back to the grind

After pulling an all nighter last night on the flight I arrived to LAX around 7pm california time. We had some issues with the landing gear which was a bit scary...we where actually about to land and they pulled back up and we had to circle around for 10 min while they tried to fix it. Then when we made our second attempt to land there was all of the fire trucks and paramedics next to our runway... I guess our front wheels where not able to turn right and left....we landed alright after a few pumps and such.

I was able to get to sleep around 10:30 and now Im at work today...currently I feel okay but I have a feeling that this afternoon might be a bit rough. I guess we will see.

This trip was a trip of a lifetime and something I will remember forever. Sad its over but i did take about 1,000 pictures that I have to go through and clean up a bit. Well, I have tons of work to do now so I should get back to the grind...

Berlin then back to the states... :(

Once we got back to berlin shane and I decided that we had to do it...against everything in our body saying it was a bad idea for multiple reasons we went to Burger King and got this grilled cheese steakhouse burger that we had seen heavily advertised throughout germany.  I guess its only in german BK’s and it had a breaded slice of cheese that was thicker than the burger smothered in grilled onions and barbeque sauce.  We split one as neither of us wanted to have a heart attack. haha it actually wasnt that bad i guess. 

After the elegant dinner we had shane took me to this really cool bar where they have old school video games set up to play.  We played super nintendo and sega genesis and had some beers.  This place was cool and could never be in the us as people would steal the games and systems or just break them.  Like I have said before much of what I have seen is people are more mellow over here and kicked back.  

Well, today I am off to check out the east side gallery and the bombed out church after getting we head to get some veggie kebabs for lunch.  Shane will need his computer for much of tonight because he has a paper to do so this will be the last post before I take off tomorrow.  Tonight we are going to keep it mellow and head to a christmas market maybe go on a ride or two and then I will go to bed early and shane will prob work til about 4 am.  I have to get up around 7 and leave by 8 tomorrow to make sure I get to the airport on time and dont miss my flight.

I have had a great trip and the 3 weeks went by way to fast but I am sooo glad that I was able to see so much and do so many fun things.  One more night then Im back to the grind on the 3rd which I am not looking forward to..haha

Prague

I am now back in berlin with shane and Prague was awesome.  It is such a cool city and has sooo much to do like many other big cities along with some good czech history.  We got into prague from Dresden Friday night and due to the fact that it was already dark we where not able to do much sight seeing but we did get there just in time for dinner.  Using the little guide book that shane brought with him we where able to find a czech restaurant after about 20 min of walking around trying to track it down.  Once we got there the food was great.  I had this beef dish smothered in a cream gravy topped in a slice of lemon and cranberries... mmmmm not to mention a few dark pilsner beers.  

After dinner we dropped Pam off at the hotel and Shane Mike and I went out to find a bar.  We walked around a bit and then ran into a group of guys from the UK who where in prague for one of their birthdays.  We where all looking for a decent bar to head to so ultimately we dropped into one.  I say dropped as almost all the bars are under ground about one level.  This particular bar was alright...very loud and smokey but still fun and it had some good scenery :).  So after hanging out with these brits I think that I may have had a bit more trouble understanding one of them than I did with the germans in berlin...haha  It was crazy how thick his accent was.  After this bar we dropped mike back at the hotel and shane and I went out to another bar to grab another beer or two.  They really do have some great beers in the czech republic.

Saturday was a busy day with tons of walking.  Our hotel had free breakfast every day which was super nice and since we had to be down there by 9:30 to get any food it forced shane and I out of bed haha.  Well, after breakfast we made our way out into the city to see some sights.  We walked over to a charles bridge which is a super cool bridge and is older than the USA.  Its actually built before columbus “discovered” america...haha.  From this bridge we could see Prague castle which was huge and on top of a giant hill.  We end up there later... After walking around a bit more and checking out some of the awesome architecture we came across the hotel that Michael Jackson dangled blanket out the window...well, I have to check youtube for confirmation but we are pretty sure.  We also got the the see the center of prague in the new town square...i forget the name but its the main square there and it has some famous history.  This is the square where jan palach burned himself in protest of the soviets soviet communism in January 1969.

After walking around and seeing the main parts of the city and kinda just getting a feel for prague we went to get some czech mex food.  I guess its their attempt to make mexican food which I insanely miss... It was good but definitely not mexican as they used kidney beans and cucumbers in the burritos and stewed tomatoes with paprika for salsa.  Odd.  After lunch we went on a proper walking tour with a guide.  Jana was cool and full of energy.  She took us all over about half the city and we ended up at the castle that was up on a hill overlooking Prague.  The gothic style cathedral that was up there was really cool looking too.   Unfortunately we where unable to go inside as we got up there in the late afternoon and it had closed to the public about 30-45 min before.  

After the walking tour we made our way back down from the castle and to our hotel for a bit of R and R/ quick nap before dinner.  For dinner this night shane found a small brewery that...well, surprise! had really good food.  I had some Pork platter that had ham, pork neck and sausage with sauerkraut and dumplings on the side.  Again, sooooo good.  Mike Shane and I all got a liter of this black beer and it was huge and taste so good we got a second round :)...well, half liters the second time cause we where so full from all the food.  The People eating next to us literally had an entire roasted goose on a huge plate set between them and they just went to town on it.  After dinner we made our way back to the hotel to drop Pam off again and we went out for some beers.  

We took Mike to the bar that Shane and I went to the night before for a few beers and then shane and I went out after that.  We made our way to a club that my cousin Erick told me about that was this odd bar that had a lounge, dance club and topless dancers... it was kinda a weird club as you turn a corner or walk down a few steps and you are in an entire different club.  The dance club section was total euro trash club style...lazers a glass ceiling where you could see the floor above you and there where creepy guys groping girls...shane and I hung out in the lounge most of the time drinking some beers.  All in all I am glad we made it to this club because it was a lot of fun and totally different than any club I have been to before. haha.

As shane and I did not get to bed until around 4 or 4:30 and woke up at 9 to get breakfast we kinda made sunday a mellow day :)  We walked around prague a bit more and tried to go to the jewish museum but the line was very long and it was kinda expensive so we just kept walking around.  We made our way back up to the square where Jan Pallach did his demonstration and at the top was the National museum which was full of fossils, stuffed animals from lions to monkeys to snakes and buffalo.  Also it had a lot of other cool things and the building itself was pretty rad. 

After the museum we wanted to still see some stuff but didnt want to walk anymore so we decided to go on a boat tour down the river.  This was cool and mellow and we got to sit down so that was nice.  We got the see the Castle from a different perspective and a few other areas that we did not get to see.  After the boat tour we made our way to another brewery and Mike and I literally split an entire duck.  Well, we are not sure it was the same duck but we each got 1/2 a duck and with sauerkraut and dumplings... It was sooo effin good and sooo much food that my stomach felt like it was about to pop.. and we had a few beers and it only cost about 17 dollars.  Kinda crazy!  We kept sunday night mellow and where in bed by around 11:30 or 12 cause Shane and I where pretty darn tired after the night before and all the walking we did on sunday.

Monday we decided to go on a walking tour again with the same tour guide as the previous free walking tour.  This time we stayed on the other side of the river and went through the old town, new town and jewish quarter.  This tour was nice because we went to parts of prague that we had not seen before and got a bit more of the history of prague.  After the walking tour Shane and I had to get over to the train station to catch our train back to berlin.