Köln Time

Work was very productive Friday (24 Aug) as we only have a handful of days left of work, so I was feeling the pressure to get my last project done so I can start on a presentation I have to give to upper management about what I've been working on these past few months in Germany. But with a little miracle, I was able to finish my project in time for me to catch the train to the central station so I could head off into the sunset to Köln to spend the weekend with Marijn & Lukas. I know we just hung out in the Netherlands, but let me just say, I love these guys. There is so much love and sillyness between us, and they always take care of me, so I never have to worry about a thing.

Anyways. I got to Köln a little late due to the train...plus, I wasn't able to do any work as I was planning, because when I had my computer out on the train, my mind was blank. So i just listened to my iPod till I got there. As soon as I got off the train, my first thought was "dang, we didn't decided where we were going to meet", so I started walking and luckily I looked down the stairs and saw them immediately. YAY! It took us a while to get out because somebody was having problems figuring out where the exit was and ignoring where the crowd was going. lolz.

Lukas, me, and Marijn. How can you not love them with faces like these?

Marijn got to Köln earlier that day but we all me up so Lukas could take us home. He had prepared dinner for us, but kicked me & Marijn out of the kitchen to finish cooking so it would be a surprise. It was! It was soooo good. He made yummy food, and even though it wasn't a bake, it was great :) We cleaned up, and i must say, Lukas has a sweet flat. it's very nicely decorate. They decided to tell me that Marijn didn't want to do anything super touristy on Saturday since he's already been to Köln, so they decided we should go to the zoo. I love the zoo. and I love the fact that Lukas found a theme song for our  trip to the zoo!

So we relaxed for a bit before going out for the night. It was so fun to be able to speak in Spanglish again. (spanglish is my favorite language!)There were a couple of places to go and when they asked where i wanted to go, my response was "ME-XI-COOOO!!!!" So we went to a Mexican place as it started to lightly drizzle. We sat under a tree only to decide to move under the patio, which was a brilliant idea. Because shortly after, it started to POUR and become super windy. It was there that I learned "Sour Makes Funny" as Germans say. because I had a very bitter lime drink. after all the rain subsided, we went to a Russian place, where I got a nice nonalcoholic cocktail called...THE COMMUNIST YOUTH!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! As much as I'm not a big fan of communism, the name is wicked brilliant! We stayed out until I started to get super ridiculous from being so tired and almost falling asleep.

So this is a sign at the zoo. Is it just me,
or do you see this and think that a big bird
is going to steal  baby?

Saturday morning started off beautifully to a impromptu dance party thanks to a forever classic S Club 7 song I always had stuck in my head back in Spain, Bring it All Back. It was awesome! Lukas made us a yummy late breakfast and we went off for the day. We went up the KölnTriangle Observation deck for a beautiful 360-degree view of the city, without having to climb tons of stairs. (elevators are a blessing). We then walked across Hohenzollernbrücke railway bridge, where people put locks on the bridge as symbols of love. It's a beautiful site :) And we even found that someone put one up for me and lukas. and marijn found out that his girlfriend has cheated on him twice ;) lolz. We then headed to the zoo and loved seeing all the animals and i loved that they have a raccoon in the Köln Zoo. A RACCOON! Brilliant! Also, we found out that an hour and a half before we got to the zoo, a tiger had killed a zoo worker and had was shot during it's daring escape. What are the odds? We had a lovely day at the zoo and went to a brewery so we could try some raw meat. Mettbrötchen; it's a German thing where you eat raw meat on bread. It didn't kill me. YAY! Then we got Marijn fed with a kebab while we sat along the Rhine River, people watching and singing songs. Then we had to say goodbye. It was soooooo sad. Hopefully it won't be another 3 years before we get to hang out. I'm already trying promising him super cool things when he comes to visit in Texas, like BBQ! Yum Yum. As we said goodbye to him at the train station, Lukas and I stayed till it left and made funny signals through the windows. we waved handkerchiefs in farewell and the train pulled out and we declared our love for Marijn in the most dramatic way possible :) Then the real party began. JUST KIDDING! We went down the shopping street, and in one store the new Adidas type store, there was a cardigan and i was saying it was for girls and lukas thought it was for boys and we were arguing until a worker informed us it was for boys. i pity the boy that is seen in that cardigan. We went to a resturant next to St. Anton's church called...Stanton. haha. it's combined! get it? it was nice until I was so full I couldnt eat anymore. Lukas told me I had to finish all my plate or there would be bad weather the next day. I didn't believe in his superstition. (btw. it rained and was super windy the next day, aka, sunday). We went to a beach bar on top of the roof of a parking garage afterwards, where there was a gorgeous view of the city at night. I loved it. and the Cologne Cathedral looked wonderful. It was cold though, so we walked a bit before heading in for the night.

 Sunday morning was another great breakfast after sleeping in much later. I also got to look at the pictures to the book of the most random facts about Köln. It explained why there is a giant upside-down ice cream cone on the top of a random building, and explained about the statue of a man poo-ing on the side of a building 4 stories high. It was pretty epic. So we took of to do all the sightseeing we weren't allowed to do with Marijn. We had a jolly-good day as we were singing throughout the day and enjoying ourselves. One thing I discovered was people are just very chatty with Lukas. We would be at a site, and just randomly start talking to Lukas. Por ejemplo, at the Tünnes and Schäl statues, we were taking a pic and then some random couple started talking to us and led us to a Carnival memorial. Then we were looking at a flood memorial and some guy started telling us about how Neil Armstrong died. Sad. Except Lukas is so clever, he found out this morning. We went to the Köln Cathedral, but there was a service going on then and throughout the afternoon.
We went to a great pastry place for a snack and it was sooo pretty! And the guy behind the counter spoke spanish, so I could understand him and chat with him. There was a point during our pastry time that he asked me in Spanish if everything was alright and I responded in german. haha. then i realized what i did and responded in Spanish. We then wandered to see the Circus in the Park, but i guess because of the weather, it was cancelled. it was pretty windy. So we played on the bench swing for a bit and then went on a walk in the park where there was a tall stump that had been cut. Lukas joked that I should climb in and then made me do it! I had to literally climb on his shoulders. I was so scared I would be blown off and it only got worse as Lukas climbed up too. So we were about 8 feet in the air on a tree stump with about a 1-foot diameter. I don't know how we fit. I thought I was going to fall off. Lukas helped me down, and i'm pretty sure it took about 5 minutes after for my heart rate to get back to normal. We walked to the Kölner Seilbahn (Cable Car for Cologne), which is the safest mode of transportation in Köln. And went over the Rhine River and down to the Rheinpark to see the pacifier tree, where people put a baby's pacifier on there when the child is done with it. It was kinda awesome. Our time was coming to a close, and we went to get my luggage and Lukas and Lukas lost it as we were eating. It was good we weren't in an airport where my left luggage would have been destroyed. Luckily, it was all good. Some guy at the train station thought we were lost and offered to help until he realized that Lukas was German. Lolz. The cars of the train were confuzzled, so I was nervous I wouldn't find my spot, but I sat down and looked out the window to see Lukas acting super sad over my leaving and dramatically saying goodbye. I love my friends. I think the saddest part was when Lukas told me,  "I'm going to miss having someone to sing with" ich auch, lukas. ich auch.  

The train ride back was pretty uneventful. I read one of the books I bought at the Stansted Aiport in London on sale. #win. It is a murder mystery. the first one i've ever read. I don't think i'm made for murder mysteries. i'm pretty sure i already know who did it, and so all the little details are what i need to know, but it takes forever! i guess the story isn't moving quickly enough, but i'm trying not to finish it so i can have an english book to read on the plane back to america on thursday. 

Czech Me Out

Czech? Check!

Seriously, two jokes in one blog post? Y'all are so spoiled.  So Prague was WONDERFUL....after a bit of bad luck on Friday the 13th.

• So it started with me loosing my black cardigan on the metro to work. 
• Then I was searching for flights to England for the next week for work, and I found a flight that would connect in Amsterdam. So I would fly to England on Monday night and fly back Friday morning. Since I already have a flight to Amsterdam for that Friday night, I was thinking I could "miss" my connection in Amsterdam, work from there for the day and then take my already bought return flight to Munich at the end of the weekend in the Netherlands with the guys. I thought that was better than connecting in Amsterdam, flying into Munich around 2pm only to go back to the airport around 6pm for an 8pm flight back to Amsterdam. I okayed it with my boss and was wanted to call the airlines. Dumb KLM. I explained that I was not going to be taking my trip from Munich to Amesterdam but wanted to keep my return flight that Sunday night from Amsterdam to Munich. They would not let me. I was getting super upset and annoyed and was yelling at the person. It's a computer thing and cannot be overwritten by anyone "supposedly". Evil. 



Ticket for my bus (missed) and train to Prague

• After that, we left work to catch out bus to Prague. We got there 40 minutes early and wanted to confirm with someone we were in the right spot because our tickets were in German and that is one language we do not understand. We asked over 15 people, and there was no official ticket place to ask at the bus station, but no one was able to confirm to us we were in the right place. bah! So there was one bus place that was supposed to go to Prague 15 minutes before our bus was supposed to leave but no bus ever showed up. The time passed and the information on the bus time schedule disappeared but no bus ever showed up. We were pretty annoyed, and decided to go to Haufbahnhof to talk to someone. When we arrrived we saw a ticket machine and after debating between giving up our Prague adventure and still going, we bought train tickets to Prague that were almost the same price as our originally bought roundtrip tickets. Bah. 

Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

We got into Prague later than expected. We took a taxi (can I just say our taxi to the hostel/apartment was 680 Koruna but our taxi back to the train station on Sunday was not even 200 Koruna. Ripped off? Most def) It drops us off because the road ends and so we have to walk from building 15 to 9. Then this guy approaches us on the side walk saying, "are you going to number 9?" kinda hesitant, we respond "yes" and he said "oh good. I was just heading home for the night". If we had arrived one minute later we would not have had a place to stay. I think that's when our luck changed. We then walked around Old Town Square at night for a bit before going to bed.

Old Town Square

We woke up and when for breakfast pretty early and walked around a bit before going on our bike tour. Our hostel was like a private apartment. It was so cute and it was literally behind the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn and the Stone Bell House. We saw pretty much all the basic must-see things in Prague. It was GORGEOUS! We saw the Astrological Clock, which I think is a little over-rated. I'm pretty sure it wasn't one of the top clock performance I've seen.  Anyways, after the bike tour we went for a traditional Czech meal at a place that the hotel guy recommended off the main streets. Czech dumplings are AMAZING! We got all the main foods while we were there. Czech food is sooo yummy but really filling. We had the fruit dumplings which were good too. oh man. so good.

Charles Bridge (no we didn't plan to match)

svíčková na smetaně

Trdelníks

After lunch we went on a walking tour of the castle. Except we had a thing that said it was at 2 in front of the tourist office, but when we got there they said it was at 2:30 in front of the Czech Philharmonic building. Since we had about 30 minutes to spare, we just laid down on some grassy area along the Vltava River. It was so nice. But the weather got a little crazy on us. It kept on going from hot to cold to sunny to rainy. It was insane. The castle tour was good, we heard good stories, and we ended up at the Strahov Monastery, where (surprise, surprise) the monks make beer. I've been to so many monasteries here in Europe where the monks make beer. I'm starting to wonder if European monks do anything else. We also met these two sisters who were travelling together and it made me miss mi hermanita who is having an adventure of her own in New Zealand. <3

Then we walked to the John Lennon wall, which is a wall of people writing things...so of course I had to write something :)
10 life points to someone who can guess what I wrote.

Venid, sin miedo, sin temor,
mas con gozo andad.

Aunque cruel jornada ésta es,
Dios nos da Su bondad

It was great. Then we headed back to the hotel to drop of something Lindsay bought only to not be able to get back into our hotel. Seriously. So we called the guy, Donald, and he came to help us. We were turning the key the wrong way. No joke. So then we went to dinner. Another good Czech meal. We had the fried cheese. Literally it was a block of brie cheese that was fried. SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

View from Charles Bridge in the evening

We went home for a bit cuz I was exhausted then went out for a bit longer. We got home and I passed out. I was so tired and dehydrated.

On Sunday, we woke up and went to the same breakfast place. Still just as yummy. Fresh squeezed orange juice. Yes please! We went down to Wenceslas Square and the National Musuem to wander around. It was a lovely afternoon.Until it started to rain on our way home. Lindsay got a cheap umbrella which broke shortly after.

We went to the bus station early, and went to make sure were were in the right place. The information lady got super rude and attitude-y with us for asking. *sigh* Then we got to the bus and got our tickets checked and got on the bus. We decided to sit in the front of the double decker bus. We asked a lady nearby if the seats were free, and she informed us that the bus had reserved seating. We asked if she could look at our German tickets to tell us where we were supposed to sit. She looked at out ticket and told us we were on the wrong bus. Blast! We needed the bus in front of the bus we were currently on. ARGH! So we got out and told the driver that we were on the wrong bus and needed our luggage. We had to literally climb into the luggage compartment area and climb over suitcases and throw stuff around to find our suitcases. The luggage about 3 feet high. It was tiny. Lindsay found hers first and went to tell the other bus that I was on my way, but not there yet. I was starting to go into panic-mode. So what do I do in a panic? I paused, said a little prayer, and found my suitcase shortly afterwards. YAY! Prayers work! I got on the correct bus and shortly began a nice 3-hour nap on the bus. We were supposed to be dropped of at the Nuremberg bus station with a 10-minute window to get to the bus station to catch our bus, but instead, the bus driver made a stop at the train station. We had half an our to get fed and some water for the train back into Munich where we managed to catch it with plenty of time to spare and get into Munich around 10pm.  It was an epic adventure of twist and turns. 

A few parting comments:

• I miss USA customer service. We tried to get our feet eaten by little fish for 10 minutes, but they wouldn't let us. The lady was saying that only at 25 minutes would you get the whole relaxation aspect. Trust me, that conversation alone ruined any chance of 25 minutes relaxing me. Later, we went to get some hot chocolate and asked if we could get it in a cup to-go. They said no. So you're saying you can put coffee in a cup to-go but not the hot chocolate? Then add that to the KLM problem I had on Friday, and I was pretty annoyed. 
• Prague is way more touristy than I thought. EVERYONE spoke English. I also realized there is something nice about not having to understand/overhear other people's conversations when I'm in Germany. 
• I bought a super cute trendy jacket in Prague to replace my lost cardigan as a source of warmth. 
• I also ended up buying a direct flight from England to Munich, so I won't have to use KLM again or connect in Amsterdam. 

Yay for happy endings