Follow the red triangles and the black lines -

See how far Jas and Chris have traveled between London and Prague.....follow the red triangles and the black arrows....:) London-Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Munich-Prague

left Germany, now in Prague.

Man, the last couple of weeks have gone by so fast, it is hard to believe we've been in Europe for just a little over a month already!

Amsterdam was absolutely perfect. I loved it. It was small enough to walk everywhere (some people would argue with that, but if you have legs and don't mind a half hr walk, there is no where you can't go). There bikes EVERYWHERE!! and very few cars besides taxis and police. Most everyone walking around is our age, and the city just has a very quaint vibe to it. The canals and apartments along the canals add an unremarkable beauty to Amsterdam. It was cold, but never too cold, and people were very nice. We felt safe and stayed at a great hostel (Orfeo), for a great price...oh and the red light district, not all its cracked up to be, more shocked by Burbon St. in New Orleans actually.

Germany: WHAT A PLACE!
we were able to travel virtually anywhere for free because our e-rail passes allowed us on all the subway systems, which saved us lots of money, time and energy!

Berlin - I know that Berlin has a massive dark and powerful history, but it wasn't until we really walked through it all and begin to learn about everything that we could truly appreciate this massive city. There is no where in the world we have been with which such a hard, and powerful past like Berlin. Buildings either hold battle wounds from WWII, smoke wounds from when the city used coal to heat, or massively beautiful statues, structures and architecture. We stayed in West Berlin first, which was nice, but boring, mainly because our hostel was DEAD, it was seriously very errie. However, it would be perfect for a family. It was called Stayforcheap Hostel, and it was in a building built in 1905. I felt like i was in Harry Potter and I was scared it was haunted at night. Once we moved to East Berlin, we stayed at The Generator, which is this massive hostel, crawling with young people, action and fun. It was great for us, we had key cards like a hotel. We had a very interesting roommate, and I only use interesting for making this post Politically correct and not because it is the right word, can't wait to tell you all about it when we get home. Overall, Berlin = Amazing...the history was truly beyond powerful. Go on the free tour if you go to Berlin, very great guide and gives you info you couldn't find or read unless you spent weeks doing research on everything, they sum the history up well in 3 and 1/2 hrs.

Munich: love love love it! Munich, unlike Berlin, was small enough (it's city central) for us to get around very easily. We took the same free tour in Munich, which was honestly, pretty bad. That could be due to the weather because it was snowing like a mad dog on our three hour tour and the guide was not excited at all. The history about Munich in some ways was very similar to Berlin. Before Hitler became big, he worked for the Bavarian Government, and it was very interesting to hear about Hitler before he started to take over. Did you know that in one of Hitler's attempts to take over with his ideas of Nazism, his bodyguard jumped in front of the Bovarian government shooting at him, to take something like 12 bullets. If he hadn't done that, Hitler would have been hit, killed, and dead before WWII and the Holoucaust ever happend. Crazy huh. We spent Valentine's Day here and had a lovely sushi fiest. I would have liked to stay in Germany longer, there are so many more places I would like to go, like THE ROMANTIC ROAD!! Baden Baden, etc. Hopefully we can come back before our trip is over and go to those places.

side note: people in germany like to drink, we saw/delt with multiple crazies due to too much liquor...and you'd think that at 8 am, they'd be passed out, but no...we were even harrassed on our train to Prague, twice. Needless to say, I am very glad we have each other.

Prague: just got here and haven't got to see the city yet. We decided last minute to go to Prague because it is so cheap, and everywhere else is quite pricey right now because of the Carnival Festival. We might end up staying here for a couple weeks, taking day trips and traveling through the Checz republic because it is so cheap for us. We were able to get our own private room for 16.00 us dollars a night (for each of us), which is amazing!

Hope all are well at home. We love you all and miss you lots. We are learning so much, not only about the history and culture of everywhere we go, but about Americans, non Americans, communicating with people who don't speak the same language, but also, we are learning a lot about each other, travelling isn't always fun and glamorous, but we are definately making it work and having so much fun along the way!!
We uploaded a ton more photos, and I am trying to go back and put captions on things for you guys, I put captions on all of Amsterdam's album, some Berlin, and Paris, hopefully, we can get them all up. NOW is a good time to email us, because we have free internet at the hostel we are staying at! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Jas and Chris

Sending Happy Valentines to Chris and Jas

Happy Valentine's to Chris and Jasmine!!!!

goodbye Amsterdam...HELLO GERMANY

The last 10 days have been such a different experience. London was so different from Paris in so many ways. We are so lucky for this opportunity and for getting the chance to learn and share in other cultures, that I find it hard to say anything but good things about where we go, however, lets just say, after 5 nights in Paris, we were DEFINATELY ready to move on. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. Bikes everywhere! Very young night life, most people walking around were our age. We have spent the last four nights here! In Paris, we stayed at The Friends Hostel, which was not so pleasant as an experience for me, as I broke out in a rash which has now moved to my face! However, Orfeo Hostel, in Amsterdam is great! Clean, good FREE breakfast and...FREE INTERNET...also close to everything for the most part. Paris had some beautiful attractions, the effiel tower at night is a MUST. Amsterdam as a city wasn't as stunning individually, but it all fit. While here we went to the Anne Frank museum, which was amazing. Well...wish I had time to tell more, but we need to catch our train to Berlin! Love and miss you all!! We have finally uploaded the rest of our London pictures, all of our Paris pictures, and a couple Amsterdam pics. HOPE ALL IS WELL AT HOME!

Au revoir Paris, Hallo Amsterdam.

We just arrived in Amsterdam and are enjoying a Heineken in the hostel and just hanging out with the other people in the lounge area. Jasmine is having a Shanti- half beer/ half sprite also with Heineken, it is local to Holland and the brewery is very close. We will try to get on and create a more detailed post tommorow or the day after. Pictures will be flowing on to the photobucket account over the next few days. Hope everyone is great.

-Chris and Jas