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Just so all our adoring fans know…we will be on the train tomorrow, and in Amsterdam for the rest of the week. There might not be new posts for a couple of days, and maybe even none until we get back, but keep checking as I finish out our trip with our great escape to Amsterdam!
3-29, Saturday, Munich
The two days we just spent (over the weekend) in Munich were great! German Bee got to come with us this time, so it was fun. We actually booked a 3 bed room at our hostel so we could be by ourselves (antisocial) and have a private bathroom (germaphobes). We got there about 8pm, and went completely antisocial, and straight to bed.
When we got up in the morning, we decided to check on a Free City Tour that a company offered. I’m telling you, city walking tours are the best. And this was great, because it was free. We ate a semi-traditional German breakfast with rolls, bread, meat, cheese and fruit and got on our way. The tour started at 10am, so we headed out. Our tour guide was a hockey playing Canadian. No, seriously. All stereotypes aside. How he ended up in Munich, I’ll never know, because he stated that he did still play hockey for Toronto. Interesting…Anyway, he was no German History Masters degree, but he had amazing insight to Munich and the sites. Our started out with us looking at the Neu Rathaus in Marienplatz. Location is totally unneeded, but this is the location of Europe’s #2 Most Overrated Tourist Site-the Glockenspeil. Apparently millions of people flock to watch this thing go off. Here it is on YouTube. After that 15 minutes of nonsense, we proceeded. Again, I won’t go into detail about the tour, but we pasted some amazing 15th, 16th and 17th real and reproduction buildings, rebuilt after WWII. Apparently Hilter was a genius at one thing-he took photographs of Munich before the war so it all could be rebuilt after the war. How’s that for planning?
After our 3 hour tour, we headed back to the Viktualienmarkt to get some fresh fruit and a cutting board which I had been eyeing earlier. Yes, a cutting board, but a very small cutting board. Anyway, we were quite over the crowds and people at the Marienplatz and the Market, so we decided to head to the Schloss Nymphemburg or Royal Palace. This was amazing! It looked exactly like a palace you would see in the new Marie Antionette movie, or Emma or Pride and Prejudice. It was calm, the grounds were extensive and we just walked around until our feet grew tired and we had to head back to the hostel. Here we cleaned up, and headed out to the Hofbrauhaus, the most famous and busy Beer Hall of all of Europe for a pint! We had some great German food, Bavarian Dessert and a beer and called it a night. Of course, we didn’t without getting a great Hard Rock Cafe shirt for my collection!
Oh and the Devil’s revenge? Long story that has to do with this incredibly huge church in Munich that is so big it makes the wind whip around it. Chicken-Lizard things? There is this huge statue of Mary in Marienplatz (hense the name) that is solid gold, and other than total video watch, it is guarded by four charibs. One is trying to kill a chicken thing with a lizard tail that represents poverty or something…like I said,Chicken Lizard thing. Actually, this all came from our tour guide. Good thing this load of crap was free!
Yes, today (Sunday) I successfully completed my SECOND daylight savings time change of the year. Well, almost successful. We were supposed to check out of the Munich hostel (I know, I’m getting a head of myself) at 10am, which we did. And we got to the Tram stop at 10:15, or so we thought. I looked up at the biggest clock in all of Europe (ok, maybe not) and it said 11:10. I was like, that’s not right, “Brother Bee, what time do you have?” He replied, “10:15″ Now, how could the biggest clock in Munich be wrong?? It wasn’t. We had forgotten about Daylight Savings Time, European-style. And we weren’t the only ones. Here is a note on a sticky note written from a guy in the hostel to some people he had apparently met while there:
“Oy! The time changed, so I missed my flight. I’m in Munich for the next week now. Find me if you’re still around.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! We were thinking about you while we were in Munich. Hope you had a great birthday!
Love,
3-27 Thursday Berlin
Ok, we were gone all weekend, so this is a bit late. I have some major catching up to do. Anyway, here’s our adventure from Berlin:
Brother Bee and I had to get up very early to catch our way to early plane to Berlin. Why I booked a train leaving at 6am, I’ll never know. So, I got up at 4am to shower before German Boyfriend Bee got up. He apparently was leaving also, but he got to drive to the Airport. Showered, left for the train, took the train, got to Berlin about 7:30. That was the short version of the incredible hassle it is to get from one station to the next. Of course, this included Brother Bee and I forgetting that for the first time since we’ve been here that we needed a train ticket. Oops. They NEVER check here, either which is weird. Anyway, we got to Berlin and decided that we needed some pastries here, and since they treat their train stations like shopping malls with everything from McDonalds and Burger King to flowershops and a variety of clothing stores, it wasn’t hard to find. Though Brother Bee and I keep trying to convince German Bee that Burger King really isn’t that good. So we grabbed some wonderful pastries and ate them. That took us until 8am. What were we going to do for another 2 hours? Two hours because we had decided that taking a walking tour would give us the best view of Berlin in a day.
We were quite a ways away from the meeting point of the Berlin Walking Tour, so we decided since we had 2 hours that we would walk. Lucky, our journey took us straight through one of the biggest city parks in Europe. It’s ginormous. We got lost only a couple times, plus got to walk past some zoo animals. Llamas, cranes, aardvarks, the like.
Anyway, we met up with the tour guide and begun our next 5 hours of walking. Yes, I realize this was a total of 7 hours of walking, we’ll get to that later. I know no one wants to hear all of the places we went, so I’ll highlight. However, I will say, if you are going to a new city, whether you are there a couple days or a month. TAKE A WALKING TOUR. They are absolutely the best thing you can do for yourself. It’s amazing what you learn, what you see, and you can always get your bearings. Wonderful. Our tour guide was absolutely the best, and for 10 Euros, he better be. We were in a group of 35, which was a bit much, but we pretty much saw all of Berlin in a day. Here are my favorite parts:
Brandenberg Gate; Hilter’s Bunker location (nothing is actually there, for obvious reasons); Holocaust Memorial; Buildings that still have gun holds, bombing markings; the absolutely pompous new Embassy the US Government is opening right next to the Brandenberg Gate (seriously it’s ridiculous, AND as an added feature, guess when they’re opening it?? That’s right, good ol’ July 4, 2008). Those were the highlights.
On story: Apparently, when Berlin was divided into East and West, the Russian Communists were not into organized religion. So, they made all the churches take down their crosses, whether it was Catholic, Protestant, you name it organized religion was bad. During this time, they were also building a radio-TV tower, just like every other city in Europe has. They added a disco ball-like thing to it with indented paneling, so all of Berlin could see. However, on particularly sunny days, the sun reflected off the ball (so all Berlin could see) in the shape of a giant cross. Thus became known as The Pope’s Revenge. Quite amusing in a way.
Now, this tour was very enlightening and all, I mean, I never realized that during the East-West divide, virtually no rebuilding occured in East Berlin. I guess I’m not surprised, but I think that many American believe that once the wall was brought down, that Berlin reunified and was great again. This is simply not the case, and this was the most startling of all things I learned. Berlin will, in fact, look completely different in 10 years than it did on Thursday. I mean, there are buildings that are still being brought down, there are buildings with HUGE bomb holes in them, and almost 20 years later, East Berlin looks almost the same as it did in 1989. It’s incredible.
However, as the 35 of us were pondering this underneath the Brandenberg Gate, our tour guide asked us to turn around and look at the Hotel Altona. Here’s his words “Now, if you will for a second turn around and look at the Hotel behind you, this Hotel was completely destroyed in the bombing of Berlin. However, they have rebuilt it here in this square to look almost exactly like the original with its stucco facade and high windows. Now count up 3 floors to the middle balcony. You will remember this as the balcony in which Michael Jackson hung his baby out of the widow for all to see.”
Yes, East Berlin is in ruins, and Michael Jackson makes the news. Awesome. (I will have pictures of said balcony when I am on the other computer)
I mentioned that we had put our luggage into storage before we took the train to Centraal Station into Amsterdam. Well, when we arrived back at the lockers to get our stuff out, the most amusing incident unfolded. Turns out, NO ONE knows how to use these lockers. They’re very confusing, and they only take coins and credit cards. No bills. Europeans are big on coins. I get dirty looks everytime I don’t pay with exact change. This could be because 1 euro and 2 euros are both coins, along with 50 cent, 20 cent, 10 cent, 2 cent and 1 cent. I can’t help it that I have a 50 euro note, and I need to break it down. I certainly don’t do it for a 4 euro purchase, but this doesn’t seem to matter. Even if I use a 5 euor note for a 4.30 purchase, dirty looks inevitably ensue. So, here’s what I over heard:
Some people looking at the screen, confused: “Ok, what do we do? How do we get English? Do we just put the money in?”
Attendant: “What language?” (Because you can select up to 8 different languages)
People: “English.”
Attendant: points to the British flag button.
People: “But we’re not British, we’re Canadian.”
UHHHHHH. I about peed my pants. That should give all you Montanans some ammo.
Ok, before I write about our Berlin tour, I supposed I should do some catch up. After our educational yet very fun day on Tuesday, with Beer and Brats, we didn’t have much planned for Wednesday. Hamburg is a great city with lots to see, but not too much to do. It hasn’t been know as one of the most visited centers, which is really nice when touring it. There were lots of tourists, but not very many English speaking tourists. Which is in one way kinda nice.
So Wednesday we got up late, kind of becoming a trend, and got ready. My main goal for this day was to visit the Hamburg Kunsthalle or Art Museum. It is supposed to be one of the best in Germany. So we took the train to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof because the Museum is right next to it. The art museum was great. A lot of art of course, dating as early as 1500 and as late as three years ago. The newer art is, as you can imagine, interesting, yet I’m not sure I understand it. I am more of a fan of studying the faces of 300 years ago. So, we saw more of that art after a quick tour through the deep and unusal minds of artisits today. The big steel cage with florescent 1 + 1 = 2 didn’t really inspire me. Sorry. We saw lots of German painters, a Monet and a Manet, which were beautiful.
Then we moved on. I had one quick errand to run before we travelled to our next destination, and what do you know, it was on the way. I had to stop by a book store, just a Barnes and Noble-type to pick up 2 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the British version. One copy for myself, one copy for Big Brother Bee who is patiently awaiting the copy as it was to be his birthday present last year!
After that we traveled down to the location of our short, third walking tour. This took us by some 17th Century homes:
Then we tried to go to the Johannes Brahms Museum, but apparently they are only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, I looked through the windows and took a picture of the entryway. Sneaky.
We walked across the street, through the park that surrounds the Hamburg Historical Museum, and back to The Dom, where we picked up some of the funnel things that German Bee had the night we were there, and back to German Bee’s house for dinner. German Boyfriend Bee was going to be home for the night for dinner (he’s a pilot for Air Berlin, and he’s off and on schedule at weird times). So we had more bratwurst and mashed potatoes and saurkraut for dinner. Then it was bed, because as you’ll see in our Berling post, we had to get up at 4:30 to make our train.
Here you have it…a traditional German beer(s) and brats, with corn. The brat in the middle is a Bratwurst, the other a currywurst. Delicious!
Day 4? 3-25 Tuesday
Being exhausted from yesterday’s excursions, Brother bee and I slept in today. German Bee had to work, so we were on our own. I woke up about 10:30am, it felt so good to sleep in! Anja had left and Evan was still asleep, so I just hung out, checked my mail, etc. I transfered all of my pictures to my USB key, cause I figured my card on my camera was getting full. To my surprise, I had already taken 117 pictures! Watch out friends that live near me! You’re in for a treat when we get home.
Brother Bee and I decided to take a walking tour outlined in the good ol’ Lonely Planet. It started from the Hamburg Haptbahnhof (main station) and took a jog down the “walking mall” to the Rathaus or Town Hall, this is a magnificant building that looks more like a palace than a city hall. Inside, we decided to take a tour, however, I was informed by the information desk that the English tour had left 10 minutes earlier and the next one would not leave for another 2 hours. So, we took the German tour. They did offer us a guide of all the rooms described in English. That was helpful, however the guide knew full well that we didn’t speak German, and he kept looking at us strangly. Maybe it was because he kept saying funny things, and we had no idea what he was talking about. Note to self: learn the language or at least a little!
We left the Rathaus, crossed the canal and toured a little bit of Italy, as they call it. It is a row of arcades that house high-class stores with fancy jewelry and cafes. Very quaint. As we retraced our steps past the front of the Rathaus, we saw a man, acting very suspicious. From the back it looked like he was just sweeping up some sawdust on the square. Turns out, he was also wearing a pink wig and a set of plastic breasts. Interesting…a group of friends were surrounding him, so we could only believe that it was indeed a prank. Look for that picture, coming soon!
After that we traveled down past St. Nikolai memorial, which is the remains of St. Nikolai church that was bombed during WWII. Kinda strange. They have left it right where it is and how it was when the war was over. It is interesting to see that the buildings and late 20th century grew up around it. We then returned to the area we explored with German Bee a couple of days ago. Here Brother Bee and I had our first Koffee and Kuchen, which is a pastry around tea time. It was great. Then we headed over to the *free* Deutchen ZollMuseum. This is a museum about customs and immigration. It is based solely on explaining the history of Hamburg’s customs industry. Sound boring, I know!! But, when you see all the different ways that people smuggled in cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, etc., it turns out to be interesting. I had no idea that you can cut open the bottom of a chair and smuggle 15 cartons of cigs in the bottom of it. wow.
Now for the Carnival and Sex shop parts. This time of year is the time for the Hamburg Dom. It is a big carnival and fair that is held three times a year. Yes, it is just like our state fairs, with rides and crappy food all for one awful price! But, I did want to check it out, especially since Lonely Planet recommended it. We first rode the Ferris Wheel (4 Euros), then we walked around and took a look at all the Carnies. We settled on a Beer Garden for something to eat. This was our first chance to taste local food and local beer. Brother Bee had a Currywurst, and I had a Bratwurst on a baghette. We each had a different beer. It was wonderful. A delightful, carb filled dinner. We topped that off with wonderful funnel-cake type thingys.
On the way back to the train, Anja suggested we tramp (no pun intended) through the Reeperbahn or Red Light District. This is where all the interesting people hang out and where the Sex Shops are. We took a tour through one, I won’t go into any detail, but don’t worry, the USA is not missing out on anything! Hahaha. It was an experience, that and the dildo singing Aerosmith like that plastic Billy Bass that you can hang on your wall.
The end of the night came when German Bee made Brother Bee walk inbetween us because we were coming up on some women with interesting business pursuits, if you know what I mean. Tomorrow we’ll see what other educational adventures we can come up with!
From Sunday, 3-23 (I wrote this in my journal before writing it here):
I’ve never considered myself the type of writer that people would read, not to mention actually find funny. Yet, when you’re sitting in a FREEZING train station for 7 hours, you have little more to do. Yes, we tried going into Amsterdamproper this morning, but that was a bust. We got on the train ok, left Centraal Station and started to freeze. Of course, we put our luggage in storage, so we didn’t have access to our coats and Brother Bee was in shorts. So we walked about 6 blocks to the Dam (a square) where the palace of the current royalty lives. There is also a WWII momument in the Dam. But it was cold! So, we decided to find a place to eat something. This turned out to be a little bakery called Delifrance. We ate apple tart and some croissant thing with berries and cream. But the second I sat down, I started to feel jetlag and I’m exhausted. I think as I wrote this note in my journal, I had been up about 24 straight hours. All energz to actually do something has left me. Only the cold and fear of missing our train is keeping me up. (this was the low point of the trip) Maybe this $8 mocha has something to do with it. Culture shock? Not really, money shock? Totally. I mean, I knew it would be expensive, but this is nuts. We’ll see how two weeks goes! Also odd is the sensation that everyone looks Anglo or English-European, but I can’t understand them. This is an amaying phenomenom. One last word- boots. BIG in Amsterdam. From ankle boots to knee highs, the are B-I-G.
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