Munich

Well, again it's cold and rainy- it has rained 7 out of the 7 days we've been in Europe, and today was almost too much for even us hard core tourtists to handle. Well, we took our free walking tour around Munich (or Mun-chin as the Germans call it) in frezing cold rain, again. Today it was 47 degrees feeling like 42. My two long sleeve shirts and thin jacket are barely enough. Checking the weather report, it looks as if we are in for at least another 5 more days of it- please pray the weather gets warmer and sunnier. It's much nicer to tour a city with your head up as opposed to down keeping your face out of the wind and rain.

So, Munich is full of beer; its the beer capital fo the world at that. They consume on average 40 gallons per person a year, so that should tell you something. We did our best walking around the city yesterday between down pours and noticed a much more alive city than Berlin. More tourists, more shoping, more food. Though it feels very Westernized; there is alot of history here as well. Hitler's first attempted at an uprising happened in this city. Also, he almost got shot here before he actually rose to power. Wierd to think about, huh?

Some high points in this city.....meeting new people. People are willing to talk and are noticiabley more freindly in this city.....maybe it's the fact that most of them have been drinking beer since breakfast (you think I'm kidding). We met people from all over the world today- most who are doing some version of a Western Europe tour as we are. One German lady who lives in Wyomming is traveling here while her husband in is fighting Iraq; another girl about our age who has always dreamed of coming over here from Brazil is traveling alone for 3 months striaght. Another high point- i finally got a long awaited German prezel and it was just as delicious as i had be expecting.

Our afternoon today ended with a chilly yet peaceful stroll through the gorgeous Englischer Gartens. It's a huge park on the northern side of downtown; brilliantly green and lush. Despite the cold, there were crazy surfer boys surfing in a fast current river that ran along the park....hard to explian but very impressive.

Well, I hope you are well and I encourage you to appricate the heat that you are living in as we missed and appricated Texas for all its warmth and glory today. Love yall.

Berlin

We arrived in Berlin at 9 AM yesterday......yes it's true-we woke up at 2:30 AM London time to get here. Crazy, i know. Well, first off, Berlin is different than London, which doesnt surprize anyone im sure. Diana and I both got a sort of unsettling almost eerie feeling walking around the city yesterday....could have been the lack of sleep but we were convenced otherwise. We toured a famous museum about Ancient Greece and then ended the evening sitting at a cafe looking onto an open aired market with glass of German wine....so fun! We have started Hostel life and its......lets just say interesting- not quite like an American owned flat in London, but it gives us a semi-warm place to sleep and shower.

Today was an adventure- its was wonderful learning about all the History of this place. We took a free city walking tour from a guide who knew so much it was hard to store it all in my brain as fast as he was talking. We walked through downtown east and west Berlin and learned about Nazi Germany, World War II in Berlin, the numerous fallen governments in the recent past, and the Berlin Wall to name a few. So interesting! This city does do a lot to cover its past but if you look hard there is symbolism everywhere telling about the past and giving hope to the future. We were real interested in the Holocost, and they have one memorial so far dedicated to victims (it only open last May)- in the middle of the city. Its for "All The Killed Jews". Bold name; bold memorial. It is in the center of the city and its made up of 7110 rectangular stone blocks of all different heights; some we could walk over and some were many feet about our heads. The irony of it all is the memorial has NO symbolism at all. Its random; makes no sence.

After learning so much about the history of this place, all the crazy rulers its had, and its plan for a New Berlin (as they like to title it), we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around looking at the scarce remains of the Berlin wall. So much of this city is brand new. The buildings, streets, plazas, memorials are all new and very modernly designed. Real cool to look at. Its hard to find history with your eyes in this place.


Berlin has been real neat; tomorrow we're off to Munich, so two more days of trying to figure out what really long long words mean. They add about 2-3 too many syllablles to thier words if you ask me. Well, I hope all is well with you. Please e-mail me if you can to let me know how you are; we seem to have pretty regular internet access. Alright, again I miss yall and love you. Please forgive the mispellings- German keyboards are a little tricky :)

London

We're in EUROPE!!!! London has been our first stop. We arrived early yesterday morning super tired from the long flight and met our host family who are one of our Theta sister's parents. They have an amazing flat right in the middle of it all!!! They have been more than hospitable from food to directions to entertainment. They are such a blessing. It is really nice to start our trip in an English speaking country. Shortly after we got here we walked all around the city getting a feel for the place. We found our way to Buchingham Palace and saw the queen as she was leaving! Today, with a little more knowledge of the city, we headed to Big Bend and the Parliment House (which are attached for all of you who are as ignorant as us), Westminister Abbey (so much history there), and The National Gallery where we saw paintings by DiVenci, Rembrant, Picasso, Michaelangelo, Dega, and Monet. I probably butchered thier names...sorry; they were amazing none the less. Tony Balir was giving a speech at the Parliment House today so there were protesters sounding the place. We got out our cameras at the sight of a "Stop Bush Wars" because we thought it was so wierd they were protesting our President, but it quickley turned into laughter when we realized these protesters were voicing thier opinions about drugs in England; thier bush and ours Bush are two different political issues. We ate our first English food today for lunch- its pretty bland just as the rumors tell but we had to try it.
The weather here is descirbed as "wait 10 min and it changes"- its so true, its cold and rainy for 10 min and then the sun comes out and warms everything up for a few mins and then its back to cold rain. Walking around the city has been fun; the English walk everywhere, which may expliain how they are noticabley skinnier than Americans. Driving on the other side of the road still catches us off guard, we keep thinking there is no one driving the car.
It's been a blast so far- we are just so happy to be here- it's off to Oxford tommorrow, and Friday we plan to see St. Paul's Church, Kensington Palace, London Brigde and the London Towers. As for tonight....Mama Mia followed by Mrs. Collman's dessert!!!!! We're laughing so hard and having a blast, but we love yall and miss you.

T Minus 3 Days!!!

This is a blog for my friends and family to see as I travel through Europe!!! Laura, Diana, Julia, and I leave Monday afternoon for London. I will keep you posted about our adventures! Love yall!!!!