From Karneval to Skiing the Alps and Back again

From Karneval to the Alps and Back Again from Brittany Sobel on Vimeo.
These past 5 days have been a combination of mayhem, relaxation, and adventure. Thursday was the first official day of Karneval, and included a smaller parade in Beul (the town right outside of my house), and a larger celebration in the city of Cologne. Most everybody dressed up in full body furry suits to stay warm. I loved the costumes, as most of them were homemade and highly original! We saw dressed up Broccoli, Kangaroo, and many Smurfs. The Karneval celebration typically starts off with an hour long parade each day for 5 days, where the people on the floats will throw out lots of candy, and people in the crowds yell out "Camela!" to attract the candy toward them. After the parades, people hit up the pubs and party literally all night!
The celebration goes on for a week, however, I knew that it was going to be a little too much for me, so a few of my friends and I decided to escape to the alps for a few days! We took a train down to Kitzbuhel, Austria and skiied for 3 days. We found an incredible hotel package that included 2 nights stay in a 4 star hotel right on the slopes, access to the sauna, steam room, pool, tanning salon, 2 gourmet breakfasts, and 2 outstanding dinners, and a lift pass for the mountain for each day!!! We really lucked out and had an absolute blast!
The alps were quite challenging for me to ski as they mostly consisted of huge open meadows of moguls, and more powder than you can possibly imagine. Every night the Alps get over 4 feet of fresh snow, and during the day the conditions are great! I skied in just a simple cotton long sleeve shirt and my jacket and was perfectly warm! We packed in 3 long days of skiing and completed our days with some relaxation in the spa center, a nice meal, and "apres skiing" which is after skiing. After skiing is very famous in Austria, and basically just consists of going to the pubs and meeting new people. We went to an awesome one where we met a group of 20 Netherlanders. The group bought us drinks all night long until I did the running man dance on stage to Vanilla Ice. LOL Sorry but I don't have that on video...perhaps some other time!
Today was the last day of Karneval.... I dressed in fun colors and went to Cologne for the big finale parade along with 800,000 other people and managed to score 3 roses and another bag full of Candy otherwise known as Camela!

Carnival Kick-Off

Today was the first parade of Carnival in Bonn, which will continue on for the next week and a half. The streets were crowded with people of every age dressed as penguins, clowns, jokers, lions, tigers, bugs, bears, and my all time favorite, a baby dinosaur who you will see in the video! When I got on the train to get to the parade, I sat next to two furry circus animals named Thomas and Peter who were only 2 years old! Their parents were dressed as a ring leader and a lion, and their friends were all dressed as jokers! It was quite the experience! haha I did not know what I was getting myself into when I got off the train... herds of people rushed off to make it to the street parties which included an everlasting supply of bratwurst and beer. There was also a parade with many floats of carnival people throwing candy out to the crowds. Everyone including myself held bags up in the air to snatch the yummy German treats. This is truly a unique cultural experience with the German music, food, and handmade costumes. It was basically like a pre-Mardi Gras celebration German style!


Untitled from Brittany Sobel on Vimeo.

Finally Back from Berlin and Prague!

I just walked in the door from a really fun past week I spent in Berlin and Prague. If I were to write everything I did this past week you would be reading forever, so here are some of the highlights!...

Random Footage from Berlin and Prague from Brittany Sobel on Vimeo.

1) Celebrating my 21st Birthday in Berlin- It didn't start off so great, because the club I wanted to go to for my midnight celebration was closed, and then I had to wake up early to go to a concentration camp (yes I actually went to a Concentration Camp on my birthday). Luckily the day turned around, all my friends and I went out to a nice Mediterranean restaurant, where I had my first legal drink (a glass of Cabernet). After dinner we went to two of the most amazing clubs I have ever experienced! One was a four story club with 8 different rooms, each playing a different genre of music. The second was a skyscraper club called The Weekend that was on the 15th floor of a building! I got into all the clubs for free and managed to squeeze in 7 free shots of (legal) alcohol haha. I could not have asked for a better birthday! 

2) Roaming the streets of Prague- Prague is the most beautiful city I have ever visited. It is one of the few major European cities that was not affected by any of the World Wars, so most of its old historical buildings are still in excellent shape. We walked across the famous Charles Bridge which has a breath taking view of the city, we saw a castle, and a famous Cathedral. 

3) Indulging in Czeck Cuisine- The Czeck Republic has really interesting food... there national dish is called Goulash and is basically a really zesty beef stew. I had that served with a baked apple that was topped with cowberries (similar to cranberries). 

4) Berlin Nightlife- Berlin is the true city that does not sleep, and there are countless clubs and bars to experience. We went to some pretty interesting places including a Vampire Bar that was super dark and had viles of blood hanging from the wall. That place was actually really freaky so we jetted out of there. I have never had a fear of being bit until I went to the Vampire Bar lol. We also went to an awesome Indie Music club that spun the Ting Tings, MGMT, and the Cold War Kids. 

5) Balsak Coffee- I finally got to experience a world famous cup of Balsak coffee (yes that is really what it is called and it is pronounced just how it looks!) It was excellent, except my friends were cracking so many jokes and making so many puns that I actually choked on it and even had some come through my nose lol ( only at a place called Balsak would this happen.... it was on my birthday too! haha ) 

6) Taking a blue flame shot of Absinth in Prague (as seen in the Video)- Prague is the only place you can get real absinth. It is illegal in the U.S. because it has a hallucinogen in it. I didn't actually feel much from except for an excessive fuzzy feeling running through my finger-tips. 

7) Obtaining a first hand experience of Germany's horrendous history- I already mentioned most of the details from this in my last blog, but one thing that took me by surprise that I didn't mention was finding my last name in the Holocaust Book of the Dead. I have a few ancestors who suffered from this treacherous time in history, and being able to commemorate them was a crazy experience. 

8) Going to an Opera in Prague- We got to see La Traviata! The story was not so riveting, but the voices were phenomenal! 

9) Shopping in the local's flee markets in Berlin- I picked up some cool bandanas and some good arabic food! 

10) Coming home to watch the Video Brett made and open my package from my Parents- Thank you SO much everyone, that was a wonderful surprise! Brett your video was so much fun to watch and special thanks to Cindy, Kristin, Danny, Alison, and my Mom for making an appearance! I love your scarves mom, and Sees and blueberry coffee were the PERFECT gift! I miss you all so much!! 

Happy 21st Birthday Brittany! from Brett Schorr on Vimeo.

Ich Bin Ein Berliner

These are the famous words of John F. Kennedy from his speech in 1963 which are highly commemorated in Berlin. It means ''I am a Berliner'' and it is such a famous line, because it demonstrates the United States support for Western Germany, which escaped from the Soviet Control.

Today has been a really intense day comprised of a long train ride and a guided tour through the entire city which presented some of the most interesting history I have ever heard. I have always been well aware of the horrendous damage that hit Germany during World War II, however, it did not occur to me nearly as much until I actually physically walked the streets where so many killings and bombings took place. The hardest thing for me to see was the graveyard of 2000 Jewish Holocaust victims. This was a graveyard like no other, not a single name printed on the grave and not a single grave went beneath the ground. They were all abstract blocks which were of varied heights. The graveyard interestingly enough is right next to the exact spot where Adolf Hitler and his wife committed suicide.

Our tour guide was really awesome, he was born and raised in Berlin and was one of the 50,000 people who jumped through the gates of the Berlin wall in 1989 when it was finally legal to go from East Germany to West Germany.

Now we are off to get some dinner then check out one of Berlin's famous clubs !

Burrrrlin

Tomorrow morning we will be taking a high speed train to Berlin, and it is suppose to be snowing and cold there (thus the title of the blog) I will officially be spending my 21st Birthday there, which should be a lot of fun. I am planning on going to this alternative Fusion restaurant that has a sweet setup and even a dj, then we will probably hit up a club or two. During our stay we will also be visiting the Jewish History museum, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, Berlin Cathedral, Bundestag (the German Parliament), a concentration camp, and the Potsdamer Platz. Sunday we will be leaving for Prague, which should be even more amazing! It has been my dream to go there for many years, so expect lots of pictures!!  

Today was fun, I found a girl on the trip 

who is just obsessed with chocolate and coffee as I am, so we meet up once a week to go to an amazing place called Schokolade in Bonn. They make their own chocolate and melt it down for the most amazing hot chocolates and Mochas in the world! They always include a signature cocoa powder heart on top with lots of froth and foam which makes it appear even more appetizing! 

I also did some shopping today and bought a leather jacket and a scarf! Woohoo! We had no class today, just a mandatory excursion to visit the headquarters of the Paralympics (Olympics for the disabled), which was really interesting! I must go pack now for Berlin! Ill be filling you all in again soon! 

xoxo

There is Noting Like Roaming Rome

This weekend was quite possibly the most jam packed and awe-inspiring weekend I have ever experienced! So far, Rome has been my favorite city I have yet to travel to. I am lying in my bed feeling practically crippled as I have never walked so much in my life! Everything worked out so well time wise, as we managed to fit in every major Roman monument in a single day. Thursday night when we arrived, we treated ourselves to a delicious 5 course Italian meal at a restaurant near the hostel. We decided to get to bed early, because we knew that Friday was going to be an intense day! Friday morning we woke up at 7 to make sure we could make it to the Vatican before the lines got too crazy. The Vatican City is truly magnificent and really deserves at least a few days of visitation to get the full experience. We however, managed to squeeze all the highlights in about 3 hours. This included the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Vatican Museum. My favorite was the Sistine Chapel, we spent about 30 minutes just staring at Michaelangelo's amazing artistry that was completed in less than two years! In my mind I have personally crowned him the King of Art.
From the Vatican city we proceeded to walk to the other side of Rome, where the Colosseum and the ancient Roman Ruins were. Along our walk there were more historical monuments every which way we looked! I can't even describe to you the feeling that came upon me when seeing so much history literally within footsteps of eachother! I was in a trance while walking and even ran into a few benches along the way because I could not help but stare at everything! haha Although, I would like to say for those who know me well, you should be very proud, because I took charge with the map and led us from the Vatican to the Colosseum..... and I did it successfully! (minus the 3 bruises I have from running into the benches)
On the way to the Colosseum we saw the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, Piazza de Popolo, the Campdiologio, and many of the ancient Roman Ruins which included the Arch of Titus.

The Colosseum was surrounded by tons of awe-struck bystanders! It was amazing, however, to be honest, not quite as large as I had imagined it to be. 8 hours of non-stop walking later we finally decided to take a break and get some gelato before we ended our amazing day with a crazy night. We then proceeded to walk all the way to the other side of the city back to our hostel to get ready for a pub crawl at the Spanish Steps.
The Pub crawl included a tour to two bars and a club. This crazy night started at 9pm and didn't get us home until 4 in the morning! After 8 hours of non-stop walking and 4 hours of non-stop dancing, you can imagine how much pain my feet must be in!
Our last day was fun and a little more relaxing, I met up with my friend Dale who happens to be studying abroad in Rome, and we got some gelato and sat near the Trevi Fountain to catch up on all of our crazy experiences.
Getting home was a big hassle, I think we were not meant to leave Rome, because it took us 3 trains, 2 buses, and a plane to finally get back to Bonn! It was however, more than worth it, and I don't think I could have possibly had a better time! : )