1000 Crown Bills

After gathering our stuff, we made our way back to the main train station of Hamburg.  We gave ourselves lots of extra time, and got to the station with about 45 minutes of time to relax. We found a bar that was serving coffee, so we grabbed a seat, had a cup of coffee, and took a few deep breaths in gratitude of not being rushed :)

 

We caught our train and had a short ride to Berlin.  Of course, since the rain has followed us our entire trip, it was raining in Berlin. We went to the ticket station and got some train tickets for the next leg of our trip.  We then searched the station and found the luggage lockers.  Both Kristin and I had medium sized bags, but there was only one locker available… since we’re both pretty stubborn and type-A, we weren’t going to let the locker beat us. We somehow managed to fit both bags into a relatively small locker.  We were ecstatic. 

We headed out into the city with just our backpacks.  We saw a few monuments, where the Berlin used to stand, and grabbed a quick lunch that is authentic to Berlin: some sort of meatball, with a side of potatoes and a salad.  It was yummy and filling before our 5-hour train ride.   

We made it back, caught our second train and found ourselves in a compartment with a few other people who didn’t seem to speak English and didn’t smile.  So we did some reading and knitting.  At the first stop all three other people left so we had the entire compartment to ourselves for the last 3 hours of the ride! We then proceeded to play our music, have some snacks, and read girly magazines. We made it to Prague at our 7 PM without any problems.

We did however realize that we had to take the metro, but only have Euros, rather than crowns, the currency in Prague.  Upon finding an ATM, and inserting my credit card I was faced with a choice to withdraw: 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, or 5000.  Neither of us had the slightest idea what the exchange rate was., so I pressed the 1000 button.  Causing us even more shock was the fact that the machine spit out a 1000 bill!! We both just started laughing because we had no clue what that meant.  Turns out that 1000 is about $50, so it worked out in the end.   

We found our third AirBnB apartment, and went to grab dinner down the street.  We enjoyed delicious salads, some Czech beer, and ice cream for dessert since for a change it was actually hot here! But because traditions can’t be broken, it did rain that night on our way back home… at least it was a warm rain!

Hamburg, Germany

On Tuesday morning I snuck out early and went on a run here in Wilhelmsburg, just outside of Hamburg.  It was a nice day, and it felt great to go running after a few days without.  I really love running in new cities; it’s a great way to see lots of the surrounding scenery.  Wilhemsburg is a cute little quiet town, that’s actually on an island.  Hamburg is the biggest port city in Germany, so there is tons of water everywhere.  Unlike San Francisco, it comes from a river rather than being on the coastline.  I ran and saw some quaint houses, lots of green fields, and even an awesome looking windmill. 

Once I got back and we were organized, we grabbed a cinnamon roll type pastry (delicious!!!) that Katinka recommended, caught the bus and then the metro into the town center.  Hamburg, unlike Amsterdam, is very industrial.  There is lots of history, but it’s much more heterogeneous than what we saw in Amsterdam… one block is full of business building and cargo boxes, and then next there are these gorgeous little town squares and 500 year old churches. 

 

City Hall

We walked down the main avenue, saw city hall, and were loving all the hidden tall ship emblems.  Some were engraved into the side of old buildings, others were gold statues at the top of polls.  Thankfully the downtown area wasn’t too expansive, so we were able to walk for most of the day (even though we did have unlimited metro passes).  We didn’t have much of an agenda and decided to make it a low-key day and just enjoy wandering and seeing what we found. 

Cool Tall Ships!

We made our way towards St. Michael’s Church and visited both the top tower and the crypts underneath the church.  The views from the top tower (after climbing 450+ stairs) was breathtaking and gave us some ideas of more places were wanted to visit.  The crypt was super cool, and we learned that lots of people were buried under the church. There was a high demand for this type of burial, and it also raised money for the church.  What we also learned was that the graves were made to be very deep so that 3-5 coffins could be stacked on top of one another to maximize the limited space.  Kinda creepy…

 

St. Michael's Church

 

After our visit, we wandered in the direction of the historic square we saw from the church tower.  It’s a square where all the houses are conserved from wher they were first built.  It was super cute and there were no tourists, which was nice.  We then kept wandering, saw part of the port, skipped the fish market (Kristin’s allergic), and found a place to eat.  Since neither of us speaks German, we usually just pick the place that has an English menu.  We quickly found out that we had picked an all-potato restaurant… every dish was made with potatoes.  We were so full after just a few rich bites we had to try to communicate to the lady that, yes the food was delicious, but that there was too much of it! She was concerned at first, but she packed it up for us to bring home.

We continued walking, window-shopped, and picked up some lettuce and veggies for dinner that night.  Katinka was great and let us use the kitchen and everything, so once we got home, we reheated our leftover pizza, made a huge green salad, and drank the bottle of champagne I was given by some of the doctors at the hospital.  I couldn’t keep it one more day in my suitcase… it was just too heavy to drag around. Only solution: drink it :) We packed up our stuff, and prepared for another day of traveling towards our next stop: Prague!

Dark Skies and Delayed Trains

We woke up Monday morning to the sound of rain hitting the windows and roofs of the nearby houses.  We really wanted to see the famous flower market, and had to return the bikes that morning.  We grudgingly got up, packed our bags, and dropped them off at the luggage lockers in the train station.  Thank goodness the apartment is only a 5-7 minute walk, because it was not pleasant in the pouring rain. 

                                                           Rainy Monday Morning

We walked back and quickly found a tourist shop where we could buy ponchos.  Super helpful in keeping some water off of us as we rode our bikes to the flower market.  We saw all the colorful flowers in the little tents that lines the canal.  There were tons of varieties and Kristin bought some tulip bulbs of her favorite type of tulips.  The rain had let up, so we rode our bikes back, returned them to the shop, and stopped for a little brunch at the nearby bakery.  The apple strudel and coffee were perfect to help us warm up and try to dry off.  

We killed the time before our train and explored some neighborhoods we hadn’t seen.  Once back at the train station, with LOTS of time to spare this time, we went to go get our Eurail passes validated.  What we didn’t know was that it would take 45 minutes to get the piece of paper stamped.  So even though we had given ourselves ample amounts of time, it again seemed like we had to fast walk to the platform.  We made our train but it needed to stay on schedule so that we could make the 4-minute connection at the next station.  We made this connection because the second train was running 10 minutes late.  Phew! I’m starting to appreciate the fact that things are never on time in Europe. 

One the next leg of our train travels, a man in a different car became really sick.  So we were delayed about 15 minutes while the paramedics evacuated him.  This was again not boding well for our next train connection, even though this time we had 18 minutes to transfer.  We arrived at the train station 20 minutes late, having been told that our train was going to wait for us (the passengers of the delayed train).  We rushed to the platform only to find out that this train was also 15 minutes late.  So all in all, late trains usually work out well because they are all late! We finally made it to Hamburg, Germany!!

Katinka, our host here, met us at the metro station and walked us back to her apartment.  She couldn’t have been nicer.  Showed us her apartment, where we could use anything we wanted, offered us a beer after our long day of travel, and helped us order a pizza to be delivered since we hadn’t eaten dinner.  She’s a second grade teacher, and we sat outside and talked for an hour as the sun set.  It was great to be welcomed so warmly after a long day of chaos.  

 Our room in Amsterdam

Bikes, Beer, and American Hotdogs

On Sunday morning we woke up to sunshine! Such a nice change from the rainy weather in Paris.  We walked down the street to go rent a bike.  The sign on the door indicated they opened at 9AM… it was 9:30, so we decided to grab some breakfast and waited for the city to wake up.  Upon a friend’s recommendation, we tried Dutch pancakes. It was somewhere between a US pancake and a crepe… kinda flat and really rich.  It was served with syrup too, but it tasted like molasses. It was pretty yummy! Then we walked back to the bike rental shop, which was now open.  We tried to find a rental shop that had helmets, but without success.  One employee actually laughed in our faces… needless to say we didn’t find helmets. 

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

We hopped on our bikes and cautiously headed out around Amsterdam.  There are actually about two times more bikes in Amsterdam than cars:  550,00 bikes to be exact.  So at least the cars are used to having bike around.  Check out these bike parking garages that are located around the city.  To me, it seems like it would be impossible to find your bike in the midst of thousands of others.  But John told us that bike in the Netherlands is a religion.  Usually the Dutch buy a bike when they are teenagers and young adults, and keep this bike for the rest of their life.  This answered the question that Kristin and I had been asking all day: Why are there so many old, rusted bikes? It’s because it’s a tradition and a keepsake, something sentimental that has been with one person for their whole life. 

We rode over towards the museum district, locked up our bikes, and walked around enjoying the beautiful neighborhoods, canals, and sunshine.  We eventually found the Van Gogh museum and enjoyed some great Van Gogh pieces.  We looked around at some of the temporary exhibits before heading back outside to walk around.  After the museum we were beginning to get hungry when we walked past a hotdog stand.  The sign actually said “American Hot Dogs”.  It smelled so good, both Kristin and I looked at each other and we knew what we wanted for lunch.  So yes, we did buy American hotdogs in Europe, and they were delicious. They had some fun toppings like sauerkraut and fried onions.  The man selling them was super nice and laughed with us as we ordered :)

Enjoying being American in Europe

The day before we had seen in our Amsterdam book that the Heineken brewery was located in the city, and we knew we’d have to go visit.  We made our way over there after lunch and had a blast.  Parts of the brewery were museum style where we learned about the history of the company, and other parts were more interactive where we learned about beer’s different ingredients and the brewing process. 

Heineken!

 

We did some sampling and at the end we received a nice extra cold glass of Heineken.  It was much different than my tours of the champagne caves…. This was geared towards a much younger crowded, and was much more “hip”.   

 

Afterwards we picked up our bikes (don’t worry, we walked around a bit to let the alcohol wear off), and rode over to the Jordaan neighborhood. This is where Anne Frank’s hiding place during the WWII is located.  We took a tour of the building, which has been very well preserved and re-furnished to look exactly as it was.  The stories, videos, and the fact that we were in the same building that she was truly was a touching experience.   We were able to walk through her bedroom, she the posters and pictures she had posted on her wall, and see some of her original journals.  We also saw videos from her childhood friends, a woman who worked to keep them hidden, and her father who survived the concentration camps. 

After this tour we took some time to wander the stunning neighborhoods.  We checked out the houseboats floating on the canal, the funky architecture.  Many of the buildings are crooked and leaning because over the course of 400-500 years, the ground has shifted.  We also window shopped a little bit and found the tulip museum, and also a cheese museum! They had lots of samples of delicious cheeses, and I even found a pesto cheese.  It was lots of fun. 

In the evening we went back to our apartment, relaxed for a bit and changed, and then went out to dinner.  John, the owner of the apartment came with us, and we ate out on a pretty town square.  He headed home since he had work in the morning, and Kristin and I went to a nearby bar where we watch the Eurocup 2012 soccer game. It was Holland vs. Portugal.  Sadly Holland lost 2-1, but it was still a fun environment to be in.  We also met some super nice girls from England who were doing a trip similar to ours.  They were planning to go to a show in the red light district, and Kristin and I decided to opt out of that one! We were happy to be back at the apartment later that evening after a long day of sightseeing.  

Here are a few extra pictures from the day:

Paris 2.0: Day Two

On our second day in Paris we woke up (both a bit sore from the awful mattress) and left for another day of adventures.  We had a train to catch that afternoon to Amsterdam, so we had to decide what we really wanted to do with our day.  In the morning we went to see the Opera House of Paris.  Even though it was raining lightly, we made the most of it and enjoyed seeing the beautiful building and the fun neighborhood surrounding it.   

 

Kristin and I in front of the beautiful Opera House

The rain was picking up, so we went to the Musée d’Orsay to take shelter and see some more art.  We saw lots of impressionism, a few Van Gogh’s, and great sculptures.  I always love the setting of the museum the most.  The museum used to be a train station located in the heart of the city.  It was eventually converted, but the architecture and some elements, like the large clock, remain to remind visitors of its history.  

 

For the last outing of the day, we took the metro towards the Mosque of Paris.  I loved it so much on my last trip and figured that Kristin would enjoy visiting it.  The tiles, colors, and atmosphere are impressive.  It has such a calm and serene feel to it.  We then walked over to the tea garden and enjoyed some sweetened mint tea.  It was great since the weather was still a bit on the chilly side.   

 The tiles of the mosque

On our way out of the neighborhood, we stopped by a pattiserie.  Kristin had only had croissants at breakfast, and I couldn't let her leave France without getting to pick one yummy baked good.  We thought that since we had a 5 hours train ride ahead of us, it would make a great snack.  Kristin picked a lemon tart, and I had my favorite chausson aux pommes (filled with apples). 

We headed back to the hotel, grabbed out suitcases, and were off to the train station.  Despite technical difficulties, we managed to get on the train with about ONE MINUTE to spare.  We sat down to the announcement that our train was delayed fifteen minutes.  So maybe the slight panic attacks were maybe not completely necessary, but moral of the story is we made onto the TGV. 

An awesome Haussmann building

The TGV ride was enjoyable after we decided to move out of our assigned seats into a small, empty cabin area.  We weren’t going to put up with the screaming children and their unintersted parents for three hours.  We relaxed, watched the countryside, did some reading and napping until arriving in Amsterdam!

 Country side of the Belgium!

 Welcome to the Netherlands!

 Nap after a long day

 During most of our 10 day trip we are staying at people’s apartments in different cities.  They usually have an extra bed or bedroom and their places are well located and less expensive than hotels.  In Amsterdam, we stayed with John.  He was a super nice Frenchman who had been living in Amsterdam for a year now.  His apartment was a five-minute walk from the train station and really close to basically everything else.  That night he came and met us and showed us the apartment.  The stairs were really something to see, and getting our big suitcases up was even more intimidating!! 

We had a nice dinner at an Argentinean restaurant close by.  Tons of people were out and about, and it didn’t even get dark until about 10:30-11PM.  We slept super well on the comfortable bed!

Paris 2.0: Day One

On Friday I woke up early, and loaded my bags into the car… in the pouring rain.  I was hoping that it would be clearing soon so that Kristin and I would have a nice day in Paris.  I hopped on the TGV and was at Charles de Gaulle airport in a quick 35 minutes.  Of course, I had to walk across the entire (or so it seemed) airport to get to Kristin’s terminal.  We found each other quite easily, thank goodness.  We walked back across the entire airport to where we could catch the RER into Paris center.  Of course the dumb French machines only took coins, and we didn’t have nearly enough in order to buy our two tickets, totaling up to €18! After attempting to pay with three different credit cards, the fourth one finally worked! We were on our way into Paris!

Our map of Paris (after day 2)... thought you might enjoy this Dad!

Once we got to the metro and transferred to the appropriate line, we made it to our hotel.  We quickly dropped off our bags and took the metro over to the right bank.  We did lots of walking around, seeing the neighborhoods and I showed Kristin lots of the cool parts of Paris.  We walked around Notre Dame Cathedral, we found a bridge of love where the fence is completely covered in locks, put on by couples.  The tradition also includes throwing the key into the Seine below.  We had nice salads for lunch (Parisien for me, and warm goat cheese for Kristin) , stopped by the Louvre where Kristin saw her favorite painting (The Astronomer, by Vermeer), and then over to Ile St. Louis for a drink at our favorite Brasserie.  I bought Mme. Bertillon’s famous ice cream… I tried the coconut flavor, and we both approved. 

Kristin and Vermeer

To kill some time before dinner, we took the metro over to the Arc de Triomphe.  There was a ceremony that occurs daily.  It’s when the flame under the Arc is extinguished.  There drummers, and veterans, along with school children who all took part in the ceremony. 

 

Arc de Triomphe

We walked down the Champs Elysées and made it to Bistro Henri.  I wanted Kristin to experience true French cuisine while in Paris.  She had pork tenderloin and I, of course, ordered the honeyed duck :) We briefly stopped by the Eiffel Tower but decided we were both too tired to climb to the top.  It had been cloudy and sprinkling on and off all day, and we decided we wouldn’t see too much from the top anyways. 

The Bridge of Love

Back at our hotel we settled in after a long day.  The only disappointment of the day was discovering that our “mattress” wasn’t a mattress: it was a brick wall.  I think it was one of the fake mattresses they use in big stores to showcase duvets etc…. but it was for one night, and we survived!

Last Days in Reims

My last week at the hospital went very well.  I spent time in both pediatrics and psychiatry.  I was super excited to go to pediatrics because it's one of the fields that I've been thinking about.  I'm not at all sure what kind of doctor I want to be, but pediatrics may be an option.  Being in that unit was super interesting.  I also really enjoyed psychiatry.  I had never been in that sort of environment, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  But I managed, even though the doctor through me some challenges (ie. here, do an exam on this patient... yeah, never done that before, totally freaked me out!) But overall it was a new experience that I learn lots from.

On my last day I went to say goodbye to the cardiologists per their request and they surprised me with a pair of the hospital scrubs and a bottle of champagne. I had mentioned how comfy I found the scrubs (what they call pajamas)... so they were kind enough to give me a pair :)

That night the Durlach’s and I went out to dinner at a fun restaurant in Reims.  I ordered something that sounded really good, and then twenty minutes later found out it was raw meat!! But it’s okay, I survived and it wasn’t too horrible! That night back home I packed up my bags and got ready for the next morning.  Here are some pictures of me with my host family, the Durlachs.

 

Left to right: Camille, Vincent, Anne, Abby (Olivier not pictured)

Me on the porch of their house (beautiful view) and Channel, the cat