Berlin, Germany

Our adventures abroad have taken us to Germany this past weekend. Daniel only has class 4 days/week which gives us a 3-day weekend...every weekend. We took advantage of it this time and took a 5 hour train ride to BERLIN! 

While we were there we saw some crazy stuff. The top contenders which are considered to be noteworthy in our blog include German football (soccer) groupies chanting and singing through the train station on their way to game. Dan wanted to join in but he wasn't sure how to quite blend in. We saw this sign at Subway and the sign says, "Die Baby Subs..." Turns out the word "die" in German means "the." We were wondering why the Germans hated Subway so much...It was pretty funny.

Okay, so remember when Wacko Jacko, aka Michael Jackson, dangled his kid over the balcony? Well it was done at THIS hotel. Nuts... And then you have Dan posing as a communist soldier. Classic. 

We couldn't be in a famous city without seeking out a Hard Rock Cafe! Don't worry, it only took us 2 hours to get there (story for another time). We were so thrilled to find out that since Hard Rock is an American company we got FREE RE-FILLS! The 2 hour walk was well worth it. We also knew that our trip wouldn't be complete without tasting of the local cuisine. Sausage, sausage, sauerkraut and more sausage! And it...was...TASTY. For dessert, we went to Haagen-Dazs thinking it would be fitting since it's a German based company. Turns out Haagen-Dazs is from Poland. Huh, it was still yummy nonetheless. 

Brief history lesson...Germany wasn't it's own country until 1871. Until then, the city of Berlin was ran by a royal family. The pictures below were the royal families personal protestant cathedral and art museum. The buildings were absolutely stunning. Both buildings were badly bombed in WWII and have since been restored to their former glory. 

We took 2 tours on our trip, the first being a tour of a concentration camp about 30 mins north of Berlin called Sachsenhausen. The experience of visiting a once operating concentration camp was sobering, yet extremely enlightening and educational.

Here you will see a the still standing dining hall of the Nazi guards where starving prisoners were forced to serve the guards. You'll also see one of the many watch towers and the electric fence lined by barbed wire. The sign reads in English, "Work will set you free." Prisoners were told they could work their way to freedom. No prisoner was released until the camp was liberated in 1945 by the soviets. 

Below you'll see a pit in the ground where the first mass execution was performed at this particular camp. They marched hundreds of men and then opened fire until all had been killed. Shortly afterward they began using gas chambers and cremation. In our pics you can see the original foundation of the chambers as well as the crematoriums. 200,000 prisoners came through the camp. 50,000 died. Although devastating, the opportunity to learn more of the Holocaust has opened our eyes and our hearts continue to go out to the families lost in such a horrific event in history.   

Our second tour continues with WWII history. We visited the square where the book burning took place by the Nazi's. The library on the square that the books were tossed from is now a school of some sorts and is being renovated so we couldn't see the actual building. If you are wondering why we took a picture of a parking lot, it's because 50 feet below that parking lot is where Hitler's bunker was. After the war they blew up the bunker and filled it in so it would not serve as a shrine to neo-nazi's. The big cement blocks serve as a Jewish memorial in the center of Berlin which only finished construction a few years ago.

We also learned a lot about post-war Berlin. Including, check-point Charlie, Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall. Part of the wall is still standing. The wall went up in 1961 and fell in 1989. For the duration of 28 years, East Germany were prisoners in their own country. The story of the fall of the wall was so riveting, what an amazing accomplishment for the German people after years and years of oppression.  

Our trip was so much fun and very educational! It was fun to visit another country and compare/contrast to Prague. We hope to visit other countries during our stay abroad and take in all these new experiences. Hope you enjoyed our crash course history lesson! Much love.

It's beginning to look a lot like SPRING!

Well we moved into our apt Saturday night! It's pretty much what we expected except there's only one bathroom when we thought we were getting one 1/2, should be interesting sharing between four people. And we were told we were getting a washing machine and dryer. Well to the renters of Czech Republic a clothes dryer is a rack to hang your clothes to dry on. So lame. We got fooled. Meghann seems to be more upset about it than the rest of us. It's time to put her ironing skills to work!

Well Sunday we went to church again and rested up for Monday; our first full day of sight-seeing when we aren't jet-lagged or freezing! It was a beautiful 57 degrees and a perfect day for picture taking. Spring has sprung!

Here is a set of pics taken on the Charles Bridge. From the Charles Bridge you can see the Prague Castle very well! It's a gorgeous view, one of these days we hope to take a tour of the castle.

These are pictures of the Cathedral and clock tower in old town square. The clock tower was built in the 14th century! 

These are random pics of amazing buildings around Prague. The architectural detail is stunning!  

These pictures were taken on the opposite side of the river looking into old town. 

We had tons of fun strolling through the ancient streets of Prague. There is so much to see we aren't sure if we'll even see it all before it's time to pack up and head back to the States. 

Please stay tunned as Daniel and Meghann update their adventures! We miss you all very much! Much love.

Celakovice vs. The U.S

I know you all have anxiously been awaiting our many adventures while in Celakovice. Sorry to disappoint, but our adventures were very limited! Daniel was in class from 8am to 6:30pm Monday through Saturday which gave myself adequate time to evaluate just exactly what I've gotten myself into. This blog tally's the pro's and cons of a small town east of Prague, Celakovice and the U.S of A. Pull up a chair, take a seat and let the rally begin. 


My week began with a stroll to the local grocer with my ally Kylee. What was suppose to be a quick trip to gather some snacks and clean water turned out to be what I like to call, an adventure. For starters, you must pay (yes pay) to use a shopping cart. There is guard standing watch to offenders who (heaven forbid) take off with the cart they paid for, creepy. Everything was obviously in Czech, so it was quite interesting buying sandwich meat. We don't know if we are buying turkey, chicken, pork??  We think we got chicken... So as it's time for us to check out I follow in suite placing my items on the belt. It's now my turn and I pay with a CC. I'm handed a receipt (with a line on the bottom) and a pen. What would you do? Well, as a citizen of the United States, that means you SIGN it. Mistake numero uno. The cashier was wanting a tip for scanning my items and carelessly tossing them into a bin where I bag my water and mystery meat myself. Insane.

Celakovice: 0
U.S: 1

If I may direct you to the photo on the left you will see the view from our commy (communist) dorm. Although, quite the hole of a town, it was neat to be able to see the old buildings and the small town flourishing beneath us. You can't tell in the pic, but it was snowing and it was very beautiful. Also, in the lobby of where we were staying was a mini coffee/hot chocolate machine. I don't know about you, but I have NEVER seen anything like this in the states. For 10ck (roughly 50cents) a tiny cup appears out of nowhere and fills it with creamy hot chocolate. Delicious. 

Celakovice: 1

U.S: 1

On one of our (Kylee and myself) many trips into town to explore we were excited to stumble upon a video rental store! Only to find out the idea of English speaking dvd's was in fact ridiculous on our part. Perhaps English subtitles? Nope. Just Czech. Czech, Czech, Czech.

Laundry day came up sooner then I had hoped for.  After as many signs as I could muster up to communicate with the front desk lady that I wished to do laundry I was handed a key to what we were assuming was the laundry room. More like laundry closet. I opened the door to a closet with the tiniest washing machine I've ever seen in my life. And here's the real kicker...upon returning the laundry key I'm told I owe 100ck for using the facilities (yeah, what facilities) which is about $5. FIVE BUCKS to do one load of clothes.

Celakovice: 1
U.S. 2

After an entire week of naps, reading, chatting on skype and exploring (as much as we could) we heard there was a river on the backside of town with a walkway alongside. Our last day of commy camp, we took a stroll  to the river to find some friends! There were school kids feeding the ducks bread crumbs, which was way fun, when we found our furry friend the river otter, or beaver? I think it's an otter. He was walking up and down the banks waiting for bread crumbs to be tossed in his direction.  It was probably the most entertainment we had all week (wow that's sad).

Celakovice: 2
U.S: 2

Now you may think that the race came out as a close call and was a tie...well I am sorry to disappoint. I've decided to add in a few more factors. In Celakovice there are no free re-fills, everything closes after dark, no drinkable water unless bought in a bottle, they serve you steamed carrots and hot dogs for breakfast, the cleaning ladies just walk in your room with no heads up, the towns people just leave their children in strollers outside of shops unattended, dogs roam the streets with no leash and the only decent food is pizza (good thing I like pizza).

So as you have most likely gathered there is no tie, and Celakovice indeed did NOT win. Congrats U.S

Final Tally
Celakovice: 2
U.S: 114

We are moving into our apt in Prague this weekend! Hello civilization! Goodbye commy camp. This is Meghann Tracy signing off! Dobrou noc!