Das Boot and Other Adventures

We are in Amsterdam, which at the beginning of the trip seemed like a lifetime away and now we are here! First off, this place is crazy. We just looked down the redlight district and got scared so we decided to wait for the boys!

Let's finish up Berlin first! We went on the 4 hour walking tour with the boys which means inappropriate comments filled the space in between sights, it was so funny. The tour guide was pretty funny, but a little pushy for tips which was a little annoying. He had to keep telling us to walk faster as it was freezing outside!

On the tour we saw a lot of sights, but most of the stories were about how so much of the city was destroyed during the war. It is so sad that so much history was lost... We saw the worlds largest piece of granite which lookes like an amazingly huge bathtub and right up my alley! Apparently Hitler moved it to make more room for the Nazi's and then the Soviets moved it back and dropped it. So now it is no longer the world's biggest piece of granite... It is more like 2 and a half pieces. We saw this huge beautiful elaborate Lutheran Church, which our tour guide (Espin) pointed out was ironic because the Lutheran's didn't like how the Catholics bragged about their riches yet this church was rich in riches!

We loved on to the site of the largest Book Burning during the Nazi time and there was a cool memorial that was set up. There were 20,000 books burnt and since there have been efforts to replace the books. There was a cool Opera House that had been burnt 4 times. After we headed to Checkpoint Charlie. It was very cool to see and see the line of the wall throughout the city. So sad that this ever happened really...

We then made our way to wall. It was really cool, I mean there is not much still standing so you have to have a good imagination to understand how it actually used to look. Our guide explained how different West and East Germany were. How while one sector thrived the other lost money and just kept getting poorer and poorer.

After the wall we headed to Hitler's bunker. It was bombed 8 times and part of it still remains under the ground. The amount of cement used was outrageous. There were meters upon meters of cement throughout the bunker. We all stomped on the ground, and we all commented how ridiculous it is that he came to have so much power. After he took the drugs and simultaneously shot himself, he wanted to be bunrt to pieces so that he would be unrecognizable and no one could find him. Well, that didn't happen, and they identified him by the remaining 6 teeth he had left, apparently he began to grow crazy (as if he already wasn't crazy enough) and started to eat a lot of chocolate cake and get really fat. They found his body and re-burnt it. He deserved everything he got in my opinion... And Kare's too.

Next we walked to the Jewish memorial which is literally less than a block away from his bunker which is weird. And even more horrible is that the Memorial is not marked at all. Our guide told us it was very expensive and the government has promised to make 20 more memorials for the other groups that were exterminated during the war. Yet, they have only made 4. Really sad. The Memorial was really cool. It is up for interpretation what it represents. It's hard to describe but the pictures will help you understand once you see them. It was really cool until a guy on a bike came zooming by and hit Karin on the back of the leg. It was really rude but luckily she only got a scratch and didn't ruin her tights! JERK!

To finish the tour we went to see the Brandenberg Gate which was where the 20th anniversary festivites took place including speeches from Gordon Brown, Hilary Clinton, other foreign Presidents, along with U2, Bon Jovi and... DAVID HASSELHOFF. They are obsessed with him here! And we saw the hotel that crazy Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the balcony... Wow.

We made the walk back to the hostel, rested up and went to eat Chicken. It was sooo good! Then we decided oh, we're tired and we're going to be on a train tomorrow for 7 hours so maybe we can rest up! Well... That didn't happen! We went down to the bar and sang Karaoke and got Boots... aka 2L of Beer. Actually the boys each got one and Kare and I shared... They were sooooo cool! The boys were a disaster, Kare and I sang Backstreet boys and got a wild round of applause afterwards. We hung out with our new roommates, a girl from ASU and this cute gay guy from CU-Boulder! They were so fun. We taught Sydnie the gymnastics finish and Matt was teaching the boys how to say swear words in French... They are both studying abroad in Paris. Kare then fell down the stairs but totally saved the boot! She did stick the landing too! Perfect 10!!! It was so funny!!!! You can sleep when you're dead right?!

The next morning we got up, figured our lives out and ate breakfast. The boys came down and looked like hot messes. Danny doesn't remember half the night... Typical Aussies. And he was all sorts of confused. Jesse had to keep him from peeing in the corner trash can in the room and Jesse said that Danny went to the bathroom and came back naked and wet. Heaven's only knows... Luckily we were downstairs and didn't have to witness that shenanigans!

We headed to the train station and boarded our 7 hour train to Berlin, that was a struggle! Danny kept burping really loudly on the Metro and it was nasty and people were giving him dirty looks. I don't think he was in the right state of mind. Lets just say at the breakfast table he opened his roll and smelled the middle of it and said mmmm smells so good! Such a weird kid. Once we got on the train we couldn't find seat together at a table... We stumbled upon a few single people sitting at the table to themselves and Danny was so mad and yelling about it. It was ridiculous. We finally went 4 cars down and found one and we all just chilled. Kare and Danny watched He's Just Not That Into You. Jesse took a nap and I read. The 7 hours were intense. Mostly passed by laughing at Danny. He is hilarious. We got told the story about some girl he was hitting on at Oktoberfest who apparently was really ugly and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Jesse pointed her out to him the next day and she went, Hey Stranger! Jesse said Danny literally jumped back from her. By their faces that apparently look like her I can only imagine... We were laughing way too hard! Danny whipped out two rolls with Nutella that he stole from breakfast at the hostel and ate those in front of everyone which was rude :) Danny and Jesse had to count their change to find money! They're ooc! We played cards, listened to old school music and Danny provided more laughs!

Once we got off the train we headed to our separate hostels and Kare and I went to get this yummy Chinese food then walked around a little bit. Our hostel is in the perfect location, right by the shopping :) We took a glance at the redlight district and it looked too intense so we are waiting on the boys for that. They said they went down there and it was crazy! This city is crazy! Kare and I headed home to bed and reading, we were so tired. Our other two roommates, from the State came in about 4 am and were being so loud. We were soooo mad. Luckily they are out and hopefully we don't have any roommates tonight! But I doubt it.

This morning we woke up and headed to breakfast, we were greeted by the crazy girl who was singing and yelling and was making us exhausted just by looking at her! Then I went to the post office to mail back some gifts that were really heavy and other stuff I don't need for the remainder of the trip and we went to meet the boys.

Our first stop was the Anne Frank House. It was very heavy and deep. It is her real house and it was so interesting. Kare and I want to re-read the book not that we have seen it. We were going to ride bikes today but decided due to the rain it wasn't a good idea. I am realyl bad at bike riding to begin with as I almost wiped out in front of Tony Romo in our neighborhood and almost embarassed my brother :) We walked through a few more shopping places... We went into the mall and the boys were like, hanging out in the mall with two girls that love to shop... Oh good. :) We didn't stay too long anyways...

Now we are just resting, showering and then off to the pub crawl... This whole town is a little dodgy at night so we're sticking with the boys. Then tomorrow we are going to just chill, maybe check out the Van Gogh museum and call it a day. Amsterdam is pretty cheap so we figure we'll finish up our gift shopping here!

We miss you all so much... Only a few days left. We're sad our time is winding down here but ready to head back to the States, rest up and then come back here again in the summer :) Who's in?!?! :o)

Love and Hugs
xoxo Melanie