Day 1: Lübeck
Eight of us left Aix-en-Provence and headed to the Marseilles airport where we had to catch our plane. There was a little bit of drama because our rail passes had not gotten to us in Aix yet and we desperately needed them to travel throughout Germany, not to mention the fact that we had already paid for them. However, it soon got settled when we figured out that they were waiting for us in Marseilles. Perfect. So we picked them up and got on the plane and headed to Lübeck. Once there, my friend Jacob met us at the airport. He drove me and Saqib to the hostel while the others took a bus and met us there.
After spending entirely too much time at the hostel (I was anxious to get out and explore) we headed out. Jacob took us around the city for a little while and we looked at a few shops. The architecture was awesome and it looked good even though it was bad weather. Lübeck is set up so that the center of town is an island, which is actually really cool. The river going all around it is really nice and all of the ways to get on to the island require going through some really nice piece of architecture.
We found a candy shop and there was also some kind of music festival going on so there was a band playing. But it was getting towards night time and it was raining so we all wanted to get inside and get some food. He took us to this amazing restaurant. The entire menu was in German so we were going to order randomly but Jacob helped translate a lot. I don't know what we would have done that first day without someone to help us check into the hostel and order fantastic food. I ordered a pasta dish with meat sauce and eggplant that had cheese melted on it to create a layer of warm wonderful stringy heaven. The waitress was really nice too. She spoke a little bit of English. She had told us that they had self made bread so it cost extra, and after we told her that we were from California she got shy. She came back and said to us "Now that I know you are from California I am really embarassed, self made bread is not the word for what I said...what is it?" And we told her it was homemade bread. I took a picture with her, but the camera it was one was unfortunately lost in Oktoberfest madness. After dinner we went to a pub and then a German club and had a great night. I ordered some currywurst later that night, first taste of German sausage and I was actually surprised, it was quite good.
Day 2: Berlin
We woke up this morning and left the hostel (again taking way to much time to get moving). We took the train into Hamburg and then from Hamburg got a train to Berlin. The railpass worked awesome and I am so glad we got it. Once in Berlin we separated and I spent the day with Kristin and Saqib. We met this guy named Keenan at the bahnhof and we hung out with him as well. We did not know where to go or what to do and we were all still incredibly confused about the transportation system and the maps and how to get where and stuff. Keenen helped us out a little but he was a newbie in Berlin too. We finally just picked a random stop to get off the train and it ended up that we picked the exact spot that we wanted to be. We first saw the Brandenburg Gate.
Kristin and I had a photoshoot in front of the gate. Saqib and Keenan were our photographers and we were definately good models. :-D
There was a marathon going on at the time so there were a bunch of food tents set up all around on the other side of the gate. We just walked around and I found a building that I wanted to walk to so we headed in that direction. We took some pictures of the building then continued walking. We ended up at a sign at the end of the street and tried to figure out where we were. We kept saying berlin wall because we wanted to at least see that while we were in Berlin. Finally this guy heard us and he said "you are at the Berlin wall"...we all felt incredibly stupid. All that was still left of the wall where we were was a little strip of different colored bricks. It is amazing to think about how many times we crossed the wall without even thinking about it or knowing that we were doing it, while not so long ago people were getting shot for attempting to cross it.
But that was not the end of our stupidity, oh no. We also wanted to see the Reichstag, because that is one of the main buildings we had heard about. So while we were wandering around the map at the end of the road and trying to figure out the map, we realized that the building that we had been taking pictures of all along was the Reichstag, we were just on the back side of it. Blonde moment for all of us. :-/ We wanted to go inside but there was a really long line to get in and once again it was raining and we didnt want to be outside that long standing in a line.
However, we stayed outside and went to visit the Holocaust Memorial. I wasn't quite sure what it symbolized but I learned later that the field of concrete pillars on a cobblestone ground that undulates symbolizes gravestones floating close together on a stormy sea. It was really big, it took up a whole city block. There was a museum underneath it, but once again the line was really long.
After the memorial we wandered around looking for Hitlers old bunker, but no such luck. We ended up going back to the train station, dropping off Keenan, and heading to the place we were going to spend the night. We had found a place to couch surf, which means we get to stay at someones house for free. The guy was really nice and he was hosting another girl as well. He took us out to an art gallery opening that was displaying some photographs and he took us to a place with live music, which was really fun. The first band was really good and the lead singer had so much energy it was amazing. The facial expressions that he was making had me laughing so hard and I couldn't keep my eyes off of him.
The second band was not very good at all and I almost fell asleep. It might also have had something to do with the fact that we had been walking around all day and it was getting late. He took us to a part of the berlin wall that was still standing. It was actually really cool to see because they had reconstructed the other half of the wall so that we could see no mans land in the middle of the two walls. I wish we had seen it during the day, but I am glad I got to see it.
So we took the train back to his house with him and we crashed on his fold out mattress. Ending another day with wet clothes but a warm bed.Day 3: Munich
We woke up early today and caught a train to Munich, which is where Oktoberfest is held. On the ICE train it took 6 hours to get there. But it was a good six hours, the countryside was beautiful and it gave us a chance to study a little French and write about our adventures.
We finally got to Munich and had an exciting time trying to find our campsite. We got off at the wrong stop etc etc, but we finally found it and set up our tent that we had been carrying around the entire time. Then we finally headed to Oktoberfest! It was giant. We went to the Hippodrome beer garden and the Armbrustschützen beer tent that night and thats about it. We hung out in the beer tent for a long time because everyone was dancing on the tables and we were meeting so many people. Surprisingly a lot of people spoke English. We met Kristin's friend Myke there and hung out with him for a while too.
Kristin and I wandered around the tent for a little while too just meeting people, taking pictures with people who had dressed up, and enjoying all the music. At the end of the night we made our way back to our tent and I snuggled up in my warm sleeping bag.
Day 4: Munich Again
We woke up semi early today and just went straight to Oktoberfest. We pretty much stayed in the same tent all day, the Hofbräu tent. It was really cool because we had met these group of guys the day before and they just happened to be in the same tent as us. So we hung out with them all day. I got amazing ribs in the tent and the liters of beer were awesome too. The pretzels were huge and there was so much dancing and music and fun.
I went outside a few times and found one of the beer carts that carries all of the kegs into the festival. It was all decorated and cool lookin. They get brought into the festival pulled by horses. When we walked in today we followed one in.
Later in the day the rest of the group met up with us. They had left Berlin at 4 in the morning and taken the train down. It was good to see them and have even more people that we knew in our group.
At night time I walked around and looked at all the rest of the tents and checked out all of the rides. It was like a giant fair, but with beer tents instead of craft tents. It was awesome. :-D At the end of the night we once again took the long trek back to our campground.
Day 5: Munich Once Again
Today we took a small break from Oktoberfest and went to see the other sights of Munich. It was beautiful. We went to Marienplatz which is where the old city is. It had a lot of cathedrals and other architecture. We again split up into two groups, it is so hard to stay in a group of 7 people. I spent awhile in a cathedral and then moved on to buy some chocolate and sit in a park. We then listened to a jazz band for a little while that was really nice.
We then decided to go one more time to Oktoberfest. We went back to the first beer tent that we had gone to, and spent as long as we could there.
Unfortunately we had to leave to make our night train back to Hamburg, so we said goodbye to Oktoberfest: Auf Wiedersehen!
When all was said and done I left Oktoberfest broke, not having showered since the hostel in Lübeck 4 days earlier and with a stein from the Hippodrome. Success. :-D We all had a lovely sleep on the night train and when we woke up we were in Hamburg!
Day 6: Hamburg, Lübeck, Home
Funny story: When we arrived at the Hamburg Hbf, which is the main station, I asked Kristin if it was the last stop and she told me yes, it was. So I took my sweet time getting my stuff together to get off the train. Everyone was off the train except Saqib and I and all of a sudden the doors shut and would not open again. We had no idea where the next stop was but we had no choice but to roll with it. I am actually kind of glad that I missed the stop because I got to see one of the most beautiful parts of Hamburg.
The next stop wasn't that far away and we just hopped on the first train back to the main station. We met up with everyone else in a cafe in the city and just hung out there and talked for awhile before we had to catch a train back to Lübeck. While in Lübeck, I just sat in the city square and people watched because nothing was open. It was the day of the German reunification, so it was a national holiday. I was really bummed because I had gone back there just to buy boots that were really cheap. But such is life. We got to see some other pretty parts of Lübeck at least.
Then we went to the airport and came back to life in wonderful Aix-en-Provence. It was really weird today trying to speak in French after hearing so much German. I bought some food at the market and I kept saying Danke to them instead of Merci. At least I had stopped saying Thank You though. :-P
1 commentaire:
Looks like you were in Berlin, when I was in Copenhagen.
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