13. Juli 2010

Part 2: Frankfurt and Thinking Hard

Yesterday I arrived in a rather hot Frankfurt to a rather lovely hotel with, once again (good luck for me!) my own bathroom. Though I'm pretty sure the heater is turned on in there and I can't figure out how to turn it off. Anyway.

After returning to a normal hue rather than bright, sweaty pink, I ventured out to explore the main street through the Altstadt and get dinner. I bought a vest/dress/sweater that I've had my eye on at H&M since Kassel and had dinner at Frankfurt's only Ramen shop, since I'm really starting to miss New York. You could tell it's the only shop in Frankfurt. It was pretty good, but with not much more than noodles, and for 9 Euros, I wanted a little more pork and bamboo shoots. Nothing like Chinatown, or Rai Rai Ken on the East Side. And it was too clean - an actual restaurant. I'm aching for grungy ramen and chinese food restaurants, the kind where the tables are really shiny because the grease stopped coming out, where bowls big enough to feed 300 pound men cost 6 bucks, and where the Tsingtao is cold and cheap.

In all, I'm glad that Frankfurt is my last city rather than, say Heidelberg. Or even Munich. I really miss New York, and Frankfurt is the closest I've come to it. (Consequently, if I were to live in Germany, it'd either be Frankfurt or Berlin.) But that's the thing. I love Germany, but this trip has made me realize that, above all, my heart is in New York. There's just something about New York City that makes me feel totally alive. The energy is different. I think part of it has to do with the mix of cultures that's unique to America, especially the city. Everyone here is white, which is actually rather unsettling. There's more diversity in Frankfurt than the other cities that I've been too, but that's not really saying much. After white, blonde Germans there's a decent amount of Turkish, but they stay in their own districts for the most part. There doesn't seem to be a lot of mixing. I miss hearing 5 or more different languages on the way to school every morning, and street performers who are playing things other than American rock music on acoustic guitars. I miss taking trains at 2 AM and the possibility of eating food from a different country every day. I miss DINERS - I miss places where I can get coffee 24/7. I miss stores not being affected by religious holidays. I miss America, namely New York, plain and simple.

Not to say I'm not enjoying myself in Frankfurt. I had a rather lovely day. For one, since Frankfurt is like Wall Street, it's busting with attractive men in suits and dress clothes. =)
I spent most of today walking through the park that replaced the old city walls. How clever, and beautiful! I also saw an incredible statue of Goethe, with scenes from Werter and Faust carved into the sides. I had lunch outside of the Alte Oper, which is a grand stone building, and basically enjoyed being in a city. I also bought a couple of souvenirs - Toy Story auf Deutsch, and something special for my family that I'll reveal once we're together again. (In California most likely - my sister had her twins and, from the photos I've seen, they're beautiful! Congrats sis!)

Tomorrow I'm headed to Goethe's house, bumming around once more, having a last Wurst for dinner, and chilling by the river knitting, provided it's not too warm. I'm excited to be coming home!

To the last day here,

Prost!

Katharine

13. Juli 2010

Part 1: Heidelberg Castle and Europe Fail

Castles are totally worth all the hype. Even though nothing will ever be Hogwarts, regular, non-magical castles are still pretty bad ass. For one, Heidelberger Schloss was built during the late 1200's/early 1300's, withstood bombardment in the 30 years war and near total destruction in the 9 years war (damn Frenchmen) and was not harmed during WWII, and is totally safe to walk in today, thanks to some restoration during the Romantic Period.

Put simply, this place is a fortress. I mean, look how thick these walls are!
Also, Heidelberger Schloss is the home of Europe's largest wine casket (that's actually been used - France has one that's simply for decoration, but Heidelberg's was used 4 times), which can hold 58,100 gallons of wine. Yum!

I spent a good four hours at the Schloss and then headed back down to Heidelberg, but, planning fail: Sundays in small German towns are useless. With the exception of some cafes and restaurants, everything was closed, and while a cup of coffee and cake was nice, I wasn't about to spend my entire day eating and drinking. I'd pass out. So I went back to my room, made some phone calls, took a long hot shower, took a nap, and watched World Cup in the comfort of my bed. Holland lost. I was unenthused. I packed and went to bed.

Frankfurt is coming in a different post, just so things are nicely formatted. But here are some lovely pictures of Heidelberg!


Tschüss,
Katharine

10. Juli 2010

My trip is nearly at an end - 5 more days! I'm happy to be going home soon. 6 weeks is a long time to be gone, especially without bagels, bobos, and coffee shops that take credit cards. And I miss American money - good old American money that's all the same size and color and doesn't look like Monopoly money, and that has dollar bills instead of COINS. My wallet has never been so heavy, and I have a checkbook in my wallet in New York!

My last day in Munich was an array of emotions. I spent the first half of my day in Dachau, which was emotionally draining. Believe it or not, the Holocaust education I received in the U.S., which has no reason to dilute the truth, was nothing compared to going reading and seeing the information presented at Dachau. It was incredibly explicit, but I think that's important. And the experience of standing on that ground - of seeing the bunks where the prisoners slept, and walking through the crematorium - is harrowing in a way that I've never experienced before. The air in the rooms feels different. That very well might be psychological, but I don't think that over 30,000 people (recorded, that is) can be murdered without an alteration in the place is occurred. I don't understand how anyone lives in Dachau anymore. There's a whole street where the S.S. Officers used to live, and those are government buildings now. I find that disturbing.

After Dachau, I came back into Munich, took a last walk through the Altstadt, and had dinner at Hofbrauhaus. I had a lovely 2 hour dinner conversation with 2 young German men, who told me that my German was really good, especially considering how dreadful they said their English was. So I ended the day feeling pretty good about myself, and got a good night's sleep for my journey to Heidelberg.

Let me just say something. It's freaking HOT. Like 95 degrees and humid. And my train wasn't air conditioned. So I showed up in Heidelberg really sweaty and half dehydrated, made it to my Hotel, and, surprise, there's no reception. There's a door and a buzzer. So I rang the buzzer. Again. Again. No answer. I don't understand how there's no one on staff at 4 in the afternoon, but whatever. After ringing for 5 minutes, I looked at the door and there's a little piece of paper that says "Call this #." So I did, and I got my room key and such, but seriously, I'm lucky that I bought a phone and that I actually had some money on it. Otherwise I'd have had a heat stroke.

After a shower and a half hour spent cooling down, I took a walk through Heidelberg's Altstadt. Typisch Deutsch! Absolutely beautiful old buildings - this is a city with character! I'm a little upset I have only one full day here, but I'm making the most of tomorrow. I'm going to a castle and roaming until my feet can't bear it anymore. =)



Till then,
Katharine

8. Juli 2010

München

Let's just agree from the start to pretend that I don't care that Germany lost last night. I don't care that I went to the largest Beer Hall in Germany - Hofbrauhaus - and drank a liter of beer in order to see Germany lose their chance at the cup. After a record-breaking ass kicking of England and an incredible journey through the cup, I'll pretend to not care that they just didn't DO anything in yesterday's game. Okay?

In any case, here's me watching the game, photo courtesy of the Australian couple sitting next to me.

Aside from Germany's loss, I'm having a lovely time in Munich. Yesterday I mostly walked around the Altstadt and popped into a few buildings. Of particular interest is the Rathaus, a neo-Gothic building in the heart of Marienplatz, and which is, refreshingly open free to the public. I explored one of the ground floors but didn't get too carried away, seeing as it's a government building and my German isn't that good. There's a cafe in the courtyard, which is a neat idea but it's really expensive (like a lot of things in this city...), and for 2 Euros I took an elevator ride up the tower and got a pretty lovely view of central Munich. I stuck around till eleven, when there was a Glockenspiel performance, complete with moving figurines in the tower. (Basically, it's the world's most kickass cuckoo clock.)
After the Rathaus, I simply explored. I stopped by the fresh markets and bought 2 pounds of fruit for 4 Euros, which was lunch. I went to the Englisch Garten, which is basically Central Park (and the surrounding neighborhood is pretty much the Upper East Side of Munich). The whole night, beginning at 6:30, was devoted to Weltmeisterschaft and Beer. Jawohl =).

Today I started in the Altstadt again, and then made my way to the Olympic Park, where Munich hosted the Olympics in the 1970's. Like Berlin, there's an admission fee for the stadium, and I don't care so much about the interior, so I just spent a couple of hours in the park. I took some pure mammalian pleasure and fell asleep in the shade for an hour. Perfect.


Other than that, just a lot of wandering around and sitting in pretty parks. I'm almost done with the body of my sweater! Tomorrow I think I'm taking a trip out to Dachau, which will be sobering, to say the least. But I think it's important.

Bis Morgen,
Katharine

6. Juli 2010

Day Three, Berlin

Catching up...

After forgetting to set my alarm, I woke up slightly late (8:30, not THAT late) but later than I intended. I breakfasted at 9 and headed out around quarter to 10. First stop was a trip a little out of central Berlin, to the Olympia Stadion where, in the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens kicked some Nazi ass and showed up Hitler by winning 4 medals. It was really eerie to be in a place that was designed to propagate the idea of Aryan superiority.

I only saw the outside because, honestly, I didn't see the point in paying 4 Euros to see the inside of a stadium. So I hopped back on the U-Bahn and headed to the Deutsche Guggenheim, which I was actually rather disappointed with. For one thing it's tiny, so there's no permanent collection. It's basically an exhibition space, and the exhibit turned out to be abstract protest films from India. I enjoyed reading the texts that went along with the films, but the films themselves were wasted on me. Not to say they weren't good, I just didn't understand, and didn't have the patience to watch flashing images of abandoned factories. But I ended up learning a lot about the lack of human rights in Burma, so I guess it wasn't for nothing.

Another benefit was that, by wandering around Berlin Mitte after the Guggenheim, I stumbled upon the Französische Dom and Tower, which are hardly on the map I have. They were built by French Hugenots, and while the church was closed, for 2 Euro 50, which is cheaper than admission to the Olympia Stadion, I was able to climb to the top of the tower and have a beautiful glimpse of Berlin.

Französische Dom

After the Tower, I headed back the Nikolai Viertel to get another good look around, including the Nikolai Kirche. I managed to snap a few photos of the interior from the foyer before someone told me that I needed to pay to enter the church. Oops.

After this, I went back to Prenzlauerberg, since I love it so much, and got a cup of coffee at an ice cream shop that sells home made ice cream. Delicious! And cheap - my coffee was 1,50, was delicious and strong, and even came with a glass of water that good strong coffee is supposed to come with. I was tempted by many shops, but I don't have room in my suitcase, nor the muscle strength to lug everything to Munich, Heidelberg, and Frankfurt with me! But I stumbled upon (literally, it's not on my map and wasn't in my guidebook) the Berlin Wall Park, which I find to be, yet again, a very poignant recognition of Berlin's past.


On my way back to the Pension, I walked through Tiergarten, saw the Schloss where Angela Merkel, as President of Germany, lives (named Bellevue, coincidentally), and saw my first nude sunbather. Then I picked up some Chinese - cheap comfort food! - ate it in the comfort of my room, packed, and slept for a solid 8 hours. It was tough to say goodbye to Berlin this morning. It's a great city! But at the same time, I was ready for Munich. I caught my 9:52 AM express train and was in Munich by 4:30.

I'll update on Munich tomorrow. I didn't do a whole lot today besides wander around the Altstadt. Time to finish unpacking, do some knitting, and call it a night. Bis Morgen!

Katharine

5. Juli 2010

Day 2, Berlin.

After precious little sleep, I started my day by exploring some of the Nikolai Viertel, which was a well preserved medieval city until it was bombed in WWII. Now it's fully restored, some buildings in the older style, and some basic, concrete buildings.

Rathouse (Parliament)

After which I walked west for a big, saw Museum Insel (Museum Island) and the Brandenburg Tor once more. I decided against museum visiting, since I'd have to pay 12 Euros, and I wasn't particularly interested on anything featured. Plus, a gorgeous day in Berlin - why stay inside?

Berliner Dom

When the heat got a little much, I visited the Holocaust Memorial. I think they did a really excellent job with it. The outside is a ton of these pillars of all different sizes, and the walking through them - it's like a concrete hedge maze - is really powerful. They start out small and somewhat insignificant, but as you delve into the middle of the memorial, the pillars tower above you, and it's very intimidating and claustrophobic. For me, anyway. There were a ton of kids - 10 and 12 year olds -  who were playing tag inside. In general, Germany seems to be doing a damn respectable job of living up to their past. There's no atoning for the Holocaust, obviously, but Germans seem very upfront about it, and are certainly trying to make sure no one forgets that it happened. Which is why I felt it was important for me to visit this. It was upsetting, certainly, but it'd be obtuse to just wander around Germany all "la-di-da, beer and meat" without acknowledging the history.

I finished off the day with a tentative journey into East Berlin (at the recommendation of both Betsy from the Hunter Honors Office and my host family). And may I say, Prenzlauer Berg, which is a district in East Berlin, is amazing. If I were to move anywhere in Germany, based on my experiences thus far, it'd be here. It's so many good things at once. It has a mix of old architecture (pre war) and communist architecture that's been painted bright colors in order to make the concrete seem less dead, and there are flowers and plants everywhere. Basically, it's cozy, artsy, and youthful. Everyone is really friendly, there are record shops and cafes with armchairs outside every couple of storefronts, and everything is independently owned. I'm in love, basically.

(Sorry this is a bit late - have been doing a lot and coming home and sleeping.)

Tschüss,
Katharine

4. Juli 2010

(Again)

The Pension staff thinks it was a bat (they're a lot bigger here) and not a rat, since they can't find anything here, though some light objects were definitely moved (a napkin, for example,) and considering I started crying they actually believed me. They put me in a suite with a queen sized bed and a private toilet on the ground floor, where bats can't get in. And now I don't have to use the lift, which is, coincidentally, now pitch black because the light bulb burned out. I took a nap and I feel a little better. I think East Berlin and some good coffee will certainly help.

Bis bald, dann.

Katharine