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Days 104-108: 5 Fun-Filled Days at Home

8/27/2013

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After Iceland, we went back to Boston for a few days to see family, friends and to celebrate a wedding.  We arrived from Iceland around 8pm and Chris’ brother, Tom and his girlfriend Jess, met us at the airport so we could all head out to Chris' parents house.

But first, we made a quick stop. Since we were going to a wedding that weekend, we'd left some dressier clothes with our friends Steve & Hanna.  We stopped by their place to say a quick hello and pick up our clothes. When Hanna opened her front door we were greeted by this smiling face: 
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Lola!!!
Meet Lola, Hanna & Steve’s adorable English Bulldog puppy.  After playing with Lola and catching up with Hanna & Steve, Hanna gave me the stuff I had left at her house for the wedding and – no joke – I think I had left more clothing at her house than I had packed in my backpack.   After vowing to simplify my wardrobe after this trip, we said our goodbyes. Although it was a quick visit, it was so nice seeing Hanna, Steve and Lola. We are really looking forward to celebrating their wedding in March! 
Chez Barbier
Next, the four us went to one of our many “homes” to see Mom & Dad Barbier. Our jet lag was no match for our excitement to be home so we stayed up late catching up with everyone.  

The next day, Chris’ parents went all out, as they usually do. We lounged by the pool, enjoying the perfect weather and ate lots of tasty food!
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Eggs, mushrooms & sausage on toast. Now this is how you start a morning right!
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Stuffed clams!
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Ready for dinner at home :)
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Lamb shanks!
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Overflowing quarts of Kimball's ice cream. YUM! If you ever find yourself near Lunenburg, MA stop for an ice cream at Kimballs (exit 35 off RT 2)
Everything was delicious and we went to bed with incredibly full stomachs. We had a wonderful and relaxing time home. Thank you Mom & Dad Barbier, Tom & Jess! 

Off to the Farm
The next day, I drove up to see my Grandma and Mom at my Grandma’s farm in upstate NY, near West Pawlet, VT (My Dad was away on business so I missed him this time around). Most people travel around this area in the winter for the skiing but it is just as beautiful and fun in the summer. There are lots of great hikes and lakes to enjoy nearby including Lake George and Lake St. Catherine. 
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Perfect day at the Wallman farm!
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Grandma's garden
The three of us cooked a big meal of steak, fresh corn from a local farm, green beans from Grandma’s garden and a salad.  Later that night, my friend Michelle came by and we had  nice time catching up. I even learned a little about chasing runaway cows! 

I was so happy and thankful that my Mom made the long drive up from CT so I could see both her and my grandma for the day :)
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Grandma Wallman supporting the team!
Le Mariage!
On Friday we were back in Boston and ready to celebrate Kim & Brendon’s wedding. That weekend we stayed with our friends Lisa & Dong.  You might remember them from an earlier post about our most recent visit to Puerto Rico.  They have the most adorable son, Zachary, who is probably the happiest baby I know. 
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Zachary :)
After spending a little quality time with baby Z, we were off to the rehearsal, followed by the rehearsal dinner.  After making a quick stop by Brasserie Jo to toast the occasion with the bride and groom-to-be, we all went to the Summer Shack where I had a delicious lobster while enjoying the company of Kim, Brendon and their wonderful family.
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Lobster dinner at the Summer Shack!
After dinner we all went out to Kings for beer & billiards. Lisa & Dong and my brother DJ met up with us at Kings. DJ greeted us with a huge hug  and we all spent the evening catching up. Good times!
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Dong, Kim & Lisa
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With Lisa & the bride the night before the wedding!
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Chris, Brendon (the groom) and Dong. It looks like Chris & Dong are Brendon's cronies. Don't mess with this groom!
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DJ stopped by!
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DJ and the cronies.
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Typical
The next day - wedding day - began with a wonderful breakfast prepared by Lisa & Dong. Our friends Alicia and Ziad came in from Ohio so we all caught up for a while. DJ also stopped by for a bit to say goodbye since we would be leaving for Australia the next day. 

The wedding was absolutely perfect. It was unique, really fun and very Kim & Brendon.  It was a French bistro called Les Zygomates in the leather district of Boston. The venue had tons  of character and oozed urban romance - black and white tile floors, brick walls, and large windows that perfectly framed the soirée taking place inside.  I believe many a passerby was quiet envious that evening!  

The ceremony was short and sweet with lots of laughs.  
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Such a fun ceremony!
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Mr. & Mrs. Randall!
The food was amazing – raw oyster bar, steak tar tar appetizers, massive shrimp cocktail and amazing steak frites. Oh, and there was a nebuchadnezzar of Veuve!  The DJ was spectacular and I can’t remember dancing that much in a long time. Of course, the best part was spending time with our friends.
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Reunited (by the apps, naturally)!
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with the beautiful bride
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Dancing the night away...
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A new wedding tradition - Raking the donuts. Because who doesn't love donuts, especially in a bar at 1am?
We had such an amazing time and were really sad to leave on Sunday morning, especially after another delicious breakfast at Lisa & Dong’s house. Thank you Lisa & Dong for your unbelievable hospitality. And thank you Kim & Bren (and family) for an incredible party!

Our time home was too short, but it only makes us that much more excited to come home at the end of the year!

But for now, off to Australia…

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Days 102-103: Iceland. Cool.

8/23/2013

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There is a lot to love about Iceland in the summer: extra long days, other-worldly landscapes, and incredibly fresh air.  But there are also some drawbacks: it's cold, it's expensive, puffin and horse are menu items and it's almost impossible to see anything when it rains, which I'm told, happens often. 

We arrived late at night (around 11:30pm) and picked up our rental car.  Note, car rentals in Iceland are super expensive.  Our 2 -day Iceland car rental cost slightly less than our 3 week car rental in Australia.  The car rental companies have big signs warning you to hold your car doors at all times because the wind can be so strong that they rip off the doors or slam them into a limb that might be in the process of entering or exiting the car. Yikes!  

We drove about 40 minutes to our hotel called Hotel Hafnarfjordur, which was about a 20-minute drive from the capital, Reykjavik.  The drive was really cool because it wasn't fully dark yet -there was an orange glow coming from the horizon where the sun set.  The hotel, on the other hand, was nothing special. It provided a comfortable room and decent breakfast at a reasonable rate (for Iceland).  The guy working the front desk messed up the exchange rate and ended up charging us 50% more, which didn't occur to us at the time. We paid in cash, but luckily insisted on a receipt with the amount we paid, so we were able to sort out the difference the following morning and get a refund.  It was a good reminder that, when traveling, always know your exchange rates before arrival and always insist on a receipt!

We were lucky the next day: it was a clear day and relatively warm. Since we had such lovely weather, we decided to drive the 'Golden Circle' - a name Iceland gave to a driving route that brings you to a series of sites including a massive waterfall and geysers. Here is what we saw:
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This is what I mean when I say other-worldly.Some parts of Iceland look like another planet!
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A little village about an hour outside of Reykjavik
Geysers are the Worst
One of my many quirks is that I strongly dislike anticipation. Things like a Jack-in-the-box or opening a champagne bottle bring me close to a nervous breakdown. Even the Jack-in-the-box song, Pop Goes the Weasel, causes my stress level to spike. Well, bubbles & Jack are no match for a geyser. 

The largest active geyser in Iceland is called Strokkur and it's supposed to erupt about every 8-10 minutes. Having come from Germany, I was expecting this bad boy to run like clockwork. So I waited, and waited some more, and just when I gave up, BOOM, Strokkur shot water 20 meters into the air.  Of course, I was caught off-guard, which resulted in me screaming and then cursing Strokkur. Overall, I'm glad I saw the geysers, but I definitely don't need visit them again.
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Waiting for Strokkur to errupt.
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I can't stand the anticipation and turned around to talk to Chris. At that moment, Strokkur decided to erupt, scaring the daylights out of me. Chris, who knows me well, was prepared to capture this moment on my phone camera!
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I finally got a shot!
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It looks like a scene from a disaster, but it's just people running from the leftover geyser water being blown by the wind. It's too cold to get wet!
After the geysers we saw one of Iceland's many waterfalls called Gullfoss (golden falls). It was stunning! 
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At Gullfoss we stopped for some lunch (traditional lamb stew and Icelandic yogurt) and checked out the tourist shops where they sell lots of wool, furs and other traditional Icelandic fashions. 
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Chris after our second bowl of lamb stew.
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A traditional Icelandic hat. Pretty funny.
During the afternoon we drove back to Reykjavik to check out the town and grab some dinner. 
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We spotted massive clouds on the drive back.
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The Icelandic countryside is full of horses. We found out it's because they farm them for food. I was pretty grossed out when I saw horse on the menu in the restaurants:(
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The main church in Reykjavik
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Whale and puffin are popular menu items.
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A little reminder of home in Reykjavik.
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We tried a minke whale appetizer. It was very good! It tasted a bit like seared tuna.
After dinner, it was around 10pm. Our waitress suggested we drive to the lighthouse to watch the sunset. We are so happy we followed her recommendation, because the sunset was beautiful. Here are some of my favorite shots from the lighthouse:
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The Blue Lagoon
The next morning we awoke to clouds and rain. Our flight departed late in the afternoon, so we decided to spend our last day at the Blue Lagoon - a geothermal spa located in a lava field fairly close to the airport. It was a great experience! You check in, change into your bathing suit and a robe, and then head out into the cold misty air for a second, only to immerse yourself into warm bright blue water surrounded by black lava fields. They provide silica mud, which is supposed to be good for your skin so you see people swimming around with white faces due to the caked mud they applied earlier. There is also a swim-up bar where you can get beer and different types of smoothies. We both enjoyed the experience and it was the perfect way to relax before our flight to Boston. 
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The Blue Lagoon
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Entering the lagoon. They advise you to cover your hair in conditioner and keep it out of the water because the minerals in the water dry out hair.
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Found a quieter spot!
Iceland - A Great Stop-Over Coming Home
Afterwards, we checked into our flight to Boston and we were home by 8pm local time. Iceland is a great way to break up your trip back to the US from Europe for a few reasons:

1)  It's only 5 hours away from the northeast coast of the US and just a few hours from much of Europe. 
2) You start adjusting to the time change while in Iceland (since they are 2 hours behind most of Europe).  By the time you get home, you really only have a day of slight jet lag. 
3) Iceland Air is a really affordable airline so you can get a flight home from major Europen cities with a stop in Iceland for less than most flights home on other airlines. Keep in mind you can easily spend the difference while in Iceland. It's a very expensive country.

Iceland was a cool place to visit, but because it's so expensive, I wouldn't recommend planning a trip longer than 2 full days there, and I'd definitely tack it on to a trip to elsewhere in Europe. 
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Days 100-101: Hamburg, Bremen & Bloemendaal

8/22/2013

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After Rügen Island, we had to make our way back toward Amsterdam. Sadly, our time in Europe was coming to an end and in just two days we'd be on a flight to Iceland.

Quirky Hamburg
We  originally wanted to spend one night in Hamburg, but decided stay in nearby Bremen because we found a really good price on a hotel and Bremen was an hour closer to Amsterdam. Therefore we only spent an afternoon in Hamburg- driving around the new town and walking around the old party of the city, near the fair grounds.  If I could do it again, I'd spend more time in Hamburg because there is a lot to see and this town would be so much fun at night!   
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Flirting with a thunderstorm heading into the old city from the new city.
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Hamburg old town
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Hamburg
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This was a novel concept.  A mobile bar where the drinkers do the pedaling while the bartender (in the middle of the bar) pours from a keg.  I guess there are no DUI laws here!
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Just a typical Saturday afternoon in Hamburg! Nothing like a bunch of dudes in drag/tight tennis outfits looking at you like YOU are the attraction.
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A really cool coffee shop we stopped off at for a drink.  
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We also stopped into a few shops and walked through a pretty big flea market. That was about all we had time for in Hamburg, and I'm sure we missed most of the highlights.  However, we did enjoy our few hours walking around and I hope to be back someday to see more!
Bremen
That night we just needed a simple place to crash before our flight out of Amsterdam the next day, so we picked a place called Bremen which was about an hour further up the road from Hamburg.  We didn't know anything about Bremen other than the fact that it had a reasonably-priced Holiday Inn Express.  Turns out Bremen is a manufacturing town most notable for its Mercedes and EADS plants, with a really nice downtown area.  

We did some poking around and found a great little place to eat in the middle of a cool residential neighborhood. It's called Medoo, and it was packed with locals from the area. Lots of families and friends were having dinner here and they all seemed to know one another. It reminded me a lot of the neighborhood restaurants we used to frequent when we lived in Chicago.  We had the friendliest waitress who helped us navigate the German menu. I ended up with a delicious vegetable strudel and Chris had a nice fish dish. After we paid for our meal, Chris tipped the waitress which led to a lot of confusion on her part  because apparently they don't tip here (though it is common elsewhere in Germany). We insisted she keep the money since she spent a lot of time walking us through the menu and she was elated! 
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Bremen neighborhood
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Medoo Restaurant - Great neighborhood spot if you ever find yourself in Bremen, Germany
Sunday Afternoon Beach Clubbing
We left Bremen before noon the next morning and arrived on the outskirts of Amsterdam by the afternoon. We didn't have to drop off our car until 8pm for a 10pm flight, so we had some time to kill. We had already been to Amsterdam and didn't want to deal with driving in the city.  Since it was a beautiful day we decided to check out a popular beach north of Amsterdam called Bloemendaal. 

Upon first glance, Bloemendall is a beautiful massive sandy beach with lots of kite surfers and regular surfers enjoying the windy conditions.
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Bloemendaal
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We noticed a string of restaurants below so decided to check it out. 
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Walking down to the beach against the wind.
We arrived at the first restaurant to see a bunch of people hanging out and enjoying lunch. It was a very chill scene. Then we started noticing something odd - people dressed up in clubbing outfits were walking by.  What were girls in 5 inch heels and guys in leather doing on the beach at 2pm on a Sunday??  We had to investigate. 

We walked past a couple more restaurants, each one a little swankier then the last. As we walked the heels got higher, skirts shorter and the leather and mesh more common. We soon heard the thumping of a DJ and walked right by this MASSIVE club on the beach:
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The picture doesn't even do its size justice. This first club went on and on and every inch was packed with people. The DJ was spinning pop music and I'd say the average age of the patrons was around 22.   Right next door was another club - this one even more packed than the first one. This club explained all the leather sightings. The DJ was playing some kind of heavy metal dub-step mix that was so loud that you shook as you walked by. I didn't take a picture of this club, fearing that someone might punch me in the face for the fun of it. 

We saw one more club at the end that was much more chill. It was colorful, quieter full of different places to lounge around.  We both thought this could be a cool place to hang out. Upon closer inspection we realized that the average age of these folks was probably mid-40's to early 50's.  This was the catch-all club. If you aren't a 20 something or a metal head, you go here.  
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Random couches on the beach outside the club
Chris and I decided to pass on the clubs and head back over to the chill restaurant we saw when we first arrived.  It was the perfect little spot! We had a tasty lunch right by the beach while listening to someone playing the acoustic guitar. 
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Little surfer shack where we had lunch
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Bitterballen - yum!
Bye Bye Citroen
After our meal we went to the airport where we dropped off our Citroen, ending our short-term lease.  We were pretty sad to say goodbye to this car which drove us for 2 months throughout Europe. With the exception of when the GPS lost its signal in Vienna, this car was a great way to travel throughout Europe!

That night we said goodbye to continental Europe and made our way north west to Iceland!
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Days 98-99: Rügen Island, Germany

8/20/2013

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About three hours north of Berlin sits Germany’s largest island – Rügen Island.  Rügen is a great weekend destination for residents of Berlin and Hamburg since it's only a few hours' drive from both cities.  We had heard great things about Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, so decided to head up for a couple of nights. 

We booked a hotel in Binz, which is one of the main seaside towns on the island.  Binz features a really nice beachfront promenade with lots of great shops and restaurants.  The area reminded us a lot of Cape Cod, with slightly warmer water, whiter beaches and newer buildings.  While people do live on Rügen, in the summer time it’s mainly filled with vacationers – probably about 80% from Germany and most of the rest from Sweden, which is a short ferry ride away.

After a short time in Rügen, we also proclaimed it the friendliest place on earth.  Everyone we saw there was happy and cheerful, and without fail, everyone we saw said hello to us! 

White Cliffs of Rügen
The morning after we arrived, we headed up to Jasmund National Park, home to Rügen's famous white chalk cliffs, leading many people to call it the Dover of Germany.  There are some nice hiking trails that take you along the top of the cliffs and down to the water.
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View from the trail
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Hiking in Jasmund Park
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Overlooking the white cliffs of Rügen
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On the shore of Jasmund National Park
Prora: Abandoned Nazi Resort
Next, we stopped off at Prora.  This place was very interesting and a little spooky.  Shortly after the Nazi’s came to power, they introduced a program called ‘Strength Through Joy’.  It was sort of a ‘work hard, play hard’ concept, where they believed that happy people would be productive workers.  As part of this program, they decided to build a huge resort on Rügen Island called Prora, which could accommodate over 20,000 vacationers simultaneously.  Between 1936-1939, seven massive (and ugly) concrete buildings were built along the coast.  Each building was 1.5km long and six floors tall.  Each room was to have a sea view, and all rooms were to be identical.   The halls and communal bathrooms occupied the side of the building facing away from the sea.  The beginning of WWII meant that these monstrosities were never used as a holiday resort, but instead, as military housing.  After WWII, Rügen became a part of East Germany, and the Soviet and East German armies both maintained a presence here.  Today, the buildings are abandoned, and two of the seven have been demolished.  There are plans to redevelop the area, and a large hostel recently opened in a portion of the northernmost building.   The good news is that if you pass through the ruins of the Prora buildings, you find yourself on a beautiful, expansive beach, which has become very popular with vacationers.
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Miles of abandoned buildings at Prora. The first section painted white is now a youth hostel.
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View from the ocean side
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Entering the complex
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Fortunately, on the other side of miles of ugly buildings sit miles of beautiful beaches
Beautiful Binz
We spent the rest of the day back in Binz, walking around the town and later, enjoying a local festival.  We heard a great local band playing – sort of a Rockabilly type group covering techno songs, which was much better than it sounds.  
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Strandkorbs on our local beach in Binz
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Sand sculpture near the pier
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On the pier in Binz
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Typical beach front architecture
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Strandkorbs at sunset
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Watching the band by the beach
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On the pier
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Binz at sunset
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Our hotel from the beachfront promenade
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A bride walking to her wedding
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An other-worldly dining room
We also sampled some of the local fare:
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A Bismarck - pickled fish sandwich with onions on crusty bread - the local specialty. Stands selling these are all over the island.
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A new fan. And quite a bargain at 2-3 Euros each.
We really enjoyed this pretty little island and would highly recommend a few nights here if you ever find yourself in the area.  One word of advice – another thing Rügen has in common with Cape Cod is its weekend traffic.  There is only one road in and one road out, and you can expect to sit in some major traffic jams if your timing is poor, so plan carefully!
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Days 93-97: Adventures in Berlin

8/18/2013

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We loved Berlin so much that we decided to add an extra night to our stay while we were there.  We stayed in the former West Berlin near Savignyplatz, which is a great area due to its proximity to loads of restaurants, shopping and unique design boutiques - including clothing, jewelry and home.  I'd highly recommend visiting this area to anyone who designs jewelry or interiors.  

After many successive stays in hotels with uncomfortable European style mattresses, we broke down and booked ourselves at the good old Hampton Inn (incidentally, rated the #16 hotel in Berlin on TripAdvisor!).  It ended up being a good choice, as the beds were comfortable, the internet fast and the A/C cold.  This triple threat is a very tough score in Europe. 

Our first morning in Berlin, we had, of course, booked ourselves on a bike tour of the city.  This particular tour was a Fat Tire tour on one of their new e-bikes.  An e-bike operates like a regular bike, but has an electric motor that gives a turbo boost to your pedaling effort.  Therefore, you can accelerate uphill and zip around the city all day without breaking a sweat.  This was great, as it allowed us to cover a lot of ground in this massive city. 
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Chris on his e-bike
The bike tour was fantastic. Our guide, a British expat named Neil, was extremely knowledgable about the city's complex history.  Berlin is a fairly young city by European standards, and Germany is a very young country. Until the late 1800's, Berlin was the capital of Prussia, at which point Prussia merged with several other states to become the German Empire.  Most of our tour, therefore, was focused on the events of the twentieth century.  Here are some of the sites we visited along  our tour and during our next couple of days in town.
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This TV tower is the tallest building in Germany and is located in the center of former East Berlin. It was built by the communist government to demonstrate their technological prowess. What no one knew at the time was that they had run into construction challenges and had to smuggle in a team of Swedish engineers to finish the job.
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The communist government actively discouraged organized religion and disbanded many churches upon coming to power. When this tower was unveiled, the sun ironically created a huge shiny cross on the side of the sphere, as shown here, resulting in the tower's nickname: The Pope's Revenge.
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Our tour guide, Neil, giving us an impromptu geography lesson of Germany post WWII.
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Berlin Wall
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Behind one of the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall is the Topography of Terror museum, built on the remains of the basement of the Nazi secret police headquarters where political enemies were tortured and killed. This free museum was excellent and describes the history of the Nazi rise to power and the many atrocities committed during this period.
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The line of the former Berlin Wall running throughout the city. The inscriptions are always legible from the perspective of former West Berlin.
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Chris crossing over the line into former East Berlin.
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The old sign posted at Checkpoint Charlie. This was the only place that anyone who was not a resident of West Berlin could cross from East to West.
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Today it's Checkpoint Cheesy
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Chris is pointing at the spot where Hitler's Fuhrerbunker once stood. This was where Hitler hid out during the final days of the Battle of Berlin. It was here where he and his wife (whom he married the previous day in the bunker) killed themselves. He ordered his guard to immediately burn his body as he was afraid it would be dragged through the streets of Berlin. Today it's a parking lot. The buildings in the background were some of the nicest homes in communist East Germany, where high-ranking government workers lived. These were erected near the wall to show anyone looking in from the West that things 'weren't so bad'. Of course, most East Berlin buildings did not look like this.
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This is the Reichstag building, which famously burned down during the early days of Hitler's rule. Hitler used the fire, which he claimed was started by a member of a rival faction, as justification for the outlawing of other political groups and consolidation of all governing power under him. It later turned out that the guy accused of starting the fire, and ultimately executed, suffered from mental disabilities. However, today many people suspect he was actually innocent and that the fire was an inside job to help the Nazis make their case for single-party government.
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On the runway at Tempelhof airport in southern Berlin. This was Berlin's major airport for a long time. Shortly after West Berlin was cut off from East Germany, this airport was the primary way supplies were brought into the city. The airport was closed in 2008 and today serves as a large park. We had fun testing our our e-bikes' top speed on the old runways!
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The "New" Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The old church was bombed during the war and its remains still stand today. Next door is the modern new church which is nothing spectacular from the outside. But the inside is definitely worth a look! All the walls are covered in blue glass from the floor to the ceiling.
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This plaque is located in Bebelplatz, where the Nazi book burning occurred in 1933. Young Nazi students (many of whom attended the nearby Humboldt University) gathered here and burned "undesirable" books including those of Einstein.
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Humboldt University. Einstein was a professor here before leaving for New York when his teachings, books and theories were disallowed because he was Jewish. Interestingly, it was Einstein's theories that led to the development of the atomic bomb via his participation in the Manhattan Project. Had the Nazi's not shunned all Jewish ideas, the war might have ended differently. Humboldt sits on Babelplatz, so named because it was the site of Hitler's massive book-burning. Today, there is a daily book sale in front of the university where books that were burned by the Nazis are sold.
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The 'French' church. This was built for French settlers who came to Berlin in the 1800's. The building was entirely destroyed during the Berlin bombings in WWII and subsequently rebuilt. However, the statues survived, as Hitler had them removed and hidden in the river prior to the war. They were re-installed on the rebuilt church.
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"Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. The designers left the sculpture open for interpretation, but many say it looks like a cemetery. It reminded me of a lost city.
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Einstein?
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The Brandenburg Gate. This was the old city entrance from the 19th century. This actually survived the bombings of the city during the war, and during the cold war the gate was located in the 'no man's land' zone between the two Berlin walls.
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Hotel Adlon - Berlin's most famous hotel. We know it best as the hotel where Michael Jackson famously dangled his youngest son, Blanket, out the window.
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Berlin has a very large Turkish population - we were told it's the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey. You can always tell a Turkish apartment building by the satellite dishes, which they use to watch Turkish TV stations
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They decorate their satellite dishes with pictures of their kids or other interesting designs.
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There are lots of 'beaches' in Berlin. These consist of sandy areas on the banks of the river or a canal where someone has built an outdoor bar or club. While you can't swim here due to the pollution, you can have a lot of fun at the clubs, some of which get crazy at night.
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Another beach bar
We also enjoyed a wide variety of food in Berlin.  In Savignyplatz alone, we had Vietnamese, Spanish, Mexican and Mediterranean meals.   You can find just about anything within a few blocks.  This was a nice break from non-stop German fare for several weeks.  

Aside from the sight seeing and the food, we had a lot of fun exploring different neighborhoods throughout the city.  It's a very diverse city that is changing and growing rapidly as the East continues to evolve following the fall of the wall.  There are lots of fun and interesting neighborhoods to explore and many different types of people to meet.  This city really does have something for everyone.  We had an awesome time in Berlin and can't wait to come back.  
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Berlin Street Art

8/15/2013

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I love Berlin. I'll write about our adventures there later, but first I want to highlight one of my favorite features of this city - the artwork.  I'm not talking about the art hidden behind marble walls, but the everyday creativity you stumble upon while walking down the street.  Every inch of Berlin's streets is full of color, expression, and emotion. The art is unexpected and makes a neighborhood stroll a really fun experience . Here is some of the artwork we saw throughout Berlin:
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Outside our hotel room
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"The Wall" (fall of communism, rise of capitalism)
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Someone's front door
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The Leviathan
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Remnants of the Berlin Wall
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Days 90-93: Prague - Good Times In The Golden City

8/14/2013

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After three nights in Vienna, we drove three hours to beautiful Prague. 

Hotel 16
Our hotel in Prague – Hotel 16 – is worth a mention because, so far, it has been one of our favorite hotels.  It's a small place with 14 rooms, so it felt a bit more like a B&B. The hotel offers a great breakfast and free snacks and drinks round the clock which was a nice touch. Our room was nice and fairly basic, and the hotel was located about a twenty-minute walk from the old city.  However, the people who run the hotel were some of the friendliest and happiest we’ve met so far on our travels.  We arrived mid-afternoon on a hot day and were immediately welcomed by the enthusiastic guy and girl working the desk, with some cold water and juice. After chatting with them a bit, they provided lots of recommendations and introduced us to the local Czech drink called Becherovka.  We later met several other people who work there, all of whom were really great people who were always smiling, happy and went out of their way to give us great tips and recommendations about their city.  When we left they even gave us a couple of mugs as keepsakes.
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Outside of Hotel 16. We loved this place!
The Czech Republic, one of the former Soviet Bloc countries (when it was part of Czechoslovakia), has only fairly recently (1989) introduced a free market economy and democratic political system after many decades under the influence of the Soviet Union.  There are still reminders of the communist period throughout the city.  In fact, Hotel 16 was seized from its owners by the government when communism was introduced.  Following the communist regime, the family who had formerly owned the hotel was able to reclaim it, and still operates it today.  There are interesting stories like this all over the country. 

The Golden City
On our first afternoon in Prague, we spent a few hours walking through Wenceslas Square (main shopping area) and around the old city. We tried to grab a drink on the rooftop of  the U Prince Hotel in the old city. The views were spectacular but it was just too hot to stay for a drink. Had we not have been in the midst of a heat wave, this place would have been an awesome way to spend an evening! We finally made our way to Letna Park at sunset, where there is a great beer garden.  We grabbed some beers and 2 massive pork gyros from a stand and enjoyed the watching Prague turn to gold under the setting sun.
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View of Prague from Letna Beer Garden
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Letna Beer Garden
Jewish Museum
The next day was Friday, and so we decided to visit the Jewish quarter, called Josefov, since it would be closed on Saturday.  Prague is unique among cities that came under Nazi control during WWII, as it was one area where the Nazis did not destroy all Jewish property, synagogues, and artifacts.  While most of the former residents of the area sadly perished during the Holocaust, many of the important buildings and sites in the neighborhood remain intact, as they were pre-WWII.  The Nazis wanted to preserve Josefov in order to use it for a planned Exotic Museum of An Extinct Race.  This means the Nazis gathered Jewish artifacts from all over Europe to display in Josefov, since, in their vision for the future, Jewish people would cease to exist. 

Many of the items stored in Josefov during the war form the basis for the Jewish museum, a collection of several sites throughout the neighborhood, each containing a variety of important relics used by the Jewish people who called this neighborhood home over the centuries.  Today, the museum tells the story of the people who lived here, what their lives were like, and interestingly, their relationship with the government and the rights afforded to them – or lack thereof – during the various stages of Czech history.
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Jewish Ceremonial Hall
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Spanish Synagogue
One of the most powerful exhibitions was the Pinkas Synagogue.  It is a beautiful, yet simple building, with no furnishings.  Its walls are covered with the names of many of the Czech Jews that were murdered under the Nazi regime, and the only sound is man’s voice reading the names. Over two thirds of the Jewish people from Prague perished during the Holocaust, which is quite a lot of people considering Jews made up over 20% of Prague's population pre-WWII.  The walls are covered top to bottom, which physically reminds us of the large scale of senseless deaths. 
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Chris looking up at one wall full of names of people from Prague who lost their lives in the Holocaust.
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Looking through a window within the synagogue, you can see how the names cover every single wall.
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Never forget. These names serve as a reminder of the atrocities that stem from hatred and will hopefully influence and educate future generations that hatred only leads to emptiness.
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Pinkas Synagogue
Perhaps the most difficult part of the exhibit was on the top floor.  Many children were shipped off to concentration camps, and in an effort to make it seem “normal” and help them to cope with the difficult conditions, their parents would do their best to develop activities for them like plays, musicals, concerts and drawing.  It's somewhat reminiscent of the father-son relationship in my favorite movie, Life is Beautiful. One woman, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, was an educator and used art as way to provide therapy to the children in the camps. She had the children draw different things – how they felt about the camp, life before the camp, and what life would be like afterwards. The drawings speak for themselves. Many are very sad and depict images of fear or abuse.  Others are simply scenes of every day life in a camp.  Some are more hopeful, depicting visions of a happy future somewhere safe. The hardest part of the exhibit was seeing a label by each drawing with the child’s name and sometimes their picture, date of birth and date of death. If they survived the camp, the label would say “survived” instead of a date of death.  Sadly, most had a date of death. Friedl Dicker-Brandeis died in Auschwitz concentration camp, but her suitcase full of hundreds of children’s drawings survived. If you are ever in Prague, visit the Pinkas Synagogue and see this exhibit. 
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A child's drawing about life at Terezin concentration camp.
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Drawings from children about the war. Most of these children perished in the concentration camps.
The last thing we saw in the Jewish quarter was the Jewish Cemetery.  Even before the Nazis, Jews were restricted to a specific area of the city.  This included restrictions on where they could bury their dead.  In Jewish custom, the dead must be buried right away, and cremation is not permitted. Since they were given such little land for a cemetery, they had to bury people on top of each other. Therefore, on this small plot of land, experts suspect over 100,000 people have been buried over hundreds of years. This is why the cemetery looks like this:
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Prague's Jewish Cemetery
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So many people, so little space.
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They say 100,000 people are buried in this small plot of land.
Reflecting in the Park
As you can imagine, the Jewish Museum is a mostly sad and somber experience. After we were done, we decided to start our evening off with something low key.  We went back to our hotel to freshen up, and then we headed up to Riegrovy Sady, another park and beer garden overlooking the city.  This area was much more laid back than where we were the previous night, with lots of local residents sitting on a big grassy hill overlooking Prague and its beautiful sunset.  We picked up some snacks on the way there, as well as some beers and bubbles, and had a nice picnic.  This was a great suggestion from our hotel and we got to enjoy another view of the city from a different angle!
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Sunset at Riegrovy Sady
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Riegrovy Sady
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Another sunset over Prague
After sunset, we headed back into town to check out Friday night in Prague.  We started out at the Chapeau Rouge, something of a Prague institution going back to the early post-communism days.  A friend of ours is an artist who used to live in Prague, so we had actually first seen this bar in his paintings. (See his work at Johnhetzel.com)  Chapeau Rouge remains a favorite of both locals and visitors, and is fun because of its laid-back atmosphere and the interesting people who frequent it.  Downstairs there is also a dance club.  Admittedly, we did not last long here, as the steamy summer evening outside was intensified inside the confines of this cozy bar!  
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Outside the Chapeau Rouge
Scottish Stag Party
We next moved on to an outdoor café where we met up with a large group of Scottish guys on a stag party.  While they were already well ahead of us in the drinking department, we had a lot of fun hanging out with them and spent the next several hours having fun, laughing and singing (these guys loved Neil Diamond).  Like any good Scotsman, they were really into Scotch. When I told them I didn't drink Scotch, they were a little upset, but not surprised. They bought us each a glass of their favorite Scotch (I forget the brand) and proceeded to give me a lesson on how to properly drink it.  I took a sip, followed their ritual and told them it was better than my past experiences trying the liquor. I then secretly handed off my glass to Chris:)
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With some of the Scottish stag party. Although the picture suggests otherwise, the guy on the far left was relatively sober compared to his mates.
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Some kind of Scottish drinking game involving push-ups. All of a sudden one of them yelled something that I couldn't understand and they fell to the ground and started doing push-ups.
Fairytale Prague
The next day, we checked out more of the old city, heading over to the castle district, where Prague Castle is located.  Within this castle are several interesting sites, including Prague’s largest cathedral, St. Vitus, several royal palaces and residences including a large indoor hall where jousting tournaments were held, and a small ‘city within a city’ called the Golden Lane which shows what life would have been like here centuries ago.  
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Inside St. Vitus Cathedral
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St. Vitus Cathedral
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St. Vitus Cathedral is notable for its many intricate stained glass windows
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Apparently in the old days, they used to hold jousts in this huge hall.
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One of the very old houses on the Golden Lane
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One of the shops - most of them had tiny doors
We headed back into town over the Charles Bridge, Prague's oldest and most famous bridge.
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View of the Charles Bridge
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Taking a quick break in the shade on the bridge
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About to cross back into the old city
That night, we realized we had not really sampled any typical Czech food yet, and headed out to a local restaurant near our hotel, which also brewed its own beer.  Of course we tried the beer sampler, including a variety of wheat beers and pilsners, as well as banana, cherry, coffee and nettle flavored brews. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the banana beer!  We each got a typical Czech dish to eat.   Chris ordered vepřová pečeně which was essentially pork and sauerkraut slathered with thick gravy, and I ordered svíčková na smetaně, which was essentially beef and potatoes slathered with a different type of thick gravy.  Despite their simplicity, both were very tasty!
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Typical Czech fare - this was beef with gravy and dumplings
We enjoyed a final stroll around this beautiful city, and the next day headed off to Berlin.  We really enjoyed our time in Prague.  It’s a very laid back city, with lots of young people and everyone seemed very happy.  Another great thing about Prague – and a huge recommendation if you ever visit – is the very convenient and very cheap public tram system that can get you just about anywhere you want to go throughout the city.  We used this frequently and it saved us a lot of walking, and more importantly, climbing!
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Vienna: Mozart, Klimt, and a Whole Lotta Hapsburgs

8/12/2013

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A Three-Hour Tour…
Our supposed three-hour drive from Salzburg to Vienna turned into a seven-hour ordeal. Austria decided to close down a 10km stretch of the main highway for a construction project without telling anyone.  This meant a highway totally full of travelers came to a complete standstill without warning.  We spent the next two hours sitting in our car, going nowhere.  Eventually, traffic began to creep slowly forward and after another hour or so, we made our way to an exit from which we could take back roads for the next thirty miles, before meeting back up with the main highway. 

At this point, we thought it would be smooth sailing.  Little did we know our GPS would lose its signal just when we needed it most.  We had unwisely become overly reliant on our trusty navigation system and had no backup maps.  We made it to Vienna, but had no clue how to find our hotel.  We spent about half an hour on the phone with the friendly receptionist at the hotel, trying to explain to her where we were, while she attempted to locate us on Google maps and walk us through the directions.  Between her shaky English and our awful pronunciation of the German street names, the endeavor proved unsuccessful. We were lost in the streets of Vienna.  At this point, it was around 11:30 at night.

We spent another hour driving around Vienna asking people for directions (note it's midnight at this point so there weren't many folks outside who were qualified to be giving anyone directions, which may have contributed to our plight). We were about to give up and sleep in the car when we heard a familiar British accent say At the roundabout take the second exit. Hooray! Our navigation system miraculously started working agin and we found the place in about 2 minutes. To our credit, this hotel was quite well-hidden, buried in a construction zone.

We stayed at the Zeitgeist Hotel.  Chris chose this hotel and I have a feeling it had something to do with the picture on the hotel's homepage:
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We did not end up engaging in any pillow fights, as it was too hot (read on)
Zeitgeist opened within the past year and is located near the new central train station, which is currently under construction.  The area around the hotel is being redeveloped and looks like it will be really nice 2-3 years from now.  The hotel itself was great, although the air conditioning did not work that well which made for some uncomfortable nights as the hot weather streak was still going strong.

Central Vienna
The next day we went on a bit of a self-guided walking tour of the old city.  Here are some highlights:
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On the steps of the Albertina museum.
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Chris on the terrace above the Albertina museum, looking at the statue of Franz Josef I and the beautiful old buildings in central Vienna.
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Outside the Church of the Minorities. I thought these three figures looked like they were playing & dancing to music.
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The Plague Column in the central shopping street. It was designed by many of the famous local artists of the time. They worked together to erect this monument celebrating the end of a Black Plague outbreak that had devastated the city.
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St. Stephen's Cathedral. It was massive with a very cool mosaic roof.
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Hofburg Imperial Palace - This was the seat of the Hapsburg empire for 6 centuries! Today it's the official residence of the Austrian President.
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This was above the road that went through the Hofburg Palace. It's said to be the most beautiful covered roadway in the world.
That evening we had dinner back in our neighborhood outside the city center. We went to a brew pub called Columbusbräu. Chris ordered and finished a massive set of spicy ribs, which left him quite content after a long day of sightseeing.
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Chris ate every last bite of these ribs.
Biking around Vienna
Our hotel offered us free loaner bikes, so we took advantage on our second day in town and explored some other parts of the city.

Schönbrunn Palace
This massive palace was the Hapsburg summer residence and is located about 4km outside the city center. Here we took a quick tour of the main palace and learned about famous Hapsburgs who have called it home, including their beloved Empress, Maria Theresa . She was the only female Hapsburg ruler, reigning for 40 years! She had 16 children including the ill-fated Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Their other famous and beloved Emperor, Franz Josef, lived here with his controversial wife, Sisi.  Lots of drama took place behind these walls!
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Schönbrunn Palace. We couldn't take pictures inside but we saw the great room where 7 year old Mozart played for Maria Theresa. He was so excited about playing for the Empress that he jumped on her lap, gave her a hug and kissed her neck. Luckily the Empress was quite taken with the young musical genius and rewarded him with a present.
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Schönbrunn Palace plaza
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Gardens of Schönbrunn Palace
Belvedere Castle and Museum
This castle was built by Prince Eugene of Savoy who turns out to be a very interesting historical character. Eugene was a member of the French royalty who proved a military genius.  However, he was small and had several physical deformities, including a hunchback, so was rejected for military service by King Louis XIV.  Therefore he moved to Austria where he enjoyed a hugely successful military career commanding the Hapsburg armies.  Eugene built the Belvedere as his personal residence, and was also a great patron of the arts.  

Today, Eugene is known as one of Austria's great heroes and the Belvedere is now an art museum, notable for its collection of Gustav Klimt's works. Klimt is one of Austria's most famous painters, and is also one of my favorite artists, so I was very excited about the chance to finally see his work in person. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, not only did the Belvedere have a great Klimt collection, but they also had several pieces from the Impressionism (Monet, Van Gogh, Manet to name a few),  Expressionism (lots of Egon Scheile!)  and Contemporary periods. If you are ever in Vienna, definitely visit this museum!
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The Belvedere is comprised of two buildings separated by a massive garden. Chris standing by the Upper Belvedere, looking at the Lower Belvedere. The Upper Belvedere was where Eugene entertained his guests and threw parties and the Lower Belvedere is where he actually lived.
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Upper Belvedere
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One of Klimt's most famous works - The Kiss - which we saw in the Belvedere. In person, the gold is amplified by a dimly lit room and a black background. While no one truly knows it's meaning, many suspect that it's self portrait of the artist. The woman may or may not return his affection. Notice how she i s on her knees with her head turned to the side and arms close to her chest as if resisting the man's kiss. Many believe this painting represents unrequited love. Note: This image s from Wikipedia since we weren't allowed to take photos.
St. Marx Cemetery
This cemetery is one of the most famous in Vienna and many think Mozart was buried here, among other famous Austrians throughout history. We rode by the cemetery on our way home, around dusk, and had the place to ourselves, which was a little spooky! 
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The entrance to St. Marx cemetery. Note the cross and star of David on the entrance.
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While nobody knows exactly where Mozart was buried, they suspect it is somewhere in this cemetery. They built this memorial in the center of the cemetery. The angel seems to be a little confused, as if he has misplaced Mozart.
After our three nights in Vienna, we departed the next morning for our next stop - Prague.
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Salzburg: The Hills Are Alive With A Pair of Hot Bostonians

8/9/2013

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Hot as in sweaty, thirsty, too-hot-to-move Bostonians.  When we arrived in Salzburg, temperatures had reached record highs.  It was easily over 100F, sunny, and humid.  

Upon arrival, we spent most of the daylight hours in our hotel - Motel One - a modern and (thankfully) air-conditioned hotel about a 10 minute walk from the city center.  Across the river from the hotel was a laundromat, so being much too hot to walk around the city, we decided to do our laundry.  The laundromat, not having A/C, was even hotter than the weather outside.  We threw our clothes in the wash and attempted to find a bar, or bottle of water at the very least. Nothing was open, likely due to the heat wave.  Chris, who is much more tolerant of extreme temperatures than me, went on a walk to track down some water and eventually came back with a tiny bottle which we crushed in about 5 seconds.  Twenty minutes later, our wash was done.  We bailed on the dryer and walked back with the wet clothes around our arms and neck, protecting us from the sun while cooling us off a bit.  This may have defeated the purpose of washing our clothes, but we didn't care!

That evening it cooled down just enough to make walking tolerable, so we headed into town. 
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Salzburg before sunset
Fraulein Maria Bike Tour
We love bike tours because they allow you to see a lot of the city in a short period of time and you learn a lot along the way.  The only bike tour available on our second day in Salzburg was the Fraulein Maria tour which takes you to all the famous places from the movie The Sound of Music. I'm a huge fan of musicals and this one is no exception. I love it! So I was pretty excited about the tour.  Chris, who also enjoyed the movie, was hoping for a tour with a little more historical context about the city.  Thankfully the heatwave broke and it was quiet pleasant outside.  All in all we had a great time. Our guide Steffi even looked a little bit like Liesel (the capitan's eldest daughter)! Here are some pictures from our tour:
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Our tour group. Two dudes and a bunch of ladies.
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Old fashioned car wash: This is a fountain where Salzburg's high society used to drop off their horses to be washed. I guess it's in the movie but I forget when!
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Chris waiting in near the horse washing fountain. The paintings on the wall are supposedly of really nice breeds of horses.
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The back of the Von Trapp house. This was a private residence when they filmed the movie. Now it belongs to our neighbor, Harvard University.
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They used a different house for the scenes that took place in front of the house. The house appears to be much larger in the movie due to some trick photography. It is currently used as a dormitory for classical music students. How appropriate!
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This was the plaza where they filmed one of the first Nazi scenes. They hung a giant Nazi flag over the door of this building. In real life, the people in Salzburg had no idea they were filming a movie and completely freaked out. To this day, 90% of people in Salzburg have not watched the movie and some say it's because of this incident!
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The fountain from the scene where Maria sings her solo. She had to splash water from the fountain, but was too short to reach the water. So they built her a platform just for the water splashing moment.
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Cemetery where the von Trapps hid from the Nazis
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St. Peter's Cemetery
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Stopping for a quick bit along the way. Pumpkin seed pretzel!
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If you haven't figured it out, our guide made us do silly poses at different stops along the way.
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This has nothing to do with the movie. Our guide told us that the house in the background is known as the hangman's house (hence, Chris' pose). Apparently all the kids in Salzburg are terrified of this place.
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In front of the nunnery where Maria Von Trapped lived. They used the same gates in the movie.
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Yet another pose, in front of the famous gazebo that was the setting for the love scenes in the movie. We had to pretend to dance. Everyone did a ballet move, except Chris who showed off his signature spastic moves!
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So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!
Trick Fountains
The next day we went to Hellbrunn Palace before driving to Vienna.  Hellbrunn Palace was built in the early 1600's by Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Apparently the Archbishop had too much time and money on his hands, and spent said excess time and money devising an elaborate home and gardens with hidden water fountains everywhere.  This would allow him to soak his unsuspecting guests during meals, strolls, conversations, etc.  Needless to say, we got a bit wet on this tour.
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This is where the Archbishop would soak unsuspecting dinner guests. These kids also fell for his tricks.
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This poor woman was squirted by the elk as she exited a building. At least she was prepared with a raincoat!
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Drying off outside of Hellbrunn palace.
After drying off at Hellbrunn, we began what turned out to be a painfully long journey to Vienna. Stay tuned for more!
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Days 86-88: Munich: The Fairytale Land of Beer, Lions, Lederhosen, And Surfing 

8/7/2013

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Yup, you can surf in land-locked Munich! But more on that later.  Bavaria and its main city, Munich, is the Germany of fairytales. It's surrounded by beautiful mountains and quaint villages, there are beer gardens everywhere, ladies clad in durndls sell giant pretzels out of baskets,  oompah bands play in plazas and restaurants, and men really do wear lederhosen (it's considered dressing up and many men wear them to church). If you want to see the Germany of story books then definitely pay a visit to Munich. 

We arrived in Munich in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel, the Eurostars Grand Central.  We highly recommend this hotel for a trip to Munich.  Although it is located near an office park just west of central Munich, it is right around the corner from an S-bahn stop (Munich's metro system).  This meant we could get from our hotel room to the center of Munich in 10-15 minutes. It also had one of the best free breakfasts we've experienced so far - complete with two violinists as entertainment.  The rooms were spacious, wifi was fast and the beds were really comfortable which was a nice change from the lumpy Italian beds. We could park for free on the street next to the hotel, and best of all, it was very reasonably priced for the area. 

Beer as Big as Your Head
On our first night in town, we decided we needed to check out the famous Hofbräuhaus, the huge state-owned beer hall that goes back hundreds of years.  They say that here, Oktoberfest lasts all year long.  The place was absolutely mobbed, hot and loud, but lots of fun! Interestingly, the crowd was a mix of tourists and locals, and many of the locals were clad in their best lederhosen.  We ordered a couple of plates - Sauerbraten (basically pot roast) and a bunch of sausages, and washed it all down with the obligatory giant beers.  
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The famous 1L mug. Bigger than my head. It did eventually get finished!
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Half a beer later, apple strudel.
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Oompah band at the Hofbräuhaus
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Happiness is a Bavarian with a beer and a song!
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Typical scene at the HBH. Cozying up in the 90 degree weather!
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Inside the HBH
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The huge hall on the top floor of the HBH
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Just a couple of beer maids
Biking Munich
The next day, we booked a Mike's Bike Tour at 4:30 pm.  Since the weatherman was forecasting temperatures in the upper 90's, we chose the later tour to miss the hottest part of the day.  We spent the early afternoon checking out some of the sites around the center of Munich, then met up with our tour, which brought us through some historical spots in central Munich and through the Englischer Garten, the city's main park.  Here are a few things we saw along the way:
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The White Church in Odeonsplatz. The interior of the church is completely white.
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The Feldherrnhalle in Odeonsplatz. In the background are statues of four famous Bavarians and three lions. In the foreground are seven jackasses imitating them. Chris and I were selected to play the part of Mr. & Mrs. Bavaria. Lucky us.
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A close-up of our dopplegangers. Notice the different expressions on the lions' faces. The one of the left stands with his mouth open, looking in the direction of the royal palace. The one on the right is looking in at the church with his mouth closed. Some interpret this to mean that one should always question the government but never one's church.
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Lions are everywhere in Munich. From Odeonsplatz you can see this victory arch in the distance. It depicts lady Bavaria on a chariot being pulled by four lions. So badass!
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Another lion. They say rubbing the nub of this one's shield brings good luck. In fact, people in Munich rub a lot of statues for good luck.
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The Poet's Garden behind the old palace. The park is ringed with marigold beds.
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Cooling off in one of the Poet's Garden fountains
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The Chinese pagoda in the middle of the Englischer Garten. Around the base is a massive beer garden where we stopped for an early dinner and some suds with our bike tour.
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Surfing in the park. There's a spot on the Eisbach river where water shoots out of a tunnel underneath a road and then hits a lip in the canal which creates a stationary surfing wave. Surfers take turns showing off their moves.
Check out one of the surfers in action:
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The University of Munich. Half of this building was destroyed by bombs in WWII and subsequently rebuilt. It costs less than 200 Euros per semester to attend this famous university.
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After WWII, almost all evidence of the Nazi regime was intentionally destroyed. However, small reminders are still present. For example, look closely at this door and you'll see a subtle swastika pattern. This used to be a Nazi air force building.
The next morning, we set out to see a few of the spots we had missed the day before.

White Rose Society
This was a pretty fascinating story. When the Nazis were in power, there was a secret non-violent society of brave students at the University of Munich.  Their mission was to anonymously distribute leaflets that encourage opposition to Hitler and his regime.  Some of their leaflets were smuggled into the UK, copied and then dropped all over Germany by Allied planes under the title The Manifesto of the Students of Munich. One day a gardener saw White Rose member, Sophie Scholl, dropping leaflets out a window at the university and reported her to the gestapo.  She and five more members (including her brother Hans) were arrested by the gestapo and were subsequently beheaded via guillotine.  Today, there is memorial for these brave students and they are considered among Germany's greatest heroes. 
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White Rose Society Memorial. The title means "To Remember To Commemorate".
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Similar to the Jewish custom of placing a rock on top of a loved-one's gravestone, people from all over the world place rocks on top of the memorial for those family members lost in the Holocaust. Chris places one here for his grandparents' relatives that stayed behind in Germany and perished too soon.
Marienplatz
Marienplatz is the biggest plaza in central Munich, home to many shops, outdoor markets, and the New Rathaus (City Hall).  We had a lot of fun wandering through this bustling area. 
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The "New Rathaus". Notice the Glockenspiel above Chris' head. It's a mechanical clock that performs a miniature jousting tournament several times a day.
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The outdoor markets. Germany has the most organized and beautiful food markets I've seen thus far. Everything is in perfect order and I think they might even shine the produce! You are not allowed to touch anything, and have to point out what you want to the person working the stand.
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Spice Market
One more food-related recommendation - while searching for a supermarket to buy water, we stumbled into the Galeria Gourmet in the basement of the Galeria Kaufhof near Marienplatz. This was hands down the nicest supermarket we've ever seen!

Team Tanda Tula Reunited! 
During our safari in the South African Timbavati reserve, we became friends with a really nice German couple, Thomas and Sabine.  
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Chris is standing next to Sabine and Thomas is sitting on the Jeep.
They live near Munich, so we all got together one night while we were visiting town. Thomas and Sabine picked us up at our hotel and we drove about 45 minutes to Schliersee, a lake town south of Munich near the Austrian border, where we met up with Sabine's sister Karin and her boyfriend Michael.  That evening there was a festival called Seefest, where we enjoyed traditional Bavarian food, music, games and other customs, some of which we might bring back to the States :)  We had such a great time catching up with Thomas and Sabine and meeting their family.  We can't thank them enough for their hospitality and a really fun night! 
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The crew: Michael, Chris, Karin, Thomas, Sabine
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Approaching Seefest
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Traditional Bavarian dance. Back in the old days, young men & women from different villages would meet each other dancing at festivals.
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The German game Nagelspielen. Believe it or not, there are several different games you can play with a tree stump, hammer, and nails. We plan to try this one when we get back home!
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Sunset over the lake
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Stunning!
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Fireworks show set to various AC/DC tunes. Awesome!
While our time in Munich was short, it was very memorable. This is definitely a place we plan to visit again one day.  
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    Eva has been traveling for 15+ years, including an 8 month journey around the world.  

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