Berlin

Berlin was amazing! we had so much fun seeing the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and so much more. Our first hostel experience was a lot of fun and positive. We also had a fairly positive rain experience. We reserved a sleeper car on the way there which was nice. the way back to Vienna was a different story though. We had seats for a 9 hour ride. plus, our passes apparently don't work in the Chech Republic, so we were charged an extra 98 euros. it was scary though because the first figure the conductor showed me was 2364 and i thought that was in euros. i seriously almost fainted, but he then explained that was in the Chech currency. i was very relieved! Berlin was fun becasue it was definately just a big party all weekend becasue it was German Unification Celebration celebrating when east and west were reunited. everyone in the city was drunk! they carry beer everywhere like we do pop in america. It was a different atmosphere. we found a cool flea market and explored for a few hours one afternoon. we also had authentic bratwurst which were awesome! on saturday night before we left, we accidentally found Hard Rock Cafe Berlin and enjoyed a huge american style bacon burger and fries! i loved it!!!! today we went as a group went out to Melk Abbey in Melk, Austria. Melk was a neat little austrian village and the Abbey was beautiful! it was huge and covered wit history. Dad and Joel, you both would have loved the library. it was the most extensive and best decorated library i have ever seen. it is all original and has only authentic books and is still today an active library. don't worry, i took lots of pictures for you. i am really excited becasue today i made a tee time for St Andrews golf course in Scotland, the home of golf!!!!! it is going to be awesome and definately one of the highlights of my trip so far! well, i best get to studying for me german final in the morning. it will be nice to have that class out of the way. But i hope to continue to improve my german skills through daily immersing myself in the viennese culture. let me know how you all are doing.... although i am having a blast over here, i do miss home and everyone there!
MARK