**hole, bull** and some spoons

Munich was awsome! We arrived two days ago after a 6 hour train ride from Prague. I spent the whole ride balling my eyes out reading the last pages of a Nicholas sparks book, surprised? By the time we arrived in Munich it was late afternoon and we had to make sure to make reservations for our remaining train rides. You'd think after spending over $500 on this ticket there would be no additional charges...always a bad assumption. After about an hour of working with this guy we were off to "the tent"! Kim had seen it online but I had no clue what was ahead. Basically it was like going back to summer camp, think about a giant white carnival tent, in addition to two small ones, filled with enough bunk beds to sleep 100 ppl. They also had an area where u could camp with your own tent, bathrooms, laundry, and a hang out area with a kitchen/bar. The staff was really nice and they served breakfast in the morning and cooked dinner at night. At check in they offered us wool blankets for night time, 3 each...did they not realize it was mid summer as I stood there dripping sweat without even moving. I tried convincing him that there was no way I would need them and if so i would use it as a pillow, he insisted on just taking them all and 'i would understand'. I definitely thought we were in southern Germany but who knows if Kim had something up her sleeve.
After getting settled we were off to watch the football game with the rest of the country. It was an hour and a half before the game and not a single seat open in any restaurant. After what seemed like forever, we managed to squeeze ourselves into a bench next a few older ladies. They seemed like they were more prepared for martinis and slow dancing than beer and soccer but they were fun and took watching this game to a new level. We managed to rack up a bill costing more than 2 nights at the tent for the both of us but well worth the experience of hardcore fans, crazy tourists and of course, the cougar ladies beside us. Needless to say there would be no more restaurants to be visited, just markets and small snacks. Considering the loss by the Germans, the town seemed to die down so we headed home since we planned to be up early to make the most of our only full day. When we reached the tent, they had a fire going and some ppl were playing guitar and as you may have guessed...it was FREEZING!! We hung by the fire for awhile, met a girl from the states and were off to a cacoon made of wool blankets.
The next morning was one of those mornings in the winter time when you are so warm and cozy in your bed, the last thing you wanna do is roll out into the cold. Too bad, by 9 we were up and headed to olympiapark where we saw where the summer Olympics of '72 took place. Then we stummbled across the BMW welt, went inside to find some really interesting information about the process of designing, developing and research involved in making these cars. It ended up being a lot more interesting than i expected, not to mention also finding my future car ;-)
Now what's a European country without some nakedness, there's no escaping it from what we've experienced. But nothing can prepare you for the English garden in munich, I'm talking a 70 year old man doing his morning aerobics in the middle of the public green stark naked--just about lost my breakfast, lunch and dinner from the night before but one else seemed to be phased. I think I've had my fair share of open nudety for awhile. Things got a little more crazy as we continued on our way through the garden of naked people, but crazy in a more pg-13 kind of way. As we continued down the trail, we came around this corner to what seemed like, looked like and just so happened to be guys surfing on this tiny river, yes--surfing! Right after this bridge hugging the edge of a main road right outside the garden the extremely fast current from the river, and I'm sure other factors, creates a constant wave big enough for these guys to one at a time hop on their boards, it was unbelievable to watch some of them! I could have watched them all day but as we were leaving one guy has a unfortunate fall. He got caught at a bad angle right at the edge of the river where it meets a wall and smacked the left side if his face right into it. From what we could see, he sliced open his cheek and chin and possibly lost a tooth, I can only imagine the other injuries that have occurred but didn't stop anyone for a second. As we began to walk we actually came across an exhibit by a graphic designer and photographer, the designer was actually the one who did designs for the '72 olympics in Munich. The rest of the day we walked around the squares, ate at the local market (which was amazing--esp since I got one single nectarine and it cost 1.60€) and climbed the tower at a church to see a panaramic view.
By dinner time we were both exhausted and went back to the tent to rest, read, eat and possibly meet some new people. The dinner they cooked was delicious and the beer was large and thirst quenching ;-) after a nap and shower we started up a few card games with two guys from Cali and brothers from New Zealand...I was all for spoons but got quickly vetoed for some bull** and **hole, later making me victims of both. We had a blast and got to hear a lot of stories from other peoples travels [but who will ever know if it was just a bunch of bull**, right Casey?! or is that even your real name-haha]. later that night we joined other people by the fire until my eyelids became heavier than I could hold. We were back up at 6 this morning to head off to Switzerland, perfect timing to get a short rest from city life and experience some lakes surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. I write this as I sit next to the window of the smooth traveling train looking out over the Swiss alps, we seem to approach more and more breathtaking views-there's no way to explain it, you just have to be here! We will spend a couple hours in lucern before hopping back on the train for a 2 hour trip to interlaken. Our plan is to do a canyoning trip tomorrow (which, according to a guy we met last night from Vermont, was amazing and well worth it) and then possibly some hiking and/or kayaking on the lake on sunday as long as the rain holds off. Who knows, maybe someone will offer a bungee :-) :-)

"I woke up from my nap and burped, it tasted like sausage"

I have been awake since about 2 off and on after going to sleep around one. Probably slept a max of 3 hours but can't for the life of me go back to sleep. We have to be awake in less than an hour to catch our train to Munich and I pray for once I can sleep on the rock solid non-reclinable chair...doubtful. Last night was a blast, we went out right as the 'football' game started at a bar in town. We were drinking this beer that cost only 30 kc (1.50), definitely paid for what we got cause it tasted like water squeezed from an old mans dirty sock...should have taken the bar crawl offer. After we couldn't handle that much longer we left for the main square where they had the game on a huge outdoor screen, last 5 minutes of the game and then everyone went crazy!!! Kim went crazy in a different way, you see we took out about $60 each (1200kc) and since everything is so cheap, by 11 we still had a bunch of Czech money. The smart thing to do would be to exchange it but when it's coins, they won't accept..so we haaaaad to spend it ;-) Now what would Kim do with 300kc in the matter of 15 minutes? She would try every single food stand at the square...crepes, donut rounds, sausages and of course, ice cream! I stuck with a slice of pizza but it was almost like archade money at this point, you gotta spend all your tokens or they go to waste...can't stick with that motto forever!!! Kim, once again, impressed a local who kept repeating as he followed like a lost puppy with flyers about who knows what, "ciao baby ciao". He insisted on a hug after a hug after a hug until we dogged him through the crazy crowd of holland fans and slowly the CIAO BABY CIAO began to fade...crazy!!! I'm sure things will only get more ridiculous as we head to Germany today and they play later tonight. We will be staying in, what will be an experience I can only imagine, a large tent they put up in the summer which sleeps 100 people...ohhh mommy! And I told myself I would stop letting kim book these places, gotta keep things interesting i guess...all I gotta say is there better be s'mores!!!

Wait, you're from where? Hi I'm Thomas

Today has been our first rainy day since we started 2 weeks ago...wow time flies!! We arrived in Prague yesterday morning and pulled a london by walking around all day till about midnight. It is just so gorgeous it's hard to leave a good beer garden with such nice views ;-) first of all, the currency here is just crazy!! It felt pretty strange to take out 1200 "dollars" from the ATM, which only means 60 usd. I mean you go to the restaurants and your bill ends up being 400 for 2, I just about hit the floor before I realized. Let's just say those grade school math skills have really come in handy, guess the American school system is good for something. After exploring a new and strange meal, dumplings, pork and saurkraut, we were off to see the very well known architecture. We decided to live on the wild side and test out a paddle boat...I think the owner had his fingers crossed the entire time we were out on the canal. It was very relaxing especially since it wad such a hot day. Later we trucked it all the way up the hill to the Prague castle and on our way back down we had to treat ourselves to some beer and wine. This place has had the most American tourists by far, we were approached again by a bar crawl later that evening by an American guy who opened a bar here in town. I wonder what people think we are, drunken american college students..eh. last night we chose to go to this beer garden we had heard so much about, the one piece of information that was left out was the fact that we had to climb mount everest to get there. It was all worth it when we saw the view at the top, despite the fact that I needed a respirator by the time we got there. It's okay cause we had icecream twice when we made it back into town :-)
Today we got a late start, guess that hiking did some damage! It was ok cause it poured until about 2. When we finally got back out walking we headed back over to the other side of town to explore what we hadn't seen, had lunch/dinner and are back to get ready for the night. I can't wait to tell you what kind of place were staying at in Munich... Cheers!!

"Please dont put this in your blog"

Yup, Germany definitely won!! Yesterday we got up bright and early to take a three hour train up to Warnemunde, Germany located on the beautiful Baltic Sea. The weather called for an extremely hot 95 or above so being out of the city was a definite must. It was also a Saturday so the train was packed, thankfully we were able to find 3 seats to avoid joining the people who had to stand the entire way. Once we arrived we began heading over to the beach and ran into a man who ever so nicely told us we were walking in the wrong direction...not sure how we pulled that off. As he brought us to the area we wanted to go we got talking to him and he was able to give us a bunch of good tips on the area. He was from South Africa, visiting Germany to see his brother for only 3 months but had information for days. We passed a busy area of town on our way to the less busy, and apparently less clothed, area of the beach. There was a lighthouse right in the center which, according to this guy, is the same lighthouse they used on the dvd cover of Shutter Island..check it out!! After parting with our new friend we found a sweet area on the beach where Kim and Staci decided to rent a "basket". As we toured the area on foot and traveled down part of the beach we realized what kind of beach this reaaaallly was! Needless to say I was a little shocked, lost for words and honestly a little terrified. I mean lets be serious, we've all seen naked people but holy moly this was like a 'half-way beach' for women who didnt mind having those things flappin' all over the place but not yet ready to let it allll hang out. We're talkin big small, old young, this was not a place to watch out for bikers but more of a caution for getting eyes poked out. The nakedness was a little overwhelming but once I got over that we enjoyed many hours laying (amongst our basket) catching the amazing sun rays and relaxing. At around 4p.m. the "football" game started and even if you didnt know about it, you knew then or at least after the first goal was scored! It was amazing to see the people go crazy over this game and while walking back towards the train all you saw were tvs lining the street sides and people crowded around. The train ride was definitely interesting, this was a day for many cultural experiences--naked and not so naked. Apparently, while riding the train if there happens to be a seat open across from you its EXTREMELY rude to put your feet on it with shoes, okay without, but with them its a huge no no. Well, lets take a guess at who had their feet on the seat and just so happened to be in the eye shot of a older man walking past. This 100% German man, understanding only German, was not happy at Kim and all she could do was take it. There was no backfiring a German man who couldnt understand anything you had to say nor did he even take the time to stop having a fit to see if she was even speaking German ...entertaining for sure!! After that lovely experience we were greeted by about 10 men probably in their 30's on their version on a 'bachelor party'. In Germany when a guy is getting married, and I guess a girl too, he must sell a basket of various items costing under 2 euro. Lets remember that this was post football game after a long hot day of drinking and celebrating the end of this guys life, supposedly. These guys were hilarious and loved the fact that Kim and I were "aaaaamerriiicaa", they tried to get us to buy anything from this soon to be married man but if that didnt work out, we could purchase them too...oooh the cultural experiences. After freshening up at home we left to go out for some drinks and saw a few more bachelor/bachelorette groups selling things from bar to bar, must have been the time to get married.
Today was our last day in Germany with Staci, we head off to Prague too early in the morning for two nights. We didnt do much today cause Staci had to work and we still had some planning to do for the next couple days but we made up for hours of planning and laundry by having a few drinks out by the canal. You see in Europe it is actually legal to have open containers, such as a beer, in public so the atmosphere is a little more laid back and it is a lot of fun to grab a 6 pack and hang out by the water. The area we went to was on a bridge just over the canal where many people sat and hung out and a few people played guitars. Because this is a popular place to hang out at night the area between the cobblestones is wedged with bottle caps as if it was supposed to be there all along and ones that have probably been there for years. Berlin was amazing and Staci was the perfect host, we're off in the morning to Prague and only a few short days until I see my Agnese :-) Happy 4th of July America!!!