Vino in Vienna

As I write this, we are waiting for our train to Munich. It'll take about 4 hours, so I bought Eat, Love, Pray to keep me occupied, and Abbe is continuing Freakonomics, which she picked up a couple stops ago. Vienna was a fairly quick stop for us, but we got alot accomplished. On Wednesday night we went to the hostel bar for a cheap meal, and then went to The Travelers Shack, which was an Aussie hangout. I got in a political argument with a 16 year old schmuck from New Zealand who got so angry with my view of Obama and healthcare that he left! It was amusing to me because 1. I remember being stubborn in my fairly uneducated opinions when I was 16 and 2. he doesn't even live in America so I'm not sure why he was so fired up. Whaaatever.

Thursday was spent walking all over the city to see the major touristy spots like the Schonbrunn Palace, Parliament, and some churches. We were really disappointed that we paid admission to see the Sigmund Freud museum because it was just a bunch of his manuscripts and family photos on the walls. We were hoping to see more of his findings in psychology presented so it was a bit of a bust. That night we each had a delicious meal at Bermuda Brau - Abbe got the beef goulash, and I went with a salmon au gratin baked potato. We are so spoiled with our meals here, I can't imagine going back to freezer dinners when we get home!

Our favorite part of Vienna was our trip to Grinzing yesterday. We took a tram about 30 minutes just outside the city to a little Austrian village known for its wine. We stopped in a few heuringers (wine houses) try their vinos, and had a lovely day walking around in the sunshine. We were pretty tired when we got back, so we mustered up a little energy to find some dinner before heading to bed. Our hostel (Wombats) was quite nice, and we are staying there again in Munich. Off to catch the train now!

Prague is so pretty!

We arrived in Prague late afternoon on Sunday with our Aussie friend Sarah in tow. Since she decided to tag along with us at the last minute, we weren't sure if she could get a bed in our hostel. The front desk said they had no room in the 6 person dorms that we had booked, but they were willing to give us a private 4 person apartment for the same price as the dorm. I couldn't believe our good luck! The apartment was beautiful, situated on a busy street near Charles Bridge, complete with kitchen and living room with tv! Of course the only channels we could understand were CNN, MTV, and the God Network. Abbe and I missed falling asleep to tv at night, so we volunteered to sleep in the living room and watch the popular music videos of Europe. They are definitely ahead of us in terms of music trends, so I wrote down good songs so I can download them in the states!

We got the traditional Czech dishes on our first night- I got Beef Goulsh and Abbe got the Pork Filet. Neither of us were feeling our best, I've been battling a bit of a sore throat, and Abbe picked up a stomach bug, so we decided to call it a night when Ashley and Sarah wanted to go out to a club. This happened after we got lost in the city for over an hour though, as the streets in Prague are ridiculously hard to navigate. The names change ever block and there are no straight roads. Everytime we had to pick which way to go, we always managed to pick the wrong one! Some people say that Prague is unsafe, but you just need to carry your stuff in a zipped purse and hold it tight. The creepy people weren't even that bothersome because they were no worse than The Poetry Man and his comrades in North Philly. One guy pointed at people's crotches and laughed, and another got in Ashley and Sarah's faces and yelled "Licky, Licky, Licky!" There are no words to describe this further, so I'll just move on...

We did a walking tour on the second day to cover the basic sites and then attempted to do a pub crawl at night but it was really lame.( Note: if you ever go to Prague, do not go on the crawl sponsored by New Europe tours!) The only redeeming part of the evening was running into Rob and Karly, our Candian friends that we met in Brussels. We met up with them again the next day to cross the Charl3es Bridge and see the Prague Castle. The view was phenomenal!! It really was the most beautiful city we have seen so far. It was quite a hike up to the castle but it was well worth it. For our last night, we went to a place called The Beer Factory, which had taps of beer right on the table and it measures how much you drink electronically and bills you when you are done. It was pretty cool.

Today we got up at 6:30am to pack up and catch a 4 hour bus to Vienna. We are staying in Wombats Hostel and it is pretty good. We put laundry in and are waiting for it to finish so we can start exploring our next destination. Only 2 weeks and 3 more stops to go!

Bumpin' Berlin!

Berlin has taught me alot about myself and my ability to adapt and survive in strange conditions. After taking a horrible overnight bus here from Amsterdam on Thursday morning, we found our hostel. It is very nice and clean and in a quirky area that is a bit of a distance from the center of the city. Our first night we stumbled upon a lovely restaurant on the river, and got to see the East Side Gallery, which is a string of beautiful paintings on one section of the Berlin Wall. When I got home that evening, I accidently locked my key in my locker.... with ALL of my belongings. I had to spend all of Thursday walking around Berlin in my pajamas. Yes, that really happened. I had to borrow flip flops from Ashley, and deodorant from Abbe, and then we went to a mall and I put make up on in a store that had testers. I thought the hostel worker would be here at 8 to break the lock, but he didn't come until midnight, and I was getting very panicky. If he couldn't fix it, I would have had to pay 100 Euro for a locksmith, not to mention I would have ruined an entire day and night by waiting on the hostel worker to do it for free. We went out for a nice dinner down the street (I am wearing my Phillies t-shirt and pajama bottoms at La Pizzeria Romantica. Obviously it was very romantic...), and then came back in time for the hostel worker's arrival! He busted open my lock with ease and I cried tears of joy and gave him a kiss. The Brazilian boys and Aussie girls we met here waited for me to get ready, and then we went out for the night - people here don't go out sometimes until after midnight because places will stay open until the sunrises!!

Yesterday was much better. We took a walking tour of Berlin which allowed us to see all of the sites that we previously had difficulty locating. We went into the Holocaust Museum, Topography of Terror museum, and attempted to go into the Reichstag to get a 360 degree view of Berlin, but the line was long and we were hungry. We went back to the same Italian restaurant for dinner and hurried to get ready in time for the pub crawl. There is a group that organizes these things in every city, and we heard they were alot of fun, so we decided to try it. We had a great time, and will definitely do it again in Prague. We had to be super quiet when coming home last night because there is a guy in our room who complained to the hostel staff about how loud we are - which is totally untrue, and besides, he snores all night and Ashley has a hard time sleeping because of it, so really, he's the loud one. I got in a match of wits with him (he used the word "modicom" thinking I wouldn't know what it meant. Too bad that's on the 10th grade vocab list I teach, sucker) and I think he asked to switch rooms. Bottom line is that this is a hostel, and if you don't like the communal atmosphere, don't stay here. Sometimes people come in late and they are loud trying to get ready for bed, but you just have to deal with it because you are only paying about 25 dollars a night for a clean bed and hot shower. I personally don't mind this environment because you get to make friends with people from all over the world!

Right now we are waiting for our Aussie friend Sarah to get ready and then we are taking a bus about an hour out of Berlin to see the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. I'm looking forward to using all of the pictures I've taken of sites relating to the Holocaust in my lessons this year when we read Night by Elie Wiesel. Berlin is just steeped in culture from WWI, WWII and The Cold War, and it is just so impressive to know you are standing on historical ground. It's a great mix of old and new, as the nightlife here is very vibrant and the people are friendly and fun - just don't ask them for directions, they have no clue where they are going or how to help you either!! Off to Prague tomorrow morning - this marks the half way point of the trip. 2.5 weeks to go :-)

Speechless

There are no words to properly describe Amsterdam. We arrived with little to no expectations simply because people kept telling us how "crazy" it was, or that it was "awesome", and quite frankly, we were just ready to get out of Brussels. We arrived by train at 6pm and found our way to The Flying Pig Hostel. It was a very nice place with lockers underneath the bed and a bar in the lobby that people hung out in. This is where we met Abbe's friend Ashley, who flew in to join us for Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague. I wish there was more that we could tell you about Amsterdam, but quite honestly, there really isn't much to do. Unlike London, all the museums cost Euros, and when you are out for 5 weeks seeing museums in every city for free, the idea of paying to see Van Gogh's missing ear seems idiotic. We did pay to see the Anne Frank House, which was a personal high point for me because I have loved her story ever since I was her age. It was very sad to stand in the small room that she hid in, and to see the pages she ripped out of magazines to decorate her barren walls. Aside from this, the only other touristy thing we did in Amsterdam was to see the Heineken Experience. We did hang out in Vondelpark for an afternoon, and found some time to enjoy the sun that we were craving since arriving in Dublin two weeks ago. It was quite a sight to see as we walked through the red light district, and one that I will be happy to never return to again! Amsterdam was fun for a short period of time, but we were definitely ready to get on the overnight bus last night and head to Berlin. It was pretty horrendous trying to sleep on a coach bus for 10 hours, so now that we are at our hostel (the Jetpak Alternative is GORGEOUS) we are going to take a nap before heading out to see Berlin at night. I can already say that there is graffiti EVERYWHERE but these people are actually talented artists as opposed to the "taggers" that think they are cool writing their initials all over Philly.

2 weeks down... 3 to go!!

Fishies out of water

One of the main reasons I wanted to take this journey was to explore the different cultures (good and bad) that the world has to offer. == know we still have 3.5 weeks left, but it's safe to say I will come home with a strong appreciation of America...

We arrived in Brussels on Thursday afternoon in desperate need of doing laundry. We each packed about 10 days worth of clothes, but had been wearing the same pair of jeans for a week straight because the weather has been awful. We purchase tokens for the washer and dryer and detergent, and get to work. 20 minutes after the first dryer cycle, our clothes are still wet. No problem, we'll just spend another euro for another token. 20 more minutes later, our clothes are STILL wet. I bring my wet socks up to the manager and he tells me to dump water out of a compartment and gives me a free token. Why he didnt tell me that in the first place, i have no idea. So now, Abbe and I have wasted 1 hour on the dryer and OUR CLOTHES ARE STILL WET!I scooped up my clothes in my arms and went up to the desk and said in a firm tone, "Sir, my clothes are still wet and I would like my 2 euros back since your machine is broken." annd he walked away. This infuriated me so I said,"Excuse me sir, I paid you for a service that I did not receive, and I wasted an hour of my time in the process. I want my 2 euros back." He turned around to tell me that he would have helped me by using the staff dryer but he wouldnt now that I have been rude to him. clearly this man did not see me get rude for real, because if I did I'd be calling the US Embassy to bail me out of jail. Regardless, I stomped off to our room with poor Abbe in tow,and we had to hang our clothes all over our room. So annoying.

Other irritations include getting yelled at in French for taking a picture of the McDonalds menu (It's forbidden. As if it's a classy establishment or something. Psh whatever.) and hVing to pay between 30-45 pence to use the bathrooms, even if you buy a meal there. Terrible. I need to start learning some French phrases before I get to Paris so I'm not an ignorant American over there, sheesh!

Life is Good!

We woke up a little late yesterday morning and hurried to get ready in time for our free breakfast. Then we bought an all-day Tube pass to jet down to South Bank and see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and The Tower of London. We also saw the Tate Modern, which blew our minds. It contained more familiar works like Picasso, Jackson Pollack, Andy Warhol, etc. One thing in particular that stands out though was a video we watched by an artist named Ana Mendienta. In 1974, she stood out by a river bank and poured blood all over her naked body, rolled around in a bunch of feathers, and then stood up and posed like a bird. It was supposed to be some sort of statement towards self-harm, but we were just really creeped out. Actually watched it twice before leaving, and I think it was worse on the second round.

After our daily nap, we attempted to find something to do in this city - as pubs close at 11:30 at the latest, and we normally don't even venture out until 8 at the earliest. We decided to take a suggestion off the hostel wall directing us to The Sports Cafe near Trafalgar Square. We spend 20 minutes walking there and it's a total dud, so we leave hungry, thirsty, and irritated. We stumble our way back towards the West End and find a very lovely pub called The Lyric, and have delicious meals with a pint of Leffe. We decide to go downstairs and find a local to talk to for some information about what people do around here at night. A man sits down next to us and we grill him on his city, and he tells us he works with 50 Americans. I assume this means finance or something. Then, some older gentlemen walk in and ask us if we were at their show tonight. I said, "No, but obviously we should have been. What show did we miss?" He said, "HAIR!" and I nearly lost my mind. Here we were having normal conversation with the musical director and musicians of HAIR!!! This was especially thrilling for me considering it was my 2nd choice after Avenue Q because the entire Broadway cast is here for the West End run and I love Gavin Creel. I casually mention this fact, and they ask if we are interested in seeing it on Wednesday. Obviously this is necessary, so the musical director scribbled his name and number on a paper for us, and said that he will have two tickets reserved for us at the box office before the show!

So now we are about to set off to see Harrod's, the 7 floor department store, Kensington Palace, the shopping district along Oxford Street, and then HAIR! tonight. Very exciting! Tomorrow we take the Eurostar from London to Brussels. The trip should take 3 hours, and we will arrive there at 2pm. We'll definitely be needing to do laundry too because it's been so cold that we have been wearing the same jeans for a week straight! Gross!

London Calling!

Today marks the end of day 5 in Europe. We are starting to get used to the routine of living out of a backpack in a dorm. Everyday we wake up around 9, have breakfast in the hostel, walk around the city for about 4-5 hours, take a mid-afternoon nap, then shower and get ready to go out for the evening. Since our last update, we've traveled from Dublin to London. The Guinness Storehouse was really cool - especially the view we had from the Gravity Bar because you could see 360 degrees around Dublin. We spent our last night in our favorite little tourist trap called The Quay before packing up in the morning and shipping off to the airport. Ryanair provided a cheap and quick hour flight to London, and then we had to get new currency. We are able to use our debit cards in ATMs to get the currency of the country that we are in, so that was easy to do. We figured out the tube quickly and made it to the hostel around 5pm. This place is nowhere near as nice as The Times in Dublin. We have 4 other people in our little cramped room on the top floor of the hideously decorated building - which, mind you, is 2 blocks away from the main building where they serve breakfast and we can use the internet and phone. This inconvenience is compounded by the fact that we have to shower and "use the toilet" (as they say over here. Nope, not bathroom, not restroom, not even lavatory, but flat out TOILET. Weird..) in the very bottom floor. This means we are libel to wet the bed before going down three flights of stairs in a sleepy haze in the middle of the night. This does not make us happy. What DOES make us happy is the fact that London is slightly warmer than Dublin, and we have alot of options of things to do!

Last night we watched the World Cup in The Shakespeare's Head, and after Spain won there was a gigantic street party. A local guy led us to Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square, where people were waving Spanish flags while hanging from the statues, chanting "Espana!", and jumping in the fountains. It was reminiscent of the 2008 World Series, except I actually paid attention to that series and was a part of the cheering. This time we just stood there with our jaws open and video taped the shenanigans. We woke up today with no plan in mind, except my strong desire to head to the TKTS booth to get discounted tickets to a show for tonight. I've been dying to see Avenue Q since it opened, so we were able to score some cheap tickets with good seats to see it. Both of us were laughing hysterically throughout the show tonight, and we have the songs stuck in our heads - which, if you know the show, are not exactly PC to sing in public! Before the show though, we had a traditional English dinner of Fish & Chips with a Strongbow - delicious!! I also needed to stop for a post-theatre snack, so we stopped at McDonald's so that I could get my eagerly anticipated Apple Pie. See, this Apple Pie is very special to me. When I came to London 10 years ago on my high school band trip, the only meal I could muster to eat each day came from McDonald's because the English food they served us was garbage. These Apple Pies became burned in my brain. They are deep fried, not baked like the crappy ones we get in America. I've been craving this delicious dessert since I was 16, and it was every bit as good as I remembered :-)

Today we also saw Buckingham Palace (I was giddy watching the guardsmen - so reminiscent of the LHS Grenadier Band... I'll probably geek out and shed a tear if I hear Rule Britannia!) and The National Gallery. We're getting a little bored with all the Jesus art though, so we'll head to the Tate Modern museum tomorrow, as well as the London Eye, London Tower, and whatever else we find on the opposite end of the city. We may also nab some more cheap seats to see Les Miserable because despite the fact that it is my least favorite show ever, it is Abbe's favorite, and NICK JONAS has extended his stay for another two weeks so clearly I need to see this. Phew, this post was a long one! Stay tuned for the next one, possibly from Brussels later this week!!

Cheers from Dublin!

Hello all! We safely arrived in Dublin on Thursday after a 2 hour ride to JFK, 6 hour flight, and 2 hours through customs, getting luggage, figuring out the bus and walking to the hostel. Our accommodations are wonderful! It's pretty much just like starting your freshman year of college, and since we are old and nostalgic, this is not necessarily a bad thing! There are 8 other people in our room, and they are all very friendly. We went out with the boys from Australia on Thursday night, and last night had dinner with the girls from Illinois. We also met some very nice local Irish men who took us to the REAL hot spots in Dublin, since apparently we had fallen in love with the tourist trap - they played Journey and we felt like we were in Finnigan's Wake again, go figure. Anyway, it was a long night but we had a great time and now we are waiting out the rain to head to the Guinness Factory. It rains ALL THE TIME here. Non-stop drizzle, overcast sky, 65 degrees. I find this to be miserable, so it's a good thing that Dublin has a wonderful culture to make up for it. We have seen the Dublin Castle, National Gallery, Oscar Wilde statue, Trinity College, Irish Parliament, and a bunch of churches. The streets are all cobblestone, there are flowers hung on every building, and the doors are ridiculously cute. We took alot of pictures of these doors because they come in random colors like pink, blue, purple, etc. and the doorknob is in the middle of the door. When I mentioned how odd this was to the Irish guy last night, he said "Well where the hell else would ya put it?" I suppose this is a good lesson in why America is not always right 100% of the time. So far we think the most dangerous thing about this city is crossing the street. They paint "Look Left" and "Look Right" on the street in front of you, but it's really hard to break the habit of looking the other direction. Then we didn't know if we were allowed to jaywalk like we do in Philly, so we've been trying to mimic the locals and do what they do. Alright, it's time for us to head to the Guinness Factory so we will try to post again soon - I can't do it from my phone, so we have to sit at computers in hostels or in internet cafes. Keep checking for facebook status updates, and feel free to email us at noelle.catino@gmail.com and jacobson.abbe@gmail.com! Cheers!!

48 hours to go!!

Oh. My. Gosh. I can't believe we are leaving for Europe in 48 hours!! Now begins the horror which will be packing as little as possible in a backpack to travel for 5 weeks. Abbe is bringing approximately 6 shirts, 2 shorts, 2 dresses, a skirt, and she is toying with the idea of bringing a pair of heels. I'll be following similar suit. I don't want to look too much like an American tourist - is it embarrassing to be in Paris with my $5 Old Navy t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops? Guess we'll find out!

I will have a global phone with internet, so for those of you who would like to keep in touch, please send me emails at noelle.catino@gmail.com, facebook message me, or leave posts on here. Verizon has a crap calling/texting plan, so I will be purchasing phone cards to call my family, and emailing instead of texting, unless it's a legit emergency. I'll send post cards if you give me your address too :-)

Our flight takes off from JFK on Wednesday at 5:45pm and we'll be arriving in Dublin, Ireland at 5:15am. Abbe has a rental car and will be picking me up from my parents' house in Bethlehem before heading up to Jamaica, NY. Next post will be from overseas - Cheers!!