Monthly Archives: May 2015

This morning was an early on as we have to catch our train to Erlangen. Even with the best intentions this sadly wasn’t the outcome… When we bought our reservation for the bus, the lady told us that the bus left from the main train station thankfully the hostel we were staying at was literally a roll out of bed to the the station. However when got our gear together and went to the station to catch our bus turns out that it was actually leaving from the main train station! With less than 20 minutes until the bus left there was no way that we would be able to make it in time. When we finally walked over to the main station we did indeed miss our bus and had to wait a few hours before we could take a train that would get us there.

After a little longer than we expected, we did make it to Erlangen! We were greeted by Fabian bearing his lederhosen for a traditional German welcoming ;) Just kidding…..Erlangen is actually home to Bergkirchweih. It is apparently the biggest festival apart from Octoberfest, and draws in over one million people over the festival week. After a quick bite of sausage and pretzel since apparently you want to ingest fats rather than carbs before a night of drinking. Both Andrea and I got reeducate in this manner. Off to the festival! Mostly everyone dressed in their Lederhosen and Dirndl. Fun fact about the Dirndl: which side the women tie their bow signifies if they any widowed, single or taken. During the day the everyone was sitting with one another and enjoys thief company in the sunshine. Now since the festival runs firm 11am to 11 pm you can imagine that there were already some rather intoxicated people when we got there! A fight actually broke out right in front of us, but thankfully security got there before anything major happened. We both grabbed a litre of Radler a concoction of beer and lemonade: my new favourite way to drink beer :) Afterwards we are explored the rest of the festival grounds. There were many arcade games, restaurants and food booths. Andrea and I went onto the Ferris wheel and saw a birds eye view of Erlangen. We did our research about the festival before coming and learned that people buy their ‘sweethearts’ a gingerbread heart with an inscription and the person that receives it must wear it the whole night. Naturally we had to get Fabian one :) after searching the many different carts we found a heart that said ‘sorry’! We couldn’t ask for a better way to be Canadian andddd apologize to Fabian for having us stay with him for a few days! Turns out that it was just an insider joke since many Germans didn’t understand it..Sorry!

As the night progressed so did the amount of alcohol ingested. When Andrea and I came back to rejoin the rest of the group they were not sitting anymore. No, they were standing of the tables and singing! Thankfully the band playing sung songs in both German and English so Andrea and I could partake. We also learned a few songs in German, in particular a drinking song! Once the festival closed for the evening we were sure to get a good nights rest from a long day.

After a few busy days we decided that we need to take some time off. Especially since we don’t want to burn ourselves out! We still have 80 more days of adventures ahead. We also want to enjoy the last time for a while that we will be able to stay with friends since we have a few weeks of hostel living ahead of ourselves!

Later on in the day we went out to the harbour and walked along the pier. There were so many families walking by and enjoying the holiday! We then went in a boat tour of the harbour. You could tell by the way the tour guide spoke that he loved his job and city, thankfully Leonie was right beside us to give us an english translation! Hamburg has a huge port and there are many huge cargo ships on the water. Our little guide boat went right around one and we were able to watch the cargo bing brought to the port with cranes. It was super investing and gave me some insight in what must happen at port metro Vancouver.

We then went back to our place and were spoiled with an amazing dinner and deserts! Homemade pizza, freshly made strawberry ice cream and even creme brule! What else could you ask for as a better way to spend our last night in Hamburg? Let’s top it off with a bonfire in the backyard! After warming up by the fire we got our things already and packed to go to Prague tomorrow!

We have another fun day ahead of us! After an amazing breakfast we are off to visit a town outside of Hamburg called Lübeck. Thankfully we had our tour guide Leonie in tow because there were many bus transfers to get there! Out of the train station we roamed the streets walking through the parliament building. The town reminds me of Bruges, historic, cobblestone streets, houses with brick and grand gates in the city. This is where you can find a ‘German house’ aka where the wooden framework is on the exterior.

We went up the church and were rewarded with a beautiful view! The tops of the terracotta roofs and the water were all that I could see! Absolutely stunning! We then walked along the riverside, believe it or not some people were swimming! I can only imagine that the water must have been like the Polar Bear swim. We they grabbed some ice cream and soaked in the town! It was delicious and I can’t wait for all the ice cream coming my way. Italy don’t let me down ;) Continuing our food adventure we went to a Marzipan shop. Lübeck is known for its marzipan! When I say there was everything, I honestly mean that there was everything you could want in marzipan form. Frogs, bread, potatoes, castles and so many flavour variations! I bought a little bit of everything and sampled it all on the way back to Hamburg. My favourite marzipan was the cheesecake flavoured one!

Up are ready for our final day in Berlin! What better way to start a day than go shopping at Primark? I now understand finally understand how Europeans are able to dress so nicely. It’s like a better version of our Forever 21 and H&M but better quality and lower prices. Andrea got a few things, but I am happy to report that I behaved myself otherwise I’d wouldn’t be able to carry my backpack around anymore!

We then went to the DDR Museum. It was so interactive and focused on what life was like living in East Berlin. What was super interesting is that all the exhibitions were in within a rendition of the wall and you had to pull out the draws to uncover the information. One side of the DDR focused on the positive aspects of life in the Eastern side whereas the other side concentrated on the negatives.

Shortly after I went to the Parliament Building for a tour of the dome. There was a substantial amount of security I had to through to enter. Even more than the airport security to enter Amsterdam! The view up top was beautiful though, I could see the whole city. Fun fact is that roof of the dome is actually nonexistent/open! And there is a tube in the centre that catches all the rail water, which the building uses for its plumbing systems. Another interesting thing is that the view down in the down is of one of the rooms that the German parliament uses when they introduce bills or hold meetings! The reason for this is to have transparency between the citizens and government. After visiting parliament we made our way back to Hamburg for some well deserved rest!

Once again we are off to Berlin, or as we thought! Turns out the trains had another thing planned… We were able to get to on to our train with no problem. However we realized that there were no seats without reservations, we asked the conductor if it was okay if we just sat on the ground and said it was fine. Our plan was to find a seat once we got the main station to grab a reserved seat that no one claimed. However once we got comfortable on the floor we and got to the main station we then realized there was no hope! Some background information for you: the Germans train Union went on strike yesterday just for the day and this weekend is a holiday in Germany. When the train arrived to the main station so many people came on that there was no room whatsoever to move through the aisles! The train was held at the platform and the conductors announced that they would not leave until people got off the train or at least that is what we got translated to us! Half an hour later, and with no one leaving the train they said that everyone staring must immediately leave, within an instant everyone standing plummeted to then ground. The conductors weren’t so please and got the police to take everyone off of the train that was not seated in proper seat! So yeah, we got kicked off by the police! Feels like I was in a train sit in protest! They organized an extra train to come an hour later to go only to Berlin for the 250 people waiting on the platform. When the platform finally showed that a train was going to come there was a 15 minute wait which turned into a 45 minutes wait. No one was really pleased, but the train did eventually come and we made it Berlin eventually!

Once we finally arrived we went to the inside of the Topography of Terrors unlike our last day trip where we never made it inside since there was so much information to read outside! It provided a much more detailed and informative information about the how the Nazi Regime rose to power and the crimes they committed. We then went on a walking tour, recommended by Jeff ( thanks Jeff)! We throughly enjoyed it! Our tour guide was so informative and knew such a substantial amount about the history and architect within Berlin. I was able to learn so many interesting facts that I would have never been able to know unless I was with a local. After the tour needed it was already 8pm!! Lets just say that the train delayed our plans for the day. So with that we made our way to our hostel. We passed through museum island and what must be the restaurant district. We grabbed some food along the way and made it to our hostel! Our room was so much nicer than the last hostel we stayed at in Bruges. It had a full kitchen, a seek soaker tub and even a hammock for only 6 others. We went at explored the rest of our hostel and ended up attempting to play a few games of pool before we called it a night!

Today we started off the day by going to the BallinStadt immigration museum. The building of the museum itself was super interesting! It was compromised of four separate buildings, which You had to physical enter and exits through to view the different exhibits. These buildings were apparently where prospective immigrants stayed at before going over to North and South America. What I found super unique is that the museum had 6 different people and you learned about their situation and why they wanted to immigrate and followed their journey to see what their life was after they immigrated. Andrea also mentioned an interesting point that within our schooling we were taught to assume that people immigrated to Canada because we were able to provide then with opportunity. Although this is true never learned that there were many social and political issues within Europe that forced people to move against their wishes. Overall I throughly enjoyed the museum, I suppose Andrea’s museum loving is rubbing off on me!!

We then headed off to dinner to meet with Lea and Francisca for the biggest pizza of my life! Even sharing sharing half of it with Andrea I wasn’t able to finish it! Thankfully we just had to cross the street to go to the ballet! The Hamburg Ballet of Giselle was fantastic! Their interpretation of the ballet focussed on a depicting more emotion to the audience then a typical ballet. They also included a lot of contemporary ballet into their repitoure. A fantastic performance, and it was also Andreas first time to a ballet! We were defiantly the youngest people there and we did get quite a few comments from the ushers which was rather unfortunate.

A less than a 2 hour train brought us to Berlin for the day! The ultimate history nerd’s heaven :) once we got out of the HUGE train station we are asked passed the Reichstag. Unfortunately we didn’t register beforehand, otherwise we would have been able to go to the glass observation viewing structure within the building. We know better, so hopefully we will be able to go up when we go back this weekend :)

We then passed by a park that lead us to the Brandenburg Tor! I was finally able to see this in real life rather than just in my textbooks! Even though the wall is no longer there the some of the pavement is a darker colour and it outlines the then perimeter of the wall. As we entered the square, there was a rally for Greenpeace in the midsts!

After even more walking we arrived at Charlie’s Checkpoint. Even through everything had been destroyed there was lots of information regarding the history of the site and in general the history of Berlin. It was interesting to learn about all the different ways people attempted to flee from the East to West Berlin. I must say it was a review thanks to History 12 and HIST 103, but it was still surreal. We then heard good things about the The Wall Panorama Attraction. There was a really interesting photo exhibition of citizen’s photos during and after the presence of the wall. In the other room was a canvas around the whole wall that had a depiction of what it would have been to be back in Germany where there was the wall. There was a checkpoint like viewpoint were you could see over the West and East side of the wall. I was amazed with how realistic the canvas was.

Taking time for a quick ice cream break we then headed over to the Topography of Terrrors. Outside the building there was a few meters of the wall still preserved, also there was more information about the the rise of the Nazi regime and Hitters rise to power. I thoroughly enjoyed all the propaganda pieces!

On another note, Berlin has been the only city were I have seen such blatant tourist scams. For example there was a large group of people asking you to sign a petition, of course to demand money once you do. Also there was a card game, where fake spectators would make a scene that they won easy money and draw in the tourists and get them to play they game only to make them lose and take their money. Thankfully I was aware of these tricks going into the trip and I must say that these scammers need to improve their acting abilities ;)

We then went over to the Holocaust Memorial. I had seen pictures of it before, but I never expected it to be to big! Once I entered it it was like a maze. Once we grin ally found the entrance to the memorial it was a very heart wrenching experience. Just to try to comprehend the mass genocide that occurred and to be exposed to individual stories just personalized it more than I had expected.

After a day full of reading ( so much reading!) we headed back to the train station. I am excited to head back to Berlin this weekend because one day was simply not enough time!

Round 2! We decided to go to the city centre once again. This time everything was open and there were people as well ;)

We went as saw (the 2014 photo exhibition). It was like looking at a year worth of global affairs within 140 captivating photographs. It is really true that a photo can depict more than words could ever say. We then went inside the St Micheals church, there was the option to walk up its 350 meters to the top, but we opted out! After having some yummy lunch: the best ceaser salad I have ever had, we continued our walk around the city. We ventured out the to St Pauli district. Now don’t be fooled by its name, this area was formally know as the red light district of Hamburg. The neighbourhood has been inhabited by a large majority of those in the arts. St Pauli has become a youthful and vibrant scene know for all of its clubs and pubs! Even though we saw it during the day, it sure does put Vancouver Granville strip to shame. We were told that it is the polar opposite of what we saw in the day, and I can only imagine! Also clubs here typically don’t open until 2am and the people party all night to then go to the harbour side market at 6 am! Then we walked to the went to the Schanze Area, it is where the football/ soccer arena is and also the restaurant district, where you can find any ethnic food you could desire! This area is also know for having lots of students since the university is nearby. We called it an early day since we both were feeling a little run down and wanted to rest up for our day trip to Berlin tomorrow!

For our first day in Hamburg, we went for a nice walk in the morning at the river. Apparently all the leaves have just bloomed just two weeks ago, so everything is so lush! We went through a forest to end up along the water and then walked around the town, thank to Elias our tour guide :)

We then ventured into the town of Hamburg. To our surprise and lack of knowledge, we shortly realized that literally everything is closed on Sundays in Germany! It as so strange to see the city centre completely sparse! We felt as though we weren’t suppose to be there, well at least his along with the other 40 dumbfounded tourists that were there! Now we know, and found out the hard way :P