Frühlings in Berlin

Yesterday I took some out of my very busy Sunday afternoon to head to Treptower Park. The weather was beautiful; high 60's and sunny. I wanted to get there to take some pictures, because earlier in the semester we went for one of my seminars and the weather was absolutely disgusting and cold and lifeless. This time, it was just the opposite. The park was very crowded and you could sense what the Germans call Gemütlichkeit. It basically means the perfection situation. It the good feeling you have when you sitting outside on a nice day on a park bench chatting with a buddy, while drinking a cool german pilsner and eating your bratwürst. The part of Treptower Park were I went to take pictures, is actually an old Soviet memorial. The park lies in former East Germany, and they were very sympathetic to the Soviet Union. The Park memorializes the Red Army's victory of the battle of Berlin and there defeat of Fascism. It is also there to as a way to promote Stalin, Lenin, and other communist beliefs. The second function of the park, is the fast that its a cemetery. Buried under 5 lands memorialized mounds of earth of thousands of Soviet soldiers that were killed in Berlin during WWII. Most of them were unknown soldiers. The grandness of the place is far better to see in person than in the pictures I took, but they give you a pretty good idea I think.

A European Day

Today was a very nice day, and glimpse into how the Europeans live (or at least the Germans). I had a meeting this morning with a representative of the Jusos for my final project. So I headed into town like many other Germans on their way to work. We chatted, he answered my questions, and we had coffee. After that I returned back to the apartment for a little something to eat before heading outside to work on a photography assignment and enjoy the beautiful of day. It was sunny and really warm, with a little breeze blowing. I wandered around a section of the borough of Berlin that I live in and took photos for my class. I just walked around at things that looked interesting enjoying the weather and listening to my ipod. After about 45 minutes, I hoped on the train into Potsdamer Platz to drop of my photos to be developed. After dropping them off, I headed to a cafe near the photo shop. I ordered my cafe mocha and sat outside with the rest of the Germans reading and sipping on my coffee in the sun. It was perfect and quite enjoyable. I read for almost an hour, until I had finished my coffee then I went to pick up my pictures and went back to the apartment. It was a fun and beautiful day with all the interesting activities that Europeans are known for.

Bout Time

The sun is finally out and Berlin and the weather is nice. The temps are actually hitting high 50's and low 60's. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up all my work in the next few days, or at least get enough done, to get out there and enjoy it. Oh yeah, and the Biergartens (Beer Gardens) are open!

A Trip to Dresen

We had our last group excursion down to Dresden, Germany this past weekend. Although it wasn't the best trip, it was still nice to see the city. Dresden is the historical city of the once powerful kingdom of Saxony. Saxony, before German unification in 1871 under Otto von Bismarck, was one of the richest and most powerful kingdoms in what used to be the Holy Roman Empire. Dresden is also known for being completely devastated and destroyed by Allied bombers at the very end of World War II. It was carpet bombed and the entire city burned to the ground.

We left Saturday morning, taking the regional train there. Our guide is the same guide (Helmut Franz) that showed us around Potsdam at the very beginning of the semester. He was born and grew up in Dresden. He showed us around the old part of the city (Altestadt). We saw the former palace of the Emperors, the Treasury housing their jewels and other priceless belongings, and also a few churches. One was a stunningly beautiful Catholic church and the other was a Protestant church with a magnificent organ. We toured the other parts of the city, looking at what had been rebuilt, what was ruins, and also the different architectural styles of the regimes that controlled Dresden.

Our hostel was very nice, and located in the new part of the city (Neuestadt). The city is seperated in two by the river Elbe. The new part has less of the old buildings, and we walked around more to look at the architecture. The hostel was located in the part of the city where most of the students live, because there are nearby universities and schools. It was quaint and quiet. The weather wasn't the bus...in fact it was much colder and rainy than predicted. We ended up leaving a couple hours early, because we were looking to get back to Berlin to get work done and there were a couple of people who had started to get sick from a bug or something. All in all, it was a nice city to see, but would have been better as perhaps a day trip and with much better weather.

Ostseebad Binz

I just returned yesterday from a weekend getaway to a small town on Germany's northern coast. We visited a tourist town known as Binz. Binz is a coastal town on the Baltic Sea in an area of Germany known as Rügen. Since it was the off season, there weren't very many tourists. 14 of us went. We took the regional trains up and back, so it took about 4 hours each way. The ride was comfortable and we all either talked, did work, or napped. We left Saturday morning and arrived later that afternoon. The youth hostel we stayed in was top notch and was only about a 10 minute walk from the train station. It was located right on the beach and was beautiful. The rooms were nice, they served us breakfast, and they had ping pong and pool tables to keep us occupied.

When we first arrived, we unloaded our stuff into our rooms then headed for the beach. We had great weather. It wasn't really hot, but the sun was out and it was warm enough to play outside. Once on the beach we pretty much took over a huge section haha. We ended up splitting up into 3 groups. One group played frisbee, the other wiffleball, and the other soccer. I played some wiffleball and then jumped into the soccer game. We had some intense games for both. We pretty much stuck out like a soar thumb on the beach. All the Germans were just walking the beach with their winter coats on and children dragging behind. We were running around in our shorts or bathing suits and having a good ole time. After the sports matches, some went off to walk and take pictures, and just sat in the sand. Me and a couple other guys decided to build a sand castle. Then the sand castle idea turned into deciding to build a sand snake. Then that idea turned into building a sand crocodile. The crocodile idea stuck and looked pretty good for what we had to work with (which was nothing but a frisbee as a shovel).

After that most everyone headed back to the hostel to clean up and find something to eat. A group of us wandered around the town looking for a pizza place we heard about. It took us about 45 minutes to find, and we discovered that it was pretty much right across from the hostel. The pizza was delicious. After that we headed back to the hostel and people just chilled, talked, or played ping pong for the rest of the evening.

The next day, I got up early to shower and take a walk on the beach. I regretted not bringing my running shoes or clothes, because it would of been perfect conditions to run on the beach. But I wandered up and down for about 45 minutes taking pictures and admiring the scenery. It remined a lot of back home in Scarborough and in Rhode Island. I definatley love being on the water. After my stroll, I headed back to the hostel for some breakfast. We hung around on the beach for a little while longer after that, then we caught a bus to a nearby island town for an afternoon hike. We walked through the town, to a small forest located on the edge of the sea. The hike was beautiful and was located on the cliffs. The sea looked amazing on this day, because parts of the cliff had actually slide off into the ocean just a few days before. The ocean looked much like the carribean, because the soil in these cliffs had a lot of chalk and limestone in them, thus turning the dark blue and much lighter color. We hiked for a good long time, then headed down to the rocky beaches. We sat on the beach (i layed down the rocks which were actually quite comfortable and almost fell asleep) for almost an hour. It was sunny and warm and absolutely beautiful. We then headed back into town for the bus back to our hostel. When we arrived back into Binz, we went to the local grocery store to pick up some things for the train ride back, got our things from the hostel, then caught the train back to Berlin.

The vacation was short, but a much needed time of relaxation. The weather was perfect for us, and I was feeling much better after being sick. The area reminded me a lot of home and made me realize how much I really like the scenery of Maine and Rhode Island. I probably will never really be able to live in a city setting much longer than I have now. I like the ocean and the mountains to much and the activities that go along with them. I was a very nice getaway. I also am aware that I haven't told you anything about Hungary and Romania yet, but I've been wicked busy and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if I'm going to have the time to post anything about the trip. The excursion was very long and there is a lot to tell, but if I have time I promise I'll make a post. If not, then just remind me to let y'all know when I return.

Bis Dann

Spring Break 2008

Hello All! So here it is. Finally my spring break post. I'm going to break it down into 3 parts (because we visited 3 different cities). I've already posted the pictures from our trip up on webshots so you can see them there.

So first is Vienna, Austria! As I said before, we left for Vienna (Wien in German) on the afternoon of Monday the 17th. Luckily, on that particular day, the BVG started running again so it was much easier to get to the airport with the trains running. The flight was short and comfortable. It only took us a little over an hour to arrive. We arrived shortly after 4. The airport is located out of the actual city, so we had to take a subway train into the city. Something funny though...I din't realize how close Vienna is to Bratislava. In the actual airport, we saw several signs show the direction to Bratislava haha. Anyway, the ride was about a 45 minute long ride and put us just north of our hotel. We walked about 15 minutes south to our hotel and checked in. The room was comfortable, but sort of small. The hotel was nice....and they gave us breakfast every morning which was nice. After we settled in, we headed out in the square located next to our hotel and looked for a place to eat. We found a nice restaurant and had a pretty good dinner. After dinner, we just walked around the rest of the square and down some of the streets to then to our hotel.
On the next day, we had a full day of exploration ahead of us. We woke to snow in the morning. Then the sun came out, then it snowed a little more, then the sun came out again while it was snowing and it eventually stopped snowing and became a really nice day. We took a good look at the subway map and headed to the central square in the city called "Stephans Platz." We just walked around the old city looking at old cathedrals and churches, we saw the Holocaust Memorial, the Opera House and the former Imperial buildings of the old Habsburg Imperial Dynasty. We decided to go look for the City Crypt, which contained the remains of the Imperial Habsburg family. It took a while to find, but the crypt was awesome. It contained many members of the former royal family and even the brother of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the royal family member that was murdered and started WWI). After that we walked around the park next to the Imperial Center and checked out a little bit of the Museum Quarter. We walked to the government district from there and saw the Austrian Parliament building. From there we grabbed some pizza for lunch then found our way to a subway station so that we could head to the face Habsburg Palace known as Schloss Schoenbruenn. There was a nice Easter market at in the courtyard in front of the Schloss. We paid for a self-tour of the Schloss and walked around with hand-held guides for about 40 minutes. Then we went to the back of the Schloss were there was an even larger courtyard filled with Gardens, and a Labyrinth with a maze and a huge Grotto with fountains and high up on a hill was a look out point. We walked up, took some pictures, then took a nice hike back to the bottom. We then headed back to the hotel for some rest before getting some dinner. I took a nap, then we found some dinner in the square again.
The next day, it started off snowing again. We didn't have too too much time, because we need to catch an afternoon train to Salzburg, but we had just enough time to go to the Imperial Treasury. This building held all the family jewels and possessions of the Habsburg Family. From there, we went back to our hotel to grab our stuff and head to the train station. I enjoyed Vienna, because it was a lot different than Berlin. Even though the cities are both very old, it was much more visible in Vienna. Most of the city wasn't destroyed in WWII like Berlin was. The streets are still smaller and the buildings old. Another difference was the language and religion. Although Austria is a German speaking country, there some subtle differences like word placement, or different slang. Also, Vienna and most all of Austria is far more religious and extremely Catholic. Signs of Easter were all over the city. It was a nice visit.

This day, Wednesday, we were traveling to Munich, Germany to continue our vacation. However, I purposely scheduled a brief stop in Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg is a smaller city in Austria. It is located right on the border with Germany and is an Alp town. It too is very old, and in fact was an important city for the Roman Empire (as was most of Germany and Austria). We had about a 3 hour train ride to Salzburg. The ride was nice, we shared a compartment with 4 other people (two of them got off a stops shortly after leaving Vienna). The views from the trains were awesome. The land in Austria is much different than that of Berlin or norther Germany. There are many more hills and mountains. It was easy to see snow capped peaks and some alp mountain ranges as we rode to Salzburg. The ride was comfortable and nice. We arrived at the station and picked up a city map, then walked to the city center. The main station was a mere 15minute walk to the city. Along the way, we took pictures and admired the landscape. Mountains and valleys with snow surrounded the town, as well as the river Danube that ran through the city. High on a mountain face, lay a one of the oldest fortresses in Austria. It looked liked an old white medieval castle. We didn't have enough time to walk up and explore it, but it was amazing to see. We walked through the streets and looked at the markets, the architecture, and the people. More Easter markets were taking place here. The streets in Salzburg were also old and narrow. There were many tourists (mostly Italian). The main church bells started ringing as we were standing in front, admiring. We looked in the church, however services were being held so we didn't disturb them. We walked around the side of the church to find more easter markets and a life-size chess board painted on the street. Two older gentlemen were playing and a small crowd had formed to watch. Then about a million little church-kids came running out of the church past us and into a building on the other side of the square. We continued to walk and looked a fountain on the edge of the square. Then a bird flew by Court's head and she almost was so shocked she started to scream "Jesus Chr..!" but she contained herself, because at the same moment a nun was walking by us. I laughed...hard haha. We walked around a little more, then bought some treats at one of the market stands and made our way back to the train station. We grabbed some dinner at BK, of all places, then waited for our connecting train to Munich.

Our next stop was Munich (München in German). The train from Salzburg to Munich was much shorter, only about an hour and a half. We had regular seating this time instead of a compartment. It was ok, except there was this family with two kids that kept fighting and were completely out of control. So Court and I just donned our iPods and that took care of the problem. We arrived in Munich at about 8:30. The travel office was closed in the train station, and we couldn't find any street or subway maps to help us find the street our hotel was on. So we just decided to take a cab. Funny thing was, that our street was actually right next to the train station and our cab ride lasted a whole 30 seconds (still cost us 3 Euro). We checked in and settled into the room. The room was nice, and was much bigger than the last. However instead of one big bed, they gave us two twin beds and just pushed them together. They also provided breakfast in the morning and the stay wasn't that bad.
On the first day, Thursday, the day also started off a bit snowy but then the sun came out in full force and it was a gorgeous day....for a little while. We figured out the map and subway plans and headed off to the English Garden. The English Garden is the "Central Park" of Munich. Its filled with fields, and paths, and trees, and there is a giant lake/pond in the center. In the center, you can find many beergardens full of people and bustling and lots of people in paddle boats out on the lake. There were a few people strolling through the park, or on the bikes, or with their dogs the day we went. Also during the summer, there is a "man-made wave rider" where you can try surfing located next to the creak that runs through the entire park. We went to find it, and found the waterfall and it was really beautiful. Then in the blink of an eye, the sun ducked behind some clouds and it literally started snowing like crazy. It looked like a blizzard. I took a few pics and you can see them online. We then wandered around some more trying to find a subway station and get ourselves orientated. From there we headed back to the hotel quickly then went to the BMW Museum.
The Museum was actually under construction, but located across the street was the main BMW showroom and exhibition. This building was huge and had multiple floors. It displayed the latest BMW technology, as well as all its car models, motorcyles, and F1 car. We spent a lot of time here and I took tons of pictures. It was definately one of the highlights of the trip. Across the street was the the BMW headquarters and the main BMW factory. Both buildings were huge and you can see them in pictures I took. After that we wondered around the neighborhood for a little while, before heading to one of the main tourist attractions. For dinner, and our next stop, was the Hofbrauhaus. This is the probably the most famous brew house in Germany. It has been around for centuries and hosts one of the largest tents during Oktoberfest. We ate in the traditional beer hall and had the traditional Munich meal - Weisswurst (White bratwurst) mit Senf und Pretzeln (with mustard and a pretzel). We also had the traditional Hofbrau home brew beer. It was delicious and came in the famous tall 1 litre mugs. The experience was similar to that in Hamburg, and probably would have been more fun if the band was playing and it was outside during summertime, but it was still enjoyable.
So that pretty much concluded that day. The next day we went to the Altesmuseum which housed old renaissance and reformation paintings and artwork. This was a nice museum that we spent about an hour at. After that we headed over to the Olympic Park (Olympiapark). This is a huge area, turned park, that was the main site for the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich. On the site is an indoor soccerfield, a hockey rink, an events theatre (kinda like a civic center), a pool, and the main soccer stadium. We were able to tour and walk around the soccer stadium for a little while and even saw where the olympic flame was kept burning the games. Also on site now, is an aquarium and the main tv tower in Munich (called Olympia Tower). With in the tower is a small museum for rock music, a rotating restaurant, and two observation decks. One of the observation decks is indoors, the other is outside. We took the long ride up to see the view. Up there we got some pretty good pictures (despite the wet windows form the rain) from both observation decks. We also checked out the little museum and wanted to have dinner at the museum. Unfortunately they here taking a break and weren't serving dinner so we just got something to drink then left. After that we made our way back towards our hotel and got dinner at nice Italian restaurant. The food was very good and the service was nice too.
The next morning we got up for breakfast, then headed to the train station to catch a train to the subway. The Munich airport is another airport that is located quite a ways outside the city. It was about a 45 minute ride. We arrived at the airport and checked in with no problems and a good chunk of time to spare. I read the paper and Court read some of Harry Potter (im trying to get her addicted like I am). The flight was short and comfortable. We tried to work on some of the word games and puzzels and stuff in the paper, but I eventually gave up haha.

Overall, the break was amazing and a lot of fun. We had no real problems and the weather was great for most of the trip. I was glad that I had the opportunity to spend it with Courtney and that we got to see some of the best places in Europe together. It will be hard to top.

Congratulations Amber and Moses

I know I still need to post the rest of my travel stories but I promise I will get to it eventually. Right now I wanted to make a quick post, congratulating Amber and Moses on the birth of their baby boy Mason Benjamin. Mason was born without complications on April 6, 2008. He weighed in at 6lbs., 15oz and was 19 inches long. I can't wait to see him in person!

Court! Birthdays! and Anniversaries!

Wow, so it's been a really long time since I've posted, but as most of you should know, I've not been in Berlin that much. First Krakow, then Spring Break, then Hungary and Romania. But! Now I've finally got some free time to at least start to write about whats been going on. I'm first going to write about Court's visit then our Spring Break. Then I'll fill you all in about my travels to Budapest and Transylvania.

Court arrived on Saturday, the 15th of March. At this point in time, the BVG was on strike again so there was no direct route to get from my apartment to Tegel Airport. I first had to walk to an S-Bahn station, and take one of the alternative trains to the Hauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station) and from there they were running some buses to the airport. Although her flight arrived about 15 minutes, it took a quite a while for her to come out of the terminal (the must of been slow with the luggage). She made a German friend on the flight and the girl helped her with one of her bags until she found me. I had to laugh when I first saw her face because the expression just spelled, "UGH! My Life!" I knew she was tired and had a long long long flight, but I was happy as could be to see her and justed wanted to give her a great big hug and kiss her! So I did haha. I explained that we would have to take a round-about way to get home since the transportation systems were on strike and we proceeded to my apartment. We climbed the stairs and Court noted that she really had to pee and was wicked tired because she didn't get hardly any sleep on the plane. Little did she know, that she had a surprise waiting for her.

So we walked in the door and she saw an envelope with her name on it taped to my door. She put her bags down, but instead of making her way to the envelope she ran to empty her bladder. When she was finished she removed the envelope, I put her things in my room, and she discovered the surprise. For our one year anniversary (which actually wasn't until the 24th), I booked travel reservations for us to go to Vienna and Salzburg, Austria and Munich, Germany together. She was very surprised and loved it. I apologized to her for not being able to get much rest and eleveate the jet lag, but we were flying out Monday. She then presented me with books from my grandmother, some birthday cards from my little cousins, a card and some chocolate from her parents, and her birthday and anniversary gift to me. I loved everything! She bought me a brand new and top of the line digital camera! And also got us tickets to go see Country Fest this summer at Gillette Stadium. The gifts were perfect. The rest of the day we just chilled, had dinner, and hung out in my apartment. On Sunday, we met up with a couple of friends and checked out one of the biggest Flea Markets in town, then I took her to the best ice cream place in the city. We packed and got ready for our trip and luckily found out that the next day, the BVG was going off strike and we would easily be able to make it to the airport.

So to fast forward through our trip, we arrived back in Berlin Saturday afternoon (the 22nd). We made our way back to the apartment then went and picked up some food for dinner and unpacked. Court made me a delicious pre-birthday dinner. She made a yummy meatloaf all by herself. It was delicious. We didn't go out or anything the rest of the evening, but just rested. The next day was my birthday and we didn't have any special plans and most of my group was still gone. But I did want to show her around the city. So she made breakfast, then we headed out. The weather wasn't too bad, but kinda chilly. I took her to Potsdamer Platz where I showed her remnents of the former Berlin Wall and memorials where the wall used to lie. We then walked a little ways to the Sony Center and checked out the square there. We proceeded to walk along the Tiergarten to Mitte where I first showed her the world famous Brandenburg Gate. I showed and explained all the buildings in Pariser Platz in front of the Gate and there were some breakdancers there that we watched for a little while. After that we decided to get something warm to drink, so we walked to the end of the Platz and went into the Dunkin' Donuts. This was my first time having Dunkin since being in Berlin. It's quite a bit different from home, and frankly, I like the Dunkin' back home better.

The rest of the time, I just wanted to show her Mitte (the city center). I walked her to the government district and showed her the parliament buildings and the Reichstag. We walked down Unter Den Linden and I showed her some embassies, the Ferrari store, Humboldt University, and then the Neue Woche (fallen soldier memorial). We walked to Museum Island from there and saw some WWII ruins and the Chancellors residence. After looking at a bunch of the museums, I wanted to show her one more thing. I brought her to the square in front of Humboldt University where a memorial to the book burnings committed by the Nazis is located. After that we went home.

Later that day, we went to one of my favorite restaurants for my birthday dinner. We went to Hell oder Dunkel and the food was great and we had some nice long conversations. Before leaving I heard from a couple of friends who had returned back from their travels and we made plans to meet up later. Then, I asked for the check and something I've never seen before happened. The waitress brought the check over, but she also brought two free shots of Jager over as well. I couldn't understand why they gave us the shots, as they didn't know it was my birthday. The only conclusion I could come up with was that it was also Easter and this was to celebrate the holiday. After dinner, we went back to the apartment. Brian returned shortly after and then my friends showed up. We all went to a local bar, Slumberland, and they bought me a couple of drinks. We didn't stay out long, and all headed home. It was a great birthday.

The next day was mine and Courts 1 year anniversary. Unfortunately I had a pre-departure meeting at 11 with my group, since we were leaving for Hungary and Romania the next day. The meeting was kinda boring and lasted way too long. After the meeting a few of us went to pick some things up for our trip then Brian and I headed back to our apartment. I did some work I needed to get done before leaving then we made dinner. In the afternoon I took Court to the famous Palace here in Berlin - Schloss Charlottenburg. We walked all around the outside of the palace and through the gardens. Then I took her to a traditional German restaurant near by where we enjoyed a beer and some goulosh soup. After that, we both wanted some ice cream for dessert, so we went back to Potsdamer Platz for Gillatto. The ice cream was delicious, at least mine was haha. Court didn't enjoy hers and I actually dropped the last of mine lol. The next day we unfortunately had to say our goodbyes, as she headed back to the States and I headed off to eastern Europe. The week was amazing and I had one of the best birthdays and a great anniversary. I couldn't have asked for more.