Asia/Europe Travels 2008: Kuala Lumpur Thailand Laos Vietnam Germany Austria Prague (Czech Republic)
Poland Vilnius (Lithuania) Riga (Latvia) Berlin London (UK) Amsterdam (Holland) Dublin (Ireland) Hamburg

Berlin - Back in Germany!

So after our epic adventures through Austria, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia we found ourselves back in Berlin for a two week stay in an apartment not far from the city centre. I was really looking forward to taking things easy for a while after about two months of rather fast paced travelling. As fun as it is skipping from place to place, you do miss being able to stay on one place for a while.

Thu 30th Oct

Well today was a day of rest I must say. We just wandered around the local streets and bought groceries etc. That night we had plans however. Sally had mentioned that not far from where we were staying was a salsa club which might be worth checking out. So after a good feed we headed out to see how different salsa in Germany was when compared to the salsa club back home. The club was huge with two rooms to dance in. We arrived after the lesson time, which was kind of good in a way as I doubt I would have understood much of it. The social dancing was heaps of fun though. It was certainly intimidating walking up to strangers who speak a different language and motioning a dance. It was hard too as I had no idea if they were beginners or pros, or if the style I was dancing was similar to what they have learnt. I guess this is what makes it fun in a way and we had a great night dancing away. This club (the Soda club I think) did teach a different style from what we were taught in Perth, however the basic steps were the same so it was fine. I liked the fact that although there was the whole language barrier thing, we could still go out and enjoy dancing together.

Fri 31st Oct

Today Siobhan took us for a tour through Berlin. We saw a whole bunch of historically significant monuments, buildings and ruins. The central cathedral was certainly worth a look. Inside you can wander around amid amazing paintings, statues and carvings. For one euro you can also walk around the top tower and up onto the roof for a spectacular view of Berlin.

We also walked past the old palace, old bits of the Berlin wall and the communications tower. We ended up near the famous arch, where the wall was first breached.

That night I talked to a friend online and it turned out that he was going to be in Hamburg the following day. After some hasty arrangements we had a weekend away planned. Sally was the only one who felt like missioning it there, so we worked out buses and accommodation and it was set.

Sat 1st Nov - Hamburg!

I went shopping first thing with the intention of finding a hairdresser (it was getting a little scruffy) and luckily I found a few. After some interesting charades trying to explain that I wanted a haircut there and then I found a place. It was kind of bizarre having a haircut completely devoid of conversation, but alas none of the staff spoke a word of English.

I went for a quick shop to get groceries for the night trip to Hamburg and on my way out of the store I saw Sally. She had worked out that there was a bus to Hamburg at 12 and we had just under an hour to make it to the bus station. Well it was go go go as we raced back and did a lightning quick pack. I even managed to make some sandwiches for the road. I think we both thought it was going to be a photo finish if we made the deadline, however it was surprisingly quick getting to the station and we managed to purchase tickets and board the bus with about 15 minutes to spare. The bus ride was actually quite fun as we winded through meadows, small towns and wind farms before reaching our destination. Hamburg was a lot larger than I had expected, and I soon realised that we weren't going to accidentally find our hotel. There was a tourist information board at the main station with maps of the area however, so with a few quick photos we had our barings and set out on foot towards our hostel. It was about a 45 minute walk, but well worth the effort and I quite enjoyed seeing the surrounding areas which were well away from the touristy section of town.

The hostel was actually really nice. Instead of a 4 person dorm they put us in a double room with touch lights and everything. Unfortunately our perfectly laid out plans had one small hitch. Sally's phone turned off and she didn't have the pin with her. So unfortunately we were unable to call or message Jared to meet up. Luckily I had taken a photo of his number so went in search of public phones to call him. At first we went next door to another hotel and they let us call for free, but there was no answer. We then tried the hostel phone, but this didn't get through. They also had their own phone and finally I managed to get through. The only problem was that Jared couldn't hear me, so we had a conversation which consisted entirely of hello's and can you hear me?'s. We decided to just head into town and try and find their hotel. At the train station there was a phone however and I tried calling, this time with success. We met up at the station and headed off into town for drinks.

We had beers at a small bar, and then headed to another area of town where we had cocktails and food before meeting up with the rest of the crew. The club we ended up at was bizarre. It was kind of a student hang out with graffiti all over the toilet walls, and cheap drinks. The dj played a whole selection of very German sounding music, and it was heaps of fun to have a boogie. The train journey back was interesting to say the least. Due to works on the train line we had to take a bus from our initial train. Thankfully there was a girl who helped us out otherwise I doubt we would have made it back. The bus then intersected another line and we ended up at our stop. From what I saw, people in general were very friendly here, and willing to help out lost travellers.

Sun 2nd Nov - Hamburg

After a long walk back into town, we went on a tour of some of the main attractions. You could spend a good couple of days here looking through all the museums, exhibitions and other attractions. The cathedral was one of my highlights, towering over surrounding buildings. We paid the 3 euros and got to climb to the top for the breathtaking views of Hamburg. I should add as well that taking the lift is not a bad idea if you don't like climbing up stairs, as there were quite a few of them! We also had a wander through the red light district, which was interesting to say the least. Finally we passed the statue of Bismarck which towered above the surrounding park. On the way back we walked past the wharf where ships of all sorts were moored. I think we passed half a dozen individual accordion players too. It must be the thing to play here! Our train back was set to get us to the main station with a good 20min to spare, however we had forgotten about the works on the line, and unfortunately had to leave the train a few stations short of our destination. It became a frantic walk when we realised the connecting bus was due in 10 minutes. Another bus did come past however and we jumped on it making it back to the bus station with only a few minutes to spare. So I guess you could say we really maximised our time in Hamburg.

Mon 3rd Nov - Berlin

Today was a bit of a recovery day from the big weekend trip to Hamburg. I slept most of the day and washed clothes etc. In the evening we took a train to a really neat part of Berlin which was a bit of a student hangout. I had a relatively cheap Spaghetti Bolognese and we had cocktails afterwards and played cards. It was a great evening all up and nice to be out in the town after a day indoors.

Tues 4th Nov - Berlin

Today I did absolutely nothing. It was awesome. Veging out watching Southpark and eating tasty homemade sandwiches. The other guys headed out to a few museums and we had a big cook up in the evening.

Wed 5th Nov - Berlin Philharmonic

Today we visited the wall memorial and documentation centre to learn about the history of the Berlin wall. It was a great museum and free too! There was also a part of the wall remaining outside with descriptions of some of the major events which lead to the removal of the wall. Afterwards we visited the museum of communication which was not as good as it could have been, however still interesting to see the collections of old communication gear. It was all in German however so we were a bit limited in what we could learn. They also had free internet upstairs which was both slightly weird and also quite useful at the same time. Later on I visited the museum of technology which was far more interesting and much more creatively put together.

For dinner we went to the markets in Berlin where there were a number of tasty meal options. I had a large sausage in a bun, and also a dumpling covered in a delicious cream and berry sauce. There was a big ice slide too for kids which looked like a lot of fun if I was about 8 years old.

That night we went to see the Berlin Philharmonic play. The first half was a piano concerto. It was an absolutely amazing concert and Simon Rattle conducted with vigour and passion. It was probably also the first time I have heard an entire orchestra play quietly! You could almost hear the heart beat of the person next to you it was so deadly silent. The only thing that got up my nose during the performance was the people coughing constantly throughout the concert. I don't know why they come to these things if they can't control their coughs. There was also the odd lolly wrapper crinkling which is incredibly annoying. But I guess that is concerts for you. Still amazing to have been there, and I want to go again some day and maybe they might even play some Piazzolla, that would be cool.

That night we went out for drinks at a place called the White Elephant and tried some interesting cocktails. It was a great way to wind up an awesome evening.

Thu 6th Nov - Berlin

After a day of not doing too much again, we had some drinks and went out salsa dancing again. It was much easier the second time round and I spent most of the night social dancing. We met some really cool people, most of whom spoke reasonably good English.

Fri 7th Nov - Berlin

Today I finally uploaded my blog after a day of editing and writing up the last missing bits. I hope you enjoy reading through it!

In the evening after a long day on the computer, I was keen to go out, and Sally was meeting up with some friends that night so I joined them for a nice meal and cocktails in the city centre. We also visited a kind of underground art complex which was really fascinating. There was an outdoor sculpture gallery where artists had made all sorts of crazy statues out of metal. We then wandered around the back, through a student pub with a live band and up into some more galleries. It was kind of cool to browse the art works in the same room as they were finishing new works. The corridoors and stairwell were also painted with all sorts of graphic art giving the place a real underground art feel to it.

We found a little street side restaurant and sat down for our meal shortly before two ambulances arrived and carted off an older gentleman on the next table. It was quite sureal sitting there with the ambulance lights flashing away next to us. Afterwards we just wandered around town, and had a look through a few tourist shops in search of some trinkets to bring home. We eventually said our farewells and headed back to our apartment.

Sat 8th Nov - Berlin

Today I decided to go out into town and visit the Technology Museum in Berlin, but decided to wander through the town centre and past a few of the famous monuments. My first destination was parliament house, which has a large glass dome on top of the building in which you can walk to the top. By the time I made it there the line was quite long, and with limited time I decided to continue on to the museum wandering through the Tier gardens. I must say the autumn leaves made for a very picturesque setting, so I am glad I walked instead of trained it.

I made it to the museum at 4pm with 2 hours to browse the museum. It was quite enormous however and one could easily spend a day there. A whole section was dedicated to trains and another to ships. My favourite parts were the communication and photography sections as well as the section on mathematics. This museum was excellent and I would highly recommend it, especially for kids. There was even two large three screen simulators, one where you could steer a sailing ship through unchartered waters, and another where you could fly through Prague as a butterfly by strapping yourself to a set of virtual reality human sized wings.

After the quite amazing museum I walked back to our meeting place for dinner. I passed the large Jewish memorial on the way back and walked through the center of all the differently sized stones. You kind of sink down into the central region as you walk through the middle of the memorial. We tried to get into this large beer hall where the price of the drinks was set by a small scale stock market. This sounded like fun, but alas, it was full so we sent next door to another trendy restaurant/pub. We had some drinks and shared a pizza then headed in search of more bars in the student part of town. We found a couple of little places and sampled their happy hour cocktails which were not cheap at $9 each minimum. We then headed in search of a Shisha hangout where we met up with some of Siobhan's friends. It was awesome sitting cross legged cramped around a little table sharing the Shisha.

Sun 9th Nov - Berlin

Our last day in Berlin, before heading off to Leipzig. We did quite a bit of planning today, and I stayed in until the late afternoon. For some reason I just didn't feel like another big day in Berlin. I did however go and see the natural history museum which was home to the tallest brachiosaurus skeleton in the world. This museum was another must see, and again you could spend a whole day there if you read all the information presented. There were rooms dedicated to animals, marine life, astronomy, geology and archaeology. Again there were quite a few interactive displays for kids and you were allowed to take photos.

There are a bunch of other museums in Berlin which are well renowned but I didn't manage to get to including the Check Point Charlie museum, so definitely check out the various webpages which describe the long list if you are going there.

Mon 10th Nov - Berlin to Leipzig via Eisenach

After a late night we had to get up early at the crack of dawn, clean up, pack up all our stuff and move out. It was sad saying goodbye to what has been our home for the last 10 or so days, but it did stir some excitement to know that we would be moving onto a new place. We made it to our train with about 15 minutes to spare and found seats all together. The plan today was to take two trains to Eisenach, spending the afternoon in the town before heading on to Leipzig.

Eisenach (Eisen meaning iron in German) is truly an amazing place, with a rich history and the most stunning surroundings. After throwing our large cases in the lockersm, we had breakfast at a little bakery in the middle of town, and then all split off to do our own thing. I headed up towards Wartburg castle first which took a couple of hours to even get there as I kept getting distracted by views which needed videoing and photographing. The castle itself is quite small compared to others I have visited this trip, however it uniquely stunning perched high on the hill overlooking the small town. The weather was also windy and the dark distant rain clouds brought out the builings with striking clarity. After a breif look around the top, I had a coffee in the cafe up in the castle, and it was actually not too much more expensive than town, and provided a chance to get out of the cold howling wind for a short time and enjoy the view.

Next on the agenda was the Bachhaus, the first museum in the world to be dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach's life, which contained a collection of Bach's instruments, a description of his works and reconstructions of his living quarters. They had also used complex methods to reconstruct his appearance through analysis of his skull, although there were a number of portraits there too. The Bachhaus was probably the place he was born/raised, although there is some debate over this, however it is one of the few remaining houses from the era. There were headphones through which you could listen to some of his more famous works coupled with a description of how he changed traditional song structures. We were also given a demonstration of some of the same instruments he used including a harpsichord, spinet, clavichord and organs. For the classical music lover, this place is a must, and you can spend a good 2-3 hours looking through all the descriptions. A large component of the literature is also in English too.

The last place on my list of things to see in Eisenach was the LutherHaus - a museum dedicated to Martin Luther, a revolutionary who instigated a change in the dogma of religious thinking giving rise to the Protestant Reformation. Although born in Wittenberg, Martin Luther translated the bible into the vernacular of the people which later led to the development of a version in German. The museum was interesting however only a small amount of the text was in English so I made it through the rooms in under an hour. Still, it was good to get a feel for his role in reformation of the church which changed the course of Western civilization.

Finally we met back at the Hauptbahnhof and caught the train to Leipzig and met up with Anna-lena and her housemates where we were lucky enough to be able to stay for a few days. We all were very tired after a long day, so after a round of Australian wine, it was time for bed.

Tue 11th Nov - Leipzig

Today we went for a walk around town before having lunch in a nice cafe in the city centre. In the afternoon we did various things like post things home, pick up train tickets for the trip back to Berlin etc.

Wed 12th Nov - Leipzig

Late morning was spent organising concert tickets for Hamburg which took some time. Eventually Geoffrey and Siobhan decided to see the concert in Berlin as the remaining seating options at the Hamburg concert were such that the performers could not be seen, only heard. Having booked my flight to Hamburg however I will have to see the concert there instead and hence spend a few days there before heading up to the farm. In the afternoon, I went for a walk through the adjacent streets to where we were staying and saw some amazing graphic art on buildings. The park which was awesome too and the local animals were incredibly tame. Birds came right up to your feet and a squirrel even ran up my leg!

I then joined Dain and Geoffrey at the Psychology museum which was very unusual. With only three rooms and no English, it was a little difficult, however a kind lady took us around for a free tour and translated some of the text to English for us. The rooms focused on three local people who were percieved to have psychological conditions, but became famous in one way or another through their work, or the story associated with their life. We were grateful to the lady - who I think was a student or something and so gave her a few euros for her help, and headed off to meet Siobhan who had been struggling at the post office trying to post books home for the last few hours.

That evening we had a wonderful meal cooked for us by Anna-lena, and were merry well into the night. It was kind of the homely dinner setting I think we had all missed for some time, so it was especially nice to be there eating good food with awesome friends. We organised our stuff, weighed our packs and got a good sleep before the mamoth trip to London the following day.

Thur 13th Nov - Leipzig to London via Berlin

Leaving Liepzig early we made it to Berlin where we had most of the day to look around. I went off on my own for a wander around town as I wanted to climb up into the government house but no one else was interested. There was a line of course, but not nearly as long as I witnessed on the weekend. About half an hour later due to rigorous security checks and I was in. It was a great view from the top and I could see many of the famous landmarks on the horizon. Back on the ground I had some time to kill before our train to the airport. I went to a lunch bar and had a rather ordinary pizza type thing, but used the time to write up some of my blog. I then went for a walk along the river and found a neat little restaurant near the university. The other guys would have loved this place. Classical music was played and the room had a feeling of elegance about it. I had a soup and ginger beer which was pretty cheap, and continued to write up more of the last few days travelling.

It was 5pm and time to head back to the train station. The walk was really enjoyable back along the river as the sun set and the moon lifted above the horizon line. I took many a photo on the way back as the sight of the moon reflecting along the shimmering water was something else. Well as with all the best plans, everyone was back on time and we grabbed out stored luggage from the station and took the train to the Airport. The flight to London went very quickly and soon we found ourselves at the train station. It was an 11 pound train from the Airport to London, which took about an hour. This is one of the problems with cheap flights, as the destination airport is often miles away from the city. We met up with Ed who was waiting to greet us and settled into their lounge room, all five of us like sardines. Still it was so nice to be in a home with good company in London.