Tyskland (Germany)

Wow, it's a tough life being a medical student in Norway.

I left off with my arrival back into Oslo last Tuesday. Since then, I've had one day of uni, 2 parties, one film evening, a trip to the Fram polar ship museum and a short break in Germany.

One of the parties saw my friends officially appoint me 'Miss Vodka Norway'. Let me state now, this has nothing (well... very little) to do with my vodka drinking skills, and more to do with the fact that whenever I go to visit them, we end up drinking more vodka than we should, and thus my visits have become associated with vodka consumption. Whilst perhaps not the best thing to do for our livers, this does have the added benefit of me trying more varieties of vodka than I ever imagined (including the honey and chilli one I recently sampled). My receipt of the award included the acceptance of a crown (plastic, made from the webbing of a duty free vodka bottle- the only way to buy vodka in Norway) and a sash (made from the curtain they handily had nearby).

The Fram museum was fascinating and included the opportunity to enter, climb, walk on and experience the actual Fram ship, built in the late 1800s as a polar explorer vessel and inhabited by well known explorers such as Roald Amundsen for extended (3-5 year) voyages to the North Pole and Greenland, and also for a record breaking trip to the South Pole, in Antarctica! The museum was built right near the shore, around the grounded polar ship, which visitors can go deep into and even see the bunks they slept in. I really like this way of presenting history: the ship is no longer going to be used, so why not let people experience it as opposed to just seeing it.

Wednesday afternoon saw me on an epic voyage of my own: a trip to Heidelberg and Frankfurt, Germany. I say epic, because I left home at 12:30 and arrived in Heidelberg around 10:30pm. Along the way, I travelled by foot (15min), train (20 min), bus (2 hrs), plane (2 hrs), bus (2hrs) and then foot (25 min) to reach my final destination.

The trip began 2 months ago with a Ryanair special, which offered return airfares, including taxes, to Frankfurt* for $0.004. We snapped these up, and then realised the asterix meant Frankfurt Hahn, which is only similar to Frankfurt by the fact they are both in Germany, being 2 hours away from each other. Then we realised that the flights leave from Oslo*, meaning Oslo Torp, another pleasant 2 hour journey from Oslo. Nevertheless, the flights were still a bargain and we decided to snap them up.

All set to go to Frankfurt, despite numerous people questioning why on earth we would choose Frankfurt of all places to go in Germany, we were offered the chance to stay at a fellow medical student's place near their home University in Heidelberg. Assured of how pretty Heidelberg is, we jumped at the chance and thus our trip was planned. Then, I was able to contact the only member of our Hurtigruten party who is not currently studying in Oslo (the sister of my friend who is studying in Oslo). I found out she is currently in her home town, doing a medical placement with her uncle, half an hour from Frankfurt, and that we were both very keen to meet up. With plans to meet up in Frankfurt, a whirlwind Heidelberg-Frankfurt 3 night trip was born.

We were very lucky to have somewhere to stay in Heidelberg. Not only was it very close to the cityu centre and easy to find, we were lent the keys for free! Unfortunately, however, the house mate of our fellow exchange student had not been informed that we were coming, and must have got a shock as she emerged from the bathroom, toothbrush in hand, to find two english speakers standing in the open doorway. She remained surprisingly calm and was very friendly, as we apologised on behalf of our fellow exchange student who had said she would let her know we were coming. Oops.

We slept well that night after our long journey and set off early the next day to see the sights of Heidelberg. A brief stop in the Tourist Info centre pointed us in the direction of the Old Town, the Castle and the 600+ yr old University, the oldest in Germany. As we got to the bus stop and worked out how to buy tickets, an elderly man showed us how to use the machine, then started talking to us about Heidelberg and his life. He told us how he played in a band that once played for President Carter, and how the Americans all love to visit Heidelberg. He kept telling us which bus to catch and made jokes about how you could go to sleep at the stop and still catch it. He then chatted to us on the bus and showed us where to go off. We started to get a bit suspicious when he insisted we take the funicular railway instead of walk up to the castle. When we suggested that we might save money by walking he told us he would join us, but that he would get very puffed on the way up. Fearing our first aid knowledge may be required if we took the 350 steps up to the castle we quickly agreed to catch the funicular railway (now being replaced by a bus as it underwent repairs).

As we waited for the bus we got even more suspicious when he showed us his yearly castle admission card. We weren't sure if he was just a friendly man who liked to chat or someone who would later turn to ask and ask for money in return for his tour guide services. But we weren't really sure how to get rid of him at this stage. When we arrived at the castle, we got more suspicious as he pointed out sites in view, then offered to take our picture. Afterwards, he suggested that my friend Jessi and I begin with a walk through the extensive gardens, before paying the entry fees for the castle itself. We took up this offer and left him by the castle. 30-40 minutes later (maybe a little bit longer than he intended), we returned, having seen the gardens and taken some great pictures and he had disappeared. Perhaps he had gotten cold and lost interest in waiting for us, or perhaps he was a guide and realised that we wouldn't pay him. I hope that he was a guide and not just an innocent old man who felt like a chat, but we had no money to pay him and did not know how to get rid of him otherwise, especially when we had not hired him in the first place!

This was not the last of our strange encounters however. Whilst waiting for the bus to the Old Town and the castle, having just met our elderly friend, a tram pulled up. Jessi exclaimed and I looked up to see one of the German guys we had met in Gothenburg a few weeks earlier. The only person we knew (vaguely) in Heidelberg and we see him within an hour of setting off for the day!

Then, later that day we had an even weirder encounter. Jessi had taken a picture of a cobble-stone street with a steep slope and, without realising it, got some passers-by in the picture. She didn't think anything of it, as they were far away when the shot was taken. A few minutes later, however, we were approached by a guy who said "Did you take a Jesus picture?" Hmm. He repeated again, "Did you take a Jesus picture?". Jessi mumbled something and somehow we realised he was asking if we had just taken a picture of him. When we worked out what he meant, Jessi apologised and offered to delete the picture, pulling out her camera to show him that she was doing so. Things got weirder as he saw her camera and said "That's a nice camera" and "Is it a Sony?" (it was). Then, he said, "Ok, I'll look at the picture and see if I like it". We showed him (keeping a firm grip on the camera) and he added "what are you going to use it for?". At this point, I had my pockets concealed and my grip on my camera tightened and Jessi did the same as she offered again to delete the picture. With that, she deleted it and we walked off quickly, still confused as to what had just happened and why on earth he didn't just ask her to delete the picture if that's what his problem was (a reasonable request and one we would have done straight away).

In between all these strange encounters we got to see the magnificent castle and its view over the river and town of Heidelberg. The castle, whilst partly in ruins, is really beautiful. We also saw the German Pharmacy Museum inside the castle and an enormous beer or wine barrel that is 200 or 300 years old (no longer used as it is leaky!).

After our morning at the castle, we split a plate of schnitzel for lunch and headed down the hill (walking this time) to see the old town. The town squares, buildings, churches and cobbled streets lead to one of those moments when you have to pinch yourself, and remind yourself that you really are in Europe, this is not just a movie. After a split apfelstrudel and beer mixed with cherry juice, we continued on our way, checking out the old University and the shops along the main pedestrian street. As the rain started and got heavier, we set off for home, grabbing well earned takeaway (takeaway is too expensive in Norway, so it was the first we'd had in 2 months) on the way home.

We decided, due to our exhaustion and the knowledge we would be staying in a hostel the next night, to have a quiet night, reading and sleeping early. I think we both fell asleep really early, to the melodic strains of fire engines. Either there was something big happening in Heidelberg that night or we were staying near the fire engine depot, as we saw at least 6 within about 10 minutes and heard many more during the night.

I woke up the next day and stooped to a new low in my traveling history. Having packed in somewhat of a rush, in the midst of changing plans, I had forgotten to bring a towel. One day without a shower was bearable, but there was no way I was going to go 2 days. It was time for big decisions, and such decisions were made, resulting in my t-shirt being used as a towel. Works fine, as long as you don't wash your hair!

After a relaxing shower, we set off again to check out the old bridge in Heidelberg. We strolled along the river, taking in the gorgeous houses on the river bank and the beautiful, verdant, rolling hills by the river. We admired the bridge and strolled a little more around the old town before heading back to the train station to catch our train to Frankfurt.

The train to Frankfurt was uneventful, as we enjoyed the bag of apples, small jam jar and loaf of bread we'd bought to serve as breakfast and lunch for the day, in our fit to spend less than 5 euro on the day's meals (total cost of breakfast and lunch: 1.4 euros each). We'd even 'borrowed' a wooden disposable fork from a takeaway shop we passed on the way in order to spread the jam on our gourmet lunch.

Arriving in Frankfurt, a city of 600,000 people was a shock. Despite only being 100,000 more than Oslo, it was disorientating arriving at a station bigger than Southern Cross or Sydney's Central station. It felt like there were people everywhere!

As we stepped out of the train station, I instantly felt at home and was glad we'd decided to go to both Heidelberg and Frankfurt, the only city in Germany that's allowed to have skyscrapers. In fact, Frankfurt (on the river Main, pronounced like Mine) often gets nicknamed Main-hatten!

Our hostel was only a few minutes walk from the train station and as we got closer we could see why the hostel was advertised with a warning about it being in the red-light district:

"! IMPORTANT NOTE !
YES WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE REDLIGHT DISTRICT.
But we can assure you that it is not dangerous, in fact most of our guests think it’s rather funny, check the ratings.
IF You feel you could possibly feel offended insecure: take the HI-HOSTEL in Sachsenhausen, buy the membership card and enjoy the beautiful view on the river (it really is) and the 25 min. train ride from the Main Station."

I read the reviews from customers extensively before booking, and it really did look safe and like the best hostel in Frankfurt. I was not disappointed: it was only a few minutes walk from the station, on the very edge of a super-tame red-light-district, with wide open streets full of people. The hostel itself had great security, included swipe card access and under-bed luggage lockers, very friendly staff and was new and very clean. When we rocked up, we were checked in by a very laid back Aussie girl who did not charge us anything for the two nights we had apologetically canceled last minute when our plans changed . We were given free linen (including a towel!), unlike other hostels I've stayed at, and given maps and heaps of advice about where to go. The Aussie girl then gave us some croissants left over from breakfast and offered us some of her vegemite if we wanted it. A very warm welcome!

Our rooms were not ready yet, so we locked our bags in the luggage room and set off to explore the city. I really like Frankfurt and can't see why people suggested I shouldn't bother going there. Yes, it is modern Germany, but as well as the banks and skyscrapers for which it is known, it also has some quaint streets in which the oldest building was built in something like the 1100s, a wide river with lots of bridges, and a really gorgeous, European town square, complete with 600 yr old town hall and a row of old houses. And don't get me started on all the museums (which we didn't really get time to go to: next time!).

We strolled around most of it, stopping for a glass of the local speciality, Apfelwein (like apple cider) and a trip to the supermarket to buy a drink for the evening. It's such a treat to be able to buy a bottle of wine for 1.99 euro (around $4AU) in the ordinary aisles of the supermarket, compared the the same bottle of wine costing 80-100 NOK (around $20-25) and only being available for purchase before 6pm on weekdays and even earlier on Saturdays in Norway.

After completing our shopping and having takeaway dinner again (3 euro, under the 5 euro limit we set!) we made our way back to the hostel for a shower and a drink before we decided what to do for the evening.

Thus refreshed and happy we decided to find out what to do for the night. One of our options was an organised pub crawl, run by a tour group in Frankfurt. For 10 euro, they took you to 4 pubs and covered your entry fee as well as a shot in each place, and one for the road. We were a bit reluctant to do this, but when we asked the girl in the hostel where to go, she advised us that most places have a 5-10 euro cover charge, not including drinks. Suddenly the pub crawl seemed like a good idea, and even better, it was leaving in 10 minutes.

We raced over to the station and found a group of Germans and tourists standing around. Unfortunately, they would only run the pub crawl if they had a minimum of 10 customers, and as there were only 8 of us they would not do it. Nevertheless, they gave us a free shot of Jagermeister and suggested that we as a group go to the nearby Irish pub for karaoke night with no entry fee. This idea was agreed on by the group and we duly set off.

So there we were: Aussies (Jessi and I), Germans, and an Irishman working in Germany, drinking Guinness and Bulmers in an Irish pub, singing English, Irish, German, US and Aussie songs in the financial heart of Germany. Jessi and I stole the show (not quite) with 'Land Down Under' and even the most reluctant of our group got up to do one number or another (My Way, 99 Red Balloons, Wonderwall etc). Half the group were staying in the hostel so we walked home together at 2:15, and the others I believe continued on until 4.

Bleary eyed, I awoke the next morning at 7:30 to pack up and check out before meeting my friend at 8:30. I met Jana (through her sister who I'm good friends with in Oslo) the day before we went on the Hurtigruten and was very keen to see her again, as we got along really well on the boat. Jana was born 3 days after Elissa, and her younger sister, Lena, was born 1 day after me!

We went for breakfast at 8:30 and had a very enjoyable morning, feasting, chatting and laughing. Jana's mum had sent her off with money and instructions to take me out to breakfast (despite having never met me, she'd heard about our trip, seen the photos and had loved the email I wrote in sketchy German to Jana encouraging her to join facebook so we could keep in touch) and an invitation to stay with them in the summer and Jana had woken up at 6:30am despite a big night the night before to come into Frankfurt to meet with me. After breakfast, we bought some treats for me to take back to Lena and headed to the bus, parting with a big hug at 10 to 12 and vague plans for the two of them to come to Aus next year for medical placements.

Another mammoth journey by bus (2hr), plane (2 hr), bus (2 hr), train (15 min) and bus up the hill laden with German chocolates and duty-free alcohol and Jessi and I were home in time for Earth hour, a quick dinner and bed!

Pictures of Germany and Sweden (just for Steve) shall come up in the next few days...

Anneke