Jeder Tag ist ein Geschenk

Hallo! Wie geht es Ihnen?" Yes, I know that almost everyone who is reading this blog post probably doesn't understand what I just said, but I thought it was only appropriate to post in German since I went there this weekend, and it was absolutely amazing!!!  I had studied the German language for four years in High school and ever since then I was intrigued by the country and have wanted to visit.  Well that dream has come true and it definitely lived up to everything I thought it would be and even more, besides some very irritating hiccups...

Now let me dive into the details of my trip.  Vianna and met up and left for the train station at 3am on Friday.  I had only got an hour of sleep beforehand, because for some reason I thought completing a puzzle was more important than sleep...oops.  Anyways we stumbled to the train station to only find out that train don't go out until 5 or 6am...then how were we able to buy tickets for 3:45 is beyond me.  At this point we are both panicking a little because we don't know how we are going to get to the airport.  We decided to bother the gentleman that was working front desk to see if he could help us and he ended up pretty much saving our lives.  He told us how to get to the bus that would take us to the airport, and then we were on our way.  We got to the airport about 30 minutes before we were supposed to get on our plane and of course security was going super slow.  I don't know how we did it, but by 7:45 we were safely on our flight to Cologne, Germany!

The flight went pretty well, and my ears actually popped this time haha.  We then went on to figure out how we are going to get to our hostile.  We got some help from the travel center and hopped on a train.  The transportation system is kind of confusing, especially since it is all in a different language.  Again, some how we figured it all out.  Cologne is absolutely beautiful.  The little part of the town that our hostile was located in was very cute and all of the houses we painted a different color.  We couldn't check into our hostile until 5pm, so we went and walked around and shopped.  We also got lunch at a little restaurant/bar called Bella Vita.  I ordered a calzone that had mushrooms, ham, and after eating a little bit of it I discovered that it also had egg....ewww.  Well besides that it was delicious.   After we were done eating, our waitress asked us if we wanted a German pudding dessert, we looked at each other and said might as well.  It turned out to be very good!

After finding and getting situated into our hostile, we decided to travel and see the famous Cologne Cathedral.  We arrived at the Cologne Central Station and decided to ask someone who was working at a souvenir shop where it was.  She just told us to go left, we looked at each other kind of confused.  But after leaving the station we soon discovered that the cathedral was literally right outside, it towered over us and was enormous.  I definitely understand why it is so famous, it is absolutely stunning!  After seeing the cathedral we decided to head back to the hostile, seeing as though we had to get up at 12:30am to catch a train to Berlin.  Here's to not getting sleep this weekend, but it was all worth it.

After getting about two hours of sleep we were off again.  We got on our train without a hitch and it was nice not having to stress out about traveling.  I got a nice nap on the train, but as soon as I fell into a deeper sleep we had to transfer trains...awesome.  We transferred in Hamburg, and it was freezing.  I was literally shaking like a leaf.  The train came and we were finally on our way to Berlin!  I was so excited that I gave up napping and just gazed out the window.  From what I had seen thus far, Germany is beautiful and I love it!  I just couldn't wait until we got to the capital!

We arrived to the Berlin Central Station at about 10am.  The station was huge and it felt like a mall.  There were a lot of stores and many restaurants.  We ended up staying there for about two hours because we couldn't check into our hostel until 1pm.  I decided to get a pretzel, because that was on my list of foods to get while in Germany.  Then, we ventured out to find our hostile.  It turns out that where we were staying was bam smack in the middle of everything!  It was perfect and the first thing I noticed was how modern it was decorated...of course.  We then sat down and made an itinerary of everything we wanted to see.  We walked around the area of our hostile ad stumbled up on Brandenburg Gate.  It was very massive and of course we had to stop and take pictures.  Germany is so picturesque and it was definitely easy for me to snap a beautiful photograph.  We then continued to walk around and found some monuments, the Berlin Dome, and Alexanderplatz.  Our plan for the night was to go to the Topography of Terror which was a museum about the Holocaust.  It was very interesting.  We then went to go see the Berlin Mall, it was gigantic!  You could easily spend a day in there but we only had a couple hours, because we discovered that it closed at 9pm.  We got dinner at Wienerwald and I finally got my schnitzel!  It was so good and I think I found my favorite food in Germany.  After a long couple of days we headed home for a good nights sleep.

The next morning we had so much planned, but the weather was not really cooperating with us.  It was very cold and rainy, but we trudged on.  The first stop was a visit to the Berlin Wall, because when in Berlin you have to see the wall!  It was so cool being able to see this historic monument and I even got to touch it even though you are not supposed to...shush...After having wet feet and being extremely cold, we decided to start heading back.  We had to go back to the Berlin Central Station and I mad it my main mission to get a bratwurst and I did!  It was so good.  As we waited for our train back to Cologne, we just relaxed. 

Upon returning to Cologne, we thought we would have ample time to get to the airport, but it turns out that we were pushing it.  We had asked someone for directions, but they weren't completely right, because they never told us that we had to transfer trains.  We got to the airport again 30 minutes before our flight, and security was a major pain.  I though it would be easy because it was easy when we were leaving London...nope!  I was getting so frustrated because we were getting the run around and the people were so rude.  I just took a deep breathe and got through it.  We then found out that our flight was delayed 20 minutes, just another thing to happen to us this weekend.  After finally getting on the plane, we were on our way back to London.  This flight back was a lot worse then the flight to Germany.  It reminded me a lot of the flight from Chicago.  My ears would not pop and I got a major headache, maybe it is something to do with flying at night?  Anyways we got back home around midnight. 

This weekend was pretty jam packed, and I loved every minute of it, even the stressful parts because they made great stories.  While in Germany there were a few things I noticed. 

1. Every where you look, Germany is beautiful. 
2. Transportation is free, well if you don't get caught.  There isn't anyone monitoring if you get tickets, and it is wonderful.
3. Cologne doesn't get a lot of tourists.  Whenever Vianna and I would talk, we would get starred at, it was really strange.
4. Berlin is full of horse-drawn carriages, maybe that explains the smell...
5. The food is delicious.  Schnitzel is definitely my new favorite thing.
6. I think I was supposed to live in Germany, just kidding.  But really I enjoyed it so much and it felt like home for some reason.  I can't wait to go back.

Okay, I think I am done, I told you that would be a long one.  I hope to post again on Sunday, but If I don't I hope you all have a great week and fun weekend! Tschüss! - Heather