Friends friends friends

Well the bad news is my laptop is done, kaputt, fertig! The tech guy said it needs a new LCD screen and the hard drive is "getting bad" so looks like March will be a very expensive month for me. The good news is I was able to salvage all my pictures and other files, I also downloaded the last of my Germany and London pics!!!

Our last night in Dresden we met up with Kate's friend Sarah for her birthday!
Kate bought a present for Sarah and because she had no ribbon she used this scarf instead....she also threw in some Ritter Sport chocolate, Halbbitter, my favorite!


Kate with her beautiful wrapping job.
Kate with her beautiful wrapping job.

White Russians (one of my favorite drinks) In Germany have a thicker cream than in the US and are VERY good (aka VERY strong)

Our English friend Robbie with a White Russian, don't get him started telling jokes because he won't stop. Looks like Kate is having a laugh though!


Pretending to be friends.


Greeting one of our new German friends....I'm not sure if he is enjoying our air kiss or looking for something he dropped on the floor?

Another German friend.



The tram outside Kate's apartment in on Louisenstrasse.



At the hotel in Berlin, our reaction to hanging out with Kate so much.


Then on to London!!!!!
A blurred view of the Thames.


Liza outside Piccadilly Cirus, the "Time Square" of London.


Its not Chapati but it was good! I was a fan of the Kingfisher beer. The waiter told us that one order of Naan (the Indain bread that is taking over my entire plate) would not be big enough to split....

So we both enjoyed our own gigantic Naans. The waiter kept calling the tap water that you see in the wine glass their "very best white"...I think he has a lying problem. \
Anyway those are the shots from the rest of my trip! Tonight along with the rest of Madison I'll be watching Wisconsin play Davidson in the Sweet 16! Very exciting!

funny

My very beautiful and talented cousin is on her way to becoming a film director, check out her work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITsDDKF0z3c

Miss Lauren Ferrel

LONDON

I arrived in London after an hourlong flight. I didn't know who was going to meet me. I have two friends who live in London, Liza who is an old college friend and Max a friend from my summers at Camp Manito-wish. I told both I was arriving but when I got off the plance no one was there! I decided to wait around for a bit and good thing I did because there was Liza!!!! I haven't seen her for years and it was so nice to finally catch up. Sadly I missed Max who did show up but must have been after we left.

We took the tube into downtown London ($20!!!!) and decided to hit up the most touristy location, Piccadilly Cirus. It reminded me of Times Square with all the billboards, etc.

It was a chilly but gorgeous night and we walked around a little bit looking for a good place to eat. We finally settled on an Indian restaurant nearby (mainly because a guy gave us a %10 off coupon!). It was delicious and reminded me of our many trips to Chapati, my favorite Indian restaurant in Northfield where we went to college.

After we ate we decided to walk around. Easter is a huge deal and everything was closed on Easter Sunday. However we walked down to the Thames River and along the river for a while. We saw lots of landmarks but weren't totally sure what they were. We did see a sign for Westminister Abby which was gorgeous at nighttime!

The London eye and a view from the Thames (courtesy of the internet)

Then my camera broke which I guess has been a long time coming (I got it in 2005 before going to Australia and it has melted in the Australian sun, riden an elephant in Thailand, travelled around Germany on two different occasians and has been abused at countless bars in Northfield, Minneapolis, North Carolina and Madison).

Suddenly it was close to the time the tube was going to shut down (they stop at 11:30) so we hopped on and I said goodbye to Liza. Then I rode the rest of the hourlong journey across from various suspicious looking people.

It was so wonderful to see her but it wasn't for long enough. I didn't sleep a wink that night in the hotel because I was paranoid about missing my flight. I got out of my gigantic king size bed around 5:30am and took the bus to the airport. My flight left around 9am and I was back in America 8 hours later.

So now I am back in Madison almost completely broke (with a broken laptop and computer!). Its great to hear that UNC AND Wisconsin are both in the Sweet 16!!! I can't wait to watch them play on Thursday and Friday.

Hopefully I'll have my computer back and pictures up by this weekend.

Last day in Berlin

Here is a recap of the rest of my trip, these pictures were stolen from Kate, mine will have to come later because my laptop starting acting crazy and I'm not sure how to upload photos onto my computer at work.

If you have read adventureswithoutkyla.blogspot.com then you know a lot of the story.

Last Saturday Kate and I woke up VERY early after VERY little sleep thanks to the Dresden nightlife to catch a train to Berlin. We rode with Kate's english friend Robbie who was going on vacation in Spain. Actually we didn't ride with him because Kate and I had first class tickets as we are so fabulous (and they were the same price as coach....). I bought a hardboiled egg and cucumber sandwhich (only in Germany) and then slept the entire 2 hours. Kate and Robbie had a rendevous in the coffee cart and watched the beautiful German countryside roll by.

Once in Berlin we checked into our gorgeous hotel room complete with a redcarpet to the street and walked around. We went into a million shoe shops because Kate was on a mission to find cute boots. Unfortunaly in Germany boot season is OVER which means no boots being sold, not even on sale. Kate accredits this to the fact that Germans are obsessed with what is "in season" and would not be caught dead selling something out of season. We did find one rouge store with cute boots but no luck for Kate.

In front of the Erotik Museum.

Then it was time to get Anna!!! We took a bus to the airport, ate at the Burger King and watched Anna through the glass as she got her bags. It was so good to see her! We then took the bus back to Berlin and walked around some more. Our day ended with delicious pizza and Snakebites from the Irish Pub that Kate and I frequented back when we visited Germany in college. We of course stocked up on lots of chocolate, went back to the room and passed out. Poor Anna had to sleep in between the two single mattresses where there was a gapping hole, Kate and I also took the two pillows...hey we are old ladies!

Snakebites Kate is sad that 1) I am leaving tomorrow and 2) She just doesn't get checked out by German dudes like me and Anna!

Sunday was my last day :( We had a traditional German breakfast of Dunkin Donuts, walked around the city, educated Anna on some facts she did not know (like what city the Berlin wall is in...) and then went to the airport! We ate at Burger King again (yes my last day in Germany was complete with both Dunkin Donuts AND Burger King), Kate checked out the guy behind the counter...and the guy by the door....and the janitor while Anna and I had to avoid the lusting gazes of every man in the place. At Dunkin

My departure was very sad, espcially knowing that they are continuing the German adventure without me. Then it was off to London!

LAZY

Actually just read what Kate and Anna wrote 1)here and 2)here because I'm too tired to do it myself :)

Adventures without Kyla :(

Arrived back home safe and sound. Check out Kate and Anna's new blog Adventures Without Kyla to watch the German adventure continue! Once I get myself settled I'll post all about Berlin and London.

traveling home

Right now I'm in London waiting to take my last flight home. We had a great time in Berlin with Anna. We took a train from Dresden to Berlin on Saturday morning and picked her up from the airport on Saturday afternoon. It was so much fun to see her! The first thing she wanted to do was pick up lots of german chocolate.

I left for London yesterday evening and was met by a good friend, Liza, who lives here in London last night. I'll post about Berlin and London when I'm back because now I've got a flight to catch!

Kate and Anna have been inspired to start their own blog which they say might even be named Adventureswithoutkyla.blogspot.com, but we will know for sure in a couple of days! I'll def let you know. Until then!

Easter weekend.

The weather here in Dresden is out of control!!! First it snows like a blizzard and then the sun is out and its warm again! And five minutes later....
Yesterday was Kate's last day of school before spring break so we decided to celebrate. Unfortunatly we stumbled upon a two-for-the-price-of-one cocktail hour and while Kate's German seems perfect elsewhere she "supposedly" made the mistake of ordering us each 2 of each drink.

Anyway we had a great night, spoke some German and did some tanzen (dancing) to very dated American music.

Today is a holiday so not much is open. We nixed the idea of going to Prague because of the horrible weather and decided to beautify ourselves instead! Then we had a delicious brunch of crepes and applesauce, scrambled eggs, yogurt and museli, smoked salmon, fruit and my first ever taste of wiener schnitzel!

Tomorrow is back to Berlin to pick up Anna, spend my last few Euros and see more sights! Then I'll be spending the night in London and hopefully doing some fun stuff during my 16 hour layover. I'll try to write when I can! Bis Spaeter!

Frauenkirche and snow?

Yesterday I helped Kate with one of her theater classes which was fun, these kids were younger than the horrors from Monday and were very well behaved and excited to be in the class. Afterwards we walked around Dresden. And it SNOWED. Just when I thought I had escaped the mountains of snow in Madison it started really coming down. It only lasted a little while though and soon it was sunny and clear again.

We finally saw the Frauenkirche, one of Dresden's most famous sites. It was completely flattened(along with the rest of the city) by the British and Americans during World War II, and was left a wreck when the Soviets were in charge of East Germany. As you can see from the picture below it has been rebuilt. The black sandstone bricks are the bricks that they salvaged from the original church. They were put back in exactly the same place that they had been originally which I find to be amazing. The new church is also made of sandstone and eventually the whole thing will be black again as the sandstone oxidizes.

I think Dresden is gorgeous despite all of the construction going on. Pictures of the city are below.

Here is the church in 1991 before reconstruction.

Some Police walking with a suspicious man.

Another view of the Frauenkirche

Kate in front of the river Elbe, behind her you can see the Frauenkirche. She is trying to hide the fact that she is drinking a coffee from McCafe...

Me also in front of the Elbe with Alt Stadt and the Kirche behind me.

O'Olson and O'Taylor on St. Pattys Day!

I visited Kate at school yesterday. After waking up I took the tram to where she works, it was actually quite an anxious experience because I had two major problems. The first was that after getting on I realized I was in the wrong section of the train to buy a tram ticket so I had to "black ride" (ride illegally). If they had been checking tickets there is a 20-40 Euro fine. The second problem was I didn't know how to open the door to get off the tram. I was worried I'd be stuck on there for stop after stop after I wanted to get off and then not be able to find my way back! Luckily someone else was getting off at my stop so it wasn't a problem.

We had bagels and lattes at a little cafe for lunch and then walked over to the Dresden International School. It was really fun to watch the classes. The 6th graders did little musicals to the Frog Prince and the 9th graders (true nightmares) "danced" to Chicago. I seriously don't know how Kate keeps her patience so well with those older kids, they were awful! Never listening, always trying to act too cool and impress one another.

I decided to walk around a little bit before Kate was done for the day and whoops! I accidentally ended up in the gigantic mall called Alte Galerie which has 3 floors of all the best stores in Germany! I don't know how I wandered in there! Sadly the only thing I could afford was an Obst Salate (fruit salad, because fruit is very cheap here).

After that I picked up Kate from school and we headed for home, stopping briefly at the local Döner (kebab) place where the owner told us a few too many times that he was madly in love with us (Kate stops by all the time.) He served us some green tea and a delicious Döner. Döners originate from Turkey and Germany's large Turkish population is the reason for their widespread sale here. Wikipedia says that Germans consume 200 to 300 metric tonnes of Döner per day!
With Döner man who squeezed us a wee bit too tight....looks like he is pickpocketing me!

Kate is excited about the döners.

Then in honor of St. Patty's day we went back to the Shamrock pub and had a couple pints of Guinness and German cider.


mmmm! O'Taylor has a Guiness!O'Olson looks like a Leprechaun!

A little Dresden.

Dresden has been quite the adventure so far. After arriving we took a short trip to the grocery store and stocked up on German staples including Ritter Sport chocolate and Haribo gummi bears. After a delicious dinner that Kate cooked up we headed out to an Irish bar called the Shamrock to meet up with some of her friends. After a little while the others went to catch a Chinese Rock Concert and we went to a local hotspot in Neue Stadt (Neue Stadt is where Kate lives, the famous sites of Dresden that were bombed during the war such as the Frauen Kirche are all a short tram ride away in Alte Stadt.)

Kate's german is so good now after living in Germany for 2 years that one guy actually didn't believe she was American, it is great to have her as my host!

Here are a few pics:
Here is Kate partying hard.
Still a little jet lagged.

Today I'm going to visit Kate at school, should be fun!

Berlin!

So Kate and I are now in Dresden hanging out at her apartment. We slept in late and are feasting on Nutella and toast.

Friday night Kate and her English friend Robbie picked me up from the airport….after their GPS lead them to a field and not Berlin Tegel Airport…luckily my flight had been delayed and we all arrived about the same time. Then we checked into the Backpacker Hostel and walked down Oranienstrasse to find a place to eat. All of the U-bahns (underground subways) are closed because of a drivers strike! This means either walking or taxis around the city.


Kate and Robbie checking into the hostel.

Berliner Beer.

The next day we walked along the famous Unter Den Linden towards the Brandenburg Gate and got some “traditional German coffee”.

The Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of division during the Cold War, was where Ronald Reagan said the famous words “Mr. Gorbachev—tear down this wall”. Two years later, in 1989, the wall was torn down. The gate also stands near the new American Embassy, which is under construction, and the Hotel Adlon which is where Michael Jackson held his child over the railing.

Kate and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

We thought this couple was being a little overdramatic with their goodbyes. He has a suitcase and she is holding a bouquet of roses. They were hugging and kissing like this the entire time we were there. This is kind of strange because there aren't any airports or train stations in the vicinity.

I met some cute soldiers and the winner of the 2008 Berlin Bear contest! (The soldier on the left is a real person and the one on the right is not, I finally figured this out after a good 10 minutes of staring at them.)

We then walked to the Siegessaule, the Column of Victory, which stands at the heart of the Tiergarten. We climbed to the top of the Column’s spiral staircase (NOT easy) and got a great view of the surrounding city including the Brandenburg Gate and beyond that the TV Tower on Alexanderplatz which the Soviets were said to use to spy on the West. I also learned that the Siegessaula has become a symbol of Berlin’s gay community and the park surrounding it is a popular cruising spot for gay men.

Victory Column and gay men cruising?

We cut through a park, passed the Berlin Zoo (home of the once adorable baby polar bear, Knut...he is now just a regular polar bear.) and came out onto Kurfurstendam, the shop lined street of West Berlin, to see the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtness Kirche. This church was bombed in World War II and was never rebuilt to remain a reminder of the war. We also checked out the famous high end department store KaDeWe, another symbol of the West’s prosperity and superiority over the East during the Cold War. Kate and I went to the 6^th floor which is entirely dedicated to luxury food and bought some chocolate.

Then Kate suggested we walk to the Sony Center which was “right around the corner” at Potsdamer Platz…we walked for over an hour and finally saw it. We stopped for a coffee and then took a cab back to Robbie’s car and drove the 2 hours back to Dresden.

Spotted!! Kate and Jude Law in London!

In Dresden.

We made it to Dresden after spending Friday night and most of today hanging out in Berlin. More to come (with pictures)!

"Dollar Plunge Sets off Global Alarm Bells"

This was the headline on the Daily Telegraph that I got free with my Vittel water at Heathrow. I knew the situation with the dollar was bad but since there is nothing I can do about it, besides be as thrifty as possible with my money, I was going to blissfully ignore the problem. Spending Pounds and Euros feels like spending play money and my plan was to deal with the actual consequences once I returned home. But I HAD to look at the headline and then read the article about how “we’re in the eye of the dollar storm” and how this trip will probably make me go broke (as I sip my café latte and eat a ham and egg sandwhich).

The flight from Madison to Chicago took literally 20 minutes. It was delayed by about 45 minutes but we still made it almost on time, for some reason they estimated the flight would take an hour. I had 30 minutes to make my connecting flight to London and thought I was going to get away with having an empty seat next to me but at the last minute a guy probably in his 50s came and sat down. Then he proceeded to put on a pair of “travel socks” over his other pair of socks, do some stretches and tell me that the book I was reading was a “brave” choice for a plane ride (Alive by Piers Paul Read, the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team who were stranded in the Andes for 72 days after their plane crashed--it is really good). He was a banker from California going to Ghana on business, which he says he does about 4 times a year. I got quite a few more travel tips than I needed or wanted from him but at least he wasn’t overly large or smell bad!

Anyway, here I am in Heathrow for a couple hours bravely reading my book, drinking expensive espresso and watching dollars disappear without even spending them.

Next stop Berlin!

FINALLY LEAVING (after I do a million things)

So I am leaving for GERMANY in two days!!! I just have to do laundry, pack, buy a plug-in thingy so I can use my laptop, headset so I can chat to my mom in Indonesia on Skype, oh and take TWO midterms....This should be interesting. Stressed? Me? No way.

I'll be leaving Madison Thursday night around 7pm then taking the Chicago--London--Berlin route. Kate (Olson) and a teacher friend of hers are driving to Berlin to pick me up.

We are staying here in Berlin on Friday night. I am SO excited. After a night in Berlin we will be heading back to Dresden where she lives. I'm excited to see the school where she works (she says I might even get to be her assistant teacher for a day or two...she teaches english and theatre--I think) and just relax after this very stressful week. I'm not sure what we (or I since she is working Mon-Thursday) will be doing but I'm up for just being a tourist or relaxing at a cafe, or going shopping.... I'm not going to be too picky. :)

I'll be sure to keep up my blog while I'm there! Wish me luck on the exams!