I was soo lucky to have my siblings come to Berlin before we headed off on our trip around Europe. Berlin--> Venice --> Brussels --> London (where I met up with my parents... even better!) It would take me hours and hours to post about the entire trip here, so I'm opting for a more simple approach! Some pictures!! Know that the trip was a great experience, a lot of family time, and very needed. It would have been very difficult to get through Christmas without my family by my side.
First stop was here!! I got to show all of them Berlin. They were cold most of the time. Vince was complaining about the walking, and Whitney only had a small jacket. If you look at me, I'm decked out in my beanie and mittens and expensive but very warm jacket. So I was feeling great showing them my wonderful city!
The Brandenburger Tor:
The Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz:
And I made them eat a currywurst... I think they enjoyed it!
So then we took off to Venice, a very different city than Berlin (and for that matter, any city I've ever been too!). The planning to get to Venice, however, was done poorly. On my part. I said when booking the flights that we could get to any airport pretty easily with the train. Little did I know that the airport we picked to fly out of was in Southern Germany; a 100 Euro train ride. So we had to fly south. When we got to Frankfurt this is what we saw:
So then I started freaking out because we had to take a two hour bus to the next airport. I stupidly asked the attendant if the buses were still running in this kind of weather. She kinda looked at me and said, "Yes, of course." Sooo buses don't stop in Germany haha even for to me what seems like insane snow storms.
We finally made it to Venice and took what else but a water taxi to get to our hotel! It was weird. Really weird. Our hotel was really cute and we had our own room. So what did we do in Venice? We got lost, ate pizza, and drank wine. Seriously if I had to sum it up, that would be it. Some memorable pictures:
Gondolas!!
The most wonderful dinner:
Ambulance in Venice:
Vince in front of the many canals:
So we then took off to Brussels, where we would be staying for Christmas. We stayed at the most wonderful hostel/ B and B: Karl's house. This man, Karl, lives in a huge house with his son and dog, and let's people like us have full range of everything. It was like being at a home; we actually were. Most memorable things here were the Christmas dinner, which I didn't get a picture of and beer. Karl cooked dinner for us and we sat down with the other guests who had all cooked something from their country. What did we contribute? Vegetables (Jeff), quesadillas (Vince), and deviled eggs (Whitney and I). Vince got some slack from Whitney, but he insisted. And Jeff asked about a thousand questions how to cook the veggies but he managed perfectly fine. Other wonderful memories:
Mannequin Pis, the biggest tourist attraction in Brussels. They dress him up in different costumes for different occasions:
City square, lit up with lights:
And Whitney with a waffle:
Christmas day was spent finding cartoons painted on walls and eating at a fast food restaurant. Definitely different :) but enjoyable:
We even made friends with a street musician staying in our hostel. Quite a character, and very VERY talented musician, Vince:
The next day before our train to London, we went on what was supposed to be the most beautiful tram ride. While this was a bit over exaggerated, I liked being in the great outdoors!!
The last part of our trip was in London with our parents. It was so wonderful to see them 4 months after they had dropped me off at the airport. I can only imagine what it's going to be like after 7 months :)
In London, I remember walking around seeing all of the famous sights including Westminster, the Parliament, oh and of course Stonehenge! Check off the bucket list :) We also went to see Wicked (still one of my favorite musicals) and Billy something (anyone want to help with the name??) Loved both of them; I'm definitely a sucker for musicals.
Wicked:
Changing of the guard:
My lovely parents in front of the Parliament building:
Trafalgar Square:
And the gem: Dad asleep on the Tube
Stonehenge with mi madre:
And the Roman baths:
Most unique for me was New Years Eve. Usually I'm with friends at a party. This year, was with my parents and family on a pub crawl! At midnight I was with my mom and a New Zealand guy on the Millennium Bridge. Woudln't have had it any other way :)
It was so nice to see them. I am so thankful they were all able to come over. It made for a very memorable Christmas 2011...
