Final Days in Europe

 9/20/23 I combined the three days in Europe as they don't have as much content as the other days. The day after going to Liverpool we had a more relaxing day. I slept in longer than I meant to then Kez and I got ready and went to brunch at a place called 19 Cafe Bar. I got a smoked salmon bagel and lemongrass tea. It was obligatory that I got tea while in England. After having brunch I got to go to Primark for the first time. I had wanted to visit a Primark after hearing about them from British YouTubers I watched in high school. (Zoella, etc.). Primark was really fun and cute, and I could see myself spending some time there if I lived in England. The US equivalent to Primark is probably a mix of Target and Marshalls. Kez lives about 2-3 blocks away from the Arndale Center, which is Manchester's largest mall. We also stopped by a game/novelty store where Kez bought a puzzle which we ended up doing later that day. The puzzle was of Whitby Harbor, which Kez had traveled to before. Lastly we went into Lush. I've been to the Lush's in America, but wanted to go to one of the actual ones in England. I didn't notice any differences besides that it was a little cheaper than in the US, but so had been the jacket that I purchased 2 days prior. I ended up buying a bath bomb and Kez bought a shower bomb. I'm glad that the bath bomb was cheaper because it ended up being pretty disappointing. A bath bomb I had bought in the past had made my bath tub pretty galaxy colors (blues/purples/glitter), while this one didn't change the bath water color but smelled nice. 

    When we got back to Kez's apartment we started doing the puzzle while having "You've Got Mail" play in the background. Kez's roommate had made a Bolognese pasta and made too much so we had that for dinner. Upon hearing that we went to Primark and I described it as cute, Kez's roommate stated that cute isn't the word she would use for the store. Apparently it can get pretty crazy in there with teenage girls. So it's a good thing we went during a Wednesday afternoon. Despite looking through the puzzle box repeatedly and being sure we had gotten out all of the border pieces, we couldn't complete the border and thought for sure we were missing pieces. (As Kez discovered the next morning, we weren't missing any pieces we had just done part of the puzzle wrong. Connected too many pieces together on one side, etc.)

9/21/23  I had originally planned to travel to Wellington, England on 9/20, but decided against it. My luggage was falling apart by then, and the family that was going to host me had had an accident occur. I was going to stay with one of the Living Light Wellington elder's and his wife and their daughter. The Sunday before I was supposed to arrive the wife had fallen and broken her wrist. With her wrist being broken they wouldn't be able to take me around the area, but I could still stay there. Kez said that Wellington was relatively small without much to do especially without a car. She said that most people visiting are taken to the areas around Wellington, so I'd probably have little to do just staying in Wellington. I had originally also planned to go to Wellington to visit my friend Manu. She would have only been able to meet for a short time as she had to take her daughter in for a check up the same day we would have met up. Manu had just given birth a few weeks before, and her daughter had, had some complications, but was doing well. Manu's in-laws were also in town at that exact time to help out which is why I didn't stay with Manu. Since I hadn't planned in being in Manchester the 21st and 22nd, Kez had to go to work, so on this day I explored Manchester by myself. (In hindsight I'm super glad I had chosen to stay in Manchester longer. I had already traveled so much this trip that traveling 4 hours from Manchester to Wellington to just stay in Wellington for a super short time and do a ton more traveling just seemed like a bad idea. It was good to be able to spend more time with Kez and not have to rush and have more relaxing time.) I walked with Kez to the public transit before starting my day by first walking to the Arndale Center. Kez worked until 5 but had an hour window where she could bring me back to the apartment if I wanted to go back earlier. I had originally planned to spend most of the day at the shopping center, but thought I should do something other than be at a mall. Especially on the sunniest day I would spend in Manchester. I went into a few stores before making my way out onto the streets of Manchester. I was pretty tired this day so I wasn't much in the mood for exploring at first, but then got a second wind thankfully. I went into Black Sheep Coffee again to start my journey with a caramel mocha which I had, had two days before and then made my way towards the John Rylands Library. 

    Kez and I were thinking of going to the John Rylands Library on Monday, but it had been closed. Luckily it was open this day (Thursday). The John Rylands Library is dubbed the "Harry Potter library" as JK Rowling got inspiration for how she wanted Hogwarts to look from the library. It was definitely very Hogwarts looking on the inside. The library is located right in the center of Manchester and even looks cool from the outside. It is a neo-gothic architecture building, and is free to visit and even study inside of. The library also has a few display cases with one containing a fragment of the gospel of John. The specific fragment displayed is the oldest Bible manuscript of the Christian Greek scriptures ever found dating back to 100-150 AD. The library also tells of the history of the building, and how it came to be. The building was another one of the most stunning buildings that I saw while in Europe and pictures do not do it justice at all. 

   After visiting the library I aimlessly walked the streets of Manchester with no clear destination. It was coming up on the hour window which Kez could take me back to the apartment but I decided to stay out exploring and stay for the long haul. There was a lot of pretty/artsy things I passed on my walk. After walking for a bit I came across the Manchester canals. The area was a bit more rundown but the canals were still beautiful. The waterways used to be used to transport items like coal into Manchester. Manchester was the first ever industrial city in the world. 

   I was able to make it back to the Arndale Center area relatively easily, but I still ended up getting a little lost after wandering away from the area again towards the end of my journey. I didn't recognize where I was when heading back to the mall so I went into a fancy restaurant to ask for directions. It turned out I was like a half block away from the Arndale Center. :P. The more you know. For dinner I got food at a restaurant in the mall called "Slim Chickens". After looking it up, I guess its an American chain restaurant. Oops. Another fun fact about shopping in the UK is that they have TJ Maxx stores however they are known as TK Maxx in the UK. Another fun fact: The abbreviation for Manchester is MCR, so there were signs all around Manchester that said MCR and I love MCR. Even though they probably do love My Chemical Romance that is not what the signs were referencing. :P

   After I ate dinner it had started to rain so I waited for Kez out in the rain, luckily having had my umbrella with me that day even though the weather had been nice. Our meeting point was in front of the National Football (Soccer) Museum. We didn't go in as neither of us know much about professional soccer, but it's one of the more notable buildings in Manchester and is a fun shaped glass building. After returning to Kez's apartment we again worked on the puzzle and eventually completed it that night while listening to Kez's playlist which contained Phantom Planet songs. After completing the puzzle we walked to a nearby cocktail bar called "Be at One". The bar had dim lighting with neon signs and dance music playing. We didn't stay long but it seemed like a cool trendy place. I of course ordered a tropical drink. It didn't seem to have much alcohol in it as you could barely taste any alcohol and I felt perfectly fine afterwards. (I thought it might be one of those tasty but dangerous scenarios.) I joked about how people would usually think I'm under 21 (maybe not anymore), but realized that the drinking age in England is 18 so it that wouldn't be an issue here. 

9/22/23 and 9/23/23  Kez worked from home this day so she was able to walk me to the train station when it was time for me to go. I had bought train tickets to Bristol the night before which was a bad idea because they were way more expensive than usual. Kez made me hot chocolate before I left, and at the train station they even let her on the train to help me get my things situated before sending me off. I was able to get a bus from the Bristol Meeds train station that went directly to the Bristol airport (my 3rd time being at said airport in under 2 weeks), and thus started my journey back to the US. I bought curry for dinner at the airport before getting onto my flight to Zurich without issue. I arrived in Zurich around 10pm after leaving Bristol at around 7pm. (Switzerland is an hour ahead). My flight back to Chicago wouldn't be until around 10am the next morning so I had to sleep overnight at the airport. Switzerland is an expensive country so I wasn't able to find any deals for a hotel that wouldn't cost me over $200 for a night. The cheapest option which was still over $100 would be to sleep in an individual pod at the Swiss airport. I took my chances just settling for finding hopefully a comfyish spot to sleep at the airport for free. I was able to find a booth at a restaurant type place and all the people that were there left around 11pm. I thought there might be an increase of people that would come and have the same idea, but I was left alone, so I got a whole booth seat-like bench to myself. I had opted to have my big luggage to go directly onto the next flight instead of picking up my luggage in Zurich. It was a 12 hour layover but I still had what I would need in my carryon bag, so I had less to look after. During the morning time I made my way over to the terminal for American flights, and had to purchase more Wi-Fi. The Zurich airport lets you have 4 hours of free Wi-Fi before they charge you. Before getting on my flight I purchased two massive Swiss chocolate bars. (American chocolate is trash compared to European chocolate, especially Swiss, if you know you know). I ended up waiting at the wrong Chicago gate. Apparently their were two flights heading to Chicago from Zurich at almost the same time, however whatever gate I was at was indeed not Swiss Airlines. An employee luckily found that out in advance, and luckily my correct gate wasn't too much further away than that gate. 

     On the flight home they gave us all headphones for our individual TV screens however I'm pretty sure they weren't compatible with them because no one around me used them or used them quietly without headphones. I was able to sleep for a bit on the flight, luckily. When we were about to arrive in Chicago they made us fill out a piece of paper with our information and what we had purchased in Europe and were bringing back with us, and also what countries we had visited, along with total cost of said items. While filling it out it turned out that the 2 people next to me had been given their papers in German. They thought I must have been able to read German and could understand what it was asking, but mine was in English. It took awhile for my bag to appear at baggage claim but it was probably one of the first bags loaded onto the flight. My worst airport employee encounter happened as I was about to leave the O'Hare airport. When I had first got off the flight before baggage claim the employee said that he didn't need the paper I had filled out but to keep it with me. Once I had gotten my bags, I assumed that no one else would ask me about the papers and put them away. As I was walking out of the airport the employee ( a different one) asked for my paper. I forgot if I had put it in my big suitcase, carryon, etc. so I began searching for the paper while standing by the employee. After not being able to find it right away the employee had me stand in a different area while I looked for it. The employee must not have believed that I actually had the paper and asked me if I actually had it. I found it after a few more minutes in my big luggage and gave it to him. He seemed suspicious of me and asked me where I had flown in from, and seemed even more suspicious when I answered with Zurich. He also seemed confused as to where Zurich was located so I added Switzerland. He then let me go through with a rude attitude, and my brother and sister-in-law drove me back to Kenosha after. My sister-in-law insisted I stay up until at least 8pm that night and bought me a large caramel mocha from McDonalds. It was 12:30pm when I arrived in Chicago. It would have been 7:30pm Switzerland time, which is pretty insane. 

Thanks for reading about my adventures in Europe. It was the most amazing experience, and so fun to write these blogposts and share stories about my time. I hope you enjoyed reading as well. 

A Day in Liverpool

    Ever since I had gone through a major Beatles phase in 2010, a bucket list item for me had been visiting Liverpool. My Beatles phase back then was my very own version of Beatlemania. It came on randomly, and developed into an obsession. I wanted to learn everything I could about them. I downloaded most of their songs on my iPod. I watched every documentary about them, and owned 10+ Beatles shirts, and owned a ton of Beatles memorabilia. I'd talk about them a lot in conversation and even converted three of my friends into becoming big fans with me. 

     It was definitely a strange interest for a teenage girl, but luckily a few other people in my grade shared my interest. I remember being at Walmart and trying to decide between three CDs. A Lady Gaga CD, A Ne-Yo CD, and The Beatles. I ultimately decided on the Beatles CD since I knew my dad really liked classic rock. Even though he's a big fan of classic rock, he wasn't a particularly big fan of The Beatles, but I still thought it would be cool to get the CD anyway. I knew he would definitely not be into Lady Gaga, or Ne-Yo, not that he would ever have to listen to the CDs I bought. This was a major turning point in regards to my music taste. Before getting really into the Beatles I liked pop music. I mostly listened to Taylor Swift, and the Jonas Brothers. I would discover new songs from the "Now Thats What I Call Music" CDs at the store which had the most popular songs. I would sometimes listen to Hannah Montana songs as well. (My brother did burn copies of two of his Green Day CDs, so I did have some taste before that point. Those CDs being "American Idiot, and "International Superhits.") To clarify I do still like Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers. I do think they have some great songs, but I do like my new music palette a lot more. Lyrics with deeper meanings then just being radio hits, beautiful melodies, and actually talented musicians. I do think Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers are musically talented, but a lot of the top hit songs on the radio feel really lacking. Surface level cringey lyrics and autotune. 

  What really got me interested in knowing more about the Beatles was when I did a report on Elvis for my English class. While gathering information about Elvis for my presentation I stumbled upon a website that talked about when the Beatles had first met Elvis. For some reason this sparked interest in my first wanting to know more about the Beatles. That and listening to the Beatles CD I had bought. ("The Hard Day's Night" album if anyone was wondering.) and the rest was history. 

     Wow, okay so that was a long introduction for this blogpost. Basically going to Liverpool had been a long time coming, and with Manchester being only a half hour train ride from Liverpool I asked Kez if she would be willing to go. She agreed even though she wasn't a big fan of the Beatles. We booked the train tickets the night before as well as tickets for a Beatles bus tour that would take you to various spots around Liverpool including Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, John Lennon's Childhood Home, and Paul McCartney's Childhood Home. The train to Liverpool ended up arriving later than scheduled so when we got to the train station we decided to take a taxi to where the tour would be happening. Once the taxi driver learned that I was from America he talked passionately talked about (America and their f***ing guns.) This seemed to be a common topic among Europeans. We made it to the starting point of the tour with about 5 minutes to spare. It was easy to spot the tour bus. A yellow double decker bus with "The Beatles City Explorer" written on the side of it. The tour guide was also wearing a Beatles shirt. I immediately began geeking out before the tour even had started. We sat at the top of the bus which is where the tour guide stood. It was a wet/rainy/windy day in Liverpool so we brought our umbrellas along. Kez's umbrella ended up breaking after the tour due to the strength of the wind. I eventually opted to stop using mine after a few wind gusts had almost broken my umbrella too. 

   I really enjoyed the tour, and learned even more facts about the Beatles that I hadn't known before which is saying something. The tour guide asked a few trivia questions, and can you guess who answered those questions.....yeah it was me. For answering the questions I was given two fake British pounds with a picture of the Beatles on it. There was one question I didn't know the answer too though. I don't think the tour guide was planning on giving out prizes, but definitely seemed impressed by the young girl in her 20s and her Beatles knowledge. (I say this as if I'm not almost 30 now.) The other passengers seemed to be impressed by me too, and seemed to find me amusing. When the tour guide brought up that we were approaching a famous street, I couldn't resist shouting "Penny Lane!", which had been what the tour guide was alluding too. I stood proudly by the Penny Lane sign once we arrived with Kez and pointed to Paul McCartney's autograph. (Paul McCartney had visited Liverpool in 2018 for an episode of Carpool Karaoke, and autographed the Penny Lane sign while on his visit.) The tour guide secretly took a selfie before taking your picture with the sign. The Strawberry Fields gate is pretty close to the street so I was almost in the street while trying to get a good picture. Kez protected me from going too far back as she didn't want me getting injured during the tour. :P. The bus also passed a bar with the lyrics to Penny Lane written on the side of the building. (all of them). 

    After about an hour and a half we arrived back at the starting point, near the Royal Albert Dock. On the dock there is also a museum called the Beatles stories that has different Beatles artifacts and info, but we didn't go in. We went to a Beatles gift shop as you do and I got a Liverpool mug shaped like a drum with the Beatles on it. On the dock there is also a statue of all of the Beatles walking on the dock so I posed with them for a picture. For our next stop I really wanted to visit the Cavern Club which is where the Beatles had performed 292 times. For a Beatles fan it seems like an incredible place, but apparently back when they performed there, there had been sewer problems, and mice according to the bus tour guide. This had all been fixed since then. The actual Cavern Club was shut down and reconstructed down a couple of feet from the original entrance. The Cavern Club was originally a cellar, and opened as a music venue in 1957. The Cavern Club was shut down in 1973 due to the British Rail building underground railways. They originally planned to excavate the buried remains of the Cavern Club, but discovered it wouldn't be possible. In 1984 the Cavern Club had been reconstructed, and contained bricks from the original building. The Cavern Club was only about a 10 minute walk from the Beatles statue, located in an alleyway. 

   To get into the Cavern Club you did have to pay a $5 coverfee in advance. The Cavern Club today is basically a mini music memorabilia museum with a bar and live music. Security guards stood in the entrance of the Cavern Club, and due to this probably end up in the background of a lot of tourist pictures. To get down to the actual club you have to walk down like 7 flights of stairs. It's like an underground bunker. When Kez and I first got down there we went to the bathroom, and now have bragging rights to say we went to the bathroom at the Cavern Club? Paul McCartney had also done a surprise show here in 2018 when visiting town in Carpool Karaoke. It was cool to get to see some music memorabilia from bands like Oasis, the Arctic Monkeys, and of course the Beatles as well. In the Cavern Club there's a red phone booth with a picture of the Beatles in a red phone booth, but I don't know if it was the same one or just a replica. After looking around and taking pictures we climbed back up the seven flights of stairs and went to the Cavern Restaurant across the street. The restaurant was inexpensive even though it was literally a few steps away from the Cavern Club. One of my missions for being in England was to get authentic fish and chips which is what I ordered at the restaurant. We were sat right next to the window that looked out at the Cavern Club so every now and then we could see tourists posing for pictures in the entryway of the Cavern Club. After lunch we walked further down the alleyway. Down the alleyway there was a few Beatles shops, another Beatles museum, and a bar called the Rubber Soul Bar. (named after a Beatles album.)   We went into one of the Beatles shops, and a random British souvenir shop where I got a classic Union Jack mug. 

   While walking back towards the train station we came across a radio tower with a 360 degree view of Liverpool from above at 400ft. The radio tower is known as St. Johns Beacon. A ticket to go to the top of the tower cost around $8, and you can stay as long as you want. We ended up circling around the tower 3x. Even though it was a rainy day, you could see things pretty clearly. Parts of the windows have different buildings pictured that you can see from that view and their purposes. The views were stunning even with the cloudiness. After heading down from the tower we went to get on the train back to Manchester. 

Manchester Cathedral, British History Museum, and Waterstones

     9/18       I ended up sleeping in longer than I had expected due to it being so dark in the living room. The curtains keep the living room dark, and so did the cloudiness. It was another rainy day in England, and I didn't pack the clothes needed for visiting England. I had a faux leather jacket that was peeling, comfortable tennis shoes that were great for walking in Germany, but not for the wetness of England. Within minutes of stepping outside my socks were soaked from stepping in a puddle. It was also in the 50s when Germany had been warmer. After visiting the Manchester Cathedral we would go and buy umbrellas, and I bought a warmer coat. 

    The Manchester Cathedral is a gorgeous gothic looking church. Europe has an abundance of really incredible-looking churches. The Manchester Cathedral is only about a 3 minute walk from Kez's apartment building. While in the church there was a mirror you could look into where you could see the church reflected back in the mirror. There was a man standing near the mirror that asked to see Kez's phone. No other context, just could he see one of our phones. Kez gave him hers and then he showed her how to take a cool picture using the mirror. To get our umbrellas we went to the Arndale shopping mall and into the New Look store. Umbrellas are necessary for walking around England, and with the wind you have to learn the art of umbrella-wielding. 

   After getting an umbrella and a warmer jacket we went to the People's History Museum. The People's History Museum showcases British history mostly related to their democracy. It was really interesting to walk through, and learn about Britain's history after knowing very little about it. After walking through the museum we went to a coffee shop called Black Sheep Coffee. Black Sheep Coffee is one of the coffee chains in England. I got a caramel mocha, and it was amazing. You ordered and paid at a kiosk. 

   We went to Waterstones after drinking our coffee. Waterstones is a bookstore chain in England like Barnes and Nobles. The bookstore was 3 stories so we spent a couple hours there. It was interesting to see what the highlighted of America in the travel section, and how else they represented America in their different sections. We went to a grocery store afterwards to buy the ingredients needed for dinner, as well as buy British snacks. I got a galaxy bar, Cadbury fingers, and jaffa cakes. I also found the same juice I had in Germany so I got that as well. I could actually read what it had in it this time. :P Once we got back I tried the British snacks while Kez made dinner. The galaxy bar was my favorite. It tastes a lot like Dove chocolate. During dinner we had deep talks until it was time to go to bed. We also bought train tickets for our trip to Liverpool the next day, as well as Beatles bus tour tickets. 

Arriving in England....Again

 9/17/23: At 4 in the morning I checked out of my hotel room in Berlin, and into the Berlin Airport. I must have seemed really lost on how to go about doing baggage drop because after awhile an employee came over to me and said "come with me". Either that or God sent him to help me. He easily got luggage tags printed for my luggage and I was on my way. While going through security the TSA agent talked at me in German. She had asked me to do something it turns out. After noticing I was not responding she said "maybe English is better? and regave the task she had before but in English this time. The airport was pretty easy to navigate, with lots of signs with English translations and probably mostly all bilingual employees. 

    I made it to my plane and flew to Amsterdam for my layover (2nd layover in Amsterdam this trip).  This time it wasn't as hectic, and I easily made it through to my plane to Bristol. Once arriving in Bristol I picked up my baggage and made my way to the bus that would take me to the Temple Meeds Train Station.  Alternating the which hand I was using to pull my now broken suitcase along while being bent over. Luckily the walks with my broken luggage were never too too far. I was able to get on a bus from the airport, however the this particular bus's service ended at a central bus station. The bus station was confusing to understand so I eventually asked one of the employees for help, and he told me which platform to go to. (On my way back to the Bristol airport when I was heading home, the bus would take me all the way to the airport from Bristol Meeds thankfully). The bus arrived about 5 minutes later. Driving on the left side of the street actually didn't seem too strange when all the other cars were doing it. The weird part for me was having the driver sit on the right side of the vehicle. The walk down the street from the bus stop to the Temple Meeds (the train station) was the hardest walk with my luggage. By this time I had developed callouses on my hands so I again had to keep switching hands and crouch down. It was a slow-moving process even though the train station was only a block away from the bus stop. Luckily my train platform was one of the first ones by the entrance. The train station ended up feeling confusing to me too so I asked an employee where the train to Manchester would be, and it turned out that the platform I was meant to be at was the one we were standing next to. It was around noon at this point so I had to wait about an hour for my train. It turns out my train was a little further back then the platform when it arrived. Luckily I noticed before it took off without me. 

    The train from Bristol to Manchester takes around 3 hours by train. For about half of the trip I had my almost 50 pound suitcase on my lap so other passengers could sit by me. In hindsight I could have put the luggage on a shelf where you first get on or off. My train ended up arriving in Manchester late due to having to take a different route due to railway issues. England welcomed me with stereotypical rainy weather. The train car drove backwards for half the trip then forwards. I was able to sleep somewhat on the train. Thankfully Manchester was the last stop so I wouldn't oversleep. Kez was waiting for me at the platform when I arrived. It was around 4:30pm. Kez decided to order an Uber due to my heavy broken suitcase, and while walking towards the row of taxis/uber's one of them hadn't been paying attention and nearly backed into me. (It was a real Welcome to Manchester moment). Luckily I have fast reflexes and was able to get away quick enough. That would not have been a good start to my trip in England. Kez showed me her apartment, and handed me chips to eat while we caught up a little bit. Since it was a Sunday I was able to check out the church Kez has been going to. (The services are on Sunday nights.) We took the public transit to the church and there I got to meet some of Kez's friends. Unfortunately I was too tired after traveling all day to hang out after church. That night I had my first experience with Nandos. A British chicken restaurant, which Kez ordered as takeout (takeaway) when we got back to her apartment. I had been wanting to try Nandos, since I first heard about it. Their fries and the seasoning they put on their chicken was really good and flavorful and I would definitely recommend it. While we ate our Nandos meal we started watching "10 Things I Hate About You". Halfway through I was ready to go to bed so it was turned off, and my air mattress was set up for the night. The duvet cover had little honeybees on it which is one of the symbols for Manchester. 

Train Ride Through the Park and the Dresden Arts District

     9/16/23  For breakfast this morning Phil and I picked up some croissants, and breakfast pretzels from a local bakery. (Yes breakfast pretzels do exist, and they are referred to as bretzels.) We ate breakfast out on the balcony of Phil's apartment. White breakfast sausages I had had my first morning in Germany along with the croissants and bretzels. Phil suggested that I use the chocolate spread on the bretzel, and it was amazing. These particular pretzels did not have salt on them. 

         After breakfast we went to meet Phil and Anna's church friends from two nights before to go on a train ride through a park. Anna had gone to a Mosaic Art workshop so she wasn't around to hang out with us. The friend who was the occupational therapist had a client with Autism who volunteered to help run the train. At this park teenagers and tweens run the trains as if they were actual train station workers. Each kid had a different role to make sure the train ran smoothly. This was a miniature train like the one at the Milwaukee Zoo. The train started out with a steam engine, and halfway through they switched to a different engine. The train ride was relaxing and the park was really beautiful. It was even enjoyable for us adults, and actually lasted awhile. The train made the typical train sounds which Phil referred to as "train ASMR". 

    After the train ride we took the public transit to the arts district of Dresden. This is one of the most popular parts of Dresden, and has a lot of trendy restaurants and bars, along with art shops. For lunch we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant outside. At the bus stop there was a guy handing out information on Neo Nazism which was shocking. Apparently it's a growing thing in Germany which is terrifying. At the restaurant Phil needed to translate the menu with me since they didn't end up having an English menu (not that I was expecting them to have one), and bees must really like noodles. There was a bee that kept landing on my food and walking on it, it even flew off with a piece of noodle at one point??? For a drink I had "Mango lassi" which is a mango smoothie-like drink that's popular in India. It's made with mangos, yogurt, cardamom, and sweetener. I really enjoyed it. After lunch the church friends left, and Phil and I walked down the streets.

   The Dresden Arts District is known as "Neustadt", and has an alleyway called "Kunsthof Passage". In the Kunsthof Passage there is a building with series of pipes with water trickling down. Phil said that people actually live in that building. It's a super cool art piece. Another thing I noticed about Neustadt is there is a lot of graffiti. Graffiti that you would find in a rougher area typically. However, Phil said that this was apart of the appeal with Neustadt. 

   After exploring Neustadt we took the public transit to the city center of Dresden in search of a souvenir mug, which we did end up finding. We took the public transit to a bridge that leads to the city center, and goes over the Elbe River, so I got yet again another amazing view of Dresden as we walked over the bridge. You could clearly see the historical buildings from this particular angle. After finding the souvenir mug it was time to get packed up to leave. I had originally wanted to stay in Dresden until early Sunday morning (9/17), but figured out early on (thankfully) that the bus or trains would not be running that early in the morning, so the best option for me would be to stay the night in Berlin. I booked a room that was within steps of the Berlin airport so I wouldn't have to figure out transportation to the airport from the hotel, and could take the bus directly to the airport. (I did not want to have to go through staying overnight at an airport again, although I would have to in Switzerland). Anna had returned by this time so we were all able to talk a bit before it was time to head to the bus station. My flight was at 7am the next morning. 

   I was a little afraid I would have a some trouble finding my hotel even with it being at the airport, but that wasn't an issue. I could see the hotel right from the bus stop when I arrived at the airport. I checked in to my hotel around 7pm. The front desk guy spoke English so it was an easy process. Knowing how to say "Do you speak English?" in German came in handy. Most of them do. The airport staff in Germany either explain the instructions in German or English, and would ask which you spoke. German hotel beds have one big bed with two separate mattresses along with two separate comforters. One for each person. The comforters were thin, but in Europe they have comforter (duvet covers), and I think you were meant to bring your cover to the hotel. Not 100% sure though. Another thing I noticed about the room that was different than an American hotel was the fact that there was a curtain by the bed where when opened you can look into the shower from where the bed is. I don't know how common this is to German hotels or my particular hotel was strange. I relaxed and reorganized my suitcase before sleeping for a couple hours. (Everyday I had to calculate what time I should wake up based on my phone being stuck on Wisconsin time. It was interesting, but I always figured it out even though it was very confusing.) This is also when the handle of my suitcase got stuck and would no longer pop up, and forced me to have to lean down and pull my suitcase or lift it. When you have to carry your suitcase, and or bend over for long periods it's exhausting/difficult which I experienced the next day when enroute to Manchester. 

A Lovely Day in Prague

  9/15/23 I had known that Phil would be working from home this day so I would have to figure out how to spend this day on my own. Phil had suggested I'd choose either Prague or Berlin to explore for the day. I had looked up places to go in Berlin before my trip thinking I'd explore Berlin before going to Dresden originally. Phil, Anna, their church friends, and Phil's sister's roommates all talked highly of Prague, and Prague would be a little closer by bus then Berlin had been. I could also choose to explore Dresden by myself and stay more closeby which was the most comfortable/easiest option, especially since I had already traveled so much. But I didn't know if there would ever be a possibility to visit Prague again so that's what I decided.

   Going to a major city in a different country by myself without knowing the language and no mobile data to access Google Maps seemed really taunting (basically what happened when I had arrived in Berlin and had to figure out how to get to Dresden). Prague is in the Czech Republic so they don't speak German either, and everyone had assured me that they got along just fine despite not knowing Czech, so that made me feel more comfortable. It was also comforting that there would hopefully be a lot of places available with free Wi-Fi which luckily was the case. I wasn't sure how my mom would feel about me traveling away from friends by myself, but after telling her about it she seemed to agree that I should go. I had also googled if it was safe to be a female solo traveler in Prague, and it turned out it was deemed one of the safest places to travel to in Europe.

     I woke up early, and filled up my water bottle and traveled by moped to the bus station with Phil. (Before he had to work). He let me borrow a backpack which I put my water bottle in along with a banana Phil had packed for me as a snack, then I was on my way to Prague. It was about 2 hours by bus, and I arrived in Prague around 9:30am. When I got there I missed the huge sign that indicated the way to the main streets, and wandered around the bus station trying to find the exit which I eventually did. 🤣

   I decided I wanted to travel by foot and not try and figure out the public transit by myself. This limited the number of places I could get to, but I was still able to see quite a bit. I made sure to also where my glasses so I could read signs more clearly (but I guess that didnt help with the huge exit sign :P). 

   I got nervous so one of the first places I visited in Prague was a Starbucks. (How to spot an American tourist in Prague. Ha ha.) I ordered a caramel frappuccino which came in a glass, and connected to the free Wi-Fi to see what was around me. Like other European cities Prague has a lot of fancy buildings with intricate details. There were churches with statues of the 12 apostles, and fountains, and a river that ran through the middle of the city. One of the most interesting buildings I took a picture of was a gothic looking building called "The Powder Tower" which is actually the entrance to the old historic part of Prague. I didn't know this until after my visit otherwise I would have definitely gone and explored more. By the time I had come upon the Powder Tower I thought it might be a good idea to start heading back towards the bus station as I wasn't sure how far I had ventured away. When I looked it up I was only about a 15 minute walk away from the bus station so even though I thought I had walked far away I must have done more of a big loop. For lunch I went to a bagel restaurant and ordered a bagel with cream cheese and avocado, along with fried eggs and a mini salad with orange juice as my drink.  It was very yummy. Both cashiers I interacted with had known English so it was easy to order things. About an hour and a half into walking around Prague I opened the backpack to drink some water and found that my water bottle had smashed the banana. Luckily the residue had mostly gotten on my water bottle. (Making banana sauce or a banana smoothie I guess). I made it back to the bus station, and was proud of myself for being able to find the bus that would take me back to Dresden pretty easily without any help. 

   I arrived back in Dresden at around 4:30pm, and Phil met me there, and from there we went back to Phil's apartment by moped. Anna had been out with one of the church friends from the night before to watch a play so it would be just us. Phil gave me options of what we could get/make for dinner, and asked me if there was anything I wanted to try before leaving Germany. I mentioned wiener schnitzel, so that is what we ended up making for dinner. We bought the ingredients and I cleaned up the smashed banana from the backpack and my water bottle. Before we began cooking Phil asked me if I wanted to go for a walk around the neighborhood. I had slept on the bus ride home so I wasn't feeling exhausted like I had expected to be. We even decided on a longer walk, and I'm so glad that I did, because I got to see yet another incredible view of the city. The walk featured a trail that takes you to a field where you can lookout onto the city. By the field there is a path with apple trees. Phil was able to find apples that didn't have worm holes, and I put one in my pocket to eat later. (I then forgot about it and it became badly bruised, in said pocket the next day.) 

  When we returned to the apartment we followed another family recipe from Phil's family to make the wiener schnitzel. I helped make the breading and spread it on the meat while Phil separated the egg whites, and made french fry like things to go along with it. It tasted good, but wasn't too special of a meal. To end the night we went to a cocktail bar. The cocktail bar featured like 50 different cocktails. Basically any flavor you enjoyed there would be a cocktail to match it. I went for a cocktail called the Flying Kangaroo which was a lot like a Piña Coloda, and Phil got a cocktail with ginger in it. Our waitress ended up being American and had moved to Dresden from Indiana. 

A Hike in the Sandstone Mountains

    9/14/23: One of the ways to get to Phil's apartment building from his sister's apartment building is by walking through a cemetery. A few of the headstones have a window that looks into the grave. Fortunately, you can only see the casket, and not the actual decomposing body. (I had a dream featuring these types of graves that night. :P) We walked through the cemetery to Phil's apartment for breakfast of toast, and filled our water bottles, and Phil made snacks for our hike in the countryside of Dresden. When looking up some of the pictures I took that day, Google named the area the Sandstone mountains, otherwise I don't know if I would consider it hiking in the mountains. It felt more like an area with steep hills, and cliffs. I looked it up to gather further information and found that they are also known as the Sandstone Highlands. The Sandstone Mountains overlook the Elbe Valley, and have the Elbe River going through the valley. The particular area I hiked in with Phil this day was a touristy area as it featured a castle bridge called the Bastei Bridge. Hundreds of years ago a castle also stood there and was known as the Neurathan Castle. People come to the area mostly for the bridge, but also for the views. The Sandstone Mountains are 3/4th in Southeastern Germany (The Dresden area) and 1/4th apart of the Czech Republic. The highest parts of the mountain range are located in a city confusingly named Saxon Switzerland in the Czech Republic, and are around 2,000 ft. The person who had named the city did so because it reminded him of his homeland. The particular area we hiked was at about 1000 ft. 

    To get to the countryside of Dresden you take a train. Once we had picked out some seats and had been in the train for a couple of minutes Phil fell asleep. This did make me nervous, as of course I wouldn't know where we were supposed to get off at to be able to wake him, but Phil woke up before we had driven past our destination. Notice that I hadn't been the one to fall asleep. :P. Once you get off the train, there a series of shops and of course biergartens. To get to the hiking trails you have to take a small ferry the couple of feet it takes to get to the other side of the river. There are various trails of different levels, but Phil and I settled for a shorter but not too simple of a trail for our hike. The hikers in front of me had been smoking cigarettes, which had decreased the amount of oxygen that my lungs were taking in at that moment even more. I wasn't too nervous about the hike, as I had hiked in the mountains in Colorado before. The stairs were steep as you can imagine, and at one point my lungs were screaming at me to take a break. What made it worse was the fact at some point Phil had taken the lead, and was taking way longer strides. It was hard to keep up with him. He reassured me that we had almost made it to the steepest part, and he was right. The trail became a little easier and less steep, and the incredible views made up for all those steep steps. To look out into the sandstone cliffs and Elbe Valley with the Elbe River flowing though. There are different stopping points where you can get different perspectives of the valley as you walk further on the paths. We stopped and had our snack in a less busy area of the trail, but equally as beautiful. To gaze upon the valley while eating cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, and eating mozzarella sandwiches. (legit just bread, butter, some mozzarella cheese, and lettuce. :P.) Phil had made another type of sandwich too, but I don't remember what the ingredients were, and hadn't tried it. The whole hike was about 5 miles roundtrip. After our hike we sat down on a bench overlooking the river while waiting for the ferry. It was the same river we had sat and looked at the day before, just in a different place. I pointed out how the ferry had a German flag on it, and how I hadn't seen any German flags before then. We discussed how weird of a concept the pledge of allegiance actually is for school children and some of the other differences between Germany and the United States. We discussed the differences a lot during our conversations. Again there were geese by the shoreline of the river. We sat looking at the river for around 20 minutes before taking the ferry over. Before getting on the platform to wait for the train Phil and I ate authentic bratwurst for lunch. 

   We got on the train, and when we got back to Phil's neighborhood we went to the grocery store to pick up some of the ingredients needed for dinner that night. Phil had said I could grab something if I wanted. One of the things that grabbed my attention whenever in the grocery stores was the selection of juices. There were so many juices to choose from, and they all looked so good. I realized while looking at the labels that oh right....I don't know German, but was drawn to this blue colored juice. I was able to translate the fact it was agave juice, with possibly apple, and coconut water. I looked around at the other juices before just deciding to choose that one. (it was funny seeing all the German words on everything and my mind trying to pronounce the words in my head probably way wrong.) Phil and Anna both pointed out how the blue color of the juice was concerning, when that's exactly what had drawn me to it in the first place. (Definitely a difference in European and American perspective.) The United States definitely uses color as a draw to get people to buy things. On the walk back to Phil's apartment Phil asked about what words I knew in German and had me pronounce them. I knew hello, good morning, please, no, yes, and thank you, and pronounced them all correctly, and I guess that was pretty impressive even though it definitely wasn't. Knowing tons of words in Spanish is not helpful at all in Germany. Knowing how much of my ancestry is of German descent maybe I should have tried learning German instead, but also Spanish was probably way easier for me to learn when in school. 

    For dinner that night Anna made German Potato Salad, and Phil made grilled cheese. (Legit put thick slices of different flavored cheeses on the grill, and grilled them, no bread. This was no sandwich. :P) While preparing dinner two of Phil and Anna's friends from church were riding by on bikes and stopped by. They ate dinner with us when it was done and conversed about different things being sure to speak in English and include me in conversation. Quite a bit of the conversations I had with everyone in Germany involved me trying to figure out the specific American term they were trying to explain when describing something. One of their friends was an occupational therapist who had a client that she worked with who had Autism, so we had similar career paths. A lot of people in Germany are pretty fluent in English and learn it from a young age so it was easy for them to switch to using English around me.  

   After their friends had left and dinner was cleaned up, everyone decided to take an early night. I was more than happy to agree, to take some time to wind down for the night and relax. The cemetery was closed at night so we would have to walk a couple blocks extra to get to Phil's sister's apartment like we had done the night before, but there was another option. A moped. Phil and Anna's main mode of transportation around Dresden was bicycle, public transit, and moped. Apparently the term moped is used both in German and English. Phil first tried asking if I would rather walk or take the moped by calling it a scooter. When he explained that you sit on it, and don't stand on it, but it wasn't a motorcycle I answered with "moped" which Phil was shocked to know is what we call it in English as well. I was a little nervous of the idea, but being on the actual moped felt really secure, and I wasn't ever afraid of flying off. We put on our helmets and drove to the building, and it was so much fun. On the day I had arrived in Dresden Phil had talked about us riding bicycles around the city instead of walking. I gave the honest opinion that I hadn't ridden a bike in over ten years and wasn't sure if I would get easily winded or not. There are also a lot more people out on bicycles so factoring in not having other bikes crash into you, and sharing a very narrow road with cars when you're not used to it, didn't seem like the best plan, so we decided against it. 

  In the next blogpost which talks about 9/15 I went to Prague by myself. Both Phil and Anna had to work that particular day so I took a 2 hour bus ride and explored Prague on foot for the day once arriving, so look forward to that tomorrow or in the next few days. :) 

   

Breathtaking Views and Historical Architecture

  9/13  After sleeping in until 9am, I was ready to start my day. I had slept all the way through the night with no challenges. (I sometimes have a hard time falling asleep/staying asleep in new places, but that wasn't the case this night, or at any point of my trip which I am grateful for.) Phil and his wife, Anna set a bowl of assorted breads with assorted jams/spreads, and Phil made white breakfast sausages which he encouraged me to dip in sweet mustard, and I enjoyed it. Anna also made me a coffee. Phil was in between jobs so he had time to show me around during the day which I was grateful for. Anna had been home Monday and Tuesday recovering from a cold and taught from home that day (Wednesday). She works as an art teacher. After breakfast I got my stuff I needed ready for the day. Our first stop would be Dresden's Old Town, which had Dresden's fanciest/most historical buildings including the women's church, and Dresden Castle. 

    I kept finding it amazing how one of the biggest cities in Germany could be so quiet and peaceful. You would never find that in America's biggest cities. People would be talking louder, you would hear cars driving past and beeping their horns, as well as emergency vehicle sirens, but not here. Europe has less need for cars in general, and emergency vehicles are able to get places quickly without using their sirens for the most part. I suspect crime is more easily contained in cities with buildings not so spaced out, and maybe that's what keeps the crime rates lower as well. 

  We took the public transit bus to the historical part of town. We first stopped at the Dresden Castle which was a former royal palace that held royal families for hundreds of years. There's a whole timeline painted as a mural of all the people who had been royalty there. There was also another palace-looking building that I later found out was called "The Zwinger" It would be cool to know the stories behind these buildings, but it was nice enough just looking at them. There was so much to look at. We did end up coming upon an English speaking tour that we would later find out was free that we could have joined. The tour guide also had seemed entertaining. 

    After looking around the palaces we went into a cathedral called Dresden Frauenkirche. It was filled with gold detailing and just so many more intricate details. Luckily we had come right before they had a mini organ concert so we came back to hear it. The organ being played had been saved during a World War II bombing. A lot of the historical buildings are blackened. This is due to the Dresden bombing during World War II. Parts of the buildings were reconstructed, but they left the blackened parts. There was a Memorial to commemorate the bombing in Dresden as well. Phil ended up falling asleep for a bit of the organ concert. It's crazy how loud/boisterous music can feel so calming. During parts of the trip Phil would comment on the tiredness he was feeling, and for the most part I surprisingly felt pretty good. Must have gotten hit with some secondhand jetlag. 

   We stopped at a tiny vendor after the concert for icecream which tasted like Culver's custard, and then were hoping to go up to the viewing tower on top of the ladies church, but it was closed that particular day for construction. The viewing tower let's you look out at all of Dresden from above. While walking to the next destination we came upon a tiny soup restaurant and took it outside to eat for lunch. Phil had to translate the menu of the three different soups and I had a curry soup with cauliflower rice, and Phil had a red lentil soup. The soup was delicious. It was nice over the few days giving each other updates on our lives and on Living Light in general and the people there and how they were doing, and just learning even more about each other. 

  After lunch we sat by the river and watched the geese nearby. Phil said how he never wants to live in a place without some sort of body of water to enjoy. (I know I'm am very grateful to live by Lake Michigan). After enjoying the weather and the calmness of the water we walked over a bridge to where the rich part of Dresden is. It gave off Los Angeles vibes. The rich part of Dresden has houses on bluffs overlooking the city. There is also a restaurant at the top of the bluffs where you can look down at Dresden while you eat. We took a tram to the top of the bluffs near the restaurant, where we looked out onto the city. On the way up to the top I asked the most important question "Why haven't I seen a German Shepherd yet?". Phil said that since most people in Dresden live in apartments that German Shepherds were more common in the countryside. I ended up seeing one later that day while we were walking down the street and excitedly pointed it out. 

    The view at the top of the bluffs was breathtaking as you could probably imagine. In the bluffs there was a park with trails which we walked on for a little bit. You could hear a stream running through which was also very calming. One thing that surprised me was the lack of wildlife I saw, even when I was hiking in Germany. I saw a squirrel, some fish, and geese but that was the extent.  Phil thought that maybe because we were in a major city that the animals might be scared off, but in the US wildlife is prevalent even in the more touristy areas like Rocky Mountain National Park. After the walk we took the tram back down the bluffs, and got on the public transit back towards Phil's apartment. Before getting back to the apartment we stopped at the grocery store for stuff for dinner that night before heading back. Anna had been done with work by that time. 

   Once back at the apartment I helped make German meatballs from Phil's grandmas recipe, while Phil made rice. We ate outside on the balcony again, all three of us while eating. The dish turned out really delicious and was filling. 

    After dinner was cleaned up we ended the night by watching "The Greatest Showman". Phil and Anna had never seen it before. They used a projector to project it onto their wall and we all sat on the couch together. Since Phil's sister lives in the same neighborhood as Phil as was out of town, Phil and Anna had asked her if I could stay in her room during the nights I was in Germany with her roommate so I could have more privacy and more room for my stuff. Also they wouldn't have to worry about waking me up too early when Anna got ready for work etc. Phil's sister agreed, and her roommate was really sweet as well. After finishing the movie Phil and I hauled my stuff over there for the night, and so ended my first full day of being in Germany.