Playing Catch Up

Alright, I know I've been lazy but I'll   try to catch up. I'll do my best with details and whatnot, but it's a bit difficult and  mostly I just want to let ya'll know what I've been up to in my wanderings.

Munich Biergarten

I made it to Munich no problem and met up with Alexa and her friend Hannah, who's studying there. As it happened, Hannah's mom and aunt were also visiting, so we all ended up hanging out together.  It was really fun to have a mom around for a change, or at least one that speaks english! They kind of took me in and adopted me for a couple days and let me hang out with them, which was a lot of fun. The first day Hannah took us all to a beer garden (biergarten) where Alexa and I had no choice  but to give in and try German food (after successfully avoiding Polish food). It wasn't bad though, I've actually had a fair amount since then. What surprised me the most was the HUGE beers everyone drank, namely a liter at a time. That's a lot of beer. Like a lot. The next day Alexa left, but I went with Hannah and her family to Dachau, which I wasn't expecting to do. It was interesting, of course, and I can't believe I saw 3 concentration camps in about a week. After Dachau

Starnberg Lake

we took their rented car out to Starnberg lake for lunch, which was beautiful. Actually, the whole time I was in Munich the weather was awesome. My last day there I was on my own, and on Hannah's suggestion hopped on a train (yay eurail pass) to the mountains, a town called Garmesh Perkinascher (or something similar), which was also lovely and nice. The mountains were beautiful! I would have stayed longer but I wanted to make it back in time to see the Neue Pinakotech, which I'm glad I did, I found some amazing Monet, Sisley and Van Gogh's in there.

The mountains near Munich

The next morning the plan was to get to Frankfurt and fly from there to Scotland. I got to Frankfurt alright, but as it turns out, frankfurt has two airports and one is REALLY far away. I had lots of time but not enough to get that far. Disaster. I was stranded in Frankfurt with no plan and nowhere to go. After a couple frantic (and expensive) phone calls home, I got to the train station and figured out that my train options for the night were Brussels or Amsterdam. So, off I went to Amsterdam.
I got there and got to the hostel around 9, and wasn't really planning on doing much since it'd been a pretty difficult day, but as I unpacked, a couple other people staying in the room came in and invited me out. I figured, why not, it's not like I had anything else going on. That ended up being a lot of fun, and it was really nice to have some people to hang out with for the next couple of days. I also realized I actually knew one person living in Amsterdam, a friend of a friend I had met over winter break, so I got in touch with her and got to meet up for coffee, which was nice. I also made it to the Van Gogh museum, the Anne Frank house, and the Rijksueseum. All of them were really cool, and I'm glad I got to go. I think the Anne Frank house was my favorite, it was amazing to see it after reading and studying her for so many years in school and whatnot. The museum was really well done, too, which is always nice. In general I've found that I like going to Museums and walking around cities on my own, and meeting people to hang out with and talk to at night. Traveling alone has had it's ups and downs, but overall I think it's been way more fun. Just being able to meet people it great, and amazingly easy. It's funny how quickly travelers can get attached to one another, though. I guess since none of us have anyone else, for a short time it's like we're suddenly best friends and family. It's odd to think that I only knew some of those people for 3 days or so!
But anyways, my plan was to try and continue with my planned route and get to London and Paris, but once it became clear to me that it was definately not going to be worth all the trouble, I decided to follow a few of the people I'd met to Berlin. Everyone seemed to be moving in the same direction, which I guess makes sense because it's a much more logical route than my zigzagging!
So, once again, I hoped on a train and got to Berlin. Berlin has definitely been one of my favorite cities, dare I say, even up there with Portland and San Francisco. I also ended up staying for five nights, which is by far the longest I've been in one city, and it's been nice. I've had lots of German food and seen LOTS of street art and graffiti. There's an artists sqaut right by my hostel which is really cool to walk through, and I ended up buying a silk screened shirt and a couple post cards from one of the artists. The whole building is graffitied to death and outside they have a sculpture garden too. I also got to go to the East Side Gallery today, which is the part of the Berlin wall that's all painted. SO COOL. 'Nuff said.

East Side Gallery

Artist's Squat near my hostel

I also did take a walking tour of the city, which was great for seeing all the monuments and whatnot. I even saw the parking lot where Hitler's bunker once was, and where he committed suicide. I think my favorite part of the tour was the monument for the jews of the holocaust. It's really well done, and inspired by the Jewish cemetery in Prague, which I'd been to so that was cool too. Just in general, Berlin has such a cool atmosphere. I think I'm coming back in a few weeks with Julia, so I'm excited for that. I can't wait to see Julia tomorrow too, it's going to be fun to have a travel buddy! Like I said, traveling alone is a lot of fun, but I know Julia and I are going to have a great time. First stop, Madrid!