Berlin = COLD

I dont have much time because its a little expensive here to be online. Mom, sorry I havent been able to call...we cant find payphones and by the time we do...its too late or too early to call. I'll try tonight. I also cant post pictures...my card doesnt match up to the european computers, you'll have to wait till i get back, which stinks weve got some great stuff.

Our first news this morning was that it is SNOWING in Munich (where we will be in 4 days)....SNOWING. Needless to say, we are freezing to death here. Its about 10 c which is about 40 degrees f.

We finished up yesterday in Amsterdam, and drove to Berlin. It was about 8 hours which flew by since we all slept. We got to Berlin at about 6pm, ate dinner and Chrissy and Heather braved the cold while I passed out in the room.

Today we had a 3 hour walking tour of the Communist side of Berlin. It was extremely good. We learned a lot about the Nazi party, saw Nazi and Communist buildings and the Brandenberg Gates. We also saw the Berlin wall which was very cool. We even saw the college Albert Einstein attended and all the stuff is up for the World Cup, which kicks off here on June 9th. There are cool stages set up everywhere and the whole city is talking about it.

We are awful at German...weve tried to order Bratwurst 3 times and all times just ended up with fries. Apparently, bratwurst translates to fries. So, bottom line, were cold, starving and all we want is a bratwurst. Hahah.

Alright, we go to Prauge tomorrow with a stop in the German town of Dresden. So Jus for now. (Jus is the slang for goodbye in German).

Holy Amsterdam

I dont really remember where I left off....today is a little hazy. Haha. We safely arrived to Hotel Lakeland in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We are staying in a suburb of Amsterdam called Monnickdam which is extremely cute and quaint. We had a long drive, about 6 hours plus a 1.5 hour ferry ride to get to Amsterdam.

We grabbed some dinner at the hotel and then decided to go into town. We decided to do an optional excursion with Contiki, a booze cruise around the canals of Amsterdam. We had our own boat and unlimited drinks....needless to say we went through 3 kegs of Heineken...35 ppl were on the boat.

After we stumbled off the boat we decided to continue with Amsterdam nightlife and went to a coffeeshop called the Jolly Joker. Information from the next hour is rated R and cannot be published. After we were done at the Jolly Joker and another shop called Hill Street Blues we went to grab a beer at a random bar. Apparently, we bring trouble where ever we go as a fight between some Irishmen erupted and we were forced to leave the bar. Hahaha....oh goodness, crazy times. We capped off the night by going to a techno club called Club Arelle or Nurelle, i cant really remember. Stumbeled into a cab and made it home. Contiki gives you a business card in every city of the hotel your staying in so you can just hand it to the driver....needless to say this came in handy as we couldnt speak more than 6 words....and everything was in dutch.

This morning started a little earlier then we would have hoped but it was definitely worth it. We drove about 5 miles to the town of Edam, where they make the cheese, and had a guided bike tour through the historic city. It was absoloutely adorable...however I dont know if it was more entertaining to look at the city or to laugh at our awful ability to ride bikes. We also got to visit a working windmill, cheese maker and a clog maker.

We are currently in central Amsterdam at an internet cafe and heading over to Anne Frank's house and then the Heineken Museum. Tonight we have a guided tour through the Red Light District and some sort of live show....what kind I will not say because I dont really know myself. Dont expect me to write about it on here though....

Goodbye for now!

Chill London Days

Well....another successful day in London. This morning was a little rough for us to wake up...we slept in until about 9ish and then headed off to Leischeter Square to buy play tickets. We're going to see Footloose tonight at 8:30pm...so excited.

Everything today was pretty normal, we saw the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, pretty chill day actually. We rode around on our double decker bus, then walked around The British National Art Gallery and saw some beautiful paintings by Rapahel and DaVinci, including the Madonna on theRockes. We then headed over to Covent Garden again for our last chance to get traditional english food. Did a little shopping....eek, everything is so expensive here.

After our day we met up with our Contiki tour group...they all seem cool. Should be a fun group. We have two Australian guys as our tour guides (YES) and that will make listening to what they have to say even more enjoyable.

We managed to stay out of sex districts today...which is probably a good thing since were going to Amsterdam tomorrow. Alright, well i'm off to get ready for Footloose. My thing I bought to get pictures isnt working....damnit, so i'll try it on another computer in Amsterdam...although i think that none of us will be able to type or function there. Haha....Just joking, or am i? Wish us luck...

Wankers and Fanny Packs

Alright....well yesterday was a insanely busy day that of course provided extreme hilarity. We started off at 8am by going to Windsor Castle with about 25 80 year old women and men....hilarious. It was a lot of fun...the castle was absolutely amazing.

After the castle we headed back into central london to eat some extremely good Thai food and head off on the Original London Tour hop-on-hop-off bus. We started off our dancing video if you dont know what i am talking about visit www.wherethehellismatt.com with Heather giving us the inagural dance in front of Buckingham Palace. We then headed over to BIG BEN...PARLIAMENT (National Lampoon for all of you that didnt get that....thats for you Robyn). All three of us danced there....so great.

We also started taking pictures mocking famous monuments....when i figure out how to post them I will, just dont have time right this minute.

After seeing the sights we walked around to try and find Soho, and accidentally found the red light district of it. Accident, I promise. We met two glorious chaps, Justin and Nick, at this pub in Soho and proceeded to meet them at another pub (O'Neills) later to watch the England vs. Belarus soccer game.

Needless to say the boys taught us some English we never knew before. For example...Fanny Packs mean a way different thing in Soho, London. Ask me after the trip. We spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing at O'Neill's and somehow found the metro home.

Today is more sightseeing, Tower of London, Tower Bridge and St. Pauls Cathedral!! We miss everyone....but only a little. Pics next time I promise!!

London here we are!

Well we have finally made it! We landed at about 9:15am to a rainy and cold London! We proceeded to go through customs rather easily and grabbed our bags (which all made it!) and headed to the metro aka "The Tube".

It was about an hour to get to where our hotel is located by train, and we hopped at Russel Square. When we got to our hotel we realized we couldnt check in until 2pm and it was about 11:30am. What are three college girls to do when they cant get into their hotel? Visit a pub of course! In our case it was two...haha. So we knocked back a few pints with some local chaps in Covent Garden ate some fish and chips and bangers and mash until we could check in at around 3pm.

We just woke up from a little hour nap (we had to) and are going to go back out to this pub called The Goose tonight! We've got Windsor Castle tomorrow so maybe I cant post up some pictures...until later!

Awwww!!! The four of us aka Crazy Party of Four graduated this week....so sad. However, we are super excited to celebrate the commencement of our 4 years of undergraduate study by wiping it away with too much alchohol and cheese in Europe. (Again....were going to miss Erika!!!!) Speical thanks to Brady for taking these beautiful pictures of us!!

Graduation and Preparation

Well, graduation has come and gone....Congrats to me, Heather, Chrissy and Erika!! As well as everyone else I know that graduated (That means you Robyn and Duke). Chrissy, Heather and I will be leaving on our European Expedition on May 23...Stay posted to hear about all the crazy stories as Crazy Party of Four (minus Erika...SAD) goes global!!

For now i'll post our itinerary....

May 23 - London
May 27 - Amsterdam
May 29 - Berlin
May 31 - Prague
June 2 - Munich
June 4 - Venice
June 6 - Rome
June 8 - Florence
June 10 - Lucerne
June 12 /16 Paris

Feel free to leave comments...advice, what to drink or do....etc. Ciao!!!