European Top 5

OK so the semester if winding down and I'm sure everyone needs a break from me taking about EM 2008 so I will dedicate this post to my top 5 European cities. I've put much thought into this and have debated with people for countless hours about my choices. Excluded from this list is Vienna because I couldn't really allow it to compete with cities I've visited for only a couple of days. Plus I freaking live here and it holds a special place in my heart. While doing my power rankings I've deciding to use the following criteria that have no particular order or importance: sightseeing, public transportation, cost, amount of sweet stories I can tell people back home, knowledge/cultural experience gained, quality of food, quality of beer, and of course, nightlife.

1. BERLIN

Berlin was just....the best. I can't say enough about it. If I was doing a country ranking Germany would easily be up there. It could be that I just spent a lot of time there and saw old friends but that's not the case. I just love the German culture, and the people are uber friendly. I haven't slept in a more comfortable bed this entire semester than the ones in that hostel. I was so happy about it I almost went online and wrote a review. Basically the company that made that visit was called NewEurope. They do free walking tours (they only work on tips) and then they take you out at night on pub crawls. The tour was fantastic. The guy was hilarious. The pub crawl was one of the best nights out I've had here. I met the coolest people and had the most interesting conversations. The beer and brats were excellent. Ok I'll stop now. I've already talked about the city so you don't need to hear it again. One more final point I would like to make is that Berlin was near the end of my long two week spring break trip, so for me to be interested in anything by that time is saying something.

2. PRAGUE

Oh Eastern Bloc. I feel like I have betrayed Prague a little bit for not being number 1 because now that I'm writing my reasons down there's no way this guy deserves to be number 2. But, this is the real world and there are number 1's and number 2's. I would be the first to tell you. Just look at my trophy shelf. The trip to Prague was my first group trip out of Vienna besides ski week. I was at that time still really pumped about traveling. I was running around with my camera in one hand and a map in the other with my "Czech Me Out" t-shirt on. Just kidding. I do have that t-shirt but I was not wearing it. Oh, beginning of semester Andrew, there is so much I need to warn you about, and yet, I can't. Anyway, the Czech Republic has arguably the best beer in the world. The pilsner beer was invented in this country! Our famous Budweiser was stolen from this country! The sights in Prague were great. The famous castle was closed so I was a little bitter about that, but Prague had it all: sights, drinks, nightlife, and even Anti-American graffiti!

OK I've got my next two cities lined up but I haven't actually figured out which one I will throw in for number 5 so I'm actually going to do my homework now.

Prost!