as we were taking pictures of the clock tower and grimacing as we saw dark gray clouds in the distance, suddenly the world shrunk to pea-size level. A cute girl comes up to Megan and I, who are the most obvious tourists ever, and in the typical pub-crawl-recruiter way asks, "So what are y'all doing tonight, interested in going out?" Um...A. Yes. B. Y'all? Turns out this girl Ashley is from Lake Charles, Louisiana and when Megan mentioned her cousins living there it was discovered that Meg's cousin was Ashley's first kiss. Again, this is not a joke. I KNOW, RIGHT?! So this amazing girl tells us that we get the Louisiana discount if we come to her bar (she moved to Prague and opened up a bar and pubcrawl. I want her life) called the Drunken Money where we have open bar for 2 hours, beer pong and flip cup, and then a pubcrawl to 3 other bars. SOLD.

Plans made, we headed towards the open air market when the clouds suddenly swoop in...don't ask me how clouds swooped, but they did...and we JUST make it into a bar for an afternoon beer when the rain turns from drizzle to rainstorm. Then we are cheersing our pints and I am pouting about the fact that they do not serve fried cheese when rainstorm turns to hailstorm with hail turns the size of marbles! Never know what will happen in Prague, which is further proved by our next move. Post-hail storm, which fortunately did not last long, we walked across the Charles V bridge and up the hill towards the Strahov Monastery. There, we ordered 16% IPA beer and ran into Megan's friends from home, bro and sis Janie and Elliot. "MEGAN?!" gasps Janie, "JANIE?!" gasps Megan. How I love the small world. We laughed, we drank, we talked, we joked, we made plans to meet at the Drunken Monkey, then Megs and I walked through the slug-ridden park (bigger than your thumb...the slugs not the park) where she swallowed a bug accidentally and I took way too many pictures of the dozens of variations of roses in the rose garden. On the way back down the hill Megan almost fell down the steep hill because I made her blaze a trail with me. Typical, and awesomely, I captured a picture of her scrambling downward, fortunately not to her death.

At the Drunken Monkey we turned into Drunken Monkeys. Ate a kebab beforehand, not the best, and got there early enough to participate in the most ultimate game of beerpong: Civil War. Instead of the North vs. the South, we did America vs. Canada and Australia. At one point my whole team was out, save me, and THEIR whole team was out, save one girl...this was a literal fight to the death. Who'd have thunk I would be re-enacting Hunger Games via beerpong. Sadly, I lost in the last second but my team was still proud of me. Apparently I had been talking about the Civil War earlier, claiming that though the North won the war, the South was ahead until the end...one guy came up to me post-defeat and told me I represented the South pretty well as I had dominated the game until the last second. I cheersed to that...Provst! :) As we were all ushered to the front door to start the crawl, we realized this would be no crawl but a SPRINT because it was, yet again, raining buckets outside. Not one to let rain get me down, off we sprinted, yelling and laughing and screaming! I guess I was sprinting with too much speed and agility because my flip flop flip flopped off my foot and broke completely. Great way to start the night...and we looked great too. Fortunately Ashley was my saving grace and cabbed me back to the hostel to pick up another pair of shoes, during which she told me if I ever want to move to Prague I can have a job working for her...so family, if I do not come back or if I disappear one day to never be seen again...check Prague. I'm most likely there.

Hangover, shmangover, that's our motto! We took hot showers (amazing!) and I dropped my laundry off (only 2000 crowns, nbd) before heading back across the Charles V bridge later that morning. Starved and dehydrated, we made a serious mistake of stopping for lunch on a touristy street and were charged out the wazoo for bland food. Tempers inflamed, we trekked up the rest of the hill to the Prague Castle and just stared at it. No WAY was I paying for anything else, even to go into the castle. You brought it upon yourself, Prague. We did get to see the changing of the guard though...not as cool as the UK one, I'm sure, but those Czechs know how to dress their military men (who ISN'T a sucker for a man in uniform?!). After this we went back to the Strahov Monastery to lighten our spirits with some more IPA and spent the rest of the day shopping for replacement shoes for me, unsuccessfully. We really are the choosiest beggars.

That night we attempted the pub crawl yet again, but it wasn't nearly as fun as the night before. Though we did meet some LSU guys which further shrunk our world when Megan played the name game with them for like 2 hours. Went to sleep early and did so happily.

Long story short...go to Prague! I might even take a gander and say this will not be the only time I go here on this trip...who knows what July will hold?!

Dubsteppin' Berlin

I was extremely excited to get to Berlin...I mean come onnnnn... Nazi history, rumors of bomb.com kebabs for CHEAP, underground clubs and techno scene...what's not to like??

Megan and I have been very interested to guage our reactions to these larger cities vs. smaller towns, aka Barcelona vs. Sevilla/Vienna vs. Salzburg/Berlin vs...umm...mental note, go to a small town in Germany. Perhaps it is the ease of navigating the smaller towns on foot, although I must admit that an easy metro system REALLY makes a difference. Berlin's metro passed the test even though we butchered the names like WOAH. But this city was just SO big, like Barcelona, that we never felt like we actually came to understand the city--even though we took a city-wide bike tour and saw everything. A main thing with larger cities as well is that the city center is so vast that you can't really see everything without knowing exactly what you want to see and making a point of going there. Maybe our issue was that we didn't want to pay for the museums (now that my student ID is gone... grrr) or additional tours or, well, anything...but I think it really was that we didn't know what we actually wanted to see? Hence spending our second full day in Berlin on a fake beach. They took our waters, which was essentially evil considering our dehydrated, hungover bodies, and we laid out on a "beach" that really was just sand next to a river. The pool located IN the river was cool...looking. Just read Hunger Games and did not move because if I shifted an inch I'd be rubbing up against other greased-down, sweaty bodies. No danke.

Anywhodiddle, aside from the bike tour, the creepy man/woman who ran our hostel (on the phone he sounded like a grandmotherly woman and then showed up a middle-aged man with a swivel in his hips when he walked), the Jewish Museum (I now know everything there is to know on being a Jew...that museum was so comprehensive we ended up getting kicked out because we stayed so long) and the confirmed delicious kebabs (YES), our main experience in Berlin was the DUBSTEP. And the beer. But those two go together, obviously. Our first night out was spent, while eating our noodle boxes, meeting some Germans from Frankfurt: Marcel, Sebastian and Daniel. They were very helpful in assisting us in choosing a cheap, high alcohol content beer (essentially this is how we choose what to drink, and Berlin was FULL of these delish brews) and then proceeded in buying our drinks, getting us lost on the way to the underground club, participating in our photoshoot outside of a random, nontouristy section of the Berlin Wall (BOOYAH), and then dancing the night away with us until 6am the following morning. Megan and I looked at each other and said, "Um, it is fully light outside and people are walking to work. Maybe we should head back" before getting tooootally lost on the way to finding a nearby metro. This was only our first taste of the amazing techno scene because the next day I discovered something called Berlin Summer Rave that was conveniently TONIGHT. HECK. YES. Thank you, karma! This awesome techno festival was held in an abandoned airport easily reachable from a metro stop (thanks again, karma) and had three separate stages in three hangars of the airport for only €25. How I wish I could put these pictures up already so you can see what I am talking about! Needless to say, after only 5 hrs of sleep or so we still managed to dance our hearts out at Megan's first rave experience, hopping up and down like crazies and pushing our way to the front (heck yes, Don, you know that's our style!) before getting back to the hostel around 4am. Exhausting, but exactly the experience I wanted from Berlin!

BELGIUM, the Beer and Chocolate Paradise

ANTWERP

When I think of Belgium now I think of beer, fries with mayonnaise, chocolate, and more beer. Aka, my kind of place! Because we didn't have a hostel booked for the night, we made the last minute decision to get off at Antwerp which would have been fun had I not been feeling like death was coming for me any minute. Definitely alcohol withdrawl! But we trudged along, making our way from the train station down the shopping streets and through a dust storm...finding a super gross hotel for 35 freakin' euros a piece. We grabbed a kebab (duh) but it disappointed us, and instead of touring the city in the last hours of daylight, we shut ourselves in our room and FINALLY showered (wait for it...after 6 DAYS of not showering because we ran out of shampoo before Eurohash!! We are gross, I know) and lost ourselves in The Hunger Games. Sounds lame, skipping an entire city just to read these books...but you don't understand unless you've read them! I find myself holding my breath sometimes because I get so into it, and getting goosebumps even though it's so hot I'm sweaty. Just go read it already.

GHENT

We made the decision to go to Ghent over Bruges at the suggestion of the hash family...supposedly Bruges is stunning but full of American tourists, Ghent hasn't really been discovered yet...exactly what we want!! Found our hostel's street but for the life of us couldn't locate the building, until after 15 minutes of searching Megan remembers "Oh! It's a boat!"...miiight have been useful info Megs ;) The Ecohostel was pretty cool though, spacious and clean and on a BOAT for pete's sake! This is also where we got the BEST map EVER! Called "use-it," the map is full of information from locals on history, where to go see, drink, and eat and what life is like in Ghent. Learned that their goverment actually passed a law making schools eat vegan on Thursdays! Interesting little city. We spent the rest of the day walking around the adorable and beautiful city, eating fries with mayo and gravy from beef cooked with beer (yumm), and drinking phenomenal beer in an old leper colony and by the waterside. We also tried a liqour called jenever, and of course I tried the chocolate version. Dangerous! It tasted exactly like chocolate milk and after drinking 12-13% beers, went down niice. We enjoyed talking to the bar owner, Sal, who had some Zulu beads behind his bar...NOLA, you're everywhere! Yet another semi-early night, which my body needed. It also needed chocolate which it was rewarded with at breakfast the next morning! I ate the Belgian equivalent of choco rice crispies, with a piece of dark chocolate and toast with butter. Mathilde's kind of breakfast!

BRUSSELS

Getting to a big city after a picturesque town like Ghent is always a bit of a letdown, what with buildings and commercial things. But we really liked Brussels! First stop was the Delirium Tremens bar where we saw Mannekin Piss' sister, Jeanneke Piss, and drank some fantabulous Belgian beer. Took a tour of the European Union quarter, with the help of our handydandy Use-it map, and saw the massive building that houses the EU Parliament. Saw Mannekin Piss, the little statue/fountain of a boy peeing that is one of the most recognizable things in Brussels...no idea why!? He is so tiny and wasn't even peeing :( continued our city-long walk to the west, stopping in a vintage shop and heading back to our hostel to change.Our hostel's location was in the heart of the city, conveniently located for more beer drinking and getting to the kebab street! Yes, you heard me, an entire STREET of kebabs! After having a few Trappist beers in Celtica, the cheapest pub in the city, and making friends with two Belgians, Stijn and Jan, who were helpful in guiding our beer choices before they left the city, it is no surprise that we found THE BEST kebab that we have had so far. Belgian-style was perfect--nice an spicy with fries inside! I gobbled this down and even had a heated conversation, defending kebabs, with a kebab-hater in the hostel. Poor guy doesn't even KNOW what he is missing! After heading back out for another beer, we ran into Jan again who was back in town with a bunch of guy friends...so I walked Megs back to the hostel and went back out to drink with them. Such nice guys from Menchen, their two british friends has just arrived in town and I followed along with them all over the city...eventually checking out the red lift district! That was definitely an experience...women in lingerie, sitting in windows with men oogling them. Somehow I had missed this in Amsterdam-glad I saw it but won't be back. At one point, one of the "ladies of the night" gestured to one of the guys in our party and told him that they needed to watch out for me because of all the sketchy characters about! So, gentlemen that they were, they took turns holding my arm and pretending to be my boyfriend...love Belgians :) I just wish I had asked them to walk me back to my hostel later that night (well I guess it was morning, like 6am-ish) because even though it was only 4 blocks back, one gypsy man started talking to me, following me, and I was so busy trying to push him away from me that I didn't realize he had stolen my wallet. So annoying!! Fortunately I had my passport and most of my cash back at the hostel, but traveling without a debit card will be interestig for the next month. Good thing I've got Megan, travel companion turned Suga Mama!!

Canals and Castles, aka HASHING in Amsterdam and Baarlo

AMSTERDAM

Oh, how I love it. Megan and I actually came to the conclusion that, if you take away the canals and add balconies, Amsterdam would look quite similar to New Orleans. Well, without the red light district and cafes selling marijuana...
ANYways, of couse we loved Amsterdam despite the chilly weather, not-so-delicious kebabs, and creepy red light district go-ers. We found our hostel, The Globe, located literally 5 blocks away from the train station and perfectly in the middle of one of the most popular parts of the city. Walking around we played some pool in a coffeeshop where Megan ALMOST beat me (whew) and then found a Thai restaurant called Bird where we ate some scrumptious Thai food. Maura is so jealous right now :) Following this we met up with my friend (I LOVE YOU KINDLE!) Brian Walton from Rhodes! He is working in a small town in Germany this summer and happened to be in Amsterdam at the same time...not to mention randomly ALSO in the same hostel! Ah....karma. Didn't do much, but enjoyed listening to BWalt ramble on and on becaue he had been alone for the past week...never remembered him talking this much...haha kidding.
After a chilly chill night, we woke up to yet another chilly overcast day but excited to meet up with Nick who had taken the midnight train from Munich. His night was spent partying with randos in the bike storage car (he is definitely related to me, love it) -and then promptly had to loiter near the Anne Frank house waiting for us to show up...for an hour bc we got lost. Oops. Best part is that he didn't even want to go in because he heard it was too depressing haha.ANYways it was depressing but definitely worth seeing. Too bad I've never read the Diary of Anne Frank...minor oversight there, middle school teachers! I blame you. Learning of the diary by seeing the actual one, along with where her family hid behind a fake bookcase for 2 years, was the way to do it though. Quite chilling and ominous--for others of you whose lower school teachers forgot to add the diary to summer reading lists, it does NOT have a happy ending. BWalt had joined us for the museum and upon my mentioning that the Netherlanders must not like to waste room on stairs (SO steep! I thought the old people museum-goers were going to tumble down and break their hips!), he told us that his first day in town he fell down an entire flight of stairs in a coffeeshop!!! One step, two step, curplunk. Gosh darn 'Merican tourists...but I would have loved to see that happen ;)BWalt departed when Megs and I met up with Nick, drinking a few bronsons before I went to my canal hash that afternoon and they continued on their city-wide beer crawl. I think they actually had destinations in mind but got horibbly lost without my top notch navigation skills, of course, and instead drank a beer in essentially every bar in the city.I, on the other hand, hashed along the streets and canals and boats of Amsterdam with many of my fellow Eurohashers! We began in the south and made our way even further south, running just about 10k, 60 of us (me the youngest, but that's a given) running and on-on-ing and laughing. I was finally thankful for the cold weather and didn't even mind the light rain as we ran except when we had our beer stop (well, shot stop...tasted like Christmas jeager) on a boat crossing a river, brrr, and when we had circle bc it started actually raining. Then pouring. Then lightning. Wind gusting like a hurricane, we huddled behind a big abandoned train car while I shoveled paprika chips into my mouth and gulped down more beer. Can't say it was a bad experience really. Our on-after was AWESOME though, and we crammed into 2 canal boats and toured the city by water...although sadly I don't remember much, other than eatig an entire plateful of cheese, bc 1. As the youngest the hashers love to make me drink so I never had an empty glass, they were sure of that, and 2. I challenged the Estonians to a drinking contest. Not the smartest thing I've ever done, but a good time! Fortunately they were nice enough to see me back to my hostel and I lost yet another contest, this time a pool game. Megan found me in her bottom bunk bed at 10pm, half sitting half laying down, fully clothed and snoring bc I couldn't make my way up to my top bunk. Successful night I'd say!
Last day in Amsterdam before Eurohash, Nick joined us for the Heineken Experience. Waste. Of. Money! I mean, when you're touring a brewery you at least hope to see them actually making beer...and if not at least to DRINK the beer throughout the tour! Instead we found ourselves in essentially a Heineken commercial with only 3 mini beers at the end of the tour and I can honestly say I learned nothing. Boo! Fortunately for me and Megs, we would not be wanting for beer AT ALL during the next 3 days as we were to experience the total ridiculousness that is EUROHASH!

Castle De Berkt, May 27-30, Baarlo-Netherlands, EUROHASH

Where do I even begin?! Three days with 10 open bars, in a castle and the surrounding, well, trailerpark (apparently this is how the Dutch "camp")...600 crazy hashers from around the world, bands, themed parties, and hashes in Baarlo and the surrounding cities. We scored some free stuff (backpack, fanny pack, tshirt and polo) and fortunately for Megan, Nick went back to the US early so she didn't even have to pay!
First night consisted of a "pub crawl" of sorts as some of the hashes set up home bases at the bars...of course the American "Honky Tonk" bar was our fave...and each bar could be checked off on the back of our shirts. I am proud to say we dominated the crawl, even getting more secret bars written onto the shirt! Everyone was so jolly and friendly--I've learned that there really is a hashing personality. Open-minded, enthusiastic, welcoming and goofy...I mean you have to be when youre running 12k through random parts of cities and drinking the whole time, and some have been doing this for 20, 30 years! I can't wait to hash in my grey-haired days...I'll probably still be challenging Estonians to drinking contests.
Woke up to sounds of British children whispering "Whats that lady doing in here?!" and throwing small items at my sleeping form. Somehow I had passed out in the children's room, dedicated nanny that I am. Turns out I had put my stuff in the wrong room, and the hashers had a good laugh when I was called out in circle later that day :)
The hash was AWEsome! We took a bus to the southernmost part of the Netherlands and ran about 15k through 3 different countries: Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium! Even though the Netherlands is typically flat, this area was hilly which to me felt like mountains...I learned my lesson after trying to run up the first hill--NOT repeated!
Got back in time for dinner where I found Megan eating with our new British friends, the only other ppl our age...I must have been ravenous bc Megs said I looked like I hadn't eaten in a week. Guess I was shovelling food into my mouth faster than usual. I think I ate 5 rolls globbed with the best garlic butter EVER, but HEY Zulu party was tonight so I needed a good drinking base! I luckily had a zebra dress which I thought was costume enough...but people went ALL OUT. I'm talking half naked middle aged people wearing loincloths and grass skirts, with spears and bodies covered in brown paint. When they ran out of brown some people got green-like one of the British blokes. He looked diseased and, even after showering the next day, remained a shade of puke green the rest of the weekend. But we're hashers so who cares! The guys especially loved pulling Megan on the dance floor and rubbing up against her in an attempt to make her brown and green as well bc she didn't have a costume...too bad they only succeeded in making her green sweater look GROSS! The rest of the night was spent similar to the first, drinking, making friends, and this time organizing beer pong in the American bar. Don't remember if I won or not...
Woke up NOT in the children's room, thank god, and made it just in time to catch the easygoing 4k hash around the city. We all were hurting from the night before so we just walked and upon finding the first bar sat down for beers. One crazy hasher, a 40s-ish Brit, particularly liked the live music and danced his buns off up and down the street...my abs were literally hurting from laughing so hard! The whole hash my Brit friends Lloyd and Webby (think his name is Daniel?) kept exclaiming "WAH-OW!" and "Ah-MAY-zing!" which I found hilarious...and even moreso when I learned they were doing this after partying with Megan last night. Apparently we say "wow" and "amazing" a lot?? They were essentially making fun of us :) aMAzing!
The rest of the weekend was honestly a blur...I got called out in circle, again, this time bc one random hasher had followed me onto the bus without realizing that his flight was that afternoon so when we arrived he had to hop out and into a taxi immediately...everyone made me turn around so they could see the "cute bum" he said he had followed. Drinking beer continued into the night, without Megan though who missed every hash and instead stayed in and finished The Hunger Games! I can't blame her though...those books are ADDICTIVE. Finally found her the next day and we hitched a ride with the organizer of Eurohash, Neptunus, to the train station where thank GOD this amazingly nice hashing family let us tag along with them to Belgium. SO nice not to have to be in charge of directions for a change, not having to make sure we were on the right train or going the right direction or getting off at the right stop...I was in NO shape to do this. After 3 days of hashing my body was slowly shutting down...thank you Tuna Melt and family for being lifesavers!! I'm just jealous we didn't get to tag along to Disneyland in France...