Adventures of Semana Santa

Nine days, three cities, and a whole lot of memories. Bear with me, this is gonna be a long one. Should I be working on my 8 page Spanish lit paper due this week? Probably, but reminiscing on Semana Santa and feeling sorry for myself that it's over while writing this sounds like a better idea to me. "Semana Santa" means holy week in Spanish aka the week before Easter and equivalent of spring break in the States, meaning no classes and a week of travel in Europe. My destinations included Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague. Originally we wanted to do Italy or Greece or somewhere warm, but unfortunately so did the rest of the continent because flights to all southern European countries were way out of our price range. The places we chose are obviously more northern and the weather proved as such, but even so it was an incredible week and by far the best spring break I've ever had (sorry, Gulf Shores).

We arrived in Amsterdam Friday evening. From the moment we emerged from the metro station by our hostel, I loved this place. The first night we simply explored the city, indulging in some Dutch cheese and beer and reliving childhood delights at a carnival set up in the city center (& yes we absolutely rode a few rides). We also stumbled upon the Red Light District for the first time, completely by accident actually. We were merely strolling through the streets when all of a sudden we passed a flashing red light and then there was a half-naked woman dancing in the window next to me. We walked through the area a few times throughout our stay to simply observe, because it truly is so bizarre and surreal to witness. Amsterdam is something else. (Side note: Our hostel, Shelter City ~Christian Brothers~ Hostel was located one block down from Red Light District, which we found a little ironic and also not on the website. This was my second hostel experience and a definite downgrade in comfort and cleanliness from the one in San Sebastián, but we were hardly there so it's no big deal. However they did have a cat named Oliver De Shelter Cat, so that was a plus.)

Saturday we began with the Van Gogh Museum, one of Amsterdam's top attractions. Like the numerous other art galleries I've been lucky enough to visit this semester, it was so cool to see artwork that I've studied and appreciated for many years now. Although Van Gogh is not my favorite artist in the context of his actual work, I find his life story fascinating and it was interesting to see so many of his pieces in one place and be able to almost follow the timeline of his mentality and development through his artwork. In the museum were two of his most famous works, Sunflower and Bedroom in Arles. The Sunflower painting reminds me of a quote by Van Gogh that I've always loved: "Normality is a paved road: it's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." Somethin' to think about.

Throughout the day we leisurely enjoyed seeing the city, as well as crossing off some Amsterdam must-do's, including a photoshoot by the I Amsterdam sign and eating waffles. Early evening we did the Heineken Brewery tour, where we learned about the ingredients of a Heineken (water, barley, hops and "A" yeast), how it's brewed and the history of the company. Fun fact: a Heineken is made of 95% water. Which means we were pretty much simply hydrating ourselves while drinking the complementary beers that came with the tour.

On Sunday morning we did a canal boat tour, providing unique views of the streets and buildings on each side. We also explored the flower market, full of vibrant tulips of course, and had a delicious lunch of pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella before getting in line for the Anne Frank House. Pre-sale tickets for the museum are sold out until the end of May, but it opens to the public at 3:30pm, so people start lining up hours before. We got there around 2pm and only had to wait about two hours, which wasn't terrible and also definitely worth it. Visiting the Anne Frank House was one of my favorite parts of the entire week. I've been fascinated with Anne and her story ever since I read her diary when I was in elementary school, so being able to see the "Secret Annex" in person as well as refresh my memory about Anne's life was very cool.

The setup of the museum is extremely impressive, allowing visitors to walk through each room of the house and finally to the hiding place behind a sliding bookcase. The (free!!) audioguide explains the importance of each room in addition to providing relevant excerpts from Anne's diary. Anne's room in the Annex still has photos and posters on the walls from when she inhabited it, which was a little uncanny but such an incredible authentic aspect to the museum. There was also an exhibition dedicated solely to Anne's writing, which might have been my favorite part. Anne had begun her original diary a few weeks before going into hiding in 1942, but two years later when she learned that her diary would be collected after the war, she began to rewrite it with aspirations of publication, as she'd always wanted to be a famous writer. The museum displays Anne's original red-checkered diary as well as some of her rewritten sections on loose papers. Additionally it houses other examples of her writing, including her "favorite quotes notebook" and a book of creative short stories. The visit ends with a 10 minute film with the theme "her could've beens are your opportunities" that featured famous figures and people from all over the world delivering moving testaments to Anne's bravery, compassion and aspirations. This collection of profound and hard-hitting testimonies was the perfect way to end the tour; the museum truly blew me away. It's important to remember that Anne Frank was just one victim of a devastatingly terrible event, but because she chose to tell her story, we are able to admire her incredible spirit that was much too short-lived and serves as a reminder to what should never happen again. Storytelling is powerful. My visit here made me think a lot about something I've always been a big believer in: the power of writing can change the world. Anne knew that.

Whew. Sorry for the novel, just so much to say! I could honestly write an essay about my experience there and my impressions of Anne Frank in the context of the Holocaust, but I'll spare any readers (still not sure if anyone reads these but if so, hi & thanks:,) the time by moving on. Sunday evening we ate dinner and hung out at this funky place called The Tara, a restaurant bar with three different bars, two terraces and seven rooms, each area with differing décor including weird medieval vibe and modern chic, all with mix-matched extravagant furniture. Our favorite room had this amazing giant gold couch that kept us there for hours. Later that night we ended up at the carnival again (we seemed to gravitate towards it all throughout the weekend) and walked through the Red Light District one last time as our weekend in Amsterdam came to a close. Of the three cities we visited this week, Amsterdam, you were my favorite ;)

Heineken Brewery tour

Anne Frank House

On Monday we flew to Berlin. This was my first time returning to Germany since I moved back to the States in 2010, which is crazy to think about. I enjoyed the familiarity of seeing German words on signs and remembering the feel of German food, architecture and people. Our hostel in Berlin was my favorite hostel so far, with actual beds (no bunk beds!) and an almost hotel-like atmosphere. They also had a library bar, so how could I not like it. Monday night we went to a craft beer bar/restaurant to kick-off our 3-day saga of amazing German food and beer. We got beer flights to test our favorites and were surprised to see Boulevard Brewing Co. on the board, including Tank 7. My first meal consisted of schnitzel (thinly breaded pork) with cranberry sauce and potato salad. I probably hadn't eaten a German meal as good as this since that summer seven years ago...if you don't like German food, you're wrong.

Tuesday was full of seeing all of Berlin's main attractions, each site an example of fascinating German history. We started at Berlin's largest park, Tiergarten, to see the surrounding Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag and Victory Column. Of course it began raining pretty much as soon as we stepped out of the metro, even thought it wasn't supposed to until Wednesday. It was also low 50's and therefore not very ideal but hey, what can ya do. After strolling through Tiergarten in the rain, we explored the Holocaust Memorial also nearby. Consisting of almost 3,000 concrete slabs of different sizes, the memorial is extremely abstract. The slabs are organized in rows for visitors to walk through like a maze and the pathways are hilly, causing each block to be a different height and contributing to a confusing and eerie ambiance. The project was designed to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reality, according to its designer, thus a direct reflection of the Holocaust. Definitely an interesting memorial and worthy of interpretation.

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag

Holocaust Memorial

Next we admired the beautiful Berliner Dom, but didn't go in because €7 is just too much for a broke traveling college student. Lunch consisted of another delicious meal worth describing and another favorite from my childhood—currywurst (aka fried pork sausage topped with ketchup-based curry sauce and spices) with sauerkraut. After lunch we saw Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. During this era, the infamous Berlin Wall separated the city from West Berlin supported by the Western Allies and communist East Berlin controlled by the Soviet Union. A replica of the guard house and the iconic sign reading "You are now leaving the American sector" can be found at the Checkpoint today. We then walked along the Berlin Wall East Side Gallery, an almost 1-mile long section of the wall that was left standing as a memorial to serve as a reminder of freedom. Artists from all over the world were commissioned to add meaningful artwork to the gallery, but today the wall unfortunately also has a lot of graffiti. At night we went on a pub crawl, where we got to experience the full range of nightlife in Berlin including a cocktail bar, craft beer bar, a place in which we deemed as the hipster version of Tonic, and finally one of the city's best nightclubs, Matrix. I'm not sure if the German trap music or walking from bar to bar in the rain or finding out the metro closed at midnight was more alarming. However it was still a good night and fun experience. Berlin is so big and spread-out that we would have had trouble trying to find places to go without this pub crawl.

Berliner Dom

Checkpoint Charlie

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

Wednesday's weather predictions proved to be true by raining pretty much all day long. Just like the Germany I remembered and love:,) However, we were able to accomplish most things we needed to see the day before, so the day was more relaxed and we found activities to do inside. First we went to the Jewish Museum, which was an incredible experience. I actually think it might be the coolest non-art gallery museums I've ever visited. It consists of this massive modern, metal, twisted zig-zag shaped building organized into three axises each representing a distinct concept. Visitors follow the axises like hallways, occasionally encountering other rooms and additions, including "Holocaust Tower" (an triangular tower with no light or heating, in which visitors reflect upon its emptiness when they walk into it) and "Memory Void," a particularly eerie interactive part where visitors walk across a pit of metal faces. There are also random empty spaces creating linear slices throughout the building, serving to represent, according to its designer, "a void that which can never be exhibited when it comes to Jewish Berlin History: humanity reduced to ashes." The museum focused on Jewish history but in the context of human rights, and thus included other displays relating to human rights, including an extremely interesting exhibition about female expression within Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There was also an interactive learning center where visitors can learn more about the historical development of Jewish Berlin and explore definitions of human rights. If you're ever in Berlin, I definitely recommend paying this museum a visit.

On a lighter note, we spent the afternoon in two different biergartens, sitting inside because it was still raining. Both places had huge beautiful outdoor terraces that would've been so fun if it wasn't rainy and cold, but a beer is a beer regardless. Then we hung out at our hostel's library bar before dinner (because you can't just not go to a library bar when it's in your hostel). We went to a popular German restaurant known for its live jazz & blues music for dinner, where I finally got to eat my ultimate favorite German meal—jägerschnitzel and spätzle, aka schnitzel with mushroom sauce and egg noodles. I literally have not eaten this in seven years and it was glorious. The music and vibe here was fun too but unfortunately we were unknowingly charged €6 each for the band's cover charge. I think I know I'll have made it in life when this event does not infuriate me. One can only hope this day comes soon, but for now €6 gets me 6 glasses of wine at Copas Rotas in Salamanca, so the annoyance is justified.

Thursday morning we had our final German meal, the döner kebab. Traditionally a Turkish dish, in Germany döner kebabs are popular high-quality fast food, consisting of lamb meat in a pita usually with veggies and tzatziki sauce. We had waited in line for over 45 minutes on Tuesday night to get one from Mustafa's Gemüse Kebab, one of the best döner shops in the city, but had to give up so we wouldn't be late for the pub crawl. The line was literally 40 people deep...that's how good these döners out of this tiny little food stand supposedly were. So we returned on our last morning and the warm pita with fresh lamb, three types of sauces and probably seven different roasted vegetables did not disappoint. Mustafa, you are a smart man. ...I really hope it's not another seven years before I return to this country. Deutschland, ich habe dich vermisst!

Our train ride from Berlin to Prague is quite the tale. When buying the tickets online we evidently failed to realize you must "reserve" a seat in addition to purchasing the ticket. So long story short, after much confusion, we spent 4 1/2 sitting on the floor like stowaways. For the first two hours Andie, Olivia and I were literally sitting in the in-between compartment of two cars right in front of the bathroom, backs against a wall that wasn't completely enclosed so cold air rushed in. I felt like I was on the run. Looking back, it's a funny story but in the moment it was not my favorite travel experience. So, if you're ever buying tickets for a Deutsche Bahn "DB" train, make sure to select a seat online so you don't end up being herded across the country cattle-style. :,)

That night we had reservations at the Ice Pub, one of the levels in the famous five-story club Karlovy Lazne. In case you haven't heard of it, it's pretty much what it sounds—a room completely made of ice, including the walls, bar, tables and even drink cups. While this was definitely a cool experience and I'm glad I did it, it was a little anticlimactic. You only have 20 minutes in the room, which is honestly all you can handle considering it's actually really freaking cold, and the poncho and thinly-woven gloves provided don't do much help. But, now I can say I've had a drink in a bar completely made of ice, so that's pretty cool. The best part of the night, however, was by far our next stop: the AnonymouS Bar. If you know me at all you'll understand how excited I was to go here. V for Vendetta themed and choose-your-own-adventure style, the bar has intriguing décor with mysterious menus, drinks and drink features. Guests can ask for secret menus that unlock more drinks by asking for "The View" or "The Scent," in which mask-wearing servers will provide blacklights and a box of perfumes with coordinating cocktails. Some of the drinks come with odd pairings, such as Addie's "Fun Fair" that came with cotton candy and Ben's "Smoke" which entailed the server pouring fire into the drink. I chose mine based off a perfume that I liked, which ended up being a lavender and ginger-infused whiskey (no surprise there).

Ice Pub

Ice Pub

AnonymouS Bar

AnonymouS Bar

Friday was our only full day in Prague. We saw the St. Charles Bridge, John Lennon Wall and astronomical clock, then later hiked up to the castle grounds and walked around the gardens. Midday we got a drink at a rooftop bar overlooking Old Town. We spent most of our day hanging out around Old Town and the Easter market that was set up in the town square. Of course we had to try the famous Czech dessert "trdelnik" aka tunnel-shaped dough covered with cinnamon & sugar that you can have filled with Nutella or ice cream. We ended our time in Prague and Semana Santa with a boat party tour on the Vltava River through the city.

Thus concludes my Semana Santa adventures. Cheers to the best spring break I'll probably ever have—never again will I be able to experience three incredible cities in nine days (as cheaply as we did, from 16-person sleeping dorm hostels to train rides without seats) at 21 years old with some of my favorite people.