Berlin: "Poor, but Sexy"

The unofficial slogan given to the city by it's gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit was "Poor, but Sexy". It's official slogan, "Be Berlin", just doesn't have quite the appeal.

I rode up with the Coaches to Berlin last week. I met up with my friend Seebass, who was born and raised in old East Berlin. He took me out the first night and shared several stories about growing up on the east side.


I spent the second day trying to see everything in Berlin. Obviously I saw what was left of the Wall, the East Side Gallery, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Postdamer Platz, and the Reichstag. It was a quick trip but I thoroughly enjoyed Berlin. There is so much to see, so much history to learn and plenty to do, I'd really like a chance to go back there.

Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

Reichstag

Reichstag

Brandenburg Gate

Berliner Dom

"Short Story of the Wall"

"Doin' it cool for the East Side"

Part of the Berlin Wall

East Side Gallery in Berlin

At the top the TV Tower in Berlin

Currywurst is a German national dish consisting of hot pork sausage (German: Wurst) cut into slices and seasoned with curry sauce (regularly consisting of ketchup or tomato paste blended with curry) and generous amounts of curry powder, or a ready-made ketchup-based sauce seasoned with curry and other spices. Currywurst is often sold as a take-out/take-away food, Schnellimbisse (snacks), at diners or "greasy spoons," on children's menus in restaurants, or as a street food.Picture on the wall of a building beside my Hostel. Just random, but thought it was interesting.

Northern Blitz

As you may have read already on Jason's blog, we took a little trip two weeks ago through 5 countries. Cool thing about it was, we did those 5 countries in about 48 hours! Below is a timeline of where we went and what we saw in those 2 days. The pictures are all from Jason's blog so you've probably seen them before, but my camera died half way through the first day.

Sunday, 12:00 pm

We packed up and left Innsbruck in a 9 passenger van headed North towards the Rhine River Valley.

Our 9 Passenger van packed to the brim


Sunday 4:00 pm

Heidelberg, Germany

This town was really cool. As you can see if was very picturesque and kind of hidden. It was extremely clean and had a very cozy feel to it.

Jump Picture at German Border

Jump Picture in Heidelberg

Jason's Picture of the Castle overlooking Heidelberg

Altstadt in Heidelberg, Germany

Sunday 9:00 pm

Bacharach, Germany

In the heart of the Rhine River Valley sits Bacharach. This little village was really cool. There wasn't hardly a soul in town the entire night, but it was a blast to hang out with the few people that were actually there. Soon as we pulled into town, everyone scattered in their own direction. Around sunset I headed back to the van. I noticed a little Italian Pub, if you will, a few hundred feet from the van so decided I would kick it there until everyone returned. I can't remember names, but I sorta had some good conversation with several locals and the bartender in english/german/italian. The the owner showed up and it got really fun. Once he heard me say, Ciao, his face lit up and we became best friends. He made me some spagetti and I spent the next 2 hours chillin with Pino, my long lost friend.

The "Italian Pub" I chilled at most the night

Guiseppe a.k.a "Pino", the Owner of the "pub"

The others finally returned and took me to our sleeping spot for the night, a Castle.

Rise and Shine! Waking up in the Castle

Monday 10:00 a.m.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Didn't spend too much time here. It had a few cool parts, but Lichtenstien kicks Luxembourg's butt!

It's not a jump picture, but we still made it to Luxembourg

The best view in Luxembourg City

The quiet Altstadt in Luxembourg City

Monday 2:00 p.m.

Brussels, Belgium

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Whether it be the cool Grand Place Piazza, the Waffle stacked with icecream, chocolate, and strawberries, or the endless amounts of Chocolate stores (with free taste tests), this is an awesome place to visit. I regret that we only had a few hours here, but am thrilled I had the chance to see Brussels.

Belgium Border

Jump Picture at the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium

Manneken Pis (help·info) (Dutch for little man urinating), also known in French as the petit Julien, is a famous Brussels landmark. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. "Manneken Pis" is prounounced "mahn-ekuh pees."

Chocolate covered bananna's and strawberries. Delicious!

The best part of Brussels!

The Greek Restaurant, In Belgium, owned by Turkish Guys!

Monday 8:00 p.m.

Bruges, Belgium

Bruge is a pretty romantic town. There are canals everywhere and some really cool architecture. The highlight of the trip was when Alex dropped his camera in the canal and, being the trooper that he is, went in to get it! He didn't find the camera, but it really made for some hilarious moments and good footage on my video camera.




Tuesday 1:00 a.m.

Paris, France

We made it to Paris just in time to see the last light show on the Eiffel Tower. Soon as we pulled up to take pictures, the lights went off for the night. Paris was obviously overwhelming and I hardly felt like I got a taste. We were only there for 2 hours, from 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. We passed by the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and tons of shopping, but it's definitely a place i'm gonna have to revisit sometime soon

The Eiffel Tower at 1:03 a.m...3 minutes after they turned off the lights

Champs-Elyséey in Paris, France

Tuesday 6:30 a.m.






Beaune, France

Soon as we left Paris, 4 of the 6 passengers passed out! I drove, as Jason Co-Piloted, us through the entire country of France. We hit Alsace-Lorraine area around sunrise and pulled into a small village called Beaune. I had one of the greatest breakfasts I've ever had; a pastry that looks like a donut hole, it's covered in sugar and filled with chocolate. Usually I'm never up early enough to get fresh pastries or bread, but I up in plenty of time to get the fresh pastries this morning. The chocolate was still melted, the donut was still hot and it was Heaven in a ball! I mixed that with several cups of coffee, jumped back into the van and high-tailed it to Switzerland.




Tuesday 10:00 a.m.

The Backseat

I made it to the Switzerland Border and stopped for gas. I had been awake for more than 27 hours and had been through 4 countries. I passed out! I stayed asleep the entire way through Switzerland and finally woke up as we hit St. Anton, Austria.

Tuesday 3:00 p.m.

St. Anton, Austria

B.B.Q. with the skiers

We tried to hit up The Funky Chicken. It's a spot that serves really good ribs just at the base of the ski slopes there in St. Anton. Unlucky for us, the ski season was finally over and The Funky Chicken was closed. Lucky for us though that a few locals were still in town and cooking out on the back deck of the restaurant, they invited us for burgers. It wasn't quite as good as the ribs, but it hit the spot and we got back on the road for the last leg of our trip.

Tuesday 4:30 p.m.

Innsbruck, Austria

Roughly 52 hours later we made it back home, just in time to get our stuff around and head to practice! It was an amazing, memorable trip and I literally got to see more of the world in those 52 hours than most people will see in a lifetime. I'm extremely blessed, but extremely tired too!

Aximer Lizum and More of Innsbruck

Just a few videos and pictures. I went up to Aximer Lizum Ski Resort before it closed down. Sorry for the video quality, it was so bright outside that I really couldn't see what I was filming. Eat your hear out Monte, the skiing would be killer in January or February, this was the middle of April!

Southern Blitz

Italy, Switzerland, Lichtenstein

A few weeks ago we went back to Italy to watch Catania play Bergamo. Bergamo pulled out the win, but it was good to see the guys playing so hard. After the game we had a great chance to talk with all the guys and even eat a few Cannoli. Claudio and Greg had brought a package of fresh Cannolli all the way from Catania just for me. It was such a great gesture and really epitomizes the quality of people that they are.







During this "Southern Blitz" we saw quite a bit more of Milan than I saw last year. If you don't know, I spent my entire time in Milan sleeping outside the train station.





We then headed north to Lake Como, checked out George Clooney's crib, then had a solid pesto linguine lunch on the lake. Next, we took the truly scenic route home as we headed north through Switzerland on our way back to Innsbruck. I have a hodge podge of picture and videos below. If you have any questions about what is what, just holler.