Greetings again from Aschaffenburg!
Saturday evening saw us hitting the town for Museumsnacht. It was a fantastic event- there were cultural events hidden away in all pockets of the city, from the choir and brass band outside the church built in the 900s, to the jazz singer in the beer garden, to the blues performer in the cafe, to the stage showing all sorts of highlights in the castle courtyard. There were also a number of comedy events, outdoor cinema and plays, but a language problem made them lower priorities on our list. We strolled around for an hour or so after a delicious meal at Lena's friend Kathi's house. Kathi had some friends staying from when she went on exchange in England so it was a fun night all round.
The next day looked bad: was it going to rain or not? The night before, we had decided to visit a nearby treetop ropes course, but our plans were very dependent on the weather. We did not want to pay to enter the park, only to be rained out 20 minutes later. We decided to go for it and were glad we did, I think we got 2 drops of rain but had a fantastic 2 hours attempting first the 5 metre, then 6 metre and finally 9 metre high courses. Attached to a safety harness and well briefed (in German, with lots of demonstrations and assistance from our translators) on how to use the carabiners and flying fox attachments we crossed rickety bridges, scaled tiny ladders, walked on swinging planks of wood, and crossed a vertical netting. The reward at the end of each course was to travel by flying fox back to ground level. Great fun!
Racing home for a shower and lunch, Lena and I hopped back in the car to drive the hour and fifteen minute drive to Heidelberg where we met up with the other exchange students, strolled around the town (Lena has never been there) and met up with a University friend of Lena's who now studies there (we had previously met her in Oslo). We headed home late in the evening and after a chat on Skype with Lenka hit the sack ready for the next few days.
Monday was a very relaxing day at home- reading, a leisurely lunch, trip to the supermarket (very exciting to see all the meat products available!) and a movie in the evening- Gran Torino shown in English. It was a lovely night- we cycled to the cinema for the 9 o'clock show, down cobbled streets, parked our bikes right out the front and enjoyed the movie.
Tuesday saw us up early with a mission. I had volunteered to cook for the family to thank them for having me. Being stuck for ideas about typical Australian food, I remembered the Australian shop we found in Frankfurt last time I was there. As soon as I mentioned the idea of cooking Kangaroo to Lena she was very keen: thus, having never cooked it before the pressure was on me to deliver. I planned a menu of Kangaroo rump steak with sweet potato fritters and vegetables, followed by a pav. I had hoped to get some crocodile from this shop as well to serve crocodile skewers as an entree, but at 31 euro a kilo the crocodile meat was only available in large quantities. Luckily the entree problem was solved by whipping up the family guacamole dish, probably a good idea as the meal was huge already (thanks Wendy!).
So after completing our mission in Frankfurt, stopping for a coffee in a cool cafe 6 floors up that has an outdoor balcony and strolling a bit around the old town (hint: there's a cat shop behind the old buildings complete with very content long haired white cat on a cane chair out the front) we hit the supermarket for the rest of the ingredients. Most of the supermarkets we frequented in Norway were small affairs: a couple of aisles, 1 or 2 cash registers. Thus it was a shock to end up in the biggest supermarket I have ever seen. Lena and I kept losing each other as we went on our search for elusive ingredients such as sour cream and taco seasoning mix. The drinks section alone was bigger than the Norwegian supermarkets! Finally emerging a considerable time later, we set off for home to test my cooking skills for an audience of excellent chefs.
Luckily, the evening went perfectly: the Kangaroo tender and delicious, the sweet potato fritters (something I choose on a whim, having never cooked them before) didn't fall apart and the pav maintained a deliciously marshmellowy centre despite the lack of translations for many of its key ingredients (including caster sugar!). Even the Sydney Harbour Bridge napkin fold worked. What a relief!
Washed down with some quality German wine and interesting conversation, the night was a success and hopefully the Australian Tourism Board can add 3 visitors from Germany to its tally in the next few years.
Incidentally, I later found out that the Kangaroo rump steak (at 13.50 euro a kilo) is about half the price of beef steak here!
Yesterday started out with terrible weather again, a shame when I was hoping for a swim in the lake, but miraculously at lunchtime the sun suddenly came out. With 26 degree weather we rushed over to the lake and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun, reading books (and for me, swimming). We came back home quickly to change and then Lena's parents took us out to dinner for my last night in the Schaff. I had a typical specialty for the region: I think it was pork with a crispy crackling, spaetzle and salad. They also arranged for me to try some of the local mushrooms. I was so full but it was delicious. We dined outside, with a view of the castle and some more nice German wine. Yum!
Today is my last day in Europe and luckily the sun is out, so it's back to the lake for some relaxation and then hopefully a trip to another nearby castle. Then back home for some dinner before my flight leaves at 10pm tonight. I arrive back in Adelaide on Saturday morning.
So, my European adventure ends here, but I'm coming home with lots of great memories and friendships. I hope you've enjoyed hearing what I'm up to and thanks for your emails and comments.
Best Wishes,
Anneke
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Schaff, so far
I left off with my arrival in Aschaffenburg on Sunday.
Since then, we've been having a great time visiting various friends around the country, checking out the Schaff (it has a castle!) and chilling out at Lena's house.
Aschaffenburg, on the river Main, has about 70,000 inhabitants and is near Frankfurt. It is more than 1000 years old. The best known sites include the castle, which was originally built in the 1600s but was completely restored after extensive damage during WW2, and the Pompejanum, a replica of a town house found in the ruins of Pompei, which was built by King Ludwig 1 of Bavaria in the mid 1800s.
We spent Monday checking out the sites of the Schaff. The castle and the Pompejanum are lovely, but the city itself is also very pretty with cobbled streets, streets of old buildings, parks everywhere and lots of charming cafes and restaurants. Our tour also took in some shops and cafes where I ogled over the delicious cakes and pastries on offer everywhere. Think I could really take to this coffee and cake (Kaffee mit Kuchen) business! We also enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal with Lena's parents, who are lovely and very hospitable.
Tuesday we decided to cycle to a nearby town for, I am told, one of the best ice creams in the world. Trouble is, we got on the bikes and it looked like rain. It was also very windy, so we cycled to a nearby park which looks just like a delicate English garden, complete with lake, rowboats, swans, a manor house, a maze and a bridge over the lake. The only difference is the large beer garden where we sampled Flammkuchen, a local specialty which is a bit like pizza on a very flat base. Yum! After a relaxing afternoon (with more Kaffee mit Kuchen) we went out for a glass of Apfelwein, a local specialty much like cider, in the pouring rain in the evening.
After an early start for an interview on Wednesday morning we headed off to Würzburg in the afternoon to check out the town and pay a visit to Julia, Lena's school friend who had previously come to visit her in Oslo earlier in the year. She's in the middle of studying for her state exam as a teacher. All students of the 'professions' (medicine, teaching etc) are required to do a huge examination set by the state during their course. Medicine actually has 2, at different stages in the course. These exams are massive and require months and months of just study (students might not even go to classes during this time). Lena tells me that for her state exam in a few years she will study stuff 6 months before the exam that she will not get a chance to review again before the exam is held. Julia's exam is in a few months and she is currently spending several weeks reviewing Botany for her Primary School Teacher exam!
So after a glass of juice at her house we left her to study whilst we wandered round Würzburg for the afternoon, looking at the castle, the many churches, the river and stopping to warm up with- you guessed it- Kaffee (but no Kuchen this time). It was a bit wet so we didn't get to see as much as we'd hoped but it is a lovely place and I have an excuse to return now!
In the evening we enjoyed dinner at Julia's with her flatmates (both medical students), some of her friends and some of the flatmate's friends who had come to visit to find out about studying Medicine. One of her flatmates had spent time in NZ so had a huge NZ flag on the wall and the other spent close to a year in Launceston whilst at high school, so had a big Aussie flag on the wall. He was apparently very excited to hear an Aussie was coming to visit and we spent time discussing Australianisms and all about Tassie.
Julia and a friend of hers are coming to Australia for six months in January so I hope to see them again in Melbourne. They were interested in where to go and what to see, and they showed me a picture a friend had sent of a huge spider, half the size of someone's back. I was able to calm them down by telling them I have never seen one that big!
We had to get the train back that night, as I had another interview the next day (rescheduled from the problems in Berlin). So we aimed for the 23:15 train (the earlier one was 3 hours earlier), which ended up leaving half an hour late. Weary, we arrived back to the rainy Schaff at 1am, delighted to find Lena's mum waiting on the platform to drive us home. She'd checked the train arrival time on the net and thought it was too wet and cold for us to walk home!
After an early morning interview (my last one, luckily!) and a few more hours sleep Lena and I loaded up the car, dropped by the post office to solve my excess baggage problems and headed on the road to Münster, for our highly anticipated visit to Jana, Lena's sister and fellow Hurtigruten traveller. Münster is known for two things: rain and church bells, and let's just say it didn't disappoint. The rain started the minute we got there and only stopped when we were halfway home. But we had fun nevertheless, eating dinner at Jana's place, watching a movie and then heading to her friend's house for some drinks and chatter. The next morning we joined Jana at her lecture (she's also a medical student, her lecture was on environmental medicine). I've now been to medical lectures in 3 different countries and think medical students are probably the same the world over!
Following the lecture, we joined her friends at Mensa. I got quite excited when I heard we were off to Mensa. I mean, I know they're smart, but wow! However, my excitement was short lived when I discovered that every student in Germany goes to Mensa- it's a nationwide cafeteria chain that provides cheap food for students and slightly more expensive food for others. It's quite cool actually: for 2 euro you get a meal (fish, schnitzel etc) with three extras: side dishes, yoghurt etc. You have a membership card which is loaded with money that you scan to pay for your food.
Following my inauguration at Mensa, we headed back to load up the car for our trip home. Jana has exams in a few weeks (just normal ones, not the state exam), so we had to say goodbye to her and head back to Aschaffenburg where we dined on frozen pizza and watched a movie, exhausted after our big few days.
This afternoon we're having a BBQ with one of Lena's friends who was on exchange elsewhere. She has a friend from her exchange visiting and so after dinner we're going to head into town I think. There's a series of cultural activities on here at the moment including opera and jazz in the castle, outdoor cinema shows and so on. Lena's father, who plays the saxophone, performed last weekend in a concert. Tonight is the one of the highlights of the culture program: Museumsnacht (museum night). So it should be a fun night!
Tomorrow we hope to visit Heidelberg to catch up with some of the exchange students from Oslo (Sundar, one of the other Melbourne students is visiting also). Then maybe a trip to Frankfurt and a visit to a local lake for a swim, assuming it warms up a bit!
Anneke
Since then, we've been having a great time visiting various friends around the country, checking out the Schaff (it has a castle!) and chilling out at Lena's house.
Aschaffenburg, on the river Main, has about 70,000 inhabitants and is near Frankfurt. It is more than 1000 years old. The best known sites include the castle, which was originally built in the 1600s but was completely restored after extensive damage during WW2, and the Pompejanum, a replica of a town house found in the ruins of Pompei, which was built by King Ludwig 1 of Bavaria in the mid 1800s.
We spent Monday checking out the sites of the Schaff. The castle and the Pompejanum are lovely, but the city itself is also very pretty with cobbled streets, streets of old buildings, parks everywhere and lots of charming cafes and restaurants. Our tour also took in some shops and cafes where I ogled over the delicious cakes and pastries on offer everywhere. Think I could really take to this coffee and cake (Kaffee mit Kuchen) business! We also enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal with Lena's parents, who are lovely and very hospitable.
Tuesday we decided to cycle to a nearby town for, I am told, one of the best ice creams in the world. Trouble is, we got on the bikes and it looked like rain. It was also very windy, so we cycled to a nearby park which looks just like a delicate English garden, complete with lake, rowboats, swans, a manor house, a maze and a bridge over the lake. The only difference is the large beer garden where we sampled Flammkuchen, a local specialty which is a bit like pizza on a very flat base. Yum! After a relaxing afternoon (with more Kaffee mit Kuchen) we went out for a glass of Apfelwein, a local specialty much like cider, in the pouring rain in the evening.
After an early start for an interview on Wednesday morning we headed off to Würzburg in the afternoon to check out the town and pay a visit to Julia, Lena's school friend who had previously come to visit her in Oslo earlier in the year. She's in the middle of studying for her state exam as a teacher. All students of the 'professions' (medicine, teaching etc) are required to do a huge examination set by the state during their course. Medicine actually has 2, at different stages in the course. These exams are massive and require months and months of just study (students might not even go to classes during this time). Lena tells me that for her state exam in a few years she will study stuff 6 months before the exam that she will not get a chance to review again before the exam is held. Julia's exam is in a few months and she is currently spending several weeks reviewing Botany for her Primary School Teacher exam!
So after a glass of juice at her house we left her to study whilst we wandered round Würzburg for the afternoon, looking at the castle, the many churches, the river and stopping to warm up with- you guessed it- Kaffee (but no Kuchen this time). It was a bit wet so we didn't get to see as much as we'd hoped but it is a lovely place and I have an excuse to return now!
In the evening we enjoyed dinner at Julia's with her flatmates (both medical students), some of her friends and some of the flatmate's friends who had come to visit to find out about studying Medicine. One of her flatmates had spent time in NZ so had a huge NZ flag on the wall and the other spent close to a year in Launceston whilst at high school, so had a big Aussie flag on the wall. He was apparently very excited to hear an Aussie was coming to visit and we spent time discussing Australianisms and all about Tassie.
Julia and a friend of hers are coming to Australia for six months in January so I hope to see them again in Melbourne. They were interested in where to go and what to see, and they showed me a picture a friend had sent of a huge spider, half the size of someone's back. I was able to calm them down by telling them I have never seen one that big!
We had to get the train back that night, as I had another interview the next day (rescheduled from the problems in Berlin). So we aimed for the 23:15 train (the earlier one was 3 hours earlier), which ended up leaving half an hour late. Weary, we arrived back to the rainy Schaff at 1am, delighted to find Lena's mum waiting on the platform to drive us home. She'd checked the train arrival time on the net and thought it was too wet and cold for us to walk home!
After an early morning interview (my last one, luckily!) and a few more hours sleep Lena and I loaded up the car, dropped by the post office to solve my excess baggage problems and headed on the road to Münster, for our highly anticipated visit to Jana, Lena's sister and fellow Hurtigruten traveller. Münster is known for two things: rain and church bells, and let's just say it didn't disappoint. The rain started the minute we got there and only stopped when we were halfway home. But we had fun nevertheless, eating dinner at Jana's place, watching a movie and then heading to her friend's house for some drinks and chatter. The next morning we joined Jana at her lecture (she's also a medical student, her lecture was on environmental medicine). I've now been to medical lectures in 3 different countries and think medical students are probably the same the world over!
Following the lecture, we joined her friends at Mensa. I got quite excited when I heard we were off to Mensa. I mean, I know they're smart, but wow! However, my excitement was short lived when I discovered that every student in Germany goes to Mensa- it's a nationwide cafeteria chain that provides cheap food for students and slightly more expensive food for others. It's quite cool actually: for 2 euro you get a meal (fish, schnitzel etc) with three extras: side dishes, yoghurt etc. You have a membership card which is loaded with money that you scan to pay for your food.
Following my inauguration at Mensa, we headed back to load up the car for our trip home. Jana has exams in a few weeks (just normal ones, not the state exam), so we had to say goodbye to her and head back to Aschaffenburg where we dined on frozen pizza and watched a movie, exhausted after our big few days.
This afternoon we're having a BBQ with one of Lena's friends who was on exchange elsewhere. She has a friend from her exchange visiting and so after dinner we're going to head into town I think. There's a series of cultural activities on here at the moment including opera and jazz in the castle, outdoor cinema shows and so on. Lena's father, who plays the saxophone, performed last weekend in a concert. Tonight is the one of the highlights of the culture program: Museumsnacht (museum night). So it should be a fun night!
Tomorrow we hope to visit Heidelberg to catch up with some of the exchange students from Oslo (Sundar, one of the other Melbourne students is visiting also). Then maybe a trip to Frankfurt and a visit to a local lake for a swim, assuming it warms up a bit!
Anneke
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The rest of Berlin
Greetings from the Schaff!
Lena and I are heading to visit her friend in another city soon, so I won't comment much on my time here so far.
I noticed that the PM has seen the light and come to visit me here. I understand he went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe yesterday, which reminded me to update about my last day in Berlin.
Completing the challenge of packing my stuff up into a form that I could easily carry, I headed to the train station, picking up a pastry for breakfast from the many bakeries that offer delicious cherry, apple or other tempting treats. So, strawberry croissant in hand I strolled around Alexanderplatz looking at a temporary outdoor exhibition about the fall of the Berlin wall. The exhibition was a series of boards densely packed with information, videos and pictures from the era, as well as tape recordings of crowd and protest noises. The tape recordings were played through speakers which were discrete and only played sporadically so it was quite a shock to suddenly hear the sounds of a gathering crowd!
Finishing at the exhibition I got back on the train, roughly aiming for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe to go inside the museum, which I didn't make the other day. In no hurry though, I strolled from the Main station there, checking out the sights of Berlin once more along the way.
The museum in the Memorial was confronting- even though I have read so much and seen so many photos of the Holocaust. The aim of the exhibition was to remind people that there are people beyond the statistics. It was therefore a focus on individual victims rather than presenting the familiar numbers that are commonly presented as Holocaust statistics. One room highlights families and explores the family history before examining where all the members of the family were at the end of the Second World War. Another recites biographical details about victims of the Holocaust and another offers personal accounts of the camps. One of the most confronting rooms displayed about 15 or 16 paragraphs quoted from the accounts of victims of the Holocaust- from diaries, letters and in one example a postcard thrown out of a train on the way to Auschwitz.
Definitely a sobering visit.
Following my visit to the museum I made my way back to the hostel slowly to collect my luggage and head to the central station. I got there super early in order to avoid getting lost or missing the train, but defeated by the weight of my bags I curled up on a seat on the platform to await my ICE train to Hanau. The train ride was a comfortable experience- the train is very fast and only stops in the big towns or cities such as Hannover. The design of the train was quite peculiar however- instead of a cenral aisle, the aisle is on the edge. In addition, seats are prebooked for an extra fee and there is very little room for luggage- surprising for a train that travels 5-6 hours across the country and nearly every passenger had a suitcase on them.
Nevertheless, I made it to Hanau, excitement increasing as I manhandled my luggage off the train and had a happy reunion with Lena. We loaded my luggage, set off on the autobahn to the Schaff and lugged my luggage up to Jana's (her sister, who is still at uni) room. On arrival, I looked up to find a bed covered in sunflowers, with a pattern made from chocolates and a sign 'wilkommen'. A very nice greeting!
Anyway, hope to write more later,
Anneke
Lena and I are heading to visit her friend in another city soon, so I won't comment much on my time here so far.
I noticed that the PM has seen the light and come to visit me here. I understand he went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe yesterday, which reminded me to update about my last day in Berlin.
Completing the challenge of packing my stuff up into a form that I could easily carry, I headed to the train station, picking up a pastry for breakfast from the many bakeries that offer delicious cherry, apple or other tempting treats. So, strawberry croissant in hand I strolled around Alexanderplatz looking at a temporary outdoor exhibition about the fall of the Berlin wall. The exhibition was a series of boards densely packed with information, videos and pictures from the era, as well as tape recordings of crowd and protest noises. The tape recordings were played through speakers which were discrete and only played sporadically so it was quite a shock to suddenly hear the sounds of a gathering crowd!
Finishing at the exhibition I got back on the train, roughly aiming for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe to go inside the museum, which I didn't make the other day. In no hurry though, I strolled from the Main station there, checking out the sights of Berlin once more along the way.
The museum in the Memorial was confronting- even though I have read so much and seen so many photos of the Holocaust. The aim of the exhibition was to remind people that there are people beyond the statistics. It was therefore a focus on individual victims rather than presenting the familiar numbers that are commonly presented as Holocaust statistics. One room highlights families and explores the family history before examining where all the members of the family were at the end of the Second World War. Another recites biographical details about victims of the Holocaust and another offers personal accounts of the camps. One of the most confronting rooms displayed about 15 or 16 paragraphs quoted from the accounts of victims of the Holocaust- from diaries, letters and in one example a postcard thrown out of a train on the way to Auschwitz.
Definitely a sobering visit.
Following my visit to the museum I made my way back to the hostel slowly to collect my luggage and head to the central station. I got there super early in order to avoid getting lost or missing the train, but defeated by the weight of my bags I curled up on a seat on the platform to await my ICE train to Hanau. The train ride was a comfortable experience- the train is very fast and only stops in the big towns or cities such as Hannover. The design of the train was quite peculiar however- instead of a cenral aisle, the aisle is on the edge. In addition, seats are prebooked for an extra fee and there is very little room for luggage- surprising for a train that travels 5-6 hours across the country and nearly every passenger had a suitcase on them.
Nevertheless, I made it to Hanau, excitement increasing as I manhandled my luggage off the train and had a happy reunion with Lena. We loaded my luggage, set off on the autobahn to the Schaff and lugged my luggage up to Jana's (her sister, who is still at uni) room. On arrival, I looked up to find a bed covered in sunflowers, with a pattern made from chocolates and a sign 'wilkommen'. A very nice greeting!
Anyway, hope to write more later,
Anneke
Sunday, July 5, 2009
More from Berlin
I left off on Thursday with the promise of a swimming trip and an interview the next day.
Well, one of them happened and my bathers have just finished drying. The other, well less of a success, but hopefully it will be rescheduled (the connection did not work).
So, Friday began slowly as I waited for my mobile to ring. When I do start work next year I won't forget running round the hostel at 8am trying to find a quiet place! It's been very tough arranging jobs from afar, but I've definitely got some good stories which I'm sure will be very funny in the future....
After a two hour wait by the phone I gave up and decided to head to the German Historical Museum. This was a fantastic museum and as I got swept away in the reassuring weight of history my frustrations of the morning were soon forgotten. The exhibition started when Germany did and continued through the rocky paths of German history from rags to riches. It was in many ways a typical German museum- very educational, quite text heavy with lots of literature and art work on display. But a very comprehensive and classy exhibition. I learnt a lot but also enjoyed consolidating my knowledge on things I knew a bit about- seeing items from Martin Luther's time for example right up to the modern history section about WW1, the 20s and WW2 as well as the Cold War and the reunification.
Following my educational morning I met up with the Australian I met on my first day and we set off on the Wannsee train line to a huge lake where we cooled off on another gorgeously hot day. We met a lovely 92yr old on the train who we chatted to our broken German and his broken English (he apparently lived in Aus for a while when he was young). Within minutes he was showing us his photos: he and his wife on their wedding day, photos from various holidays they had, his budgie who he claims is 34 yrs old. The way he affectionately stroked his wife's photo made us wonder if something had recently happened to her.
The lake was enormous and we swam from one side to another as well as walking the complete circumference of it- maybe 4-5 km. There were heaps of people enjoying the weather, swimming, rowing hired boats or just sitting in the sun. The number of nude couples (homo and hetero sexual) made it clear to us: we really were in Berlin after all.
We caught the train back and headed for dinner near Amy's (the Aussie girl) accommodation. There we enjoyed a feast of a huge serve of pasta plus a basket of Turkish rolls for the princely sum of 2.50 Euro each. Fantastic as I am once again continuing the 'eat for less than 5 euro a day' challenge.
Over dinner we decided it was way too early to go home and decided to check out some of the remnants of the Wall near where we ate dinner, then head into the Reichstag building as we had been told the queues at the Reichstag were shortest at night or early in the morning.
We thought we'd be gone for an hour or an hour and a half so decided to walk to the wall to enjoy the summer evening. Luckily we did walk: the whole way there (along Bernauer Straße) was kind of a 'wall trail' which provided plaques signifying various historical events related to the wall such as escape attempts. The old path of the wall was traced on the footpath and it was clear to see where it used to run: the houses were set back about 10-20 metres from the road. In front of the houses was this no-mans-land of shrubby grassland that was the old 'death zone': the place where would-be escapers could be shot.
Eventually we got to a striking wooden chapel which we discovered was rebuilt in 2000 to commemorate a church that had once stood there (ironically, it was called the Church of Reconciliation). The wall had been built around the church such that it was in the death zone cutting off the parishoners from the church and each other. I believe West Berliners were allowed in, until it obviously got too hard and the church was destroyed in the mid 80s. There was a cemetery nearby which was also in the death zone and these graves were dug up and moved. East Berliners with relatives buried close to the wall had to get special grave permits to visit.
Near this church was a complete wall section left in place: the West side wall, raked sand to detect escapers in between, barbed wire then the East side wall. It was imposing standing on one side of and imaging what it would be like to live with this in your street. I can't imagine the heartbreak of knowing you were 3 houses too short to live in West Germany and that you could get shot attempting visit your luckier neighbours.
Following our evening of recent Berlin history we then dived back into time a bit by making our way to the Reichstag. Or at least we tried to.
Emerging from the closest train station, near the Brandenburg Gate, we were surprised to discover the street blocked up and police everywhere. Turns out they were having a dinner for Berlin Fashion Week just in front of the Reichstag building. Seems my invite got stuck somewhere between here and Oslo, but it must have been amazing dining whilst enjoying an orchestra in front of the Brandenburg Gate as the sun slowly set.
We eventually found a way around this obstacle and continued on our quest for some culture. However, emerging on the other side of the Gate we found ourselves caught up in a sea of athleticism as people wearing lycra and sporting numbers suddenly appeared everywhere. Always happy to get free stuff we wiped the invisible sweat off our brow and headed into the crowds. Turns out there was a corporate walk/swim/roller skating race for all the big companies in Berlin. We did managed to score some free stuff (including a bottle of wine at a chocolate wheel!) and enjoyed strolling through the crowds. I had to laugh, everyone was still in their athletic clothes as they ate company picnics and skulled their huge beers! Erdinger Weissbeer must have been a sponsor and instead of tables of water there were tables of alcohol free beer at the finish line.
So deterred once again on our mission, but this time we made it to the Reichstag and were inside within 20 minutes or so. The Reichstag is the seat of the German Parliament and is an impressive building which had been rebuilt the odd time or two (most notably after the controversial 1933 fire). On top of the building is a huge glass dome: visitors can walk in spirals to the top of the arch giving great views of Berlin and an even more interesting view down into the parliamentary gallery. The glass also is very eco friendly- a pane of mirrors directs light into the gallery, a heat recycling system is in place and solar panels adorn the roof.
We got to the roof of the building before going on the arch at about 10 as the sun was starting to set and had a fantastic 360 view of Berlin before ascending the spiral walkways whilst listening to the free audio guide. Our 30-40 minutes there gave us great views, an interesting summary of history and the sights in the distance and an insight into the German parliamentary system. And best of all, it was all free!
One thing that impressed me was the number of stunningly designed new civic buildings in Berlin. The main station, many of the parliamentary buildings, many of the buildings near Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and a whole host of other buildings are at least less than 10 years old and most are less than 5 years.
Finally after an exhausting day we headed our separate ways and made it home to bed.
Today was an even fuller day, if that's possible, as I had a huge list of things I still wanted to do in Berlin. I started off with a visit to the Checkpoint Charlie museum where I indulged my interest in the Wall further by reading about the escape attempts. The museum started very soon after the wall went up and very early seemed to become important to all Berliners as many of the escapers have given their escape paraphernalia to the museum. So it contains a fascinating collection of cars with false pockets, dummies hidden in speaker boxes and some of the more outrageous escapes: two surfboards with special ridges for concealing someone, a hot air balloon, gliders, you name it!
Following this museum I raced across town to an underground station where I joined a tour of 2 bunkers from the Cold War run by an interesting society: I think its name translates to Underground Berlin. My tour took me to a WW2 bunker that was converted for use during the Cold War, should the need arise, and a subway station that had been designed to seal off to become a nuclear bunker, even utilizing trains for extra seating space. We went through the airlock, checked out the bedrooms, the infirmary, the 'suicide proof' toilets etc.
This tour was wonderful- something completely different exploring a very recent past. If you know anyone going to Berlin I'd highly recommend they look up this group- they have other tours about underground escape attempts, the development of the subway system etc. They are a not-for-profit company surviving on donations to keep the history of Berlin alive. They also run a museum about Hitler's grand plans for Berlin and even have 2 plays which take place inside one of the bunkers we went to today. The tours and the museum are reasonably priced, and the tour was (in English) informative and entertaining- we really got an idea of what it would be like in the bunker. At one stage they turned out the light and we had to work out how to manually power the air filters and lights! http://berliner-unterwelten.de/home.1.1.html
Following my tour I headed back to the section of the wall we visited yesterday as there was a visitors centre and viewing tower that had been closed the night before. This gave a view over the wall so you could see inside the 'death zone'. Bernauer Straße has become a symbol of the impact of the wall- as well as the wall splitting the street in two, many famous pictures were taken here and I believe there were something close to 10 deaths from people attempting escape along this one street alone. Between November 2009 (the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down) and August 2011 (the 40th anniversary of it going up) they are consolidating and organising the history of the wall in Berlin. Before, the urge was to get rid of the wall and to move on with life. However, now I think enough time has passed that things have healed enough to think about the permanent reminders and memorials the city wants of the wall.
A quick stop at Potsdamer Place on the way back saw me marveling at how different it was from the pictures I've seen at the end of the 1980s. Then, I met up with Amy again and we went to the East Side Gallery to look at the 1.3km stretch of remaining wall which was covered in artwork following the fall (this would not have been allowed in the days of East Berlin). The original artists are currently repainting their works to freshen it up for the upcoming anniversary.
We decided to head to some streets with a nice atmosphere that she'd heard about to cruise and find some dinner. However, we'd just gotten off the train and were 3 min into our walk there when fat, heavy raindrops began falling. Dressed in summer clothes we stood no chance so we decided to go eat dinner instead. Hopping from veranda to veranda we found a great cheap local burger place. After dinner, however, I headed home too wet and foot sore to continue, but more than satisfied after an educational and fun day.
Tomorrow will be more relaxed I think, having done most of what I wanted to do in Berlin and wore out some serious shoe leather in the process. Then tomorrow night I'm off to Aschaffenburg (or The Schaff as I've affectionately nicknamed it), near Frankfurt to spend some time with Lena and her family.
Bye for now!
Anneke
PS Photos will come at some stage, but it's not easy in a hostel. Sorry.
Well, one of them happened and my bathers have just finished drying. The other, well less of a success, but hopefully it will be rescheduled (the connection did not work).
So, Friday began slowly as I waited for my mobile to ring. When I do start work next year I won't forget running round the hostel at 8am trying to find a quiet place! It's been very tough arranging jobs from afar, but I've definitely got some good stories which I'm sure will be very funny in the future....
After a two hour wait by the phone I gave up and decided to head to the German Historical Museum. This was a fantastic museum and as I got swept away in the reassuring weight of history my frustrations of the morning were soon forgotten. The exhibition started when Germany did and continued through the rocky paths of German history from rags to riches. It was in many ways a typical German museum- very educational, quite text heavy with lots of literature and art work on display. But a very comprehensive and classy exhibition. I learnt a lot but also enjoyed consolidating my knowledge on things I knew a bit about- seeing items from Martin Luther's time for example right up to the modern history section about WW1, the 20s and WW2 as well as the Cold War and the reunification.
Following my educational morning I met up with the Australian I met on my first day and we set off on the Wannsee train line to a huge lake where we cooled off on another gorgeously hot day. We met a lovely 92yr old on the train who we chatted to our broken German and his broken English (he apparently lived in Aus for a while when he was young). Within minutes he was showing us his photos: he and his wife on their wedding day, photos from various holidays they had, his budgie who he claims is 34 yrs old. The way he affectionately stroked his wife's photo made us wonder if something had recently happened to her.
The lake was enormous and we swam from one side to another as well as walking the complete circumference of it- maybe 4-5 km. There were heaps of people enjoying the weather, swimming, rowing hired boats or just sitting in the sun. The number of nude couples (homo and hetero sexual) made it clear to us: we really were in Berlin after all.
We caught the train back and headed for dinner near Amy's (the Aussie girl) accommodation. There we enjoyed a feast of a huge serve of pasta plus a basket of Turkish rolls for the princely sum of 2.50 Euro each. Fantastic as I am once again continuing the 'eat for less than 5 euro a day' challenge.
Over dinner we decided it was way too early to go home and decided to check out some of the remnants of the Wall near where we ate dinner, then head into the Reichstag building as we had been told the queues at the Reichstag were shortest at night or early in the morning.
We thought we'd be gone for an hour or an hour and a half so decided to walk to the wall to enjoy the summer evening. Luckily we did walk: the whole way there (along Bernauer Straße) was kind of a 'wall trail' which provided plaques signifying various historical events related to the wall such as escape attempts. The old path of the wall was traced on the footpath and it was clear to see where it used to run: the houses were set back about 10-20 metres from the road. In front of the houses was this no-mans-land of shrubby grassland that was the old 'death zone': the place where would-be escapers could be shot.
Eventually we got to a striking wooden chapel which we discovered was rebuilt in 2000 to commemorate a church that had once stood there (ironically, it was called the Church of Reconciliation). The wall had been built around the church such that it was in the death zone cutting off the parishoners from the church and each other. I believe West Berliners were allowed in, until it obviously got too hard and the church was destroyed in the mid 80s. There was a cemetery nearby which was also in the death zone and these graves were dug up and moved. East Berliners with relatives buried close to the wall had to get special grave permits to visit.
Near this church was a complete wall section left in place: the West side wall, raked sand to detect escapers in between, barbed wire then the East side wall. It was imposing standing on one side of and imaging what it would be like to live with this in your street. I can't imagine the heartbreak of knowing you were 3 houses too short to live in West Germany and that you could get shot attempting visit your luckier neighbours.
Following our evening of recent Berlin history we then dived back into time a bit by making our way to the Reichstag. Or at least we tried to.
Emerging from the closest train station, near the Brandenburg Gate, we were surprised to discover the street blocked up and police everywhere. Turns out they were having a dinner for Berlin Fashion Week just in front of the Reichstag building. Seems my invite got stuck somewhere between here and Oslo, but it must have been amazing dining whilst enjoying an orchestra in front of the Brandenburg Gate as the sun slowly set.
We eventually found a way around this obstacle and continued on our quest for some culture. However, emerging on the other side of the Gate we found ourselves caught up in a sea of athleticism as people wearing lycra and sporting numbers suddenly appeared everywhere. Always happy to get free stuff we wiped the invisible sweat off our brow and headed into the crowds. Turns out there was a corporate walk/swim/roller skating race for all the big companies in Berlin. We did managed to score some free stuff (including a bottle of wine at a chocolate wheel!) and enjoyed strolling through the crowds. I had to laugh, everyone was still in their athletic clothes as they ate company picnics and skulled their huge beers! Erdinger Weissbeer must have been a sponsor and instead of tables of water there were tables of alcohol free beer at the finish line.
So deterred once again on our mission, but this time we made it to the Reichstag and were inside within 20 minutes or so. The Reichstag is the seat of the German Parliament and is an impressive building which had been rebuilt the odd time or two (most notably after the controversial 1933 fire). On top of the building is a huge glass dome: visitors can walk in spirals to the top of the arch giving great views of Berlin and an even more interesting view down into the parliamentary gallery. The glass also is very eco friendly- a pane of mirrors directs light into the gallery, a heat recycling system is in place and solar panels adorn the roof.
We got to the roof of the building before going on the arch at about 10 as the sun was starting to set and had a fantastic 360 view of Berlin before ascending the spiral walkways whilst listening to the free audio guide. Our 30-40 minutes there gave us great views, an interesting summary of history and the sights in the distance and an insight into the German parliamentary system. And best of all, it was all free!
One thing that impressed me was the number of stunningly designed new civic buildings in Berlin. The main station, many of the parliamentary buildings, many of the buildings near Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and a whole host of other buildings are at least less than 10 years old and most are less than 5 years.
Finally after an exhausting day we headed our separate ways and made it home to bed.
Today was an even fuller day, if that's possible, as I had a huge list of things I still wanted to do in Berlin. I started off with a visit to the Checkpoint Charlie museum where I indulged my interest in the Wall further by reading about the escape attempts. The museum started very soon after the wall went up and very early seemed to become important to all Berliners as many of the escapers have given their escape paraphernalia to the museum. So it contains a fascinating collection of cars with false pockets, dummies hidden in speaker boxes and some of the more outrageous escapes: two surfboards with special ridges for concealing someone, a hot air balloon, gliders, you name it!
Following this museum I raced across town to an underground station where I joined a tour of 2 bunkers from the Cold War run by an interesting society: I think its name translates to Underground Berlin. My tour took me to a WW2 bunker that was converted for use during the Cold War, should the need arise, and a subway station that had been designed to seal off to become a nuclear bunker, even utilizing trains for extra seating space. We went through the airlock, checked out the bedrooms, the infirmary, the 'suicide proof' toilets etc.
This tour was wonderful- something completely different exploring a very recent past. If you know anyone going to Berlin I'd highly recommend they look up this group- they have other tours about underground escape attempts, the development of the subway system etc. They are a not-for-profit company surviving on donations to keep the history of Berlin alive. They also run a museum about Hitler's grand plans for Berlin and even have 2 plays which take place inside one of the bunkers we went to today. The tours and the museum are reasonably priced, and the tour was (in English) informative and entertaining- we really got an idea of what it would be like in the bunker. At one stage they turned out the light and we had to work out how to manually power the air filters and lights! http://berliner-unterwelten.de/home.1.1.html
Following my tour I headed back to the section of the wall we visited yesterday as there was a visitors centre and viewing tower that had been closed the night before. This gave a view over the wall so you could see inside the 'death zone'. Bernauer Straße has become a symbol of the impact of the wall- as well as the wall splitting the street in two, many famous pictures were taken here and I believe there were something close to 10 deaths from people attempting escape along this one street alone. Between November 2009 (the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down) and August 2011 (the 40th anniversary of it going up) they are consolidating and organising the history of the wall in Berlin. Before, the urge was to get rid of the wall and to move on with life. However, now I think enough time has passed that things have healed enough to think about the permanent reminders and memorials the city wants of the wall.
A quick stop at Potsdamer Place on the way back saw me marveling at how different it was from the pictures I've seen at the end of the 1980s. Then, I met up with Amy again and we went to the East Side Gallery to look at the 1.3km stretch of remaining wall which was covered in artwork following the fall (this would not have been allowed in the days of East Berlin). The original artists are currently repainting their works to freshen it up for the upcoming anniversary.
We decided to head to some streets with a nice atmosphere that she'd heard about to cruise and find some dinner. However, we'd just gotten off the train and were 3 min into our walk there when fat, heavy raindrops began falling. Dressed in summer clothes we stood no chance so we decided to go eat dinner instead. Hopping from veranda to veranda we found a great cheap local burger place. After dinner, however, I headed home too wet and foot sore to continue, but more than satisfied after an educational and fun day.
Tomorrow will be more relaxed I think, having done most of what I wanted to do in Berlin and wore out some serious shoe leather in the process. Then tomorrow night I'm off to Aschaffenburg (or The Schaff as I've affectionately nicknamed it), near Frankfurt to spend some time with Lena and her family.
Bye for now!
Anneke
PS Photos will come at some stage, but it's not easy in a hostel. Sorry.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Berlin so far
Hello again,
Well I survived the last day in Norway- packing followed by an evening BBQ and swim in the fjord at Bygdøy. It was a lovely evening, nice and warm so we enjoyed using up our remaining alcohol (special thanks to the Spanish girls who brought Sangria!) and chatting as we pretended that the sun went down. The three Spanish girls and I were all leaving the next day, making the number of medical students remaining dwindle even lower.
The next day I was up very early after a late night spent sorting out the multitude of things to sort out- trips to the bin and glass bins with rubbish, finding room for the things I was keeping and deciding what to leave behind for the next group of Aussies, cleaning my room up and finalising my travel arrangements.
My bus left town at 11:15am so my housemates kindly offered to escort me to the train station and assist with my luggage. I stopped off briefly on the way to hand my keys to one of the German students who had offered to drop them in for me and made it into town with plenty of time to scout out the bus and get to the front of the queue in order to ensure that my luggage made it on the bus and I had some say as to where I sat (Norwegians are very, very good at elbowing forward, but I didn't spend a semester here for nothing!)
It was weird heading into town knowing it was the last time I'd read Norwegian ads on the train, the last time I'd go past Nationaltheatret station, the last time I'd hear the first Norwegian phrase that everyone learns: "dørene lukkes (doors closing)", the last time I'd head into central station, the last time I'd catch the bus out of Oslo... I was definitely sad to leave, it's been an amazing semester. At the same time though, I was really looking forward to Berlin and visiting Lena. I think it will hit me more when I head home: though I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again, in a few weeks time life will have picked up just where it left off and I don't think I want this adventure to end!
When I was searching for information about the facilities on board Swebus Express I discovered a whole series of articles outlining a crime ring operating on these buses. Basically passengers would load an oversize bag into the baggage area and when other passengers arrived at their destination they would discover they had been robbed. Turns out the oversize bag contained a short statured person who had all the time in the world to rifle through bags and select the best pickings! With that in mind, I took special care to ensure that I carefully locked all the bags I was to be storing below decks on the bus!
The bus wound its way from Oslo to Gothenburg in Sweden, followed by Halmstad, Helsingsborg, Lund, Malmo (all in Sweden) and then over the bridge and through a tunnel to Copenhagen. The Swedish countryside was a stunning backdrop as I surfed the free onboard wireless, read books and relaxed.
In Copenhagen I had an hour and a half to kill before boarding at 9:30pm for the overnight bus to Berlin. I had thought the night bus would help me save on the costs of accommodation as well as allowing me to get to Germany with a whole day ahead of me. Perhaps not the best idea, as I forgot to factor in the 45 minute ferry journey between Denmark and Germany at midnight, which required us all to get off the bus. Nevertheless, it was cool to cross four countries in a day and I'm impressed by the ferry: the train to Germany also goes on this ferry to get across the waters!
After about 2 hours of restless sleep we arrived in Berlin at 5am, 45 minutes early. Whilst a relief to get there I soon missed the warm and comfortable bus as we (myself and two punks I met on the bus) wandered around trying to find a coffee shop that was open, me dragging all my luggage around. Giving up, we headed to the bus station waiting room to hang around for a few hours, figuring that 5am was probably a bit early to rock up at a hostel.
They escorted me most of the way to my hostel (they were going a few stops further along my line) and I then walked the remaining km or so with my luggage, despite getting lost a few times and asking in my halting German where to go. Luckily I found the hostel and was able to leave my luggage there and have a shower before joining a free walking tour that was leaving the hostel about an hour after I got there.
The walking tour ran like this: a guy from the company came and picked us up and escorted us to a large group near the Brandenburg Gate. There, we met up with the groups picked up from all the hostels and were split into different language groups. The large number of English speakers meant we were all given a number and the guides then called out a series of numbers who they then met to take them on the tour. As a guide, I think there were about 100-150 numbers given out to the English speakers, plus German and Spanish tours were run. And these tours run 2-3 times a day, most days of the week!
Our tour guide was a New Zealander who had lived here about 6 months. A history nerd (like me) she was fantastic as we went on a four hour tour of all the main sites of Berlin: Brandenburg gate, Holocaust memorial, the wall, the former Luftwaffe building, the French and German churches, Museum Island and Berliner Dom, Reichstag and so on. She told us a well organised and detailed history, answered all our questions well and gave recommendations about what to see and do (and what to avoid). At the end she offered to answer any other questions we had such about the city or what to do here. The tours were 100% free although you were encouraged (though it was only mentioned once) to tip the guides as they do not get paid for these tours. Most people gave her 5 euro, and there were 30-40 people in our group, so I'd say she gets quite well paid!
Berlin is a fascinating city: full of modern history to keep me happy, lots of interesting buildings (many of them rebuilt eg the Reichstag!) and heaps of memorials, with striking symbolism which our guide explained well. There's also some impressive modern buildings such as the main train station, so big and modern it could have easily been a terminal in Singapore airport and the glass dome on top of the Reichstag which allows people to look down upon the pollies. Equally, there are the massive apartment blocks from the Soviet Era and huge wide open spaces.
Following my long night and 4 hour walking tour I found my way back to the hostel where I was told the bad news: my room was on the 3rd floor of a building in which each floor was 2 levels deep. And: there's no lift. Although I followed the reception staff member's helpful suggestion to look for a cute boy to carry it for me, the complete absence of any prospects forced me to complete the journey with first my suitcase and then backpack by myself. I may have to time things better when I move out....
Not surprisingly, after a quick trip to the supermarket across the road to arrange some dinner (and marvel at the cheap prices after so long in Norway!) I was knackered and hit the sack for a deliciously long night's sleep.
This morning I rose and made my way to Alexanderplatz to meet up with an Aussie girl I met yesterday. We had decided to go to the former concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, on tour. The camp is about 1 hours train ride from Berlin and so we met up with a guide who took us out there and gave us a 3 and a half hour tour of the camp for only 10 euro.
Sachsenhausen was a 'model' concentration (not extermination) camp and was also the HQ of the Nazi concentration camp machine. It is located near a town called Oranienburg and it is very strange to walk there from the train station: you turn down a suburban street and suddenly it is in front of you. Many of the nearby houses are two or three stories and hence they had views straight into the camp.
Some facts about Sachsenhausen: it was originally designed in a triangle shape so that the main guard house could view all areas of the camp at once, thereby reducing the number of staff needed to run the camp. It was the sight of the large counterfeiting operation of British notes run during the war (virtually indistinguishable from real notes, even by the banks in Britian). One punishment work squad were forced to march 40km around a circular track to test out the soles of Army boots. Often they were given 30kg backpacks or various stimulants to test as well. One of the former Jewish barracks was the victim of a Neonazi arson attack in the early 1990s and the barracks were reconstructed whilst keeping the evidence of burning in place to remind people of the event.
The tour was a good way of seeing it, although if I was going again I think I would be just as satisfied with an audio guide and taking the camp at my own pace, particularly as it was a very hot and humid day. However, he did give a very complete history of the place. Particularly fascinating was the way the camp had changed over the years: from concentration camp, to a Soviet camp until 1950, to a Soviet memorial to political enemies of the Nazis (without mention of the other prisoners interred there) to a modern day memorial to all victims of the camp's history (during the Third Reich and the Soviet era). Like much of Berlin, it seems, many of the buildings were reconstructions rebuilt to show visitors what they were once like. The Soviets knocked a lot of things down and constructed huge communist memorials which overshadow many of the remaining buildings. Our guide was horrified to tell of the attempt after the war to blow up the former crematorium in order for the Soviets to build a shooting range! The foundations of the building are still there, though badly destroyed from this attempt. Visiting was a moving experience, but something I have wanted to do since I was about 16, so I'm really glad I went.
Following our tour the others headed off to catch the bus and then the train whilst I remained to peruse the bookshop before also heading back into town. I was back in Berlin by about 4pm so went for a stroll in the main station (to work out where to go on Sunday before I'm weighed down!) and then decided to hit the museums. The museums on Museum Island are open from 6-10pm on Thursdays and most offer free entry at this time. I first went to the Pergamon museum but left when I discovered they were not offering free entry as they had a special exhibition included in the entry price. I then headed to the Bode museum to look at art from the renaissance. It was an interesting way to spend an hour or so, but as it's not something I know a lot about I decided to move on to the next museum.
Construction work made the next museum difficult to find and dwindling energy supplies after 8 hours wandering round in the sun further lowered my motivation to look at ancient Egypt. I was just about to give up and go for dinner when I discovered a further museum on the banks of the river: the DDR museum, which detailed life in East Germany before the wall came down. A very interactive museum, for only 3.50 for students, it was a great way to spend an hour looking and playing with all aspects of life in those times- from trying to start the cars they had, to watching propaganda films and investigating typical apartments.
By this stage I was shattered and ready to pack it in. I walked back to Alexanderplatz to get on the u-bahn (subway) home when suddenly I noticed a commotion on another platform. Turns out Berlin Fashion Week (which we had already encountered on our walking tour) had commandeered a train in the platform and was running some sort of shoot or something. It was great to watch the scantily clad (and that's only the audience) and fashionistas observing the process and commenting on the models they saw.
Anyway, that's my first two days here. Tomorrow: an interview, more museums, then hopefully a swim in a lake nearby to cool off!
Anneke
Well I survived the last day in Norway- packing followed by an evening BBQ and swim in the fjord at Bygdøy. It was a lovely evening, nice and warm so we enjoyed using up our remaining alcohol (special thanks to the Spanish girls who brought Sangria!) and chatting as we pretended that the sun went down. The three Spanish girls and I were all leaving the next day, making the number of medical students remaining dwindle even lower.
The next day I was up very early after a late night spent sorting out the multitude of things to sort out- trips to the bin and glass bins with rubbish, finding room for the things I was keeping and deciding what to leave behind for the next group of Aussies, cleaning my room up and finalising my travel arrangements.
My bus left town at 11:15am so my housemates kindly offered to escort me to the train station and assist with my luggage. I stopped off briefly on the way to hand my keys to one of the German students who had offered to drop them in for me and made it into town with plenty of time to scout out the bus and get to the front of the queue in order to ensure that my luggage made it on the bus and I had some say as to where I sat (Norwegians are very, very good at elbowing forward, but I didn't spend a semester here for nothing!)
It was weird heading into town knowing it was the last time I'd read Norwegian ads on the train, the last time I'd go past Nationaltheatret station, the last time I'd hear the first Norwegian phrase that everyone learns: "dørene lukkes (doors closing)", the last time I'd head into central station, the last time I'd catch the bus out of Oslo... I was definitely sad to leave, it's been an amazing semester. At the same time though, I was really looking forward to Berlin and visiting Lena. I think it will hit me more when I head home: though I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again, in a few weeks time life will have picked up just where it left off and I don't think I want this adventure to end!
When I was searching for information about the facilities on board Swebus Express I discovered a whole series of articles outlining a crime ring operating on these buses. Basically passengers would load an oversize bag into the baggage area and when other passengers arrived at their destination they would discover they had been robbed. Turns out the oversize bag contained a short statured person who had all the time in the world to rifle through bags and select the best pickings! With that in mind, I took special care to ensure that I carefully locked all the bags I was to be storing below decks on the bus!
The bus wound its way from Oslo to Gothenburg in Sweden, followed by Halmstad, Helsingsborg, Lund, Malmo (all in Sweden) and then over the bridge and through a tunnel to Copenhagen. The Swedish countryside was a stunning backdrop as I surfed the free onboard wireless, read books and relaxed.
In Copenhagen I had an hour and a half to kill before boarding at 9:30pm for the overnight bus to Berlin. I had thought the night bus would help me save on the costs of accommodation as well as allowing me to get to Germany with a whole day ahead of me. Perhaps not the best idea, as I forgot to factor in the 45 minute ferry journey between Denmark and Germany at midnight, which required us all to get off the bus. Nevertheless, it was cool to cross four countries in a day and I'm impressed by the ferry: the train to Germany also goes on this ferry to get across the waters!
After about 2 hours of restless sleep we arrived in Berlin at 5am, 45 minutes early. Whilst a relief to get there I soon missed the warm and comfortable bus as we (myself and two punks I met on the bus) wandered around trying to find a coffee shop that was open, me dragging all my luggage around. Giving up, we headed to the bus station waiting room to hang around for a few hours, figuring that 5am was probably a bit early to rock up at a hostel.
They escorted me most of the way to my hostel (they were going a few stops further along my line) and I then walked the remaining km or so with my luggage, despite getting lost a few times and asking in my halting German where to go. Luckily I found the hostel and was able to leave my luggage there and have a shower before joining a free walking tour that was leaving the hostel about an hour after I got there.
The walking tour ran like this: a guy from the company came and picked us up and escorted us to a large group near the Brandenburg Gate. There, we met up with the groups picked up from all the hostels and were split into different language groups. The large number of English speakers meant we were all given a number and the guides then called out a series of numbers who they then met to take them on the tour. As a guide, I think there were about 100-150 numbers given out to the English speakers, plus German and Spanish tours were run. And these tours run 2-3 times a day, most days of the week!
Our tour guide was a New Zealander who had lived here about 6 months. A history nerd (like me) she was fantastic as we went on a four hour tour of all the main sites of Berlin: Brandenburg gate, Holocaust memorial, the wall, the former Luftwaffe building, the French and German churches, Museum Island and Berliner Dom, Reichstag and so on. She told us a well organised and detailed history, answered all our questions well and gave recommendations about what to see and do (and what to avoid). At the end she offered to answer any other questions we had such about the city or what to do here. The tours were 100% free although you were encouraged (though it was only mentioned once) to tip the guides as they do not get paid for these tours. Most people gave her 5 euro, and there were 30-40 people in our group, so I'd say she gets quite well paid!
Berlin is a fascinating city: full of modern history to keep me happy, lots of interesting buildings (many of them rebuilt eg the Reichstag!) and heaps of memorials, with striking symbolism which our guide explained well. There's also some impressive modern buildings such as the main train station, so big and modern it could have easily been a terminal in Singapore airport and the glass dome on top of the Reichstag which allows people to look down upon the pollies. Equally, there are the massive apartment blocks from the Soviet Era and huge wide open spaces.
Following my long night and 4 hour walking tour I found my way back to the hostel where I was told the bad news: my room was on the 3rd floor of a building in which each floor was 2 levels deep. And: there's no lift. Although I followed the reception staff member's helpful suggestion to look for a cute boy to carry it for me, the complete absence of any prospects forced me to complete the journey with first my suitcase and then backpack by myself. I may have to time things better when I move out....
Not surprisingly, after a quick trip to the supermarket across the road to arrange some dinner (and marvel at the cheap prices after so long in Norway!) I was knackered and hit the sack for a deliciously long night's sleep.
This morning I rose and made my way to Alexanderplatz to meet up with an Aussie girl I met yesterday. We had decided to go to the former concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, on tour. The camp is about 1 hours train ride from Berlin and so we met up with a guide who took us out there and gave us a 3 and a half hour tour of the camp for only 10 euro.
Sachsenhausen was a 'model' concentration (not extermination) camp and was also the HQ of the Nazi concentration camp machine. It is located near a town called Oranienburg and it is very strange to walk there from the train station: you turn down a suburban street and suddenly it is in front of you. Many of the nearby houses are two or three stories and hence they had views straight into the camp.
Some facts about Sachsenhausen: it was originally designed in a triangle shape so that the main guard house could view all areas of the camp at once, thereby reducing the number of staff needed to run the camp. It was the sight of the large counterfeiting operation of British notes run during the war (virtually indistinguishable from real notes, even by the banks in Britian). One punishment work squad were forced to march 40km around a circular track to test out the soles of Army boots. Often they were given 30kg backpacks or various stimulants to test as well. One of the former Jewish barracks was the victim of a Neonazi arson attack in the early 1990s and the barracks were reconstructed whilst keeping the evidence of burning in place to remind people of the event.
The tour was a good way of seeing it, although if I was going again I think I would be just as satisfied with an audio guide and taking the camp at my own pace, particularly as it was a very hot and humid day. However, he did give a very complete history of the place. Particularly fascinating was the way the camp had changed over the years: from concentration camp, to a Soviet camp until 1950, to a Soviet memorial to political enemies of the Nazis (without mention of the other prisoners interred there) to a modern day memorial to all victims of the camp's history (during the Third Reich and the Soviet era). Like much of Berlin, it seems, many of the buildings were reconstructions rebuilt to show visitors what they were once like. The Soviets knocked a lot of things down and constructed huge communist memorials which overshadow many of the remaining buildings. Our guide was horrified to tell of the attempt after the war to blow up the former crematorium in order for the Soviets to build a shooting range! The foundations of the building are still there, though badly destroyed from this attempt. Visiting was a moving experience, but something I have wanted to do since I was about 16, so I'm really glad I went.
Following our tour the others headed off to catch the bus and then the train whilst I remained to peruse the bookshop before also heading back into town. I was back in Berlin by about 4pm so went for a stroll in the main station (to work out where to go on Sunday before I'm weighed down!) and then decided to hit the museums. The museums on Museum Island are open from 6-10pm on Thursdays and most offer free entry at this time. I first went to the Pergamon museum but left when I discovered they were not offering free entry as they had a special exhibition included in the entry price. I then headed to the Bode museum to look at art from the renaissance. It was an interesting way to spend an hour or so, but as it's not something I know a lot about I decided to move on to the next museum.
Construction work made the next museum difficult to find and dwindling energy supplies after 8 hours wandering round in the sun further lowered my motivation to look at ancient Egypt. I was just about to give up and go for dinner when I discovered a further museum on the banks of the river: the DDR museum, which detailed life in East Germany before the wall came down. A very interactive museum, for only 3.50 for students, it was a great way to spend an hour looking and playing with all aspects of life in those times- from trying to start the cars they had, to watching propaganda films and investigating typical apartments.
By this stage I was shattered and ready to pack it in. I walked back to Alexanderplatz to get on the u-bahn (subway) home when suddenly I noticed a commotion on another platform. Turns out Berlin Fashion Week (which we had already encountered on our walking tour) had commandeered a train in the platform and was running some sort of shoot or something. It was great to watch the scantily clad (and that's only the audience) and fashionistas observing the process and commenting on the models they saw.
Anyway, that's my first two days here. Tomorrow: an interview, more museums, then hopefully a swim in a lake nearby to cool off!
Anneke
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