oh Germany....

Guten Tag!!!


The internet connections in Germany were not very good so updating the blog wasnt really possible..and quite frankly... its been caos ever since we landed in Frankfurt. From staying in Frankfurts Red Light District, to people (aka holly and noah) sneaking into a Futball game in Munchen, Running through fountains in town center, drinking our body weight in beer and almost loosing our lives in the Austrian Alps this has been nothing short of an unfoigettable experience.

here are some of the highlights (and lowlights)..

Frankfurt was not a city I would return too but here are some pictures of our day there..


We were excited to see that our hostel was only a few blocks from the train station since we were only going to be there for a day...but what we didnt know is that this was in the middle of Frankfurts Red Light District..I saw my first: Sex Inn and a really nasty Prostitue.. uncomfortble is the only term that sums up that experience.




the resturant under the bridge is where we had our first hearty german meal...this was only the begining of the four day eating and drinking binge...




I never thought I would like german food because I am not a fan of beer or meat..and well "when in german do as the germans do"..




we only spent 18 hours in Frankfurt and that was more than enough...we then headed southeast to a small town called Rothenburg, it was only a one day stay but it was such a charming town I would love to go back somtime.. we arrived and explored the quaint town, ate..and drank..weird, took a nightwalkmans tour to learn some history then headed to the famed Rick Steves restraunts to enjoy a late night drink...


Rothenburg is a walled city that was once one of the 10 largest cities during the Roman Empire... which you could never tell by looking at it..it looks like it is out of fairytale, with a central square consisting of a clocktower with a coo coo clock, a garden that overlooks the outside vallys and horse drawn buggies that take tourist around town...





Rothenburg is also were THE best meal was consumed in all of germany... we voted on it our last night in munich and this very meal has won the prize!!





we had a few beers here..nothing compared to the Hofbrähaus in München..but we will get to that

After a day in Rothenburg (which wasnt nearly enought) we said goodbye to Edith the owner of the B&B we stayed at and took the train to Munich, Germany.

We have begun to love the time we spend at the train stations...it could be a great way to bond..but this picture isnt accurate..we spend AS MUCH TIME as possible playing ..RUMMY..we have an ongoing game in which we have become very competitive



Since the exchange rate has us living on $20 a day we utalize our funds to the best of our ability...usually $18 for beer and $2 for food..since pretzles are the cheapest food they sell..litterally cheaper than a piece of fruit..we opt to eat those when we get hungry..

The first day in München cannot be described quickly..so much happened that I will have to explain in person...lets just say it all stemed from our find of the world famous Hofbrähaus ..the most famous beergarden in all the world...

We found the Hofbräuhaus around 1 pm and well from then on trouble brewed..lets be honest when you sell beer in Liters..its bound to get crazy... Holly and Noah took off for a soldout fütball match..in which lets just say they somehow got in...not for the $110 they were supposed to pay but for FREE.. Megant, Bridget and I napped then headed back to the Hofbräuhaus..and continued to drink until the re-arrival of holly and Noah..it went downhill quickly from there... we were fed food by an italian couple behind us, sang (yelled) our national anthem (you can tell we were drunk by this point because no sain person would ever A. tell euorpeans they are american or B. Sing their anthem out loud..) after wearing out our welcome we decided to gander home when we came across a fountain..a large enticing fountain...

prefountain-


post fountain...




After a wet walk home, a stop in two more bars (soaking wet), an interesting time getting into our room... we finally crashed... overslept our tour and spent the next day sightseeing and recovering...

The third day in Munich was probably one of the most interesting days of my life. We took a tour to the first concentration camp Dachau. We had honestly the most informative and interesting tour guide Robert and were engrossed into a part of history that is unimaginable.

Dachau was a work camp not to be mistaken with the most famous Auschwitz which is a death cam p. Dachau started as a place for people to be placed for "Political Protective Custody" meaning that those that spoke out against the authorites were placed in a walled area and put to work..they werent MEANT to be killed here..just Broken to a point of submission.

Arbeit Macht Fre means "work makes you free" this in the gate of the entrance to Dachau. After entering these gates people were stripped of their lives, their papers were taken from them their clothes and then thier dignity..they were beaten to within an inch of thier lives, then placed in bunkers and told to work.

The Cremation area started with just this single oven in 1933, in 1938 when the war became more intense and surrounding camps became overoccupied it turned into this..



which was next to the gas chamber (although use is only documented in medical experiments that doesnt mean it wasnt used)

this is a picture from one of the posters... piles and piles of starved humans.

Although Dachau was deamed a "work camp", ironically the Nazis killed a MINIMUM of 206,206 people at Dachau alone. That is MINIMUM meaning the number recorded in books that were found.. that does not count those unrecorded or those killed during the caotic months previous to April, 29 1945 in which the liberation of the camp took place. (Noahs grandpa was the first doctor in this camp working with the American Red Cross..we thought that was amazing)

The Nazis killed MILLIONS of humans but Robert said regardless of what you learned here.. remember one thing..the Third Reicht set themselves up for a thousand year reign and they LOST..they got 12 years and LOST.. it doesnt matter which side you are on or how you feel about it just remember that it happend.

Dachau will forever be in my heart and I cannot wait to learn more about it when i get home...

we finished up München with some sightseein, souviener shopping, rummy, pretzel consumption, a few 'last beers'..needless to say Munich was amazing and I recomend it to all!!

off to Austria we went...I cant even begin to describe austria so check out hollys blog to see how it went... read "a day in the austrian alps" and " fast forward to Saulzburg"

http://www.hollisanne.blogspot.com/

love and miss you all we head to Paris in two day then back to London.. cant wait..nutella crepes here we come!!!

Gueten Tag!!

day 5- trip from London, England to Frankfurt, Germany

Today we left Will in London to meet up with Bridget and Noah Mason in Frankfurt, Germany. We had quite the experience in the airport, however, despite a few setbacks made it successfully to our destination.

Frankfurt is a large with over 1.5 million residents. Its very new and modern compared to what I thought it would look like. The hostel we were staying in was right across the street from the train station...which happens to be right in the middle of The Red Light District...yep prostitutes, sex shops and strip bars galore..it was quite the experience.


after meeting up with bridge and noah we walked to the water front to find a place to eat. Germans know how to EAT...I wasnt sure i would like the food but it was great. I also had my first beer..i actually enjoyed it!


we were told not to be out after dark so headed back to the hostel to hit the sack.



Day 6-trip from Frankfurt to Rothenburg,Germany

london continued...

Day Three:

Today was another full day of sightseeing and lots of walking (probably a good dozen miles a day) here in London. We began our day at the market down the street from our hotel where Megt had a huge juicy braught and Holly began her day with a grilled cheese sandwich..the most amazing grilled chesse sandwich in the world I might add. Then we headed across the London Bridge towards many of the most popular tourist sights...

The Tower of London is a little castel nestled next to the river Thames..The Tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison...its where the one and only William Wallace was tortured and it also contains the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.





The Tower Bridge is one of the many bridges that crosses the river, it is a suspension brigde it is commonly thought of as The London Bridge but is actually the Tower Bridge...the London Bridge is a much less exciting bridge just a few hundred feet away.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTqYnVdUJeMIqb9mLEXpAzw79YPN1N39tCgz2lE0a_8vnHYBgZkVhui0U1Bl2gXgo5GHK4_AAa9pLA5VNvIyNkk0QHQPVSwHWuCo6s0TeTgppE3uz7DGRvrHPvZOoczp_3e_QbDYTgxmE/s1600-h/DSC02267.JPG">


St. Pauls Cathedral still used by the royals and is a major tourist spot, because it is prominent and recognizable form on the skyline, it is often used in movies as part of an establishing shot to place the viewers in London.



Holly and I on the steps:



The Cathedral is Huge here is a little section of it:




after miles of walking and sightseeing we did the cultural thing and ordered pizza to the hotel...weird I know but we were wiped. We later took the Tube (aka subway) to Covent Garden a local hot spot to meet up with Will's Wimbeldon Friends...another long night of fun was in store for us.


day four

after arriving home the previous night around 4:00 am we decided to sleep in...around 12:00 we headed out for lunch, however our market was closed and so was everything else..sundays I guess are pretty similar to Utah..NOTHING is OPEN...so we ate SUBWAY the only option we had besides McDonalds. After lunch we headed out for another day of walking and sightseeing... For being as tired as we were we actually accomplished alot on our final day here in London.


We started in the Covent Garden where we were the night before to see the numerous shops, resturants, street performers and such in day light.




We then proceeded on to Piccadilly Circus which is a famous traffic intersection and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster. This traffic intersection is the sole reason I would never want to drive in London it is complete madness... it located just after the theater district and has multiple old buildings decorated with new billboards ...it was a interesting sight to see...






Next we went to London's National Gallery, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square. We spent a good hour and a half in the museum looking at painting by artists such as Monet, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Rembrant and hundreds more..it was astounding...we also sat on the comfortable couches and just chatted and rested for a good hour...we find ourselves very entertaining :)




after the museum we treked it down back across the river for Meg and Will to ride the London Eye which is the huge ferris wheel that takes you above for a birdseye view of the whole city... on our way there we passed my favorite Big Ben again!!!




on the way back we stopped at a local resturant for dinner, and are now back at the hotel preparing for our flight to Germany tomorrow...

London has been a great experience and cannot wait to get back here at the end of the trip..it is a truely amazing and beautiful city.

the begining of the european extravaganza!

Its day two here for us...and here is the recap so far..

Day one:



after a 15 hours of flight time we arrived in London. after proceeding through customs we met william, megans boyfriend. Will lives in Wimbeldon which is a quick 25 minute train ride from the airport. we dropped our stuff off and headed to yes, the one the only, Wimbeldon Tennis Center!!! I know pretty cool...not only did we get in for free we got a tour of all tours!



This is Holly and I in the Wimbeldon Broadcast Center...which was pretty cool it had a great view of the courts and its where they interview all the players..pretty sweet!















like i said tour of all tours...they do alot of construction on site and right now they are putting a glass retractable roof over center court; so while all those who have to pay for the tour got limited access...we had WILL and had complete access to everything even hard hats and reflective vests!!
















after a few hours touring the tennis center, which is HUGE and visiting the Wimbeldon museum (in which holly took her fist nap during a four minute movie...so classic) we headed to the hotel to clean up for a night out with the british boys. We stopped for a well needed meal at a local noodle place









then headed towards the bar, Fox & Dog then off to kareokee..needless to say Will was a big hit with his friends..three american girls + one birthday = Lots of free drinks...the pictures of holly tackeling boys to the ground should sum of the evening...















Day two:

contrary to our thoughts that we would be slightly hungover we woke up bright and early and headed to Central London around 10:30. One would think as pour college grads we would be roughing it here in things such as hostels...well we aren't until germany and our hotel here is amazing!! great atmosphere and great location. we spent the day visiting sights such as Big Ben (my personal favorite), hyde park, buckingham palace, westminster abbey and many many more. Central London is amazing; there is so much history and historic sights, yet, is incredibly modern and almost metropolitan. Lots of classy business people and incredibly expensive cars/houses. Basically I was blown away buy its beautiful diversity.

















Big Ben (which is actually the BELL not the clock) is a sight to be seen.. it sits just next of the Westminister Abbey (see picture below) and across the lake from The London Eye (ferris wheel)






















well the night is young so we are off to dinner...ill keep you posted.

off we go...

It's August 8th, and today is the first day of a 2.5 week vacation with two of my best friends MET and HAW. I figured since cellular communication is not as cheap as it should be that this thing called "blogging" that my dad is always talking about would be a great way to keep the family/friends updated.

so here is my first attempt at this...lets see how it goes...I'll try to keep it updated with stories and pictures of what we are doing..

Traveling through Europe is something that I have always wanted to do and cannot wait to walk the streets of london, listening to Holly Anne explaining all of the fine sights to see in her british accent..for those of you who have spent a minimum of one minute with her, you are well aware of her extensive array of accents; and her british accent, if i do say so myself, is rather amazing and will add much to my England experience. After England its off to various spots in Germany, Austria, Paris and back to London.

I think for the three of us this is a pretty important trip...it comes at a time where when we come back August 26th we are no longer the young college students we still feel we are, for we will then have to enter the real world; whether thats going to Thailand to teach, moving to Tennesse to attend gradschool or settle into what people are calling a "career". If you have talked to any of us we are excited and slightly petrified for this next chapter in our lives, however, this will be a perfect close to the previous deemed "the best years of your life--the college years".

So in great anticipation for the adventures ahead amungst the dread of 11 hours on a plane, I am so thankful to have this opportunity to travel Euorpe with the best group of friends in the world. So thanks to those whom have made this possible because you will never know how grateful I am to be able to live such a dream life.