After we said our goodbyes in Prague, which was terribly difficult, we headed for the train station. My best friend Alex misread the ticket and we ended up RUNNING full-speed through the station and down the platform. Picture three backpackers, 50lb bags, hobbling and wheezing down the platform. Hilarious but honestly the worst thing ever. We then proceeded to experience the worst trainride of our lives. Nearly 25 hours in a cramped cab with 3 other people, 6 total with the heater broken at a steady 95 degrees... sitting... all night. I was living in hell. Finally we reached Amsterdam and climbed 5 flights of stairs to our room. Distaster of a travel day.
Amsterdam was beautiful. We did walking tours through the city and saw the Red-Light District. That was simply unreal. Women were standing in red-lit windows looking for customers and knocking on the glass trying to get our attention. It felt like a movie. After several visits to "coffeeshops" (sorry mom) and multiple chocolate waffels later we were in love with the city. It was perfect up until I got the flu. Amsterdam fun, over. I spent the next 2 days hovering over the porcelain throne wishing I would just get it over with and die.
From Amsterdam we took a short plane ride to Dublin. It might have been my favorite place next to Munich. Christmas lights, pubs, and live music everywhere. Feeling much better by then, we ate our first big meal, Irish Breakfast. Simply amazing. A fried egg, two types of puddings, a deep-fryed potato ball, sausage, ham, baked beans and toast. We went back to get more later in the trip. It really reminded me of breakfast at home, which I miss a lot. We also went to the Guinness factory and learned how to pour the perfect pint. Pretty useful information if I do say so myself. On one of the last days we went into downtown and took pictures for my friend DJ's photography project. Along the way we found some of the best street performers I've seen on the whole trip. We even sang with a group who will be heading to Wisconsin on a tour later in the year.
As of right now we are in London. It's painfully expensive but the city is beautiful and the people have been really nice. We went to the London Bridge the first day and met a extremely talkative old man who offered to give us a free tour. Generally, when someone approaches you offering to lead you around a city you say no. What's in it for them? Are you leading me down a dark alley to steal my things? Well he actually just turned out to be a really cool old guy with some time to kill. He told us all about the history of London and brought us to check out views of old buildings, bridges, the Big Ben and a Christmas market. Everything was great until DJ recieved a text from his father wishing for us to have a good time at the Florence and the Machine concert.
Wait.
What?
That isn't two days from now?
If his father wouldn't have messaged him we would have missed the last big event of our trip. Phew! We said goodbye to our tourguide and hopped on the tube to get home.
The concert was everything I could have hoped for. Even though we were in the nosebleeds of the biggest venue I've ever been to, it was still incredible. Florence Welch's voice is like liquid gold.
Today we spent more time at the Christmas market and I purchased a hand-made leather journal. Maybe I'll start actually writing again. This blog has at least minorly got me back into the habit. We plan soon to head out to dinner and maybe grab a pint or two.
Tomorrow we're going to Harry Potter Studios. I'm stoked. I'll be sure to write about it in my last and final Europe blog... which I'm not fully excited to do.
Cheers!
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