Germany: Dresden

If you've come here looking for a chipper blog, try again tomorrow. 

Having said that, I'll do my best not to be a total poop, but today wasn't my favorite. I will still pull out some positives...maybe tomorrow (I'm posting this unfinished).

This morning, I checked out of my hotel and asked the dude at reception, the easiest way to the Berlin Schönefeld airport. This is not the main airport in Berlin, but it's the one I'd flown into from Dublin, so I picked it when pre-booking and pre-paying for a rental car. He said there was a regional train from the Zoo train station. The zoo was a 5 minute walk from my hotel (surprise, surprise). The train station was another 5 minutes up the street, but this was not communicated very clearly and led to a small bit of confusion. Meanwhile, because it's morning and chilly out and I'm walking at a brisk pace, my lungs are rejecting everything about this. I had to stop more than once to hack and wheeze and regain some oxygen. Once I found the train station, I found the information booth and asked an employee if he spoke English. "Nein" he was kidding. Schadenfreude. It's the German version of sarcasm, I think. He told me that due to construction, I would not be able to take one train, but would have to transfer. Honestly, he gave me such good directions that only had trouble finding the platforms because they are in no order that makes any sense. Still, it was a pretty smooth go. And it only cost me 3.30 Euro rather than the 40 Euro it'd taken when I took a taxi. (It's always easier GOING to the airport). 

What I noticed while on the train was that the city of (East) Berlin has a lot of buildings that look like prisons. Or public housing. Which makes sense, honestly, considering it was Communist for such a long time. 

Also, I heard an American man complaining to his wife about getting a fine for not validating a train ticket prior to getting on the train. He was upset that the officer didn't speak better English, so he could argue his way out of the ticket. This is a typical American sentiment, which I frankly agree with...in America. But the customer is not always right in Germany (or Australia for that matter). I had read up on how to take public transportation and even linked to it in one of these blogs. On the site, it clearly said to validate your ticket or you will be fined 40 Euro. They do not care if you are a tourist. The rules are the rules in Germany. 

<To be updated...>

• Early for rental car. No cars available. 
• Got a sandwich, came back 20min later, had a car.
• GPS to English
• Car was not full of fuel, the "service" light is on
• Went to Dresden, found myself in a beautiful plaza
• Couldn't find parking
• for a while
• it sucked
• Saw cool stuff
• Ate potatoes
• Left

<enter good stuff here and captions>

Germany: Berlin free walking tour

I went on a free walking tour of Berlin today, thanks to the recommendation of my friend Mel. I highly recommend this, if you are capable of walking for about 3 hours. Berlin is a super flat city and there is A LOT of cool stuff to see in a pretty small area, so that made the walking pretty easy. 

This morning started out a little rough, due to a lousy night's sleep. I had reached the stuffy nose part of this cold. Breathing through both nostrils was a challenge. But I digress.

I had breakfast and got ready earlier than needed, which meant that I got to go back to bed for a little rest. Though lovely, this made getting up and out the door at 10am VERY HARD. I almost gave up but I have this little voice inside my head (planted there by Tony Robbins) that says, "When else are you going to have the chance to do this? DO IT NOW!" So I got up and out. I bought two bus tickets from the train station near my hotel and caught the 10:20am bus. Bus number 100. This was the fullest bus I'd ever been on (until the afternoon ride home). Standing room only. You know that small section in the front of the bus, where there's a line that says, "Do not stand here". There were 6 of us standing there. At one point, I was so smooshed, 4 other people were touching me at once. I counted the number of stops on my hand to make sure I got off at the right place, but 50% of the other passengers did too. Brandenburg Gate.

This was the meeting point of the walking tour. Well, technically, the Starbucks on the corner of Brandenburg Gate. There were over 130 of us going on the tour. We were split into groups of about 30, which turned out to be perfect. My tour guide was a tall Englishman (probably in his 20's) - easy to follow because of his height. He was passionate about the story of Berlin and also hosted other tours (more Nazi/3rd Reich focused). 

Meeting Point

I learned many, many facts and took a handful of notes on my iPhone. First thing, the woman in the statue on top of the gate was stolen and put in the Louvre for a long time. Once it was retaken by Germany and put back in place, they changed her name to Victory - so there will always been Victory in Germany over the French. The square that the Gate is in is known as Paris Square for this reason.

Also in Paris Square is the most expensive hotel in Berlin.
This is the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from a balcony window.

We walked through the gates and stopped briefly. The first thing we all noticed was the odor of sewage that wafted through us. Our Tour Guide, who I'm going to call Wills (which is his last name, but also he sort of looked and sounded like Prince William), said that Berlin is actually built on top of a swamp. So, the smell is common in Berlin.

Wills - Tour Guide

Around the corner was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. We learned that there are several memorials to each of the groups effected by the holocaust (Jews, Gays, etc). The memorial is stunning. There are 2,711 concrete slabs. Wills said that the tour group asked the artist what it meant and he basically said, "It means whatever you feel when you look at it." Which is a typical artist answer. Here's what I think, after some input from Wills and walking through it again on my own after the tour. The slabs vary is size, the ground on which they're built is like a wave. Wills said it could signify Hitler's rise to power as the outer slabs are very low to the ground, often ignored or tolerated by passers by. I found the taller ones feel imposing. They block the sun. Dominate your view. It's easy to get lost in there. The other thing to note is that they are not symmetrically placed. This might be because this memorial was based on or influenced by the memorial in Prague which is overwhelmed by headstones, which are touching and falling over on each other. There is a museum underneath the memorial, which I did not get a chance to go into, but it focuses on a few individuals. Rather than trying to digest what it meant for 6 Million Jews to die (1/2 the European population of Jews), the museum expresses that each one of those 6 million was a real person, with family and a story of their own. 

This first picture was taken around 11:30am and gives you an idea of how flat (in color and depth) the memorial can look at different times of the day.

The rest of these shots were taken around 3pm where the shadows add gravity to each slab.

Then we walked to a car park where Hitler's bunker had been and part of it is still buried 15m below the surface. This is where Hitler and Eva Braun were married, shortly before their suicides. There is nothing to see at this spot. Anyone involved in genocide is generally cremated and dumped at sea, so no shrine can be made to them and the same goes any site where Hitler could have been remembered. The bunker was destroyed, buried and eventually a car park was built.

And on we went to the Berlin Wall. The section of the wall we saw could be considered an edge of the wall. Not the main bit you might've seen on TV or in films, but still part of the wall none-the-less. Wills told us the history of Germany, how it came to be that Berlin was split. That the wall went up overnight (Aug 13th 1961). First as barbed wire and then four days later as the wall. There were two walls. And the space between them was for the guard tower to keep an eye out for anyone trying to cross from East to West Berlin. They would either be arrested or shot if trying to cross over. There is so much more to this time period that I can't cover here, but I will point out that when the wall went up, whatever side of the wall you were on is where you would live. If your family was on the other side, you wouldn't get to see them again for 28 1/2 years, but at the time it was thought it would be forever. If you slept on one side of the wall, but worked on the other, you lost your job. If you were in love with your fiance who was on the other side of the wall, too bad. 

The tour also covered the Prussian Headquarters, The Ministry of Ministries (an old Nazi building still used today...not by Nazis), Checkpoint Charlie, Jean Dame square, Bebelpatz and much more which I can't begin to summarise. I do hope that if you're ever in Berlin, you give a walking tour a go. It's worth it.  

60% of Berlin was destroyed in WWII. These buildings were rebuilt in the 1980's.
You might notice the sculptures on top are darker than the buildings themselves.
The sculptures are originals, saved from being destroyed and returned.

 

In 1933, the Nazi's burned 20,000 books in this square.

A permanent book sale at Humbolt University.
All proceeds go to charity as an apology for 1933's book burning.

Travelling Side Effects

I've been meaning to write this particular blog entry for a few days now and since I'm basically stuck in my hotel room with nothing else to do...now is as good a time as any. 

I started my European leg of this journey on April 1st. It is now May 14th. That is 6 solid weeks of travelling. It's been fun and challenging. This blog entry is about the things I've learned about travelling or about myself. 

Something that has made my travels easier, for example, is that every hotel has an English speaking receptionist and take-away maps of the city. If you get lost, walk into a hotel and ask for help. If they can't help you (which would shock me) they almost always have wi-fi which you could then use to look up a map of where you are and where you need to go. Hotels also have food if you find yourself stuck in a country where all the stores are shut for a holiday you've never heard of. Hotels also have bathrooms which they'll never say 'no' to you using. 

For the first month of my trip, I couldn't remember what day it was. Usually, I knew the day of the week, but not the date, which is important for trains and flights and things. Over the last few days, I've been waking up or even mid-day having these moments where I have no idea where I am. I might be able to tell the country, but the city is a mystery for like 5 minutes of hard thinking. "Where the hell am I?"

For some reason I have no problem remembering my hotel room number. It's easy for me to forget yesterday's number and remember today's. For most of my trip, I've had a new hotel room in a new city every night. My gmail inbox is filling up with requests from Trip Advisor, Expedia, Hotels.com, etc to give feedback on a specific hotel room. If I don't do it immediately, there's no chance in me remembering the room, let alone the staff who checked me in or the cleanliness of the foyer. 

I've learned that my first stop in any city needs to be to pick up water and food for the hotel room. Especially if I'm staying in a budget room like an Ibis or Travelodge or a cheap B&B. Water is a must or I'll get headaches. Food is optional, but good to have for that midnight hunger that won't let me fall asleep. Buying one banana is good. I'll usually eat it right away but buying two means I'll have a squishy banana in my bag for two days before throwing it out.

Because I've been alternating between cheap places and sort of cheap places, only half of them offer travel-sized bottles of shampoo and soap. I grab them when I can get them, so I have something at the super cheap places that only offer the shampoo/body wash combination on a pump on the wall. Not my favorite.

Like I said, for the most part, I've been switching hotels every night. But on those rare occasions when I have a hotel for two nights, I make sure to do a small load of laundry in the sink (usually using the shampoo or body wash from the previous hotel). This gives the clothes time to hang and dry before moving on. Funny side story, the first thing I wanted to do when I arrived in Copenhagen was use my friend's washing machine for my jeans. I brought two pairs with me on the trip and one pair worn in Italy was starting to give me the creeps. I have mentioned that the public bathrooms in Italy are horrendous. You don't want to touch anything while you're in there and I was starting to over think how many times the bottom hem of my jeans might have, for a second, touched the floor. I was either going to chuck those jeans in a washing machine or in a fire. Thankfully, I washed them.

Public transportation is a wonderful option for the traveller but it's a lot harder than I thought. The hard part, honestly, is buying the ticket. Is it by stop (go 3 stops, pay for 3 stops), is it by zone (how far is a zone), if I take a bus, do I need a ticket or will they take cash and if they say how much cash will I understand? Tomorrow, I have to take the number 100 bus to Brandenburg Gate for a walking tour that I've booked. I was lucky enough to see the bus and the bus stop today, so I know where to get on (and in which direction) but I have anxiety about paying for the bus. My tips for this are google something like this, ask the front desk person at your hotel or take a handful of change and smile with your hand out at the bus driver when saying "Brandenburg Gate?". A smile goes a long way.

When in Italy, Kate and I went to buy some bananas. We took a few and the check out clerk started speaking to us in Italian. Obviously, we'd done something wrong. We made the "I don't know. I'm sorry." Face and sort of half smiled our apologies. She took the bananas, got up, went back to the fruit stand, weighed them and took a print out ticket of the amount from the scale. Woops. But hey, we learned. 

What else? 

This might be more of a life lesson than a travelling lesson, but always focus on the positive. There is just no point finding the thing that makes you upset and then looking for it everywhere you go. You will find what you look for, so look for the good. If you hate the lack of personal space in a country, get used to it and focus on the fact that they have really good gelato and you'll reward yourself with one when you're out of this queue/line. 

The only other thing I can think of right now is a combination of what might seem like two opposing thoughts. Do what the locals do and do what you're comfortable with. For example, have espresso in France but maybe not tripe. Know your limits and bend them if possible, but do not break them. 

OH, one more thing. Be courteous! Don't pretend you are the king of the world and say things loudly like, "I don't understand why they do this, or that, it's just disgusting!" Save that for when you're at home with your family and friends. You're in their town so shut your trap and smile. If you don't like something, walk away. Or run away if it's something really bad, but complaining about it isn't going to help you.

Ok, my head is all fuzzy from sitting upright for so long. I'm going to go back to coughing lying down. Peace out for now.  

Ich bin krank

I woke up full blown sick this morning. Cough and cold. I fully accept this as my reality and understand completely why I am sick. First of all, I'm exposing myself to a lot of germs while traveling (trains, planes, airports, etc). Then I'm pushing myself really hard to go, go, go. See all I can, do all I can. I'm not eating the best. Fruits and vegetables are scarce in my diet right now as I'm opting for "fun" foods. Pizza, pasta, gelato in Italy for example. The change in climates is a factor. Italy to Denmark to Ireland to Germany in less than two weeks exposed me to a lot of temperature changes and pollens, etc. So, I accept my fate and have no complaints (other than being sick isn't exactly fun).

Originally, I was only going to stay in Berlin for two nights, leaving one full day for sightseeing. I have extended my stay by one day, to leave one full day for cough syrup, ibuprofen and sleep and one day for a walking tour and more rest. I'm also adjusting my crazy dream drive to exclude Austria (and possibly the Czech Republic, but I'd REALLY like to get to Prague as the other side of my family is from there). 

My number one priority has to be getting better, slowing down. And that's fine by me. No regrets what-so-ever. This is life. And I'm going to do what I have to (and want to) do to enjoy myself. Staying in bed when sick is happiness for me right now. Public transportation and sightseeing would be misery. 

Ryan Air to Germany: Ich bin ein Berliner (I know, I know)

I have reached Berlin. 

Germany. The home of 1/2 my people. I honestly didn't think I'd feel a swell of family pride or patriotism or something, but when I stepped off the plane...wait, let me back up the story.

This morning, I awoke to a fire alarm at 7am. Since my room had a back door to the parking lot, I didn't leave immediately, even though the fire alarm was going off for a few minutes. If I needed to leave, I'd be outside in one step, but I did get dressed for cold Irish weather. When my jacket was on, the fire alarm stopped and I was super awake, even though I didn't have to leave the hotel for a few hours. Overall, I was happy to be awake in another fantastic hotel and used the time wisely. Namely, I surfed the internet while TV in English was on in the background.

When the time came, I drove by the ostrich (rolled down my window and said goodbye. He/She either gave me the evil eye or nodded goodbye). At the Dublin airport, I put fuel in the Juke and returned the car to Avis. At that exact moment, a shuttle bus pulled up to take me to the terminal. Travelling Ju Ju! Love it. I took a seat and 5 minutes later, when the shuttle bus was full, we took off and I was sitting next to an Irish woman who now lives in Toronto. We had a good ol' chat about traveling. "Oh, you're right to do it while you're young." I get that a lot, which is fantastic (thank you Smarsh for coloring my hair, it helps). When people find out how old I am they aren't so much shocked as wondering why I'm not married. They don't say it directly, but they'll skirt around it. "Oh, ya know, in your mid-thirties circumstances do change. You could have a family, blah blah" you get it. It's fun.

I talked to more people in Ireland than anywhere else. Though, to be fair, I did speak to a high percentage of people I ran into i Copenhagen/Malmo being that I was only there a day each and made friends with people on the bus both days. But Ireland, oh, Ireland. The people are so friendly and ready for a chat. On my first day there, the shuttle bus driver was having a chin wag with a passenger from Florida who said, "In Florida, we get all the rain we need in five minutes." The Irish driver said in response, "In Ireland we get rain every five minutes." 

Every B&B proprietor, hotel receptionist, restaurateur, person on the street and that lovely lady at the Post office in the middle of NOWHERE were so friendly. The only other place like it is Australia. I had such a great time.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, so Terminal 1. Said goodbye and happy travels to the Irish Canadians and checked into my Ryan Air flight. 

Having lived in Australia for 6 and 1/2 years, I have watched A LOT of British TV and learned that Ryan Air is the cheap-o airline for Europe. I would equate it to Southwest but with a worse/punchlinier reputation. It's like the Fresno of airlines. I was a little nervous about flying with them because of this, but the timing and the price were perfect. Checked in, went through security no problems. I was in a pharmacy in the airport with cough syrup in my hand (yeah, I'm sick again. Just a cough, I hope) when an alarm went off. Beeoooobeeep "Attention Please. Attention Please. We are responding to an alarm activation. Please evacuate this area immediately and follow the directions of airport staff." My first thought was, "Shit" and then "Oh damn, my flight's going to be delayed" and then "I really need this cough syrup". So, everyone in the pharmacy steps into the hallway outside it, which is under construction. We all look at each other while the alarm recording keeps playing. We have no idea where to go. The good news is that NO ONE panicked. No one really gave two craps. After three more run throughs of the same announcement, a "staff member" said, "If you're on a Ryan Air flight, come this way." And she ambled off in a direction towards some gates. The alarm tone/recording stopped after a few more minutes and people kept just walking in that direction. The woman was gone. I couldn't spot her. I wasn't sure what was happening. Were we still evacuating? We were just going to the gates? A mile later, I get to another wing of the airport, actually where my gate was, but there was no pharmacy there, so I had to walk all the way back to the other wing, buy the cough medicine and return (another mile) back for my gate.

Everything went smoothly.

The first "cheap" thing about Ryan air that I noticed were the clientele. I'm going to exaggerate for effect here, be warned. Imagine toothless, skinny redneck families from the deep south (only they're from Ireland or Germany). These are people who you KNOW stood in line for their government check to pay for this flight. The next cheap thing was that we had to walk to the plane and climb up a ladder to get there...ok stairs, but you get it. Other things I noticed: There were no seat back pockets, the Mormon style short sleeved white shirt with black pants "uniforms" were probably bought by the employees at the Walmart equivalent. But honestly, that's it. It was an inexpensive flight that I slept the whole way on and had more leg room than the Aer Lingus flight I'd taken to get there. The complaints people have of Ryan Air come when they don't follow the "rules" and there are a lot of them. This is one time when you want to read the fine print. If you don't print or bring an electronic copy of your boarding pass, they'll charge you to print it out. If you don't check in online prior to getting to the airport, they'll charge you for it. If your carry-on luggage is too big, they'll charge you 50 Euro. If you arrive late, they leave without you. There's more, but you get the point. I followed the rules, paid for my luggage beforehand and my seat and was happy. No complaints.

I arrived in Germany! We landed and taxied for a long time, then parked and walked down the stairs to German soil (pavement) and something happened inside me. Minutes before, I had been asleep on the plane or awake but feeling lousy, coughing, etc. But now, I stood up tall and looked around. This is the land of my ancestors. Not Berlin specifically, but Germany. My mother's parents grew up here. My mother's father's family (Rosenbaum) got the family name here in the year 1440 from a dude who had the best "Rose Tree" on the block. I'm pretty damned excited to be here. This is history. Not the history of someone else that I've been seeing in France, Spain, Italy, Etc. This is MY history. And at the end of this trip to Germany, I'll be spending a few days with MY German relatives. Awesome!

So, through customs (got a passport stamp. YES). Got my bag right away, some cash for a taxi and then a taxi. Now, this guy did not speak English at all and I do not speak German AT ALL. I showed him the address of my hotel and we got on the freeway at breakneck speeds. The meter was FLYING. 10 Euro, 20 Euro, 30 Euro and then he took an exit and we were in traffic. The meter stopped. It's mostly distance based, which is great. We were in some rush hour "normal" traffic for a few minutes and then we were in traffic that was NOT at all normal. My driver got out of the car to see what was going on. Other drivers got out of their cars. 1/2 a block ahead of us a police car drove by with his lights on. Then another. Then an ambulance. Then another. All with their lights on. Some with their sirens. Then another police car. The taxi driver got back in and said, "Ah, Berlin." I asked him if the hotel was close and through some trial and error, I found out that it was "ein kilometre". I can walk that, even sick. His directions were in German, so I paid the man 40 Euro and got out. I walked to the front of the traffic jam where a cop was holding everybody back. I crossed the street in front of the cars and then it was clear to me that this was a MASSSSSSIVE motorcade. Police cars drove by, then a crazy formation of police motorcycles and THEN unmarked black cars with somebody special inside. I saw one car with at least one, but it felt like more, woman wearing a black Hijab or Burka - eyes only is what I saw. Then a few more police cars and it was over. 

It's never a good sign when your cab driver LEAVES THE TAXI

I asked at the Best Western for directions to my hotel (the budget Ibis) and the lovely receptionist told me I was very close. It was around the corner! When I checked in, my reception guy said that the King of Jordan is in town and that dignitaries are staying at the Intercontinental nearby. Ooooh, fancy!

As if this day couldn't get any better, I dropped off my bags in my room (small, like a dormitory, but who cares) and went out to find dinner and bottles of water. Across the street from my hotel is a grocery store! Brilliant! (Also, it's super near a train station). 

Massive win today. I'm on the last leg of my European journey and loving it! Can't wait to see what Germany brings.

Ireland: Galway, Dublin, Guinness and Finnstown Castle Hotel

Since my hotel room in Galways was so nice, I decided to have breakfast and then lounge around for a little while. It was a glorious start to the morning. 

Then I drove 2 hours to Dublin and decided to take the Guinness brewery tour, which honestly put me in a bad mood. I'm all for there being too many tourists in a place, but you've got to handle it better. There were 7 floors and the flow of traffic was out of control. The "tour" was self-guided and the audio we were supposed to listen to was so quiet, it couldn't be heard. Not only that, but I did most of it backwards, so if I tried to brew a beer...it would end up being hops floating in sludge, I'm pretty sure. But still. Guinness in Dublin Ireland. That's pretty cool.

Then I put my last hotel in Ireland in the GPS. First of all, in Ireland nothing has a street number. At least none of the hotels I've booked. Just get on the street and start looking.

The Finnstown Castle Hotel was supposed to be 7 minutes from the brewery but due to "rush hour" traffic, it took about 20. Totally worth it once I turned onto the grounds of the place. It felt like that scene in Bridesmaids where Kristin Wiig shows up to the bridal shower at Helen's. There was a LONG driveway with impeccable lawns on both sides. 

This being Ireland, there were cows on my right, which immediately made me happy. And THEN on my left, an ostrich and two llamas!

My room is also fab, but they won me over with the ostrich. 

And the adorable llamas

Ehr ma gehrd, so cute!

Even cuter when scratching his face

Ok, and the cows. 

Cow's milk...it's for baby cows

I am much happier now. What a great way to end my trip to Ireland! Tomorrow I fly Ryan Air (God help me) to Berlin where I will spend two nights and then rent a car and push on driving for about 10 days. I'll also catch up with some German relatives, most of whom I've never met. Should be a great trip. I'm really looking forward to it.