Berlin!

Honestly, I don't even know where to start with this post.  Berlin was seriously amazing. I know I say that about just about every new place I go to (and it's true), but Berlin blows them all out of the water so far.  It's got everything, history, culture, fascinating sites, international flair, and it's relatively cheap!  Needless to say, I had a great weekend.  But I absolutely have to go back as there is still sooooo much to see and do.


So, I started out walking from the train station towards the city center (I definitely walk almost everywhere when I'm traveling if possible, so much easier than trying to figure out the public transportation, lol).  After not even 5 minutes, I come up on the Reichstag building.  This is the seat of the German Parliament:

 

 

This dedication means "To the German People"

 

 

Fun Facts: The building was built in 1894 and used until 1933, when it suffered a major fire.  Hitler used this fire as a reason to accuse enemies of treason and suspend parliament and you know what happened next.  After the war, it still wasn't used because the East German government met in a builing in East Berlin and the West German government was seated in Bonn.  It's actually really crazy because the wall went directly behind the building, like 10 feet behind the back entrances/stairs.  After the wall came down, it was restored and in 1999, it became the seat of Parliament again.

 

 

I took this right next to the Reichstag building

 





Walking a block away from the Reichstag, I went to Pariser Platz.  Why there, you ask?  Because I saw these guys heading that way.

If there's one thing I've learned as a tourist, it's always follow the Segways, they will lead you to something awesome.  So, what's in Pariser Platz?  Just the Hotel Adlon. Ring any bells?  Didn't for me either, until I overheard a tour guide tell his group that this is the infamous hotel where Michael Jackson "introduced" Blanket to the world.

No, in all seriousness, I went there because as you can see from the corner of the Reichstag building, Pariser Platz is the home of the most famous landmark in Berlin, the Brandenburger Tur, or Brandenburg Gate.

Afterwards, I decided to go all touristy and get on one of those hop on hop off buses.  Seriously, don't knock them cause they are awesome.  I only had limited time in the city and the bus took me to see all of the major sights on my must see list.  I, of course, still have to go back and see a million more things (especially all of the museums) and get a more thorough look at everything, but it was a great start.  Anyways, before this post gets super-boring for you guys, here are some of the highlights of my weekend in Berlin.

The Victory Column

Checkpoint Charlie

 

Remaining section of the Wall

 

The famous TV Tower at Alexanderplatz

The Red City Hall or Rotes Rathaus

The city has different colored cobblestones in the streets marking the former path of the Berlin Wall.

 

 

There were also tons of other things I didn't get great pictures of, like the Schloss Charlottenburg (a really cool looking palace), the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral), Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and so many more.  I highly recommend you put Berlin on your must visit bucket list.

This is My Life...

I love that I found this video! This is seriously my life right now, although I like to think I was not as clueless on some of the small things (i.e. paying for shopping carts, etc) as these girls.  But still, it's amazing and if you want to see how I feel sometimes, watch at least the first 3 minutes.  It's at least 90% accurate for me.  I'll say I'm definitely through stage three, probably in the middle of stage 4.

Can't wait for the acceptance and integration phase!

But seriously, the comments about the water and eating everything with forks vs. using hands at home....right on the money!

Troubles with Trains

I'm seriously starting to think I'm jinxed with the German train system.  After my minor troubles with Deutsche Bahn upon my arrival in Germany, I thought that would be it.  But no....never.

Yesterday, on my way to Berlin, everything that could go wrong with the trains did.  Seriously.

My train to Kassel was cancelled, which meant that I missed my connecting train to Berlin.  The next train to Kassel was delayed by 20 minutes, so I didn't even get there until an hour after I was supposed to.  Then I had to go buy a train ticket for another train to berlin since I had a discounted ticket on my first train and couldn't use it on any other train except that specific one...Awesome, that's another 70 Euro I wasn't prepared to spend.

Anyways, bought the ticket for the next train heading to Berlin from Kassel.  And guess what happens right after I purchase?  The train is cancelled! Un-freaking-believable.   At least this time, I bought the full price ticket so I could use it on any train heading on the route I needed and there was a replacement train coming soon.  Then that train was 15 minutes late!

And since, with my new ticket, I now had to make an extra connection in Hannover, which I would now probably miss.  However, I did manage to get lucky here with Deutsche Bahn's crappy service Saturday, because the connecting train in Hannover was 10 minutes late, so I managed to get on the right connection. 

After one extra change, two cancelled trains and three delayed trains, I finally made it to Berlin two hours later.  But, I have to admit, it was worth the hassle in the end.  Berlin is amazing!  But more on that later...


Deutsche Bahn still sucks though. I thought Germans were supposed to be very strict about promptness, but I was wrong.

Hamburg

Ok, I'm totally falling behind on this, but still trying.  There's still plenty to write about right now.  So, here we go.  Last weekend, I went to Hamburg, which is the second biggest city in Germany after Berlin.  It's in Northern Germany on the Elbe River.  I just have to say that Hamburg is an awesome place!  I loved it.  And the weather was awesome for October, which made it even better.


What's really cool is that Hamburg is the water.  It's a huge port city so it's got a great harbor area, a lot of canals running through the city and a huge lake right in the city center that they run tours on because there is so much to see around the waterways.


Fun Facts: Hamburg has 1.8 million people living there but it definitely doesn't feel like it.  It got its current name from a castle nearby that Charlemagne had built.  The city has been destroyed by fire or invaded a lot of times in it's history.


What's the first thing I see when I get to Hamburg? A protest! For or against Scientology? I'm not sure...here's where speaking German would really help. But I didn't see Tom Cruise anywhere so I'm going with anti-Scientology.

That protest definitely didn't stop me.  Hamburg is a really beautiful city and I definitely could have stayed there another day or three.  I definitely recommend it as a must visit for anyone passing through Germany. 


I didn't really make any sort of plan for Hamburg, so I just decided to wonder around and discover the city Monica-style.  Monica-style travelling, for those of you wondering, is where you are someplace new and aren't sure where to go first, so you find a cool looking building and start walking in that direction, discover new and awesome sights along the way.  I have to admit, this is a great way to travel.


I saw a couple of beautiful churches, took a tour on the Alster lakes wondered through the city center, saw city hall and the harbor area. 


Side note: There are tons of very old, very gorgeous churches in the city, and their steeples are the most prominent things in the skyline, at least in my opinion.

Another side note:  The city hall in Hamburg is awesome.  So cool looking and definitely worth a visit inside.  They are very proud to tell you that it has six more rooms than Buckingham Palace.

 

City Hall...no matter what I did or where I stood, I couldn't get the whole building in frame.

 

Seriously, I tried really hard.

 

Inside city hall

 

Cool fountain in the courtyard

 

Hillbilly Handfishing anyone? That is the name of that show, right?

Even the train station is pretty.

Really cool looking random building.

The inside of St. Nikolai's Church.  It was completely destroyed in WW2.  They decided not to rebuild it, so now it stands as a memorial to those who died.

My attempt at an artistic photo.

A statue within the memorial.

 

How did I end my day?  Running into another protest!

 

 

And no, to those who would ask, I did not eat a Hamburger in Hamburg.

Adventures in Kassel

So, Wednesday the 3rd was German Unification / Reunification Day (I think the official name is actually Day of German Unity, but I'm not sure).  It's actually not that big of a deal here.  No traditions like 4th of july picnics, bbqs or fireworks.  But it was really nice to have the day off of work, especially to help recover from Oktoberfest :).


Anyways, so I spent my October 3 in Kassel (yes, of the "Who the Hell goes to Kassel?" fame).  One of the things Kassel is known for is the Herkules Monument in Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe.  It's basically the most famous landmark in the city.


The Herkules statue is copper, so like the Statue of Liberty, it's now completely covered in the green patina, but it still looks awesome. The statue is on top of a Pyramid on top of a stone octagon at the highest point of the park.  It was a hell of a hike, but definitely worth it.

A view of the monument on my walk from the train station

It's pretty awesome cause it was built from 1701 to 1717 (once again, according to Wikipedia - I'm too lazy to do actual research on it).  What is really cool though is that it has a water show built into it that has been going on every Wednesday an Saturday afternoon (From May to October) for almost 300 years!

Herkules - of course it was under construction, but the show still went on

It's crazy that they could even come up with things like this back then.  Anyways, October 3 was the last water show of 2012 so my awesome colleague Anna invited me to come see it with her.

According to Wikipedia, about 92,000 gallons of water are used every time.  You follow the water from the top of the cascade at the top of the stairs just below the pyramid all the way down to the bottom of the park to a lake in front Wilhelmshöhe castle where it culminates in like a 50 foot fountain.

Fun Fact: Apparently back in the day, there was a big competition to see who could make the tallest water fountain.  It was kind of a big deal and everyone tried to one up each other.  This one was the tallest for a year....or so my friends tell me.

The cascade at the top of the monument

 

 

 

 

There were a bunch of other sights to see in the park including this pseudo-medieval castle.  I say pseudo because it was built in the 1700s as a copy of a castle in Scotland or Ireland, and designed to look like what they thought a Medieval castle would look like at the time.

 

 

 

 

Overall, it was a really nice day in Kassel. 

 

Random Observations about Germany

Ok, this will probably be an ongoing list of things I think are noteworthy throughout my time here.  In just a few weeks, I've already started to gather a random list of things I've found interesting or different about the area, the food, the people, etc.  Some are confirmations of stereotypes, some are fun surprises, and some are helpful hints and tips for the future traveller to Germany.


1. Ladies, (and perhaps gentlemen) leave your heels at home: In hindsight, totally common sense.  But I wish somebody would have told me this before I packed several of my standard work pumps. Cobblestones and brick walkways are everywhere. I think some of my heels are one street crack away from snapping off. Thankfully, my winter clothes / shoes shipment has finally arrived with some flats!

2. Don't you want something to wash that down with?:  I was surprised to learn that most of my colleagues don't drink anything (even water) with lunch.  I don't know if its a German thing or a regional thing or what.  I, however still like a soda or a water with my meal.


3. What's Non-Alcoholic Beer?: Ok, my motto's gone to hell already. I admit, this one strikes me as weird.  But I've found out that it's actually fairly common to drink non-alcoholic beer here (And yes, I know beer is a great post-workout drink).  But really, while I love the taste of all sorts of beer, I just don't get it.  Non-alchohic beer just kind of defeats the purpose for me.  Don't think I'll be having many of those.

4. No Sunday Funday?: I knew this one coming into my trip here but I still find myself sad enough over it to add to the list.  Nothing is open on Sunday. Nothing. And around here everything is closed by 8 every other day so it's pretty different from the States. Not bad, just different.


5. They love their dogs: And they take them everywhere! Seriously, on trains, in restaurants, even at the airport! I've seen people bring their dogs everywhere.  I won't be surprised to find dogs in an office or hospital next.

Yup, that's a dog on the train from Kassel

Ok, that's all I've got for now.  I'm sure more will come soon but I was a bit of a hermit this weekend due to being sick so nothing exciting happened.

Oktoberfest: Beer is Proof...

Ok, so this is generally considered to be a misquote and Franklin was actually talking about wine.  But, in my limited life experiences, it is very true nonetheless.


Last weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to go to München (that's Munich to you) for Oktoberfest with some of the best people I know.  It was an incredible experience.  I don't even know how to begin to describe the craziness other than to say it was amazing.  It may be a tourist trap, but it is also the world's largest fair and the continuation of a historic tradition that has been held since 1810 (although a few years were missed due to disease and war).

Oktoberfest was originally held to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hilburghausen on October 12, 1810.  The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event.  They repeated the celebrations the next year and the tradition has gone on since then.


The basic layout is like your average carnival.  There's a ton of food stands, souvenir shops and and even rides all over the grounds.  Then, of course,the most important feature in my opinion is that there are the 14 amazing beer tents built for the festival.  These aren't your average festival tents you know from Musikfest or Celtic Classic, but legitimate wooden structures with two stories and a huge seating / standing area.


It was a great time.  It was a little touch and go there in the morning/who knows when because I lost all sense of time since I drove 4.5 hours to Munich on very little sleep and then drank the extra-alcoholic beer right away, but all was well and it was a great couple of days.


Fun Fact: Only special beer can be served at Oktoberfest per an old law.  The beer must be brewed within the city limits of Munich and is a minimum of 6% alcohol (so it's incredibly easy to get very drunk very fast - just trust me on this one).

I don't know all of the official Oktoberfest breweries, but the following are the ones I remember:

• Augustiner
• Löwenbräu
• Paulaner
• Spatenbräu
• Hofbräu

Sadly, we didn't have time to visit all of the tents / party mansions, but we did manage to have a really good time at the Schottenhamel tent, the Hippodrom, the Hofbräu tent and the Ochsenbrei tent. But we managed to drink a lot of beer, make new friends, and eat a lot of German food like Oxen!, pork knuckle and weisswurst.


Side Note: I was amazed at how incredible and efficient the servers are all over the festival.  It's like magic.  Also, I've seen this before in a beer hall, but it's still crazy to see these servers, men and women, carrying armloads of full beer liters like it's nothing.  It's seriously impressive.  I'm talking like 6 in each hand at once.


The atmosphere is great.  I love all the friendly neighbors, the drinking songs and the good time vibes.  For Future reference, if you are ever going to go to Oktoberfest, you're gonna want to know the words to Ein Prosit, which is seriously played every 20 minutes.  Here they are:

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit

Then you chant "Eins, zwei, drei g'suffa!"
 

This should be followed by a chant of Prost! (Cheers) & a cheers with everyone at the table.(REMEMBER: Eye contact is a MUST!)

Here's a few more pictures of the awesomeness.

 

I loved every minute of the experience and I would go back in a heartbeat.  It's definitely something off the bucket list!  By the end of our whirlwind trip, we all kind of sat back and looked at each other and asked, "Who lives this kind of life?"  The Answer: "We Do!"