A trip down Brick Lane

London is famous for its many markets and they are especially popular on the weekends. Today Chelsea and I took a trip to Brick Lane where we met up with her friends from home that are visiting this week.

A couple weekends ago we went to Spitafield Market, but Brick Lane seems so much more quaint. There's rows and rows of clothing vendors and some of the most wonderful smelling food. I was amazed by the amount of vintage cameras on sale. And kind of really want one.

We decided to go to a Mexican Restaurant called Loco Mojito. This was the first time we had had Mexican food since coming to London and it was beyond fantastic. I opted for an apple mojito to drink and it was beyond refreshing and delicious!! 

After eating some of their home made chips and salsa. I ordered a chicken enchilada. It tasted so good. And totally hit the spot 

After lunch we walked around brick lane for a while. Admiring the beautiful jewelry and the massive amounts of clothing.

I was interested in finding an umbrella since two were stolen from me in Rome, but couldn't find one. The trip ended with a delicious tasting churro with vanilla custard. It was so good that I think next time I come I'm just going to opt for street food.

Much love,

Francesca 

On to Berlin

The second part of my reading week adventure occurred in Berlin.  I wasn't expecting to love Germany as much as I did.  We stayed on the East Side of Berlin in a hostel that called itself "The grandest hostel in the world."  Grand Hostel Berlin was super nice.  Definitely the best hostel I've stayed in throughout the trip.  We were welcomed by the lady at reception, given a welcome drink, and shown places in Berlin to visit.  I chose peach iced tea for my drink...and if you know how much I love iced tea then you know it means a lot when I say hands down the best peach iced tea I've ever had.

Since we couldn't check into our room right away we decided to put our luggage in storage and do an afternoon walking tour.  There's a company called New Europe that offers multiple tours in Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Paris, London, Amsterdam, etc.  We opted for their "Alternative Tour"  that afternoon after hearing good reviews from a friend.  The Alternative Tour consisted of riding the underground to various places around East and West Berlin and seeing the different forms of graffiti.  Graffiti in Berlin is part of the unification process, not gang-related like what we see in a lot of American cities.  I'll post some of my favorite pieces below:

East Side Gallery--artwork painted on the largest remaining part of the
Berlin Wall

After the tour we checked into our room and decided to check out the local area.  We went to a little Italian place.  No one spoke English, but I was able to order my margherita pizza so I was content.  For some odd reason I've been craving pizza all the time here, no idea why.  That night we planned our next day and got an early nights sleep.

The next morning we went on a traditional walking tour of Berlin.  We got to see the holocaust memorial, checkpoint Charlie, Hotel Adlon (where Michael Jackson dangled his son over the railing), TV tower, the palace restoration, and remnants of the Berlin wall. Aftwerwards we went to a German restaurant where I got pork schnitzel and we all got Berliner Weisse.  One of my best friends, Zoe, from Davidson told me we had to try it.  I got peach flavored :)

In front of Bradenburg Gate

Hotel Adlon, Michael Jackson's famous stunt

Holocaust memorial

Humboldt University

Us with our Berliner Weisse

Museum of Terror, remnant of the Berlin Wall

That night we did a pub crawl with New Europe.  Our pub crawl leader was name Hollywood.  He was a large black man, with a fur scarf and Prada bag.  Needless to say he was quite a character and made the pub crawl super fun.  We ended the pub crawl at a club called Maddox.  It was a large club and had a really fun atmosphere.

The next morning we did yet another tour with New Europe.  This time we went to a concentration camp.  Called Sachsenhausen.  It was interesting learning about the camp, but it was a really emotional experience.  It didn't feel right taking any pictures, so I only took a picture of the opening gates.

That night we headed back to London.  I'm really happy that I got the chance to go to Berlin.  It's definitely still unifiying both sides, but it's interesting to see the different feel you get in east and west. Overall I definitely liked Berlin way better than Amsterdam. 

Reading Week Adventures Part 1

In the UK they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is actually kind of a slap in the face for them if you think about it. Because the students here don't get a nice little break like we do back home they have reading week instead. Reading week is a class-free week that is meant for catching up on studies and going back home to visit family. Most of my flatmates went home for the break, so it was either be alone for the week or travel. So of course I chose to travel with a group of 4 other people that live three floors above me. I traveled with Jessica (a student from California who is on IFSA with me), Rachel (A fellow IFSA student that goes to school in Ohio), Hana (Jessica and Rachel's flatmate who is from Melbourne, Australia), and Kamran (flatmates with the others and goes to Penn). We decided to only travel Saturday-Thursday (November 2-7) so that we would have time to finish projects when we got back. Saturday through Tuesday morning we were in Amsterdam and Tuesday through Thursday night we were in Berlin. Both were so much fun, but I'm going to talk about Amsterdam first!

When I first got to London I was surprised how interested some people were in going to Amsterdam. Little did I know that marijuana is legal there. Since this is something I've never done and have sworn I will never do I wasn't interested in that aspect at all. Anywhere you walk around in Amsterdam you can find little shops called "coffee shops" that sell pot brownies and have smoking rooms that people can smoke in. Luckily, none of the people I was traveling with smoke either, so we didn't spend our time in Amsterdam in a heightened state.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Saturday morning. It was extremely beautiful. We were surrounded by canals and bikes. There were also quite a lot of naked statues.  Literally they pop up in over half of my pictures.

me, Kamran, Jessica, Rachel, Hana

That night we decided to head to a bar called Belushi's. There were a lot of young people there and a waitress came around a drew mustaches on all our fingers for "No shave" November. After that we strolled around trying to find snacks, but ended up in the Red Light District.  Amsterdam is famous for putting secret marks on its sidewalks and buildings pointing toward the Red Light District.  Needless to say it was an interesting, shocking experience.

                                     

The next morning we got up early and arrived at the Anne Frank Huis. The house is not furnished at all, as Otto Frank didn't want it set up again. However, they did stage it back in 1995 so that we could imagine what the secret annex looked like. I knew at some point I was going to cry and I did during a video display of Anne's best friend. Her best friend had seen her a week before she died. Anne had said she had no one left because her mother and sister had died. Little did she know her father, Otto, was still alive. Overall, the experience was eye-widening for me and I'm really grateful that I had a chance to see it. 

Next on the agenda was going to the Van Gogh museum. We had bought tickets for Monday morning and luckily did not have to wait in the horrendously long line. Although I will admit the wait would've been worth it! Van Gogh has been my favorite artist for a long time. My family is especially fond of him and I was so excited to see his "The Bedroom" painting, which is my family's favorite. 

Jessica, me, Rachel, Hana, Kamran

Voucher for my ticket into the museum

Me with "The Bedroom" 

New Van Gogh painting just discovered

Van Gogh self portrait

Van Gogh's paints

Right next to the Van Gogh museum is the I amsterdam sign. We spent the rest of our day walking around the area. Taking pictures by the sign and getting mexican food and sangria for dinner.

me in the a

Me, Jessica, Rachel, Hana, Kamran

Overall I really enjoyed Amsterdam. I can't wait to share the next part of my journey with you!

xx, Francesca