Back to Madrid...

With no clue where I'm headed next! Decisions Decisions...

The Celebration

Last night was freezing cold and rainy, but it was a night that I will never forget. I stood outside in terrible weather for about 5 hours before the dominos fell; but during those hours, I was able to see Gorbachev and Hilary Clinton speak, Bon Jovi perform, and a symphony conducted.

The dominos fell in sections. So when I saw the dominos falling in my direction, I got really excited as the whole crowd screamed... But then, they stopped just before getting to us? I thought it was a mistake, but they did it intentionally and had a few more speakers speak. After the speakers were finished, the excitement continued. The dominos finished falling and a huge firework show ensued!

Truly a night to remember! It was easy to see that this was a very emotional night for the people of Berlin and the people of the world.

Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall!

Today is going to be a day to remember! I will celebrating the 20the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with hundreds of thousands of people in the main square of Berlin! I will hear Bush Sr. Speak and President Gorbachev, a huuuuge figure in history.

There will be gigantic dominos pushed over to symbolize the fall. It should be exciting... I'm going to take tons of pictures :)

Amsterdam

Amsterdam has been a lot of fun. Yesterday I took another free walking tour which told me a lot about the city and today, I went to the Van Gogh museum. I was hoping that I could find my favorite painting 'Starry Night' at this museum, but it isn't on display in Amsterdam. Although that was a bit disappointing, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of his artwork. A lot of people see him as one of those crazy geniuses, but this museum does a good job at showing that he worked and studied to perfect his artwork - it wasn't just pure luck that he was so good.

My favorite painting there was of a man sowing seeds. It had a bright background with a dark foreground. The contrasting colors were beautiful. Tomorrow in the evening I head to Berlin. I am very excited to see the wall and be there for the celebration. On November 9th, it will be the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall!

Spelling and Pictures

I am unfortunately writing most of this blog from my Blackberry. Sorry about the spelling errors that may occur. Also, sorry for the lack of photos! I'll do my best to upload a bunch of them when I get back to Madrid in a week or so :)

Edinburgh

The day after the cold and rainy walking tour proved to be much nicer. The sun was shining and it was a perfect day to go see the castle. It was the first real castle that I had ever seen and it was in really good shape because it still functions as a military base. It was really easy to imagine what it would have been like to live there and fight there. The Australians and I even talked about what it would be like if cannon balls were flying at the rocky face of the castle. Although this is probably because we saw the one o'clock gun. This is a cannon that they fire every day at one o'clock. Back in the day, they used to fire this gun at 1 to let the sailors know what time it was and when they should set sail. The reason it is at 1 and not at 12 noon is because the Scottish people wanted to save 11 bullets :). If they fired at 12 they'd have to fire 12 shots, not 1.

After the castle we went to the underground city. Apparently Edinburgh is built right on top of the old city. We saw old houses and streets that were buried under ground.

We ended the night by going on a Ghost Tour. Edinburgh is a particularly haunted place because the people were very superstitious during the Black Plague. There are also stories of cannibalism and a long history of suicide... Because of all of these things, the guides are able to put together a very spooky tour. My favorite part of the tour was the grave yard. There was a tombstone with a very scary face pictured. This is particularly weird when one considers that it is the natural coloration of the stone, not man made. We were then brought to the most haunted place in Edinburgh, the corner of the graveyard under the old prison. We snapped some photos and my friend caught some unexplainable glowing lights. I still don't believe in ghosts, but that didn't stop me from going back after the tour with the Australians to spook ourselves out. We went at about 2 in the morning... Very scary haha. One of the guys had a good camera which we used to create our own ghostly figures by leaving the exposure lens open for many seconds and walking in and then out of the frame.

The following day I spent a few hours in St. Andrews, which was unfortunately not enough time, but it was really beautiful along the coast! I visited the Mecca of golf and am pretty happy about that.

Today I am off to The Netherlands and then Berlin a few days later :)

Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh has been absolutely incredible. The hostel I am staying at, St. Christopher's, is a lot of fun. The staff is friendly and there is always something to do, as there is a bar and lounge on the first floor... Yesterday was really wet, cold, and rainy, but I decided to go on the Free Walking Tour anyway - great tour, but I ended up sopping wet and freezing.

After the tour, I grabbed a huge burger with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes which was really good. Later, I decided to go on a Pub Crawl with a couple of Australians that I had partied with on Halloween. What ensued was a brainstorming session about the name and slogan of my future extreme sports company... Can't say it here though ;)

Today I'm touring the castle and going on a ghost tour...