This last weekend the group took a weekend trip to Berlin. We took a bus ride that I didn't really time, but I managed to make it through Der Fliegende Holländer and Madama Butterfly with time to spare before we arrived so i'm going to guess it was about 6 or so hours. We arrived at our hostel situated on the edge of Kreuzberg (not the sketch part, the better part down the street from Potsdamer Platz). I went into the hostel, dropped my stuff off, called Emily and went straight to get me a giant plate of currywurst.
After eating by the Brandenburger Tor, Emily and I went for a walk around the Holocaust Memorial and Friedrichstrasse seeing as how she will be leaving Germany in a couple weeks and wanted to revisit a few places. Afterwards we met up with Matt and headed towards Checkpoint Charlie to Erin and Niko's new apartment stopping by an outdoor book sale across the street from Humboldt where I snagged myself a DDR children's book. We sat around Erin and Niko's place drinking wine and champagne with them, Lina from Dusseldorf, and their new pet turtle Spencer. We then went out for cocktails and then ended up at some burger place built by the gods. Matt and I ended up leaving and had a long walk back home in the rain and ended up chilling in the lobby of the hostel for some time.
The next day I slept in until 13.30 and went for a long bookstore hunt with Matt and then met up with Emily. We went to her place in Zehlendorf where her host mom once again made the best damn pizza i've ever had. We couldn't stay long because we had an opera we had to get to.
When we arrived at the opera house I hung outside for a little bit just to people watch. I saw a tall slender man wearing a tuxedo with tails and his date wearing a backless floor-length red gown and a complicated looking bun. They were both smoking cigarettes with long black cigarette-holders. It was a perfect image and I wish I could have gotten a picture. It was interesting to see how everyone was dressed. It ranged from Tuxedo's and gowns to jeans and sneakers. Nobody really minded what the other was wearing, it was kind of a dress-how-you-feel kind of atmosphere. Everyone was there just to have a great time at the opera. The last few weeks I had been feeling absolutely miserable with the idea of my own personal, "impending doom." AKA the reality that i'm going to have to leave Germany and go back to Utah very soon. I got a knot in my stomach every time I thought about it, but for those few hours as I sat there watching La Traviata, the knot loosened and my entire body surrendered itself to my greatest weakness: a good opera. Sounds lame, I know... but it is true. The super titles were all in German and I really didn't find it a problem understanding everything, however when the plot would twist naturally the singing got faster which means that the super titles went faster resulting in my ultimate confusion. I found myself thinking, "The hell? They were just in love and now they hate each other? WAIT A MINUTE WHO JUST DIED? WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Eventually Emily and I decided to just kick back and enjoy the music. After the opera we grabbed some beer and chilled in the hostel with a bunch of other people until the wee hours of the morning and we all went to bed.
The next day I went out with Lyndsey and Claire to the Jewish Museum. The architecture of the building was in a zig-zag formation with the hallways slightly slanting up or down creating a Willy Wonka effect where people at the end of the hallway would seem tiny while others seemed like giants. After the museum we went to an Easter Carnival in Alexanderplatz and ate some good old fashioned Bratwurst. Lyndsey and I then went into the Berliner Dom where we were greeted with a rehearsal performance of Handel's Messiah. It was ethereal music in a breath-taking building and a place I could have spent all day in. We went to the top of the Dom for an awesome view of Berlin and then down down down into the crypts where the minivan-sized coffins of who knows how many famous dead royals are placed. It was a bit shocking to see all of the coffins for dead royal babies... incest really doesn't pay, eh?
We then left for the hostel and I gave Lyndsey a foot massage in payment for making her go all the way up to the Dome and then down in the Crypts. My preconception that I was awful at foot massages was once again proven true. But hey... I tried.
Then we went to dinner at some "mexican" restaurant and then went back to the hostel for a relaxed night before we left the next morning.
Overall Berlin 3.0 was a fantastic trip that crossed off some things on my bucket list. The next to be crossed off is, "travel to some random country you know nothing about." That will be crossed off on the 19th when I head off to Estonia. Excitement Excitement.
Showing posts with label berlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label berlin. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Of Aachen and Berlin 2.0
This blog is gathering cobwebs, so I suppose I should write something, yeah?
Almost a month ago I decided to go visit my friend Erin and her boyfriend Niko up in Aachen (right on the border of Germany and Belgium). As I sat in the Frankfurt Hbf waiting for a train that came 40 minutes late, I ended up meeting a musician from Belgium. He looked about in his 60's and had a well-sized Belgium belly and a big bushy mustache. Turns out he plays the stand up bass for a jazz band and teaches at a music conservatory in Brussels. We talked a lot about jazz and Big Band music and their influence on modern artists. I probably shouldn't say modern because the only musicians we could really trace direct routes from jazz and Big Band at the time were from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. We ended up sitting together on the train and passed the time talking about different instruments we've played and he got a good laugh when I told him I played the stand up bass when I was 13 and had to stand on a chair because I was so short. It was fun to watch him grade the sheet music of some of his pupils. He seemed a little excited to be using his red pen... I don't know if his students will favor him quite as much when they get their homework back.
When we pulled into Cologne, he pointed out the cathedral to me and we ended up in a long discussion about architecture which lead to Prague which lead to Mozart which lead back to jazz music which somehow lead to different flavors of toothpaste. When we reached the Aachen Hbf, we shook hands and exchanged email addresses for a possible visit to Brussels in the spring time. At this time i'd like to thank good old Jean-Louis for making that 5 hour train ride seem like nothing at all.
Erin and Niko came to meet me at the Hbf and pretended to not recognize me because I wasn't wearing my red moccasins (for those of you not in the know, they are a defining item in the cartoon character that is my physical appearance). Unfortunately, due to the weather, I had to lay my moccasins aside for a little while. You'd think i'd be able to wear them, holes and all, in the snow... but my hobbit feet simply aren't as tough as they used to be. Anyway, we went out for dinner and cocktails and then went to their apartment to sleep, seeing as how it was late at night by this time. The next morning, Niko went off to study for his exams while Erin and I chilled in the apartment and caught up on all of the random nothings we had both been doing.
We set off to check out the Aachener Dom (another one of those jaw-dropping buildings). We sat down inside and just talked about what young folk in their twenties talk about. After a bit more walking outside we met up with Niko to take a breather and drink some tea. Erin and I went out for some awesomely greasy Turkish food and then went back to the apartment to make sure everything was in order for Niko's surprise birthday party. The birthday party was definitely something to behold... it was a small group of about ten of us. The next morning we took inventory of the alcohol to find that together we had consumed 52 bottles of beer and 3 bottles of champagne. I can tell you now that I only contributed to a bottle and a half of champagne and 3 beers. It's safe to blame the rest on the German men.
The next day Erin and I did a bit more wandering and we ended up in a bookstore (yeah, great... more clothes i'll have to throw out of my suitcase when I pack to come home). I was in one of those moods where I wanted everything so I honestly couldn't decide. I wasn't walking out of that store with nothing, though. I am physically and mentally incapable of doing such a thing. I decided to randomly pick a genre (plays) and was going to work from there. Then the thought occurred to me that I would love to read the works by Euripides in German. Sadly, I couldn't find anything by him so I settled with getting a volume of plays by Aeschylus. We all took our findings up to the cafe on the third floor and sat around talking about linguistics, anthropology, and all of that other bookstore talk. We went back to the apartment and had dinner and settled on the couch to read our new books and drink tea. Niko had to go to bed early so he could get up and study in the morning, so I went out on the balcony and spent some quality self time looking out at the fantastic view of the Aachen skyline.
I took a seat with my ipod and turned on some Bulgarian folk music (if you don't know this by now, I have a very strange repertoire of folk music from around the world). As I sat there and looked up at the stars (something I hadn't done for a long time given the constant clowdy appearance of Marburg), I had one of those moments where you find yourself completely satisfied. I realized completely that I love being in Germany, and that I don't want to be anywhere else at this time in my life. The next morning I went back to Marburg.
Deutsche Bahn Fail:
I've honestly never had too many problems with traveling by train here in Germany. I've had trains be late by 5 or 10 minutes, honestly nothing quite too damaging to the travel arrangements..... however, getting to Berlin was a nightmare.
I worked up three travel plans just in case the train was late or I missed a connection.
Plan A:
Marburg -> Kassel -> Hannover (meet up with Erin) -> Berlin Hbf (meet Emily).
Plan A required that everything be exactly on time, but we ended up stopping on the tracks for 10 minutes, so it was to be Plan B.
Plan B:
Marburg -> Kassel -> Berlin Hbf -> Berlin Suedkreuz (meet Emily).
Plan B ended up getting scratched out as well because the train decided to stop for 30 minutes outside of Kassel. Hurray.
Plan C:
Wait in Kassel for 43 minutes in negative degree temperatures -> Berlin Spandau (meet Emily).
Plan C ended up working perfectly. Though I was not a happy camper, but Karma decided to bless me with a table seat all to myself (a rare item) so I turned on Patti Smith and enjoyed the ride. I was writing in my journal as I traveled and here are some excerpts EXACTLY how they were written:
(15.20): There is a lady staring at me. She has been for the last 5 minutes.
(15.35): Staring lady is still keeping her gaze, I feel like I should throw my pen cap at her to see if she is even alive.
(15.55): SUCCESS! The sun is in Staring Lady's eyes now and she can stare no more! Muahahahahahahaha!!!
(16.11): OH MY GOD SHAGGY BABY COWS RUNNING OUTSIDE THE TRAIN!!!
(16.18): Staring lady resumed staring at me because the sun has set. Damn.
(17.00): The train just stopped because a beer truck tipped over next to the tracks. I can imagine the dialogue of the driver and his co-workers, "STOP ZE TRAIN! A BEER TRUCK HAS TIPPED OVER! WE MUST MOVE AT A STEADY 1 KM PER HOUR WIZ OCCASIONAL STOP TO MOURN ZE LOSS OF ZE BEER!" I wonder how many people fell when they slammed on the breaks. I think the Fates don't want me to get to Berlin judging from today's events.
When I stepped off the train in Spandau and was greeted by the smell of vomit, piss, and weed I realized I was back in Berlin. Mind you, not all of Berlin smells like this... but Spandau after dark definitely does. I met up with Emily and Erin and we went to Emily's host home in Zehlendorf. Her host mom has a Turkish name that I wont even begin to guess how to spell, so we'll call her Hostmom... either way, she's adorable. She made us a few different kinds of pizza: Veggie pizza, Tuna fish pizza, and a pizza topped with eggs. Every single one was SO GOOD. My mouth still waters when I think about the tuna fish pizza, it was made by the hands of the gods, I tell you. After dinner we headed out to a very relaxed bar in Kreuzberg with high ceilings and vintage photographs all over the place.
The next morning we woke up around 11.00 and were greeted by an elaborate German breakfast: A million kinds of bread, a variety of cheeses and meats, olives, oranges, honey, butter, nutella, black tea, and strong Turkish coffee. Next thing I knew it was well passed 13.00 and we had to leave to see an apartment for Erin. We reached the apartment just after 14.00, but the guy was not there so we waited an hour or so and then left. We then left to East Berlin to check out another apartment in a former DDR building. We were in and out pretty quick (mostly because we were shockingly hungry even after that large breakfast) so we went to Alexanderplatz to find food. After lunch we went to get coffee where I broke my Starbucks-virginity. I really didn't want to, but it was so Arschkalt that I caved in and got a coffee. Nothing special, really. Emily had to leave at 18.00 to meet up with a group for a tour of the Bundeskanzleramt, and Erin and I had to go see a guy about another apartment. At around 20.00, Erin and I met up with Emily and went back to a bar we had been to during our previous visit to Berlin. After a couple beers we headed out to go to Kreuzberg again, but for some reason (I don't remember why) we decided to find a place in Charlottenburg. This bar was apparently a 1920's type place that was closer to Zehlendorf. That place ended up being closed for a private birthday party, so we went to a different place in Steglitz. By the time we got home it was well passed 4 in the morning... I don't know how that happened. Aaah the mysteries of youth.
The next morning we were greeted, yet again, by another incredible German breakfast that lasted until around 13.30. After a few apartment searches we went to the Kaethe Kollwitz museum (which I was sooooo excited about). It was simply amazing. I was completely in love with her "Death" series. When exited the museum to find a blizzard (naturally on the one day I think it's safe to wear my moccasins). Erin and Emily were doing some freaky things driven by their craving for Sushi, so we satisfied their needs at a place we had gone in September with Erin's friend Nina. We were originally going to go to this "Lange Nacht" event where you pay a set price and get unlimited access to museums for a few hours, but it was so cold we decided to just pick up some beer and head back home. We sat at the kitchen table drinking beer with Hostmom and Veronica (another resident from Slovakia) until around midnight and then went to bed.
We went to bed so early because we had to get up in the wee hours of the day to go to another apartment appointment for Erin. After that, Erin headed back to Aachen and Emily and I decided to go to the Pergamon museum. It was great to see things that I find pasted in every single Art History book. We had to rush a bit unfortunately because of the time restraint, so we went to the Hbf and got currywurst. To my delight, the train ride back to Marburg was flawless and I managed to see a lot of German countryside that i've never seen before until the sun set. Though the weather is awful to be outside in, it does some incredible things to the landscape. Everything is covered in a blue/grey fog with a little bit of frost icing each tree. One thing about German nature... when you look at a landscape, you feel like you are looking at something with infinite detail.
When I came back to my dorm room in Marburg, I found that I was no longer alone. Mold had decided to take up residency around my windows and on parts of the surrounding wall. At first we were scared of each other, but then we became great friends. Eventually it began to crawl down onto my bed as I slept and whisper sweet nothings into my ear. All seemed well, but not all relationships are meant to be forever. The mold had to go. After a terrifying visit with the intimidating Haus Frau, I took some bleach to the wall and scrubbed the bugger out. When I approached the mold with my gloves and bleach it growled at me. Our parting was full of everything but "sweet sorrows." It didn't take the mold long to find someone new. I saw three other people wrote that they had a mold problem on the maintenance list... rebounds can be nasty.
As for me now... I finished watching Xena: Die Kriegerprinzessin (auf Deutsch of course) and I am not just kind of wandering around inside my own head. Poking at things with a stick, watching those weird little eye-floaties, reading here and there, drinking tea, drawing. Doing whatever it is that I do, and doing it well.
Almost a month ago I decided to go visit my friend Erin and her boyfriend Niko up in Aachen (right on the border of Germany and Belgium). As I sat in the Frankfurt Hbf waiting for a train that came 40 minutes late, I ended up meeting a musician from Belgium. He looked about in his 60's and had a well-sized Belgium belly and a big bushy mustache. Turns out he plays the stand up bass for a jazz band and teaches at a music conservatory in Brussels. We talked a lot about jazz and Big Band music and their influence on modern artists. I probably shouldn't say modern because the only musicians we could really trace direct routes from jazz and Big Band at the time were from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. We ended up sitting together on the train and passed the time talking about different instruments we've played and he got a good laugh when I told him I played the stand up bass when I was 13 and had to stand on a chair because I was so short. It was fun to watch him grade the sheet music of some of his pupils. He seemed a little excited to be using his red pen... I don't know if his students will favor him quite as much when they get their homework back.
When we pulled into Cologne, he pointed out the cathedral to me and we ended up in a long discussion about architecture which lead to Prague which lead to Mozart which lead back to jazz music which somehow lead to different flavors of toothpaste. When we reached the Aachen Hbf, we shook hands and exchanged email addresses for a possible visit to Brussels in the spring time. At this time i'd like to thank good old Jean-Louis for making that 5 hour train ride seem like nothing at all.
Erin and Niko came to meet me at the Hbf and pretended to not recognize me because I wasn't wearing my red moccasins (for those of you not in the know, they are a defining item in the cartoon character that is my physical appearance). Unfortunately, due to the weather, I had to lay my moccasins aside for a little while. You'd think i'd be able to wear them, holes and all, in the snow... but my hobbit feet simply aren't as tough as they used to be. Anyway, we went out for dinner and cocktails and then went to their apartment to sleep, seeing as how it was late at night by this time. The next morning, Niko went off to study for his exams while Erin and I chilled in the apartment and caught up on all of the random nothings we had both been doing.
We set off to check out the Aachener Dom (another one of those jaw-dropping buildings). We sat down inside and just talked about what young folk in their twenties talk about. After a bit more walking outside we met up with Niko to take a breather and drink some tea. Erin and I went out for some awesomely greasy Turkish food and then went back to the apartment to make sure everything was in order for Niko's surprise birthday party. The birthday party was definitely something to behold... it was a small group of about ten of us. The next morning we took inventory of the alcohol to find that together we had consumed 52 bottles of beer and 3 bottles of champagne. I can tell you now that I only contributed to a bottle and a half of champagne and 3 beers. It's safe to blame the rest on the German men.
The next day Erin and I did a bit more wandering and we ended up in a bookstore (yeah, great... more clothes i'll have to throw out of my suitcase when I pack to come home). I was in one of those moods where I wanted everything so I honestly couldn't decide. I wasn't walking out of that store with nothing, though. I am physically and mentally incapable of doing such a thing. I decided to randomly pick a genre (plays) and was going to work from there. Then the thought occurred to me that I would love to read the works by Euripides in German. Sadly, I couldn't find anything by him so I settled with getting a volume of plays by Aeschylus. We all took our findings up to the cafe on the third floor and sat around talking about linguistics, anthropology, and all of that other bookstore talk. We went back to the apartment and had dinner and settled on the couch to read our new books and drink tea. Niko had to go to bed early so he could get up and study in the morning, so I went out on the balcony and spent some quality self time looking out at the fantastic view of the Aachen skyline.
I took a seat with my ipod and turned on some Bulgarian folk music (if you don't know this by now, I have a very strange repertoire of folk music from around the world). As I sat there and looked up at the stars (something I hadn't done for a long time given the constant clowdy appearance of Marburg), I had one of those moments where you find yourself completely satisfied. I realized completely that I love being in Germany, and that I don't want to be anywhere else at this time in my life. The next morning I went back to Marburg.
Deutsche Bahn Fail:
I've honestly never had too many problems with traveling by train here in Germany. I've had trains be late by 5 or 10 minutes, honestly nothing quite too damaging to the travel arrangements..... however, getting to Berlin was a nightmare.
I worked up three travel plans just in case the train was late or I missed a connection.
Plan A:
Marburg -> Kassel -> Hannover (meet up with Erin) -> Berlin Hbf (meet Emily).
Plan A required that everything be exactly on time, but we ended up stopping on the tracks for 10 minutes, so it was to be Plan B.
Plan B:
Marburg -> Kassel -> Berlin Hbf -> Berlin Suedkreuz (meet Emily).
Plan B ended up getting scratched out as well because the train decided to stop for 30 minutes outside of Kassel. Hurray.
Plan C:
Wait in Kassel for 43 minutes in negative degree temperatures -> Berlin Spandau (meet Emily).
Plan C ended up working perfectly. Though I was not a happy camper, but Karma decided to bless me with a table seat all to myself (a rare item) so I turned on Patti Smith and enjoyed the ride. I was writing in my journal as I traveled and here are some excerpts EXACTLY how they were written:
(15.20): There is a lady staring at me. She has been for the last 5 minutes.
(15.35): Staring lady is still keeping her gaze, I feel like I should throw my pen cap at her to see if she is even alive.
(15.55): SUCCESS! The sun is in Staring Lady's eyes now and she can stare no more! Muahahahahahahaha!!!
(16.11): OH MY GOD SHAGGY BABY COWS RUNNING OUTSIDE THE TRAIN!!!
(16.18): Staring lady resumed staring at me because the sun has set. Damn.
(17.00): The train just stopped because a beer truck tipped over next to the tracks. I can imagine the dialogue of the driver and his co-workers, "STOP ZE TRAIN! A BEER TRUCK HAS TIPPED OVER! WE MUST MOVE AT A STEADY 1 KM PER HOUR WIZ OCCASIONAL STOP TO MOURN ZE LOSS OF ZE BEER!" I wonder how many people fell when they slammed on the breaks. I think the Fates don't want me to get to Berlin judging from today's events.
When I stepped off the train in Spandau and was greeted by the smell of vomit, piss, and weed I realized I was back in Berlin. Mind you, not all of Berlin smells like this... but Spandau after dark definitely does. I met up with Emily and Erin and we went to Emily's host home in Zehlendorf. Her host mom has a Turkish name that I wont even begin to guess how to spell, so we'll call her Hostmom... either way, she's adorable. She made us a few different kinds of pizza: Veggie pizza, Tuna fish pizza, and a pizza topped with eggs. Every single one was SO GOOD. My mouth still waters when I think about the tuna fish pizza, it was made by the hands of the gods, I tell you. After dinner we headed out to a very relaxed bar in Kreuzberg with high ceilings and vintage photographs all over the place.
The next morning we woke up around 11.00 and were greeted by an elaborate German breakfast: A million kinds of bread, a variety of cheeses and meats, olives, oranges, honey, butter, nutella, black tea, and strong Turkish coffee. Next thing I knew it was well passed 13.00 and we had to leave to see an apartment for Erin. We reached the apartment just after 14.00, but the guy was not there so we waited an hour or so and then left. We then left to East Berlin to check out another apartment in a former DDR building. We were in and out pretty quick (mostly because we were shockingly hungry even after that large breakfast) so we went to Alexanderplatz to find food. After lunch we went to get coffee where I broke my Starbucks-virginity. I really didn't want to, but it was so Arschkalt that I caved in and got a coffee. Nothing special, really. Emily had to leave at 18.00 to meet up with a group for a tour of the Bundeskanzleramt, and Erin and I had to go see a guy about another apartment. At around 20.00, Erin and I met up with Emily and went back to a bar we had been to during our previous visit to Berlin. After a couple beers we headed out to go to Kreuzberg again, but for some reason (I don't remember why) we decided to find a place in Charlottenburg. This bar was apparently a 1920's type place that was closer to Zehlendorf. That place ended up being closed for a private birthday party, so we went to a different place in Steglitz. By the time we got home it was well passed 4 in the morning... I don't know how that happened. Aaah the mysteries of youth.
The next morning we were greeted, yet again, by another incredible German breakfast that lasted until around 13.30. After a few apartment searches we went to the Kaethe Kollwitz museum (which I was sooooo excited about). It was simply amazing. I was completely in love with her "Death" series. When exited the museum to find a blizzard (naturally on the one day I think it's safe to wear my moccasins). Erin and Emily were doing some freaky things driven by their craving for Sushi, so we satisfied their needs at a place we had gone in September with Erin's friend Nina. We were originally going to go to this "Lange Nacht" event where you pay a set price and get unlimited access to museums for a few hours, but it was so cold we decided to just pick up some beer and head back home. We sat at the kitchen table drinking beer with Hostmom and Veronica (another resident from Slovakia) until around midnight and then went to bed.
We went to bed so early because we had to get up in the wee hours of the day to go to another apartment appointment for Erin. After that, Erin headed back to Aachen and Emily and I decided to go to the Pergamon museum. It was great to see things that I find pasted in every single Art History book. We had to rush a bit unfortunately because of the time restraint, so we went to the Hbf and got currywurst. To my delight, the train ride back to Marburg was flawless and I managed to see a lot of German countryside that i've never seen before until the sun set. Though the weather is awful to be outside in, it does some incredible things to the landscape. Everything is covered in a blue/grey fog with a little bit of frost icing each tree. One thing about German nature... when you look at a landscape, you feel like you are looking at something with infinite detail.
When I came back to my dorm room in Marburg, I found that I was no longer alone. Mold had decided to take up residency around my windows and on parts of the surrounding wall. At first we were scared of each other, but then we became great friends. Eventually it began to crawl down onto my bed as I slept and whisper sweet nothings into my ear. All seemed well, but not all relationships are meant to be forever. The mold had to go. After a terrifying visit with the intimidating Haus Frau, I took some bleach to the wall and scrubbed the bugger out. When I approached the mold with my gloves and bleach it growled at me. Our parting was full of everything but "sweet sorrows." It didn't take the mold long to find someone new. I saw three other people wrote that they had a mold problem on the maintenance list... rebounds can be nasty.
As for me now... I finished watching Xena: Die Kriegerprinzessin (auf Deutsch of course) and I am not just kind of wandering around inside my own head. Poking at things with a stick, watching those weird little eye-floaties, reading here and there, drinking tea, drawing. Doing whatever it is that I do, and doing it well.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Great Berlin Post
As Led Zeppelin would say in Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp, "My my, Lordy lord." That is all I can think of as I try to start this post. I suppose I should start at the beginning, and when I get to the end... stop.
Friday: We took a tour bus instead of invading the Marburg Hauptbahnhof. It was slower, but we got to see a lot of the countryside surrounding Marburg and Berlin. It's so funny how quickly the landscape changes. Marburg is surrounded by hills and tall dark forests, but as you slowly move north eastward, the landscape changes from a fairytale facade to a pop-up book. Soft and shallow hills with small clusters of trees here and there with castles on every hill top completely surround you. I barely looked away from the window the whole 5 hour bus ride. Being a landscape-junky, it's hard to NOT look out at the incredible German countryside. As we neared Berlin, I could see the landscape gradually becoming flat with clouds of industry popping up all over the place.
The ride into Berlin was strange. And when I say strange, I mean it looked NOTHING like I thought it would. Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting, but going from somewhere like Marburg to Berlin... you may be able to understand why I didn't feel like I was in Germany any more. I suppose it was because everything is so entirely new. I also realized that this was the first time I was visiting a city that was so profoundly impacted by WWII as well as the Soviets.
Our hostel was situated right in the centre of the city on Johannisstrasse between Friedrichstrasse and Universitaetstrasse. The first night was open for us to do whatever we'd like. Erin has a friend who was born and raised in Berlin named Nina. With her, Erin, Nicole, Spencer, Niki, Emily, and myself all headed out to hunt for food and beer. We ate at this place called, Asia Gourmet at one of the stations because it was cheap and actually not that bad. Then we went to a place called, The Pub where Nina used to work. It was a do-it-yourself kind of place. It was here that I discovered I am AWFUL at pouring beer. Absolutely... awful. I can't seem to grasp the 45 degree thing. Goddamn you, Geometry. Anyway, went there and then road the train back to the hostel where we had a few beers. There I met a group of Irish guys, an Australian, two French guys, and a group of pot-smoking Austrians. Twas a great introduction to Berlin and to hostels.
Saturday: Bright and early in the morning we left for the "Classical Tour" of Berlin in 3 hours. During that drive we saw Potsdamer Platz, the Regierungsviertel, Unter den Linden, the Brandenburg Gate, Kurfuerstendamm, Checkpoint Charlie, Galarie Lafayette, the Gendarmenmarkt, the Berlin Wall, and about 500 other awesome places. The next couple days we would get to explore these places more in depth on foot.
Lunch break consisted of us spending 45 minutes trying to find a bathroom. Then we remembered that Nina told us the night before to just use hotel bathrooms. Duh. So we chose the first hotel we saw and went in. You know a hotel is mighty expensive when its staircases are named after classical composers. After we waddled up the Rossini staircase to go to the Leonardo restroom, we found the Puccini toilets and pranced down the Beethoven staircase to exit through the Tchaikovsky doors.
Then we found a Vietnamese Restaurant that was cheap and seemed to fit us a bit better (i.e. no named doors or anything). As we sat and ate, the restaurant started playing Hawaiian music.
Erin: Dudes, why are they playing Hawaiian music?
Me: I don't know, maybe because we're at a Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin.
After that we took a two and a half hour walk through of "Jewish Berlin." We walked down the Spandauer Vorstadt and got to see the famous Hackesche Hoefe. It was incredible to see some of the buildings that were still standing that had bullet holes from WWII covering them. What I thought was quite sad was that outside every Jewish building, the Polizei stood there. Apparently they HAD to because of neo-nazi idiots. There were tons and tons and tons of memorials.
My initial impression of Berlin as a city: it is a city of memorials.
Emily brought up an interesting point that all of these memorials had something to do with absence. And she was right, all of the memorials we ran into had something to do with absence.
Later that night (after a long nap), Erin, Spencer, Niki, Nicole, Katie, and I left to go to an old school Bavarian restaurant. We realized that most of the food we had in Berlin was... Asian. We decided that was blasphemous and searched for German food. Went to a place called Maximillions. Jesus. Christ. The restaurant is set up like a Bavarian Oktoberfest tent with long tables and blue and white decorations littering the entire building, with a live band and all. Turns out they were celebrating the beginning of Oktoberfest. We sat our asses down and ate all the Bratwurst and Sauerkraut that we could. The whole time watching a crowd of people in their 40's and 50's mosh in front of the band. Needless to say, we were the only ones there under the age of 35, but we definitely had a great time. I never thought that when I learned the German song, Ein Prosit, that i'd ever use it. I sang it a good 15 times with the crowd that night. We left that night completely satisfied. I don't know if i've ever felt that kind of satisfaction from an evening before.
Sunday: Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. So. Much. RAIN. We began the day at a soggy Checkpoint Charlie, we then made our way to Brandenburg Gate, Bernauer Strasse, Eastside Gallery, and the Potsdamer Platz. Our awesome tour guide, Wolfgang, lived in East Berlin during the Soviet occupation. He told us a story of when he found out the Berlin wall had been knocked open. That night in November he had a soccer practice and he and his teammates had just finished and got in a car to drive home when the radio turned on and said, "The Wall is open." He said it was nothing but disbelief until they got there. Personally, I can't imagine what kind of emotions would be flooding through a person's body when they see that giant hole in that 155km wall.
At lunchbreak Erin, Spencer, Galen, Nicole, Niki, and I went back to Friedrichstrasse to find Currywurst. It. Is. Amazing. I don't care if it is just meat with curry powder and ketchup. Good LAWDY. After that we headed to the Berlin Hohenschönhausen. It is the site of the main remand prison for people detained by the former East German Ministry of State Security (aka Stasi). It's been a memorial since 1994 and, from 2000 on, has been an independent foundation under public law. Given that it has only been 20 years since this prison was in use, everything is definitely intact. It was almost like it had been (just cleaner). I thought it remarkable that I was standing somewhere that I had read thoroughly about months before. It was surreal to say the least and reminded me a lot of my visit to Dachau.
Later that evening we wanted to go all out seeing as how it was our last night in Berlin. We met up with Nina and took the S-Bahn to Southern Berlin where we went to a cheap Sushi place and then to bar. I had an enormous pina colada that must have been made by the Gods or something. Then we saw this flyer that said we could win a Jack Daniels t-shirt if we drank 2 of these lemonade-type drinks. We had to do it in 30 minutes seeing as how that's when the bar was closing. And we did. Oh... we did.
We hopped back on the S-Bahn and decided to change into our shirts while on the train. That was an experience. Falling over each other and hitting each side of the train and spinning off who knows what way. We got back to the hostel and decided to have a couple more beers. I ended up talking to this guy from France who asked me where in the US I was from and I told him Salt Lake City, Utah. He had a confused look and I told him the 2002 Olympics were there (that usually seems to be the best way for Europeans to know where I'm from). He didn't get it and asked me, "What major city is it near?" Uuuuuh.... I had never been asked that question before. Then I just decided to tell him that it was about 5-7 hours north of Las Vegas. "Ooooh, Vegas! I know, okay this is good!"
Then it was crash time.
Monday: The drive back was full of endless exhaustion. There was absolutely NO way of sleeping on that bus. It just wasn't made for that. So, I reverted back to the landscape. I sat there for hours watching little medieval kingdoms get closer and then pass away. Over and over and over again. Then the trees grew taller and the underbrush became more gnarled and dense: Aaah... we're close to Marburg. In fact we were just 24km's from Marburg at that time. It definitely has a distinct look to it. I found myself elated to be sleeping in my own bed again.
There are so many things from Berlin I wish I could express, but it's really impossible and this was my best shot.
Tschuess from Marburg!
Friday: We took a tour bus instead of invading the Marburg Hauptbahnhof. It was slower, but we got to see a lot of the countryside surrounding Marburg and Berlin. It's so funny how quickly the landscape changes. Marburg is surrounded by hills and tall dark forests, but as you slowly move north eastward, the landscape changes from a fairytale facade to a pop-up book. Soft and shallow hills with small clusters of trees here and there with castles on every hill top completely surround you. I barely looked away from the window the whole 5 hour bus ride. Being a landscape-junky, it's hard to NOT look out at the incredible German countryside. As we neared Berlin, I could see the landscape gradually becoming flat with clouds of industry popping up all over the place.
The ride into Berlin was strange. And when I say strange, I mean it looked NOTHING like I thought it would. Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting, but going from somewhere like Marburg to Berlin... you may be able to understand why I didn't feel like I was in Germany any more. I suppose it was because everything is so entirely new. I also realized that this was the first time I was visiting a city that was so profoundly impacted by WWII as well as the Soviets.
Our hostel was situated right in the centre of the city on Johannisstrasse between Friedrichstrasse and Universitaetstrasse. The first night was open for us to do whatever we'd like. Erin has a friend who was born and raised in Berlin named Nina. With her, Erin, Nicole, Spencer, Niki, Emily, and myself all headed out to hunt for food and beer. We ate at this place called, Asia Gourmet at one of the stations because it was cheap and actually not that bad. Then we went to a place called, The Pub where Nina used to work. It was a do-it-yourself kind of place. It was here that I discovered I am AWFUL at pouring beer. Absolutely... awful. I can't seem to grasp the 45 degree thing. Goddamn you, Geometry. Anyway, went there and then road the train back to the hostel where we had a few beers. There I met a group of Irish guys, an Australian, two French guys, and a group of pot-smoking Austrians. Twas a great introduction to Berlin and to hostels.
Saturday: Bright and early in the morning we left for the "Classical Tour" of Berlin in 3 hours. During that drive we saw Potsdamer Platz, the Regierungsviertel, Unter den Linden, the Brandenburg Gate, Kurfuerstendamm, Checkpoint Charlie, Galarie Lafayette, the Gendarmenmarkt, the Berlin Wall, and about 500 other awesome places. The next couple days we would get to explore these places more in depth on foot.
Lunch break consisted of us spending 45 minutes trying to find a bathroom. Then we remembered that Nina told us the night before to just use hotel bathrooms. Duh. So we chose the first hotel we saw and went in. You know a hotel is mighty expensive when its staircases are named after classical composers. After we waddled up the Rossini staircase to go to the Leonardo restroom, we found the Puccini toilets and pranced down the Beethoven staircase to exit through the Tchaikovsky doors.
Then we found a Vietnamese Restaurant that was cheap and seemed to fit us a bit better (i.e. no named doors or anything). As we sat and ate, the restaurant started playing Hawaiian music.
Erin: Dudes, why are they playing Hawaiian music?
Me: I don't know, maybe because we're at a Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin.
After that we took a two and a half hour walk through of "Jewish Berlin." We walked down the Spandauer Vorstadt and got to see the famous Hackesche Hoefe. It was incredible to see some of the buildings that were still standing that had bullet holes from WWII covering them. What I thought was quite sad was that outside every Jewish building, the Polizei stood there. Apparently they HAD to because of neo-nazi idiots. There were tons and tons and tons of memorials.
My initial impression of Berlin as a city: it is a city of memorials.
Emily brought up an interesting point that all of these memorials had something to do with absence. And she was right, all of the memorials we ran into had something to do with absence.
Later that night (after a long nap), Erin, Spencer, Niki, Nicole, Katie, and I left to go to an old school Bavarian restaurant. We realized that most of the food we had in Berlin was... Asian. We decided that was blasphemous and searched for German food. Went to a place called Maximillions. Jesus. Christ. The restaurant is set up like a Bavarian Oktoberfest tent with long tables and blue and white decorations littering the entire building, with a live band and all. Turns out they were celebrating the beginning of Oktoberfest. We sat our asses down and ate all the Bratwurst and Sauerkraut that we could. The whole time watching a crowd of people in their 40's and 50's mosh in front of the band. Needless to say, we were the only ones there under the age of 35, but we definitely had a great time. I never thought that when I learned the German song, Ein Prosit, that i'd ever use it. I sang it a good 15 times with the crowd that night. We left that night completely satisfied. I don't know if i've ever felt that kind of satisfaction from an evening before.
Sunday: Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. So. Much. RAIN. We began the day at a soggy Checkpoint Charlie, we then made our way to Brandenburg Gate, Bernauer Strasse, Eastside Gallery, and the Potsdamer Platz. Our awesome tour guide, Wolfgang, lived in East Berlin during the Soviet occupation. He told us a story of when he found out the Berlin wall had been knocked open. That night in November he had a soccer practice and he and his teammates had just finished and got in a car to drive home when the radio turned on and said, "The Wall is open." He said it was nothing but disbelief until they got there. Personally, I can't imagine what kind of emotions would be flooding through a person's body when they see that giant hole in that 155km wall.
At lunchbreak Erin, Spencer, Galen, Nicole, Niki, and I went back to Friedrichstrasse to find Currywurst. It. Is. Amazing. I don't care if it is just meat with curry powder and ketchup. Good LAWDY. After that we headed to the Berlin Hohenschönhausen. It is the site of the main remand prison for people detained by the former East German Ministry of State Security (aka Stasi). It's been a memorial since 1994 and, from 2000 on, has been an independent foundation under public law. Given that it has only been 20 years since this prison was in use, everything is definitely intact. It was almost like it had been (just cleaner). I thought it remarkable that I was standing somewhere that I had read thoroughly about months before. It was surreal to say the least and reminded me a lot of my visit to Dachau.
Later that evening we wanted to go all out seeing as how it was our last night in Berlin. We met up with Nina and took the S-Bahn to Southern Berlin where we went to a cheap Sushi place and then to bar. I had an enormous pina colada that must have been made by the Gods or something. Then we saw this flyer that said we could win a Jack Daniels t-shirt if we drank 2 of these lemonade-type drinks. We had to do it in 30 minutes seeing as how that's when the bar was closing. And we did. Oh... we did.
We hopped back on the S-Bahn and decided to change into our shirts while on the train. That was an experience. Falling over each other and hitting each side of the train and spinning off who knows what way. We got back to the hostel and decided to have a couple more beers. I ended up talking to this guy from France who asked me where in the US I was from and I told him Salt Lake City, Utah. He had a confused look and I told him the 2002 Olympics were there (that usually seems to be the best way for Europeans to know where I'm from). He didn't get it and asked me, "What major city is it near?" Uuuuuh.... I had never been asked that question before. Then I just decided to tell him that it was about 5-7 hours north of Las Vegas. "Ooooh, Vegas! I know, okay this is good!"
Then it was crash time.
Monday: The drive back was full of endless exhaustion. There was absolutely NO way of sleeping on that bus. It just wasn't made for that. So, I reverted back to the landscape. I sat there for hours watching little medieval kingdoms get closer and then pass away. Over and over and over again. Then the trees grew taller and the underbrush became more gnarled and dense: Aaah... we're close to Marburg. In fact we were just 24km's from Marburg at that time. It definitely has a distinct look to it. I found myself elated to be sleeping in my own bed again.
There are so many things from Berlin I wish I could express, but it's really impossible and this was my best shot.
Tschuess from Marburg!
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