Eugenio & Emily

We ate sausage, lots of sausage -- bratwurst, currywurst, krakauer -- while we were in Berlin. It was cheap, prevalent, and we could eat it on the go.

People remember funny things, and that is one of the things we most often laugh about when we reminisce about our trip to Berlin. We were on a tighter budget for this first leg of our trip because Berlin’s location in Western Europe makes it slightly more expensive than the places to which we would travel later: Krakow, Poland; Prague, Czech Republic; and Budapest, Hungary. So, sausage it was!

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Gene’s and my relationship was founded upon a shared love of international travel, which is why it is hard to believe that it took us 5 1/2 years to finally embark on our own adventure of those proportions -- our honeymoon.

Many of our peers had opted for honeymoons to some tropical, beach-lined environ -- perfect for relaxing with piña colada in hand. Gene and I knew though that after a day of drinks on the beach we would start to itch for exploration. The fact that I love Latin America, and Gene, a history teacher, prefers Europe, made selecting our honeymoon destination quite a long conversation. First, we decided upon Italy. Then, we changed our minds to London and Paris. Ultimately not satisfied with that choice, we shifted our focus to Eastern Europe. Gene had backpacked across Europe at the beginning of our relationship and absolutely loved Budapest. We decided to combine that with Prague as well as Krakow, which I was interested in because of some family heritage in that region. We worked Berlin in particularly because it was the most convenient in terms of international flights to that region—always something to consider when traveling. So with that decided, the planning began.

Gene and I married on March 15, 2014 -- the Ides of March. We decided to take our honeymoon for three weeks over the summer. This was perfect for Gene who has the summers off, and it worked out for me too (I had somehow sweet-talked my boss into allowing me to roll over most of my vacation from the previous year and to use all of it at once).

Finally, after months of planning, we caught a plane from New Orleans on June 27. When we finally arrived to Berlin, our first stop, we took a taxi to our hostel. We decided to stay in hostels throughout our trip because of their affordable nature -- plus we could still opt for a private room.

Berlin was completely unexpected. A sprawling, disjointed, cosmopolitan city, we learned the most about the Cold War here since it was essentially the epicenter. Though Berlin was reunified in 1989, the scars of both World War II and the Cold War have left very visible marks on the city. Other than all of the sausage we consumed from street vendors, one of the most memorable moments in Berlin was our walk along a remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, called the East Side Gallery. Other tourists and photographers lined our walk as we absorbed the art painted on this remnant of the Cold War as well as what the wall meant for Berlin -- East Berlin and West Berlin -- for decades. The art was beautiful, hideous, socially moving, often covered in graffiti, and sometimes hard to interpret.

One of the many highlights of traveling is the opportunity to meet people from other countries. We had this opportunity our final night in Berlin. Having gone under budget, we decided to eat out at a restaurant that night-- a traditional German one located in Friedrichshain, a trendy, bohemian neighborhood. Unfortunately when we arrived, all of the tables were full. A couple just a few years older than us noticed us looking around and invited us to sit with them. The cheese spätzle we ordered was delicious, but what we remember most about that final night in Berlin is conversation with our dinner companions, a husband and wife from Ireland and the U.S. respectively. Once we learned they were living in Berlin, we had talked about life in Germany, traveling, and their work.

We departed Berlin on a bus bound for Krakow. We passed through grassy fields and small towns, bullet holes visible on stone buildings, before finally arriving to Krakow that evening. We hoisted our backpacks onto our backs and walked from the station to our hostel, a little place with a seven-person breakfast table in an old apartment building. Hungrier than we were tired, we ventured out in search of a warm meal. It was just our luck that we stumbled upon a night market in the Old Town with all sorts of craft and food vendors. We steered toward the food, traditional Polish pierogies, little fried dumplings filled with potatoes, onions, and sometimes spinach or cheese, and potatoes. They were greasy, just what we needed, and we washed them down with beers and a waffle for dessert.

Krakow is a picturesque city with a cobblestoned Old Town and a castle high on a hill. We also spent time walking through Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter. Krakow, which had a Jewish population that numbered about 60,000 prior to the outbreak of World War II, was reduced to just a fraction of that. We popped into synagogues and walked through Jewish cemeteries, including the New Jewish cemetery which was established in 1800. Today, the tombstones are cracked, crumbling, and twisted, and plants have begun their quest to reclaim the land. It is a quiet place to meditate and contemplate.

We paired Krakow with a day-trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, more commonly referred to as just Auschwitz. It was a hot sunny day in Oświęcim, the small town where Auschwitz was built. It was a strange experience, being a tourist to a place such as this, but it is a part of world history that should not be forgotten. One of our strongest memories was the walk from Auschwitz to the Birkenau camp. We passed groups of young Israelis and walked over gravel in the hotel sun. There was no shelter. Our tour guide carried an umbrella. Her mother lived in the small town that was razed to construct the camp. All that is left of Birkenau today are rows upon rows upon endless rows of chimneys, designating where barracks used to stand. When World War II was ending the camp operators burned the barracks in a futile attempt to hide their crimes.

From Krakow, we took an overnight train to Prague. Prague was certainly as beautiful as people made it out to be. Red roofs, winding medieval streets, and a central square in Old Town with musicians and performers. We of course visited Prague Castle, probably Prague’s most famous tourist site, as well as St. Vitus Cathedral, and the district surrounding it. Gene and I took the funicular up Petrin hill and took the stairs up Petrin Tower, a sort of mini Eiffel Tower. The walk up the tower circled us around and around providing vantage points in all directions—the Vltava River, treetops, and the city below.

One of the most enjoyed memories of our Prague trip was actually a beer tasting we took part in. At one local bar and restaurant named Lokál close to the city center we huddled around the bar and drank unpasteurized Pilsner-Urquell beers in squat glass mugs. As Americans we drink pasteurized beer so this opportunity to imbibe the freshest quality beer was unrivaled. We still dream of those beers.

In Budapest, our final stop, we hardly rested. It was the dead of summer and sunny, but we trekked across town trying to absorb as much as possible. One morning, we caught a bus that took us up into the winding hills of Buda. After we pulled on jumpsuits and donned helmets, we descended into the dark dampness of one of the area’s caves. We climbed, sat in absolute darkness, and squeezed through tiny spaces. When we finally emerged back into the fading daylight, we sat down, enjoyed beers, and looked around us at the rocky landscape dotted with green trees. After having traveled through four cities, we found it relaxing to escape the urban environment and enjoy the quiet of the natural landscape.

Though we were on our honeymoon, we didn’t plan many dates, per se. But one evening in Budapest, we decided to set up a wine tasting located in an old monastery wine cellar. It was cool, dark, and quiet, and we were able to enjoy each other’s company and learn about local wines. One selection had been crafted in barrels that had contained whiskey.

On our last day in Budapest we relaxed in the baths of Széchenyi. The building looks like a Neo-Baroque palace, golden yellow in color, with 18 different pools. We experimented in cool water, warm water, and hot water inside before heading outside to spend time in the sun in the large swimming pool. It was the perfect end to our trip, three whirlwind weeks of backpacking from Berlin to Budapest.

We flew back to New Orleans on July 20 and very slowly settled back into daily life. Our honeymoon certainly wasn’t perfect, and it would have been foolish to think it could be. We got lost, we were sweaty a lot of the time, we fought, we got sick, but throughout the whole time it brought us closer together and we experienced something quite monumental together. The memories will remain with us as the years wear on.

Some may think that our trip was too intense-- depressing even-- with the focus on World War II, including the crimes of the Holocaust, and the Cold War. But we wanted our honeymoon to not only be a romantic trip-- we wanted it to be an authentic, educational travel experience, an opportunity to really learn about the world in all of its lights and shadows. Not only did we finally get to take our first big international trip together, but we gained invaluable knowledge about the world in which we all live while we did so. Our honeymoon may have been intense, but it was the perfect honeymoon for us and could be for anyone else looking for a deeply enriching experience.

Because we traveled for three full weeks, our costs added up to about $7,000 with about $2,500 spent on airfare. Traveler’s Joy helped us on our way to afford this unforgettable honeymoon experience, as did our many family members and friends who contributed gifts. Gene and I believe that experiences are what truly enrich lives — not china, not silverware. We hope that more newlyweds will take advantage of what Traveler’s Joy offers. Give up the china, but maybe go to China!