First International Soccer Game

As my time is starting to wined down here in Rome there were still a few things I want to do before I leave.  And going to a real soccer game was one of them.  A summary of Roma's season so far... They suck!  They can't score a goal to save their life and seem to stay close in games until the last minutes.

These fans here are crazy, they have cheery bombs that they light up and throw at the other fans!  And the game I went to didn't mean a lot to Rome but to Inter Malian it meant a lot to their season.  Rome ended up Loosing 1-0 and the crowd was a lot of fun at first, but there wasn't a ton of people in the stadium, so it wasn't as loud as it could have been, but our seats were great.  We were on the safe side, away from all the chaos but had a prime seats for it.

Here's a shot of the fans

these flags never stopped waving

just like football, they were standing the whole time

lil guys

USA

 These guys were lighting cheery bombs off in the crowd

 And then throwing them haha

After the game we went to our favorite pub Scholars, this is Lexy and I singing "Firework" by my true love Katy Perry :)

PRAGUE!

My second to last trip :(

I woke up early, early Friday morning, rolled over and realized that this as going to be a long day. I gutted through it and packed up my gear and headed to the main lobby.  I was planning on staying another night in Munich, but I couldn't stand the people there and I did everything I really wanted to anyways.  I headed to the train station absolutely starving!  I walked into Burger King and pondered at their menu like someone who hadn't ate in months.  I notice right away that I have never EVER seen this menu in my life.  They had a burger that was covered and battered in Corn Flakes?

Anyways, I walk over to the train kiosk and ask them for the next train that is leaving Munich and heading towards Prague.  The lady behind the desk seemed awfuly nice and printed out my ticket for me.  The plan was to leave Munich at 10 AM and take a two hour train to Nurnberg.  From there I have a hour lay over and then jump on another train for four hours from Nurnberg to Prague.  Here comes the problem.  While I'm sitting at the platform awaiting my train to take me from Numberg to Prague I notice about three minets after the train was suppose to come that the name on the screen had changed from Prague to some other destination, and the train had never come to where I was waiting.  I sprint to the information room and with a frantic look on my face, a lady by the name Sporke (I wish I knew how to do the different symbols and her name would look different).  She spoke perfect english and tried to help me find a different train.  As Mrs. Sproke sat behind a computer screen I watched her face start to droop... She looks me dead in the eye and says "The train didn't come because that train has been on strike for over 48 hours."  My heart stopped, all the blood rushed to my head, and I managed to ask "Why would they sell me a ticket to a train that's on strike PRIOR TO MY PURCHASE?" She started to giggle and told me that "They aren't very smart over there in Munich." I gave her a flat look that said "DUH DUMBASS". But I bit my tongue and we pressed on.

After about a half hour of searching we found a route for me, I could take a 2 hours train from Numberg to Furth i Wald then jump on a train right way for another 2 hours to Plzen then from Plzen I'd take a three hour train to Prague.  Roughly arriving around midnight.  The other plan was for me to wait until tomorrow and catch the first train out.  I was so angry I couldn't look at Sporke in the face because I knew it wasn't her fault that this happened.  I slowly pull my black wallet out of my back pocket and she notices that I have the "euro-rail" pass.  This changes everything she tells me, she also tells me that there is a bus that is a direct connection to the main train station in Prague and they might have a empty spot.  (Reminder that as of right now it is 12:30 AM) We find out that there is a bus that is leaving in thirty minets but it's completely booked.  As the bus fills in I try and see if a seat opens up, but no such luck.  I walk back into the building and try my luck for the later bus.  By now, Sproke is sick of me and I think quite annoyed, but thank God for a nice old man that was able to find me a firstclass ticket on the bus that left later that night.  The only problem was that the train doesn't leave Numberg until 7 PM, then is a three hour trip to Prague.  I gladly accept it, walk out of the information station and think to myself "What am I going to do for 6 hours in a train station, in Numberg, Germany?"

Everything ends up working out in the long run, I get on the bus and start a conversation with a guy who is from Arizona and is just traveling Europe.  He had the same travel problem and hated people in Munich as much as I did at the time.  About an hour into the trip I notice my friend has lost all color in his face, it looked as though he had either seen a ghost or is a dead man walking.  I had a hard time getting settled on the bus because all I could think about was how I wasted a full day in Prague because there are to many stupid people in Munich... I hope I never go back!

BUT!  I finally arrive in Prague, and the second I check into my single room at the hostel my friends call me and tell me to come meet up with them or they are leaving for the night.  I grab my stuff and without hesitation I bounce out the door.  I had way to much energy that had been just building up on that bus I need to let out.

This is inside of Za Za Zauch 

That night I headed home and rested, I was looking forward to exploring Prague, and re-living what Dan Harrison once roamed around.

I wake up around 9 AM on saturday, shower, change, and I'm out the door.  My best-friend Dan Harrison studied abroad in Prague a few years ago and he left me a AWESOME Intenerary for the city.

The first stop I did that day was walked across the street to a little pub that's called "Cafe Bar".  When Dan was studying him and his friends would come here all the time, so many times that they had a "reservation" sign on a table at all times just for them.  For you Dan I took these pictures just like you asked.

this is the owner of the bar, she totally ignored me until I showed her the picture of Dan and his friends.  She right away pulled me to the bar and bought me a beer.  She spoke almost 0 english and no one in the bar spoke a word of it either.  I didn't mind, I made her day, you could tell she loved seeing some old faces.

From there I jumped on the Tram 22 and rode this machine powered by wires for about fifteen-twenty minuets before I jumped off at the Malastronska Namesti stop, and headed towards the St. Nicholas church.

  I didn't go to the top of the church because they wanted an absurd amount of money to go to the top, so I figured I'd save some money for something better.

I made my way to the St. Charles bridge, on this bridge was PACKED with people the going both ways!

Here's a break I caught from all the people on the St. Charles bridge, check out the sky though, it was perfect weather all weekend!

At the end of the bridge is the biggest club in central europe.  It's a 5 story club, but I wasn't able to fit it into my time in Prague.  All I've herd is that it's crazy though!

Once you come across the bridge you will come to Old Town Square, here sits the the famous astronomical clock.

haha the short little Asian lady.

In this Square is the the famous astronomical clock, and two massive churches.

Looks like Disneyland!

Side View

Side view of the the Astronomical Clock

As you can see these little stands with the red tops, these are places that you can go get a snack, hot dog, beer (the beer is cheaper than water in Prague. WOOHOO). I think ate 12 of the desserts there?

This is what they look like!

 There were hundreds of these stands

This is how the prepare them.  Basically they are just bread that cooked over coals and pressed in sugar.  But they are amazing, and with a cold beer they were perfect!

After I walked around for a bit I started to grow hungrier and hungrier, all of these tents had great snacks and deserts, but it wasn't until I came across this!

Finally!  A hot dog with everything I love on it!

Shortly after I finished my hot dog and beer I headed to the Prague Castle.  It's the biggest standing castle in the world right now!  I've heard from a lot of people that the tour of the castle is over-rated (Which I could see how) but I was told you have to go to the St. Vitus Cathedral.

Before I got there though I ran across this...

I had to go in there and give it a try!

Now I was back on track to head to the castle, when right in front of the metro stop was this massive museum. 

 I didn't go in, but this building is massive!!!

As you walk up to the castle you can't really see much, but when you are walking up to the doors you see tons and ton of wooden planks that are going up higher and higher.  They go all the way up to the top of the castle.

As you zig zag up the stone hills you come to the top, from there you are walking up hill for about five minutes before you see this! 

Here is St. Vitus Cathedral that Dan sent me to, in the middle of the castle grounds.  

 The court-yard surrounding the castle.

front view

I walked in and payed the fee to walk to the top.  There were a million n half steps (Still not more than the Vatican, but wow my calves were burning by the time I got to the top.)  When you get to the top you get a great view of all of the castle grounds and almost all of Prague.

Here's the tower on the left from the picture above.

This is the view you would get if you kept walking past St. Vitus Cathedral.

 Another view.

You can see the St. Charles Bridge so clear from the top of this church!

After I walked down I decided to head back to my hostel and drop off all of my recent purchases and different things.  I kept reading the itinerary that Dan sent me and by this time it looked like I covered most of what I really wanted to see!  I sat my stuff down and had to finish one of the final things on Dan's list.  But before I did, I was walking back towards the huge museum where I saw this!

There was two windows with people in these tanks.  I walked by a few different times during the day and there was always someone in the tank with their feet getting sucked on.

From there I walked back into the Old Town Square as the sun was starting to lower and I saw a sign that said "Chocolate museum." I thought "what the hell."  It was really cool, I got to watch a guy make real Belgium chocolate.

This little chocolate dog reminds me of Lucky :(

After I left the factory the sun was hitting this church just perfectly

Love it!

And now what I know Dan's waiting for, I walked back towards the streets where all the pubs were and found  myself starving once again.  Instead of getting another hot dog and beer I went with Dan's suggestion and dove into this!

fried cheese (Smazeny syr)

Fried cheese sandwich... AMAZING!! I had four of these before the night was over!

That night there was the biggest soccer game of the year on (el classico) with Man U playing Man U city, then the biggest one was Barcelona vs. Madrid.  I had a few beers while watching the Man U game and talked to the bartender for awhile.  He was from Washington so it was a relief to talk to a someone from the west coast for once.  After the game there was about a three hour gap from the Barcelona vs. Madrid game so I decided to go to a few bars that Dan suggest to me.

 Only lasted a beer here, no one spoke english so I split quick, but I loved the name of the bar

 This is where I met the bartender from Washington.  I later ended up here to watch the second soccer game.

This bar would have been a lot of fun if I wasn't by myself.  You walk in a there are TV's and benches all over the place. 

This is the top of one of bars that the picture out front came out blurry.  But it was a lot of fun, had a few beers with some guys from Scotland.

This was one of the coolest bars in all of Prague.  As you walk in you sit at a table and someone brings you a glass.  In the middle of the table there is a beer stout and a meter.  As you fill up your glass with beer it tracks how much you drink.  This way when you are done the waitress looks at how much you drank, then that is how much you pay.

 Stairs leading down to the bar.

That night I had a great time meeting some other friends from Scotland and then finished the night up with some girls I met from Madrid.  It was fun speaking spanish to them instead of Italian for once.  But as we said our good-byes I had to stop and get another friend cheese sandwich one last time.  I walked back to my hostel and had to prepare for the early morning trip back to Rome. 

Thank you Dan Harrison for the awesome Itinerary of Prague and all the great places to visit.  I had a blast in Prague and could only wish you were there with me Dan.  We will all have to make a trip down there soon though, until next time...DUBLIN'S NEXT!

Munich

Wednesday afternoon has rolled around and I have NO IDEA what I am going to do this weekend... Ron is going to Greece, Erik, Mike, Spencer, and Aaron are going to Norway to go to Sensation once again, and Ben is going up north with the girls from up the street....  I started to look online at distance from Munich to Germany and found out that they were actually really close to each other!  I went to the train station to book the next overnight train from Rome to Munich!  I left the Rome train station with about two hours to get home, pack for five days of traveling and print off all my boarding passes.  My plan was to leave Rome at 7:30 PM Wednesday night, and arrive at Munich's train station around 6:30 AM.

I get to the Rome train station with about five minuets to spare before the train left without me, problem was that the over-night train isn't market what cart you are suppose to get into.  I asked one of the train conductors and he spoke 0 English once so ever, but I was able to catch a few words here and there to lead me into the right direction.  As I jumped off the cart a almost homeless looking man came up to me and asked if I needed help.  I looked at this BO drenched man that was overdue for a shower, a scruffy beard, gross leather tanned skin, and his eyes were blood shot.  My guess was that he probably hadn't Used whatever he was tweaking on for awhile.  But as I tried to ignore him he grabbed my bag and told me to follow him.  I kept trying to grab it back but he refused to give it back until we found my cart.  Once we found my cart and I tried to hurry and shuffle myself in my room and lock the door but the guy stopped me half way and said "tip please". I handed him a two euro coin and told him to go (permesso) and he wouldn't get out of my bunk, so I stood up and he raised his hand and said cinque (five) and shook his hand in my face.  Why I didn't knock his hand out of my face and scatter his pity money everywhere I still don't know, but I told him to leave now and he took a step towards me, thats when another guy heard us and told the pity fool to leave also.  The guy then turned to shut my door with us two in the bunk and I gave him a good shove and told him to get off the train. I thanked the guy for his help and turned back to my bunk.  I was in a 6 person bunk and at this point and time I was the only person in the room.  I could only wish it would stay this way!

My bunk is the bottom right for 10 hours.

I finally arrive in Munich around 6:30 AM.  I get off the train and follow the directions to my Hostel.  If anyone reads this and is planning on going to Munich, please I urge you DO NOT STAY AT A&O HOSTEL!  They moved locations two years ago and still haven't updated their address, also their phone only works when their receptionist isn't on the computer.  Within the three hours of trying to find this hostel the sky was getting darker and darker, the clouds were black as night, then out of no where snow started to fall... I haven't seen snow since Switzerland, I haven't worn a warm jacket since early March.... I was wearing lacrosse shorts and a light black sweat shirt (I'm wearing it in one of my pictures holding a beer, thank you Connor for leaving that for me).  Finally I see a sign that is advertising the hostel that I'm staying in.  I walk in after being in the freezing snow/rain for almost an hour, soaking wet and ready to unless hell.  I try with all my might to keep my cool as I asked the receptionist why their phone doesn't work.  She explains to me that they only have one phone line in the building and if they are on the internet it takes the phone line away.  The girl with mangled teeth, an ugly tone of voice, hair pulled back in a bun, and a blue collard t-shirt that said A&O Hostel checked me into my room and explained the check out process etc.  As I receive my room key I get around the corner of the desk and shoot a look back to see what her computer screen would show that was so important they couldn't free up the telephone lines.  With a white background, followed by a blue trim read the headline FACEBOOK.  This girl was to busy sitting on facebook while other people that had the same problem as me trying to find this hostel were stranded.  I digress.  At this point this trip has started terribly and doesn't help that I'm on my own.  I get in my room (a single room, if I had to share a room with anyone at that point hell would have broken loose) and I take a quick nap and get ready to explore Munich.

At this point I come down stairs to a new face behind the desk and change my attitude, this employee was not on facebook and bragged about keeping phone lines open all the time.  I quickly ask her how I can get to Dachau, one of the biggest reaming Concentration Camps still around.  She gives me directions there and a route to get me to the Third Reich (The infamous streets where some of the darkest stories of human history took root and grew into Hitlers dictatorship).  She told me I was lucky that I was doing this on a Thursday because these two sights are only opened a few days of the week, to my luck they were both opened today.  At this point I'm starting to think this day might turn around... I was soon mistaken.  Long story short, she gave me directions that lead me two hours the wrong direction, and when I finally was able to travel back two hours and make it to Dachau the day was almost half wasted.  I didn't rush myself but being alone this tour didn't take as long as it normal would have.  I spent a good three hours in Dachau.  Here are a few pictures I took, I have about 60 pictures from here, but I will not post them!  This place made me sick, I almost threw up when I walked through the gas chambers (even though they claim never using them) and the burning room). 

entrance to Dachau

the gate that all the prisoners walked through

as you enter, you see a wide...Square yard you could say?

This was done three years after the camp was torn down, this resembles all the different live styles that were going on at the camp.  There are three monuments such like this one.  This is also placed right by the museum and away from the houses because they said "No matter dead or alive they want all surviving memories away from the places they once laid."

This is the second monument.  You see it read "Never Again" also in front of this; there is a small box that has writing on it (there wasn't any English, but audio guide said it was ashes from the first camp member killed here).

this is the overflow room, the camp was designed for 6 thousand people.  Within two years it was up to 40 thousand people....  They had to sleep facing the opposite way from each other in these bunks...

This gray area rocky area is where housing and buildings once sat.... When they started to tear down a lot of the camp they left this to show everyone how long and narrow their houses were where they were being kept.  See the next picture for a better idea.

This is a picture that was posted by house number 22.  So you can imagine that every one of these houses were on one of those gray blacks above....

After a emotional few hours I return my audio guide and ask the short scruffy beaded man behind desk where I could find the Third Reich... This guy looked at me like I was stupid.  he had no idea what I was talking about.  I gave him a gross look and walked away.  On the bus I asked the bus driver and he had a "some-what" idea of where it was.  And then I asked a TOUR GUIDE, and he said wasn't exactly sure. Ok I'm just going to put my foot down real quick... How stupid do you have to be people from Munich... All the travel guides say that the main two attractions in MUNICH are the two places I wanted to go.... And yet, no one knew where it was.  As I was looking over the map and travel guide I had to give up, the time had passed and I had to admit defeat and head back to the hostel once again.  

I get back to my hostel around 5:00 PM.  I hadn't ate all day (the concentration camp kind of killed my appetite).  But I didn't want to miss this beer tour at 6 PM.  I hurried to my room, jumped in the shower, and ran down stairs to ask the same lady a good place to eat near by.  She gave me a confused look and said "I don't know, umm yah maybe down the street?"  When you work at a hostel or even a hotel you need to know things around you!  When I worked at the double tree in Boise they made us memorize all surrounding restaurants and tourist attractions in the area (I usually just sent them back to BODO because Garden City... there's nothing in Garden City).  Once again I gave her a angry look and headed to the train station, it worked out because the meeting point for the beer tour was in the train station anyways.  I can't remember if I've raved about this enough or not, but in Rome we have a Kabob by our apartment.  It's seriously amazing, we eat there at least three times a week, and the guys who work there love us.  I start to wonder around the train station when I see this...

this is hands down the best Kabob I've ever had in my life... Sorry, Roma you just can't hang with this one!

The beer tour gets started and everything goes smoothly, I soon forget how mad I am at my hostel, and everything else that follows behind that.  The tour kicked off with a free beer and then we followed our guide to our first pub.  There is one really cool thing about Munich I really liked was that when you are done with your beer you don't throw it away (if it's glass) you lay it by the trash can because the homeless people pick them up, take it to the train station, and put it in a machine that recycles the bottle and gives you .80 euro... thats almost a $1.10 american for one glass bottle... That's insane!!  

The beer tour starts and here is my first beer

it says hell because in Germany, "hell" means beer

This is a church I passed on the tour that resembles one of Disney's buildings as well.

This church reminded me of Brussels... A lot detail and is placed in a massive square.

This is my first Liter of the night, it's from HB

It's a dark beer, but it's actually really light and quite sweet as well.  Like dark beer it's a stronger alcohol content but still a great tasting beer.  That's coming from someone who doesn't care much for dark beer.  

 This is really cool!  Here they have a club, if you come to this building three times a week and order at least two beers at a time for 5 YEARS, you get a mug.  This mug gives you free beers and is locked away in shelf like this.  When one of the members come to the building they give a token a key, the token keeps track of how much they drink and at the end of the year they have a prize and a celebration.

    here's another shelf full of mugs.  Pretty much you have to rich and an alcoholic to be in here, the drinks were not cheap at all...

HB

after two other pubs we went to, this one still sits best in my mind.  This building holds the Pope's favorite beer.  He personally has it delivered to his room at the Vatican.  

Here's the beer hall leading to the cellar where they make and store the Pope's favorite beer.  As you can see this place is always packed and full of Americans, Germans, Italians. etc.

Here's another Liter of the Pope's favorite beer.

This is "the beer cellar where the Pope's beer is made and stored.  The only beer from this wall that is drunk is by the Pope himself.

We stopped at two other famous pubs on our adventure before we made our way to our final stop.  It was actually at a hostel that I was trying to book instead of where I was staying (I really screwed up).  And there the Australian tour guide Adam, announced that there had to be a dance off because this kid Matt and I both drank the same amount of beer during the tour.  We both had no idea they were keeping track of the beer count, but we both were the only ones who were somewhat with it still too.  A lot of people had to drop out and head home early.  

The dance off started with Matt and ended with Matt, the whole hostel was watching us, and neither one of us knew anyone surrounding us as we thought of our next dance moves.  Before Adam could say dance, Matt was already in the middle of the circle picking out the hottest girl he could see.  When he found her; he ripped his shirt off and threw it to her, from there he slowly gave a strip-tease to the audience by taking down his pants.  At this time Matt is dancing in his underwear, at the same time I'm clenching my stomach because I'm laughing so hard.  Then out of nowhere as the song that is playing starts to pick up pace, Matt drops trow and exposes himself to the whole crowd.  He lifts his hands in the air as if he was an angle looking up to God.  Half of the crowd went nuts laughing, the rest (including me) turned away, also still laughing so hard.  The dance off was ended there, how could you not give this dude the winning prize! 

But to make it fair Matt and I both received two prizes for finishing the beer challenge.

Matt got this.  It's a free pass to tour, building, etc that charges admission.  It worked out great because Matt was staying another two nights and he really wanted to see the castle in Munich, but he didn't want to pay 30 euro.  Well, Matt you got it free homie!

I got this, a senseless piece of paper, but it's full of memories and great beer!

After everyone left, Matt and I stayed at the hostel and continued to have a few beers.  We were talking sports when I finally asked him what sparked the idea of him to get buck naked?  He told me that he use to pose for nude modeling and didn't care about being naked in front of people.  I almost spit out my beer in laughter and we kept drinking.  We later ran into a few girls from Nevada.  Now both these girls were very cute, but loved to brag about their football team. I didn't get a chance to speak before they asked where we went to school and Matt had answered Boise State for me.  They shot me looks that no words could describe.  To my surprise the girls knew a lot about football and actually told me that they root for BSU when they aren't playing Nevada.  We swapped college stories and before I knew it, it was almost 5 AM.  I had planned on getting up around 8 AM...  I headed back to my hostel and kept my promised to myself, my alarm when off at 7:45, I showered, changed, and was down stairs by 8:00 AM...  I couldn't be happier than getting out of Munich.  Next stop. PRAGUE!