Last day before heading home.....(Final Thoughts)

So my dad picked me up last night, as we entered back into London, and I stayed with him two more nights before it was time for me to head back to the US. I was so exhausted the night we got back into London, I mean 24 days of little sleep, long days, and some partying in between will do that to you.

So I slept the first night, and slept in the next morning, but then it was time for some Daddy Daughter bonding....!  He took me to Reading to do some shopping, and we had some lunch (Indian food YUM). We then came home and chilled out before heading to dinner at this local pub that they frequent called The George, because every Sunday they have a roast which consists of a lamb roast, veggies, and yorkshire pudding. That dinner was AMAZING, it was so good to have some real food after eating all types of random food over the course of my trip. I was stuffed after this meal, went home, and got packed up for my early morning flight.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to go long before seeing my family, because upon my returning back to Atlanta, my mom and dad were going to be in the US visiting for 3 weeks visiting as well, and my sister and her family moved back down south closer to me. So needless to say,  I have not stopped since returning home from Europe.....for the past 3 weeks, I have been spending time with my sister, my nephew, my parents, and friends. It's been a whirlwhind. I am definitely ready to find some time to relax and get that downtime in now.

I will say this though, in April, when I decided to make some changes with my career, which opened up my schedule, I had no idea that this trip is what would come from it. I had plans to go visit my parents in London, but didn't think that a whole month in Europe was in the cards. However, although I had little time to plan, and just jumped on with this tour group, since it touched on so many cities and countries, I can say that I have NO regrets, and am so glad I decided to take this trip of a lifetime, and experience Europe. It has been one of the best months of my year, and has certainly left marks and memories for years to come!!! I am lucky to have been able to do this, and look forward to hopefully going back to some of these cities and experiencing them again, but this time, I'd like to do it without the constrictions of time so I can enjoy all that my favorite cities have to offer.

I definitely found it interesting to see the difference in myself going on this tour now at my age, versus if I was younger, because when I studied abroad in 2004, and went to New Zealand and Australia, although I enjoyed my time, and took back lots of memories from there as well, I didn't take advantage of it the way I look back now and wish I had. Wish I had seen this, or done that.....because I was too busy being young, having fun, and just living for the moment. However, I learnt from that and was not going to let that happen again on this trip. I realized now that although I've never really been one who's big on history as such, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing and learning about all those cities, and moments in history that I had learned about in school, and being able to appreciate them in a totally different way in person.

So that's it, I've visited 12 countries, and over 20 cities all in a month's time! Till I return Europe......

And now it's time....to say goodbye.... :(

This morning we awake to our last day on this tour: No more early mornings to get on a coach bus, no more cramped up seats for 6-8 hours daily, no more "Wakey Wakeys" and "Idiot Abroads", no more roomates and pictures of new cities daily......those are now about to be a thing of the past as we all return to our normal routine, and lives in our respective cities around the world.

However, before we depart, we get one last activity together, we visited a place called Cheese and Clogs near our hostel, which as you may assume by the name is a place where they make cheese, and clogs...lol.

You all may have heard of or seen the clogs that are famous here in Holland, so we were able to see a live demonstration of this being done by hand, which is how it used to be done, but obviously that is not the most efficient way to do it now as it is done by machinery.

 

After finishing watching the cheese and clog demonstrations, we all gathered together and took some final pictures together, before getting back on the bus, and making our journey back to London, where we would then go our separate ways!!!! 

I hate goodbyes, and am HORRIBLE at them (for anyone who knows me, you know this), and I was not wanting to cry, so I had to make them short and sweet once we arrived in London and got off the bus. The trip over to London was sad but we all reminisced about our trip, and laughed about various moments we shared and cherished our last few hours with one another. We then got into London, got off the bus, and gave our hugs, and well wishes and goodbyes!!!!

It was such a bittersweet day, it's time to go home, to all that I know, the friends, family, and life I am used to, but it's hard to leave and say goodbye to those that I've met, the new cities I've seen, and the memories made with friends for a lifetime. All of us who have traveled on this tour together, for the past month, whether good friends or acquaintances at the end of this, will always share one thing in common:  This Amazing Experience and Trip of A Lifetime!!!!!!  I am glad I was able to meet them all, and look forward to hopefully seeing some of them again soon around the world, in my travels or theirs!

Xoxo to my Expat Group!!!  :D

Amsterdam: An Interesting City to say the Least

“Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.” - John Green


So I thought this quote was a good way to start my post about Amsterdam, because that is the truth: When you hear about Amsterdam, all you really hear anyone talking about is the red light district and the plethora of legal weed which is around every corner. And although this is a huge part of the draw to Amsterdam, I'm sure those who live and visit there more frequently will say there is more to this city than that.  However this quote brings up a good point as to why prostitution and marijuana are legalized in this city.....the government did this as a way to prevent people pushing hard drugs on the streets, they figured if they legalized marijuana and prostitution, and allowed it to be regulated by the government, they would have more control on it, and the locals would not bring in the crime, sleaziness, and drugs that other cities deal with by having them do it in sneaky ways so as to not get caught.

We arrived in Amsterdam pretty late today, as it was a really long drive from Berlin over to Amsterdam, so we really only had one evening in Amsterdam. Our tour guide Carly took us around the red light district when we first arrived, and gave us the run down of the different "districts" (ie- they have different lanes for the young, old, skinny, fat, transgender, and other types of women).  It was quite interesting to say the least, I mean literally every corner you turned and looked was a sex shop, sex museum, sex show, girl in a window trying to get you to come into her "Red Door", I mean it was honestly not my thing, but it was great to say I saw it and have been to the all famous "Red Light District".  Anyways, after our parade through that area, we also saw Dam Square which is the main square of Amsterdam for people watching and just hanging out.

You smell weed everywhere you go in this city, and the "coffee shops" are not intended for your espressos, lattes, mochas, etc. these shops are where you go to buy and smoke your weed. Again, these are around every corner as well.  If you want actual "coffee", you better go to a cafe.  LoL!

It was so funny, they have weed in everything in this city, weed brownies, weed cookies, weed flavored ice cream (I don't know it may have actually had weed in it, not sure, just saw the parlor which sold it).

After Carly took us through, and explained to us the deal with the coffeeshops, she let us loose in this crazy sinful city to do as we please. Unfortunately, due to the time of day it was, we didn't really have a chance to see any of the museums or other sights in Amsterdam, as they were all closed. I really wanted to see the VanGogh Museum and the Anne Frank House.  Me, Chrissy, Alvix, Mel, and Asa did head over to the Anne Frank house to see if we could get in before it closed, but the best we could do was get a picture outside of it as it had already closed for the day. We then walked our way over the bridges and canals, and went back through the red light district (since it's totally different the later the night gets), and we ate at this really good Asian restaurant called Wok n Walk!!! Yum!   That's all I can tell about Amsterdam, because just like Vegas.....what happens in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam!!!!   ;)

Canals of Amsterdam During the Day

Red Light District

Not Your Typical "Coffeeshop"

Cannabis Ice Cream- Hmmm Interesting!

Transforming into the night

There is a reason it's known for its Red Lights

Berlin: Sightseeing

 
So this morning,  we had an optional walking tour of Berlin, which most of the group if not all of us went on. We had a really great tour guide, who was funny, and very knowledgeable, so I enjoyed listening to him. He took us to the major sights of Berlin within the main city center. President Obama was actually in Berlin the day before giving a speech, right where we were walking past , but unfortunately he was just there over night so we didn't get to catch a glimpse of him.

My president heard I was going to be in Berlin, and decided to greet me on arrival

Anyways, we started off at the Brandenburg Gate, and then took a glance at the Hotel Adlon and saw the balcony where Michael Jackson stood when he dangled his baby off the balcony back in 2010.

Brandenburg Gate

We also continued on our tour and saw the Holocaust Memorial, which is a composition of various concrete slabs at different heights which cover a specified area. It was interesting to hear our tour guide talk about it, as he explained to us, that it is based upon interpretation:  Some people see the various slopes and grades of the slabs as showing the increasing number or Jews killed during this time, while others look at it like a public "cemetary" for those killed. The slabs start at ground level and increase and look almost like a maze initially from the outside, but as you go through it, you get a realization of how many people truly lost their life during the Holocaust.

After going past the Holocaust Memorial, we also walked onto this "parking lot", which turns out to be built on top of where Hitler died by committing suicide, and where his barracks used to be, and remains still under this parking lot. We also headed over to Checkpoint Charlie, which was the crossing point between East and West Berlin.  Although we saw pieces of the Berlin Wall, as it is all throughout the city in various areas. We were also shown the line where the Berlin Wall stood (Berliner Mauer) that symbolizes the actual division between both East and West Berlin, and I was able to get a picture of myself standing on both sides.

Checkpoint Charlie

Standing over the Berliner Mauer

After this point, we were free to take our own time and explore the city, and so I decided to head over to the Tranenpalast or Palace of Tears, which was the former border crossing station, so there is now a museum in front of this station which is still present to this day, which gave history about the people who had crossed through there, and showed some of their stories and personal items and suitcases and such. After this, I headed on to the Berlin Wall Memorial and walked through there, although their is nothing but ruins, and mostly just descriptions of  what used to be there, it was interesting to see.

So now we're off to our last stop on this amazing lifetime trip, and they saved the craziest city for LAST.......AMSTERDAM here we come!

Only 4 more days..... :(

Today we left Prague to head off to Berlin, but not without a quick pit stop in Dresden for some lunch. We did our own thing while here, walking around the city, saw a few sights on the main path, and grabbed a bite to eat. While in Dresden, I saw a church called "Church of Our Lady" in English, the Semper Opera House, the Zwinger Palace, and a porcelain mural called "The Procession of Princes" which is the largest porcelain mural in the world...pretty neat!

Here are a few pictures from Dresden, before we move on to Berlin:

"Our Church of Our Lady" ( Frauenkirche)

The Procession of Princes

Zwinger Palace

So now we're off for our first night in Berlin, and then we'll have another free day to explore the city tomorrow.

So once we get into Berlin, we get to our hostel which is SUPER adorable, although it is a hostel now, it used to house a school, so it just had a neat feel to it, and they had all this random but interesting art all over the hostel. Every stairway had cool art, and they had paintings on the walls, and entrance way, and sculptures in the garden, and even had an artist's den in the middle of the garden. It was really cool, such a great vibe for a city which has so much history and pain behind it.

Well when we get to the hostel, my usual roomies: Asa, Alissa and Diya had quite the experience, because like Prague, this hostel had no AC (or so we thought). However, when we got to our room and were getting settled in, Aaron (Alissa's Brother), and some other people were messaging us about how they had AC in their rooms, and so then we were like "what the hell?!?!" and of course after our nights in Prague, we definitely wanted AC if there was an option for it. So we headed to the hotel reception to see if we might be able to get a room with AC, and they did agree and had us change rooms. We were so excited about this (sad how we take the smallest things for granted normally right).......until we got to our new room, which low and behold had AC, BUT it was broken!!!  Just our luck I swear. So at this point, we just gave up our chase for AC and sucked it up, because we still got a bigger room and we liked the layout better.

Anyways, after this whole episode, we had about 1 1/2-2 hours until we had to meet the rest of the group for dinner at the hostel restaurant, so me, Alissa, and Alvix decided to go get some beers and walk down by the river which was right across the street from our hotel. It was great, it was actually kind of breezy by the river, and we got to see some pieces of the Berlin Wall that people had painted on (there are random pieces strewn throughout the city which have been decorated by artists), anyways, we just talked and walked along the river, and took some pictures and enjoyed each other's company ,since our time together was slowly coming to an end soon. After we walked along the river we headed back for our last group dinner together, which was actually really good. It was bruschetta, pasta, and dessert.

After dinner, we all went back to our rooms to get ready to party one last time at the club before we left Europe!! The biggest club in Berlin called The Matrix, was right across the street from our hostel as well,so that was really nice and convenient, go out, have a good time, and stumble right across the street back to our beds.....lol !!! It was a really nice club though, had lounge seats, cages and poles to dance on, two or three different rooms to venture into, and the best part was that they were having a Buy 1 Get one Free night on their drinks ALL NIGHT LONG, which was awesome!!! I stumbled across this discovery when I ordered some wine, because it was cheaper than most of the liquor drinks (as wine seems to always be cheaper in Europe), and the lady handed me 2 drinks. I was stoked, this was about to make for a fun night!  ;)

Anyways, we danced the night away and everyone had a great night one last time!! This trip has definitely been full of a good mixture of history, sightseeing, memories, laughter, partying, and more!!!!

Hostel Art

Hostel Art

Sculpture down by the river

These are three of my favorite paintings on the wall down by the river:

Symbolizing a phoenix rising like Berlin did after the war

Symbolizing two sides divided and the wall in between

Prague: Part II

So thanks to an amazing night last night, I along with my roomies: Diya, Alissa and Asa, slept in this morning, and when we woke up, we were so hot we didn't even feel like doing anything. Diya, Asa, and Alissa went to the pool to chill out and cool off, but I decided to take advantage of my day and go back into the city and take a look around and see all the sights at my own pace. I mean after all, I figured if it was hot, and the hostel had no AC anyways, I'd rather be hot walking around seeing something and actually enjoying my once in a lifetime chance in Prague......

Well, I started the day off by catching up with my cousin's sister-in-law (if that makes sense). She and her family have lived in Prague for quite some time now, and my parents had visited her when they came through as well. So I had scheduled to meet her for lunch. She is so sweet, she came to my train station, met me, and we ended up heading near the main square to have lunch in this cute bistro, and we just caught up and chatted. It was such a great break in my trip, because to be honest, by this point in the trip, although I was having a BLAST, I was starting to miss home, and my family, mostly because I haven't had a really great connection to anyone outside of my tour group while being on the trip. The wifi in most of Europe in these hostels SUCKS! So anyways, it was nice to meet up and hang out with someone who is "like family" and who knows you and you can just be comfortable with. Plus, I hadn't seen her in over 10 years when my cousin and his wife got married in India, so there have definitely been some years that had gone by.

After meeting up with her, she had to jet off and take care of some things, so she left me to venture around the city, and I wandered aimlessly to some of the places which I wanted to take another look at (without having to rush through), such as the Charles bridge and Old Towne Square, as well as headed up to Prague Castle to make sure I checked out the castle and the St. Vitus Cathedral. I swear, traveling is definitely my "thing", if I could do this every day, I would be so happy. I love venturing and wandering and just getting lost in new cities, there is something surreal about it, and it just makes you feel adventurous.

First I headed up to Prague castle, although I was not a fan of the fact that the castle has multiple entryways, and of course I chose the "long way" up to the castle (ie- walking in the direct sun, up a crazy steep hill, for quite some time), it was worth it to see the beautiful views from this entrance. I was able to see the whole city from the top, and it always looks amazing seeing any of these cities from a highpoint because you can just look out and see how big and vast the city truly is. I was also walking through a GORGEOUS garden, with little benches and alcoves every few feet.

Once I reached the castle, I didn't end up paying to go in, but I did walk around the courtyard and the grounds to take a look around. I also saw St. Vitus Cathedral which is a beautiful church in the courtyard right next to the castle. I went inside the church, and let me tell you, although Europe is full of museums, cathedrals and castles, so I've seen my share, I have to say, the stained glass in this church was absolutely beautiful !!!

Entrance to the Castle

St Vitus Cathedral

Beautiful Stained Glass inside

After finishing with the castle, I have to be honest, in this HEAT, I was drained, however before I headed back to the hostel, I had a couple more things on my agenda:  1) Get some souvenirs 2) Visit the Charles Bridge again and 3) Find the lock bridge for my "love lock".

So I headed back down into the main part of the city, and walked around the streets observing, and taking it all in, while looking for some souvenirs, as well as walked back across the Charles Bridge to look at the statues, as well as admire the street artists painting and selling their work on the bridge.

Beginning of the Charles Bridge

So the story behind my "love lock" for my trip:  So before I left on my trip, I knew that I wanted to buy a lock and write my name on it and such to put on a lock bridge out in Europe. I had seen it done by Kourtney Kardashian and Scott when they were in Paris, and by one of the ladies from RH of Orange County, and I just loved the idea of being able to do that, and I told myself when I watched both of those episodes (whenever I finally go to Europe, I'm going to do this).....*without knowing I'd be going to Europe this year*..... So anyways, it's technically supposed to be done as a "lover's lock", where you and the person you love put your lock on it, and throw away the key saying you'd be together forever, etc etc. Well I decided that on this trip, I was going to do one for myself for "loving myself" enough to take this chance of doing what I did and going on a trip like this, and having the time of my life and experiencing such a thing. So it was a lover's lock still, just about loving ME, MYSELF, and I !!!   :D

Okay so now that the background is out there....I didn't want to do it in Paris, because I thought that should be saved for when I return to Paris with someone I love, since it's supposedly the "City of Love", so I was going to do it in Italy and forgot completely, so here I am on the last part of my trip, with only a few cities to go, and realized I need to find a lock bridge ASAP or I'll go home without ever leaving my mark. Well, luckily for me, Prague has a lock bridge, and I found it and "made my mark" here, in a wonderful city, and one that I definitely want to return to, so I think it was meant to be that this is the place where my lock rests........

Do příště  Praha  (Till Next Time Prague).....

It says: "Carpe Diem" and "Seize the Day" with my name and date I visited

                               

On our way to Praha: With a Short stop in Slovakia

No we're headed off for the last few days of our trip: only 3 more cities left believe it or not: Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam, and then we're heading back to London! It's so crazy to think that 24 days could seem so long, yet when we're nearing the end, it doesn't seem long enough! I'm really excited about heading to Prague, because my parents have been there before and have told us how BEAUTIFUL of a city it is.

However, before we get into Prague, we took a mid-day break in Bratislava which is in Slovakia. We had a really quick stopover, with a short guided tour through the city (mostly the Old Town area). We saw the opera house and theater and walked down St. Michael's street and saw the St Michael's gate as well. We then just grabbed a bite to eat in the city and headed onwards to Prague!

On the bus today, everyone was getting rested up, for our Bar Crawl upon arrival in Prague!!! This was going to be one fun night ahead, I just see it now, based upon my past experiences with Pub Crawls in good ole' Atlanta.  Hehe!

First, before we get to the pub crawl, we still had some sight seeing to do, so we get into Prague, check into our hostel, and meet up with a local guide (who ironically enough was from Atlanta), but sad to say I did not want to claim him for my city, because he was an absolutely HORRIBLE tour guide. He was flirting with tour members, reading off index cards as to the history behind famous sights, and was debunking myths that most tour guides play up. (ie- rub the monument, it means you'll return to Prague). Who does that as a tour guide?!?!  He gets 10 fingers down from me!  (yes, that's how bad he was).

Anyways, enough about our horrible tour guide, although he didn't give us much background behind the sights, we still did have a chance to see all the beautiful and famous sights within Prague. We went to Old Towne Square, We walked across the Charles Bridge and saw all the statues along the way, we saw Wenceslas Square, we also went to the Old Town Hall, and saw the famous astronomical clock, luckily we had reached there right as it was about to go off, so we were able to catch the action of the figurines as they moved and peaked there heads through on the hour. We didn't get to see the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral today, due to time, but it's on my agenda for tomorrow, during my free day.

View off of the Charles Bridge

Old Towne Square

Astronomical Clock

After our tour, we all met back up with our tour guide to grab a quick bite to eat and then get started with the pub crawl. We met first at a local bar, and got free cranberry vodka shots, beers, wine, and absinthe shots! Let me tell you, with it being 90 proof, you already know that you gotta go slow with those, but the taste of it, makes you want to do that anyways! UGH, it tastes like black licorice. I could only take two or three before I was done, couldn't handle the taste anymore. But it was funny watching those people who aren't normally drinkers taking them down, because it was hitting them HARD, poor little YuLi was drunk and sitting in a corner before we even left the first bar of the night....!!! We moved on after about 1 hour or so to the next bar, and headed off to one more bar before ending at the biggest club in Prague, which was 5 floors. One of the floors had an ice bar, one was playing 80s oldies music, two were playing top 40s music, and one was more hip-hop/reggae like music.  By this time, as expected, we had lost some people to drunkness, lost some people who went back to the hostel, and just flat out lost some people who couldn't keep up. LoL!   So at this point, the only people that I was with were Diya, and Alissa, and of course our fearless tour leader and bus driver Carly and Phil.  Me, Diya, and Alissa had a blast the rest of the night just dancing away and having a good time. At the end of the night, we couldn't find anyone else, so we ended up just taking a cab back to the hostel together, and hit the bed.

Our first night in Prague was awesome, but the only downside to Prague was that we happened to be there in the midst of a HEAT WAVE, and since Prague normally doesn't get such hot weather, our hostel had NO air conditioning, so basically we were sweating it out like crazy, it was ridiculously unbearable to be honest. Think 90-100 degree weather with no AC. 

Some of the pics that we took from the Pub Crawl:

Me, Martha, Tia, Diya, Asa, and Alissa at the First Bar

Me and my 1st Absinthe shot: YUCK!

A handful of the wonderful people I've spent a month with

Love these folks!

Fun night!!!