Berlin

   I don't even know where to start with Berlin. The tragic history, the present "poor" status of Berlin, the young vibe, and the fact that it was built to accommodate about 10 million people but currently only houses less then 4 million. Berlin is a truly awesome, and very unique city. After being virtually the epicenter of not only the First and Second world wars, but also the Cold war this city is bathing in the glory of its new found freedom. It has a young, liberal, laid back vibe that resonates through every aspect of Berlin. The best example of this can be found in the abundance of street art that paints almost every wall or building in the city. The art scene is abundant, colourful and fascinating. Artists from around the world come to leave their mark on Berlin.

   I had the chance to take part in a street art tour through the city and a stenciling workshop. On the tour the history of street art, graffiti and tagging was explained, as well as information about some of Berlin's (and Europe's) most infamous artists, most of whom like to remain anonymous. At the end of the tour we were able to make our own stencils and spray our own art on to canvases. I enjoyed having the chance to express some of the inspiration I had built up while viewing Berlins art scene.

  In addition to the street art, The East Side Gallery is a 1.3 km stretch of the Berlin wall that has been transformed into an outdoor art gallery displaying works created by artists from around the world. All of the pieces express a sense of hope, peace, and unity for all of the worlds nations that is symbolic of the fall of the wall in 1989, when East and West germany were reunited.

   I fell in love with Berlin and everything that it stood for. I hope that some of my photos can do justice to the inspirational nature that I felt in this city.

Be one with the shiny boobed sculpture.

Hot Dog

So I visited Frankfurt.... and I found it really boring. The only things note worthy that I did were wander the streets, buy some summer shirts, go up Main Tower and go to the zoo. Oh, and eat a lot of ice cream. There were quite a few museums but none of them seemed very unique so I skipped them. There were hardly any nice old buildings to look at either. Most of the original buildings were destroyed during the war and instead of restoring them they just made all new ones. So anyways... not much to say about Frankfurt other then my hostel had amazing breakfasts. Here are some pictures instead.

Bierbike! I wish I had done this!

 View from Main Tower.

 Gilaffes just for you Vangy... If you are still out there somewhere... Are you still alive??

A seriously serious primate for you, Rach!

There is a great story that comes along with this photo. All of the llamas were minding their business eating away when this little girl came running over to the fence. She spooked the fuzzy-headed llama who made a fuss, ran around a bit and then spooked the others. Then, all of them jumped around and stood staring at the little girl while they continued to chew their mouthfuls of grass. They would NOT take theirs eyes off of her! I had a good chuckle but maybe its just me. Animals tend to make me laugh no matter what!

Amsterdammetjes

   From London, I flew into Amsterdam. Of course, that was after spending the night in the airport. It didn't quite make sense to pay for a few hours of sleep in a hostel only to get up in the middle of the night for my 5:20 boarding time. Plus, the Easybus wasn't running at that hour and it was the least expensive way of getting to the Gatwick Airport. So, I opted for the long night in the airport instead. I hopped on the airport bus around 23:30 and arrived at the airport about an hour later. After finding a comfy place to settled down for the next few hours I passed the time reading on my Kindle and having a few short naps. After checking my luggage around 4am I made my way to find myself a bite to eat. However, the shops didn't open until 4:30am so I wasted more time before finally being able to get a snack and then having yet another nap before boarding time.

  I was incredibly exhausted by the time I made it to my hostel in Amsterdam around 10am. I was relieved that I was allowed to check in to my room early. After a wonderfully refreshing and much needed shower I decided to get some errands done. Errand #1- Lunch. Errand # 2 - post office. Well... By the time I was done errand #1, I was so exhausted from the last 24 hours that I didn't have it in me to venture out to find a post office. I took it easy for the rest of the night and managed to stay up until a reasonable hour before going to bed.

   After a good nights rest I was ready to starting wandering the infamous Amsterdam streets and canals. I started my day with a New Europe walking tour. I have done quite a few of their walking tours and they are always very well done. They do a 3 hour free walking tour in most of Europes major cities and they usually offer several paid tours per city also. They only work for tips on the free walking tour and I am more then happy to pay for the personable yet very knowledgeable guides they provide.

  After the walking tour I spent the rest of the day wandering the city with two American gals I had met from my hostel. Amsterdam is a small city and its easily walkable from almost anywhere... or bikeable, which is how the locals get around. Its insane to see the way the bike traffics operate in the same way vehicles would in other cities. The city is strangely quiet from the lack of vehicles on the road, with the exception being the ringing bike bells telling pedestrians to "move it or else"!

   The second day I mostly wandered again. I met up with Carole Ann, a Canadian I met in Nice, and her friend, who is also from Canada. We went to the Hollandsche Manage (Holland riding school) to check out the beautiful historic building and see the beautiful horses and ponies. We rented bikes and rode through the park for awhile before going back to the hostel in the late afternoon. In the evening, I met up with one of the Canadian guys I'd met at the hostel. We decided to check out the Liberation Day events in the square that evening. It was basically the same ceremony that we have on Remembrance Day but they do it in the evening. It was kind of exciting to be there as a Canadian since we were the ones that helped liberate the Dutch in 1945. We ended the evening in one of the many coffee shops in Amsterdam.

My last full day in Amsterdam was spent wandering even more and seeing the things I hadn't seen yet. Anne Frank House, and the The World press photo Exhibit being the top of my list. I met up with Carole Ann again later for an evening at the coffeeshop. We went for a walk through the red light district and stumbled upon an outdoor concert in the main square as part of the two day Liberation Day events. Now that was very UNLIKE our Canadian way of celebrating Remembrance day. I guess for them its more to remember the horrible things that happened and the people that died and then to celebrate being Liberated also. For us its more just remembering those who died. I think we should make our Canadian Remembrance day two days also so we can make the second day a party for our freedom. Who's in?!

 For Vangy: I met Peko again. He was sailing down some canals.

 Milkshakes at the coffeeshop... SO GOOD!

 One of the Amsterdammetjes. Yep, its shaped like a penis. And it says XXX which actually just comes from their coat of arms and doesn't have a dirty meaning. During Gay pride they put a giant one of these on a boat because the parade takes place down the canal. However, to go under the bridges it deflates and the crowd says "Booooo" until it pops back up on the other side of the bridge and everyone cheers.

 The infamous tulips.

Cake at the coffee shop. Yum!