HEY. 

It’s the future. Or right now. Depending on whether you read the last seven blog posts. If you didn’t. You …didn’t miss much. If you read them…you will get the joke. 

If you don’t understand what’s happening, join the club. 

HELLO MY PEOPLE. 

I missed you. I hope you are well and happy and sappy and most definitely not crappy. 

We are in the home stretch! I officially have three weeks to go. I am disappointed/tired/emotional/sad/happy/contemplative/thoughtful. 

But mostly I am ready. 

Ready for tomorrow and the day after that. Ready to make the most out of the next three weeks. Ready to embrace the adventure that will come after this trip. 

Today I am in Rotterdam. I was also in The Hague. Saturday I will be in London. 

Today we woke up early because we needed to get on the computers at the hostel to order our ferry (to London) tickets. Note to future travelers: book all travel in advance. Much cheaper. 

After we secured the tickets we hopped on the train to The Hague. We arrived, and immediately tried to find pancakes. THERE WERE NO PANCAKES. So many imaginary tears were shed. We walked through Chinatown to the Binnenhof (the Parliament building). I had read there were tours, but after finding many doors and lots of security, we found no such tours. The courtyard was lovely though. 

As a side note, Al and I get asked at least once a city to take someone’s picture. We are like the old version of the selfie stick. My personal favorite was the family of about fifteen on the Charles Bridge in Prague. They could not stay still, or stop talking long enough to take the picture! 

We left Parliament and headed North to the a miniature museum. The Madurodam is a full replica of Holland. Upon arrival we discovered tickets were WAY more expensive than we thought and we turned right around. 

Hungry and tired of walking we found a cute restaurant near the Escher museum. I had the most delicious Parmesan and mushroom risotto. It also had “rocket salad” which turns out is arugula. Al and I had quite the chuckle over that. 

The Escher museum was fantastic. It detailed his work process and had not just his work but artists he inspired. The third floor had interactive exhibits which taught you about Escher’s themes first hand. The three things his art reflects most heavily are infinity, eternity, and nature. He used mirrors to change the perspective which led to a change in the sight line and the observers focus. Unlike many of his collegues he would have the buildings being looked down upon (birds eye view) or up at (frogs view). 

After the Escher museum I realized I had lost my headband. We retraced our steps but to no avail. I’m genuinely really disappointed. That headband was like my security blanket. Actually that may be a bit extreme. I did really like it. Hmm.

On our way back to the train station we discovered Primark. Think super low prices like Walmart but quality like Target. I bought a super comfy zipped sweatshirt for 4€! 

We came back to Rotterdam and after killing some time we had dinner at the hostel. Goulash just like Mom makes it. So hearty and delicious. 

We are currently in a 14 person room. Yesterday night it was half empty. Tonight we had a squad of Italians move in. Maybe in the late teens to early twenties. I kid you not when we walked in they were playing music and rapping. In Italian. It was interesting to say the least. 

Tomorrow we are going on a harbor tour and exploring the cities architecture. We are also meeting a friend of my Opa’s for dinner! So excited to meet him! 

I promise I will be better at writing for the rest of the trip. 🙂

hi! 

I am SUPER behind. To save myself the stress and anxiety of trying to catch up to the present I am going to write these previous posts when I can. See you in the future! 

hi! 

I am SUPER behind. To save myself the stress and anxiety of trying to catch up to the present I am going to write these previous posts when I can. See you in the future! 

hi! 

I am SUPER behind. To save myself the stress and anxiety of trying to catch up to the present I am going to write these previous posts when I can. See you in the future! 

hi! 

I am SUPER behind. To save myself the stress and anxiety of trying to catch up to the present I am going to write these previous posts when I can. See you in the future! 

hi! 

I am SUPER behind. To save myself the stress and anxiety of trying to catch up to the present I am going to write these previous posts when I can. See you in the future! 

hi! 

I am SUPER behind. To save myself the stress and anxiety of trying to catch up to the present I am going to write these previous posts when I can. See you in the future! 

hi! 

I am SUPER behind. To save myself the stress and anxiety of trying to catch up to the present I am going to write these previous posts when I can. See you in the future! 

Happy Sunday! I know I am waaayy behind in blogging. I’m actually two whole cities behind. Oops. Here’s what you missed: 

Berlin is an interesting city and actually the first city in Europe I have not enjoyed. The city is too big and chaotic. It also feels like an American city because everything is so new. 

Our hostel had a cheap breakfast which we took advantage of and loaded up on carbs and fruit cocktail (a favorite of the hostel managers apparently). We took public transportation downtown and stumbled upon a…Dunkin Donuts! While it is no Tim Hortons it satisfied the craving for donuts. 

Another reason I didn’t find Berlin all that welcoming was the lack of banks anywhere. Alison and I were constantly on the lookout and although we thought we spotted one, when we went back to find it ithad disappeared. We finally asked our tour guide who guided (heh) us in the right direction. He said his theory on the lack of banks is that the German government wants its citizens to be fiscally responsible and therefore don’t give them a lot of opportunity to access money. He was British so he may have been full of bologna. 

While searching for a bank we found the U.S. Embassy, and the French, British, and Czech Republic (which looked like a space ship). All of which were near each other. 

We did another free tour and learned a lot about how the city has been basically rebuilt since WWII and continues to change. Leen, our guide, said she had heard a Berliner say that Berlin is the city that is always building and never built. Which seems to be true. There was construction in nearly every part of the city we visited. 

Although the wall dividing the city is no longer erected there is a line of bricks in the road that demonstrates where it would have been. It is interesting to think about how a city so devestated from a World War would then immediately be forced into another change with no opportunity for recovery. 

As with all things, there are two sides to every story and I truly feel like the guides in Berlin told the story fairly and accurately. As I said in a post on Facebook, history must be present for the future. Monuments and memorials are a good first step in teaching and reminding us all about the perils of hate and discrimination. 

In the afternoon we went on an Alternative street art your which was really interesting. I learned about the culture of street art and how Berlin embraces (or despises) the scene. Leen spoke a lot about the gentrification that is happening in West Berlin. 

We met a girl from California and enjoyed trading travel tips for the remainder of the tour. Thanks Liz! 

We had burgers for dinner and went to bed early (that was a lot of walking!). 

Tomorrow is another tour and Musuem Island! 

hey hey. 

We had another breakfast at the hostel! Yay. Actually not that interesting. What was interesting was the people outside the restaurant. These big groups of kids age 5-10 were walking in lines (Matila style) with their teachers. When they got to the windows we became fish in a fishbowl and the kids would wave and make faces. Quite a funny way to start the day. 

We took the metro to Museum island. Berlin in a moment of great wisdom said,”why not put all the Musuems in one place. #efficientanduniform” I’m not sure they used a hashtag, but I think they would appreciate it nonetheless. I believe there are six museums in the island, but having a limited time we chose The Alte Nationalgalerie. Some of my favorites were: 

Louis Corinth – The Blinded Sampson

Giovanni Segantini – Returning Home

Max Liebermann – Flax Barn In Laren

Victor Müller – Snow White

And literally everything Caspar David Friedrich.

 He’s an amazing landscape artist. I will talk about him some more in Hamburg. 

(The pictures won’t load right now so I encourage you to google them. It’s worth it. Promise.)

For lunch I had a hot dog and Al tried curry wurst. Yes. It is that spicy. 

We did another tour focused on the Third Reich in the afternoon. The guide was a teacher from England who enjoyed history so much he just moved to be near it. I think if Alison could she would too. 

We ended the day in the museum part of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is without a doubt the most powerful and emotional place we have visited. Dachau was almost unreal because it was difficult to comprehend the amount of people who were held there. The Memorial in Berlin aims to take the incomprehensible number of six million and focuses on a much smaller number. As you walk the rooms you are presented with first hand accounts of people being led to their death. Sometimes they hid their notes in walls, they would throw them out the window of whatever was transporting them, andin one case a postcard was found and forwarded on to the intended recipient. The sheer desperation and confusion in their words absolutely breaks your heart. 

When we walked out of the museum Alison and I were deep in thought and I had a hard time shifting back into present day Berlin. 

For me, the memorial did its job. 

It reminded me to appreciate everyday and everything I care about. It inspired me to fight injustices and spread tolerance. It taught me to believe, to persevere, and to fight for the dream of peace. Start small. As we say in Alternative Breaks. Take the step. Make the difference. 

I needed the reminder.