Here's the best part:
Also, by popular request, a video of me:
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Mao Mao Mao Mao
So my host mother, Dorothee, just got back from a two week long trip in China. She brought me back a watch. When I saw it, I nearly lost it. This thing is so hilarious. Check this out:
Here's the best part:
Also, by popular request, a video of me:
Here's the best part:
Also, by popular request, a video of me:
Friday, October 26, 2007
Moving right along (to Amsterdam)
On my last day in Brussels, I walked around (big surprise there). I took a visit to the Atomium, constructed for the 1958 worlds fair. It's a giant steel model of an iron atom, with a museum about its construction inside. It also currently houses an exhibit about designer Willy Van Der Meeyre. I've got to say, some of his ideas, like a table that wraps around a sofa - pretty neat. Others....not so attractive. It was the 60s and 70s though, so I guess it'll have to slide.
After walking around town some more, I headed over to Moritz's apartment for dinner. Did I mention how nice this guy is? I got to meet his adorable 16 month old daughter Luna, and his 4 year old son, Lio. They were kind of scared of me at first, I think, since I don't even speak their first language (French, not that Luna speaks yet). By the time they had to go to bed though, I was tossing a balloon around with Lio and Luna, and helping Lio draw (and cut some cardboard - he's not allowed to use the big scissors). They're sweet kids. Fun fact, Lio speaks French, but also understands German (his father speaks in German to him). When he tries to speak German, though, he sometimes mixes in French words when he doesn't know the German words, which made it pretty challenging to understand him at times. Moritz and I, and later his girlfriend (wife?) Annabelle had some pleasant conversation, and then I went back to my hostel, and then to bed. Or so I thought.
Now, for the first two nights in Brussels, I was in a single room, but I moved to a 4 bed room for the last night. My roommates had finally arrived when I got back from Moritz's. Reggie, Willy, and...something. Let's go with Bobby. They had just started Lady in the Water on a portable DVD player, so I didn't go to bed just then. When the movie finished, Reggie probably said that he "knew the movie was tight, man, but..man. That shit is tight" about 4 or 6 times before bed. And then he said it another 4 or 6 the next morning. Ok, man. we all get it. It's tight.
Let's move on, though. It's going to take too long to relate everything about Amsterdam (because I'm a slowbie), so I'll keep this a bit shorter.
I got in to Amsterdam mid afternoon, and bought a metro ticket after walking the 5 minutes to my hostel, and then back to Central Station (I thought I should learn the surrounding streets). Right around my hostel were several sex shops, a porno theater, 'coffee shops,' and a fair assortment of people who would murmur 'cocaine, ecstacy' as you walked by. I've got to say, I wasn't expecting any of this, even though Amsterdam is supposed to be a liberal city (coke and X are still illegal). It probably had something to do with the fact that the city is so small, that all of this existed even though we were right in tourist central/downtown Amsterdam. *shrug* Whatever. I walked around the block, and planned my next couple of days. With luck, one of them would be spent on a bike. I note how cold it had gotten. Dinner was at this asian place called Nooch (who named it, Kevin Smith?). Although it was fairly expensive (it's on a main street in downtown), it was absolutely delicious (Pad Thai). I went to bed comparatively early that night after sitting in the in-hostel bar watching a football game (soccer). I think Barcelona won.
The next day, I hit up the Rijksmuseum (the Dutch history museum), and among other interesting things from the Golden Age, I got to see Rembrandt's 'Night Watch.' It was really amazing, of course, but there were many other worthy pieces of art, such as an enormous painting of a Swan (the interior ministry) defending her nest (Holland) from a Dog (Holland's enemies). I briefly considered heading to the Diamond Museum (and there were tons of diamond shops around, also, not that I was buying), but instead I wandered into a street market while on my way to the Heineken Brewery (now a museum). A small band was playing a very jazzy arrangement of the love theme from The Godfather. I dropped some change and gave the sax player a look that hopefully implied how much I was enjoying their music. As for the Brewery, the whole experience was somewhat hokey on the whole, with small rides like "Learn what it's like to be a bottle" and "Drive a horse carriage through Amsterdam." In the middle of, and at the end of the museum, there were bars where you could pass in color coded chips for frosty Heineken. It's a brilliant marketing scheme, of course - for who can resist recieving not one, not two, but three free beers and a free gift by the end of a museum tour. Not me, I guess.
The gift, by the way, is a bottle opener.
After the Brewery, I hit up Madame Tussaud's Wax museum. I yawned through the Dutch history (although the giant amalga-man, made from icons of Dutch culture, was...eye-catching, to say the least), and sighed at the Pirates of the Carribean cash-in (the woman guiding us through the strobe-lit, foggy corridor was appropriately 'piratey,' though - She made some children scream at the very least. The main attraction, of course, was the celebrity figures they had. There were models of everyone from Lenin to W. Bush, Clooney to Dame Edna, and, of course, Gandhi was there with Mandela. I took pictures of most of them, so when I get those up you can see who was there.
I hit up a cheese shop for some smoked Gouda, after wandering through a mall complex.
After all that, I went to the Torture museum. I'm sorry that I did, really. It was mostly to kill time before dinner, and it was cheap. I got some pictures of nasty looking implements, but it's nothing that can't be seen elsewhere.
Third day, I got up, and headed off to see the city some more. This was supposed to be my bike day, but the weather refused to cooperate. It had rained, and it was still a bit damp, and more than a little bit cold. Walking would have to suffice. I made my way slowly to the Versetzmuseum (Dutch Resistance during WWII), where I found an interesting and educational exhibit and some annoying British children. There was even a small piece on victory and liberation songs after the Allies broke the Nazi hold on the Netherlands.
I don't really know what to say about the rest of the day. Most of it was spent walking around the city again, with short stops to take pictures of things that caught my eye as I passed by. I did a little more shopping, and got a CD with a discount coupon from Madame Tussad's (Jurassic 5 LP). I took a short boat tour of the canals and harbors later in the day, but I eventually found myself reading at the Leidseplein before dinner. Afterwards, I ventured into "The American Book Center" for the 2nd time (the first I was just browsing), and bought World War Z. That about sums up the day. I'm pretty sure I was in bed around 10 or so.
Just a word on my hostel arrangement in Amsterdam. I was in an 8 bed room, which was full every night except the last. The street the windows faced was a busy side alley. Every night, there were two people who snored like they were doing their best impersonations of a couple of bullfrogs. There was this one girl who always turned the light on when she came into the room, and she was always one of the last people to go to bed. The beds and pillows? Sort of lumpy overall (one springs; the other, fluff). All of this meant that I never got to sleep before 11 or 12, and I woke up several times each night. I must have looked like crap, but I really never felt it. Strange world, right?
So on the last day, I got up, ate breakfast, packed my things, and headed off to catch my train. Now, you might remember me saying that I bought a metro ticket; look at how useful that was - I walked everywhere. Since I never stamped the ticket, I slipped it in the money slot on the ticket machine. Hopefully some other tourist or traveler will get some benefit out of - if they don't just toss it right away.
Over this past week I've grown a beard, although I'm not sure if I'll keep it past the week. Now, it might just be my imaignation, but I think the man checking passports as we crossed the boerd thought I was a terrorist or something, since I think I was the only person in the car that he asked whether "I had anything to declare." Who knows.
I did read approximately 250 pages in various books during the train ride (over half of that from World War Z - it's an amazing read).
So. In a nutshell, that was my trip.
Good night.
After walking around town some more, I headed over to Moritz's apartment for dinner. Did I mention how nice this guy is? I got to meet his adorable 16 month old daughter Luna, and his 4 year old son, Lio. They were kind of scared of me at first, I think, since I don't even speak their first language (French, not that Luna speaks yet). By the time they had to go to bed though, I was tossing a balloon around with Lio and Luna, and helping Lio draw (and cut some cardboard - he's not allowed to use the big scissors). They're sweet kids. Fun fact, Lio speaks French, but also understands German (his father speaks in German to him). When he tries to speak German, though, he sometimes mixes in French words when he doesn't know the German words, which made it pretty challenging to understand him at times. Moritz and I, and later his girlfriend (wife?) Annabelle had some pleasant conversation, and then I went back to my hostel, and then to bed. Or so I thought.
Now, for the first two nights in Brussels, I was in a single room, but I moved to a 4 bed room for the last night. My roommates had finally arrived when I got back from Moritz's. Reggie, Willy, and...something. Let's go with Bobby. They had just started Lady in the Water on a portable DVD player, so I didn't go to bed just then. When the movie finished, Reggie probably said that he "knew the movie was tight, man, but..man. That shit is tight" about 4 or 6 times before bed. And then he said it another 4 or 6 the next morning. Ok, man. we all get it. It's tight.
Let's move on, though. It's going to take too long to relate everything about Amsterdam (because I'm a slowbie), so I'll keep this a bit shorter.
I got in to Amsterdam mid afternoon, and bought a metro ticket after walking the 5 minutes to my hostel, and then back to Central Station (I thought I should learn the surrounding streets). Right around my hostel were several sex shops, a porno theater, 'coffee shops,' and a fair assortment of people who would murmur 'cocaine, ecstacy' as you walked by. I've got to say, I wasn't expecting any of this, even though Amsterdam is supposed to be a liberal city (coke and X are still illegal). It probably had something to do with the fact that the city is so small, that all of this existed even though we were right in tourist central/downtown Amsterdam. *shrug* Whatever. I walked around the block, and planned my next couple of days. With luck, one of them would be spent on a bike. I note how cold it had gotten. Dinner was at this asian place called Nooch (who named it, Kevin Smith?). Although it was fairly expensive (it's on a main street in downtown), it was absolutely delicious (Pad Thai). I went to bed comparatively early that night after sitting in the in-hostel bar watching a football game (soccer). I think Barcelona won.
The next day, I hit up the Rijksmuseum (the Dutch history museum), and among other interesting things from the Golden Age, I got to see Rembrandt's 'Night Watch.' It was really amazing, of course, but there were many other worthy pieces of art, such as an enormous painting of a Swan (the interior ministry) defending her nest (Holland) from a Dog (Holland's enemies). I briefly considered heading to the Diamond Museum (and there were tons of diamond shops around, also, not that I was buying), but instead I wandered into a street market while on my way to the Heineken Brewery (now a museum). A small band was playing a very jazzy arrangement of the love theme from The Godfather. I dropped some change and gave the sax player a look that hopefully implied how much I was enjoying their music. As for the Brewery, the whole experience was somewhat hokey on the whole, with small rides like "Learn what it's like to be a bottle" and "Drive a horse carriage through Amsterdam." In the middle of, and at the end of the museum, there were bars where you could pass in color coded chips for frosty Heineken. It's a brilliant marketing scheme, of course - for who can resist recieving not one, not two, but three free beers and a free gift by the end of a museum tour. Not me, I guess.
The gift, by the way, is a bottle opener.
After the Brewery, I hit up Madame Tussaud's Wax museum. I yawned through the Dutch history (although the giant amalga-man, made from icons of Dutch culture, was...eye-catching, to say the least), and sighed at the Pirates of the Carribean cash-in (the woman guiding us through the strobe-lit, foggy corridor was appropriately 'piratey,' though - She made some children scream at the very least. The main attraction, of course, was the celebrity figures they had. There were models of everyone from Lenin to W. Bush, Clooney to Dame Edna, and, of course, Gandhi was there with Mandela. I took pictures of most of them, so when I get those up you can see who was there.
I hit up a cheese shop for some smoked Gouda, after wandering through a mall complex.
After all that, I went to the Torture museum. I'm sorry that I did, really. It was mostly to kill time before dinner, and it was cheap. I got some pictures of nasty looking implements, but it's nothing that can't be seen elsewhere.
Third day, I got up, and headed off to see the city some more. This was supposed to be my bike day, but the weather refused to cooperate. It had rained, and it was still a bit damp, and more than a little bit cold. Walking would have to suffice. I made my way slowly to the Versetzmuseum (Dutch Resistance during WWII), where I found an interesting and educational exhibit and some annoying British children. There was even a small piece on victory and liberation songs after the Allies broke the Nazi hold on the Netherlands.
I don't really know what to say about the rest of the day. Most of it was spent walking around the city again, with short stops to take pictures of things that caught my eye as I passed by. I did a little more shopping, and got a CD with a discount coupon from Madame Tussad's (Jurassic 5 LP). I took a short boat tour of the canals and harbors later in the day, but I eventually found myself reading at the Leidseplein before dinner. Afterwards, I ventured into "The American Book Center" for the 2nd time (the first I was just browsing), and bought World War Z. That about sums up the day. I'm pretty sure I was in bed around 10 or so.
Just a word on my hostel arrangement in Amsterdam. I was in an 8 bed room, which was full every night except the last. The street the windows faced was a busy side alley. Every night, there were two people who snored like they were doing their best impersonations of a couple of bullfrogs. There was this one girl who always turned the light on when she came into the room, and she was always one of the last people to go to bed. The beds and pillows? Sort of lumpy overall (one springs; the other, fluff). All of this meant that I never got to sleep before 11 or 12, and I woke up several times each night. I must have looked like crap, but I really never felt it. Strange world, right?
So on the last day, I got up, ate breakfast, packed my things, and headed off to catch my train. Now, you might remember me saying that I bought a metro ticket; look at how useful that was - I walked everywhere. Since I never stamped the ticket, I slipped it in the money slot on the ticket machine. Hopefully some other tourist or traveler will get some benefit out of - if they don't just toss it right away.
Over this past week I've grown a beard, although I'm not sure if I'll keep it past the week. Now, it might just be my imaignation, but I think the man checking passports as we crossed the boerd thought I was a terrorist or something, since I think I was the only person in the car that he asked whether "I had anything to declare." Who knows.
I did read approximately 250 pages in various books during the train ride (over half of that from World War Z - it's an amazing read).
So. In a nutshell, that was my trip.
Good night.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
A quick one
3 minutes left of internet.
The proportions of books that I want to read, should read, and have to read are all out of whack.
Anyways, I bought World War Z today.
I'll be back in Berlin tomorrow.
The proportions of books that I want to read, should read, and have to read are all out of whack.
Anyways, I bought World War Z today.
I'll be back in Berlin tomorrow.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
So the internet's not free, but it's pretty cheap. I've got about 45 minutes left right now.
I'd like to start this off with the crazy dream that I had last night, rather than anything that I've done in Brussels. That's how weird it was.
Of what I can remember (which is a remarkable amount, considering what usually happens to dreams upon waking), the dream began with me saving a girl my age from some seemingly random attacker. Little did I know that I had entered into something that I had no idea existed. As I found out, some evil spirit/demon/creature was hunting this girl (although I can't remember why). As I found out, this spirit possessed people. and then used their body to make its evil ambitions reality. The mechanics of it are pretty fuzzy, though. Anyways, by saving her I marked myself as the spirit's enemy as well. What follwed really hit upon a slew of movie cliches, including, but not limited to, a car chase on a winding dirt road through a hilly forest at high speed. This dream was so intense that when I punched the possessed person chasing us, I actually punched the air next to my bed (I woke up, briefly). The only part that I remember fairly well, aside from the car chase, is in a hotel room, one with a door to an adjoining room. Now, by this point, we had picked up another person fighting against the spirit. I think her name was Liz (although not any Liz that I know). She was in the adjoining room, and the Girl and myself were in the other room. Somehow, Liz gets possessed, and we end up having a fight to the death after she breaks through the door to get to us. I remember this really clearly, because I stabbed her in the heart with a pen. Yeah. It was pretty gruesome, as you can imagine.
Anyways, that was the start of my day today (What fun!). Now back to the beginning of my stay here in Brussels.
***
The first leg of my trip to Cologne was fairly awful. I was in a 6 passenger compartment - completely full - with two women who either wouldn't stop talking or wouldn't stop getting up. I barely slept for the 6 hours, and I was in a middle seat, so I couldn't even lean on anything. Interestingly, though, nobody came by to check tickets for that whole leg. I guess they didn't want to bother people so late at night (it was a ride from 00:30 to 6:56). I did get booted off the train in Aachen, though, which luckily is most of the way to Brussels. They didn't have much of a sense of humor about the whole business, and I wasn't trying to argue anything past "I've actually already paid." I had to buy a new ticket, and got into Brussels a whole hour or two later than planned.
After checking in at my hostel, I stowed my bags, and started walking. First, I hit a Turkish district - Doner Kebaps and Turkish Pizza as far as the eye can see. There wasn't much in the way of interesting sights, except for this one park I walked through on the way back. It was on a steep hill, adjacent to a school. The whole thing had a terraced feel to it, although it wasn't really designed as such. It also had one of those spinning platform things that are banned in the US, since they are so dangerous, making it far better than any US playground.
After that, I took a nap for a couple of hours and then went to meet Moritz, one of Tom and Dorothee's sons. He lives in Brussels, and works for a community organization trying to improve ties within the communtiy. He's a really nice guy. He invited my to a dinner held by his organization for their something-eth anniversary. Quiche, salad and bread -very french. Also, Belgian beer is amazing. There are 250 varieties made in Belgium, many originally made in monasteries. After dinner, there was a performance of Latin Jazz and Roma/Gypsy music. It was wicked good (pretty much everything good that you might associate with 'Latin', although I could have swore that I was listening to the Eagle's "Hotel Califormia" at some times. Then it was time for bed, since I had had about 6 hours of sleep in the past day.
Today, I had that crazy dream, and then I met Moritz for a small tour around the city. We wlaked through a sunday market, and then a flea market, where I bought a copper turtle serving dish (a copper dish shaped like a turtle). That's for you, mom and dad. We walked through the historical parts of the city, I took some pictures, and Moritz was an excellent guide.
After the tour, I went to the Belgian museum of Comic Book Art. I can't recommend this place enough. I must have spent 2 or 3 hours there, just looking at and reading the comics on display, and absorbing the whole experience. I bought a plush Milou (Snowy for all you American TinTin fans). The high point of the musem might have been the exhibit on sterotypes in Europe as seen in comics. The examples were all really funny, even if I couldn't read them all ( a testament to the art). Of particular interest was a British comic about Marie Antoinnette dodging out on her beheading, only to end up in as Anne Bolynne in a reenactment of her beheading. Yeah. There were also lots of comics about Tea Time from a French perspective, of course.
Not much to say after that. The weather is pretty cold, and it looks like it might start raining a bit.
That's all for now.
Keep reading for the conclusion to this week's shocking episode!
I'd like to start this off with the crazy dream that I had last night, rather than anything that I've done in Brussels. That's how weird it was.
Of what I can remember (which is a remarkable amount, considering what usually happens to dreams upon waking), the dream began with me saving a girl my age from some seemingly random attacker. Little did I know that I had entered into something that I had no idea existed. As I found out, some evil spirit/demon/creature was hunting this girl (although I can't remember why). As I found out, this spirit possessed people. and then used their body to make its evil ambitions reality. The mechanics of it are pretty fuzzy, though. Anyways, by saving her I marked myself as the spirit's enemy as well. What follwed really hit upon a slew of movie cliches, including, but not limited to, a car chase on a winding dirt road through a hilly forest at high speed. This dream was so intense that when I punched the possessed person chasing us, I actually punched the air next to my bed (I woke up, briefly). The only part that I remember fairly well, aside from the car chase, is in a hotel room, one with a door to an adjoining room. Now, by this point, we had picked up another person fighting against the spirit. I think her name was Liz (although not any Liz that I know). She was in the adjoining room, and the Girl and myself were in the other room. Somehow, Liz gets possessed, and we end up having a fight to the death after she breaks through the door to get to us. I remember this really clearly, because I stabbed her in the heart with a pen. Yeah. It was pretty gruesome, as you can imagine.
Anyways, that was the start of my day today (What fun!). Now back to the beginning of my stay here in Brussels.
***
The first leg of my trip to Cologne was fairly awful. I was in a 6 passenger compartment - completely full - with two women who either wouldn't stop talking or wouldn't stop getting up. I barely slept for the 6 hours, and I was in a middle seat, so I couldn't even lean on anything. Interestingly, though, nobody came by to check tickets for that whole leg. I guess they didn't want to bother people so late at night (it was a ride from 00:30 to 6:56). I did get booted off the train in Aachen, though, which luckily is most of the way to Brussels. They didn't have much of a sense of humor about the whole business, and I wasn't trying to argue anything past "I've actually already paid." I had to buy a new ticket, and got into Brussels a whole hour or two later than planned.
After checking in at my hostel, I stowed my bags, and started walking. First, I hit a Turkish district - Doner Kebaps and Turkish Pizza as far as the eye can see. There wasn't much in the way of interesting sights, except for this one park I walked through on the way back. It was on a steep hill, adjacent to a school. The whole thing had a terraced feel to it, although it wasn't really designed as such. It also had one of those spinning platform things that are banned in the US, since they are so dangerous, making it far better than any US playground.
After that, I took a nap for a couple of hours and then went to meet Moritz, one of Tom and Dorothee's sons. He lives in Brussels, and works for a community organization trying to improve ties within the communtiy. He's a really nice guy. He invited my to a dinner held by his organization for their something-eth anniversary. Quiche, salad and bread -very french. Also, Belgian beer is amazing. There are 250 varieties made in Belgium, many originally made in monasteries. After dinner, there was a performance of Latin Jazz and Roma/Gypsy music. It was wicked good (pretty much everything good that you might associate with 'Latin', although I could have swore that I was listening to the Eagle's "Hotel Califormia" at some times. Then it was time for bed, since I had had about 6 hours of sleep in the past day.
Today, I had that crazy dream, and then I met Moritz for a small tour around the city. We wlaked through a sunday market, and then a flea market, where I bought a copper turtle serving dish (a copper dish shaped like a turtle). That's for you, mom and dad. We walked through the historical parts of the city, I took some pictures, and Moritz was an excellent guide.
After the tour, I went to the Belgian museum of Comic Book Art. I can't recommend this place enough. I must have spent 2 or 3 hours there, just looking at and reading the comics on display, and absorbing the whole experience. I bought a plush Milou (Snowy for all you American TinTin fans). The high point of the musem might have been the exhibit on sterotypes in Europe as seen in comics. The examples were all really funny, even if I couldn't read them all ( a testament to the art). Of particular interest was a British comic about Marie Antoinnette dodging out on her beheading, only to end up in as Anne Bolynne in a reenactment of her beheading. Yeah. There were also lots of comics about Tea Time from a French perspective, of course.
Not much to say after that. The weather is pretty cold, and it looks like it might start raining a bit.
That's all for now.
Keep reading for the conclusion to this week's shocking episode!
Friday, October 19, 2007
One for the road
I'm leaving for Brussels in a couple of hours, so I thought I'd make a post before I go, for posterity more than anything.
I'll be in Brussels until the 23rd, when I'll get on a train (which I haven't booked yet) for Amsterdam, where I'll stay until the 26th. At that point, I'll get on another train which I haven't booked yet (although I thought I had), and get back to Berlin on the 27th, leaving a day and a half before the break ends.
I almost didn't have tickets, though, since Deutsche Bahn never sent them to me in 2-3 days (like they said they would), and apparently people like me can't book/print online tickets. I had assumed that I would get the tickets by today, but they never came, not even after I spent a few hours freaking out over the whole thing (although a package did come for Dorothee...). I also found out today that my tickets from Amsterdam to Berlin were never actually booked, because they didn't have the couchette that I requested, and wanted my confirmation that it was OK to put me in a seat. The email for that arrived Thursday night, but I didn't see it until today (not that it would have mattered, since the tickets wouldn't arrive in time anyways. The customer service guy that I got told me to buy new tickets and send the reciept that I have in for a refund, but Tom talked to the office again, so there's a new plan of action. And it's not 'go to the ticket center at the station and print my tickets out there.' No, for whatever reason, that's not possible.
I'm going to get on the train with my receipt, and hope that the conductor is smart enough to realize that I've paid and doesn't give me too much shit. If not, I pay the ticket price again, and send in the receipt for a refund.
This is some serious bullshit, and I think it's all because I'm a foreigner and don't have the appropriate card or whatever.
On the upside, my Hostel reservations turned out fine, by all appearances.
I'm going to make a final run-through of my pack and get some more money, so I'll wrap this up now. You might see some updates during my trip, though - both hostels have free internet access, I believe.
Guten Nacht.
Addendum: I recently found out that the first day for me to register courses for the Spring Semester is November 8th. That's hardly any time at all.
I'll be in Brussels until the 23rd, when I'll get on a train (which I haven't booked yet) for Amsterdam, where I'll stay until the 26th. At that point, I'll get on another train which I haven't booked yet (although I thought I had), and get back to Berlin on the 27th, leaving a day and a half before the break ends.
I almost didn't have tickets, though, since Deutsche Bahn never sent them to me in 2-3 days (like they said they would), and apparently people like me can't book/print online tickets. I had assumed that I would get the tickets by today, but they never came, not even after I spent a few hours freaking out over the whole thing (although a package did come for Dorothee...). I also found out today that my tickets from Amsterdam to Berlin were never actually booked, because they didn't have the couchette that I requested, and wanted my confirmation that it was OK to put me in a seat. The email for that arrived Thursday night, but I didn't see it until today (not that it would have mattered, since the tickets wouldn't arrive in time anyways. The customer service guy that I got told me to buy new tickets and send the reciept that I have in for a refund, but Tom talked to the office again, so there's a new plan of action. And it's not 'go to the ticket center at the station and print my tickets out there.' No, for whatever reason, that's not possible.
I'm going to get on the train with my receipt, and hope that the conductor is smart enough to realize that I've paid and doesn't give me too much shit. If not, I pay the ticket price again, and send in the receipt for a refund.
This is some serious bullshit, and I think it's all because I'm a foreigner and don't have the appropriate card or whatever.
On the upside, my Hostel reservations turned out fine, by all appearances.
I'm going to make a final run-through of my pack and get some more money, so I'll wrap this up now. You might see some updates during my trip, though - both hostels have free internet access, I believe.
Guten Nacht.
Addendum: I recently found out that the first day for me to register courses for the Spring Semester is November 8th. That's hardly any time at all.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
A walk in the park
I went to the Tiergarten today, and walked around the four sections for a couple of hours. It was really nice, to say the least. Lots of water and trees, along with the standard green common areas. There were even places where you could get a rowboat. After walking around for a while I sat down and did a little bit of homework, which was pretty relaxing. It was a good afternoon all in all. Here are the pictures from today.
I've got my hostels booked for the break, and my transportation there is all set. I've got three days in each city; I think that should be enough time for each.
This evening, Tom and I went to a Greek restaurant for dinner, and I tried Ouzo for the first time.
It's like drinking licorice - that burns on the way down. Not my favorite drink. There was also a wine that tasted somewhat like tree sap. It was different - not bad or good.
Midterms are this week, which sucks.
I'm wicked tired right now, if you can't tell by my writing. Good night everyone.
I've got my hostels booked for the break, and my transportation there is all set. I've got three days in each city; I think that should be enough time for each.
This evening, Tom and I went to a Greek restaurant for dinner, and I tried Ouzo for the first time.
It's like drinking licorice - that burns on the way down. Not my favorite drink. There was also a wine that tasted somewhat like tree sap. It was different - not bad or good.
Midterms are this week, which sucks.
I'm wicked tired right now, if you can't tell by my writing. Good night everyone.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Who knew that the Stasi could be fun?
Two Jokes:
Three groups went out hunting together to see who was the best: The East German Police, the East German Military, and the Stasi. After a short while, the Police and the Military groups both manage to bag a couple of deer each, but the Stasi men are nowhere to be found. They search around for a little while, until they find a clearing. The Stasi men are surrounding a poor defenseless rabbit, and are taking turns beating it up. One of them yells at the rabbit "Are you ready to admit that you are a boar now?!"
George Bush Sr., Mikhail Gorbachov, and Erich Honecker are running away from a mob of cannibals, but are losing ground quickly. Bush yells to the Cannibals, "I'll pay each of you 10,000 dollars if you go away!" but the cannibals keep on coming. Gorbachov yells, "Stop and embrace the paradise of the communist motherland!" The cannibals don't even slow down. Honecker shouts to their pursuers, "In 50 feet you enter East Germany!" Immediately, the cannibals turn around and run off screaming.
A 17 year old student was sentenced to 6 years in prison for the second joke. I'm sure he didn't think he was anti-Party, but then again, what did his opinion matter to the Stasi?
Today we went on a tour of the Stasi headquarters in Berlin, and Höhenschönhausen (lit. High Beautiful House), the Stasi prison in Berlin. The headquarters tour was nothing too special. It was interesting to see the original furniture and conference rooms, but it was still just another soviet style office complex. The most interesting exhibit was the surveillance equipment. They were fairly inventive in their spying, with cameras and mikes concealed in objects ranging from the humble fake rock to the noble purse to the fabled 'conspiratorial bra' to the ingenious car door camera (utilizing infrared light). Not too many pictures from there, appropriately.
Höhenschönhausen, on the other hand, was fascinating. Our guide was soft spoken, and although he was not an inmate himself (there are guides there that were), he made masterful parallels between current US, Nazi, and Stasi policies, really bringing the information into a new light. He also showed us how the prison worked on a fairly detailed level - A prisoner only saw two people, the guard and the interrogator, and only spoke to one (guess who?). He used real stories of inmates, allowing us to really understand the isolation that they felt, and, in my favorite part, he showed us exaclt how the basic interrogation was orchestrated. It's a standard good cop/bad cop deal, except that they already know all of your personal information, so by the time you break down (and the likely reason for it), they know exactly how you think.
Did you know that about 2 percent of East Germans were affiliated with the Stasi at at least a basic level (informant)? That's insane. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live with that sort of constant surveillance (and everybody must have know about it), but the prison tour today was certainly a good start. Thank you nameless German man (who teaches/has taught at the main FU campus. Thank you. Especially for pointing out that fact that the prison now has signs of little green men running to freedom wherever there's an exit. Irony rules.
***
In other news, I went to the gym yesterday, and I'm glad that I did. I'll make it a point to go 2 or so times a week. Mcfit's a decent establishment, for sure. For tomorrow I was considering taking a bike and heading into the Grunewald, which is a forest/park in Berlin, that also happens to be 10 minutes from my home here. I hear that there are wild boar roaming about in there!
***
In other other news, I've made up my mind about where I'm going for my break. Brussels and Amsterdam, each for 2 or 3 days. Apparently, one of my host parent's son's (from the husband's last marriage) lives in Brussels now, so I can meet him when I get there. He's apparently a big environmentalist. Tickets and such will be booked this weekend.
Midterms are still in the way of the break, though, so I'm not off the hook yet.
Pictures from today! (and they're all in one album, too!)
Three groups went out hunting together to see who was the best: The East German Police, the East German Military, and the Stasi. After a short while, the Police and the Military groups both manage to bag a couple of deer each, but the Stasi men are nowhere to be found. They search around for a little while, until they find a clearing. The Stasi men are surrounding a poor defenseless rabbit, and are taking turns beating it up. One of them yells at the rabbit "Are you ready to admit that you are a boar now?!"
George Bush Sr., Mikhail Gorbachov, and Erich Honecker are running away from a mob of cannibals, but are losing ground quickly. Bush yells to the Cannibals, "I'll pay each of you 10,000 dollars if you go away!" but the cannibals keep on coming. Gorbachov yells, "Stop and embrace the paradise of the communist motherland!" The cannibals don't even slow down. Honecker shouts to their pursuers, "In 50 feet you enter East Germany!" Immediately, the cannibals turn around and run off screaming.
A 17 year old student was sentenced to 6 years in prison for the second joke. I'm sure he didn't think he was anti-Party, but then again, what did his opinion matter to the Stasi?
Today we went on a tour of the Stasi headquarters in Berlin, and Höhenschönhausen (lit. High Beautiful House), the Stasi prison in Berlin. The headquarters tour was nothing too special. It was interesting to see the original furniture and conference rooms, but it was still just another soviet style office complex. The most interesting exhibit was the surveillance equipment. They were fairly inventive in their spying, with cameras and mikes concealed in objects ranging from the humble fake rock to the noble purse to the fabled 'conspiratorial bra' to the ingenious car door camera (utilizing infrared light). Not too many pictures from there, appropriately.
Höhenschönhausen, on the other hand, was fascinating. Our guide was soft spoken, and although he was not an inmate himself (there are guides there that were), he made masterful parallels between current US, Nazi, and Stasi policies, really bringing the information into a new light. He also showed us how the prison worked on a fairly detailed level - A prisoner only saw two people, the guard and the interrogator, and only spoke to one (guess who?). He used real stories of inmates, allowing us to really understand the isolation that they felt, and, in my favorite part, he showed us exaclt how the basic interrogation was orchestrated. It's a standard good cop/bad cop deal, except that they already know all of your personal information, so by the time you break down (and the likely reason for it), they know exactly how you think.
Did you know that about 2 percent of East Germans were affiliated with the Stasi at at least a basic level (informant)? That's insane. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live with that sort of constant surveillance (and everybody must have know about it), but the prison tour today was certainly a good start. Thank you nameless German man (who teaches/has taught at the main FU campus. Thank you. Especially for pointing out that fact that the prison now has signs of little green men running to freedom wherever there's an exit. Irony rules.
***
In other news, I went to the gym yesterday, and I'm glad that I did. I'll make it a point to go 2 or so times a week. Mcfit's a decent establishment, for sure. For tomorrow I was considering taking a bike and heading into the Grunewald, which is a forest/park in Berlin, that also happens to be 10 minutes from my home here. I hear that there are wild boar roaming about in there!
***
In other other news, I've made up my mind about where I'm going for my break. Brussels and Amsterdam, each for 2 or 3 days. Apparently, one of my host parent's son's (from the husband's last marriage) lives in Brussels now, so I can meet him when I get there. He's apparently a big environmentalist. Tickets and such will be booked this weekend.
Midterms are still in the way of the break, though, so I'm not off the hook yet.
Pictures from today! (and they're all in one album, too!)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Prague is Beautiful
Can you guess what the gist of this post will be? That's right. Prague is beautiful.
This was the first of our free weekends, so we wanted to maximize the time we had in the city. We left immediately after classes on Thursday, and got to Prague at about 8 or 9. We checked into our hostel, only to find that our reservation had been forgotten. Luckily for us, they had a room big enough for the 6 of us.
Wait, scratch that. The 7 of us. Our friend Danny joined us on our trip last minute, so he didn't have a spot at the hostel with us. Luckily, we were able to get him situated with us for half price, since he wasn't using an extra bed.
7 People, 6 Beds, 1 room. Cozy.
That night, we went out and saw some of the town before heading to a bar/dance club called Double Trouble. It would be best described as a music dungeon. I was probably an old wine cellar or something like that before it was converted. All in all, it was pretty cool. I also noticed that there were about eleventy hojillion tourists out in the city, mostly American. A little bit unfortunate, but we were warned that Prague had become kind of touristy. We were out until probably about 3, and we got to sleep close to 5. 7 people in one room means nobody gets to sleep for a while, as I'm sure you understand.
***
The next day we go up around noon, and made our way to the Castle (it's literally called Prague Castle). Before we got there, we saw the raptor and bird of prey exhibit on the grounds. It was probably one of the most depressing things ever. The birds were tied on one leg toa post in the ground. Each only had about a foot and a half of line to move around on. There were also owls out in broad daylight, which as you might know, is not normal for owls. One little owl looked pretty frightened, sadly. We moved on to the main grounds.
The cathedral at the castle was amazing. Gothic architecture is incredible. We all climbed the south tower (287 steps!) and got a great view of the city. On the way to the Royal Apartments, we saw a couple, dressed for a marriage, kissing/making out for what must have been 6 or 8 minutes, while a photographer took pictures. It was...unexpected, to say the least. Next we entered the royal apartments.More importantly, this was the site of the Defenestrations of Prague! I got some pics of the windows, and the view from them, so you too can know what it is like to be defenestrated! St George's Basilica followed that. It was pretty neat, but paled to the cathedral. We then headed down Golden Lane, a series of traditional craft shops and an armory that included such pieces as Gunswords, Gunaxes, and Gunshields. Seriously. At the end of the Lane stood Dalibor Tower, named for a legendary violinist (Dalibor) who learned his trade while imprisoned there for some large number of years, so the story goes. Now, it's a dungeon museum, with all sorts of nasty implements inside.
After the Castle, we headed to Charles Bridge, famous for its statues of religious figures. It's also a flea market during the day, which means that it's full of people, again, mostly tourists. It was pretty awesome, though, since it was near sunset, and there were some beautiful views. Dinner and a bar again that night (and it was a really cool place, too), although we didn't stay out nearly as late (fine by me).
Fun Fact: We met an American family (mom, dad, daughter) while going back to the hostel. The daughter is getting a chemistry doctorate in Prague, but doesn't speak a word of Czech. And she was saying how it didn't seem to be working out. What.
They were nice people though.
***
Saturday, we headed into the old town square, and saw St Nicholas Church, a incredibly fancy clock tower, and some more cool architecture. Then we took a tram car to the top of the mountain in Prague (the name escapes me right now), where we found a beautiful rose garden. We hung out there for a while before trying to find the Citadel on the mountain. Although we were unable to find it that day, we did walk down the side of the mountain and had the fortune to come upon a great view of the city from a cafe.
Fun fact: While walking around Old Town, we ended up in th Jewish district. This fact became most apparent to me when I started seeing Golem references everywhere (like cafes, statues, and souvenirs). It's pretty neat to see how mythology (and film) makes its way into everyday life.
Fun fact: there was a Czech fast food style restaurant that we stopped at that served only healthier/lighter food. It was called Endy's, which made me giggle a little bit.
***
We checked out early (10am) and left our bags at the hostel before going out the last day. Lucky for us that we found the Citadel, Vysehrad. It was really cool. There were reenactors all over the place, with little shops and stalls set up on a main road. I really like medieval fairs, in case you didn't know. Moving to the wall (after enjoying some tasty roasted bread twist thing), we all settled down for a nap for about an hour. Afterwards, we saw the grave of the famous composer Dvorak in a cemetery there (it was a really nice tomb - I might want one like it when I finally go), and then got to enjoy a random Royal procession to a church. The Fake King gave a speech (not that I could understand it), and we were off to a Hockey game -H.C. Sparta vs H.C. Mountfield. Although we cheered for Sparta, they got stomped bad (4-1). Honestly though, they weren't really that good compared to NHL players. It was still a good time though, and I bought a hat to commemorate the game. After that, it was dinnertime, and then back to Berlin. On the way back to the hostel, we ran into the same American family again. This time, they informed us that they had been pick pocketed for 500 dollars. Wow.
Let me clear something up here: We scheduled our bus back to Berlin for 11:55 Sunday night, because we're stupid and wanted to enjoy another day in Prague.
I fell asleep almost immediately on the bus, only to be woken by a slap on the leg from the border policeman checking passports. Then I slept again, only to be woken by the lights of Berlin at 5:10am. It had to have been around freezing. I was having a hard time stopping shaking, even though I had a hat, gloves, scarf and jacket - with layers underneath, also.
I didn't sleep before going to class this morning, since it would have been only about half an hour to forty five minutes before I would have had to wake up for class. That's about it for the weekend. I have about 400 pictures from Prague to upload on top of everything else (yikes), and no time this first half of the week. In fact, I shouldn't even be typing this post now; I should be working on a presentation for my German class Wednesday, or doing the 200 pages of reading for my lit class tomorrow. Instead, I'm going to go to bed in 10 minutes.
By the way, all of those late nights in smoke filled bars has resurrected my cold, although it hopefully won't get any worse than it is now (which is not that bad, aside from the fatigue).
Good night.
This was the first of our free weekends, so we wanted to maximize the time we had in the city. We left immediately after classes on Thursday, and got to Prague at about 8 or 9. We checked into our hostel, only to find that our reservation had been forgotten. Luckily for us, they had a room big enough for the 6 of us.
Wait, scratch that. The 7 of us. Our friend Danny joined us on our trip last minute, so he didn't have a spot at the hostel with us. Luckily, we were able to get him situated with us for half price, since he wasn't using an extra bed.
7 People, 6 Beds, 1 room. Cozy.
That night, we went out and saw some of the town before heading to a bar/dance club called Double Trouble. It would be best described as a music dungeon. I was probably an old wine cellar or something like that before it was converted. All in all, it was pretty cool. I also noticed that there were about eleventy hojillion tourists out in the city, mostly American. A little bit unfortunate, but we were warned that Prague had become kind of touristy. We were out until probably about 3, and we got to sleep close to 5. 7 people in one room means nobody gets to sleep for a while, as I'm sure you understand.
***
The next day we go up around noon, and made our way to the Castle (it's literally called Prague Castle). Before we got there, we saw the raptor and bird of prey exhibit on the grounds. It was probably one of the most depressing things ever. The birds were tied on one leg toa post in the ground. Each only had about a foot and a half of line to move around on. There were also owls out in broad daylight, which as you might know, is not normal for owls. One little owl looked pretty frightened, sadly. We moved on to the main grounds.
The cathedral at the castle was amazing. Gothic architecture is incredible. We all climbed the south tower (287 steps!) and got a great view of the city. On the way to the Royal Apartments, we saw a couple, dressed for a marriage, kissing/making out for what must have been 6 or 8 minutes, while a photographer took pictures. It was...unexpected, to say the least. Next we entered the royal apartments.More importantly, this was the site of the Defenestrations of Prague! I got some pics of the windows, and the view from them, so you too can know what it is like to be defenestrated! St George's Basilica followed that. It was pretty neat, but paled to the cathedral. We then headed down Golden Lane, a series of traditional craft shops and an armory that included such pieces as Gunswords, Gunaxes, and Gunshields. Seriously. At the end of the Lane stood Dalibor Tower, named for a legendary violinist (Dalibor) who learned his trade while imprisoned there for some large number of years, so the story goes. Now, it's a dungeon museum, with all sorts of nasty implements inside.
After the Castle, we headed to Charles Bridge, famous for its statues of religious figures. It's also a flea market during the day, which means that it's full of people, again, mostly tourists. It was pretty awesome, though, since it was near sunset, and there were some beautiful views. Dinner and a bar again that night (and it was a really cool place, too), although we didn't stay out nearly as late (fine by me).
Fun Fact: We met an American family (mom, dad, daughter) while going back to the hostel. The daughter is getting a chemistry doctorate in Prague, but doesn't speak a word of Czech. And she was saying how it didn't seem to be working out. What.
They were nice people though.
***
Saturday, we headed into the old town square, and saw St Nicholas Church, a incredibly fancy clock tower, and some more cool architecture. Then we took a tram car to the top of the mountain in Prague (the name escapes me right now), where we found a beautiful rose garden. We hung out there for a while before trying to find the Citadel on the mountain. Although we were unable to find it that day, we did walk down the side of the mountain and had the fortune to come upon a great view of the city from a cafe.
Fun fact: While walking around Old Town, we ended up in th Jewish district. This fact became most apparent to me when I started seeing Golem references everywhere (like cafes, statues, and souvenirs). It's pretty neat to see how mythology (and film) makes its way into everyday life.
Fun fact: there was a Czech fast food style restaurant that we stopped at that served only healthier/lighter food. It was called Endy's, which made me giggle a little bit.
***
We checked out early (10am) and left our bags at the hostel before going out the last day. Lucky for us that we found the Citadel, Vysehrad. It was really cool. There were reenactors all over the place, with little shops and stalls set up on a main road. I really like medieval fairs, in case you didn't know. Moving to the wall (after enjoying some tasty roasted bread twist thing), we all settled down for a nap for about an hour. Afterwards, we saw the grave of the famous composer Dvorak in a cemetery there (it was a really nice tomb - I might want one like it when I finally go), and then got to enjoy a random Royal procession to a church. The Fake King gave a speech (not that I could understand it), and we were off to a Hockey game -H.C. Sparta vs H.C. Mountfield. Although we cheered for Sparta, they got stomped bad (4-1). Honestly though, they weren't really that good compared to NHL players. It was still a good time though, and I bought a hat to commemorate the game. After that, it was dinnertime, and then back to Berlin. On the way back to the hostel, we ran into the same American family again. This time, they informed us that they had been pick pocketed for 500 dollars. Wow.
Let me clear something up here: We scheduled our bus back to Berlin for 11:55 Sunday night, because we're stupid and wanted to enjoy another day in Prague.
I fell asleep almost immediately on the bus, only to be woken by a slap on the leg from the border policeman checking passports. Then I slept again, only to be woken by the lights of Berlin at 5:10am. It had to have been around freezing. I was having a hard time stopping shaking, even though I had a hat, gloves, scarf and jacket - with layers underneath, also.
I didn't sleep before going to class this morning, since it would have been only about half an hour to forty five minutes before I would have had to wake up for class. That's about it for the weekend. I have about 400 pictures from Prague to upload on top of everything else (yikes), and no time this first half of the week. In fact, I shouldn't even be typing this post now; I should be working on a presentation for my German class Wednesday, or doing the 200 pages of reading for my lit class tomorrow. Instead, I'm going to go to bed in 10 minutes.
By the way, all of those late nights in smoke filled bars has resurrected my cold, although it hopefully won't get any worse than it is now (which is not that bad, aside from the fatigue).
Good night.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Back from Luckau, Going to Prague
I tried to load this up yesterday, but something went wrong.
I was expecting some sort of Unification Day celebration in Luckau, but instead there was a Harvest Festival/Historical Festival (Literally, a 'thanksgiving' festival). I guess that Berliners care more about unification than most Germans. There were assortments of traditional tools and crafts, and lots of people singing and dancing. I did buy some things: A wooden mushroom, created on a hand-powered lathe, and a small bottle of Honey Liqueur, which will likely be tasty. We had lunch at the fair (I got goulash), and then we went to Nikolaikirche in Luckau.
The church is interesting; it's architecturally Gothic, but decorated in Baroque style. The pulpit was made of sandstone (not wood), and there were private boxes for the rich church-goers. There was an organ with 300 pipes, and with a fair number of original pipes still intact. We did get to enjoy its music, also. Most interesting of all was the double spiral staircase. You'd really have to see it to get a full idea of what I mean, but it was really cool.
then we went to the town center. Luckau was a trading crossroads, which explains some of the contrasting architectural designs that we saw. It was getting cold around then, so we were glad when we got to head inside for cake, coffee, and crepes. Absolutely delicious, and in great quantity. Schmaltzbrot? Not so delicious. I didn't eat this bit of cuisine, which consists of lard, onions, (and maybe fruit) spread on bread in Luckau, but I did end up having some once I got back home. My host mother insisted that I try it, since I had passed on it before. Bleh...it's not so good.
After that, we went to see the cranes that nest around Luckau. We had to climb up to the top of an observation tower to see much of anything, and then look through some binoculars (so I don't have any closeups of the cranes). I had to get down from the tower after a little bit, since it was pretty high, very crowded, and exposed. I did go back up after I walked around on the ground for a while. We got back to Berlin around 8:30, and I was home by 9. Packing for Prague ensued.
Speaking of Prague, I need to get going shortly. Here's the pictures from Luckau, if you want to see. I wont have my laptop in Prague, so it'll be a few days before my next post. As always, the pictures are slowly being uploaded to the internet.
Part 1
Part 2
I was expecting some sort of Unification Day celebration in Luckau, but instead there was a Harvest Festival/Historical Festival (Literally, a 'thanksgiving' festival). I guess that Berliners care more about unification than most Germans. There were assortments of traditional tools and crafts, and lots of people singing and dancing. I did buy some things: A wooden mushroom, created on a hand-powered lathe, and a small bottle of Honey Liqueur, which will likely be tasty. We had lunch at the fair (I got goulash), and then we went to Nikolaikirche in Luckau.
The church is interesting; it's architecturally Gothic, but decorated in Baroque style. The pulpit was made of sandstone (not wood), and there were private boxes for the rich church-goers. There was an organ with 300 pipes, and with a fair number of original pipes still intact. We did get to enjoy its music, also. Most interesting of all was the double spiral staircase. You'd really have to see it to get a full idea of what I mean, but it was really cool.
then we went to the town center. Luckau was a trading crossroads, which explains some of the contrasting architectural designs that we saw. It was getting cold around then, so we were glad when we got to head inside for cake, coffee, and crepes. Absolutely delicious, and in great quantity. Schmaltzbrot? Not so delicious. I didn't eat this bit of cuisine, which consists of lard, onions, (and maybe fruit) spread on bread in Luckau, but I did end up having some once I got back home. My host mother insisted that I try it, since I had passed on it before. Bleh...it's not so good.
After that, we went to see the cranes that nest around Luckau. We had to climb up to the top of an observation tower to see much of anything, and then look through some binoculars (so I don't have any closeups of the cranes). I had to get down from the tower after a little bit, since it was pretty high, very crowded, and exposed. I did go back up after I walked around on the ground for a while. We got back to Berlin around 8:30, and I was home by 9. Packing for Prague ensued.
Speaking of Prague, I need to get going shortly. Here's the pictures from Luckau, if you want to see. I wont have my laptop in Prague, so it'll be a few days before my next post. As always, the pictures are slowly being uploaded to the internet.
Part 1
Part 2
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Some Photo Albums
It's more than a little lame to keep all of you who don't have Facebook waiting when there are so many of my pictures already available, so I'm posting the links to the albums that I have up currently.
Munich, Day 1
Munich, Day 2
Vienna, Day 1
Vienna, Day 2. Part 2. Part 3
Enjoy.
Munich, Day 1
Munich, Day 2
Vienna, Day 1
Vienna, Day 2. Part 2. Part 3
Enjoy.
To Luckau and Beyond
The pictures aren't going to get uploaded fully until next week sometime, I expect. I have very very little time right now. Sorry about that.
Tomorrow is German Unification Day, celebrating the end of the divided state. Basically everything is closed, including classes. I however have signed up for a trip to Luckau, a village south of Berlin. Most of the people on the trip are going there for class, so they might be somewhat bitter about missing the festivities (we don;t get back until. I think it will be pretty interesting, though. Besides, if I skip out off doing some homework I can still go to some of the events. Win-Win, right?
Thursday, I'm going to Prague for the weekend with some other people, so there's hardly any time to rest as you can see. I'm coming back from that late Sunday/Early Monday.
Today I signed up for a gym, McFit. The program has a special deal with McFit, where we get a discount, and can sign up monthly instead of yearly. All I have to do is file a bank invoice and then I can exercise every week. They even have multiple gyms across the city, for added convenience.
It's almost 9, and I haven't done a bit of homework tonight. I have a short presentation due in my German class next week, and I have barely any idea how to work it out. Midterms are in two weeks, if you can believe that. My October break is coming up right after that, and I have no idea where I want to go, and who I want to go with.
I'm tired. Good night.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Back from the Wild Blue part 2 - Vienna and Bratislava
As I said last time, the train to Vienna was brutally hot and humid. Fortunately, it was a short ride. I'm pretty sure everyone breathed a literal sigh of relief when we stepped off at Westbahnhof in Vienna. Instead of being in a hostel, we got to live in an actual hotel this time, rather than a hostel. We only had two people to a room, with our own showers. Sweet deal, I know.
There was a little bit of walking around the first day, but there wasn't too much going on. Almost everyboy slept in that night, since Munich had been so busy. The next morning we had a tour through the historical center of Vienna, as well as the grounds of the Hofburg, the Habsburg Palace. St Stephansdom is pretty amazing, and I really think that Vienna has a certain classic flair to it that I hadn't seen before. There are old buildings right alongside new construction, and statues and monuments are absolutely everywhere. At the entrance to the Hofburg alone, there is a scuplture of Lucifer being cast from Heaven, four sculptures of Hercules, and some excavated Roman ruins. I think one of my favorite pieces of scuplture in Vienna was the Peste Column, created to commemorate the end of the Black Plague. The Plague itself, represented by a Gorgon-like figure, is being impaled by a flaming spear, while angels soar above it. Pretty damn intense, no?
The Hofburg grounds themselves are massive, with squares within plazas within gardens. Speaking of gardens, there are over 300 varieties of roses in the gardens at Heldenplatz (Hero Plaza). We also passed by the Bundesrat (Parliament) building, which has a large statue of Athena (the Greek goddess of wisdom) outside of it. You'd think that they'd want the wisdom inside the building, but to each his own. A few of us even went back to the Gardens later for a picnic, since the weather was so nice.
That night, we saw a concert of Mozart and Strauss. It was good music, but the whole production was tailored towards the audience, which was mostly made up of 3 or 4 tour buses of tourists from China, France, and America. There were dancers and singers in addition to the music, but they really just made the whole production seem gimmicky.
The next day, we went on a tour of the Silberkammer (Silver Collection), Kaiser Apartments (Imperial Apartments), and Sisi Museen (Elisabeth, the wife of Franz Josef), before heading to an operetta, Grafin Meriza. All three museums were pretty interesting, although the decoration of the silver owned by the Habsburgs kind of makes it unusable at the table. The Apartments were interesting, as were the Sisi museum. I always like to see how the upper crust lived. Franz Josef, to his credit, was beloved by the Austrian people as a patriot and a great leader (he worked something like...18 hours a day), so I can grant him some luxury. We also got to go on a short tour of the Parliament building before the operetta. The building itself was really cool, with lots of sculpture and columns. There was also an eagle sculpture on the wall clasping a hammer and sickle, which, we were assured only symbolized agriculture and industry, not communism.
The operetta was great. It was a classic story. Count has no money for his sister's dowry. Countess has lots of money, an attendant in love with her, and the Count's sister in tow. Countess makes up fake suitor to create some excitement. Count gets friend to masquerade as the fake suitor, while the count becomes the Countesses business manager. Needless to say, by the end of the operetta, the Count and Countess fall in love, as do the Friend and the Sister, and the Attendant and some Random 3rd Love Interest. This was all set to excellent gypsy/roma music (with a bizarre Las Vegas-esque sequence in the middle). It was performed in German, but we had the benefit of an English synopsis, and a projection of the current action in English on a screen above the stage. After the opera, a large group of us went to this club near our hotel for the rest of the night.
On Thursday, we had a free day (although it rained, unfortunately). I managed to make it up the north tower of Stephansdom after checking out the inside of the cathedral, although it got hard to continue towards the top. It was worth the assault on my nerves, though, because the view from the top was amazing. Afterwards, I went to the Mozarthaus and got a little history on the man. The weather really prevented me from doing too much that day, unfortunately; I wanted to go to Schonbrunn, another Habsburg Palace, but it wouldn't be the same without a sunny day.
Friday was our day trip to Bratislava. It's such a ridiculously beautiful city, with excellent views. We walked all the way up to the castle/museum and looked across the Donau (Danube) at the soviet block housing to the east. We also saw the storm front moving in, and decided that we should get inside. It wasn't too much later when we found out that this was a really good idea. We were in a hall with French tapestries when the wind picked up, and the rain began to fly horizontally. Hail rattled against the windows. A few of us moved away from the windows, and went to make sure that the others did the same. Suddenly, we heard a bang, and the wind was inside the hall. I ran to where the rest of our group was, and found two or three tapestries on the ground, and the carpeting blown back halfway across the room. A fire extinguisher had been knocked off the wall. 6 or seven other people were holding the window shut against the wind. I snapped a couple of pictures before I got in to help them. In hindsight, saving a few tapestries might not have been worth the risk of being showered in broken glass (and the danger was there), but it seemed like a good idea at the time. We quickly realized that one of us spoke any Russian (and none of us spoke Slovakian), so we found out that the window was actually broken. After the wind died down a bit, we did manage to wedge the window shut again with some exposed nails. Nobody was seriously hurt, although one Slovakian guy got a cut lip from a wildly flailing window blind. Afterwards, one of the museum workers (who spoke little English) wrung her hands (literally; this is the first time I've actually seen someone do that) and shook her head furiously trying to thank us. She wouldn't accept my offer to help her move the carpeting back (through the power of pantomime), and we went off through the museum.
Honestly, after all of that, it seemed a bit lame.
Saturday, we got on a train, and headed north through the Czech Republic on a 9 hour trip to Berlin. There is some really beautiful landscapes that can be seen on that route. There were also some really stupid things that happened. Such as one of our group forgetting her Passport in Berlin, and having to get off the train with her luggage before crossing the Czech border. She wasn't in class today, obviously, since she had to get another train on her own, as well as possible lodging and other such things. She's lucky that she's in the advanced German class, or else it might have been even worse for her. We lost another student also, but not because he got booted off the train. Instead, he mysteriously got off in Prague (probably thinking we had more time than we actually did), and got left behind with nothing but his wallet (which had a copy of his passport), as I understand it. He made it back in time for classes today, since it's only a 4-5 hour trip from Prague.
Again, I'll end this post with a word of caution. 9 Hour train rides make people go crazy. They start to yell. They start to argue. They start to tell long, rambling, bullshit jokes about horses. Double plus ungood if they've been drinking for 6 of the 9 hours. Please note, these don't apply to every member of the program group, but the ones that stick out in my mind. I had to leave the car a few times in order to get some semblance of peace and fresh air. Hell, I even sat down in the dining car rather than getting something to go.
That's all for now. I'm way past my bedtime.
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