EUROTOUR

First Country - Germany, more specifically Berlin


When I saw the Berlin TV Tower, it hit me that i was actually in Germany and in Berlin, it was a great realisation, a fantastic feeling. Berlin was so interesting for me, the history regarding the Berlin Wall was such a recent part of history that I found truly fascinating... The first night we had a traditional German Dinner; sausages, potatoes and cooked cabbage i can't remember the name, then apple strudle for dessert. I have to say i still prefer Aussie sausages from our local butcher in Dural but they were ok, and the Dessert was delicious. The next day we got out and saw Berlin. Check Point Charlie was good, the museum was really good, i was in there for double the amount of time I had to be, cutting out of my free time but I didn't mind. Then we had a bit more of a tour of the city and we were left to our own devises. We looked at one of the old church ruins from WWII had a look around, then we were ghosting the people of Berlin, it was so funny and then there was a crowd laughing watching with us.
The longest remaining part of the wall was great to look at, colourful modern artworks were so entertaining... my signature is now on the wall, although I don't expect it to be there long as the wall gets repainted every couple of years... but hey shows i have been there :P

This is the memorial for all the people of Jewish faith that lost their lives during WWII.

We saw alot of Berlin, however there was so much more to see, more night exploration to do and definitely better hostel/hotels to stay in...

So thats just one of six or seven countries to come... :)

So this post was supposed to come a month ago, but I've been busy travelling around Europe for the past couple of weeks, lucky me :). So midsummer in Sweden was the 19th-20th of June. so midsummer starts on friday Midsummers Eve... So the family was home that day, we got a day off school well rather summer holidays started then, we had a midsummer lunch, traditionally sill (herring) and potatos, but lucky for me it was more than just sill... so it took me all of lunch the find the courage to try sill, it wasent as bad as expected but i certainly dont intend to make a meal out of it, and omgsh apparently it gets worse at some point in the year in going to have to try pickled herring or something its like rotten raw fish, although Kim prefers to say controlably rotten like blue vain cheese. Totally have to get back on track, so we eat ALOT, drink shnaps i don't know how to spell it. After lunch we then went to a place not far from where i live called Julita, there are traditional celebrations held there, the midsummer pole, dancing, stalls etc. I went here with my host family ended up seeing Maja and Fanny there and hanging out with them looking at the gardens and other places. So the midsummer pole, which you can see in the picture above, is danced around, its mostly little kids and their parents know days. Then that night i just spent the night with some friends at a party :) and apparently on this night if u pick 7 types of wildflower and put them under your pillow you will dream of your future husband, i was so tired when i got home and it was dark so i forgot...

The next day Midsummer's day I stayed home during the day and just lazed around. Then at night i went with Johanna, Amanda and Hedvig to Brevens Bruk I think thats what it was called. This place is basically a big outdoor party for all ages, at the front there was country music and then down the back there was a outdoor club sort of thing, the picture above is of this earlier in the night, it was alot busier later that night. There was some very interesting people there, but we saw alot of friends. some people arrived on the back of tractors similar to what they do on graduation. So that was lots of fun too. :)

On Sunday of Midsummer weekend i headed out with my host parents to go see a castle about an hour away from where i live called Gripsholms Slott/ Castle. Parts of the castle dated back to the 1500's so did artworks within the castle. It was pretty amazing too see. Then we had lunch, went to an art musuem and came home.

All in all a very enjoyable Midsummer weekend in Sweden... :D