Hamburg

I was very sad to leave Berlin, I had an incredible time there, however Hamburg was just as good. I had a brilliant time there, the first day I did not do much. I went for a walk in the area surrounding my hostel to see what was there and whilst it was not on the Reeperbahn that did not stop me being approached by about 5 prostitutes in the 200 meters from my hostel to the closest ATM. I found that to be quite sad and it definitely reinforced my thoughts that I would never even entertain the idea of going to one of these people. 

Song for the day - The Horrors - Still Life

On my second day in Hamburg I got up relatively early for my trip at about 8.30 and got myself ready for the day and went on a free tour of the city which was organized by the hostel. Hamburg is a beautiful city, before this tour I was a bit skeptical but I really enjoyed the tour, possibly more so than my tour of Berlin which is saying something. It was really interesting to hear about the amount of times the city has been virtually completely destroyed such as the great fire of 1842 and allied bombing in world war 2 which in turn lead to a huge fire storm. Apparently the flames were twice the height of the tallest building in Hanburg at the time. 

After this I went to a bar overlooking the harbor with some people I had met on the tour, it was a pretty cool spot. There was also a lot of smoke coming from somewhere under a bridge near the bar, with really dark smoke and the smell of rubber. Personally, I think it was pretty obvious that someone was burning a troll though. 

Afterwards we went to another bar before heading over to the Reeperbahn, we had hoped to watch Manchester United against Chelsea however the match was not shown in Hamburg because St. Pauli were playing at the time. I really like St. Pauli though, there seems to be a real community spirit to the team and on their merchandise is the pirate skull so they are pretty bad ass/punk rock. I got a brilliant picture of Ahmed next to a St. Pauli car too.

All in all I really enjoyed Hamburg, I'm not sure if I would like to live there but it definitely was a cool place to visit. I wish I had had a bit more time there to check it out in a bit more detail. 

Song for the day - The Beatles - Norwegian Wood

Berlin - II

22nd of August 2013

Today started out like any other day, woken up early by the sun shining brightly on me due to the lack of curtains. I met up with Laura and Loren (also from BENDIGO) at the aquarium/zoo. There were some humorous creatures there. I made it despite managing to get on the wrong train twice. 

Later on I went to the Museum island and enjoyed it thoroughly, a lot of the things were very interesting. I was particularly interested to go see the DDR museum after having studied the DDR at school for VCE however I left with a bad taste in my mouth. If you're looking for somewhere overcrowded, boring and just not that great look no further than the DDR museum. I think it would have been better with mates but the only reason for that would be to take the piss out of it. 

Afterwards I met up with Laura and Loren again and we had planned to go to a schnitzel place but struggled to find it and eventually gave up and got SCHNITZEL DÖNER which was actually really good, I was glad I tried it. 

Song of the day - Aloe Blacc - Green Lights 

23rd of August 2013

Today I went to the topography of terror again to see the full thing. It is built on the same area where the headquarters of the SS were during WWII. I learnt a lot there, it gives a very good explanation of how the nazis got power and consolidated it as well as implementing all of their ideology and plans on the German nation. These kind of nazi things always spook me though, no matter how many I see I just still can't possibly fathom the idea of a government murdering 6,000,00 people purely because of their religion that you think is a race? 

I decided to use a nicer picture from there too, the image below is the inmates from Dachau concentration camp after they were liberated.

After this I went to the Reichstag and had a look around at the top of it, the dome is pretty impressive and the views from it are spectacular. 

After that I met up with Laura and Loren again and this time we figured out where to go and almost didn't stuff up anything. The schnitzel placed sold 1 schnitzel with a salad and chips for 5 euro which is brilliant. The schnitzel was really good, Berliner Pilsner is not great though. After that we went out clubbing after having a few drinks at a shisha bar. Surprisingly I had a really good time clubbing and dancing around to stupid songs from artists like spice girls and back street boys. Drinking desperados always helps though, it is a truly wonderful beer and I think it is the one i think we need in Australia the most. 

When I got back to the hostel I discovered that our hostel actually does have a common room and kitchen and made some friends quite quickly which was nice. I ended up watching the sunrise at a deserted Brandenburg gate with Sera (also from Aus and on gap year) which was pretty awesome looking at it rise through the gate itself and accompanied by Hendrix it was one of the cooler moments of my life.

Song for the day - Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix 

24th of August 2013

It was my last full day in Berlin and I am incredibly saddened by it. I have fallen in love with this city in a matter of days. I slept for most of the day in an attempt to recover from the night before and went out only to get some food until about 5 o'clock when I left to go to the Bundesliga at the Olympia Stadion (1936 olympic stadium). I had never been to a game of that standard before and must say it was an incredible experience seeing almost the whole crowd of 66,000 jump at once when Berlin scored. The match ended Hertha Berlin 1 - 0 Hamburger SV. 

After coming back to the hotel I hung out with people in the common room and later we went out clubbing in Kreuzberg to this strange hip hop club where they were having dance offs. It reminded me of the rap battles from 8 mile. Now I am in Hamburg having traveled over and am pretty tired. I think a nap followed by a kebab is in order. 

Song of the day - NWA - Express Yourself

Berlin part 1.

After completing my 5 hour train trip from Marburg I spent a while trying to get my bearings together then headed for my hostel and of course got a little bit lost on the way but it wasn't too bad. My hostel is probably about a 4/10 at the end of the day it is as cheap as chips and is a bed but that's pretty much all you get here. The showers are ice cold and the hostel has no common area for hanging out so it's pretty hard to meet people. You definitely get what you pay for. 

On a related note there is this guy in my room that now on my third day here I believe has only left once and that was to get energy drinks, otherwise he just sits here on his computer playing super Mario and has been wearing the same clothes the entire time, even when he sleeps. 

In the first day I just walked around the local area and checked out a few of the sights before heading back to the hostel and going to bed, it was a nice day all in all. 

Day 2 began with me again getting lost because one of the U-bahn stations on my line is closed for repair so no trains are going through there. I didn't really mind though considering I had plenty of time to kill, eventually I found my way to the Brandenburg gate and Reichstag buildings which are pretty impressive and  cool places, it's amazing thinking that you're actually at these places that are so historically significant. 

After that I went to do a tour with "alternative Berlin" and it went around a lot of parts of the old west Berlin through a lot of street art and that kind of thing, it was very cool and probably one of the highlights of my trip so far. I definitely recommend doing it to anyone going to Berlin. It also involved checking out a few of the old punk clubs and squatters camps, it was interesting to see it from a different side of things rather than the generic slightly left of centre view you get on any other tour. 

Below are some of my favourite pieces of street art that I saw. 

After the tour I had been waking around Berlin for a solid 6 hours or so, so I decided to return to my hostel and chill out for a while before going to get a Döner for dinner. 

On another note, I think I have fallen in love with Berlin. For uni I have to do a semester abroad and I am definitely giving a lot of thought to doing it in Berlin, I would have to improve my German to a genuine 95% fluency level but I think I could do that. We will see what happens, I know all of that is a bit of a way off yet but would be a nice way to end my degree. 

Reflections

Saturday for me was not the most exciting day, it was good but it was mostly traveling from Kassel back to Marburg. I missed my first train even though I was on the platform. 

Later in the evening we went to see a movie called Elysium and even though it was hard to understand in german I really enjoyed it. It was very interesting how they showed the world to be in 100 years. 

Song for the day: O Dharma - Pond 

Today was my second last day in Marburg and I honestly cannot thank the Köhlers and Phillip enough, they have done so much for me over the years and have been one of the biggest influences on my entire life. 

First we went to an old timers car show in a village about 20 K from Marburg, that was pretty cool. There were a few old Cameros there that I thought were 100% cool. 

Afterwards we went to Wetzlar and I was very tired at this point so I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have, however regardless it was a beautiful place, many old buildings and the bridge below I found particularly cool. Especially since the fountain next 

After going out to dinner we came home and I smoked a cigar with Uli and had discussions with he and Kay about life and our views on things which is becoming a customary end to the evening. We looked at some photos from when I last came here about 3 years ago and whilst I thought I hadn't changed in reality I have gained about 20 kilos and grown 5 centimeters or so. 

Reflecting on 3 years ago I can honestly say that I am so happy now, three years ago I was often angry and didn't have many great friendships. I have learnt that at least for me the best way to live is to love people, regardless of differences you may have over religions or interests and these kind of things. 

My life and my views on life have changed for the better, I have the most wonderful and beautiful girlfriend who I am in love with, my family are just brilliant people and I will never be able to thank them enough for what they have given me for this trip and throughout my life, i love them and of course I have the best mates, the boys are truly great people and my life would just not be the same without them, they are all like brothers to me and I love them. It's funny how sometimes you have to leave what you have behind to realise how truly great it is. 

The evening ended of course as all good evenings do drinking a beautiful German beer. (Paulaner Weißbier) 

Song for the day/whole trip - Beards, Wives and Denim (the whole album) - Pond

Tomorrow is the end of this chapter in Marburg however I have no doubt I will return, Tuesday I travel to Berlin to begin my solo adventures and I can not wait!

Kassel

Yesterday I drove from Marburg to Kassel with Urlauf a friend of the Köhlers, he was a great guy, we spoke complete Germany for the hour and a bit car ride which for me was really cool.

I left Urlauf at the hauptbahnhof of Kassel and met Tonya there, I had not seen her in a very long time so it was great to catch up. We went around looking and the city and it is noticeably different from Marburg, apparently vast areas of Kassel were destroyed in WWII which is why the city looks a lot more modern than Marburg. 

Afterwards we met up with Tonya's boyfriend Marvin and went to hang out at the Hercules statue which is at the top of a big hill overlooking Kassel, it's a huge thing and I think so far probably the coolest place I have been in Germany. I also ate dorts there so that was pretty exciting. Underneath it is a big fountain type thing and the view from the top is incredible, it looked like a Tame Impala album cover.

After that we predrank at Tonyas with some friends and went to this club called musik theater, the music they play was the strangest mixture of rap/heavy metal/pop I have heard, it would go from mambo No. 5 to System of a down to Thrift Shop or 2 Door Cinema Club to Rammstein to Wutang. To make it even stranger the whole place was full of goths and other than goths just odd characters. I had a pretty awesome time though so it was worth it. Some of the dancing and moshing and just general goth behavior I witnessed was brilliant. 

Song for the day: Sorry I Was Under The Sky - Pond

Ps. I just witnessed a fight between football fans from Koblenz and the police at the Kassel train station. Now the police are herding them into a different section of the train. Probably about 200-250 football fans and 50 police officers. 

$15 phone, birthdays, anniversaries & the river Rhein

Tuesday - Tuesday was a quiet day, I decided after the fiasco of Sunday morning that I would buy a phone here as mine would not work due to being locked to telstra (dergs) and ended up buying a tiny phone that basically only has SMS and calls. I also found it absolutely amazing that I got this phone and a sim card for about 25 euro. 

I also had a discussion with Kay about music and the meaning of it, I was listening to Rage Against The Machine in the shower and she asked me afterwards what it was about and that it sounded very depressive. It's interesting to see the different views of people on music because I think that rage is so far from depressive it's not funny, I guess sometimes things can be lost in translation. 

Song for the day - Born of a Broken Man - Rage Against The Machine. 

Wednesday - Today was the birthday of Kay she turned 50 and has still retained her looks. It was a nice day, in the afternoon we hung out at home drinking champagne and listening to Santana then in the evening we went for a really nice dinner in the Oberstadt which is the oldest part of Marburg, it is quite beautiful.

Song for the day - Evil Ways - Santana

Thursday - Today was a really good day, as well as doing some really cool things in Germany today is 11 months to the day since Nella and I started dating. We talked on Skype and it was really nice to hear her voice and see her. We have been through a lot together and I can honestly say that she's my best friend and I am in love with her. 

Also we went to the river Rhein today, however on the way there something very strange happened. As we were driving we heard a pop sound that sounded like a water bottle had exploded however we discovered that something had hit the windscreen and cracked it. I'm sure it was just a stone but it looked an awful lot like a bullet mark.

The rhein itself is a pretty incredible place. So many castles and beautiful views, they make a lot of wine there and almost every hill is filled with vineyards. We went on a cable car to the top of a hill and there was a huge statue that was built around the time of the formation of Germany as a nation. The views around the river are truly breathtaking though, well worth the trip for anyone willing to take it! 

Song for the day - I believe in a thing called love - the darkness 

The alsfeld salsa

Yesterday was an interesting day, we traveled to the town of Alsfeld which is a very beautiful classic German town and is believed to have been found as far back as the year 800. We wanted to see a museum but sadly it was closed. We did get to look inside the church though which was very impressive, although I am not in any way religious I can appreciate a good church and this was very nice. Of course we also sampled the local ice cream!

Later in the evening after chilling out for the afternoon we went to see the performance of a salsa band. It was pretty good, the guitar player was very very talented. Julian has a story that once he and his friends were drinking at someone's house and said guitar player who looks about 40 years old came to tell them to stop being so loud at about 1 am. They then asked him to come have a beer with them and he stayed until 5 am and at this time was not wearing a shirt. The band played some songs from all around the world, some such as the Brazilian tunes were more to my liking. I was a bit disappointed that the crowd didn't dance very much but these things happen when it is a group of about 150 mainly over 50 year old Germans. Afterwards we went into the bar of the concert hall and had a few beers which was a nice way to end the day. 

Song of the day: Tamacun - Rodrigo Y Gabriella (sadly the salsa band did not play this but I thought about it the whole time) 

The hangover

Sunday began like most Sundays do for me, waking up slightly confused and far too early on someone else's couch. There I was thinking hey.. I'm not hungover! However I later realised that I was still a bit drunk in the morning and in the afternoon the hangover hit me pretty hard I must say. 

Anyway at about 10 am I finally summed up to courage to go and get a Döner, it was magnificent, I think I may have been converted to lamb over here. Eventually I managed to get into contact with Julian's parents and his mother picked me up, after that I realised that I will need to buy a German phone as mine is locked to Telstra. 

Later in the afternoon I helped Phillip correct an email he was sending, it was a nice moment to be the one correcting someone else's use of language for once! However the mistakes were not big so it did not take long, it reminded me of when I first reread my blog and realised I had written most of it in Denglish (Deutsch/English). 

Later we went to a pub in a small village near Marburg for dinner, I ordered the Jägerschnitzel (no it does not contain jägermeister) which I think may be one of the greatest inventions mankind has ever created. Basically it is a pork schnitzel with a sauce and mushrooms on top (I know that dad would love it) and this schnitzel was HUGE. I think probably about 3 times the size of the schnitzels we would eat at home. Sadly I did not feel up to having a beer with it so it was not the completely stereotypical German dining experience.

Later on in the evening Uli and I went outside at about 10 pm, smoked cigars and drank beer on the balcony whilst overlooking the city and talking some premium smack. Uli is a great guy, we get along very well so I had a good time talking to him about life and all things Australian/German. I also noticed that my taste is ever changing, the first time I had a cigar about a year or two I didn't enjoy it that much however this time I liked it quite a lot. It reminded me of how when I was a lot younger I didn't like beer and now I live for beer. 

On a side note he calls me Simpson, like most nicknames it's not really derived from anything other than sounding similar but hey, it's all just a bit of fun. The way he says it reminds me of how Mr Burns says "Simpson eh?" every time Homer or the whole family are brought up on The Simpsons. 

Song for the day: apocalypse dreams - tame impala 

Wie alten Zeiten

Yesterday was again a good and interesting day, first things first we went to the house of Otto Ubbelohde who was the man that did the drawings for the brother's Grimm fairy tales. There were some of his works, a few paintings and drawings and so on. They were pretty impressive, he painted some incredible paintings. It was funny that next to the house there was a paddock with 3 llamas  in it. They are strange animals. 

Afterwards we walked over a bridge that ubbelohde had painted and it from there you got a pretty awesome view of the Ohm river and typical Hessiche buildings.

 

Afterwards we went into the city of Marburg. We wanted to go the Elizabethkirche to look at some statues, however there was a wedding there and I think we got in the way a bit as they were leaving and people seemed pretty annoyed so we quickly left. 

After that we went to get some ice cream and sat by the Lahn, the Germans have an obsession with ice cream, every German town has three things and ice cream store, a kebab shop and a pub. After we went to the ice cream store we walked along the Lahn and were looking around at the 5 star hotel of Marburg that a guy who owns a lot of buildings in the area owns, I have heard different figures about how much he is worth ranging from 400 to 800 million euros. Apparently he wants the highway that goes through the middle of the city to be underground or covered by something so that his businesses are in a more quiet location but doesn't know where the money will come from.. Seems like he is missing something there? 

Anyway I got a bit sidetracked there, we were walking around this 5 star hotel and I was wearing my yellow Nike shorts and cream shirt with a small but noticeable hole, then the bride and groom from the wedding arrived at the hotel where they were having their reception and I think they were again annoyed that we again got in the way and possibly in their photos, I thought it was pretty funny though. 

After that we returned home and I sat in the garden looking at the clouds listening to tame impala for a while. I sat there for a few hours and it was quite relaxing however all of this was ruined by the cruel sting of a bee. It did not hurt that much but it was a bit annoying.

After this we went to Jan's house in Lollar to predrink before going to Kirmes which is a local festival that is a bit like Oktoberfest. Alcohol is so cheap here, to put it into perspective I got a bottle of jäger and 4 red bulls for 15 dollars and later at the Kirmes it was 1.20 euro for a pot. 

The Kirmes was really awesome, they played all of the classic German party songs. Everyone was dancing on tables and drinking beer, even giving beers to people they had never met before which I found pretty awesome. It was a really good atmosphere, the whole town partying together regardless of age. A more humorous moment was when I was standing on a long bench and the other people got off it and the bench tipped and I fell, however like a true champion I did not spill my beer and that is the main thing. 

Song for the day: seven nation army - the white stripes

Beginnings

The past few days have been very interesting, I can't remember a time where I have been as tired as I was in the Hong Kong airport, fast forward 12 hours and I found myself on the other side of the world staying with my old exchange family from 2010. They are wonderful people, I've had some truly wonderful times with them over the years and they have been better to me than almost anyone. I genuinely do think of them as family, especially Julian. I get along with him better than most people I know.

On the first day we did not do much, I slept until 12 then later Julian and I went to get Döner in Frohenhausen with some friends, afterwards we went to a shisha bar but I quickly became tired and we came home early.

A few thoughts: I am about 4,000 times better at German than last time I came here, the way we were taught at flora hill was pretty bad and it's funny how some things never change.

Song for the day: Time Is On Your Side - The Rolling Stones

On day 2 I went to the Mensa in the middle of Marburg for lunch with the uncle of Julian whose name is Phillip. I get along with him quite well so that was good, we spoke for about 2 hours mostly in German which was nice. Later in the day we went to Spiegelslust for dinner which is a tower on a hill that overlooks Marburg (there is also a restaurant there), from there you have a beautiful view of the Marburger Schloss and Elizabethkirche as well as the entire city. 

Song for the day: Hate To Say I Told You So - The Hives

Day 3 was a good day, at first I went with Phillip and Kay (the mother of Julian) to the house that inspired the story of rapzunel which was beautiful and was very old. It was situated in the middle of a beautiful typical German village however the name of said village escapes me. 

Later in the day Julian and I went to drink with some friends in Salzböden which is the town that Dale stayed in on his exchange. After that we got a taxi to Gießen and went to a club called Amax, whilst clubbing isn't really my thing I had a good time, it was cool getting to know some people. The drunker I became the more I spoke German which I'm sure many of you already know is often the case. Also something interesting about this club was that they gave you a card and instead of paying when you got a drink they would punch a hole in the card and then when you left you paid (I didn't realise this at first and thought I had scored a free jägerbomb.) We arrived back at Jan's house at 4.30 am and for once I, the Australian, was not as drunk as my German counterpart, Julian.

Song for the day: Bonkers - Dizzee Rascal

Day 4 (today) was mainly a recovery day as Julian and I were very hungover so we woke at about 11 and went into lollar to get Döner, I ended up getting a Döner plate which contains Döner meat, sauces, salad and chips. It was incredible however I think it would've been better had I not been so hungover/still drunk. Afterwards we drove to Marburg with the sister of Jan and slept for a few hours as we were very tired. For dinner we went again to Spiegelslust, it was much better than last time as we could sit outside and see the amazing view of the city.

My song for this day is: Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes

I shall post further updates as I go, I think going out and getting drunk has killed my jet lag so my adventures may become more interesting from here on. 

Ps. Here's the Döner Fleisch