Ice cream story

I thought I would share another story from my time with the Minnemas. After nearly a full day seeing sights in Groningen, Ankie and I decided get groceries and head home. We picked out some ice cream to eat after dinner. One flavor she said her, Sanne, and Wiebe would like and the flavor I picked she said Henk would like as well. After dinner we all enjoyed some ice cream. When we were done and the ice cream was back in the freezer, Ankie said, "You know where the ice cream is, you can help yourself if you'd like." I said okay and I kept that in mind.

The next night after dinner, Ankie asked Sanne to get the ice cream out of the freezer. Worried that I had helped myself too much and too unexpectedly, I said, "Uh, do you mean the same ice cream we had last night?" Knowing by my tone what that meant Ankie replied, "Oh, you finished it!" And laughed and laughed.

Then she told Sanne to get the other flavor. At this moment I was thinking, how do I tell them I finished more than just the one flavor and all I could think to do was to interrupt Sanne getting the other flavor by saying, "Ummm..." Now Ankie realized I had finished all the ice cream and everybody laughed, but I felt kinda bad. So... the Minnema family found out my weakness for ice cream.

Berlin

Sadly, I lost a few pictures from Berlin. I went to the German history museum and took lots of pictures because they were allowed. Also, an addition and part of the renovation was done by I.M. Pei, so I was happy to photograph the addition. However, now that I lost the pictures I wish I bought a postcard.

Well, from my first day in Berlin I still have pictures. I walked to the Reichstag building. This is the building that houses the parliament of Germany, the Bundestag. At the top is the large glass dome, which symbolizes that the German people can now look in on their leaders.

I don't know if it was just that food was on my mind or what, but the inside vortex type pillar of the dome had a funny similarity to the dönner kebab. I took a picture of the meat at one kebab stand, but I am going to use one picture from wikipedia to show you.

Here are more pictures from Berlin:


The Brandenburg Gate:


The dome of the Reichstag building:


A memorial to 96 members of the Reichstag killed by Nazis:

Prague (Praha)

Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and over the last few years its popularity in Europe has grown exponentially. Many travelers I have met along the way raved about Prague ever since I was in Dublin. It is geographically in the center of the Europe now, since recently a few more countries joined the European Union. The currency of the Czech Republic is the Koruna and it is approximately 1/15th of the U.S. dollar. I read and heard that Prague was very inexpensive so I didn't try to calculate how much I was spending, I just paid without any worry. Although, it was a bit strange getting 4000 or so out of the ATM and spending half of it very quickly.

Prague is well-known for its architecture spanning medieval times and baroque. There are many baroque churches that hold classical concerts in them daily. Since I passed on paying for a concert in Vienna and Prague is known for inexpensive concerts, I treated myself to two. :)

I stayed in a hostel right near the old town square. The old town square was very lively and there were so many people from all over. Prague is filled with cobblestone roads leading all over the city, many bridges, and many historical buildings. This makes the city a very pleasant host to people from all over the world.

The Tyn Church is right by the hostel I stayed in. Someone I met on the train recommended the hostel and gave me their card that had a small drawing of the Tyn Church on it. When I got off the train, I walked outside and looked at the skyline of Prague. I was on the west side of the Vltava river and saw to my right, across the river, a church with two towers that resembled the drawing on the card. After walking to this church and finding no hostel in sight, I decided to look at my map. After much walking and looking at signs found out I was way off of the map. It was this long walk when I decided I would make a bad tour-guide. Now you have the whole story. :)

Vltava River and not Tyn Church in the background:


Tyn Church, not visible, but behind there on the left... I think. :P Although, I had no idea at the time.


Not Tyn Church


Tyn Church!


St. Nicolas Cathedral - Where I went to church that Sunday


Ominous clouds with statue


Tyn Church again with big screen televisions at the bottom for the futball game that night.

Some pictures

I am a little behind on updating, but I have a few pictures to share with you.



A meal in Germany
A meal in Austria

A meal in Poland

Warsaw, Żelazowa Wola, & the heart of Chopin

Coming from Prague, which seems to be the most popular city in Europe recently, I arrived happily in Warsaw despite another backpackers' warning that "Warsaw wasn't very fun." Since the main Chopin museum in Warsaw is under renovation for the next couple of years, I did the next best thing and visited an old apartment that he used to live in.

The apartment was in a building occupied by art classes of the local university. I had to pass through rooms and hallways full of paintings to find Chopin's small apartment on the top floor in far corner. The room was rather empty, except for an elegant grand piano and a modest set of table and chairs. I think I awoke the lady on duty when I entered the room. I asked if I could take photographs and sadly, she said they were not allowed. She was seated next to a cd player so I asked if it was Chopin music. She happily turned it on for me and I enjoyed the music while I looked at every detail the room had to offer. I had rushed over to see the apartment because it closed to the public at 2; seeing now that it was barely past noon I decided I would take as long as I could. After reading the descriptions on every painting and examining them as closely as I could, I decided to sit down and listen to the Chopin music from the cd player. I found myself very relaxed, but decided it may be best if I was on my way.

The next stop was the Church of the Holy Cross. Chopin requested that after his death he wanted his heart to be removed from his body because he had a fear of being buried alive. His requests were carried out, and his sister took his heart in an urn where it was sealed in a pillar in the church. An inscription on a plaque inside the church has the verse from Matthew 6 v. 21: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

After that, I went out to Żelazowa Wola, the birthplace of Chopin. I barely made it in time. I had to take the train and then a bus and then I ran as soon as I got off the bus. I toured the house, I was the last one they let in. It was a very cozy house, and I learned that Chopin concerts are held there in the summer twice every Sunday. The gift shop just outside the house closed after I was done touring the house. I really wanted to buy a Chopin post card or two, but oh well. So, I took some pictures through the windows.

How do they compare? I'd say I'm a little tanner.

The final thing for the day was to see a Chopin monument in a park. This is another place where you can hear Chopin concerts on Sundays. I happened to stumble upon another monument of composer I like, Ignacy Jan Paderewski. If you know me, you must recognize Paderewski's Minuet in G because it has been overplayed by me for the past 5... no, 8 years. Wow, I am getting old. Anyway, I enjoyed Warsaw. I would love to go back in two years when they have the Chopin Contest and it will be Chopin's 200th birthday.

Tour guide

This morning I arrived in Prague by a night train I took from Krakow. I accidentally took the train one station (or two) too far. As I was walking across the far parts of the city I was thinking about the scenario of me as a tour guide and it seemed funny enough to me that I thought I would share it.

If I started my own tour company it would be a little like Kramer's Peterman Reality Bus Tour. In case you aren't familiar with the television sitcom Seinfeld (probably the only show I enjoy watching), or the episode about which I am talking about I will summarize it a little. Parts of Kramer's life story are used for someone else's biography. He starts up a tour showing and partaking in mundane events of his everyday life. I was thinking I would probably be a similar tour guide and was imagining some of the complaints people might have. By the way, I often have imaginary conversations in my head. I once told my brother (this was not imagined) that I have more conversations with people I know in my head than I do in real life. Anyway, I have prefaced enough... (I may delete this post if I think later it is too strange)

Tourists: "Shouldn't we take the bus to get downtown like all the other backpackers are doing?"

Me: "No! Inner-city public transportation is a scam!"

Tourists: "Are we gonna eat anything besides kebabs and ice cream?"

Me: "No! Well... maybe some fruit."

Tourists: "Shouldn't we get a map?"

Me: "No! Lol."

More explanation: recently, I have been giving into every food craving instead of eating actual meals. I do not think it has affected the way I spend money at all, so I am happy to eat on the go and at whatever pace I choose. I really like kebabs, they are something I could see my dad making. I will try to remember to take a picture of one sometime soon. Also, ice cream is one of my biggest weaknesses, even in the states. Over here they have ice cream stands all over. I have been eating a lot of ice cream lately. When my conscious gets to me about my eating habits, I eat some fruit. And the last explanation, I enjoy getting lost.

Auschwitz

The sign is the entrance to Auschwitz and it translates to: "Work makes [you] free."

I knew this wasn't going to be an easy part of the trip, but I wanted to see Auschwitz to better understand what horrid things went on in such recent times. When I was younger, learning history never really had an impact on me. I don't know how that changed, but over the last few years everything in history seems unusually more recent than it ever did before. I guess my perspective has changed. As a product of today's communicative world, where everyone goes anywhere with a cell phone and internet is everywhere, it is hard to fathom that such a thing as Auschwitz could go on for years without the world knowing. It is scary and it is so very recent.

I think going through Auschwitz alone intensified the experience for me. There were tour groups that breezed through Auschwitz, but I took nearly 7 hours going through it all. There are many things that were disturbing in Auschwitz, the pictures of the starved, the horrible stories of the merciless nazis, the gas-chambers, the crematoriums, but one of the things that got me most was seeing a huge room full of shoes. There were tens of thousands of shoes, little kid's shoes, too. The rest of the place was just as sad. During the train ride home I still had every image fresh in my mind. Near the opening of the museum there was a sign that read, "Forgive, but never forget."