Love of learning

Welp, I'm leaving on a jet plane from Berlin and be back in the states by tomorrow.  Today I took a five hour train from Prague to Berlin and met a nice German lady name Katrina.  She is studying for her Phd in urban planning/design and specifically the sociological impacts of urban environments.  We talked about travelling to different places and how a persons mind changes when faced with foreign environments and how we are freed up to dream a little bit more. So I've been dreaming and very vividly.  I am in the right place in a lot of senses and also looking forward to some sort of change in my life.  I think that it will be a new environment...but not all of the way in Europe.  Provably just over the hill.  Also I've been thinking a lot about romantic love. The public displays of affection over here are really intense.  I think that every metro stop I went to in Prague had at least one hetero couple swapping spit.  And I was really happy for them.  Actually not all of the couples. There was one at Marxis bar in Budapest that kind of disgusted me.  It was really hot and muggy in the place and these two looked like seniors in high school with greasy hair and faces.  I'm just being honest.  

Alright so move on right. Or get a room is more like it.  

Katrina recommended a restaurant in Berlin and I had some traditional German food for dinner.  It was a roast and potato bread.  Heavy meal but I appreciate it.  

After dinner I went to the reichstag for my viewing of the dome.  It was so worth it.  The German government seems to really stress transparency and I was impressed to are a multimedia show of its history. Including the dark parts. Around ten I started walking to my hotel.  The late night walks are so pleasant. Not only is the weather perfect but the streets are not crowded so monuments are easy to see.  Some urban planner lit them beautifully.  I can now say that I'm impressed with Berlin's architecture.  

I'm off to sleep, long flyin day tomorrow.  

Love you all,

RTK

My communist era accommodation in Prague 

The Brandenburg gate again 

Musical love

Vivaldi's spring 

A castle garden

Saint Nicolas church (in the castle). There is also one in the old town where I saw my concert 

Jazz on the bridge.  These guys were in their seventies or eighties. Wow

I had a very full day today in Prague nicely rounded out with a concert of many great pieces including vicaldi's spring and the Ave Maria.  The musicians were all very professional and talented.  

Rewind, I started my day kinda early with a walk from my accommodation to the Charles bridge.  There were swans in the river Vltava and they appeared to be placed or hired for ambiance.  The cobble stoned streets around here are really like walking on a bunch of glued down marbles...dang it is difficult.  You gotta suffer to be interesting (and beautiful) ;) made it down to the bridge and I was surprised at how busy it already was at ten in the morning.  Then I made my way through the old town which is packed with churches and places of interest.  Found one church that I was considering for a concert but it was only organ and I needed a little more variety.  Next I made my way to the main square which has the astronomical clock and the other half of all tourists in Europe.  It was packed and I didn't get to see the apostles dance around on the hour bit I did find a guide to show me to an air conditioned bus.  Fantastic!  So I toured around for a few hours.  Stopped and ate lunch which was really a piece of sausage with mustard and no bread with some cucumber lemonade.  It was actually really good...I love good sausage and this place is crowded with it.  That sounds bad...the cheque men are not very good looking to me.  There must have even some inbreeding.  But they are really strong:)

After lunch I toured the castle and saw the outside of saint michaels church which is very gothic style and beautiful.  There are more things that I can't remember about it. well it's impressive anyway.  The castle is the biggest in Europe and my guide was very proud of that.  I didn't walk the entire grounds.  Infact I probably only did about a fourth cus I was sweaty and I can't have that.  After the castle, I caught my bus again and headed down to the funicular which is a mountain tram of sorts.  The cars are from the 80s so are quite boxy with really big windows which is great for the view of the lesser city (city below castle) and the old town.  I rested on a being at the top and after I made it back down, meandered across the Charles bridge again and all of the way to the Saint Nicholas church for my fantastic concert (it was even better than the one in Vienna and much more intimate). I met a little girl travelling with her mom and grandfather from Cyprus and I thought about how I want to do that one day with kids.  :). It was a lovely day and I did so much walking in the heat over cobble stones that I got a headache.  Don't worry I took two Advil and its subsided.  

Back to Berlin tomorrow!  Ill be back in California on Tuesday:) and :( I wish I had about a month longer for this trip.  

Good night and I love you all!  

The power of listening

To your tired ass body that is.  (That was for you, Erin). Today I took a five hour train from Vienna to Prague and I'm pretty tired.  Didn't get much sleep last night,  I was so torn about leaving Vienna and coming somewhere new.  I'm going to have to have another trip to Vienna and spend more time.  It's amazing. Prague is awesome too but I am a little too cranky to really appreciate what it has to offer.  I got to my new place around five this afternoon an after walking up our hill with my pack, I decided to try for an evening concert. I left around six thirty for an eight o'clock concert but never made it.  Got off at my metro stop and was surrounded by tall buildings. I looked around and then decided to walk towards the post office and after about twenty minutes of beautiful building but no outstanding churches I decided to head back to the metro.  I was too tired to have fun being lost.  And so, the executive decision to have an early night!  I started a load of laundry and am writing this and then off to sleep. I have a big day ahead of me.  Another American staying here told me some shortcuts so tomorrow I'm going to head to the river and take a left.  

Good night you all!

Sorry no pics.  Ill make it up:) 

Dreamy love.

I don't think that I have woken up since last night.  I remember thinking about a high school friend, seeing some places my now I'm back sitting on my bed.  Just kidding.  I woke up after a pretty good nights sleep and had some breakfast at the hotel.  There were a couple of Muslim families and I was surprised to see the women in burkas.  I didn't know that Vienna was tourist destination for people from the Muslim countries. 

None the less, today was my dress up day so I had on a spaghetti strap dress and my Moms sandals.  It was interesting to me to notice the contrast.  Know your own oppression right?

Lets move on.  I started out my touring at the train station where I got a ticket for tomorrow's journey to Prague.  The people were so nice to me and even wrote out the timetable of shuttles to my train station.  Nice to be here!

Then I went to the Vienna opera house. Unfortunately there are no shows right now because the companies on on break until the beginning if September, but I did get to your the building.  It is beautiful!  Has a huge chandelier and green carpets at the main staircases.  After the tour I walked around the city with Rick Steve's in my ear explaining some of the landmarks.  I saw the saint Stephens church again and then stopped at a sandwich shop for some open faced goodness.  One if my goals for the day was to tour the Spanish riding school so I did that at four.  Before I had about an hour to kill so went to the famous confectioner 'Demel' to sample some of their treats.  I had some apple strudel and Sacher torte which is a light chocolate cake with apricot jam and melted chocolate layered over the top. 

I initially wanted to sit in the restaurant but only had an hour and couldn't make it work so I strolled over to one of the castles lawns.  What a better choice that was.  The weather was so nice and grass felt refreshing on my tired feet.  

At four I went on the tour and learned a little about Viennese show horse culture. It seems interesting but I would really like to know how these animals are trained.  The tourguide stressed the importance of the relationship between rider and horse. Sounds exhausting!

Alright, then I took a ring tram tour.  Self guided...well Rick in my ear again.  There are too many beautiful buildings in Vienna to name. My favorite is the city hall.  Which is where I had dinner.  My first vegetable heavy dinner in at least a week.  I had delicious vegetable curry with a papadam. I love me some Indian food. 

After dinner I walked down to the Vienna university on my way to the metro.  I liked thinking of the powerful minds that have graced the university halls.  

Uneventful metro trip back to my hotel and now I'm here:) listening to ray lamontagne and getting ready to pack it up!  Next stop Prague!  

One of the many beautiful statues.  It was part of Maria Theresa's purity education pieces.  

Saint Stephens church

My dinner locale 

The university courtyard 

Labor of Love

Welcome back to the love tour.  Today was a kinda rough travel day which ended in high Vienna style .  I took the train from Budapest this morning at eleven and got here around two.  I'de imagined that tickets would be sold by an automated machine at the train station but I was wrong.  People actually handwrite the tickets and the real fun part is waiting for a ticketmaster.  There is no sign way of knowing unless an uninformed agent approaches with a number to make the wait much more efficient.  Then up to the counter to get a train ticket from the grump who offers very little help and sits behind plastic with a broken microphone.  Alright so with a secured ticked I boarded the train in front of a nervous jersey college student on his way to Vienna also.  Neither of us had reserved seats so we gambled and grabbed the first two available.  Good news is that I got to sit the whole time.  Bad news is that I was stressed at every stop that I might have to abandon my place.  

Made it to Vienna in the early afternoon and then took myself a cat nap. When I woke up I decided to see a tourist Mozart-Strauss concert in the castle.  One of my better decisions!  And that is when I fell in love again.  This time with the city of Vienna.  It is lit up so beautifully at night and I've been imagining myself in a ball gown being chauffeured from event to event.  In reality I've been walking cobblestone streets All night and so I'm TIRED!  Tomorrow I'll explore this lovely city some more.  Good night! 

Love,

RTK

One entrance to the museum.  The left side of the building houses the Spanish riding school 

My concert hall

View outside of the concert hall.  To the right is a lit clock on the tower of city hall

Church.  St. Stephens I think

Budapest love

Love is the theme.  And I'm going with it.  Today was great, I got up around eight and headed out at ten.  I started up the hill toward my castle and found a bakery that I'de been searching for.  It was called Ruszwurm and its been in the family for a really LONG time...like Gambino's but I'm pretty sure this is not a front for any funny business...I'm gonna have to watch myself now.  Anyhow I had the perfect table picked out and of course by the time I got back it was taken by another single person.  So I asked him if I could join his table.  After eating in silence I found out that he is a tour guide from Vienna and a soccer coach in Germany for part of the year.  I know right.  So he told me about a few things to do in Vienna like not get ripped off at a tourist concert and instead to check out the state opera...which unfortunatly isn't running until September.  And so I fully intend to get ripped off.  Also we discussed university in Europe, as tuition is subsidized by the governments it only runs about 1,000 USD for American students...so I have a new plan hatching.  Since I want to work for the WHO at some point in my life I might just go find me a school in Switzerland and get a foot in that door.  We will see, there is also always massage on the coast of France or the American hospital in Paris.  Life is grand.  All this just in the morning. 
Then I made my way across the square to Saint Michaels church with is the most frequently remodeled church in Budapest.  It's gothic style architecture with beautiful tiled rooves.  I walked down to the Buda castle and looked around the museums but decided that I'de seen enough artwork for a few days and instead took the funicular down to the river and caught a tram.  The tram took me to the top of a road was the Champs del Elyse in its time.  I wasn't very impressed because it felt dirty and over trafficed but the best part of that experience was when I went to a bakery for a pretzl an older gentleman gave me his change which covered my food.  It was so nice and the pretzl provided welcome saltiness in this heat.
After a ride on the World Heritage metroline, I found my concert hall for the evening and bought a ticket.  I had a few hours to kill so headed down to the river and took a river cruise.  About half way though I noticed that my eyelids were rather heavy so took a quick nap as the boat rounded Margit's island and then was fully awake for the Hungarian Parliament and Buda Castle.  Feeling the urge to chill I headed to a foot massage place and was pampered for 30 minutes and then it was time for my show. 
The concert was at the Architecture Academy (FUGA( and was pretty informal.  There were other people with backpacks and tank tops as well as a few in nice dresses or suits.  Fejervari Zoltan played Beethoven and Haydn for piano.  The music was a great way to start my evening and I envisioned little ballroom dancers twirling all over my heart.  People next to me had their eyes closed and others were swaying their heads to the melody.  I felt at home in a room of music lovers. 
After the show the sun had set so I walked home in a drizzle.  It was magical and I wistled in the rain.  Good morning everyone!
On to Vienna tomorrow
Love,
RTK

Inside the castle

Breakfast

St Michael's church 

Inside the church :) worth it!

Paris of the East

Budapest is magnificent!  I arrived from Sweden around two after a delayed flight out of Copenhagen.  The pilot actually came on and said that there was something wrong with the right engine and that a mechanic is on his way...reassuring.  So I'm happy to say that I'm typing this to you from my safe air BandB.  She doesn't have wifi so I can't post any pictures tonight but I'll work on it for tomorrow. 
After I got here and settled in I took a three hour evening stroll up to the castle and down into the city center.  The castle is amazing and with quite a feminine feel to it.  My favorite fountain was of a woman holding a plate with water pouring down.  I'll try to post it.  Glancing up toward the castle from the city center I saw another statue of a dancing woman (or at least that is how I interpreted it( btw this keyboard sucks!
I was walking up the opposite side of the river and found a flier for a lovely concert tonight at eight but didn't make it because I walked the wrong way down the street but no worries.  I'm going to try to make a concert tomorrow night at the academy of archtecture.  I'll give you the skinny after the show.  So I meandered up toward my street and had some dinner at a pizza/beer joint called Marxis.  Yea on purpose.  There was lots of grafitti on the booths which were separated by chicken and barbed wire with a red star hanging from the cieling.  A beer cost me a buck fifty.  UMMHUMM and it was good.  Gotta go back there. 
I'm gonna hit the hay, my head is still a little swimmy from the airplane ride...maybe yoga will help
good night!
love,
RTK

Inside the castle walls

My fav inside the castle walls

The parliament building

Chain bridge at dusk:) 

Malmo and friends

Today I spent the day with Mia, her new husband and some of his polish family.  We had a nice time mini golfing and then doing a little shopping.  I got a travel case for my backpack to protect it from the luggage loaders.  Mia told me that her dad was travelling by plane with a big backpack like mine and one of the straps got caught in some machine and tore the entire bag apart...yikes.  I don't want that to happen to me and now it is even less likely.  I'm headin out to Budapest tomorrow and am so excited!  I've heard that the old buildings are as romantic as any in Paris or Rome.  Ill update you on my day back on the mainland tomorrow:) love, RTK

Wedding weekend

Mia's wedding was beautiful.  She designed and made a classy white dress for the occasion and had decorated her venue with plenty of flowers and candles.  We had fun getting dressed together on Saturday morning and then stayed in our dresses until the early morning.  I don't understand a lick of Swedish so was lost during the speeches but when the music came we were all one people.  Great music!  

Sunday we all slept in which was wonderful.  I caught up on eight hours last night and slept the best that I have since getting on the road.  We played some trivial pursuit and went out for ice cream near the harbor.  Around dinner time we came back and ate some left overs from the wedding.  Mia's dad made all of the food which was so tasty.  I'm going to have an early evening tonight and catch up on some reading.  Talk to you soon.  Thanks for the messages and I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend.  I know I did.  It has been really nice to see an old friend and make new ones too.  

Got my wedding hair did by my new English friend D.  

Lina (Mia's sister) on her boyfriends boat

The handsome couple

Ladies DANCE PARTY!!!

Kissing Fish

Copenhagen is amazing!  That and I went with two amazing women.  D, Laura and I ventured from Malmo to Copenhagen this morning while Mia and Raphael finished up with set up for tomorrows wedding.  We strolled through the cobblestone streets checking out churches and shops and ended our afternoon at the kissing fish store.  It is an exfoliation boutique where tiny Turkish 'doctor fish' eat the dead skin off of our feet.  It felt like being tickled with feathers.  I'll post a picture!  

After the fish kisses, we walked down toward the canal and caught a canal tour given by a girl who repeated everything in Danish, English, and Spanish.  Phew, just when I thought I was good someone comes along and drops THREE language...dang this place impressed the crap out of me.  There was a beautifully modern opera house and an old theater, a magical castle and little mermaid perched on a rock. I had such a great time and finished the day eating three flavors of home made ice cream (snickers, brownie, raspberry sorbet) 

on the quai near the grand canal.  There were women chatting on boats while sipping white wine and men strolling in loafers around the decks.  Basically I was on a movie set.  I love this place.  Good night:)

Train to Mia's wedding

I'm taking a Berlin express train tonight to Malmo for Mia's wedding this Saturday.  Apparently I'm going to tour Copenhagen with a couple of her friends tomorrow which will be nice.  Today I visited the German history museum which was interesting.  I feel like I understand German history a little bit more now...but I did notice very little information about German women.  I'm still trying to fight off the jet lag:). Short post today cus I'm travelling.  

This is the entrance to the German cathedral.   I didn't go inside cus I was running out of time...and it cost too much for a church 

Super museum girl

Cheers!  Today I took a grand tour Berlin's museums.  I started at the Pergamon which was named after the Greek city and had a huge altar in the entrance.. A very grand way to start my day.  Then I saw the bust of Nefertiti at the Neues museum which was way better than the Mona Lisa cus it is made of limestone and plaster.  I do enjoy sculpture more than painting.  After the Neues, I breezed through the Bode museum and had a few chuckles.  There was a faucet with a nude ladies bust on top and on bottom...well the spout of a faucet.  It was so subversive! Lunch time was spent at an Italian cafe nearby and I'm convinced that my waiter had escaped from the Pergamon because he was a Greek god.  Or maybe a German god, none the less you get me?  

I swung by the Reichstag to try to get into the dome but my email request for a reservation didn't go through so ill try again tomorrow :(. But the good news is that I saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Topography of Terror and the Jewish Museum Berlin.  Oh my goodness.  I didnt chuckle.  It was painfully sad.  Some were sickeningly vivid.  For example, the tower of terror which is a cement rectangular tower with a slit of light coming through from the street above feels so lonely and cold.  The life size pictures of SS police interrogating German men  at gunpoint  hanging right next to the Berlin Wall is terrifying.  The garden of exile was similar to the monument to murdered Jews because of the tall cement structures and even more disorienting as the cement planters are intentionally built on a slight slant.  Sensory overload in the afternoon!  

I'm marinating in my day and trying to decide if I want to take the third reich tour.  I feel like I've focused on that a lot and don't want too too much more.  But history does nothing if not teach...and so, in conclusion...feeling words of the day: grateful for this experience and my freedoms, exhausted;).  Ill catch ya later fishy fish.

A 'ghost station' where the eastern government rented tracks to the west but kept guards stationed to insure no shady business 

The memorial

Graffiti on the Berlin Wall 

Jewish museum Berlin 

Day 1 running into 2 or it might be three

I have lost track of time,  and for those that know me also know how unusual that is. My brain is scrambled eggs right now with a big dollop of emotionality so please bear with me.  

This is the end of my travel days and first day in Berlin, when I got into town I could only focus on the heat which seemed rather boring and inconvenient. But  after I found my accommodation, napped and consulted Rick Steves; I have found Berlin to be larger than life.  Not on a Vegas way but in a WOW so much modern political struggle (and engineering of mass murder) happened HERE.  So that is where the emotionality is coming from.  I feel blessed by her almighty to witness and humbly start to process the human suffering, anxiety, indignity, courage,  kindness, apathy, mean spiritedness and tragedy which came to an ugly head RIGHT HERE!  Tomorrow I'm going to experience more of Berlin and might have more feeling words to describe my day, thanks for checking in.   Here are some pics that I took on an early evening walk.  

Oh YES!  The humidity just broke and it's raining:)

Reichstag

Brandenburg gate

My tired self at the Brandenburg gate

 A very nice church near museum island (I don't know the name).