A Walk Through Munich

June 27^th

L>R Irene, Brian, Me, Georg, Alex

Alex took a night train from Hamburg and arrived around 7-8 in the morning in Munich.  When he arrived we were able to have a classic Bavarian breakfast, boiled Weisswurst (white sausage) with honey mustard, a pretzel and weissbier (wheat beer).  I have had this breakfast a few times now, thanks to my sister and it has become one of my favorite meals.  We all sat around the table and after proper cheers, we dug into our meals.  Funny thing is we changed our beer glasses three times before finding the right ones for the meal.  Prost!

Michael Jackson Memorial

Now that our bellies were full of weisswurst it was time of our tour of the city to began.  Alex as our tour guide brought us to the city center to begin.  On the way to the center we stopped by the Michael Jackson Memorial which is located in front of a hotel he would stay at.  Then we moved onto the city center, passed the New Town Hall building with the glockenspiel and then continued on to St. Peter’s Church where we climbed its bell tower to get a good view of the city.  Climbing the tower was bit of a hassle because there was hardly enough room for people to be both ascending and descending its stairs at the same time.  Once we finally got down from the tower we headed to the famous Hofbrauhaus.

Me and Alex with Masses at Hofbrauhaus

The Hofbrauhaus was very busy since it was lunch time which cause us some trouble finding a place to sit and eat even with its 5,000 person capacity.  There were many people dressed up in the lederhosen and dirndls and a live band was playing there as well.  We sat down and ordered Masses (1 liter beers) and bought a few pretzels (from a cute pretzel girl).  After polishing off our glasses it was time to continue on our tour.

We quickly passed through part of the Residenz (place of residence of the royal family of Bavaria) and made our way toward the English Garden to watch a very unique sport, river surfing.  After watching the surfers for a bit we all started to get a bit sleepy so we opted for some coffee at a local café.  Next we headed off to the Olympic Center where an X sports biking competition was going on.  We watched a few bikers take a go through the course and then continued on to the carnival to have some dinner. 

River Surfing

We returned back to Ines and Georg’s house to rest and enjoy some wine and share with them what we had experience on our busy day.   

Salzburg and Munich

June 26^th

We all had a pretty lazy morning and checked out of our room just minutes before the deadline and then we ate breakfast in the hostel cafeteria.  When I finished eating I finalized my travel plans to do some sightseeing in the afternoon and then catch a train to Munich.  My Canadian friends would be leaving a bit earlier.

We all walked down to the train station together and then said our goodbyes.  It is always sad to say goodbye to the friends that you make over bonding through participating in adventures together.  I will miss my Canadian friends but it is easy to still keep in touch.  I was on my own again, and after chucking my bags into a locker I headed back to the old city to explore the Hohensalzburg Fortress that overlooks the city. 

Salzburg from the Fortress

Me and Monks from St. Johns

The temperature had gotten warm and hiking up the steep hill that the fortress was located was quite a work out.  To cool down I enjoyed a nice cool radler before I continued on with the tours.  The history of the fortress is quite interesting.  It was build to protect the city more for looks than anything and it was successful in doing so for eight hundred years until Napoleon arrived and at that time all of Salzburg just surrendered.  As I wandered down from the fortress a baseball cap caught my eye; it read St John’s.  In my excitement the man and the group he was with and I asked if him and the rest of them were Johnnies.  Two of them were monks and faculty at St. John’s.  I took a quick picture with them and then headed to my next location. 

I next visited the Salzburg museum of which I didn’t spend much time in because I thought it was really lacking.  Instead I spent the remainder of my time walking along the river and then around the Mirabell Gardens.  Very beautiful and very relaxing.

 Eventually later in the afternoon I arrived at the train station, grabbed my belongings and drank a coffee.  The train ride was only one and a half hours to Munich and my train arrived at the same time as Irene and Brian.  Once the three of us found each other we departed the train station for Alex’s parent’s house (Ines and Georg). 

It was wonderful to finally meet my German parents, Ines and Georg.  I had heard so much about them from Alex, my parents and my sister and it was great to finally see it all in person.  After the proper greetings had taking place we all sat out on their porch with some beers and had friendly conversations.  As the sun started to go down we went back inside to have our dinner.  Ines and Georg were splendid hosts, the food was delicious and Georg shared with us some of his good wine collection. 

Tomorrow Alex would arrive and he would guide us around Munich to see all of the main sites.

Salt Mines and Salzburg

June 25^th

I woke up just in time for breakfast and once again it was wonderful.  Every morning the owner of the B&B writes a little letter to the guests (in German) that tells about the days weather, horoscope, and how what is served for breakfast that morning ties in with that.  The owner has been so kind to me to translate the letter into English so then I do not miss out on anything.  After breakfast I packed my belongings and paid my bill and was just about to leave when I was offered to be driven to the train station if I waited thirty more minutes.  With that down time I went outside into the garden and laid down in a hammock and gazed up at the mountains and watched the goats. 

Hammock in Garden at my B&B

I not only got a ride to the train station but I also got a ride to the Salzbergwerk (Salt Mines) after I threw my bags into a locker.  After saying goodbye to the driver I bought my ticket for the tour and then ate a brat with some coffee while I waited.  The first part of the tour required us to put on these (silly) work jumpsuits over our clothing and then we hopped onto these little rail cars and sped on down into the Earth.  It was neat learning how they make the salt and then extract it and the tour itself was a lot of fun, especially the wooden slides that led us deeper and deeper.  After the tour I walked back to the train station.

Silly Mine Outfit

Mine Rail Cars

The departure time of the bus leaving to Salzburg gave me an hour to get some lunch.  I walked across the street from the train station to a Chinese restaurant.  Not long after I sat down at a table I knew the owner and staff could speak Chinese so I gave it a go.  The response was enthusiastic so I continued to only speak Chinese for the remainder of my meal.   It was fun to break out my Chinese again.  The bus arrived and I was off to Salzburg.

Salzburg Old City

The bus ride is a scenic forty five minute commute to the train station in Salzburg and my hostel was just a few blocks away from there.  After getting off the train and leaving the train station I started walking to my hostel, but in the opposite direction.  A kind local was able to point me in the right direction and I was able to find the hostel without any problem.  I checked in and climbed the stairs to my room and opened the door and found that two of my bunk  mates (all male room) were passed out in their beds (its 3:00 pm) looking a bit hung over.  I thought to myself “they must have been out late last night, I have come to the right place”.  I quietly stowed my bags and left to go do a walking tour in the old part of the city.

Hohensalzburg Fortress

I followed the walking tour in my travel book and saw all of the main attractions in just a few hours.  It was fun seeing some of the locations from the film The Sound of Music.  As I was walking around I wondered if I would ever run into some students from my undergrad college (St. John’s University) because they have a study abroad location there.  Unfortunately I didn’t see any.  I walked along the river for a while, ate a brat and then made my way back to the Hostel.

Canadian Friends from Hostel

It was about 6:00 pm when I got back to my room and my two bunk mates were still asleep.  I worked up the courage to say something funny and introduce myself to them “You guys must have been to one serious party last night”.  After realizing the time they both jumped out of bed with, we made friendly introductions and then they went to go clean up.  They were both Canadians and not long (30 minutes) another friend of theirs (also Canadian) showed up.  After they finished cleaning up they met up with me down in the hostel bar to take advantage of happy hour.  The night was a lot of fun; we played cards, had good conversations, got some beers to go and walked around the old city, climbed a radio tower to get a breathtaking view, and then returned to the bar for more merriment. 

Once again another successful day of hosteling. 

A Full Day in Berchtesgaden

June 24^th

My alarm woke me up at 7:00 am.  I haven’t woken up this late with an alarm in weeks, must have been my long day yesterday.  I cleaned up at bit and headed down stairs for breakfast. 

Continental Breakfast

I finally got to meet the owners of the B&B.  I found out that is place actually is a natural, organic, spirit, mind and body kind of place: so there is no internet, everything is natural/organic and a vegetarian menu.  By doing removing modern distractions the guests are encouraged to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery of the mountain side.  Luckily for me I didn’t need internet because I had a good travel book with all the information I needed.  Breakfast was the usual (excellent) so I made sure to eat plenty in preparation for my day.

Beer at the Chapel

Boats on the Kunigssee

I walked two kilometers down the road to the Konigssee (about 15 minutes).  Boat rides across the Konigssee is also one of the main tourist attractions so getting there early in the day was a must.  I just narrowly arrived before a large group of tourists and was able to catch one of the first boats.  The boats are slow and eclectically powered so they take about thirty five minutes to get to a chapel and restaurant along the lake.  The boat ride was fun and the scenery was breath taking.  Half way through the ride the boats stops and one of the crew pulls out a trumpet and plays a tune, with the mountains echoing the back in a sort of duet.  When we arrived to where the chapel was, I had about an hour to walk around and take some pictures and drink a beer before I needed to hop on a returning boat.

Next on my agenda was to go to Obersalzburg and its underground bunkers.  This location was where Hitler spent the majority of his leisure time and what is considered “the cradle of the Third Reich”.  I was able to grab a brat on the go and eat it on the bus.  The buss dropped me off at the museum part of Obersalzburg of which I quickly walked through to get to the bunkers.  There are four miles of tunnels to this lavish bunker however very little of it was available for tourists to see.

Museum of Obersalzburg

After leaving the tunnels I took a bus to the Eagle’s Nest, a present to Hitler on his 50^th birthday.  The fifteen minute bus ride to the top was quite fun; steep and sharp turning roads.   Then it was just an elevator ride to the top, I rushed out of the bus to be in the first group up to the top and avoid the lines.  The Eagle's Nest now is just a restaurant with a gift shop.  The weather was partly cloud so the view was spectacular.  Since I took the last bus of the day I only had about 30 minutes once I got to the top to take pictures, hike around and have a beer where Hitler and his Nazi higher officials once enjoyed meals and made their plans of war and terror. 

View of Eagle's Nest

Now I was pretty much done with my day.  I returned to my B&B to drop of my bag and then returned to the German restaurant that I had eaten at the night before and have some dinner.  I spent the remainder of my evening sitting on my balcony and enjoyed the view as the sun set.

View From my B&B Balcony in Berchtesgaden  

      

Neuschwanstein Castle and Berchtesgaden

June 23

Boy did I have to get up early (5:00 am) to catch my train leaving Lindau at 06:10 and I had to miss the breakfast at my B&B.  Since no one was up, I just left my keys on the front desk counter and headed off to the train station.

Neuschwanstein Castle

I was in a hurry to catch as early of a train as possible since I was going to go see Neuschwanstein Castle, one of Bavaria’s top tourist sites.  I had a two hour train ride Füssen and tour the castle then catch a 3.5 hour long train ride to Salzburg and then a 45 minute bus ride to Berchtesgaden.  So to say the least I had a pretty busy schedule ahead of me today and I knew that starting as early as possible would allow me more wiggle room to work with if my schedule didn’t go as planned.  Also by planning ahead, I ordered my tickets for touring the castle ahead of time.  Immediately after arriving at the train station I found the nearest Information Station and chucked my luggage into one of the lockers so I could travel light.  A short bus ride brought me to the ticket station at the base of the mountain for the castle.  I arrived at about 10:00 am and there was already a ton of tourists there all waiting in a long line to purchase their tickets.  I was so happy I had already preordered my tickets because by the time I waited and line and I walked out with my tickets only five minutes had passed.  I picked up a brat for a quick bite and headed to another bus station for going up to the castle.

Fussen

I was able to get into a tour of the castle about an hour earlier than I had reserved for and the tour started only five minutes after I arrived.  The unfinished castle is one of the late 19^th century built by a crazy King who basically dedicated the whole thing to art (his fantasy world).  In fact the main architects were theatrical painters.  It went unfinished because he after his mysterious and early death his family canceled any future construction plans and about two weeks later opened it up as a museum.  Very cool!  I then caught a bus back to Füssen to get some lunch and stroll around before my next set of trains/buses.

Picture of Bavarian Countryside from my Train

I spent the next 3.5 hours on trains going to Salzburg to catch a bus to Berchtesgaden.  Looking out at the beautiful rolling green hills of Bavaria did not make me mind the length of time I spent on the trains.  I finally arrived to Berchtesgaden around 07:30 pm and now had to find my way to my B&B with only a bus number and the name of a bus stop to get off at.  With a little help from my sister over a phone call I was able to find my B&B.  Next time I really need to make a detailed list of directions instructions, lesson learned.  I found my key in an envelope outside of the door and I let myself in. 

Bier Garten in Berchtesgaden

Finally I got to put my bags down in my room and I realized I was very hungry.  Unfortunately for me it was late and raining, I had no internet, the hostel owners were out, I possessed no map and I was out in the countryside.  How was I going to find anything to eat at this hour?  My hunger drove me out of the B&B to go in search for something, anything.  I walked about five blocks and found a German restaurant open so I entered.  The restaurant staff was all wearing lederhosen and dirndls and there were live musicians performing for the guests.  I thought to myself “I found the right place”, and sat down for some good food and some beers.

Exhausted, I crawled into bed and instantly fell to sleep. Ready for another jam packed day the next day! 

Comfortable in My Own Skin

Now I know that you all might have wished I mentioned more about my experience with the nude baths in Baden Baden so I decided just to dedicate a whole post to it.  Enjoy.

I had arrived shortly after the baths opened to the public for the day (opened at 9 am).  I paid for my spa package which included the 17 bathing rooms and a soap and brush massage.  Some of the days of the week the baths are coed and some days they are separated except for the main bathing room with a big dome overhead.  Today was a day where the sexes were separated.  So grabbed my wrist band (the only article of clothing allowed to be worn), took a deep breath and headed up to the men's locker room and prepare for the event.

I disrobed and wandered out of the locker and was met by a staff member who handed me a towel.  I don't know if he guessed my expression of confusion because he handed a towel in a nude bath and then he just pointed me down to the starting point.

The different bathing rooms are numbered and gave you instructions as to how long you need to bath there.  By following their guidelines your stay lasts about three hours and also has you work your way up to hot baths and then cools you down at the end.

Station 1 (5 minutes) was just a simple shower to get good and clean for the many baths.

Stations 2,3 (15 and 5 minutes) were "warm and hot air baths" Funny thing I learned why I was given a towel, the wooden seat were hot to sit on!

Station 4 (5 minutes) was another shower.

Station 5 was the soap and brush massage.  This entailed a soapy brush and some light massaging of both the front and back and ending with a spank on the butt.  That last part was a little unexpected, but what ever, the massage felt pretty good!

Station 6 (5 minutes) was to shower again.

Stations 7,8 (10 and 5 minutes) were thermal steam baths (saunas) and are actually the only steam baths that are fueled by natural occurring thermal energy from underground in the world.

Station 9 (10 minutes) was a body temp bath (36C).  This is where I started getting sleepy and began to fully relax and close my eyes.

Station 10 (15 minutes) was a little below body temp (34C).  I snoozed off in this bath and lost track of time.  When I came out of it I had been in there about ten minutes longer than I needed to be.  Mark Twain made a similar observation when he visited these baths.  "After 10 minutes you forget time, after 20 minutes, the world."

Station 11 (5 minutes) was even colder than the last one (28C).  I couldn't last the whole five minutes.  Also this would have been the one coed bath but like I said I was the only guest during this time.

Station 12 (5 minutes) was to shower again.

Station 13 (1 minute) was a cold bath (18C).  All I could stand was a quick plunge and then I was out to the next station.

Station 14 (4 minutes) Dry off with warm towels.

Station 15 (8 minutes) Application of moisturizing cream.  This is also a point where you can opt to purchase and extra cream massage.

Station 16 (30 minutes) the Relaxation Room.  This is where you take a short nap.  A staff member helps you onto a bed and then wraps you up in a sheet and blanket.  Since I was tired and falling asleep in the baths I was out not too much later after I was left alone in the room.

Station 17 (30 minutes) the Reading Room. I just sat in own of the lounge chairs with a cup of hot tea and fell back to sleep again.

The whole thing took me about 3 hours to get through.  I had somewhat mixed feelings about my overall bath house experience because I was the only guest there at the time.  It was great in the sense that not many people get to experience having a whole bath house to themselves but at the same time I feel like I didn't get the whole experience with other guests being present.  But I get to scratch that off my bucket list now and I can definitely say I am comfortable in my own skin.
  

Baden Baden and Lindau Island

June 22
I had to start my day early if I was going to be able to stick to my travel plans (05:30).  I said my goodbyes to Brian and Irene and I was out the door again.

Front of Nude Bath (sorry couldn't take in my camera inside)

My first stop of the day was about an hour train ride away to a town called Baden Baden.  There isn't really much to the town itself but it is famous for its nude baths.  Going to Baden Baden to participate in its nude baths was one of my must do experiences that I had decided before coming to Germany.  My brother in-law went to the nude baths a few years ago to write an article for a travel magazine about his experience there.  I was just so entertained by the idea of how uncomfortable most people are with nudity around strangers so I decided this would an excellent stepping out of your comfort zone experience and I needed to partake in it.  I spent about three hours going through all the various bathing and lounging rooms before consuming some lunch and catching my next set of trains for my final destination.

Ice Cream in Lindau

Though I was on trains for another four hours time seemed to fly by.  The country side of the Black Forest is breath taking and I just found myself starring out the window the whole time.  I rolled into Lindau around 6:30 pm and found my B&B (without a map or GPS, lucky!) about fifteen minutes later.  To take advantage of the remaining daylight I had left, I found some ice cream and walked around for a bit while enjoying the scenery.  The view across the lake is spectacular, I saw tall snow tipped mountains in Switzerland along with sail boats gliding across the water.  Now if you please excuse me I need to finish eating my ice cream while I enjoy my view.

Tomorrow I go see a Neuschwanstein Castle and then move on to the country side at the feet of the Bavarian Alps.

A Doozy of a Sunday

June 21
Waking up was a bit of a doozy this Sunday morning.  But I would say it was totally worth it with how much fun we had and thankfully since it was Sunday it would just be a day of rest for us.

I spent the majority of my morning on my computer browsing ideas for travel in the remainder of my stay in Germany, catching up on writing some blogs, listening to some tunes, and Skypeing with my parents to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day.  I did eventually venture outside in the afternoon for some coffee and some cake.  I have done this every Sunday since I have been in Germany and I am pretty sure the tradition is going to just have to continue when I return home.  Anyhow I was able to finish all of my future travel plans by the early evening.  Dinner was easy as we just ordered some pizzas and while Irene and Brian when to bed at reasonable hours, I still cannot go to bed early.

Sorry not too much happened today, but tomorrow I am off to Baden Baden then travel through the Black Forest to Lake Constance.

Hambach Wine Festival

June 20th
We had a slow morning as we knew we needed plenty of sleep, hydration and an ample breakfast in preparation for the day's festivities, a German wine festival.

Hambach Castle

Irene and Brian had invited some more friends to accompany us so we all met at the train station and took off together.  We traveled to a small town called Hambach, a bit west of of Heidelberg that held an important event in Germany's history.  The castle is the location where democracy was first discussed in Germany and the town put on a festival to hide that fact that it was a political event.  The Germans have been celebrating this day ever since and we decided that we would like to join in and experience a little bit of history.

Schorles, and Yes that is .5L

The little town of Hambach was very pretty with buildings decorated with live grape vines for party goers to drink their wine under and every street looked up to the castle.  How the wine festival works is you simply just walk from one wine stand to the next, each providing good food and wine and consume to your hearts content.  We eventually settled in the town's center where there was live music with dancers in traditional dress and a larger crowd of people to mingle with.

The night ended up being a blast.  We got to eat lots of good food and drink lots of wine.  Since wine can be so intoxicating, in order to save us from ourselves we drank schorles which is about 2/3 wine and 1/3 carbonated water.  I don't really know if that helped or not.  As we continued down the rabbit hole led by the wine we made many friends with some of the local Germans which then led to more brats and more wine and schnapps (on the house of course), lots of laughter and unfortunately a loss of sense of time.  We missed out train ride back to Heidelberg, but we eventually made it back with a long taxi ride.  What a night!

Dancers

  

Leipzig and Return to Heidelberg

June 19th
I had a quick breakfast in the hostel cafeteria and then I was off to catch my mid morning train.  I had about a hour ride to Leipzig, a small city half way in between Berlin and Heidelberg that I had planned to spend a few hours as a day trip.

It was about lunch time when I stepped foot in Leipzig, but I actually only had two hours before my next train departed.  Thankfully train stations are usually positioned near the city center so it is very convenient to hop off your train for a bit, sight see and then catch a later one.  So I didn't have to drag around both of my backpacks by stowing them in a locker at the train station and I was off to the old city.  After about 15 minutes of walking I had arrived in the old city.  Leipzig is a very cute down and is a place the famous music composer Johann Sebastian Bach spent much of his adult life.  And with that I noticed the whole city was in a Bach frenzy.  I entered two churches and both were rehearsing music composed by Bach for a future concert and even the street performers were all playing popular Bach melodies.  In one of the churches I just sat a had to listen because it was too beautiful to miss, I closed my eyes and felt shivers rush down my spine.  Totally worth skipping lunch.

Street Performers Playing Bach

I ended up just grabbing a sandwich rap at the train station and then continued on to Heidelberg for another four hours.  In the mean time I was able to catch up on some blogging and read a book that I had been neglecting.  I finally arrived just around dinner time, just in time to go out to eat with Irene and Brian.

We all went out for some Turkish food in the old city and then had a few drinks on bar street.  I bit later on we met with a few of Brian and Irene's friends and we continued to enjoy good company and good conversation.

Tomorrow, off to a German wine festival!

Personal Legend

“To realize one’s personal legend is a person’s only real obligation.  All things are one.  And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Traveling around the world to other countries can offer you many opportunities for personal growth.  It can help you discover character traits that you didn’t know existed, give you great practice in staying calm in chaotic situations, improve your interpersonal skills, and become more culturally sensitive.  All of this can help you realize who you are and what your interests and motivations are.  With this in mind many people who find themselves in a transitional time of their lives look to traveling to help them find answers.

Most (not all) of the people that I have met in traveling in Spain, Germany and China were in some sort of transitional situation that they were dealing with back in their home country.  Some examples; being in between jobs or seeking to change careers, and being in between schooling.  Leaving your country and your situation and going to a “neutral zone” allows you to focus on yourself.   Most of these travelers are young (20s and 30s) and have not settled down yet because they are still struggling with who they are or what they are going to do with their life.  Traveling is in a sense like meditation, it forces you to look within for the answers that you seek.     

I am a pretty strong advocate for staying in hostels when traveling around the world, especially if you are traveling alone.  Hostels are excellent hubs for travelers to have a place to sleep, eat, drink, participate in tours together, and make new friends.  Traveling alone forces you into situations that are outside of your comfort zone and forces you to become more self reliant.  As a consequence you can learn a lot about yourself and may even become more self confident.  For example, when staying at a hostel, making friends to accompany you with on your excursions and party with will make your experience magnitudes better than if you spend your stay alone.  But making friends is completely up to you, this forces you to step out of your comfort zone (if you are shy or are inexperienced) and go up to strangers and strike up a conversation.  If you don’t make a move, then there is no possibility of you making those friends.  

Now I hope I have set the scene a little bit about why people travel and what its benefits can be for an individual.  Now try to imagine what happens when you put a bunch of these individuals together in a group.  You have a group of people who are individually on their own journeys and are actively pushing themselves out of their comfort zones and into new situations.  But really we are all on the same journey to find our own “personal legend” and because we recognize this and are attracted to this similarity, as travelers we tend conspire to help out in each others journeys.  We encourage and support each other in the trying new things and then we celebrate the occasions together.  It is wonderful to learn from the experiences and lessons shared by other travelers. And hopefully my own lessons and experiences have made a positive influence on them as well.

My Fellow Travelers I Made Friend with in Berlin (Me in the Middle back)

My Day of Museums

June 18^th

I woke up feeling pretty good surprisingly and once again early in the morning so I got up and readied myself before heading down for breakfast.  I knew that everyone else probably wouldn’t be getting out of bed until mid day so I decided that I would go out on my own to a couple of museums and meet up with them later in the day. 

Lunch at  Biergarten

I took a subway to Museum Island to see the German History Museum.  It included the entire history of Germany starting from the fall of Rome until present day.  I was able to use my old student ID from college to get the student fee (50% of original cost) and an audio guide and then headed to the start of the exhibit.  It took me around three hours to get through the whole history and peruse around all of the wonderful displays and artifact collections.  I left in search of some lunch.

I walked to the Brandenburg Gate and ventured into the Tiergarten (big park in Berlin) and found biergarten to sit down and enjoy some lunch.  Then I was off to see the museum that underneath the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  It was a very small museum so I only ended up spending about thirty minutes inside.  At this point I was pretty tired so I hopped back on a subway and returned to the hostel to rest for a bit and work on some of my future travel plans.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

I received message from my group of friends and they were ready to meet me at another museum, the Topography of Terror which gives a history of Hitler’s Gestapo and SS.  We all ended up taking about two hours to get through that very moving exhibit before riding the subway back to the Hostel to rest before we start our night.  I spent this resting time to continue with my future travel plans.

We all met down in the lobby around 10:00 pm to venture out for some dinner.  We found a Vietnamese restaurant that was very busy looking and had great reviews.  Luckily a large table cleared up when we arrived so we were able to enjoy eating together for our last dinner in Berlin.  It is amazing how in such a short period of time you can become friends with complete strangers from all over the world.  After dinner we split up, half of us went out clubbing and half of us headed back to the Hostel to have a more low key night by enjoying a few drinks at the Hostel’s bar.  I opted for the later option as I didn’t want to be sleep deprived and hung over when I traveled the next day. We said our goodbyes, wished each other happy travels and good luck with all endeavors.     

I know I will miss my friends, but it will still be fun keeping in touch with them by using social media.  Tomorrow I return to Heidelberg with a short stop in Leipzig half way in between.  

Walking Tour of Berlin

June 17^th

Our Tour Guide

I woke up pretty early, got cleaned up for the day and went on a short walk because I was feeling a bit under the weather from the previous night’s merriment.  While waiting in the lobby with Dmitri, we acquired another addition to our group, an American named Rus.  He, the three Australians and myself all enjoyed our continental breakfast together, the Canadian couple did not make to join us.  After breakfast everyone dispersed to get ready for the walking tour, I went back to my bunk and took a nap.

Besides the seven of us in our little group there was several other people from the hostel that were going to go on this walking tour.  Our tour guide was a tall man from the UK with a really bad haircut but a very witty sense of humor, and was an excellent source of information.  He took us to see many of the main sites that I had seen the day before on my own but provided much more in-depth information than my guide book had provided.  The tour lasted just a little over 4 hours leaving us tired and hungry so we sought out a nice restaurant that served German food. 

Me at Checkpoint Charlie

After dinner we headed back to the hostel to rest and take naps in preparation for a night of bar hopping and clubbing.  We started the night at the hostel’s bar, then moved on to a few closer bars before venturing to some smaller clubs much later of which were all empty.  At this point we took taxis to one of the newer big clubs.  It had many different rooms and was multi-storied with a very industrial style environment.  Since it was only a Wednesday night the club was not too crowded but we still got our dance on and had fun.

We ended the night eating Doner Kababs near our hostel before calling it a night.  I finally crawled into bed around 4:15 in the morning.

    

My Arrival in Berlin

June 16^th

We woke up and enjoyed our breakfast that was provided and then took a train to Hamburg together and then we all parted ways, Irene had to go to another city for work, Brian returned to Heidelberg and I to Berlin. 

Brandenburg Gate

I had arrived in Berlin at around noon, so I picked up a quick lunch before purchasing a five day transit ticket for the Berlin subways.  I only needed to ride through a couple of stations before I arrived at the Circus Youth Hostel.  I had booked a room where I would be rooming with seven other people (dorm fashion).  Since it was now the middle of the afternoon, when I got to my room I found it to be empty.  No sooner had I arrived and dropped off my stuff on my bed, I was already out the door with my travel book in hand to explore the city and figure out the subway system.

Berlin Cathedral

My Rick Steves travel book had a nice walking tour guide that I followed and saw many of the main attractions in East Berlin.  The tour started off near the famous Brandenburg Gate.  From there I walked to many near by attractions; various embassies, and various memorials.  As I continued walking east from there I got to see where many of the main museums were located and the Berlin Cathedral.  My walking tour ended in the shopping center in East Berlin called Alexanderplatz with the bit iconic TV Tower.  At this point my feet were hurting and I was starving, so I hopped back on the subway and headed back to the Hostel.

The pub would not open until 7:00 pm so I needed to find another restaurant nearby.  I ended up finding a nice little restaurant that served German food of which I enjoyed.  After I had finished my meal I headed to the brewery/bar in the basement of the hostel.  I knew that making friends while staying in a hostel makes your stay more fun and having company on your site seeing during the day more enjoyable.  I figured the Hostel’s bar was a great place to start.

The bar was mostly empty as it was still pretty early (7:30 pm) so I hopped on a stool at the bar and ordered some micro-brewed German beer.  After I had been there for about 15 minutes and was almost a beer in, I started to feel more social and started to speak with the people around me.  I ended up getting into a really nice conversation with a guy and a girl (Ben and Hayley) from Australia who were two friends meeting up in Europe for travel.  As the night grew on we accumulated another Australian man (Dmitri) and a Canadian couple (Kyle and Christine) and had migrated to the lounge section of the bar to accommodate all of us.  Late into the night we finally left the bar to find something to eat before we all headed our bunks.  I had now found a group of friends to enjoy my time spent in Berlin with.

Tomorrow we would meet for breakfast together and then participate in the free walking tour of Berlin.  

The Baltic Sea

June 15^th

We were all slightly hung over from the night before but we all managed to make it to breakfast before it ended.  We had a traditional continental breakfast of yogurt with granola and jam, a soft boiled egg, fruit, fresh rolls with sliced cheese and cold cuts, and coffee and orange juice. 

We took a bus across town to the train station to travel to a city a bit north of Lubeck called Nuestadt so we could eat some seafood and see the Baltic Sea.  Shortly after arriving we enjoyed some seafood, I had a fish soup with a pickled herring sandwich and a beer.  Then we walked around the harbor and town for a few hours before hopping on a train to return to Lubeck.

We were all very tired when we returned so we got ourselves some coffees and ice cream.  After walking around a bit we stopped at an Italian pizzeria for dinner.  After having consumed pizza and drinking some beer we all were ready for bed despite how early it was and so we headed back to the B&B. 

I spent the remainder of the day taking a nap and reading my travel Germany book by Rick Steves to try to get some ideas of my future travel plans.  I will be leaving for Berlin by myself tomorrow and will stay there for four days.   

We Made it to Lubeck

June 14^th

In the Morning we made our way to the subway station and said our goodbyes to Anna and Alex.  It was nice to finally meet Alex’s better half, how fun it is to finally physically meet someone that you have gotten to know over the internet and through word of mouth from others.  At the train station we got ourselves some coffee before boarding.

Holsten Gate

Our train ride was only about forty five minutes to Lübeck.  The train station is located just south of the Aldstat (old city) and the most famous southern gate.  We found a nice restaurant just inside the old city and had some lunch, I had a dish with fried eggs and potatoes with a salad and thin slices of pork, and of course a beer.  We walked straight through the old city to the north and continued until we found the bed and breakfast that we were staying at and dropped off our belongings. 

Seafood Restaurant

We returned to Aldstat and followed the walking tour around the city and explored the highlighted locations such as churches, famous city plazas, and the marzipan factory.  In the late afternoon we had almost finished our tour but we all felt a little bit tired so we took a break and had cappuccinos with cake (because it was Sunday).  Not long had we finished our tour had we found ourselves at the an old bar and enjoyed few beers.  Now that we had a little buzz going we headed to eat some seafood in a restaurant where the old Shipbuilder’s Guild used to be located and even to this day its members still meet there.  We started with some seafood appetizers and then Irene and Brian had lobster and I had flat fish.  In classic European style we started with beers with our appetizer then moved on to white wine with our fish and then had schnapps and espresso as a digestant after the meal.  Irene and Brian treated me to this meal, but I promised to cover the drinks later in the night.

After dinner we wondered Aldstat until we found another old bar and sat down to drink more beer and schnapps.  We ended up staying out pretty late that night so we had to take a taxi back to our B&B, but first we bought some more beers to enjoy while we hung out in our room.  We ended the night after finishing our beers.

Last Day in Hamburg

June 13

We were all pretty exhausted from the day before still and the weather was forecasted to be rainy so we decided to take it a little easy with our day’s schedule.  Going to the Hamburg Museum exactly fit with how we all were feeling.  Anna and Alex had some studying to do so they would spend their day at the university while Irene, Brian and I would go out and about.

The subway ride was a little bit interesting, or at least it was very interesting to me because I don’t take the subway every day.  At the first subway stop after we boarded the doors opened and in stepped two men speaking Russian to each other.  The doors closed, one of the men turned on a speaker and the other assembled a saxophone.  It was a flash jazz mob (2 person), as the music played out of the speaker, one man played his saxophone and the other sang.  No sooner had they begun the subway had arrived at the next stop and they quickly disassembled their show and departed the from the subway car.  With a little bit of a walk from the subway station we arrived at the Hamburg Museum.

The Hamburg Museum was spectacular.  However I do think I say that with a lot of bias because I am a person who really enjoys history and museums.  The museum did an excellent job with their displays using very detailed models, exhibits, and projector displays on the development throughout Hamburg’s history.  After spending a few hours in the museum our hunger drove us to find a restaurant to eat some lunch.  We found a restaurant/brewery that makes craft beer like in America and settled down to eat.  And then it began to rain.

We dined on our food and just continued to drink beer since the rain was keeping us put (oh bummer, right?).  Eventually Alex and Anna met up with us at the restaurant and we talked about our enjoyment of the museum.   Also there was a bachelor party going on at the table next to us and the bachelor all dressed up in a Popeye costume.  He tried to sell us a potato as part of his duty if he ever wants to get out of his costume, an experience that is both very funny and embarrassing for him.  The rain subsided and we returned to Alex’s apartment to rest up a bit before deciding  our evening plans. 

Alex and Anna prepared us a simple but very delicious dinner of homemade tomato soup and quiche.  We all sat in a circle on the floor of Alex’s office as we ate our dinner while drinking some whiskey cocktails that Alex had prepared.  Around midnight Alex and I went on a walk while drinking a few beers and we reminisced the last time that we were both in Europe together in Barcelona.  We wondered back about an hour later.

Tomorrow Irene, Brian and I part ways with Anna and Alex and leave for Lubeck.

My Screwed Up Sleeping Schedule

I just can’t seem to have a normal sleep schedule here in Germany.  There are many factors as to why.

The first and most obvious factor is there is a seven hour time difference between the Central Time zone and Germany’s.  With that being said I am indeed experiencing some jet lag caused by the time change.

The second is a more of a problem caused by preexisting sleep habits that I had before coming to Germany.  For my employment I would work nearly sixty hours per week and would wake up at 3:30 am or 4:30 am during most days of the week and then go to bed exhausted from my physically laborious job (CNA) around 9:00 pm.  My body had gotten used to functioning on little sleep and with laborious work during the day but now after leaving my job my body seems way to energetic.  I will wake up at 5:30 am but would have to stay up till 12:00-1:00 am in order to fall asleep.  Even long walks don’t seem to tire my body out enough to allow me to fall asleep at a reasonable hour. 

Picture taken around 10:30 pm in Hamburg

The third factor is an environmental factor.  Since Germany is located at a higher latitude than Texas is and it being the month of June, the sun rises at about 4:00 am and sets around 11:00 pm.  This combined with me being an early riser has only forced me to continue waking up early and with the sun setting so late I have been forced to stay up very late.   

With the combination of these factors I have acquired some rather strange sleep habits.  Like I mentioned I tend to stay up late now (passed 1:30 am on a regular basis) and wake up early (4:30 -5:00) but then I end up taking some sort of short nap later in the morning or after lunch.  This has been in general, my sleep habits since arriving in Germany.   

Taking Advantage of Nice Weather

June 12^th

L>R: Irene, Alex, Anna, Brian

Today was a very fun day.  We started the day off with coffee at Alex’s apartment and then ate some German pastries at a tiny local bakery.  We walked most of the morning and into the early afternoon all over Hamburg.  Alex was an excellent tour guide with showing us some of the main parts of the city while telling us the history and relevance including showing us his law school campus.  That is where Anna, Alex’s girlfriend parted ways with us to study in the library (she is a dental student).  At this point we began to look around for rental bicycles from rental stations that are scattered all over the city.  Unfortunately we could not find four unoccupied bicycles so we had to continue walking.  Since it was a nice day I we predicted that many people were out using them.

Beach in Hamburg

We took a late lunch break at one of Alex’s favorite restaurants, a Thai restaurant in the St. Pauli district of the city, which used and still is a famous red light district of the city.  With lunch completed we continued walking down to the harbor and drained a few beers before catching a ferry heading down river to the beach.  Shorty after arriving we indulged ourselves by eating some fish sandwiches (cooked cold herring with raw onions and horseradish sauce) and began walking down towards the beach.  Not long into our walk we witnessed what we had predicted about the rental bicycles, everyone decided to take them to the beach today to take advantage of this wonderful weather. A little bit father of a walk we found a nice shaded spot by a bar and had a few beers as we watched the cargo ships load and pass by.

Bicycle Ride

Evening came and it was time to head back to the apartment and meet up with Anna who had finished with her studying for the day so we hopped back on the ferry and headed back up river.  Since we had no trouble finding the rental bicycles at this point, all four of us hopped on one and we rode back to the apartment with Alex leading the way.  I hadn’t ridden a bicycle in years so with a combination of having drank a few beers and being rusty, I was a little wobbly to say the least.  

Dinner involved us grilling down by the river while enjoying some beers.  We purchased our ingredients from the grocery store and headed down to a secluded spot by the river and fired up our first grill.  We grilled kabobs and veggies, and ate a baguette and some olives.  Our meal finished shortly after the sun completely set, around 10:45 and then we returned to Alex’s apartment and called it a day.

Grilling by the River

I Have to Keep Pinching Myself

For months I have been anticipating this trip to Germany.  For the past three years I have been working hard to get into medical school while working full time jobs so I have not had much room for fun, rest, and relaxation.  Sometimes I have to “pinch” myself because I cannot believe that I am actually finally in Germany.  At the moment, being able to relax, have fun, and not have much to stress about feels foreign to me.

Traveling to other countries and experiencing their cultures is something that brings me much joy in life.  In case you are wondering, I have traveled to Spain and China for study abroad trips and I have worked abroad in China for one year.  It is fun to see and experience the different cultures but more importantly it is fun to experience your “self.”  I have found when you travel to other countries and live in unfamiliar territories/cultures you learn a lot about yourself.  Not being able to speak the language properly or not having an understanding of the flow of life in that country forces you to have to rely on yourself more than you ever have in your life.  It is during these struggles that you learn a lot about yourself and then these experiences haunt you and force you to come to grips with how you handled them.  These reflections are growing moments. 

So far on this trip I have experienced the opposite, I am not so much reflecting on what I am experiencing in Germany but on the hardships and difficulties that I have experienced in the past three years.  Finally being able to slow down by being on vacation, drink beers with friends and family, take long walks down by the river or explore a medieval castle by myself has given me this opportunity.  Being in Germany has allowed me to reflect on a chapter of my life that I just ended and look forward to the new one that awaits me when I return home.

I have been having a blast in Germany and I know I still have more fun that awaits me, so when I have these “foreign” feelings of having fun, creeping up on me I will just have to “pinch” myself to prove that, yes I am finally here in Germany. 

Cologne and Arrival in Hamburg

June 11^th

We all slept in since we hadn’t arrived back to our hotel until very late the night before.  After dropping off our bags at the train station we started to walk around Cologne for a bit.  First we checked out the Cologne Cathedral and took a look inside.  We decided not to take a tour of the cathedral because we had all seen and been on too many tours to cathedrals in our travels in Europe and they all kind of seem the same after a while.  Instead we just walked around until we found a nice restaurant to eat lunch.

I ordered a bockwurst made of horse meat, a curywurst and some Kolsch beer.  I first began with the horse sausage which was very delicious, shortly after I had started eating it the waiter came to the table with a smile and dropped off two square nails on the table and told me these were from the horse that I was eating; the nails that hold the shoes on the hooves.  This definitely gave me a chuckle.  After lunch we got some ice cream and continued to walk around until we had to head to the train station to take a train to Hamburg.

We arrived in Hamburg in the late evening and had Alex, our German Foreign exchange student from high school was there to pick us up (Alex is a law student in Hamburg).  We were there no longer than fifteen minutes and we were already saying cheers over some beers to us finally being united in Europe.  Shorty after that Anna, Alex’s long term girlfriend arrived and we all went out to eat at an Indian restaurant.  We ended the night with a few beers and good conversation before retiring for the evening.