Our last day in Germany! Sean insisted I got to plan the day since Alpspitze had bean “Sean’s Day.”
Well, I didn’t hesitate with that kind of offer! My cousins had recommended the alpine town of Tegernsee, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!
We started our day with a quick stop at the same cafe as before, and I treated myself to Breakfast Tiramisu and a delicious toasted ham and cheese croissant.
Our train was a little full, so we sat across from each other next to some young guys. I caught a tiny bit of their conversation and their unmistakeable American accents and decided to be friendly.
Turns out they were from the San Juan Islands in Washington! Small world! They were also way younger than I originally thought – one fresh out of high school and the other a “rising junior.” Always cracks me up when people describe themselves that way. I think it’s a prep school thing.
We chatted the whole train ride. I mostly partook when the conversation was about travel and home, and Sean jumped in when the talk took a turn towards engineering. Booo-ring!
The younger guy was pretty reserved until Sean started talking about books, and then he really came out of his shell. They were rapid-fire suggesting sci-fi books back and forth, and I quietly sat in the corner, knowing these boys would have no interest in Fourth Wing.
Once we arrived, we bid the boys farewell and wished them a good hike, and then we were off in search of some bikes.
We found a beautiful garden cemetery near the lake shore.
I had two dreams for this day: bike around the lake and rent a paddle boat. Our first plan was a bit tricky because there were no bike rentals on this side of the lake. We had to take a ferry to the other side, but that was kind of a fun little break.
The first bike shop we came to had one dude in it. He was extremely tan, had a shaved head, and was very persuasive. He immediately found us two e-mountain bikes and then made it seem like he was giving us a deal with the two all-day rentals for €80. (Turns out, compared to US prices, this was actually a screaming deal.)
We told him we wanted to bike around the lake, but he suggested we bike up into the valley between mountains instead. He said it would be about ten degrees cooler, and that it was the “perfect day” and the “perfect ride.”
I was pretty hesitant, but luckily Sean was gung-ho. Thank goodness I deferred to him!
The ride was, in fact, perfect and beautiful. It took us a little while to find the right path, but once we did, we were cruising on a trail through the hills. Sometimes we were on shaded forest paths. Sometimes the way was wide open and sunny. It was magical! It also made me want an e-mountain bike. That thing was slick.
I am not super skilled when it comes to riding, so I have very few pictures! I’m just not comfortable fiddling with a phone while riding along. Sean was able to take a few on his glasses, but he was a bit too pumped about the ride to keep my leisurely pace. (My bike had four levels of power, and he kept asking me to boost it up a bit, haha. I’m sorry! I just do not have – and never have had – a need for speed.)
When I finally caught up to him, I found him casually waiting for me amongst a few new bovine friends.
Almost every house in this area had an entire exterior wall lined with firewood. It was crazy! Must get cold in the winter!
We’d come to a little restaurant tucked into the hills, and it seemed the perfect spot for lunch.
I found some hammock chairs with a great view of the mountains, and then we ordered a radler to share.
I (foolishly) ordered a bratwurst while Sean asked for the most popular dish. Our waiter recommended the fresh mushrooms, and we agreed. He ran back at the last second to say, “Or the deer!” But we stuck with the mushrooms.
I cannot adequately express the deliciousness that was this mushroom soup. So creamy and rich, and topped with a big dumpling. Thank goodness Sean let us trade meals back and forth! I’m not sure I would have been as generous….
Partway through the meal, a group of men and women stood up around the table behind us and began singing the most lovely song. We recorded it and marveled at their harmonies, wondering what the song was all about! (A German friend later insisted it was not, in fact, a birthday song, but just a tune wishing someone good health, beer, and good schnapps.)
I could have stayed tucked away in those little hammocks for the rest of the day, slowly sipping radlers and ordering more mushroom soup when I got hungry, but Sean insisted there were other wonderful things waiting for us back in Tegernsee.
A cow was blocking the gateway to the restaurant, so we had to jump the fence, but then we were off again, back down the hill to complete our loop.
We found some very cool carved statue men along the way.
And Sean got some nice snippets of me!
Back in town, we explored the shoreline a little and considered hanging at the beach, but I wanted some how time!
Then, around five, we finally found a peddle boat rental place. All my dreams really were coming true today!
The guy running the place was a funny little dude. He was shirtless, tan, and had a big straw hat on. Very chill.
I debated for a minute between the peddle boat and an electric boat (the prices were so stinking cheap), but we went for the peddle in the end.
Just as the guy was pushing us away from the dock, Sean asked if there was anywhere we could peddle to along the shore to buy a beer.
The boat man paused before saying, “Uhhh… Hmmm, no….” Sean waved it off, but then the man said, “I have beer. Two euros!” He then ran to grab a beer from his stash and explained that this Munich beer was better than the Tegernsee stuff he had, and we were off again. It was pretty hilarious.
It didn’t take long before Sean, beer in hand, said, “This is my kind of vacation.”
We peddled around a bit, and as we did, we heard a big band start a performance on the shore. It felt pretty silly – almost too perfect, you know?
The band played some classical songs, but mostly they played classic hits – ABBA’s Dancing Queen, etc. I was singing along while Sean and I took turns peddling and I worked up the courage to finally jump in the water.
The water was cool but not cold. Nice and refreshing. I swam around the boat, climbed back in, and then jumped in again.
It always takes me a while to jump in the first time. I’m not sure why! Something about it always scares me!
Sean opted to stay warm and dry, and then he eventually peddled us back to shore so we could catch the tail end of the performance.
The whole band was dressed in lederhosen. It was very adorable.
After the show, we walked along the lake a little bit to admire the flowers and the setting sun.
We grabbed a table at a busy outdoor restaurant, and after being recommended the deer for the second time in one day, we decided we’d better try it.
We got an adorable tiny salad, a big side of deliciously sweet cabbage, and a couple of house special ginger lemonades. (We saw them at another table and immediately ordered two of them!)
The deer also came with a heaping portion of obviously handmade spatzle. The little flat noodles were so funny!
The deer was just okay, but as a whole, the meal was lovely, and we were stuffed at the end. Perhaps foolishly, we ordered some peach-filled donuts things for dessert.
They were so good (super soft and fluffy), but we were so full! It was hard to clean the plate.
Our last chore was to drop off our bikes again.
It was a loooong day, and we should have definitely planned better around our train back to Munich. It only came once an hour, so we were dilly-dallying waiting for the bus to the station for quite a while, and we were so exhausted by the time we got home around eleven.
Still, we consider this to be one of our favorite days of the trip! So magical and dreamy. Mountains, water, e-bikes, spontaneous serenades… What more can you ask for?
Day two in Germany! Overwhelmed by the hubbub of the city, we planned a day out of town.
First thing in the morning, we headed out in search of breakfast. We were loading up for a day in the mountains, so I got a yogurt parfait, a pistachio croissant (yum!), and a hot chocolate. Sean got a coffee, a chocolate croissant, and an omelette flatbread thing.
Once satisfied, we went back to the hotel to check on our still drying laundry, and to our utter dismay (yet not to my surprise), it was still damp in the machine. We frantically hang-dried everything all over our room in the end before rushing out to catch our bus.
When we were planning this trip, the one thing Sean really, really wanted to do was hike in the Alps. I’m not sure how he managed it, but he found a giant gondola that runs up to a mountain called Alpspitze. I spent a ton of time researching to try and determine whether we should go Sunday or Monday for the weather. Both days suggested thunderstorms in the afternoon, but Monday seemed like it would be sunnier in the morning. I worried if there were too many clouds, we would miss out on the views!
After searching several weather sites, we settled on Sunday. We had to first take a bus to the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
When I was doing research on the bus, I learned that Alpspitze was right next to Germany’s tallest peak, Zugspitze. I hoped we could stick to the Alpspitze plan, though, as the images online seemed a lot prettier to me.
The bus ride was gorgeous as we approached the mountains.
Once we arrived in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the view was even more spectacular! We spent a bit of time trying to figure out exactly how to get to the gondola, and Sean ran a brief campaign to visit Zugspitze instead, but in the end, he agreed we could stick to the original plan.
We took a city bus up to the gondola and were shocked to find one of those directional arrow things that included both Seattle and Whistler! Perhaps a PNW native works at this restaurant??
And then it was time for the gondola ride.
Quite possibly the most gorgeous gondola ride in history. We shared the cabin with a couple families and several paragliders.
I couldn’t decide what was prettier – the mountains above us or the valley below!
Once at the top, it kind of felt like a race against the clock to avoid being rained or clouded-out! (Spoiler – neither really happened in the end.)
At the top was a restaurant and lots of people heading out or returning from various adventures. It was up to us to decide how to proceed!
Wildflowers were poppin’ off – in all colors and all shapes and sizes. I was in heaven!
We saw several paragliders taking off!
We were at the top of Osterfelderkopf, and Sean’s big dream was to summit Alpspitze. Unfortunately, we learned during our research that this summit climb was to be completed “via ferrata,” or “with harness.” It wasn’t in the cards for us, dressed to the nines in our poorly-tractioned sneakers and light sweaters. Maybe next time.
In consolation, we first rounded the top of Osterfelder and made our way towards the valley behind. Sean braved a risky climb (his shoes had much better traction) while I stayed and waited for a full report.
I was pretty nervous, but there was a cute little employee man who was likely doing some sort trail or weather condition reconnaissance in the area. He was wearing no better shoes than Sean, and he hiked up and around these rocky trails, using the chains when necessary, to secure various pictures on his phone. I figured if he could do it, I shouldn’t worry about Sean.
From the top of the little crag, Sean proclaimed that the view was spectacular and shouldn’t be missed, but we decided to see if I could view it from down in the valley to avoid the sketchy climb.
Alas! The view was viewed!
These pictures really don’t do it justice. It’s hard to portray just how expansive, green, and beautiful this valley was. *sigh…*
There’s actually a little hotel down in the valley that you can hike to! Would be a fun adventure.
We had perfect timing, too, because not ten minutes after we entered the valley, a mass of clouds swept in and completely obscured the view!
It was crazy! It happened so fast. I wanted to race back to the other side and see if it had suffered the same fate.
Luckily, though, the clouds stayed in the smaller valley and didn’t creep over.
We’d been kind of leapfrogging with this sweet older German lady on the path, and I took the opportunity to ask for a photo. That’s the cover photo for this post! So pretty.
I also convinced Sean to take some fun pictures, haha.
Too gorgeous, right?!
Next, it was time to try our hand at the Alpspitze trail. We agreed to venture as far as we could safely without gear (or whenever we made it up into the clouds and no longer had a view) before returning.
There was one little steel-cable zone, but Sean encouraged me and we made it through no problemo.
There was some crazy rock over here, and suddenly every person we saw was equipped with a harness and helmet. We had officially left the busy hub and entered the true adventurer zone. Sean was very jealous.
He went up to investigate one ferrata section, only to return and report that it looked super fun and he wanted to live here so that he could climb this thing every day. I sat on a pretty rock while he did so and tried not to feel like a doofus with my purse and little sweater every time somebody passed me in their helmet. Talk about feeling underdressed!
The next part of the path was a cave-tunnel carved into the side of the mountain. Very dark and drippy! We had to go slow so I wouldn’t soak through my shoes.
It felt very cool and silly. Not what I’d expected to be doing that day!
Somehow, the clouds rolled in, again within minutes, and soon the view was nearly entirely obscured.
A deal’s a deal, and we were basically at the end of the harness-less section anyway, so it was time to turn around and call it a day.
I don’t care if it’s not Austria. I found a field to frolic in, and I could not resist the pull. Sean waited nearby while I meandered to the center, sung, “The hills are aliiiiiiiiive” in my head, and spun around with my arms outstretched. It felt good. Sean watched and tried not to be embarrassed.
With a new spring in my step, we walked the path back to the gondola hub and restaurant.
Lunch was delicious! Goulash soup, spatzle with cheese sauce, a pretzel, and a cappuccino. Yum, yum, yum. It was heeeeaavy, and we couldn’t quite finish all the goulash.
We had a mountain-side table, and it was just a dream.
At one point near the end of the meal, Sean said something like, “Don’t look behind you.”
Of course I looked. But I was expecting to see a person or a dog embarrassing themselves in the near distance.
What I did not expect to find was a giant yellow-beaked crow approximately twelve inches from my face making intense and expectant eye contact with me!
It was honestly quite terrifying but also very hilarious. The crow was mostly just confused as to what I was so worried about and why I wasn’t feeding him.
After the crow encounter, we cleared our plates and it was time to reluctantly join the queue for the downloading gondola. We really should have planned out the local transit a bit better, though, because our bus to lake Eibsee only ran every hour, and we were not lined up!
First we had to wait for the bus back to Garmisch, and then once we were at our transfer stop, there was a whole debacle. Basically, we waited over forty minutes while both Sean and I tried (and failed) to employ various Uber and and taxi apps, only to realize at the last second that we weren’t even waiting at the correct stop.
We ran for the correct stop, but we couldn’t find it, and then the bus (that only runs once per hour) zoomed past us.
Talk about disappointment. It was devastating.
Somehow, after another twenty minutes or so, we managed to run across the street and flag down a taxi minivan to take us to Eibsee.
The driver was a chatty British man who’d lived in the area for decades. He was talking about his dreams about getting a Range Rover for his next taxi vehicle, which I found to be pretty hilarious. He was also apparently a very successful tour guide pre-covid, but his business hasn’t recovered since. I was pretty tired and a little frustrated from the bus failure still, so I let Sean take the lead on the conversation. ‘Twas cute.
(Do you see the Zugspitze gondola going up into the clouds? I’d say we made the right choice to get the good views!)
By the time we made it to Eibsee, the bike and boat rentals were all closed for the day, so we took a leisurely walk around the southern section of the lake. Lots of baby ducks, and the water was pristine!
It was pretty fun seeing local kids zoom in on their bikes (often loaded with multiple kids per cycle), strip down to swimmers, and jump in the lake. Seems like a nice way to grow up.
Far too soon, it was time to (successfully) catch our bus back to Garmisch.
We wandered the main section of town for a while and almost crashed Mass in the pretty town church, and then Sean suddenly got a craving for a beer.
We popped down at a little tavern and ordered “one beer” and then were chastised a bit for wanting to pay with card. Germany still likes its cash!
I discovered on this German adventure that I am quite the radler fan. It’s half beer, half lemonade! We didn’t get a radler this time, though, so Sean got most of the beer to himself.
We had the same super grumpy driver on our return to Munich that we’d had in the morning. As we waited to board with other riders, we heard several mumbles from people around us. Turns out they knew the driver, too.
One of the first guys to disembark the bus said to us aside, “Best bus driver ever!” Bahahaha. That had us giggling.
We actually did see him joke with one girl as she loaded her bags, so maybe he wasn’t 100% grump? Unclear.
Our bus ride was nice and scenic.
When we got back to the Munich bus station, we walked up the stairs, and I was delighted to see that the bridge was filled with people hanging out and enjoying the sunset.
Like, the kids had literally climbed the bridge struts and were sitting up high on the rafters.
We walked for a while, but Sean finally realized I wanted to do it, too.
Was it as great and magical as I thought it would be? Yes. Absolutely.
Everybody else seemed to have brought a full picnic or bottles of wine, but it still felt cool to be part of the club.
As we climbed back down (Sean said I did this very gracefully – he just jumped!) we found a little bracelet attached to a strut on the bridge. I originally put it on and walked away happily with my find, but then Sean mirrored my thoughts by suggesting it may be some sort of bad luck to take something off a bridge, so I reluctantly reattached it a few struts down. Rats!
As if that wasn’t enough activity for one day, I then convinced myself to go swing dancing. I’d tried the night before for a special monthly “snowball” event, but I couldn’t muster the energy. Tonight was my last chance to try swinging out in Europe!
I passed lots of football (soccer) fans spilling out of bars on my way to the dance, a short twelve minute walk away. All I brought was my phone, some cash, and Sean’s sweater. Traveling light!
I knew I was in the right place once I entered the building and heard swing music flowing down from an upper floor. I climbed the stairs and got one confused look from a man leaving the dance, and then I arrived. A very cute little dance bar! But…. There were about a dozen older people and that’s about it.
It was not a good sign. Small crowd, 40 minutes from the dance’s end, and I find that the older crowd tends to stick together at dances. Hard to infiltrate the clique! I debated (both to myself and to the young bartender) whether it was worth staying at all.
He confirmed that the previous night had been much busier, and when I asked if this night had been busier earlier in the dance, he shook his head and said, “No, because… It’s the finals.” He then revealed his phone hiding behind the bar, playing the EuroCup Final match. That explains the lively bar crowds I’d passed!
I stayed and pondered for a while longer, and a German lady approached to check on the score. “Eins – eins?” She asked. (One – one.) The bartender responded, “Ja,” and then lifted his phone for her to see.
The lady then went into a little conversation, all in German, laughing and chatting with the bartender and me. (Yep, you heard that right!) She kept looking at me, leaning over conspiratorially, then facing the bartender again, going on and on and on.
When she paused to take a breath, I laughed and leaned in to apologize and say that I didn’t speak German, but I guess whatever she had to say was funny, because she just laughed too and continued on!
This happened at least four times, and every time, our laughter got more and more hysterical. Finally, after one last good laughter bout and a few more words, she wandered back to the dance floor. I think we really bonded.
Once she was out of earshot, I looked to the bartender, who asked, “Did you understand….?” And I said, “Not at all.” We shared another good laugh.
In the end, I decided to join the dance and sip on a sweet elderberry spritz. Unfortunately, as predicted, I was never asked to dance! I just sat there watching as the music switched heavily from swing into rockabilly. Finally, as the crowd thinned even more, I took the plunge and asked someone to dance after putting my empty glass on the bar. We got two good dances in, and then I ran outta there and back to the hotel.
Such a long day! I was exhausted! Time for bed, and more stories to come!
By this point we had perfected the coffee-and-breakfast-at-the-airport routine, and we were treated with some great views from the plane.
Unfortunately, we landed in Munich feeling like doo-doo. Our jet lag had officially worn off, and we were officially Not Morning People Anymore.
Our hotel didn’t allow check-in until 4pm though, so we had a long day ahead of us.
After dropping off our bags, our first stop was the church down the block. Very pretty, and a great way to find our way home!
Sean was determined to see the daily glockenspiel performance at the Marienplatz, so we had to rush a bit to make it there by 11.
As we rounded the corner into the square, we could hear the music, but I was confused as to why everyone was ignoring the performance and instead staring and pointing their cameras up at the town hall.
Turns out, the glockenspiels are not played by humans, but rather, by the mechanical instrument in the giant clock tower.
The music was super discordant, and not entirely pleasant. Very much not what we were expecting, but I was thoroughly entertained. We also noticed some of the gargoyles on the building were creepy AF.
Sean basically wanted to get the heck out of there, but he let me stay and take lots of pictures of the pretty building. Afterwards, we continued around the corner to the market in search of sustenance.
Sean ordered his first bratwurst, and I made the mistake of not getting one myself. Sorry, darling!
He was reluctant but graciously allowed me a few bites. My high school lunch crew did not call me Moochey for nothing.
When he was ordering it, the lady asked if he wanted all beef, or (what I thought was) horse meat. Then Sean smiled and nodded, opting for the “house meat.” In my head, I was like, “You dummy! You just ordered horse meat and misunderstood her accent!”
But in the end, I was the dummy, and he heard correctly. Bahahaha. The house meat was delicious.
Sean had some blisters on his pinky toes from all of our sweaty hiking over the past few days, so we were taking it easy. I learned my lesson when I brought my friend Kristina to Barcelona and she got ELEVEN blisters on her feet. I was super annoying and whiney about going slow until she counted, and when I got the tiniest blister ever a couple weeks later and could barely stand the pain of walking, I felt like the hugest jerk alive.
Never again! You must respect the blister pain!
We rested in a very pretty church for a while.
And then I convinced Sean to embark on what was quite possibly one of the worst and most stressful tower experiences of my life.
First, we had to wait in a line that was not moving for about ten minutes. Turns out they let people up in groups, but they weren’t communicating that, so it was kind of awkward and confusing.
Then we got to the top, and the pathway around the tower was quite narrow. Sean and I were immediately separated and cordoned off by strangers. Honestly, there was room for me to squeeze by people if I really wanted to, but everybody was super serious about holding their ground for some reason. The result was so frustrating and claustrophobic. We basically had to stand for multiple minutes in one spot before the line of people would shift about 5-10 feet, and then it would freeze again. I can’t imagine anybody wanted to be up there as long as we were up there!
I did get some nice views, but I was overwhelmed by the frustration and could simply not enjoy it. Huge bummer!
When we got to the bottom, Sean simply said, “I’m not doing that again.” Don’t blame him! And he was having a way better time than I was! The running joke for the rest of the trip was for me to point out the staircase in every other tower and suggest we climb it. (Spoiler – we never did.)
We explored the buildings around the square a little more and admired some street performers. There was a guy doing very impressive juggling tricks with a soccer ball, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether he was any good at actual soccer. Sean was most impressed that he never repeated a trick.
As we were leaving the square, a barrage of bachelor and bachelorette parties appeared and began taking very loud and chaotic group photos. They were clearly not associated with each other, but they just somehow all ended up in the same place. One group of guys were all dressed as surgeons. Sean thought they might be real doctors, but the one dressed as a sexy nurse kind of gave it away. He must have been the groom.
Pretty fancy to go to Munich for a bach party!
Honestly, after the relative calm and slow pace of Cinque Terre, I found Munich to be super overwhelming in general. The people! The big buildings! The loud music! I usually like the big cities, and I thought if anyone would be nonplussed, it would be Sean. Not sure what’s happening to me! #IdentityCrisis
We did learn something fun in a nearby palace – Munich has lots of sister cities, including Cincinnati, Ohio! I’ve only been to one of these cities – can you guess which??
We wandered out of the busy part of town to another large, pretty church that had some really gorgeous stained glass windows.
We enjoyed some street art.
And admired the National Theater.
And then we popped down for some real lunch! I definitely don’t think “yum” when I think of German food, but we actually had pretty great luck on this trip.
Two people at the next table over were eating some sort of crispy roasted pork with super fluffy, bulbous potato dumplings, and it smelled divine. We opted to share, and Sean got his first German beer. Everybody around us was drinking giant half liters, but he decided to start with moderation.
I tried to order some rhubarb juice, and the waiter did not understand what I was asking. I finally showed him the menu, and he said, “Oh! Ra-ba-ba. Ja, ja,” and then it all made sense to him. “Ra-ba-ba” instantly became a new favorite word. Bahahaha.
The pork came with a side of cabbage, and it was all soooo yummy. Sean was particularly obsessed with the potato dumplings. We’ll have to see if we can recreate them at home. It was the perfect meal!
We did find it hard to get the waiter’s attention, and that would become another theme of the trip. Unclear what the etiquette is! We spent so long between sitting, ordering, eating, and paying. I think we either need to be more aggressive or more relaxed…
After lunch, we wandered some more through town and ended up at Odeonsplatz.
The square was filled with rows of chairs, and they were performing sound checks in a big temple-like building. The acoustics were crazy! Apparently they were performing a big concert that night, but we were heartbroken to learn that tickets were sold out already.
We stayed for the sound check, though, and my favorite part was hearing the opening of Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter. We heard it as we sat inside the church next door, and it was quite ethereal sounding!
Next door was the Hofgarten, the royal gardens in front of an old palace.
We stumbled upon what was quite the bocce ball gathering! Dozens of games were happening, and it all seemed quite serious! Old people, young people, nerdy people, tough guys. Everyone seemed to be involved in a game. It was quite the sight!
The flowers lining the lawns were beautiful, and under a little gazebo, a man was playing a Ukrainian harp-like instrument.
Again, the acoustics were crazy! Sean and I found a seat and enjoyed several classical songs and several covers of modern songs. Shallows from A Star is Born, and Wicked Game by Chris Isaak were a couple we remember. It was a nice little consolation concert for us. Interestingly, people clapped and tipped way more when he played classical songs!
Next, we walked across the street to the English Gardens, a city park larger than Central Park. My favorite part was the wild flowers.
We barely scraped the surface of the park before calling it quits. My one regret is that we didn’t walk over to the manmade river where people surf in the giant artificial wave! At the time, the twenty minute walked seemed insurmountable, and we assumed we would return a different day. No cigar, though!
We made our way back to our hotel via some snazzy revamped subways, and I was delighted to find the hotel was every bit as adorable as the photos promised.
Then commenced a three-hour rest. 2016 Lizzy would be aghast at our daily rest sessions, but I’m just not as young as I used to be!
We did haul ourselves out of bed for a nice dinner, yet another success! Sean had a beer and I had a wild lillet berry spritz. I’m still unclear what a lillet berry is, but it was the perfect amount of sweet!
So far, we’d had good luck asking waiters for their suggestions, but this one gave us a hard time. I ordered the goulash (yum), and Sean said, “I’m trying to decide between three things.”
The waiter shook his head and said, “Jesus Christ,” and then he said something about us being indecisive. It was super funny and unexpected because he had been a perfect little gentleman up until that point. He did recommend the dish I wanted to try most, though, so I was pleased! It was like a little taster platter – meatloaf, sausage, pork, sauerkraut, and Sean’s new favorite potato dumpling. He was very possessive of his potato dumpling, but luckily I had two, so I could share. Another great meal!
We spent the rest of the night fighting with the washing machine. We were officially at our halfway point, and we were officially running low on clean clothes. Initially, we were thrilled that the hotel had free laundry, but they were the silly washer-dryer combos that never work very well.
The first wash-dry cycle (2 hours, 34 minutes) was started before we went to dinner, but when I went to check on it afterwards, it was still showing a run time of 2 hours, 32 minutes. It was also spinning super fast and spraying soapy water on the clothes, and after five minutes of staring, the time was still stuck on 2:32.
Exhausted and exasperated, I canceled it and ran a quick wash-and-dry (50 minutes). When I returned 50 minutes later, though, the clothes were still wet.
Then commenced an all night and all morning fight to get our clothes dry. We really should have just hung them up immediately. Gah.
I’m catching up! I’m catching up! My only motivation is that I’ve been with my friend Kristina for the past few days, and she’s started blogging. However, because she just started her trip, she’s basically caught up and will provide major spoilers for my mom! Gah. Must get ahead.
So the original plan was that Kristina would fly into Frankfurt from Vegas, and then we would meet up in Berlin. We chose Berlin through a very thorough combing of flights and trains via Google and spreadsheets to find an option that allowed for reasonably priced and well-timed arrivals from both Frankfurt and Venice. Plus, I had never been to Berlin and wanted to give Germany another chance after my not-the-best trip to Hamburg in 2015.
Our flights were both scheduled to arrive at 4:10pm on July 3rd, at different airports. From there, we would make our way to the Airbnb to meet up, and then she’d be with me until the end of my trip! Yay!
We’ve known each other since kindergarten, and she’s never left North America, and I’ve never been to Spain (our main destination), so this trip was a big step for both of us. (:
One problem: as I got in bed my last night in Venice, I got a string of texts saying that her flight to Frankfurt was delayed. Something needed to be fixed in the plane, and nobody knew how long it would take to fix it. Luckily, her layover in Frankfurt was four hours, so as long as the situation was sorted in the next couple hours, we would be able to meet in Berlin as planned. Seemed a reasonable thing. I said goodnight and good luck and went to sleep.
I awoke that morning to a second string of texts, this one more panicked than the last. The flight was delayed indefinitely. Condor was putting everybody into the Hooters Hotel for the night (classy). They couldn’t find a replacement plane, so they had to keep working on the one they had. It could be hours. Could be days.
I DON’T HAVE DAYS, CONDOR.
I was not pleased. What is up with this trip and plans going amuck?! Grrrrjalaldnfhwupamnehikap!!!
There was nothing to be done, though. I would be spending at least one night in Berlin by myself. Woop.
I think we must have been looking for apartments on the cheap, because our stay was nowhere close to downtown Berlin. The neighborhood was a bit sketchy, honestly, and I had to take a train if I wanted to get into town.
Luckily, the room was nice and had a lovely balcony. It was a room in a three-bedroom apartment, and the roommates were super nice. Neuroscientists finishing up their masters in Berlin. Crazyyy. One was from Estonia and the other from… hm can’t remember actually, but not Germany.
By the time I had found the apartment and settled in, it was about 7pm, so it made the prospect of taking a half hour train into town rather unenticing. I would only have an hour or two of daylight, and all the museums were closed already. I decided instead to wander my little neighborhood.
Was still a little sketched, but most of that was fixed when I found this glooorious grocery store. It was called Penny, and you could literally buy things for pennies!!!
19 cent yogurt! 29 cent fancy yogurt with granola topping! 39 cent pasta! 69 cent tortellini! 39 cent croissants! 37 cent chocolate! $1.50 wine! I was literally in heaven. I love deals. And I love food. And I love deals that involve food. I just. Wow. Just wow.
Not wanting to stock up right before dinner, I got some chocolate and ran out before I became trapped forever. I’ll be back, my love, I thought as I took one last look at the $1.50 wine.
I continued meandering down the main street lined by the train station so I would be able to find my way back easily if it got dark. There were a lot of cafe/ pub type things, and the menus and signs in front of each indicated that everything out here was almost as cheap as in my beloved Penny.
I opted for a low-key Indian restaurant because I had been craving curry and because it was one of the few places without a mob of smoking Germans out front.
Can’t complain. The curry and the mango lassi tasted good, though the chicken had a sort of imitation krab texture. Meh.
To bed!
Updates from Kristina in the morning: she got a flight! Condor was putting her on a Eurowings flight to Cologne, with a connection to Frankfurt. She didn’t really need the connection though, so she ixnayed that second flight and booked one straight to Berlin to see meee! Huzzah!
She wouldn’t arrive until ten at night, sooo… what to do?
Ended up laying in bed until four. Sorry! I was exhausted again! I read a bunch, blogged a bit, and slept a lot. Oh, and I ate the heck out of that Penny chocolate. Hahaha.
When my stomach decided it was done putting up with my laziness, I finished my curry leftovers, put on some pants, and grabbed a train into the city.
I had tried to form some sort of plan, but Berlin was confusingly sprawled and it was really hard to tell if there were any must-do activities. I figured taking the train into central station and just wandering would be the best thing to do.
Thing is, central station didn’t seem to have anything around it… I also couldn’t find a map, so I really was just wandering aimlessly. I think I walked around the entire station (which is huge, by the way), and all I found was construction and these giant pipe complexes coming out of the ground. (Found out later that these pipes are to release natural gases and nastiness from underground, because apparently Berlin is built on top of a swamp. This also explains the funky smell I kept stumbling upon.)
When I thought all hope was lost, and truly thought I was lost, I finally came across something worthwhile: a park!!
You know I love city parks, and while this one was certainly nothing to write home about (though I guess that’s kind of what I’m doing), it was still a lovely retreat from the construction and swamp pipes. I strolled through and sat down every once in a while before finding my final resting place for the evening: a shaded bench surrounded by trees and bunnies. So many bunnies! I couldn’t ever grab a picture of one, but they were there. And they were adorable.
About an hour later, as it began getting darker, I was hanging out on my bench, and my book was being pretty emotional so I may have been crying a bit. People kept walking by me, and I was a bit worried somebody would come to check on me or something, but that never happened. Until!
Until I caught sight of a blurry figure (through my tear-blurred peripheral vision) walking directly toward me. I wiped my eyes and prepared to explain to an older German lady that it was just my book, when I noticed my visitor was actually a young man.
Cue purse grabbing. Haha. Awkward. I was in a semi-sketchy park in the middle of a swamp under construction! And it was getting dark! It was just my first reaction.
But the boy kept walking until he was right next to me. Uhhhh…. So yeah. He was attractive. Uhm… very much quite so yes. So tan. And his eyes were those piercing blue types that just eat away at your soul.
I’m still a bit worried that he wants to steal my purse, but he changes tactics and says, with a wide smile, ‘Hi. Sprichst du Deutsch?’ I shook my head, and he quickly switched to English.
‘I just saw you here, and I wanted to say you are very beautiful.’ *beaming smile.*
Uhhhhhhhh…..
Mmmm……
Whaaaaa????…..
Honestly, the entire conversation is a blur, (and I mean literally – my eyes were still tear-blurred so it was pretty hard to see), but I am not making this up! It definitely felt like I was imagining it at the time, though. Hahaha. I kept trying to rub my eyes, but I couldn’t get all the tear-leftovers out of the way, so he always looked a bit fuzzy around the edges like I was actually imagining him. He seemed oblivious to the fact that I had been crying when he approached, and he continued on in this weird little conversation.
He asked if he could see me tomorrow. ‘What do you think? 7pm? We can meet at Alexanderplatz?’
I was just so confused. I kept saying no, I don’t know, and no promises, and he just kept asking as though what I had really been saying was, ‘Hmmm… yess… yes I like this idea very much…. I’m just playing hard-to-get…’
At one point, I kid you not, he asked where I was going next, and when I said Barcelona, he said, ‘It’s a good place to make love.’
He had to run to catch his train and was very sad about it, and we never did end up meeting the next day, but I guess I know who to hit up if I’m ever looking for a friend in Berlin! Bahahahahaha.
Those eyes though…
Okay, enough of that.
(:
I met Kristina at the airport shortly afterward and we traded stories about German boys and Hooters hotels. I also grabbed a bratwurst on my way in because I was enticed by this sign:
When Kristina came through the arrivals gate, I was so happy to see her! And I wasn’t late this time! And we were PUMPED for the adventure ahead.
Oh, I just realized I never talked about the bathroom in our apartment. Tehehe. First of all, there is the toilet. The building was pretty darn old, and I guess the plumbing is too, because we were not allowed to put any sort of paper inside the toilet. All toilet paper had to go into this tiny trash can with a broken flip-up lid that you had to pick up and then try to get to stay on again afterward. And the toilet barely flushed…. The water in the bowl was always this dark brown/ black color, and it smelled like death. Ack. Not the best.
And then there was the shower. On my initial house tour, one of the roommates explained that sometimes the water goes cold, but if that happens, you just have to go to the kitchen and push this giant button on the hot water tank. What?
Kristina and I decided the best thing to do was to make a system where we could notify the other if we needed the button pushed. What a mess.
Before going to sleep, we did some planning since our 2.5-day stay in Berlin had quickly become one. After looking online and rifling through the stack of brochures I had picked up from the airport, we decided the best way to make the most of the city was to do a bike tour first thing in the morning.
Kristina was excited. As was I. The tour was scheduled to last just over five hours, and we would get to see all the major sights of Berlin with a tour guide! What a steal!
There were three different guides, but we made sure to get Tom, a very tall and rather adorable English guy. We were not disappointed.
One of the first stops was Humboldt University’s old library, where one of the largest and most famous book burnings occurred during the rise of Hitler. In the middle of the square in front of the building, there was a glass panel under which lies a room filled with empty shelves in remembrance of this event. Empty libraries make me sad. ): But Kristina makes me happy!
We passed some pretty churches and concert houses…
And then we stopped near Checkpoint Charlie, one of the three (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie/ ABC) American checkpoints between East and West Berlin after the war. One of my favorite parts of this trip to Berlin was how much the guides and museums talk about life in Germany/ Berlin after WWII. I feel as though from the American perspective, the war itself was so huge and devastating, and the US generally benefitted from the aftereffects, so we never talk about the ‘after,’ or the Cold War’s impact on Germany. Over ninety percent of Berlin’s buildings were seriously damaged by bombing, and much of Germany was the same, so the entire country had to rebuild itself while acting as the rope in a passive-aggressive game of tug-of-war between the US, Britain, France, and Russia.
Tom drew this symbolic map of Germany to demonstrate how the country and its capital were divided amongst the great powers and to show how things progressed throughout the years. Props on pretending Germany is just a giant mug of beer. Pretty sure it’s not actually shaped like that.
We also saw a stretch of the Berlin Wall. I am honestly quite surprised that any of it survived in the immediate days, weeks, and months after its official downfall. It was interesting to hear about its construction, too: thousands of Russian soldiers put up a wire-fence version of it overnight in order to put an end to border-crossing between East and West Germany, and they didn’t begin laying the official concrete-and-brick structure until days later, when it seemed they had no opposition to the new piece of architecture. It was also interesting to see how short it was, especially compared to Trump’s dream wall between the US and Mexico.
Below is one of the oldest surviving watchtowers for the wall:
Next, we stopped at the Jewish memorial for the holocaust.
We spent a while wandering through the blocks, pondering what the meaning could be. Supposedly, the designer/ artist claims there is no true meaning to the piece, but that its purpose is to provoke contemplation and discussion. It was definitely disorienting walking through the maze of boxes. The ground rolled up and down, and the boxes became taller the farther in we went. I might glance to the right and catch a flash of someone walking through another row, but they’d be gone in a second and I’d wonder if I had imagined it. It reminded me of the maze Harry Potter had to go through at the end of the Goblet of Fire.
At one point, we were trapped and surrounded by walls fifteen feet tall on all sides. Tall, slick, unforgiving grey walls, and Kristina said this was what she could imagine the Mexican border wall to feel like. It was not a pleasant thought.
Everybody in the group managed to make it out and back to our meeting point so we could move to one of the city entrances from the 18th(?) century.
And then it was time for a visit to Tiergarten! Yay, city parks!!!
This park was massiveeee. I could have spent hours walking or biking through here. And I was super proud of myself for being able to take pictures while riding my bike! I normally have trouble taking a hand off long enough to signal or scratch my nose!
This is the Victory Tower, a piece from hundreds of years ago that I am quite surprised made it through the war’s bombings. I really wanted to go up to see the view, but we weren’t able to make our way back after the bike tour before it closed.
Oh. And here’s a great shot of our positively adorable guide:
I think I was being sneaky when I took this photo and pretended I was just taking a picture of the very interesting bushes behind him. Tehehehe. At one point on the tour, shortly before this photo, the two of us were a bit ahead of the rest of the group, so I asked him about working as a tour guide and his decision to end up in Berlin. I’ve noticed that no matter what city I go to, the guides are often from England, so it was pretty interesting to hear about. He asked about my plans when I returned to the States, and we talked about how much longer I had in Europe, and then he said, “Well, you’ll have to make sure you–” and then some horrible clanking/ wrenching noise came out of his bike, and he was suddenly not next to me anymore.
So that was confusing. Hahaha. I think his chain came unattached? He ended up having to stand on one pedal and kick the ground for the next half hour, using his bike more like a scooter, until he was able to fix it at lunch. And I never found out what I have to make sure to… do? Eat? See? I’ll never know!!!
Ah well. It’s up to my imagination, I guess.
Next, we went to the beergarten located in the middle of the Tiergarten. Tehehe. Kristina and I got a less-than-great tortellini salad and a seriously-delicious German barbecue meatball plate thing. Sooo good. We also met a girl from California on the tour who was travelling by herself, so she ended up eating with us and hanging out with us after the tour! Yay new friends!
After lunch, we saw a couple more pretty things on our way back to the bike shop.
We definitely fell in love with that green-topped cathedral above, so the first thing we did was head back to check out the inside and the view from the top.
Not disappointed. Kristina was going bonkers for it. She said it was one of the prettiest buildings she had ever seen in her whole life, and that it was one of her favorite parts of Berlin.
We also did some posing with the TV tower and this pretty statue:
And then we went to the DDR museum, which depicted life in East Berlin after the war. Again, so fascinating. I never realized or thought about how the Germans lied under Russian rule. So strict and confined. People had plenty of money but nothing to spend it on, as only basic goods were allowed into the city. Schooling was rigid and focused on community, and kids were taught how to throw hand grenades during gym…
Very interesting, indeed, and I feel like we should talk more about this part of Germany’s history. It gives a new perspective on communism and the Soviet Union, too.
After the museum, we headed back to the apartment, taking a minute to appreciate the super cool street art in our neighborhood:
And then bed time. We had to leave the house at 4:30 in the morning or something ridiculous because my travel planning is ridiculous. Gah. Luckily, and amazingly, it was already light when we left the house, so it was an easy trip to the airport.
Just kidding. But honestly, I ate so much meat this weekend. I think my fat intake has been capped off for the month. (Until I eat that roast my host dad made for dinner. Oh well.)
..
So I spent my Thursday through Saturday in Hamburg, Germany with my Sustainable Development class, the final sheBANG of Core Course Week with DIS. I’m going to go ahead and give an immediate disclaimer: I didn’t have that much fun. Like, two out of five on the fun-ness scale. Not sure why. A combination of things, obviously, but I think I just wasn’t really feeling it the whole time, and there was a lot of alcohol involved that I did not enjoy (and for the most part, did not consume). Regardless, I’ll just go over the stuff we did and the stuff I took pictures of, whether I liked it or not… Haha. Sorry.
..
Day 1:
Woke up at 5am, packed a million different snacks for the five hour train ride, and hopped on a bus toward Copenhagen. When I got to Central Station, my professor told the class that all trains between Denmark and Germany had been canceled in order to stop the travels of refugees fleeing Syria. Immigration of refugees is one of the main topics of conversation amongst Danes right now, so this notification was shocking, but not entirely surprising. (Shocking in the way that I obviously was not expecting that, but not surprising because Danes are generally iffy on the acceptance of immigrants.)
..
Spoiler: we took a bus! It was a nice charter bus and all, but the train would have been roomier and more steady. Oh well……. Presenting, pictures from the trip!
..
When we arrived in Hamburg, we set off on a biking tour of the city. From this tour, I’ve decided the following: I need to purchase a Dutch bike (you know, the cute kind where you sit up straight with a pretty brown basket on the front), and I want to do a biking tour of Seattle, just for fun.
Hamburg’s version of the space needle. (It’s actually just their TV tower, and because of renovations and new safety laws, nobody can go up it anymore.)
The wealthy and expensive part of town
Town hall- a little more impressive than that of Auburn, Washington, if I may say so. I couldn’t even find a respectable picture with which to compare.
The great Hamburg city concert hall– It was supposed to open in 2010 and cost around a hundred million dollars to construct, but it has yet to reach completion. The new predictions are an opening date in 2017 and a final cost of around a billion dollars. All three of our tour guides emphasized the fact that the hall can never earn back its cost. Check out this sad banner we found on our last day in the city:
It’s an advertisement joking about this new building opening before the concert hall ever will (“philharmonie”)
St. Michael Church: my next great disappointment, as I never got a chance to climb to the top
One of those chain-yourself-to-someone-forever-and-throw-away-the-key bridges, still standing unlike the original in Paris!
..
Right. That was a lot of pictures. Next, we went to dinner in “a traditional German restaurant.” This basically meant beer, pork, and accordion.
A gigantic barrel that you can reserve for your table if you want some privacy. Ha!
One of our tiny kegs that had to be opened with a hammer and was brewed in-house. After getting my originally 2/3 full glass down to around 1/2 full, I decided I needed to bite my tongue and chug the rest. I successfully choked on my first gulp and stuck with water for the rest of the night. I’m a winner.
Our meat platter at the beginning of the night: radishes, sauerkraut, small sausage, large sausage, stuff that resembled roast pig, some sort of chewy spam-like substance, and ham slices. Not gonna lie; I felt pretty bad for the vegetarians.
Our platter at the end of the night. We done good!!!
All the beer
..
Day 2:
..
We started off with a really long (as in seven hour) walking/ metro tour through Hamburg. It was tiring and unengaging for the most part.
Here’s a model map of Hamburg! I gotta say, whoever is making those tiny town models in Hamburg must be raking it in, because we saw three or four of them during our stay.
A still creek that I thought was a bike lane because THERE WAS SO MUCH ALGAE it looked identical to the bike paths in Seattle
Some windmills on top of Energy Hill. This place used to be a gigantic rubbish heap, but when they realized someone had disposed of toxic chemicals here, the city began a ten-year project to contain the mess by adding a lot of filter and containment systems to the surrounding water and by gluing down miles of plastic over the garbage to create “the world’s largest umbrella,” effectively keeping rain water from reaching the garbage. Crazy stuff. Now, the three windmills up there provide electricity for nearly 4000 homes. BOOM. Sustainability.
The headquarters for Hamburg’s urban development offices. The building was huge. I am not quite sure what all of those people are doing in there.
This is “Energy Bunker,” an old WWII bunker that has been repurposed into a cafe and energy production plant. It provides heat for about 3000 homes and electricity for 1000. But still, it was kind of weird being in there, especially considering it was constructed by prisoners of nearby concentration camps. (Another bunker across town now contains some offices and two rooftop clubs.)
I had a waffle and hot chocolate in the cafe. In the bunker. Again, weird.
..
That night, we were set free at four. My personal desires were to shop around for some souvenirs and possibly a sweater, but that did not align well with the desires of anyone else, considering everybody just wanted to nap and drink… So I napped.
Then we went to dinner in Reeperbahn, the largest red light district in Europe. (Yay?) Needless to say, I wasn’t the most comfortable, even once we made it to the line of food trucks. I ate a scone and chilly cheese fries for dinner because I wasn’t feeling up to finishing any of the gigantic burgers offered by most of the other stands. Then bed.
..
Day 3: more walking tours
Some pretty harbor views- I want that purple sailboat for my birthday, ‘kay Mama?
..
Then we went to THE MOST AMAZING PLAYGROUND EVER. I was yelled at by two different adults for wandering in to play because apparently I am five. This did not help my mood. But still, revel in this amazingness and be jealous and go there:
Pictured: in-ground trampoline, see-saw, and hammock-circle-swing
Water pumps, water guns, and obstacle-course-like sandpits (what the heck?!)
The main climbing structure
That child is on a tiny elliptical. I mean, come on!!!
..
Some scattered and non-captioned photos for your pleasure:
..
To end our trip, we found out that Central Station was shut down due to Neo-Nazi and anti-Neo-Nazi demonstrations. I think they brought out every police officer in the greater Hamburg area. There were hundreds of them, often clad in armor and helmets. There were police tanks, dozens of police vans, and troops of about a dozen officers lining each side of every entrance to the station. It was positively terrifying, though I didn’t see anybody actually demonstrating anything….
..
Needless to say, I am glad to be back in Denmark. The streets are cleaner, the bike lanes are more defined, the architecture is less erratic, and I feel a lot safer in general. However, I will say that the German grocery stores DOMINATE any I have seen in Denmark with regard to snack foods. I stocked up on granola bars, cereal, and chocolate.
..
My overall views of Hamburg after this weekend: it seemed like an American city. WAY less homogeneous than Denmark, both in the areas of ethnicity and cultural variety in the shops and restaurants. And.. I don’t know. There was just a lot going on in terms of rebuilding and redesigning the city. So much so that I had a hard time deciding what was working and what wasn’t. I guess that’s what that gigantic urban planning building is for…
..
Sorry for the long post! Congrats for making it to the end!
