Paris and Praha in the Spring

My recent trips to Paris and Prague were completely fantastic. Two beautiful, interesting, cool capitals that I got to visit just as the leaves on the trees were bursting and the weather was starting to warm.

Paris:

Thomas and I were given a trip to Paris with a German bus tour company (Ikarus) for Christmas, so we had known about it for awhile. Still, neither of us really planned the trip or gave it too much thought, since we were going to be with a tour group. However, by the first night, it was clear that the tour guide was pretty useless (a nice person though…haha) and that he wasn’t going to be following the itinerary the company provided. So Thomas and I mostly did our own thing. We did go out to Versailles with the group, though once there, we explored by ourselves. We also went on an evening boat cruise along the Seine with the group.

The hotel we stayed at (Hotel Nord et Champagne) was pretty basic. Unfortunately it wasn’t the cleanest or the best maintained (our door was EXTREMELY hard to unlock, Haha) but it did the job. It was in a good location though. Luckily it didn’t bring down the trip much.

I loved Paris. Beyond the beautiful buildings, and overly famous monuments that still manage to impress, there is just something about the Parisian culture. Everyone moves around with a purpose and yet, no one seems overly hurried. The metro and side streets can be dirty and bustling with people, but they’re still charming. All the food looks incredible, whether it’s the produce in a market or the elaborate little cakes in a patisserie. And of course everyone is fashionable, in a simple, easy way.

I know that the Eiffel tower is overly romanticized and I honestly wasn’t expecting to be that amazed by it, but I really was. Especially at night when it is lit up, and when the lights flash and it sparkles in the dark. It really is incredibly beautiful, and to be there with someone I love so much; there are no words for it.

Paris was sweet and dazzling and drinking café au lait across from Notre Dame alone was worth the 8 hour bus ride.

Praha:

Thomas was traveling to Prague as a school trip and I was pretty sad that I wouldn’t be going. Luckily for me, some people decided not to go at the last minute, so I was able to go! I found this out the day before we left, so I was unprepared, to say the least. Prague and the Czech republic in general is a place that I knew pretty much nothing about. I knew the parts it played in 20th century European history but that is about it. I didn’t know any famous monuments or buildings in Prague and I didn’t know one single word in Czech. I did a little bit of research the night before we left and found a few museums and things I was interested in seeing. I also learned how to say “Hello”, “Thank you”, “Goodbye”, and 1, 2, 3, in Czech. (about the language: I learned a couple more words when I was there and I must say, it was completely thrilling to learn some words of a language I knew nothing of; it doesn’t happen that often anymore. Also, people were much more friendly to you and really appreciated it if you threw in just a couple words of Czech. Everyone speaks at least a little English though.)

Prague or Praha as it is called in Czech, is a stunning city. The city center is full of gorgeous bohemian baroque architecture with occasional Gothic splendors thrown in. I am not normally crazy about architecture. Sure, I can appreciate a pretty building, but in Prague it’s all so gorgeously maintained in the city center that you can’t help but become a fan.

The St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle is just wonderful. To be honest, I liked it better than Notre Dame…at least on the outside. I also went to a wonderful museum at Prague Castle. It is the museum of the Lobkowicz family, whose paintings and artifacts have been in their family for the better part of 600 years. The really incredible thing is that they lost all their palaces and treasures twice! Once when the Nazi’s invaded and once when the communist authorities came into power. There were great exhibits and the free audio tour was very touching at times.

The food we had in Prague was also fabulous (excluding the rather unfortunate breakfast at our hotel.) I only had traditional Czech food one night, but it was excellent! Half a roasted duck with sweet red cabbage and dumplings. The restaurant where I had it was charming too, with nice decor and a live string trio playing all sorts of music.

Prague was thought provoking and utterly beautiful and I’m so glad that I got the chance to go. It’s so great to be living somewhere where you can just hop over to a gorgeous capital city at the drop of a hat!

Past Recollections and Future Revelations

Happy New Year everyone! I can’t believe we’re already 2 weeks into the new year; the time has just flown bye. I guess with Thomas going back to work, and coming down from the high of the holiday season, time just got away from me.

Christmas here was great. It was an entirely new experience of Christmas for me. My family usually just has a low-key Christmas eve watching holiday movies, drinking eggnog and maybe singing some carols. On Christmas morning we open gifts and then have a family dinner of turkey or some other fowl with all the fixings. My German Christmas this year was very different. Christmas eve is the big day to celebrate here, so we had Raclette for dinner, which lasted hours. Raclette is a bit hard to describe if you have no idea what it is, but I’ll do my best. There is a little oven with open sides and a flat grill on top. Everyone gets their own little pans and fills them with meat, cheese, veggies, whatever you want basically, and then cook it in the little oven. There are potatoes on the grill top and when your little pan is finished cooking, you cut up a pototo and put the contents of the pan on top. Then you enjoy your creation. It’s very fun and very tasty.

After dinner we opened gifts. The gift I’m most excited about is a trip to Paris from Thomas’ parents.

New Years was pretty relaxed. We were thinking about going out, but at the last minute we decided we would rather stay in, cook and watch movies. We did go outside at Midnight though and the fireworks were amazing! It sounded like a war zone or something. The sky was lighting up everywhere. It was extremely foggy so we saw a lot of flashes of coloured light through the fog. 2011 definitely started with a bang in Palmbach.

My remaining time here definitely involves a lot of travel. Thomas and I will take our trip to Paris in March, and in May my mom is coming (Yay!) and we’re going to do a little tour of Europe. We’re planning on Cologne, Berlin, Amsterdam, Lille (to meet up with Sarah!), possibly Belgium, possibly Trier. We still have to nail down the details, but I’m overjoyed that she is coming. As much as I like being here and feel part of the family, I miss my own family and friends a ton. So I’m pretty excited to be seeing them!

I’ve also been contemplating what I will be doing when I return to Vancouver in July. For those of you who don’t know, Thomas has decided to immigrate to Canada to be with me. The plan is that I will return to Canada and get the immigration ball rolling (he will be applying for Spousal Sponsorship as my common law partner, since we will have been living together for almost 2 years when he applies). Thomas will remain in Karlsruhe for a year to finish his apprenticeship and then join me in Canada. (We’re already planning visits haha, a year apart is going to kill me!)

When I left Canada there was a lot of uncertainty as to what I would do about school when I returned. I was having a lot of doubt as to what I wanted to major in, what I wanted to do after I got a Bachelor’s degree and even if I would stay at SFU to finish it. Since I’ve been here, I’ve considered pretty much every option and I’ve finally concluded that I will stick with SFU and stick with my plan to major in psych.  I guess it took a year of being away from school to realize that I should just have faith in myself and to remember that I do love psych and school in general.

I think 2011 will be a great year and I can’t wait to put all of my plans into action. There is nothing like having a lot of free time to make one appreciate a busy schedule. Happy 2011.

It’s Christmas Time, in the City

Maybe it’s the fairy lights and evergreen boughs on every street. Maybe it’s the smell of roasting chestnuts. Maybe it’s the cold weather and hot Glühwein. Whatever it is, Christmas in Germany is just special.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been to a few excellent “Weihnachtsmärkte” or Christmas Markets. There are hundreds of Christmas markets in Germany; they are in every city and many smaller towns. The best way I can think to describe Weihnachtsmärkte is this:

Imagine dozens of little house shaped stands, decorated with greenery, lights and ornaments. These little stands are filled with all sorts of things; some have glass or wood ornaments, some have handmade bags and scarfs, others have fine jewelry, knit wear, leather crafts, candles, and of course all sorts of sweets. All this is of a quality and uniqueness that you might find on Granville Island in Vancouver. There is also, naturally, food. Things like Glühwein (a hot wine drink – very yummy) Wurst (sausage), roasted nuts, chocolate covered fruit, Lebkuchen (similar to gingerbread), Lango (a hungarian doughnut-like thing that can be ordered sweet or savoury) and crêpes are the staples it seems. On top of all this, there are little carousel or train rides for children and often live music of some kind.

 

I had the pleasure of visiting the Ettlingen Weihnachtsmarkt first. It is relatively small, since Ettlingen isn’t a very big place. It was a good introduction, as neither the amount things to see, nor the crowds were overwhelming. Highlights of that Christmas market were my first taste of Glühwein and Langos and the acquisition of a few Lebkuchen goodies. It was a very friendly, community feeling sort of experience, and they have gorgeous decorations in Ettlingen.

The Karlsruhe Christmas Market is much larger. It takes up all of the main city square, and there is a secondary location a couple

blocks over. The first night we went, it was VERY crowded. There were many stands that I wanted a closer look at, but people were always in the way. We didn’t even make it to the stands a couple blocks over before we had to start walking to the movie theater (where we watched Harry Potter in English!). Needless to say, I was anxious to go back. We ended up going this morning; we got there soon after it opened and the crowds were much thinner. I spent far too much money on gifts for Thomas, my family and a couple little things for myself.

I’m altogether very impressed with the Christmas markets I’ve seen, and my only wish is that they existed outside of Germany. But then, I suppose they wouldn’t be so special if that were the case, would they?

Stitches, Shortbread and Snow

I expect you are all wondering why I have not been writing lately. I suppose I have other things on my mind, and nothing particularly blog-worthy has been happening. However, I think an update is owed.

I have become more familiar with the city and surrounding villages in the last month or so and I am VERY excited to see everything decked out for Christmas and visit a Weihnachtsmarkt or two! It seems that everyone goes crazy for Christmas just before Der Erste Advent (the Sunday 4 weeks before Christmas, or first Advent). Today I was busy helping Magda (Thomas’ mother) make all sorts of Christmas cookies. I think we have enough to feed an army….or five. Haha.

The baking didn’t go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. I wanted to make 2 recipes that my mom usually makes at Christmas time. Shortbread and Ginger Snaps. I made the latter today and they went off without a hitch; the shortbread was another matter. I think it was the combination of a few factors that made it go so wrong. It is whipped shortbread, so you’re supposed to…well, whip it good. Ha. I underestimated the amount of whipping needed though. That, combined with the somewhat off imperial volume to metric weight conversions turned what should have been yummy, easy shortbread into a gross, finicky pile of butter on the pan. I won’t post the picture here, but I’ll post it on Facebook soon, so all can see and avoid my folly. Haha. Anyway, I tried it again, but decided the dough didn’t taste right, so added more sugar. Luckily, Thomas made me put two cookies on the pan BEFORE I added the sugar, as a comparison. Well, turns out my instinct was dead wrong. The two that were un-tampered with were perfect…The rest taste good too…just…not Shortbread! I guess I learned my lesson though.

Vanillekipferl are a nutty crescent shaped cookie.

Plätzchen is German for Christmas cookies.

Lately I have been passing a lot of time knitting. I learned how to do it last winter and started to make a scarf, but I didn’t finish that scarf until oh…about a month ago. Since I finished that scarf, I have made four other small projects made from my own left over wool that I brought, and Magda’s collection. Last week I went to a charming wool shop in the city of Ettlingen (which has a really cute pedestrian only market area and a couple large, beautiful churches) I didn’t take any pictures, but I’m positive I will go there again, and this time with my camera!

For those of you curious about my language skills: I know my German gets better every time I speak and there isn’t much that I don’t understand these days, so I’m hopeful that I will keep improving without having to take any expensive classes.

I have heard from many people that Vancouver has been utterly cold and snowy for the last week or so, but I think here the cold is just beginning. Every day it seems to get a bit colder and last night it started to snow and there were flakes on and off today. I have no idea what the roads were like, since I was baking all day, but I did hear that they don’t salt the roads or sidewalks in Ettlingen. For aesthetic effects I’m told…but in my opinion, aesthetics only go so far when you slip on some ice and fall on your butt!

Hope you all enjoyed my ramblings! ❤

Ninja Mosquitoes and other Observations

I have been here for over two months now, and while I’ve been settling in, I’ve made the following observations:

1) Eco-friendliness

If good recycling habits and electricity and water consumption consciousness aren’t enough, how about infrared heating plates instead of a natural gas furnace? Or perhaps a roof covered in solar panels?  Yep, countless houses in this little village have solar panels over their shingles and over the last couple of weeks, infrared heating plates have been installed in the house to replace the old fossil fuel consuming furnace. They use electricity instead. They’re relatively inconspicuous and kind of look like large blank canvas’ attached to the wall. It hasn’t been cold enough yet to really use them, but we have tested them out and they work pretty well.

2) Food Culture

In North America, I think the tendency is just to eat to refuel and family dinners are for special occasions. Here, a dinner without the rest of the family is the exception to the rule. As are take-out dinners. Evening meals are the time when Thomas and I catch up with his parents and his brother about their day and talk about current events and plans for the rest of the week. This is where I soak up most of the German that I’m learning and where Thomas’ parents attempt to learn a bit of English. Dinner often ends with an espresso and a small chocolate. It’s a drawn out affair sometimes, it’s not a wolf-down-some-food-and-then-run-back-to-your-busy-life family dinner. And that’s nice.

3) The strange world of German TV

When football (aka soccer) isn’t on, which is somewhat of a rarity, the TV programs are really….well, odd. First, there are the fake documentaries. I’m not sure exactly how many of these sort of programs are on the air, but I’d say at least 3. These strange programs are shot in the style of a documentary, always with different characters who do absolutely ridiculous things. Usually along the lines of a lazy teenage daughter spending all her mothers money on her boyfriend, or a father who falls in love with a gold-digger who leaves with all his money, or a teenage girl trying to hide her pregnancy from her parents. There is often a lot of yelling involved. Personally I find them a little hard to follow because they are so outlandish and the dialogue is either very fast, or shouted.

Then there is Stefan Raab. From what I can gather, about half of what is on German TV was created by Stefan Raab. The reason I like him though, is because he has an epically long gameshow that airs once every couple weeks. Everyone watches at least some of it. Basically, a candidate is chosen from the audience to compete against Raab and then they compete in all sorts of competitions, some physical like ball hockey, some mental like geography questions. This goes on for HOURS. The one that I’ve seen went from about 8pm to 1am! Oh yeah, and it’s live.

4) Sundays

Basically, nothing is open on Sundays, so it’s a day to relax, visit friends, do housework and get outside. It would never work in Canada, people like their shopping too much, but here, it’s great.

5) Ninja Mosquitoes

This rare breed of mosquito is devious and downright mean. They don’t bother you outside where you expect them. No. Instead, they sneak into your bedroom during the day, they seem to simply manifest there, as you were careful to keep the window closed and the door closed most of the day. Then, at night, when you’re getting ready for bed, you look around the room. Carefully inspect the walls and ceiling to see if there are any of these devils lurking. Satisfied that there are none, you get into bed and turn out the light. Just when you’re on the edge of sleep….you hear the buzzing. Damn. On goes the light, but that tiny bloodsucker has vanished. This sometimes happens several times, before finally, you see it perched on the wall. Killing them with a tissue is easy enough, but sometimes they get away, and well, that means they’ve won. The most satisfying victory though, for me personally, is when I happen to see one buzzing through the air and I clap it dead in mid-air. This may seem a little violent, but trust me, you’d feel the same if Ninja Mosquitoes were disturbing YOUR sleep, night after night.

Berlin: The Review

Since our trip was rather spontaneous, we did not have any preparation. Whatsoever. All we had was an old street map of Berlin, an idea of the general area we wanted to stay and a few sights we wanted to see. We also knew the location of a tourist information place, so that was our first stop. We booked a cheap hotel in a decent location, and found it without much trouble. At first sight, this hotel was not a place you would be excited to go into. The exterior looked like an entrance to an old apartment building, and you had to buzz to get in. After walking up a flight of stairs, there was a sign pointing through an inconspicuous door reading “Altes Hotel”. We had to walk up several more flights of stairs to get to our room (although we later discovered there was in fact, a tiny, seemingly hazardous elevator). The room itself wasn’t too bad. The sheets were clean, as was the bathroom (but forget free shampoo and lotion). The bed was big enough, though not particularly comfortable. There was also a stained futon. The ceilings were very high and the room was bright, but the floor was covered in dust, as were the bedside tables.

Breakfast was part of the price we paid for the room, so we went down for breakfast on the first morning. There was some stale cereal, and incredibly stale buns, which in Germany is shocking because stale bread is akin to blasphemy. Then there were some assorted deli meats and sliced cheeses, dishes of butter, small buckets of jams, marmalades and nutella. There was also a kettle of cold hard boiled eggs sitting in water, and some lukewarm juices and milk. On the first morning I took a little of everything, trying to fill up so we’d have to spend less money on lunch. This was a good plan in theory, but about half of everything I took, I had one bite, and then left it. The meat was questionable, the cheese was ok, as was the jam/nutella. The egg smelled awful as soon as I cracked it, so I didn’t touch it. The cereal seemed ok, and the buns were fine, except they were extremely stale.

Most lunches we had in Berlin consisted of things we had bought earlier at bakeries, and were generally very good. The day we went to the zoo, we had not stopped at a bakery, so after a few hours there, we were feeling pretty peckish. We didn’t really want to eat at the zoo, since it was somewhat expensive, and there was nothing incredibly appealing. However, we did end up getting one dish to split. The famous Berlin Currywurst. Now, Thomas informed me that it wasn’t the best currywurst he had ever had, but I thought it tasted fairly good. It is essentially a mild sausage with a ketchup curry sauce poured over it. It is usually served with a bun, or fries.

We also sampled the donair in Berlin, as it is cheap and almost always good. Since I haven’t had many yet, I thought it was quite good, but couldn’t say if it was better or worse than the local donair place is Palmbach. Thomas, however, thought it was better. We ate in a restaurant on the last night we were in Berlin. Corroboree was an Australian restaurant at the Sony Center and it had fantastic ice cream and a really nice view of the Sony Center. Also, pretty much everyone was eating outside, but we went inside to the second level where there were only a few other people. So we could hear each other, and people watch out the window. The waitress was friendly here, which was a relief, because at the only other restaurant we ate at in Berlin, the waiter seemed like he was doing us a favour by bringing us food.

One thing I don’t think I’ll ever get used to here is paying for things that, in my Canadian mind, should be free. One of those things is water. I’ve been a student for two years, I’m here travelling, I don’t have income at the moment, in other words, I don’t have a lot of money. However, sometimes I like to go out to restaurants and pay for my meal myself. Therefore, I don’t appreciate the fact that I have to pay over 2 EUR for a tiny bottle of water. It’s not that you can’t ask for tap water here. I’m sure you can. But they’ll just look at you like you’re ripping them off, or tell you that water is bottled only. Anyone who reads this who has spent time in Germany, and has asked for tap water and had a favourable response, please tell me! Correct me if I’m wrong, but in Canada, say you have a water bottle. It’s empty. You’re out somewhere and there are no water fountains around, but there is a Starbucks, or a McDonald’s or something like that. You go in, without buying anything and ask if they can fill up your water. They do it with a smile. Not here. Here you are told that you can fill up your water bottle in the bathroom.

That brings me to the second thing here that I feel should be free. Bathrooms. I don’t think I used a single bathroom in Berlin where they weren’t asking for money, except for one in a Starbucks, and one in a McDonalds. When we were visiting the Berliner Dom, I had to use the bathroom. After some searching, we found a public restroom. About the weirdest, stupidest bathroom I’ve ever seen. First, it cost 50 cents, then after each person who used it, it “cleaned itself”. I think, basically, it sprayed cold water everywhere. It was oval shaped, with a toilet at one end and a “sink” at the other. The floor was strangely unstable and made unsettling clanking noises when you walked over it. The toilet didn’t have a seat, in the traditional sense, so being a woman, I just had to live with that fact. Also, the toilet was fucking freezing! After that, I was relieved to have the normal restroom experience in Berlin. That is, you walk into a restroom at an establishment you have most likely paid to be (i.e. a restaurant, the zoo, a trainstation) and there is either a machine asking you for money before the turnstile will turn, or a grumpy looking cleaning lady sitting at a table. There is a dish on the table with a sign next to it, requesting money. Then, you walk into a bathroom that isn’t even that clean. I don’t think I’d mind quite as much, paying for the bathroom, if it was totally spotless and the luxurious, but sadly that is not the case.

The people we encountered in Berlin were all relatively nice. Some people (like the waiter and cleaning ladies) seemed grumpy and a bit mean, but who doesn’t have off days? We met a South African couple near Alexander Platz who were friendly. They asked if we were American and I replied that I was Canadian, and Thomas was German. They seemed somewhat confused by the fact that a Canadian and an English speaking German were travelling around Berlin together. But then again, I suppose we’re not the most common couple.

Berlin: City Sights

Berlin is like no city I have ever visited. It’s big, it’s loud and you can walk into history at any moment. I am the first to admit that my limited knowledge of Berlin comes from a few history classes I took a while ago, and that many of the details have been forgotten. Even so, there is an excitement about Berlin. So much has happened there, so many significant moments in the human consciousness.

I bought a postcard in Berlin, as a keepsake. It is a picture of the Berlin wall falling; people are climbing on the segment of the wall that is behind the Brandenburg gate. Last night, Thomas and I were showing it to his mother, and he asked her where she was when the wall fell. She began tearing up, and said that she was watching from her TV and called her mother, telling her to turn on her TV and that “Die Mauer fällt.” (The wall is falling)

There is no wall behind the Brandenburg gate if you go there today, but I think Berlin still has that excited, chaotic energy from the amazing things that have happened there. Even if you don’t know every detail of the events that have taken place there, it is exhilarating to stand in Potsdamer Platz or gaze at “Dem Deutschen Volke” inscribed on the Reischstag.

On the evening we got to Berlin, we decided to see a few of the sights right away. We checked into our hotel, and searched in vain for the bus that would take us to the Reichstag. After plenty of frustration, we found the bus. We went to saw the Reichstag, das Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg gate), and das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe). It was nice to explore places I’d only seen in pictures and the Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor were especially beautiful in the setting sun.

Thursday was definitely our busiest day. We took a bus to Potsdamer Platz and saw the little sections of the Wall they have on display there. We also strolled around the Sony Center a bit. It is quite beautiful and filled with people (pretty much all tourists I think, but that’s ok with me!). The Canadian Embassy is also at Potsdamer Platz, and it was nice to see the flag waving above the crowded Platz. From there we walked to Checkpoint Charlie. On the way we saw the Ministry of Finance, which was in the GDR (German democratic republic or East Germany) before Germany was unified. There were demonstrations held at the Ministry of Finance to protest the communist government, which turned into a rebellion in 1953. We got to Checkpoint Charlie and looked around a bit, but we didn’t stay very long, because it was extremely crowded, and there wasn’t too much to see anyway.

We then took a bus to Lustgarten on Museum Island and saw the outside of Berliner Dom and the Altes Museum. After that, we saw the TV tower, Marien Kirche and the Rotes Rathaus with the Neptune Fountain in front of it. By this time, we were quite tired, but we still wanted to see the Pergamon Museum, so we went back to Museum Island and explored the Pergamon for a couple of hours. It is a stunning museum. The sheer size of some of the exhibits is incredible, the centerpiece being, of course, the Pergamon Altar.

Friday was much more relaxed, although it was just as tiring. First, we walked to the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche (Memorial Church) which was only a few minutes from our hotel. Then we walked a few more minutes to the Berlin Zoo. It completely exceeded my expectations. It is a really beautiful zoo, and the variety of animals is great. What really struck me was how close some of the animals are. An unobstructed view of elephants, 3 metres away. Lions in a cage, not 2 metres away. The design of the zoo itself is also very nice. Some of the animal houses are designed to mimic architecture from where the animals originate. There are benches and flowerbeds everywhere, along with statues and fountains. We spent almost 6 hours there.

Saturday was also relatively relaxed. We didn’t want to fill our day too much, because we had to carry our bags around for the day, since hotel checkout was at 12pm and our train didn’t leave until 12am. We went to Schloss Charlottenburg, which I was really looking forward to. It was designed in the Baroque style and is the largest palace in Berlin. It was badly damaged in WWII, and was supposed be torn down. However, in the ‘50’s it started to be rebuilt, and furnishings from other damaged palaces were relocated to the Charlottenburg palace. There are beautiful gardens and woods behind the palace and it was very relaxing to stroll around the grounds in the sun, taking pictures and admiring the palace. We then returned to Potsdamer Platz to have dinner, and after that, we went to Bellevue. It is the official residence of the President of Germany (although he doesn’t actually live there). Then we took a last look at the Reichstag in the dark before walking to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to wait for our train.

The sights in Berlin did not disappoint, and I will hopefully be back sooner rather than later. On another trip I would hope to explore the excellent museums and interiors of places like the Reichstag and Schloss Charlottenburg.

Coming Soon: A post about people, food and impressions in Berlin.

Berlin: There and Back

On Tuesday July 27^th, Thomas and I were having a quiet evening at home. We were just thinking of watching a movie, and then calling it a night when a family friend named Stefan stopped by. We said hello and made small talk for a while and then he said that he was driving to Berlin the next morning for business, and (somewhat jokingly) wondered if we wanted a lift. I immediately said yes, although I didn’t think it would actually happen. Well, it did happen. Stefan didn’t mind driving us, since he was going anyway. Thomas was quite apprehensive, because it was a little spontaneous for his taste, but I thought it was way too good of an opportunity to pass up, and he agreed. So about 12 hours after we decided to go, we were sitting in a car on our way to Berlin. We didn’t have hotel reservations, we didn’t have a way to get home, and we had only the foggiest ideas what we wanted to do. We didn’t even know how many days we wanted to stay. We soon decided (arbitrarily) that about 3 days was good.

The drive to Berlin was certainly an interesting experience. We went from the German state of Baden-Württemberg through Hessen, Thüringen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Brandenburg to Berlin. The weather varied from sun poking through clouds to pouring rain. From what I have seen of Germany so far, it is a country made up of rolling hills with green and gold fields. Patches of forests, little red-roofed villages and sprawling cities break-up the countryside nicely.  Archaic-looking churches and crumbling brick houses appear along with little herds of huge, graceful wind turbines. Shaggy sheep graze among fields of solar panels and ancient hilltop fortresses can be glimpsed as you fly along the Autobahn at 200 km/h. In other words, it is a country of fascinating juxtaposition. As I soon found out, the country’s capital is a striking reflection of the contradictions seen in other parts of the country.

Now I’m sure everyone will want to know the top speed we reached on the Autobahn. There are some speed limits, despite popular thinking. However, there are long stretches where there is no limit. On several of these stretches, we reached 220 km/h. It was quite shocking at first, but once one gets used to cruising at 180-200 km/h for a while, 100 feels like you’re in a school zone, and 80 feels positively slow. I have to admit, I have never appreciated a car the way I did when we were cruising smoothly along at 220. I mean, I’ve appreciated the way a car can get you from point A to point B, but don’t think I’ve ever properly understood how important fine engineering, craftsmanship and power is in a vehicle. We were in a BMW, by the way, so it was made for the Autobahn. Another tidbit: taking photos at 180km/h is quite difficult.

———————————————————————————————–

On the second day that we were in Berlin, we started thinking about booking some train tickets home. We ended up booking a somewhat unfortunate trip home. The whole journey took 12 hours, 4 trains, and a really horrible 2 and a half hour wait between transfers at the Halle (Saale) train station at 2am. Why would we book those tickets when we could have got home on one or two trains in less than 6 hours? Because it was very cheap. Only 50 EUR for both of us.

Our train ride home began at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 12am on Sunday. Tired from sightseeing and getting up early to check out of our hotel, we arrived a couple of hours early to the station. We found our platform and got on the train without incident (except for a very drunk man with his hand down his pants).

Our first stop was at Halle (Salle) in Sachsen-Anhalt. If I can give everyone a piece of advice – Do NOT hang out for a couple of hours at that train station in the wee hours of the morning. We had to wait from 2:07 – 4:46 am. We were dead tired, and unable to sleep because of the incredibly sketchy people hanging around. Some of the creepier people were probably not fellow train riders, but possibly homeless and certainly sinister characters who had nothing better to do, or nowhere to go at 2 am. So we sat on uncomfortable benches, being sleepy, and creeped out for 2 hours. It was a great relief to get on the next train.

Our next stop was in the tiny town of Leinefelde in northern Thüringen at 7 am. It was a bright and chilly morning in the deserted station. We ate some pastries we had bought at a bakery earlier and waited the relatively short 45 minutes until our next train arrived. Now that we were travelling in daylight, it was quite a bit more pleasant, although, since neither of us had slept more than about 20 minutes, we were not feeling our best (especially me; I started feeling kind of sick at this point). We then arrived Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe and quickly transferred to the IC train that would take us home to Karlsruhe. I really didn’t feel well once we got on that train, although it wasn’t the train’s fault. It was easily the nicest one we had travelled on so far. I managed to sleep a little bit, and for the rest of the 4 hour ride I read and listened to music.

Our experiences travelling to and from Berlin were disparate, but I can safely say that the commonality between them was that we were very sleepy. I am saving our actual experiences in Berlin for another post or two, so that I do them justice and give them the detail they deserve.

Bis später.

Das Fest

My first weekend here was very full, and a lot of fun. On Saturday, we had a much-needed sleep in and then went for sushi. Yes, you read that correctly. Sushi.

When Thomas was in Vancouver he became a sushi fan, and naturally I love it too. Well, Thomas’ parents had never tried it, and when they found out how much we liked it, we all decided to go and see what Karlsruhe had to offer in the sushi department. Somewhat surprisingly, it was quite good. It had nothing on Vancouver sushi of course, but it was much better than I had expected. It was an “All you can eat” place, and there was a chef in the center of a narrow, square conveyor belt. On the belt there was a good selection of nigiri, rolls and some chinese dishes, such as spring rolls. They were served on tiny plates. Easily the best thing was a chinese inspired dessert; it was a small, fritter-like ball filled with warm banana and covered in honey.

For the past 25 years in Karlsruhe, there has been an outdoor music festival in the summer called “Das Fest”. Today, it was free to get in to the main stage area, so we went for some cheap entertainment and to check out the atmosphere, even though the bands were quite obscure and I’d never heard of them. It was a pretty cool thing to experience. For a city of just under 300 000, they really know how to throw a party. Das Fest is in a park in the city. The grounds aren’t that big. Not nearly as big as the PNE, but they still manage to fit 75 000 people in on crowded nights. There isn’t only music either; there are food stands, free activities for children, stands selling t-shirts and other things, a BMX demonstration area and several smaller stages that feature lesser known bands.

Overall, I had a great time. The music was loud, and quite good, and there were a ton of people there.

No idea what my plans are for next week, but I’m sure my grand adventure will continue!

Deli and Donair

I mentioned yesterday that Thomas had to go into the city to register at his school (Ludwig-Erhardt-Schule, a college) and we were going to look around a bit. However, this morning we woke up to rain, so we did not end up wandering the city. Instead we just went straight to the school and back. I did see some of the city though, including the Art Gallery, S-Bahn (tram) and glimpses of the Universitaet Karlsruhe and the city Palace.  What struck me, is that for a relatively small city (~290,000 people) it was quite cosmopolitan. There were Italian, Persian, Turkish and African restaurants all over, and I even spotted a Vietnamese place. Although, by far the most popular food places were Donair (Doener) and pizza joints. They were literally everywhere! Like Starbucks in Vancouver.

On a related note I had my first proper Donair today. Thomas lamented the fact that Vancouver had sub-standard ones the entire time he was there, so there was a fair amount of hype surrounding their excellence. I was not disappointed; it was very delicious and I’m sure I will be having many more. In other delicious food news: we had lunch at a bakery and I split a Broetchen (bun) sandwich type thing, and an almond pastry with Thomas. They were both very good. Canada just does not make bread and pastries the way they do here.

We also went grocery shopping today at “Real” (pronounced Ray-al) which is kind of a mixture between Wal-mart and Save-on-Foods. All I can say is that, the selection of deli meats is astounding.

The plan for tomorrow is having a quiet day at home, and possibly go to a restaurant in the evening. Sunday we plan to go to a music festival in the city, so I’m sure I’ll have something to write after that!

Schoenes Wochenende!