Hey All,
I believe this will be my final post, as we are heading home (fingers crossed) today.
Just to keep you abreast on what happened yesterday, Chris and I spent the afternoon in Paris and we were able to visit Versailles (sp) and saw the palace. This place was huge! First of all, everything was covered in gold on the outside, and then again on the inside. There were so many amazing things to look at from the furniture, pictures, busts, cathedral and the walls. What I did enjoy was the garden section. Although it was covered in light snow you could still walk outside. There were two main gardens each about a mile long and a football field wide. It was incredible. I am just glad that I don't have to cut the grass! haha.
Ok, thats about it. Chris and I are here at the Airport and should be heading to Toronto around 4pm London time or 11am Eastern time. Hopefully I will see most of you all later today!
Cheers from London,
Matt
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Praha part dos
Hey all,
So you all seem to be really interested in Prague, particularly Brandy. Ha ha. I just want to let you know Brandy that the tour guide told us the the thing you are supposed to rub on the Charles Bridge is not true. I guess it is just some tourist attraction, she told us that you a rubbing the wrong statue if you rub that one. I will try to get to the Tiger bar though.
What we did today-we went on a 5 hour tour that covered all quarters of the city and ended up at the palace that over looked the city at night. Looked amazing.
Some of the places that we saw- Old Town, New Town, Jewish Quarter, Less Quarter an the Castle.
Old town is just the older section of Prague, very beautiful architecture and I wish everyone could see it. This also includes the square with the astronomical clock. This clock is amazing, it was created in the 14th century and can tell you when the sun rises, sets, when its dark, when its light, and what day it is. I am not sure how they did that but it is pretty cool. The other interesting part of the clock is that on the hour these windows open and apostles walk by.
New Town- the main street and where most of the protests took place. The lady was talking about so many people I didn't know, I couldn't recall it all. But there were events like the velvet revolution (end of the cold war) and other events that are important parts of their history.
Jewish Quarter- nothing to exciting, just a bunch of old synagogues that you can look at.
Lesser Quarter is the part of the city between the palace and the river. Its a small area but has some nice churches and architecture.
The Castle- one of the largest fortified castles in all of Europe- the tour guide said the largest but I doubt it. Any way, it was great to see cause it had houses, incredibly beautiful churches and offices for the branches of government. At the end, we went to the garden that over looked the city at night, and as I said before it was amazing.
Other things to note-service is really slow here. I mean, its slow all over Europe but particularly slow here. We waited 25 minutes for the check. We did everything under the sun to try to attract the waiters attention and it failed. At one point I blew out the candle at our table hoping that he would see it was out and would try to relight it. haha.
Also, everything here is expensive. Which I don't understand. This is a poor country and we should be able to have some benefits, but no. For example, a deck of cards cost me $5. Who pays $5 for a deck of cards! Oh well.
The garnet is nice and plentiful here. I did see a lot of nice jewelry, but I don't think I am going to buy any cause I am not sure if it is something that anyone would wear. I know you have the cross, but I am not sure if you would want anything else. I will tell Chris that it is your birth stone Kayla, maybe he will.
I think this is my last post until Friday because we will be traveling all day tomorrow.
Stay safe in this bad weather everyone.
Matt
So you all seem to be really interested in Prague, particularly Brandy. Ha ha. I just want to let you know Brandy that the tour guide told us the the thing you are supposed to rub on the Charles Bridge is not true. I guess it is just some tourist attraction, she told us that you a rubbing the wrong statue if you rub that one. I will try to get to the Tiger bar though.
What we did today-we went on a 5 hour tour that covered all quarters of the city and ended up at the palace that over looked the city at night. Looked amazing.
Some of the places that we saw- Old Town, New Town, Jewish Quarter, Less Quarter an the Castle.
Old town is just the older section of Prague, very beautiful architecture and I wish everyone could see it. This also includes the square with the astronomical clock. This clock is amazing, it was created in the 14th century and can tell you when the sun rises, sets, when its dark, when its light, and what day it is. I am not sure how they did that but it is pretty cool. The other interesting part of the clock is that on the hour these windows open and apostles walk by.
New Town- the main street and where most of the protests took place. The lady was talking about so many people I didn't know, I couldn't recall it all. But there were events like the velvet revolution (end of the cold war) and other events that are important parts of their history.
Jewish Quarter- nothing to exciting, just a bunch of old synagogues that you can look at.
Lesser Quarter is the part of the city between the palace and the river. Its a small area but has some nice churches and architecture.
The Castle- one of the largest fortified castles in all of Europe- the tour guide said the largest but I doubt it. Any way, it was great to see cause it had houses, incredibly beautiful churches and offices for the branches of government. At the end, we went to the garden that over looked the city at night, and as I said before it was amazing.
Other things to note-service is really slow here. I mean, its slow all over Europe but particularly slow here. We waited 25 minutes for the check. We did everything under the sun to try to attract the waiters attention and it failed. At one point I blew out the candle at our table hoping that he would see it was out and would try to relight it. haha.
Also, everything here is expensive. Which I don't understand. This is a poor country and we should be able to have some benefits, but no. For example, a deck of cards cost me $5. Who pays $5 for a deck of cards! Oh well.
The garnet is nice and plentiful here. I did see a lot of nice jewelry, but I don't think I am going to buy any cause I am not sure if it is something that anyone would wear. I know you have the cross, but I am not sure if you would want anything else. I will tell Chris that it is your birth stone Kayla, maybe he will.
I think this is my last post until Friday because we will be traveling all day tomorrow.
Stay safe in this bad weather everyone.
Matt
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Praha aka Prague
Hey All,
Post from Prague, the final new stop in the trip before we begin our journey back to the US.
We got in late today so did not see much, but where able to walk around a little bit at night and see some of the sites.
Prague is one of this cities that seems to be untouched since the 15th century. It is beautiful! I wish I could take more pictures but my camera died and the charger is gone due to the theft so I have no way of documenting this city. Take my word for it though, it is beautiful.
One of the more interesting things to note is the side walks. They are not cement or asphalt like the states, they are in fact tile. Incredible to see, just walking I feel like I am in a palace. I can't wait for the tour tomorrow.
I think the part of the tour that I am most looking forward to is the palace. It is set on top of the hill on the other side of the city and looks over all of Prague. The best part is that the palace is actually a mini town. Maybe my camera will have some energy in it to take some pictures.
Ok, well, I think I am going to call it quits. Enjoy the rest of your day everyone!
Best Regards,
Matt
Post from Prague, the final new stop in the trip before we begin our journey back to the US.
We got in late today so did not see much, but where able to walk around a little bit at night and see some of the sites.
Prague is one of this cities that seems to be untouched since the 15th century. It is beautiful! I wish I could take more pictures but my camera died and the charger is gone due to the theft so I have no way of documenting this city. Take my word for it though, it is beautiful.
One of the more interesting things to note is the side walks. They are not cement or asphalt like the states, they are in fact tile. Incredible to see, just walking I feel like I am in a palace. I can't wait for the tour tomorrow.
I think the part of the tour that I am most looking forward to is the palace. It is set on top of the hill on the other side of the city and looks over all of Prague. The best part is that the palace is actually a mini town. Maybe my camera will have some energy in it to take some pictures.
Ok, well, I think I am going to call it quits. Enjoy the rest of your day everyone!
Best Regards,
Matt
Monday, January 5, 2009
Berlin
Report from the free tour...it was great! Few things that we saw:
Berlin Wall-interesting story of how it was raised and how it fell. Never knew it was due to a mistake more than anything. Part of it is still up, but it is guarded by a fence so they never forget it. Weird to think that a fence is guarding a fence.
Holocaust Memorial- Different slabs of concrete at different heights, but the artist never gave an interpretation on the work, so you have to decide for yourself.
Brandenburg Gate- found out the history around the gate and how it changed from the actual work to its meaning over the centuries.
Check point Charlie- where you move from east to west and you could get your passport stamped there. There is also I large picture of a US solider staring at the East and on the other side there is a Russian solider staring into the West. It was supposed to represent communism/socialism watching over Democracy and vice versa.
Many Nazi things- Hitler's Bunker, Book Burning site/memorial, SS headquarters, Luftwaffe HQ etc. Interesting construction...everything is larger than life and is supposed to make you feel small and weak. In order to get the feeling of obedience.
There were a few other places like museums, churches and the east Germany TV tower.
After all that, chris and I cleaned up and took a little nap. Neither of us really slept on the train.
Went out to dinner at this Italian restaurant which was really good. And by really good I mean amazing. Can I also mention that Germany has really good meat! haha.
That is all.
Berlin Wall-interesting story of how it was raised and how it fell. Never knew it was due to a mistake more than anything. Part of it is still up, but it is guarded by a fence so they never forget it. Weird to think that a fence is guarding a fence.
Holocaust Memorial- Different slabs of concrete at different heights, but the artist never gave an interpretation on the work, so you have to decide for yourself.
Brandenburg Gate- found out the history around the gate and how it changed from the actual work to its meaning over the centuries.
Check point Charlie- where you move from east to west and you could get your passport stamped there. There is also I large picture of a US solider staring at the East and on the other side there is a Russian solider staring into the West. It was supposed to represent communism/socialism watching over Democracy and vice versa.
Many Nazi things- Hitler's Bunker, Book Burning site/memorial, SS headquarters, Luftwaffe HQ etc. Interesting construction...everything is larger than life and is supposed to make you feel small and weak. In order to get the feeling of obedience.
There were a few other places like museums, churches and the east Germany TV tower.
After all that, chris and I cleaned up and took a little nap. Neither of us really slept on the train.
Went out to dinner at this Italian restaurant which was really good. And by really good I mean amazing. Can I also mention that Germany has really good meat! haha.
That is all.
Hello from Berlin
Chris and I took our first trip in a sleeper car for the first time since Italy. Our section was maybe a 5x7 room three beds high on each side. Needless to say, it was a tight squeeze. Any way, we just got off the train and have arrived at the hostel in one piece. Our next plan of action is to take a free tour around Berlin. Its great, it takes you to all the sites around the area and all you have to do is give a little tip at the end. Good deal.
In other news, yes, I have been growing a beard since the monday before christmas, so almost three weeks. It is getting really think, so I am going to have to shave it soon. At least it is long enough that it doesn't itch anymore.
The only other thing that I can add is that the food is wicked cheap here and I plan on stuffing my face as much as possible. Ha ha.
Congrats dad on getting the storm. How do you like it so far?
Mom, give my best to Bailey and steal the rabbit from him as much as possible.
Bye
In other news, yes, I have been growing a beard since the monday before christmas, so almost three weeks. It is getting really think, so I am going to have to shave it soon. At least it is long enough that it doesn't itch anymore.
The only other thing that I can add is that the food is wicked cheap here and I plan on stuffing my face as much as possible. Ha ha.
Congrats dad on getting the storm. How do you like it so far?
Mom, give my best to Bailey and steal the rabbit from him as much as possible.
Bye
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Cat
So before I forget, I wanted to tell you all about the cat that lives in the hostel. Yes, this hostel has a cat as its mascot/pet. It is this big/chubby orangy striped cat. Got to love it. You see it in all these random places around the hostel and it has free reign to do whatever it wants. I have seen it on the stairs, on chairs and desks, in the kitchen and my favorite spot is on top of the stairs. The cat does let you pet it, but for the post part is not too affectionate. I am sad to see it go, but I will take a picture.
Matt
Matt
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Day 1 in Amsterdam
Hey All,
Today was our first day in Amsterdam and a successful one at that. The day started out with a free breakfast, which was great. I stuffed my face so it wouldn't be hungry for the rest of the day, which ended up being kind of true.
The first stop of the day was the Van Gogh museum. As we were waiting in line for tickets around 10am, we saw a guy rollerskating with a thong, a windbreaker and a swim cap....weirdo. Ha ha. When we finally got into the museum we saw a lot of Van Gogh's work. Although, I found out that its not pronounced like we say it, it is pronounced Van Gock (or close the that). Although I have to say that it was kind of disappointing. While we were able to see a lot of different pieces of his work, like sunflowers and lilies, we were not able to see starry night scenes. I really wanted to see those, but I guess they were on lone to another museum. We did get to see Rembrandt and Paul Gauguin. I think we are heading to the other famous museum there tomorrow which is called Rijksmuseum. It is supposed to be better than the Van Gogh museum, but I kinda doubt it.
After the Museum, we headed over the the Heineken experience. We took a tour of the brewery and got to sample some of the beer. Overall a good experience, but it probably was a little on the expensive side. We did get two free drinks with the tour which made up for it a little bit. They did have a lot of cool things along the tour though, for example, they had viewing booths where you could watch any commercial Heineken has ever made. Pretty incredible. Or how the company is connected to UEFA Champion league and had all types of soccer memorabilia including highlights from every player in the UEFA Cup. Exciting. The other cool part is that they had a party lounge set up, which was in a circular shape room and padded with leather. All the way around there was just one huge screen to watch this marketing piece that they had created. The final touch, was the ceiling was covered in bottles, it looked like one wave of green.
After that, we headed over to the red light district. I am so glad that we didn't go down there at night cause it was just a sketchy place to begin with, I could imagine it getting hairier late at night. The way the district was set up is that there are multiple alleys that you would walk down, each with doors on either side. Each door was a window door with a long red light above it. When you would look inside there would be a girl standing there in some lingerie trying to get you to come in. Behind her was a bed and sink. If there was someone with a girl, a simple curtain would cover the window.
After we got out of the red light district, we aimlessly walked around, but did end up trying those biscuits. I have to say there was two problems with them. One, they didn't work at all. Two, they tasted awful. Not worth the time or the money. Maybe we just have to go to a legit coffee shop and see if we can get anything there. I think we have kinda given up on it though, I mean, we tried it, just not what we thought the end result would be.
Chris and I are now back at the Hostel and are making plans for tonight. As for tomorrow we are going to see that one museum and a canal tour and then call it a day. Not much else to do. I don't think we are really going to head over to the Anne Frank Museum cause it just doesn't sound like a happy place. I think when we go to Berlin we will see a concentration camp which should be plenty.
Hope you guys are having fun across the pond. I will talk to you later.
Today was our first day in Amsterdam and a successful one at that. The day started out with a free breakfast, which was great. I stuffed my face so it wouldn't be hungry for the rest of the day, which ended up being kind of true.
The first stop of the day was the Van Gogh museum. As we were waiting in line for tickets around 10am, we saw a guy rollerskating with a thong, a windbreaker and a swim cap....weirdo. Ha ha. When we finally got into the museum we saw a lot of Van Gogh's work. Although, I found out that its not pronounced like we say it, it is pronounced Van Gock (or close the that). Although I have to say that it was kind of disappointing. While we were able to see a lot of different pieces of his work, like sunflowers and lilies, we were not able to see starry night scenes. I really wanted to see those, but I guess they were on lone to another museum. We did get to see Rembrandt and Paul Gauguin. I think we are heading to the other famous museum there tomorrow which is called Rijksmuseum. It is supposed to be better than the Van Gogh museum, but I kinda doubt it.
After the Museum, we headed over the the Heineken experience. We took a tour of the brewery and got to sample some of the beer. Overall a good experience, but it probably was a little on the expensive side. We did get two free drinks with the tour which made up for it a little bit. They did have a lot of cool things along the tour though, for example, they had viewing booths where you could watch any commercial Heineken has ever made. Pretty incredible. Or how the company is connected to UEFA Champion league and had all types of soccer memorabilia including highlights from every player in the UEFA Cup. Exciting. The other cool part is that they had a party lounge set up, which was in a circular shape room and padded with leather. All the way around there was just one huge screen to watch this marketing piece that they had created. The final touch, was the ceiling was covered in bottles, it looked like one wave of green.
After that, we headed over to the red light district. I am so glad that we didn't go down there at night cause it was just a sketchy place to begin with, I could imagine it getting hairier late at night. The way the district was set up is that there are multiple alleys that you would walk down, each with doors on either side. Each door was a window door with a long red light above it. When you would look inside there would be a girl standing there in some lingerie trying to get you to come in. Behind her was a bed and sink. If there was someone with a girl, a simple curtain would cover the window.
After we got out of the red light district, we aimlessly walked around, but did end up trying those biscuits. I have to say there was two problems with them. One, they didn't work at all. Two, they tasted awful. Not worth the time or the money. Maybe we just have to go to a legit coffee shop and see if we can get anything there. I think we have kinda given up on it though, I mean, we tried it, just not what we thought the end result would be.
Chris and I are now back at the Hostel and are making plans for tonight. As for tomorrow we are going to see that one museum and a canal tour and then call it a day. Not much else to do. I don't think we are really going to head over to the Anne Frank Museum cause it just doesn't sound like a happy place. I think when we go to Berlin we will see a concentration camp which should be plenty.
Hope you guys are having fun across the pond. I will talk to you later.
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