Free from Freedom

Berlin, Germany

caraesullivan — Tue, 3 Feb 2009 07:53:00 GMT

We arrived Saturday night and went to Christian's (Cay's boyfriend) apartment. He had bought ingredients for Pizza so Cay and him prepared delicious pie. It had pepppers, leeks, mushrooms, cheese, pancetta. so yum, they both love to cook so it's good they are good at it. After that we were planning to go to his friends house party, but conincidently enough january 31st is the lange nact der museen which many Berlin museums are open until 2am. We left the apartment at 11:30 and cruised to the Berliner Dom (we climbed a seemingly neverending staircase to the top and saw the Berlin cityscape at night), Museum of Antiquity (which had a large red neon sign "all art has once been contemporary") and the Guggenheim. We were at Alexanderplatz where I first saw the incredibly tall TV tower. The Guggenheim is under construction but it offer us a memory exhibit and a fashion show. We got a drink at a local smoking bar and went home. The night day we slept late until 1pm and went out to see what else we could see. Again, lucky us, the first day of each month the museums are free. We started at the Brendenbaug Gate and saw the Reichstag (German Parliament). We saw the war victims memorial, depicting on a handful of those who were killed trying to cross the wall. After we explored the Holocaust memorial which was an array of assorted pillars. It was a maze and looked beautiful with the dusting of snow on top. Oh yes it snowed! Berlin looks so pretty in snow. The next day we went to East Side Gallery and saw the remaining part of the wall. We walked Unter den Linden and explored Potsdamer Platz. We search Babelplatz for the book burning memorial but we were unable to find it. It seems that the fashion week building (that they were deconstructing while we were there) may have been covering it. We went to the Jewish History museum which had interesting archtecture. We were tired and hungry and stopped for a bite before returning home. We ate some falafels and relaxed before our journey to Rostock where will we get the ferry to Helsinki.

Amsterdam (1/28/09-1/31/09)

caraesullivan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:36:00 GMT

Day 1: Once I met my friend, we chose to drop our heavy bags in a locker at Centraal Station. Feeling free from our heavy loads, we walked around Dam square and got some lunch at Foodism. I had a vegge sandwich on a baguette. It was yum. From our first step out of the station until we boarded the train to Berlin- we were dodging bikes, cars, and trams. We were informed that Amsterdam loses 1 tourist a year to a tram. Thankfully we navigated the streets without issue. Although, at a narrow street intersection my shoulder was grazed by a van's sideview mirror as it rolled to a stop! (don't worry mom I'm fine) We walked past a flower market saw many tulips and other beautiful flowers. We were staying with Cay's friend and needed to wait until she was home from work, so we milled around for a while and took in the sites of the city. In the early evening, we took the tram to her apartment and got settled in for the night. The next day we spent the morning at the Anne Frank House. It was larger than I had imagined when I was reading her diary. It was quite interesting and since we went in the morning there was no line, although inside was quite crowded of course. We saw more of the city and ate dinner at a horrible turkish run pancake house. I ordered dutch pea soup and cheese on a baguette. The food was edible but expensive and not too tasty. Cay's friend, met us there and grabbed a bite with us, before we headed to a nearby bar for a pub quiz. It was sponsered by her Irish football club and was quite fun, although we did not even come close to winning (36 correct out of 70!). Surprisingly we did better then half.

Day 2: We woke by 10 and went on a walking tour of the city. It was free and provided us with many interesting facts about the city and local architecture. An insteresting fact was that each home has a hooked arm extended from the top of the facade. It is used in a pulley system, offering an alternative from climbing very steep stairs when moving in. We saw the widest canal, the narrowest bridge and the skinniest house. We ate at La Place which was a fun food court with lots of good looking food. I decided on chicken soup, cheese stick and some seed covered brown bread. Best meal in Amsterdam! Later we went to the Van Gogh museum. It boasts of the largest collection of Van Gogh's work and more then 200 paintings, including artists that influenced him. As well as many paintings by other 19th century artists. It was interesting to see his progression but the collection seemed a bit small. We took our time and buzzed through in about an hour. At night we went on a canal cruise. We were fortunate that many dutch leave their curtain opens so we could see all the lovely homes and dutch decor.

Day 3: Travel day! We left Amsterdam at 1pm on a train to Berlin. We ate brown bread toast and we were off. The train took 6 hours. Our first train ride a success! woohoo.

The Flight (1/27/09-1/28/09)

caraesullivan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:21:00 GMT

I was packing up to the last minute on Tuesday, the day of my departure. In fact, I just barely left in time to make my flight. My parents dropped me off at the airport. After a tearful goodbye, I rushed to security only to sit and wait for my plane to arrive. I flew from Bradley to O'Hare, but due to 200mph headwinds, I barely had enough time to make my connection going to Dublin. I flew Aer Lingus for the first time. It was a small plane filled with Irish students on holiday. They had an in-flight magazine called "Cara". Unfortunately I couldn't snag one because there weren't any in my surrounding rows. I arrived in Amsterdam at 12:15 on Wednesday the 28th and took the train from the Airport to Centraal Station where I met Cay at track #2.