So... the drama begins when we board the airline and none of us are sitting together. 32 E, 39 E, 41 E, and 43 E had us screaming at the top of our lungs because we hadn't had enough of each other quite yet. Some were nice enough to let us switch around, while others decided to face the wrath of us bitching and complaining the entire time because they wanted the aisle seat. Colleen made friends with her neighbors from Glendale, Kevy did not and almost got in a fist fight on the plane, which was either before or after her and KT spilled entire glasses of red wine on their shirts mid-sleep.
We finally made it to Munich and the boys were waiting for us at the airport as requested (which was good because we would have had no clue how to get to Munich's city centre). They thought we would prefer to sleep upon arrival but instead we dragged them to the Hofbrauhaus, a place neither of them had been after 23 years of living in Munich. As usual, it was a complete scene, pictures were taken of all of us, Kevy and I got accused of being twins, which is particulary ironic considering she already has her own, and we became a full-fletched mockery in no time. PROOOSSSTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, I am not sure if anyone has ever been to "Opening Day" of Oktoberfest before, but we would like to tell you that we liken it to the Running of the Bulls. We arrived at 8, the doors opened at 9, but the beer didnt begin flowing until noon. A man with beer stuffed in his lederhosen was happy to share, and we were happy to drink. When the doors opened, we have never seen so much pandemonium in our entire lives!!!!!!!!! Grabbing for the straps of any lederhosen we were with, the crowd rushed forward and we were thrust fwd with them...thru the doors that were hanging from the hinges, and with a very frightened hostess who had the mostess of her clothes ripped off in the scuffle, we ran in and we were some of the lucky ones out of 10,000 who found ourselves a table.
You all know the rest from here... 2 steins turned to 4 steins... 4 steins turned to carnival rides that Kevy doesnt remember... and the night ended with not only a ride on the bumper cars, but a breathalizer blowing that was unprecedented in both U.S. and German history. Kevy McNeill= 2.68 on the alcohol richter scale. We were sure we lost her; however, thanks to a midnight Emergen-C, she didnt even have a hangover the next day. Some of us didnt fair so well...
The next day, we got bossed into sightseeing a bit, which only led us back to the motherland...the Hofbrauhaus. We have all seen our fair share of castles, homes that dick-na-terians have lived in, and we had already climbed 300+ stairs, so it was only logical that we quenched our thirst with another stein. We got in trouble twice that day: once at the Hofbrauhaus for slamming our steins on the table, and when we got home too for not calling the boys to tell them where we were. Early to bed, early to stein... we woke up the next morning for our last day at Oktoberfest!
We had a proper German breakfast (nein bier) and trapsed to the tents pretty early to do some shopping. We were over the shopping though and became distracted by the ride of all rides!!!! Kevy and I stayed back and nearly had a heart attack watching, so you can imagine how KT and Colleen must have felt on this ride that was 160 feet high and went 65 mph, spinning face down towards the fairgrounds, with those of us on the ground screaming for dear life in between their shrieks of fear. We made it to the tents, had the requisite 5 more steins of beer (we think), equalling roughly 15 beers, and rounded out the night at the Kartoffelhaus and Barschweine.
We are now in Salzburg and this place is awesome!!! We have officially scared the crap out of two German boys (and one friend) and worn out our welcome indefinitely. We'd like to close with some our favorite German phrases we've learned along the way: bier hier, prost, titten, sheiser, you shut your mouth when you're talking to me, vixa, vah-ghina, and krankenvagen. Danke schoen and we will talk to everyone after Salzburg.
For sheizle, my neizle...
Kyle, Colleen, KT and Drunken Girl... I mean, Kevy
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Oktoberfest Part Deux?
You betcha! Apparently, the tidal wave of beer we consumed last year wasn't sufficient, so we're heading back for Oktoberfest Part Deux...and we have 2 new recruits coming with us! Below is out itinerary--be sure to check the blog for updates about our travels.
September 15-19- Munich, Germany
September 19-21- Salzburg, Austria
September 21-23- Budapest, Hungary
September 23-26- London, UK
~ Kyle, Colleen, Katie, and Kevy
September 15-19- Munich, Germany
September 19-21- Salzburg, Austria
September 21-23- Budapest, Hungary
September 23-26- London, UK
~ Kyle, Colleen, Katie, and Kevy
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Prost, Prost, Prost, Prost... and Some More Prost!
We dont even know where to start with this one... first and foremost, we are trying to type this and the Y and Z are switched on the computer, so if this looks odd, chances are it is!
Munich is once again amazing! We got in on Sunday night after quite a train ride in. This old man that kept mumbling to himself decided we would be especially nice eye candy for the duration of the ride- he sat there starring at us the entire time and it was the most uncomfortable thing ever. So I strapped on my iPod and Colleen laughed the entire way here because he was making her so uncomfortable. We finally ditched him and arrived at the main train station... holy mother of a drunken crowd!!! There were a million people traversing thru the station in leiderhosen, these random hats, and even more were cruising down the street singing and going on their merry ways. We knew we had come to the right place!
After a slight detour, we found our hostel... and we were amped to find a bar attached! We werent sure how far the tents were but it turns out they are about 5 minutes away. Drank into the wee hours of the morning and met some nice people that evening that showed us a good time. Bed time... a little later than we anticipated!
So it was the next full day and we knew where we needed to go- we were due to meet Higgins and Rice at the Hofbrauhaus. Did they turn up?? No... but not to worry because we met 4 guys from Luxembourg (I guess u could say we met roughly 20 % of the country since its so small) and Colleen got proposed to by some Aussie... too funny! We had enough of the Hofbrauhaus and wanted to find these alleged "tents" we had heard so much about, but not before we drank a stein with a 70-year old man and did some shopping. Oops!
We got to the Hippodrom tent at like 6:30 and they were not going to let us in. Luckily we stood around and either annoyed or sweet talked the guy into it and he finally let us go in. Trying to order a beer from a wandering waiter, he told us we had to be at the table. Not a problem, guy... Colleen slammed down at the first table she saw and it was quite a good find: some German-American company that manufactures fire equipment and they were on the company card. We were instructed to pay for nothing, and thus, we were on the company card too!! It was great... slammed back a few more steins and it was time for bed- at 10pm.
Same kind of day transpired yesterday with highlights including lunch, lunch # 2, steins # 3, 4, 5, 6..., and our brand new, shimmering 25 euro bracelets that this German lady was telling us not to buy because we were getting ripped off. They are really cute though! Oktoberfest was great and we made it back to our hostel to take a quick (2 hour) nap and then hit the hostel bar. We thought we had met some authentic German boys in leiderhosen until they started talking... two American boys, one from Berkeley, one from UCSB (yes, UCSB... and he lived at FT freshman year and is 25). They spent 250 bucks on these legit leiderhosen costumes and sported them at the tents and into the night. It was hilarious!!
Right, so today is our last day in Munich... sniffle, sniffle... but we are off to Dublin this evening to really round out the trip in a sober state. Rrrrriiigghhhtt!!! Phil is a little apprehensive about us coming, we think, and we still arent 100% sure he will be at the airport to "collect" us this evening. We will find out!!! Cross your fingers and maybe even make a wish that we run into Higgins and Rice at some point today... not looking promising!
PROST!
Kyle and Colleen
Munich is once again amazing! We got in on Sunday night after quite a train ride in. This old man that kept mumbling to himself decided we would be especially nice eye candy for the duration of the ride- he sat there starring at us the entire time and it was the most uncomfortable thing ever. So I strapped on my iPod and Colleen laughed the entire way here because he was making her so uncomfortable. We finally ditched him and arrived at the main train station... holy mother of a drunken crowd!!! There were a million people traversing thru the station in leiderhosen, these random hats, and even more were cruising down the street singing and going on their merry ways. We knew we had come to the right place!
After a slight detour, we found our hostel... and we were amped to find a bar attached! We werent sure how far the tents were but it turns out they are about 5 minutes away. Drank into the wee hours of the morning and met some nice people that evening that showed us a good time. Bed time... a little later than we anticipated!
So it was the next full day and we knew where we needed to go- we were due to meet Higgins and Rice at the Hofbrauhaus. Did they turn up?? No... but not to worry because we met 4 guys from Luxembourg (I guess u could say we met roughly 20 % of the country since its so small) and Colleen got proposed to by some Aussie... too funny! We had enough of the Hofbrauhaus and wanted to find these alleged "tents" we had heard so much about, but not before we drank a stein with a 70-year old man and did some shopping. Oops!
We got to the Hippodrom tent at like 6:30 and they were not going to let us in. Luckily we stood around and either annoyed or sweet talked the guy into it and he finally let us go in. Trying to order a beer from a wandering waiter, he told us we had to be at the table. Not a problem, guy... Colleen slammed down at the first table she saw and it was quite a good find: some German-American company that manufactures fire equipment and they were on the company card. We were instructed to pay for nothing, and thus, we were on the company card too!! It was great... slammed back a few more steins and it was time for bed- at 10pm.
Same kind of day transpired yesterday with highlights including lunch, lunch # 2, steins # 3, 4, 5, 6..., and our brand new, shimmering 25 euro bracelets that this German lady was telling us not to buy because we were getting ripped off. They are really cute though! Oktoberfest was great and we made it back to our hostel to take a quick (2 hour) nap and then hit the hostel bar. We thought we had met some authentic German boys in leiderhosen until they started talking... two American boys, one from Berkeley, one from UCSB (yes, UCSB... and he lived at FT freshman year and is 25). They spent 250 bucks on these legit leiderhosen costumes and sported them at the tents and into the night. It was hilarious!!
Right, so today is our last day in Munich... sniffle, sniffle... but we are off to Dublin this evening to really round out the trip in a sober state. Rrrrriiigghhhtt!!! Phil is a little apprehensive about us coming, we think, and we still arent 100% sure he will be at the airport to "collect" us this evening. We will find out!!! Cross your fingers and maybe even make a wish that we run into Higgins and Rice at some point today... not looking promising!
PROST!
Kyle and Colleen
Monday, January 10, 2005
A Day in the Life of Munich
With only one day to spend in Munich, it was really up to us to figure out how we were going to spend our time. I guess u could say we figured it out... We arrived by train at 7am and luckily, we were able to check into our HOTEL. We watched a little MTV, saw a commercial for this annoying bird ringtone about 25 times (during an hour span) and then got ourselves up and ready!
We made our way down towards Marienplatz and on the way we saw an ice skating rink! We promptly decided that we would hit that up during the evening hours, which we did (we will discuss later). In walking down the street, we walked right into the Glochenschpiel ceremony and got some great footage for u folks! We were dying because we read our little pamphlet and they basically gave it to us straight- u would watch this thing for 5 minutes, be completely over it and want to bail. But it said u had to wait for the end because there was this rooster, named Hans, that would come out and if u didnt see that part, u didnt truly get the experience. Us being the stupid American suckers that we are did stick around to see Hans... OMG, probably the dumbest thing we have ever seen in our whole lives! And when he cockadoodledoo'd, it didnt even sound like a rooster. We were dying!!!!
On the way to the Kartoffelhaus (potato house) where we wanted to have lunch, we were disappointed to find out that it didnt open for another half hour (it was 11:30am and we hadnt eaten yet). But we did know that the Hofbrauhaus was just around the corner and would provide the perfect "shelter" to absorb our extra time! Oh boy... where do we start with this one!!!!!
The Hofbrauhaus is the oldest brewery and beer hall in Munich and we were told by Colleen's Mom and Alison that this was a "must see." And they were right!!!! At 11:30am, in we stumbled to find the place full of people, the oom-pah band in full force (and u cant wait to see the pictures and video of these guys!!!), and every single person in the joint was staring at us! We saddled ourselves up with some huge steins of beer and started making friends left and right. All we wanted was a picture with the band, but they INSISTED that we come up on the stage, Colleen was forced to sit on the accordion player's lap, and at this point, we were a full-fletched spectacle! People were making faces at us, taking our pictures (this is when we were back at our table) and really just entranced with the two of us. We decided that this was getting a little out of sorts and we NEEDED to eat by this point. So off we went to the Kartoffelhaus, a little later than our initial ETA (estimated time of arrival), and had the best beast of a potato lunch. We took pictures :)
It was certainly time for a nap after all of this stimulation so back we went to the HOTEL and took a little cat nap. We woke up and were so pumped because it was ICE SKATING TIME!! You have to understand, too, that Munich was unusually hot (it was like 45 degrees) for this time of year so we were so thankful to have nice weather once again. We made our way down to the rink and $20 later, we were on ice skates, trying to figure out whether our skating skills were condusive to videotaping. Colleen decided to stay back and let me have the first crack at the ice- surprisingly enough, those lessons I took when I was 5 paid off... I didnt eat shit once! Colleen was thoroughly amused and caught the entire thing on camera but after about 3 laps and the 80s song had ended, it was her turn! She made her way out onto the ice, a bit shakey at first, but she was doing just fine until this older lady completely bailed (think banana peel) right in front of her. I was manning the camera from the sidelines, trying not to laugh, but I knew that Colleen was going to try and help this lady up and I wasnt sure how it was going to pan out. Sure as shit, she bent down and somehow got this lady back on her skates without so much as losing her balance- nice work Colleen!!!!! We got braver as the session went on, and we were getting really bored because the music sucked, so we decided it was time to take the camera for a spin on the ice. We actually did just fine and neither of us fell down once! Yeah team!
With sore legs and thirsty, and HUNGRY, palettes, we decided it was time to vacate the rink and hang up our skates in Munich for good. Luckily, there was a little bratwurst stand adjacent to the rink and I was able to get the brat I so desperately wanted. Praise the Lord I did, that was one of the best dogs I have ever had! Colleen, the veggie, opted to hold out for the carmel cone explosion at Haagen Dazs- we had canvased the place earlier in the day to make sure they had her favorite flavor and they did!!!!! Ok, that takes care of the hungry part, so what does that leave us with???
Ahhh, the thirsty part!!!! Where could we go to quench our deepest thirsts?? THE HOFBRAUHAUS!!!!! Yes, we went there twice in one day! So much for landmarks, tourist traps (maybe this was one but who cares!!!), sites, etc... we needed a big beer and we needed it now! The place was seriously overflowing with people and we had no clue where to sit. A waiter found us a place for two in the middle of this table (think picnic bench) but we couldnt really figure out how we were going to climb over the people on the outside. I guess the waiter kind of took care of that by rushing the poor people at the one end to make room for us!
So, now its us and this other older couple at our very own table in the back! We were sitting there for about 10 minutes, again, everyone in the place staring at us like we were famous or they had seen us someplace before (probably at the Hofbrauhaus in the morning!!!), and we were spotted by these two Russian guys with Dumb & Dumber haircuts. We had been chit chatting it up with the couple on our right, they were a very nice married couple from Germany and they were with their son, but the guys desperately wanted to come and sit with us and that is exactly what they did. It wasnt really that fun though because they couldnt speak a word of English, so thru broken Russian and English, we established that A) they still didnt speak English, B) our beers were bigger than theirs (we made fun of them) and C) we needed a large and in charge pretzel!!!!!!!!!!!! U have to see the size of this thing, we took a picture (that would be weird!), it was bigger than our heads and equally as tasty! Finally, the Russians got the point and took off into the sunset in search of some vodka or something. We immediately started talking to the family again, laughing about the Russians, and saying "PROST" (cheers!) about every five minutes so we could get those big beers down quicker!
I think the waiter wanted us out because all of sudden, he just came up and told us how much the bill was. Since the father and the waiter were speaking German, we didnt understand that he said he was paying for our beers too! We pulled out our money to pay and the waiter told us "no, he paid for them so its all taken care of!" Wooooooo hoooooo!!!! I dont think we have been that happy this entire trip- Trip to Munich- $500, Large Pretzel- $5, Big Stein of Beer- $10, Having your big stein of beer paid for by the couple on your right- PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!
We exchanged email addresses and home addresses with their son, he was really nice, and told them we would send them the 47 pictures we took at the table. They were truly a great find! The rest of the night was not quite as eventful as the former part of the day... we ended at Hard Rock over some nachos that actually tasted like nachos and some electric ice teas and a free beer! It was certainly time to go home at this point, we had a long train ride in the morning to Florence, and we needed to catch some ZZZZZ's in the HOTEL bed that was sooooo comfortable!
All in all, we love Munich and would have loved to have spent more time there... guess that means we have to go back. Damn!
Thats it for now and we will catch up with everyone from Italia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PROST,
Kyle & Colleen
We made our way down towards Marienplatz and on the way we saw an ice skating rink! We promptly decided that we would hit that up during the evening hours, which we did (we will discuss later). In walking down the street, we walked right into the Glochenschpiel ceremony and got some great footage for u folks! We were dying because we read our little pamphlet and they basically gave it to us straight- u would watch this thing for 5 minutes, be completely over it and want to bail. But it said u had to wait for the end because there was this rooster, named Hans, that would come out and if u didnt see that part, u didnt truly get the experience. Us being the stupid American suckers that we are did stick around to see Hans... OMG, probably the dumbest thing we have ever seen in our whole lives! And when he cockadoodledoo'd, it didnt even sound like a rooster. We were dying!!!!
On the way to the Kartoffelhaus (potato house) where we wanted to have lunch, we were disappointed to find out that it didnt open for another half hour (it was 11:30am and we hadnt eaten yet). But we did know that the Hofbrauhaus was just around the corner and would provide the perfect "shelter" to absorb our extra time! Oh boy... where do we start with this one!!!!!
The Hofbrauhaus is the oldest brewery and beer hall in Munich and we were told by Colleen's Mom and Alison that this was a "must see." And they were right!!!! At 11:30am, in we stumbled to find the place full of people, the oom-pah band in full force (and u cant wait to see the pictures and video of these guys!!!), and every single person in the joint was staring at us! We saddled ourselves up with some huge steins of beer and started making friends left and right. All we wanted was a picture with the band, but they INSISTED that we come up on the stage, Colleen was forced to sit on the accordion player's lap, and at this point, we were a full-fletched spectacle! People were making faces at us, taking our pictures (this is when we were back at our table) and really just entranced with the two of us. We decided that this was getting a little out of sorts and we NEEDED to eat by this point. So off we went to the Kartoffelhaus, a little later than our initial ETA (estimated time of arrival), and had the best beast of a potato lunch. We took pictures :)
It was certainly time for a nap after all of this stimulation so back we went to the HOTEL and took a little cat nap. We woke up and were so pumped because it was ICE SKATING TIME!! You have to understand, too, that Munich was unusually hot (it was like 45 degrees) for this time of year so we were so thankful to have nice weather once again. We made our way down to the rink and $20 later, we were on ice skates, trying to figure out whether our skating skills were condusive to videotaping. Colleen decided to stay back and let me have the first crack at the ice- surprisingly enough, those lessons I took when I was 5 paid off... I didnt eat shit once! Colleen was thoroughly amused and caught the entire thing on camera but after about 3 laps and the 80s song had ended, it was her turn! She made her way out onto the ice, a bit shakey at first, but she was doing just fine until this older lady completely bailed (think banana peel) right in front of her. I was manning the camera from the sidelines, trying not to laugh, but I knew that Colleen was going to try and help this lady up and I wasnt sure how it was going to pan out. Sure as shit, she bent down and somehow got this lady back on her skates without so much as losing her balance- nice work Colleen!!!!! We got braver as the session went on, and we were getting really bored because the music sucked, so we decided it was time to take the camera for a spin on the ice. We actually did just fine and neither of us fell down once! Yeah team!
With sore legs and thirsty, and HUNGRY, palettes, we decided it was time to vacate the rink and hang up our skates in Munich for good. Luckily, there was a little bratwurst stand adjacent to the rink and I was able to get the brat I so desperately wanted. Praise the Lord I did, that was one of the best dogs I have ever had! Colleen, the veggie, opted to hold out for the carmel cone explosion at Haagen Dazs- we had canvased the place earlier in the day to make sure they had her favorite flavor and they did!!!!! Ok, that takes care of the hungry part, so what does that leave us with???
Ahhh, the thirsty part!!!! Where could we go to quench our deepest thirsts?? THE HOFBRAUHAUS!!!!! Yes, we went there twice in one day! So much for landmarks, tourist traps (maybe this was one but who cares!!!), sites, etc... we needed a big beer and we needed it now! The place was seriously overflowing with people and we had no clue where to sit. A waiter found us a place for two in the middle of this table (think picnic bench) but we couldnt really figure out how we were going to climb over the people on the outside. I guess the waiter kind of took care of that by rushing the poor people at the one end to make room for us!
So, now its us and this other older couple at our very own table in the back! We were sitting there for about 10 minutes, again, everyone in the place staring at us like we were famous or they had seen us someplace before (probably at the Hofbrauhaus in the morning!!!), and we were spotted by these two Russian guys with Dumb & Dumber haircuts. We had been chit chatting it up with the couple on our right, they were a very nice married couple from Germany and they were with their son, but the guys desperately wanted to come and sit with us and that is exactly what they did. It wasnt really that fun though because they couldnt speak a word of English, so thru broken Russian and English, we established that A) they still didnt speak English, B) our beers were bigger than theirs (we made fun of them) and C) we needed a large and in charge pretzel!!!!!!!!!!!! U have to see the size of this thing, we took a picture (that would be weird!), it was bigger than our heads and equally as tasty! Finally, the Russians got the point and took off into the sunset in search of some vodka or something. We immediately started talking to the family again, laughing about the Russians, and saying "PROST" (cheers!) about every five minutes so we could get those big beers down quicker!
I think the waiter wanted us out because all of sudden, he just came up and told us how much the bill was. Since the father and the waiter were speaking German, we didnt understand that he said he was paying for our beers too! We pulled out our money to pay and the waiter told us "no, he paid for them so its all taken care of!" Wooooooo hoooooo!!!! I dont think we have been that happy this entire trip- Trip to Munich- $500, Large Pretzel- $5, Big Stein of Beer- $10, Having your big stein of beer paid for by the couple on your right- PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!
We exchanged email addresses and home addresses with their son, he was really nice, and told them we would send them the 47 pictures we took at the table. They were truly a great find! The rest of the night was not quite as eventful as the former part of the day... we ended at Hard Rock over some nachos that actually tasted like nachos and some electric ice teas and a free beer! It was certainly time to go home at this point, we had a long train ride in the morning to Florence, and we needed to catch some ZZZZZ's in the HOTEL bed that was sooooo comfortable!
All in all, we love Munich and would have loved to have spent more time there... guess that means we have to go back. Damn!
Thats it for now and we will catch up with everyone from Italia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PROST,
Kyle & Colleen
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Ahhhh... Berlin!
Guten tag!
For those of you that have never heard of the wonder that is the German capital city, allow us to fill you in. Berlin is one of the most amazing macrocasms that we have seen thus far- its an intense and ecclectic blend of neo-classical architecture with a modern urban flair. For those of you that would swear we just wrote that in German, allow me to translate: the city is an unusual blend of old school architecture, art and culture mixed with very modern buildings, immense consumerism and the feel of a city such as New York.
Ok, all that aside... we love this place!!!!!!
We arrived on Sunday and it was time to do some laundry- luckily, Alison told us about a place just around the corner from our hostel so we knew we could get this handled. What we didnt know was that the laundromat would prove to be a major challenge and probably one of the most amusing portions of our trip thus far. Not a big shocker, but all the signage was in German and their machines do not seem to operate the same way ours do (putting the money directly into the machine, filling the barrel with detergent, etc...) God bless this poor little German man that was trying in broken English, and we would swear broken and stuttering German, to help us out! After a long and arduous adventure, the clothes were finally washing- we managed to screw up the entire operation but our clothes were clean nonetheless. As we were finishing up, in came the man, at a near sprint towards us, with his English homework in hand, ranting and raving about how he "need ur help wiss my ENGLISH lesson." Trying not to laugh, we tutored this poor man (he was about 40, mind you) until we almost couldnt take it anymore and needed to leave. He insisted upon giving us his phone number and telling us to call him because he needed additional help and apparently, and as scary as it might seem, we were his only hope!
That night, we hung out in the bar in our hostel, Goldman's Bar, that has become quite popular with local Berliners and hostel-goers alike. We met two really nice Aussie boys and somehow got on the subject of our dogs- they were particularly fond of the fact that we have Australian shephards, however we were more enthralled with the fact that Jeremy's dog, Bonnie, is a Labradoodle!!! No joke, this breed truly exists in Australia (look it up) and is a mix between a Labradore and a Poodle- go figure! I asked if they bred Bullshits (Shitz Zsu and Bull Dog) and they got quite a laugh from that as well!
Yesterday morning, we decided to take a tour of a WWI and WWII underground bunker that is 80 meters (240 feet) below the surface of the main square, Alexanderplatz. It was really interesting to see how these people were forced to survive during the air raids- the room was about 100 square feet and it was often packed with over 150 people. Good stuff... very cold and damp, but worth it.
In the afternoon, a colleague of Colleen's Mom is German by birth and her sister still lives here. In trading faxes with Hannelore, we decided that she would pick us up and show us around the city. She came for us around 4pm and we saw Potsdamer Platz, the most modern and urban area of the city that most Berliners think is a major eyesore and hate. We saw our first Starbucks of Europe, damn near had a heart attack, and somehow conveyed our longing for a $4 cup of anything to this poor German woman, who spoke little English, but somehow knew just what we were talking about. After our mini break, we checked out the mall (minimal shopping parents, so keep the comments to a minimum about that one!!!!), and then headed to Hannelore's house for a proper German dinner- I dont think you have ever seen two happier girls, stuffing their faces with massive amounts of homemade delights!!!! We played with her dog, Anton (cookies and cream spaniel) and even attempted to teach him English because as you know, the dogs here only understand German! I think we were really getting somewhere with him until we discovered that each time he barked, he expected, and received, a treat for his tricks... gut hund (good dog!)! After an entire bottle of red wine and wonderful ice cream sundaes, Ingo, Hannelore's son drove us back to our hostel on the Auto Bahn, which we were particularly thrilled to drive on. Too bad the Auto Bahns in the city have similar speed limits to our freeways at home... oh well, we were happy!!!!
Today, we went on the most amazing and informative tour of the entire city of Berlin. We saw all the major attractions and our brains are overflowing with information about this thriving city- consequently, if u have any questions, speak now or forever hold your piece! Some of the highlights of the tour included: the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenberg Gate, Hitler's Bunker and suicide site, Museum Island and many more. We rode the S-Bahn back to our hostel with the tour guide, an American girl from New York, and I think she filled us in with a bit of supplementary information- the amount of knowledge this girl had of Berlin was astounding!!! If you are ever here, and we suggest you visit soon because the city is transforming and modernizing itself at such a quick pace, you have to take this tour!
Tonight, we are going to have dinner at the top of the TV Tower, an extremely tall and pointy tower that most Berliners again hate, but was built a number of years ago to display that the city was just as in tune with Western culture as the rest of the world (ironic fact: Swedish architects were employed to finish the project because the Germans were not able to), but offers an impressive view of the entire city. And then tomorrow, we are off to Prague, which we have heard nothing but great things about. Talk to u all from there!!!
Love, Kyle and Colleen
For those of you that have never heard of the wonder that is the German capital city, allow us to fill you in. Berlin is one of the most amazing macrocasms that we have seen thus far- its an intense and ecclectic blend of neo-classical architecture with a modern urban flair. For those of you that would swear we just wrote that in German, allow me to translate: the city is an unusual blend of old school architecture, art and culture mixed with very modern buildings, immense consumerism and the feel of a city such as New York.
Ok, all that aside... we love this place!!!!!!
We arrived on Sunday and it was time to do some laundry- luckily, Alison told us about a place just around the corner from our hostel so we knew we could get this handled. What we didnt know was that the laundromat would prove to be a major challenge and probably one of the most amusing portions of our trip thus far. Not a big shocker, but all the signage was in German and their machines do not seem to operate the same way ours do (putting the money directly into the machine, filling the barrel with detergent, etc...) God bless this poor little German man that was trying in broken English, and we would swear broken and stuttering German, to help us out! After a long and arduous adventure, the clothes were finally washing- we managed to screw up the entire operation but our clothes were clean nonetheless. As we were finishing up, in came the man, at a near sprint towards us, with his English homework in hand, ranting and raving about how he "need ur help wiss my ENGLISH lesson." Trying not to laugh, we tutored this poor man (he was about 40, mind you) until we almost couldnt take it anymore and needed to leave. He insisted upon giving us his phone number and telling us to call him because he needed additional help and apparently, and as scary as it might seem, we were his only hope!
That night, we hung out in the bar in our hostel, Goldman's Bar, that has become quite popular with local Berliners and hostel-goers alike. We met two really nice Aussie boys and somehow got on the subject of our dogs- they were particularly fond of the fact that we have Australian shephards, however we were more enthralled with the fact that Jeremy's dog, Bonnie, is a Labradoodle!!! No joke, this breed truly exists in Australia (look it up) and is a mix between a Labradore and a Poodle- go figure! I asked if they bred Bullshits (Shitz Zsu and Bull Dog) and they got quite a laugh from that as well!
Yesterday morning, we decided to take a tour of a WWI and WWII underground bunker that is 80 meters (240 feet) below the surface of the main square, Alexanderplatz. It was really interesting to see how these people were forced to survive during the air raids- the room was about 100 square feet and it was often packed with over 150 people. Good stuff... very cold and damp, but worth it.
In the afternoon, a colleague of Colleen's Mom is German by birth and her sister still lives here. In trading faxes with Hannelore, we decided that she would pick us up and show us around the city. She came for us around 4pm and we saw Potsdamer Platz, the most modern and urban area of the city that most Berliners think is a major eyesore and hate. We saw our first Starbucks of Europe, damn near had a heart attack, and somehow conveyed our longing for a $4 cup of anything to this poor German woman, who spoke little English, but somehow knew just what we were talking about. After our mini break, we checked out the mall (minimal shopping parents, so keep the comments to a minimum about that one!!!!), and then headed to Hannelore's house for a proper German dinner- I dont think you have ever seen two happier girls, stuffing their faces with massive amounts of homemade delights!!!! We played with her dog, Anton (cookies and cream spaniel) and even attempted to teach him English because as you know, the dogs here only understand German! I think we were really getting somewhere with him until we discovered that each time he barked, he expected, and received, a treat for his tricks... gut hund (good dog!)! After an entire bottle of red wine and wonderful ice cream sundaes, Ingo, Hannelore's son drove us back to our hostel on the Auto Bahn, which we were particularly thrilled to drive on. Too bad the Auto Bahns in the city have similar speed limits to our freeways at home... oh well, we were happy!!!!
Today, we went on the most amazing and informative tour of the entire city of Berlin. We saw all the major attractions and our brains are overflowing with information about this thriving city- consequently, if u have any questions, speak now or forever hold your piece! Some of the highlights of the tour included: the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenberg Gate, Hitler's Bunker and suicide site, Museum Island and many more. We rode the S-Bahn back to our hostel with the tour guide, an American girl from New York, and I think she filled us in with a bit of supplementary information- the amount of knowledge this girl had of Berlin was astounding!!! If you are ever here, and we suggest you visit soon because the city is transforming and modernizing itself at such a quick pace, you have to take this tour!
Tonight, we are going to have dinner at the top of the TV Tower, an extremely tall and pointy tower that most Berliners again hate, but was built a number of years ago to display that the city was just as in tune with Western culture as the rest of the world (ironic fact: Swedish architects were employed to finish the project because the Germans were not able to), but offers an impressive view of the entire city. And then tomorrow, we are off to Prague, which we have heard nothing but great things about. Talk to u all from there!!!
Love, Kyle and Colleen
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)