sorry it takes so long for me to update this thing- we are running around all the time!! starting from where i left off...
Barbara's house in Odendorf Germany was AMAZING!- i learned a lot through her hospitality and warm spirit!- she was so generous and was an awesome cook! One of our favorite places to go near Barbara's house was a little gelato shop that served ice cream in the shape of meals! One afternoon we took a couple day trip to Darmstadt, where we met Rolland, one of Barbara's sons that lives there.

Coincidentally, the town was having a huge concert where they shut down all the streets and have stages everywhere... apparently Rolland is pretty popular in this college town and we had VIP passes to everywhere... on stage with the semi- famous DJ, we got our own bathroom that Rolland was really excited about. We also met a prince of Darmstadt. Not prince in the context of a political leader, but he was born into old royalty and is worth 2 billion dollars... the extremely white, fake teeth gave him away! He invited us to his pool party on the 14th of June, but unfortunately we will be in Italy :)

The train rides between these places have been a huge highlight. Sitting and getting the time to reflect while watching the amazing scenery fly by is an awesome blessing. Beautiful castles a top rolling green hills, rivers, quaint villages with gorgeous architecture!! It truly is a fairy tale place!

We also went to a school play while in Odendorf- it was called line one- we couldn't understand a word of it, but a little girl told us after that it was about a girl who went to Berlin on the train system and got lost...or something like that.

The morning that we left for Berlin, we stopped in at the local firefighters festival=- had some bratwurst and sourkrout! In Berlin we stayed with a man who works in parliament named Johannes. He was one of Barbara's friends and soon became our adopted father... running around going out of his way to show us how to get here and there and offering us more towels than we could handle. His English was pretty good with a couple slip ups that gave us some good laughs. One of which was when he was trying to tell us that the grocery store further down was cheaper, he said "The second magazine on the left sells cheaper men"!!!! Funny story- The night that we arrived, we were supposed to just go into his apartment with a key that he left us because he wasn't going to be home until 11. We missed our train and arrived around 11:30- we thought he was asleep inside, but couldn't get the key to work... we rang the bell, feeling horrible we may wake him up. just as we sat down to write a note that would explain the tent we were planning on setting up in the front yard of his apartment building, he came up the stairs and showed us kindly that the key did in fact work, and that we had been sitting outside on the stairs that hour for no reason!!

While in Berlin, we took a city of the tour- you know the kind where you sit on an open air bus with headphones that you can barely understand because it is echoing 30 different languages from the stations next to the English one. It was wonderful- we stopped and visited the Jewish Museum that was very impactful. Memorials, and posted stories of the victims of the Holocaust were very powerful. We learned a lot and felt like they brought a little more perspective to those stories that we had heard in history class.

We also visited the parliament, once again VIP style- we got to go in all of the old buildings and through secret passageways (so we like to think)- we climbed to the top of the glass dome in parliament that overlooks the entire city- the contrast between the east and west side of the, old, Berlin wall is shocking. The west green and beautiful- the teirgarten takes up most of the eyes view, but the east is full of buildings and streets. That same afternoon, Hope and I went to a man made beach on a lake in Berlin. They had a water slide that you had to swim out to- It was fun just getting to play in the water and check watch the overweight men in speedos get really excited about their game of life size chess!

One morning we took a 45 minute metro ride outside of Berlin to see a concentration camp. It was called Sachsenhausen. It was incredible and really emotionally draining. We walked through and listened to the stories of the people that once inhabited the barracks that we were now walking through. It made it all very real to us. Seeing the tiny bathrooms that 200 men would share- the toilets where the ruthless guards would drown innocent victims... we saw the infirmary where they would infect small children with hepatitis for experimentation- we saw the execution wall and the mass burial ground. Its impact was indescribable.

It was truely incredible to be in a place so rich with history. These are the places we've learned about for years and years, and there we were standing where Hitler has stood and seeing where these things actually took place. Hope and I stopped at what is left of the Berlin wall on our way out of Berlin to the Czech Republic.

We made it there safely only after witnessing a grown man, probably 6 foot 2, 250 lbs squeezed into a tiny, shiny, hot pink dress with his butt cheeks hanging out in the back- he had long hair and bright lipstick smeared all over his face, he was carrying some kind of alcohol in one hand and was being escorted by a couple of police officers!!- GOODBYE BERLIN!!

Prague is beautiful once you figure out how to get around- not such an easy task- after asking at least 7 people (all of them pointing different directions for the same destination)- talking to the info lady who knew 2 words of English- "don't know" - and taking a couple wrong trams, we found our hostel, which was up a gruelingly steep hill that was wet from the rain- we gave some people good laughs slipping and sliding our way up it with our oversized back packs!!

Hope and I went in search of a tour and came across a man that seemed to know where he was and what he was talking about- we approached him and asked him where the info center was, to which he replied, "I am the info center" (lie number 1 of many!!) He then spent the next half hour explaining to us that his boat tour was by far the best way to see Prague... Off he went about how our bodies are made of 70 percent water and how we subconsciously crave it... that on the molecular level we belong to the water... when we'd ask the price- he would go off about how it would change our lives and you cant put a price on that... how when we look in those swans eyes we wont be thinking about the money we spent. we couldn't control ourselves- we could not stop laughing... it was pretty bad because the guy was serious when he said "I am not a seller, I am a savior- ".

The best part of Prague was the 5 hour walking tour of the city (we found it after literally walking away from the boat tour guy as he shouted "fine just join the mindless gob of lifeless tourists on that useless walking tour" ) that we took after taking a nap in a park next to some artists painting the old Czech parliament building. I honestly can't recall a single thing that I learned from the tour- maybe a couple random historical facts, but the real learning came from the people that we toured with!

Lead by short tempered Martin, who spoke horrible English and waved his orange umbrella like he was king of the republic. There we 2 Mexican guys that joined the group- one of which was wearing a tank top and capre, lime green/florescent yellow Adidas joggers suit- We found out later his name is Dante and he is a heavy metal singer- it was quite entertaining when he would pull out his brush randomly on the tour and brush his pony tail that came close to touching his lower back. His friend bailed on the tour about a third the way through frustrated that he couldn't understand the guides English. Hope and I sat back and laughed as we watched Martin and the other guy discuss the money that he should get refunded...! The other two people that joined the tour were a true gift from God.

Mr and Mrs Haply- Columbian and here visiting one of their two daughters in Munich- I honestly don't know if I've met two more content and joyful people in my life- and they were so in love!! They were both at least a foot shorter than I and struggled understanding English as their second language to spanish! They were so content to just go along though (even though i can't imagine how much they could understand MArtin, Hope and I , pretty fluent in English, could barely make out what he was saying)- At one point Mrs Haply leaned over and told me "if you take 2 or 3 of the same tours, by the end you can usually understand a little bit of what they are teaching"-- It was a real gift to watch 2 older people enjoy one another so much-

I will never forget this image- Rocker Dante whispering to himself as he recorded the historical sights... Martin saying who knows what about some random statue- Mrs Happly a good 4 inchs from Martins mouth trying to read his lips and squeeze out any meaning she could make of what he may be saying... Mr Happly contently wandering around and listening in on other tours that he could understand better!!

We kissed our new friends goodbye (avoiding Dante of course) and headed back to our hostel for a good night sleep before heading to Vienna!!

Our travels to Vienna were quite interesting- starting off by entering a train that was COMPLETLEY full- not a single seat available- we walked down the crowded walkway and were unsuccessful in finding seats, but came to the last little stall with the door closed and curtains drawn- we thought we'd give it a shot. Hope gently knocked on the door and poked her head in only to find an elderly man with sunglasses and no luggage sitting there with 5 open seats around him- Hope asked if we could sit with him and his shoved her backpack, slamming her into the wall as he pushed passed to sit down in a chair, cross his arms, and pout mumbling what i could only guess was curse words in Czech!! We decided it wasn't worth it to deal with mr grumpy so we plopped down, packs and all in the narrow walkway connecting the stalls!!--

The hostel that we have stayed at the last couple nights has been our favorite by far- the community is incredible- we made dinner in the crowded kitchen filled with foreigners all traveling and meeting each other!! We've met people from all over the world and their stories are amazing!! Hope and I decided that we were going to avoid the tourist scenes here and try to find a hike- We found one that lead up to a little church on a big hill amidst vineyards, on the outskirts of Vienna!!-- It was gorgeous and we loved getting away from the crowds.

We stopped at the Danube on the way down and swan at a private yacht club- which i am pretty sure was illegal, but we decided that if we were to be confronted we would play the "sorry, we didn't know- i don't speak your language" card!!

Coincidentally, the Euro cup is being held in Vienna and we just happened to be here for the big games- the streets are flooded with people in red and white checkered outfits and hats- groups of people huddled on the streets singing traditional Austrian songs and jumping up and down!! Last night we went to the fan zone with a bunch of people from our hostel. They shut down the center of town and have huge screens showing the games... it was quite sureel!! Standing beneath the light castle and surrounded by hundreds of enthusiastic Austrians cheering and celebrating- It was an experience i wont soon forget!!

This morning we went to the Imperial Church where we listened to the Vienna Boys Choir- It was incredible- we are planning to explore the city today and hit the fan zone tonight for another crazy game!! We are going to meet Jenny in Salzburg tomorrow!!