So its been awhile since I posted what I have been up to and since then I have done quite a bit of traveling. After Prague I flew to Milan and took a train down to the city of Turin. One of my old teammates who is italian grew up in Italy and I got to visit her last summer as well. This time however, about a week before I left the states, Jess found out she was offered a job in Tennesse and so she moved back to the states before I made it to Turin. But I still went and stayed for 2 nights with her parents, who were absolutely wonderful but who do not speak any english and as I definitely dont speak italian, it was hilarious. Being in their home was exactly what I needed after a month of traveling, I was able to rest and relax to get ready for the last leg of my trip. And trying to communicate with them was absolutely just funny. I laughed a lot.
Sooo I spontaneously decided to buy a flight to Berlin after my 2 days in Turin to meet my friend Maureen who was going to be there for 5 days. Does it make since to leave Prague fly to Italy then turn around and fly to Berlin to then fly back to Italy afterwards? yes totaly sense. And thats why I did it. That and the fact that I had heard from people that Berlin was an absolutely amazing city, and I since I spent 2 weeks in Italy last summer I decided to get to a place I had never been before. So from Turin I took a train to Milan and then fly to Berlin and met Maureen at our hostel. Our hostel was funny. No other word to describe it, except dirty and funny. But we had fun and only stayed there for 2 nights. Our first full day in Berlin we went to the Jewish Museum in the morning, which was the craziest most interactive museum I have ever been to. It was really interesting and just full of information. We couldnt fit it all in before we were going to meet a walking tour of the city so after the tour we went back to finish up the other half of the museum. The walking tour was really great, I am super glad we did it. We learned a lot of information about the city and the history, it was just really interesting and we saw a lot of the major sites along the way.
Here is the thing about Berlin that I realized, It is such a different city than anywhere else in Europe that I have been. Really cool and really great in such a different way, typically I love the places that are really beautiful but Berlin isnt really that way. Its an absolutely huge city, and because of ALL of the history that has taken place there, and the wars fought there, so much of the cities buildings are new, which is much different than a lot of Europe. Also being in Berlin made a lot of the history so much more real.
A quick synopsis of my time in Berlin: The east side gallery, which is the longest stretch left of the berlin wall, is just completely covered in street art and it is soo cool. Berlin has a really interesting alternative community that was really fun to experience and see in different areas of the city. The holocaust memorial and museum, possibly my favorite thing we did in the 5 days we were there. It was so heavy, so my difficult and heartbreaking information to take in but it was so good at the same time. Something I really loved about the museum was that it focused solely on the people whose lives were taken. Granted there were 6 million lives taken and they couldnt focus or even know who all of them were, but through gathering information on ones they did know, they really showcased their lives in a beautiful way. It was one of those things that was really hard to read about but also I am sooo glad that I got to see it. I think the hardest part is realizing that with losing all of those lives, the world lost so much culture, ideas,experiences, stories, just so much. Its really shocking to know that something like that could happen.
My other favorite thing that we did was go to this massive flea market on Sunday, my last day in the city. It was the biggest and best flea market I have ever been to in my life. Absolutely incredible, and exhausting. We spent over 3 hours there and didnt even see everything. It was crazy. Also I am pretty sure that the entire time all we ate was turkish food, and it was just so great.
The next morning I took the tram to the Airport and flew to Zurich and then on to Milan. I just couldnt get enough of the Milan airport so I needed to get back one more time. Then I took a train to Florence, where I am staying with two of my really good friends growing up Aunts. She lives a little ways outside of Florence on a horse riding school that she owns and ahhhh this is just the best end to my travels that could possibly happen. Marcia and Carmello are just so wonderful to me, Carmello has cooked wonderful Italian dinners each night and I am staying in this adorable rooftop apartment of their home. Yesterday I took the bus into Florence and spent the whole day walking around, I went to the Duomo, all through the markets and center of town, over the river and to the Piazza de Michealangelo which was my favorite spot in the city last summer. I love Florence, I think that if I were to choose a city to live in Italy, this would be it! This morning I am going to go on a walk over the hill from the riding school to a small village that Marcia says has a nice church and is a cute and quaint little place. Then I think Im planning to take the bus into town and go to the Pitti Palace and spend the afternoon at the Boboli Gardens. Such a wonderful way to end this adventure.
Tomorrow I head to Pisa to fly back to London, where I will have 2 days before heading up to Lancaster to get settled in and start school. I cant believe I have been traveling for 5 weeks and I am still here in Europe for 3 months. Thats crazy. Hopefully lots more traveling to happen soon too :)
ohh and I also might be splurging on a leather suitcase today. and by might be, i mean i am. Because when in Florence, buy leather.
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