Sam Explores Germany & Switzerland Pt 11
Mon Sept 7/09
-AUF WIEDERSEHEN, GERMANY-
Woke up at 4:22am…Pat and Margaret were already awake. I got ready in 12 minutes haahha. We were all dead tired and we dragged ourselves out for the taxi. We were a little concerned that our taxi might not show up, but it did. We had to transfer for this one, so we were a little stressed out. We barely slept in the first train as we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss our stop at Stuttgart (sp?). Luckily it wasn’t too bad, but we had to make it to 2nd class and it was a bit of a ways down the platform and these trains leave on time or even a bit before, so we were panicky. Anyway, we made our connection.
Once we arrived in Zurich, we considered heading to the tourism office or going right to the hotel. We chose the latter and went to the taxi line. The first driver was an ass, he didn’t want to take us and our luggage and tried to force us on another guy. He then pointed to the end of the line, but the other taxi driver was nice enough to take us.
Our hotel room is supernice and very comfortable. If anything, we chose a good hotel! I was so tired…after checking in, we needed to eat and explore a bit. We went to Tapas, which was a southern Italian, southern Portuguese and German restaurant. We ordered from the special menu and I had Portuguese chicken with roasted potatoes. It was HEAVEN. I also decided on a fruit juice instead of a dessert. After that we walked down the hill to the main station area. I was kind of delirious from fatigue…it just felt like too much to take in right away.
-TOURS AND FATIGUE-
We went into the tourism office and I basically told Margaret and Pat to choose whatever tours they wanted and just to tell me how much to pay. The sun is very hot in Zurich…it feels like it is so much closer than in Toronto. While we walked around, we felt like we experienced three seasons…first it was cool like autumn, then the sun would be so hot and then warm again. This is not the fake sun that appears in Toronto – you know the one that you see outside the window and think, oh it’s hot outside and then you go out and it’s freakin’ cold! I think the weather and the fatigue got to me. We booked our tours to the Top of Europe – Jungfraujoch for Wednesday and Heidiland on Saturday. We have no idea why none of us prepared clothing for the Alps, but we decided we’d have to shop a little bit. Sandeep had told us that a windbreaker over our clothes should be fine. We didn’t shop much as I told them that I wanted to go back to the hotel to rest. I told them that they could go ahead and shop, but we were all pretty zonked.
-PRICEY FRIES-
After resting I felt a bit better. We ate at the pizzeria across the street and shared a margherita pizza and a plate of French fries. The fries alone cost $7. Oh well, what could we do? We enjoyed the lovely view on the terrace where we ate and then slept early as we were all exhausted.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sam Explores Germany & Switzerland Pt 10
Sun Sept 6/09
-OHHH BOYYY-
When I woke up the next morning, I felt so sick. Although Pat and I were laughing about the events of last night, we weren’t feeling so great. I was the worse of the two of us. The whole time I was getting ready for our castle tour, I kept thinking, maybe I should just bow out of this one – I feel terrible. I had already paid for the tour though and I didn’t want to miss it. I forced myself to get up, take an aleve and go to it.
-DON’T LOOK!-
Pat and Margaret could tell I was in pretty rough shape. They were quite concerned, but I thought I could make it. I was still able to navigate despite it all. When we go t to our main station, we bought our tickets and suddenly the nausea came. As Pat and Margaret started to walk away from the ticket booth, I rushed to the trash can and DOT DOT DOT. I somehow managed to turn my back away from them, but you know, when you’re sick it’s hard to do it without making a sound…*awkward!!* They were very nice about it and gave me napkins and gum. They asked me if I was alright and I decided to soldier on.
We got on the train and headed to the haupbanhof where the buses were going to pick us up. While we rode the train, I closed my eyes and told myself that I would be fine and that I would not get sick again. Before the train stopped on the platform, I was already looking to see where the trash can was… As soon as we got off, I made a beeline for it and well…sorry people who saw me get sick in the trash can!! There was no time to cover it…I just sat down on the chair on the platform and without looking up much, I told Pat and Margaret that I couldn’t go anymore. They understood and asked me if I would be alright to go back to the hotel myself (the bus was leaving in 10 mins or so)…I said that I would wait for a bit and then head back. I told them to get going or the bus would leave and they reluctantly went.
-MIND OVER MATTER-
I sat there, silently cursing myself for putting myself in this kind of position. I’m a Dizon…how can I be defeated by all that beer?!?!? I had already paid for the tour and what would I do the whole day other than sleep and possibly shop? After five minutes of reasoning with myself, I quickly stood up – much to the surprise of the people who had seen me make friends with the trash can only moments ago – and rushed out of the station.
Pat and Margaret were nowhere to be seen, but I had a pretty good idea of where the buses would be. I would find them wherever the buses were. I hurried outside, ignoring my stomach’s protests. I met up with them and they were surprised to see me there. I was terribly worried about being sick on the bus and our trip would take 10.5 hours!! Pat went to get something for breakfast and I knew it was not a good idea for me to eat anything, so I asked her to buy me some water and make sure to get a plastic bag, should I need it.
-ON THE WAY TO BAVARIAN CASTLES-
We all separated on the bus for several reasons:
1. I wasn’t sure how sick I would be and didn’t want to trigger their gag reflexes
2. Window seats ensured the best scenic views
3. Sitting on the first floor of the bus would make me less sick, than going to the 2nd
Pat wanted to sit at the top, so she headed up there and Margaret sat in the row in front of me. I closed my eyes, popped a candy in my mouth and listened to my ipod. Thank you, Mom , for training me to eat a candy when I felt nauseous. So off we went on a quite full bus, which would be picking up more passengers.
-MICHAEL: THE MOST QUIRKY TOUR GUIDE EVER!-
Michael, our tour guide, was so memorable. If only I had videotaped his voice and the way he talked. He was tall, wore a baseball cap, had his shirt tucked in his pants, carried a computer bag (but never took out a computer) and walked quickly. He was so quirky!! He was quite entertaining, as he narrated our tour with his Bavarian accent and his weird comments. Michael also apologized to us for having to take the time to do all the housekeeping things like taking our money for the tours, etc and would often take breaks from narrating to make calls to reserve our table for lunch and make reservations for our tours.
At one point, he talked about cuckoo clocks, but he said it totally different. When he said it, it sounded like CACKCOO. It was so hilarious, because he demonstrated the sound…”You know these CUCKCOW clocks? The ones that say CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO …” Normally someone would imitate the sound, I don’t know, three times perhaps, but Michael did it nine times with this totally serious expression. How could we not laugh? He also would describe these wonderful places and scenes that we could see and then follow it with, “unfortunately we don’t have time to see it today, but you should come on your own and see it.” We all kept thinking, why bother telling us then? Haaha… I guess it was like getting our hopes up and then disappointing us.
Michael also talked about may poles and how the flags on them described what the village had there, like seamstress, blacksmiths, etc. He also told us about Oktoberfest and how it was the best time for a young boy around the ages of 10-12. There are so many people and then you get drunk for the first time and meet people and things happen. There’s kissing and other things can happen…DOT DOT DOT...lol
-SCHLOSS LINDERHOF-
Michael impressed on us that we should be on time. Once doing the tour, there was a bit of time to walk around, but we were on a schedule. He walked with us to see some of the beautiful things on the way to the castle including a Moroccan House. Because the tourists all walked at different paces he would explain what it was, pause and then repeat it again like six times in a robotic kind of voice. Pat just laughed her head off haha.
There were no pictures allowed at all inside the castle due to copyright. This was quite disappointing, because it was so beautiful!! I ended up buying a guide because it had the pictures and I wanted a souvenir.
Out of Ludwig II’s three castles, this is the only one that was completed. It was dedicated to the Sun King, Louis XIV. It was absolutely gorgeous! Ludwig spent the most time here, but unfortunately did not receive any visitors. There was a secret table in one of the rooms that lowered down into the kitchen where the servants would put food on it and send it back up, therefore allowing Ludwig to eat undisturbed.
I really had to bite my tongue during this tour, as some of the tourists with us were so disrespectful! One American lady actually LEANED on one of the exhibit tables!! There were antiques on it and she was using it to prop her elbow and the table was tipping! I wondered whether I should say something, but we quickly moved ahead. A few other tourists were touching things they shouldn’t…ack what’s wrong with people!!!
The tour ended in the gift shop, where we made a few small purchases. Then we walked through the exquisite gardens and took photos. There was another place that was worth seeing but it was a bit far off and we were pressed for time. I told Pat and Margaret that I would run to take a picture, however, while I was heading in the direction I realized it would mean running uphill. With time ticking, I waivered, but a girl from a tour told me it was worth it, so I ran over and took the picture.
-NEXT STOP, Oberammergau!-
Michael explained how the small town of Oberammergau was known to specialize in three things. The best wood carvers in Germany live there. They have Passion of Christ plays called…. Lastly they have house frescoes that are absolutely stunning. There is the Hansel & Gretel Haus, as well as Little Red Riding Hood Haus…though I’m not sure if the latter name is correct.
This place was very interesting and there were many interesting things to buy. Michael had also mentioned that this place had Hummel figures and that the last factory had closed down. All of the figures would become collector’s items. I decided to check out the prices and maybe buy one. I ended up buying two and the nice lady at the counter gave me a gift from the store as well. She gave me a bumblebee pin. How appropriate, as bees had been all over Berlin and Munich! It was very nice of her. I quickly shopped and finished on time, but I didn’t have my watch with me, so I just kept an eye on Michael. He was standing outside this other store and said he was waiting for two more passengers, so I waited around him and took pictures. Finally, they came out and we were late. Apparently people on the bus were annoyed with the tour girls and one lady gave them hell upstairs…I hope no one that it was me…no one said anything…
-Schloss Neuschwanstein-
This castle was the inspiration for Disney Castle, built and dedicated to Richard Wagner, but he died three years before Ludwig II who died at 41 (conspiracy, drowning/suicide and doctor also floating in the water). I felt a bit of sympathy for Ludwig II, who never had any visitors to his castle and didn’t see much of it finished. His bed alone, took four years to make as it was crafted to look like a cathedral. This thing was crazy…you’d have to see it to believe it. Once again, people were touching things and taking pics when they shouldn’t….oh well. The more our tour guide narrated, the more we believed that Ludwig was in love with Wagner and we just loved the way she said their names. Pat now wants to buy two dogs and name them after the two hahaha.
We had taken the bus up to the castle, but because our tour was later in the day, there were no buses going down and so we had to walk down ourselves. On our way down, there were numerous souvenir stores and food. We bought a few guides and ice cream. The ones we had wanted were sold out, so I ended with a cherry kind of ice cream that actually kind of tasted like there was alcohol in it. We also passed by a stand selling deep fried cream cheese balls. I decided to pass on that but Sandeep, one of women on the tour who we’d had lunch with, Margaret and Pat decided to go for it. I tried a small piece. Michael passed us as he walked down and we laughed about all the quirky moments on our tour, as he sped down the mountain. We made it in time and were back on the bus on the way back to Munich.
While we headed back to Munich, Michael and our driver Slotko were selling beverages including beer on the bus. I couldn’t even look at beer ahah…I bought a bottle of water.
-SANDEEP & DINNER-
Pat and Margaret invited Sandeep for dinner with us. She is really charismatic and was actually the person that told me it was worth it go take a picture of that structure at Schloss Linderhof. We had ended up at the same table for lunch and from there we all became quick friends. We toured Schloss Newschwanstein together as well.
Sandeep looked through her guide for restaurants and many of them did not have any stars hahaa…we did find one with one star and decided to try it. I don’t exactly remember the name, but I took a picture of it. As we entered I heard someone call out, “hey Toronto gals”…and I looked over to see the other Toronto girls finishing their meal. We talked about the beer challenge and how the morning was not so great haha. They had woken up at 11am though and we had woken up at 6am. They wished us a safe trip and headed out.
Margaret and I shared a plate of small sausages and then two side dishes – homemade pasta and rosemary potatoes. It was quite good and since it was our last night there, I ordered a Radler. Pure beer would have made me sick. I only drank half of it and Margaret kindly drank the rest. We had some really great conversations with Sandeep, who lived in New York City, but was moving immediately to Washington D.C. when she came back from her trip. She invited us to visit her. After dinner we said goodbye and wished each other a safe journey. We headed back to get ready for long journey the next day.
-OHHH BOYYY-
When I woke up the next morning, I felt so sick. Although Pat and I were laughing about the events of last night, we weren’t feeling so great. I was the worse of the two of us. The whole time I was getting ready for our castle tour, I kept thinking, maybe I should just bow out of this one – I feel terrible. I had already paid for the tour though and I didn’t want to miss it. I forced myself to get up, take an aleve and go to it.
-DON’T LOOK!-
Pat and Margaret could tell I was in pretty rough shape. They were quite concerned, but I thought I could make it. I was still able to navigate despite it all. When we go t to our main station, we bought our tickets and suddenly the nausea came. As Pat and Margaret started to walk away from the ticket booth, I rushed to the trash can and DOT DOT DOT. I somehow managed to turn my back away from them, but you know, when you’re sick it’s hard to do it without making a sound…*awkward!!* They were very nice about it and gave me napkins and gum. They asked me if I was alright and I decided to soldier on.
We got on the train and headed to the haupbanhof where the buses were going to pick us up. While we rode the train, I closed my eyes and told myself that I would be fine and that I would not get sick again. Before the train stopped on the platform, I was already looking to see where the trash can was… As soon as we got off, I made a beeline for it and well…sorry people who saw me get sick in the trash can!! There was no time to cover it…I just sat down on the chair on the platform and without looking up much, I told Pat and Margaret that I couldn’t go anymore. They understood and asked me if I would be alright to go back to the hotel myself (the bus was leaving in 10 mins or so)…I said that I would wait for a bit and then head back. I told them to get going or the bus would leave and they reluctantly went.
-MIND OVER MATTER-
I sat there, silently cursing myself for putting myself in this kind of position. I’m a Dizon…how can I be defeated by all that beer?!?!? I had already paid for the tour and what would I do the whole day other than sleep and possibly shop? After five minutes of reasoning with myself, I quickly stood up – much to the surprise of the people who had seen me make friends with the trash can only moments ago – and rushed out of the station.
Pat and Margaret were nowhere to be seen, but I had a pretty good idea of where the buses would be. I would find them wherever the buses were. I hurried outside, ignoring my stomach’s protests. I met up with them and they were surprised to see me there. I was terribly worried about being sick on the bus and our trip would take 10.5 hours!! Pat went to get something for breakfast and I knew it was not a good idea for me to eat anything, so I asked her to buy me some water and make sure to get a plastic bag, should I need it.
-ON THE WAY TO BAVARIAN CASTLES-
We all separated on the bus for several reasons:
1. I wasn’t sure how sick I would be and didn’t want to trigger their gag reflexes
2. Window seats ensured the best scenic views
3. Sitting on the first floor of the bus would make me less sick, than going to the 2nd
Pat wanted to sit at the top, so she headed up there and Margaret sat in the row in front of me. I closed my eyes, popped a candy in my mouth and listened to my ipod. Thank you, Mom , for training me to eat a candy when I felt nauseous. So off we went on a quite full bus, which would be picking up more passengers.
-MICHAEL: THE MOST QUIRKY TOUR GUIDE EVER!-
Michael, our tour guide, was so memorable. If only I had videotaped his voice and the way he talked. He was tall, wore a baseball cap, had his shirt tucked in his pants, carried a computer bag (but never took out a computer) and walked quickly. He was so quirky!! He was quite entertaining, as he narrated our tour with his Bavarian accent and his weird comments. Michael also apologized to us for having to take the time to do all the housekeeping things like taking our money for the tours, etc and would often take breaks from narrating to make calls to reserve our table for lunch and make reservations for our tours.
At one point, he talked about cuckoo clocks, but he said it totally different. When he said it, it sounded like CACKCOO. It was so hilarious, because he demonstrated the sound…”You know these CUCKCOW clocks? The ones that say CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO, CACKCOO …” Normally someone would imitate the sound, I don’t know, three times perhaps, but Michael did it nine times with this totally serious expression. How could we not laugh? He also would describe these wonderful places and scenes that we could see and then follow it with, “unfortunately we don’t have time to see it today, but you should come on your own and see it.” We all kept thinking, why bother telling us then? Haaha… I guess it was like getting our hopes up and then disappointing us.
Michael also talked about may poles and how the flags on them described what the village had there, like seamstress, blacksmiths, etc. He also told us about Oktoberfest and how it was the best time for a young boy around the ages of 10-12. There are so many people and then you get drunk for the first time and meet people and things happen. There’s kissing and other things can happen…DOT DOT DOT...lol
-SCHLOSS LINDERHOF-
Michael impressed on us that we should be on time. Once doing the tour, there was a bit of time to walk around, but we were on a schedule. He walked with us to see some of the beautiful things on the way to the castle including a Moroccan House. Because the tourists all walked at different paces he would explain what it was, pause and then repeat it again like six times in a robotic kind of voice. Pat just laughed her head off haha.
There were no pictures allowed at all inside the castle due to copyright. This was quite disappointing, because it was so beautiful!! I ended up buying a guide because it had the pictures and I wanted a souvenir.
Out of Ludwig II’s three castles, this is the only one that was completed. It was dedicated to the Sun King, Louis XIV. It was absolutely gorgeous! Ludwig spent the most time here, but unfortunately did not receive any visitors. There was a secret table in one of the rooms that lowered down into the kitchen where the servants would put food on it and send it back up, therefore allowing Ludwig to eat undisturbed.
I really had to bite my tongue during this tour, as some of the tourists with us were so disrespectful! One American lady actually LEANED on one of the exhibit tables!! There were antiques on it and she was using it to prop her elbow and the table was tipping! I wondered whether I should say something, but we quickly moved ahead. A few other tourists were touching things they shouldn’t…ack what’s wrong with people!!!
The tour ended in the gift shop, where we made a few small purchases. Then we walked through the exquisite gardens and took photos. There was another place that was worth seeing but it was a bit far off and we were pressed for time. I told Pat and Margaret that I would run to take a picture, however, while I was heading in the direction I realized it would mean running uphill. With time ticking, I waivered, but a girl from a tour told me it was worth it, so I ran over and took the picture.
-NEXT STOP, Oberammergau!-
Michael explained how the small town of Oberammergau was known to specialize in three things. The best wood carvers in Germany live there. They have Passion of Christ plays called…. Lastly they have house frescoes that are absolutely stunning. There is the Hansel & Gretel Haus, as well as Little Red Riding Hood Haus…though I’m not sure if the latter name is correct.
This place was very interesting and there were many interesting things to buy. Michael had also mentioned that this place had Hummel figures and that the last factory had closed down. All of the figures would become collector’s items. I decided to check out the prices and maybe buy one. I ended up buying two and the nice lady at the counter gave me a gift from the store as well. She gave me a bumblebee pin. How appropriate, as bees had been all over Berlin and Munich! It was very nice of her. I quickly shopped and finished on time, but I didn’t have my watch with me, so I just kept an eye on Michael. He was standing outside this other store and said he was waiting for two more passengers, so I waited around him and took pictures. Finally, they came out and we were late. Apparently people on the bus were annoyed with the tour girls and one lady gave them hell upstairs…I hope no one that it was me…no one said anything…
-Schloss Neuschwanstein-
This castle was the inspiration for Disney Castle, built and dedicated to Richard Wagner, but he died three years before Ludwig II who died at 41 (conspiracy, drowning/suicide and doctor also floating in the water). I felt a bit of sympathy for Ludwig II, who never had any visitors to his castle and didn’t see much of it finished. His bed alone, took four years to make as it was crafted to look like a cathedral. This thing was crazy…you’d have to see it to believe it. Once again, people were touching things and taking pics when they shouldn’t….oh well. The more our tour guide narrated, the more we believed that Ludwig was in love with Wagner and we just loved the way she said their names. Pat now wants to buy two dogs and name them after the two hahaha.
We had taken the bus up to the castle, but because our tour was later in the day, there were no buses going down and so we had to walk down ourselves. On our way down, there were numerous souvenir stores and food. We bought a few guides and ice cream. The ones we had wanted were sold out, so I ended with a cherry kind of ice cream that actually kind of tasted like there was alcohol in it. We also passed by a stand selling deep fried cream cheese balls. I decided to pass on that but Sandeep, one of women on the tour who we’d had lunch with, Margaret and Pat decided to go for it. I tried a small piece. Michael passed us as he walked down and we laughed about all the quirky moments on our tour, as he sped down the mountain. We made it in time and were back on the bus on the way back to Munich.
While we headed back to Munich, Michael and our driver Slotko were selling beverages including beer on the bus. I couldn’t even look at beer ahah…I bought a bottle of water.
-SANDEEP & DINNER-
Pat and Margaret invited Sandeep for dinner with us. She is really charismatic and was actually the person that told me it was worth it go take a picture of that structure at Schloss Linderhof. We had ended up at the same table for lunch and from there we all became quick friends. We toured Schloss Newschwanstein together as well.
Sandeep looked through her guide for restaurants and many of them did not have any stars hahaa…we did find one with one star and decided to try it. I don’t exactly remember the name, but I took a picture of it. As we entered I heard someone call out, “hey Toronto gals”…and I looked over to see the other Toronto girls finishing their meal. We talked about the beer challenge and how the morning was not so great haha. They had woken up at 11am though and we had woken up at 6am. They wished us a safe trip and headed out.
Margaret and I shared a plate of small sausages and then two side dishes – homemade pasta and rosemary potatoes. It was quite good and since it was our last night there, I ordered a Radler. Pure beer would have made me sick. I only drank half of it and Margaret kindly drank the rest. We had some really great conversations with Sandeep, who lived in New York City, but was moving immediately to Washington D.C. when she came back from her trip. She invited us to visit her. After dinner we said goodbye and wished each other a safe journey. We headed back to get ready for long journey the next day.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Sam Explores Germany & Switzerland Pt 9
Sat Sept 5/09
-Munich Walking Tour-
One of the main attractions of Munich is the Glockenshpiel, as I had mentioned in the previous entry. Our tour guide, Sonja, is totally jaded by it. She’s seen it a bazillion times and so had a very dry humor towards the whole shabang. Feel free to look it up on youtube. Apparently they hired a guy to start up the Glockenshpiel three times a day…and he doesn’t always do it on time. Our tour started there and just got better.
Several facts & sites of interest were:
- a church with a legend about the devil’s footprint inside…I’ll have to look it up if you’re interested b/c I don’t remember the name. This same church also has a sign for “no hands in your pants”…dot dot dot…you’ll see the photo later.
-Dachau Memorial – though we didn’t see this site, it was the first concentration camp and was well known for its Nazi training camp
- Teddy Museum – which was the setting for Kristallnacht and a coordinated attack on Jewish people and their properties by Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbles-the man responsible for all the Third Reich propaganda
- 9 Jews were estimated living in Munich in 1945
- The Jewish Community Centre requires visitors to do a background check before entrance is approved
- Maypole stealing is indigenous to Bavaria. If a town’s maypole is stolen, the only way to get it back is for the victim town to throw a party for the stealing town and pay for all of it. Last time a may pole was stolen in Munich was in 1995, when the Munich Airport Security realized their city’s may pole had been stolen. They called the police, only to hear laughter on the other end. The police had stolen the may pole and the airport security was now forced to throw them a party!
- Not cleaning up dog poop is 1,000 euro fine
-There have been Beer Riots
-At one point, when Germany was in crisis, they started printing money and the value went down…$1usd = 4.3 trillion deutsch marks
We continued on the tour and I wrote a lot more info in my books. One of our last stops was the Hofbrauhaus, which consisted of a biergarten, festivity hall and mail hall called “the wash.” Initially there were no toilets, so people went in the gutter. Then at some point liederhosen under the table became normal. Excuse the inappropriateness of this, but she literally said, “plop out the lieder and take out the hosen…” Everyone laughed hysterically. The men also carried a special wooden stick to “direct the flow” and decrease “splashback”…enough said.
Sonja also mentioned the Beer Challenge…which entitled one selected person to be the Beer Champion and receive a voucher for a free paid tour. Chugging one “mass” (1 litre glass) of beer in under 5.3 seconds apparently automatically gives you this title…
Were we up for the challenge?...we thought so…
-Beer Challenge-
After our walking tour, we shopped for an hour and had a break/snack at a café. After this we checked out early and booked a taxi, since we would not be a breakfast the next two days. Back to the beer challenge…
We met at the Starbucks in the haupbanhof (main station). Sonja was in charge again and we saw the other Toronto girls, another Sam, Ryan and some other guys – Phil, Matt & Amanda, Travis and another guide. There was quite a big group!
Sonja bought us all our first beer at the station and we drank, talked and then headed to the first venue. The Augustiner Biergarten… on the way, we briefly talked to Travis (another one of the tour guides). We tried the Edel (something or other) and talked to Jeananne and later Sonja. We only had 45mins to drink the mass and eat the pretzel…and we had not eaten dinner and this was our second beer (1 litre huge, no less). By the time we left, Pat and I were drunk. Margaret was still sober…I don’t know how she did it! I definitely had to link arms with her…
-HOFBRAUHAS & SHALL WE DANCE?-
Next was Hofbrauhas which is the best Beer Hall in the country or even perhaps the world…no joke! Margaret and I shared a mass of dark beer and Pat had a Radler (sprite and beer mix). Sonja told us that we were very lucky, because on this night, there were mostly local Bavarians there. The performers were dancing on stage and we were all singing in German. At some point Ryan really wanted to dance, but no one wanted to go up with him. Sonja said no, but then pushed me up and said “Get up there, Sam!” Ryan grabbed my hand and we ran up on stage. One of the Toronto gals was up there too and so were all the Bavarian dancers.
After the dance, we went back to the table and continued to flip & catch the coasters without letting them touch the table. The best I did was 7…I think the other guys did up to 11 or 13. I stupidly chugged a small amount of beer, though I thought it was more…I probably shouldn’t have…I was already pretty wasted by then…I was still able to walk though.
The last stop…well I have no idea where it was. The last beer and a shot of Jaeger….I really should have stopped..but I was having too much fun! Poor Margaret had to deal with me and she was sober. I’m pretty sure that we were the last ones to leave, followed shortly after by Travis and this other guy. We took a cab. Our hotel room lights blew and we had to change in the dark…yikes…the morning was not pretty...ahahaha…but you’ll have to read about it in the next journal…
Soberly Yours,
Sam ^__^
-Munich Walking Tour-
One of the main attractions of Munich is the Glockenshpiel, as I had mentioned in the previous entry. Our tour guide, Sonja, is totally jaded by it. She’s seen it a bazillion times and so had a very dry humor towards the whole shabang. Feel free to look it up on youtube. Apparently they hired a guy to start up the Glockenshpiel three times a day…and he doesn’t always do it on time. Our tour started there and just got better.
Several facts & sites of interest were:
- a church with a legend about the devil’s footprint inside…I’ll have to look it up if you’re interested b/c I don’t remember the name. This same church also has a sign for “no hands in your pants”…dot dot dot…you’ll see the photo later.
-Dachau Memorial – though we didn’t see this site, it was the first concentration camp and was well known for its Nazi training camp
- Teddy Museum – which was the setting for Kristallnacht and a coordinated attack on Jewish people and their properties by Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbles-the man responsible for all the Third Reich propaganda
- 9 Jews were estimated living in Munich in 1945
- The Jewish Community Centre requires visitors to do a background check before entrance is approved
- Maypole stealing is indigenous to Bavaria. If a town’s maypole is stolen, the only way to get it back is for the victim town to throw a party for the stealing town and pay for all of it. Last time a may pole was stolen in Munich was in 1995, when the Munich Airport Security realized their city’s may pole had been stolen. They called the police, only to hear laughter on the other end. The police had stolen the may pole and the airport security was now forced to throw them a party!
- Not cleaning up dog poop is 1,000 euro fine
-There have been Beer Riots
-At one point, when Germany was in crisis, they started printing money and the value went down…$1usd = 4.3 trillion deutsch marks
We continued on the tour and I wrote a lot more info in my books. One of our last stops was the Hofbrauhaus, which consisted of a biergarten, festivity hall and mail hall called “the wash.” Initially there were no toilets, so people went in the gutter. Then at some point liederhosen under the table became normal. Excuse the inappropriateness of this, but she literally said, “plop out the lieder and take out the hosen…” Everyone laughed hysterically. The men also carried a special wooden stick to “direct the flow” and decrease “splashback”…enough said.
Sonja also mentioned the Beer Challenge…which entitled one selected person to be the Beer Champion and receive a voucher for a free paid tour. Chugging one “mass” (1 litre glass) of beer in under 5.3 seconds apparently automatically gives you this title…
Were we up for the challenge?...we thought so…
-Beer Challenge-
After our walking tour, we shopped for an hour and had a break/snack at a café. After this we checked out early and booked a taxi, since we would not be a breakfast the next two days. Back to the beer challenge…
We met at the Starbucks in the haupbanhof (main station). Sonja was in charge again and we saw the other Toronto girls, another Sam, Ryan and some other guys – Phil, Matt & Amanda, Travis and another guide. There was quite a big group!
Sonja bought us all our first beer at the station and we drank, talked and then headed to the first venue. The Augustiner Biergarten… on the way, we briefly talked to Travis (another one of the tour guides). We tried the Edel (something or other) and talked to Jeananne and later Sonja. We only had 45mins to drink the mass and eat the pretzel…and we had not eaten dinner and this was our second beer (1 litre huge, no less). By the time we left, Pat and I were drunk. Margaret was still sober…I don’t know how she did it! I definitely had to link arms with her…
-HOFBRAUHAS & SHALL WE DANCE?-
Next was Hofbrauhas which is the best Beer Hall in the country or even perhaps the world…no joke! Margaret and I shared a mass of dark beer and Pat had a Radler (sprite and beer mix). Sonja told us that we were very lucky, because on this night, there were mostly local Bavarians there. The performers were dancing on stage and we were all singing in German. At some point Ryan really wanted to dance, but no one wanted to go up with him. Sonja said no, but then pushed me up and said “Get up there, Sam!” Ryan grabbed my hand and we ran up on stage. One of the Toronto gals was up there too and so were all the Bavarian dancers.
After the dance, we went back to the table and continued to flip & catch the coasters without letting them touch the table. The best I did was 7…I think the other guys did up to 11 or 13. I stupidly chugged a small amount of beer, though I thought it was more…I probably shouldn’t have…I was already pretty wasted by then…I was still able to walk though.
The last stop…well I have no idea where it was. The last beer and a shot of Jaeger….I really should have stopped..but I was having too much fun! Poor Margaret had to deal with me and she was sober. I’m pretty sure that we were the last ones to leave, followed shortly after by Travis and this other guy. We took a cab. Our hotel room lights blew and we had to change in the dark…yikes…the morning was not pretty...ahahaha…but you’ll have to read about it in the next journal…
Soberly Yours,
Sam ^__^
Sam Explores Germany & Switzerland Pt 8
Fri Sept 4/09
-GUTEN TAG, MUNICH-
This morning we left our hotel at 5:45pm to get to the train station to Munich. Our train was at 6:08am. Thanks to Dave the German, we were comfortably seated in our own special car box. We mostly had it all to ourselves and the people in the other boxes were so desperate for sleep that they were lying down across all the seats in their box and on the ground and also tried to maneuver around the table as well. I was tempted to take a picture, but yeah, probably not a good idea to do something like that.
-TRAIN TICKET: 74 EUROS, TRAIN LEAVES WITHOUT YOUR FRIENDS….PRICELESS-
When it was close to our stop on the train, we all started to get ready. Pat got her stuff first, followed by Margaret and myself. They were a little bit ahead and when I got to the doorway they weren’t there. All of a sudden, I heard Margaret yelling and the sound of the door closing. Guys, no joke, this was like something out of a movie. The door closed just as I got to it with Pat and Margaret on the platform in shock. I was hitting the door with my hand and trying to press the button to open it. An American guy beside me tells me to pull the emergency latch, but I was worried that I might get in trouble. I tried anyway, but the train was already moving. I motioned to them to stay there. They had actually gotten off one stop early!! The next stop was Munich! Oh man…and I was the one with our ticket. I had thought they were going to wait to get off and didn’t realize they actually had.
Anyway, I was panicky and when I got off the train I called Pat from a payphone. Thank goodness for the following: 1. Pat had her cell ON 2. I actually had memorized it 3. Another train was coming shortly from there to Munich stn. What a morning! Pat eventually came to find me on the platform and told me about how she had initially thought I was the dumb one who didn’t get off on time and then realized that it was her that got off to early. Ah well, what can you do but laugh once the crisis is over.
-NOT YET OKTOBERFEST-
The place we are staying at is literally across the street from Theresa’s Field, where OKTOBERFEST happens. They are setting up and it looks like a crazyawesome time. The background behind it is King Ludwig I wanted to give his love, Theresa, a gift and so he gave her a field. They married in 1810 in this field and had horse races and festivities. It was such a good time, they decided to do it every year and this became Oktoberfest. Munich has a population of 1.3 million and when Oktoberfest happens, the population swells to 7.6 million!!! That is insane!
*interesting facts (from the Munich tour we did): The Aussies love Oktoberfest so much they have a special tent there. The worse thing you can do while travelling is lose your passport – and many do. There is no Aussie embassy in Munich, so they set up a little table in the British embassy for people who lose their passports. You hear that Kathryn? You have a huge tent to share with your peeps at Oktoberfest! Apparently a 10-year-old was on one of these tours and when the tour guide asked what the most important thing you could lose while travelling, he said “your life”. The second thing for him was “his brother’s life.” Hahaa…kids are hilarious.
-PLANNING AHEAD-
After we had checked into our hotel, we considered catching the tour with NEW EUROPE which is the same company that had the walking tour in Berlin. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to make it, so we decided to go to the Tourist Information Desk. Margaret had mentioned that she would like to see Schloss Neuschwanstein and when we checked in, the manager of the place told gave us a pamphlet of a tour that visited two of Ludwig II’s castles. We decided to get tickets to go to the tour on Sunday, since everything is pretty much closed on Sundays except restaurants and emergency services.
We’ll go on the free walking tour tomorrow at 10:45am and then later do the Beer Challenge with the same company. For the beer challenge, it costs 14 euros, but two beers and a free jagermeister (sp?) shot is free. We bought our tickets to the tour and decided to shop and eat. Pat and I immediately went into shopping mode. Margaret was very patient while we checked out various shops. We were starting to get hungry so we searched for foodage.
-SITES & SMELLS-
The first site we saw was the Glockenshpiel. It is a part of a clock that has figures which depict two stories and rotates. It rings every day at 11am, 12pm and 5pm. I got a bit hungry as we walked around so I bought a sandwich with cheesebread, soft dill cheese of sorts with cucumber and peppers. We dropped by the Drager Munchen tent that had ½ meter bratwurst and other types of sausages. We all got the regular bratwurst. We explored Marienplatz and did more shopping. I drooled over all the places that displayed food in the windows. I literally wanted to EAT my way through Munich. We also went up the Glockenshpiel tower and took pictures of the city. It was cold and rainy but there weren’t a lot of people, so it worked out okay. There was something like a guest book and we drew in it and signed. Magaret drew pictures of us and I was watching her, I realized that the first letters of our names spell out PMS ahhahahaa. I told them that and we laughed hysterically. So Margaret drew us in that order and signed it. There were some famous chefs doing a book signing, but I don’t know who they are and I was shopping while they were signing so I missed taking their pictures.
-NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER & HORSE RADISH SCHNITZEL-
We ate at zum Spockmeier where the benches were sturdy and high up. It is also the first time we noticed that often, if there was room at an occupied table, random people will ask if they can sit there to eat too. The Bavarians are quite friendly people. Spockmeiers classics included, Bavarian lung (veal), Fried calfs head, baked pork tongue, and roasted suckling pig in salavator-paulaner-beer gravy and some other side dishes. YUM! I ordered a Paulander (non-alcoholic) beer called Muchner Hell Alcoholfrei, since I was taking Reactine for a bug bite I got in Berlin. I ordered the Munich “Schnitzel” which was made with pork in mustard horseradish crust and potato-cucumber salad. Pat ordered pasta, which she didn’t like because the tomato sauce was like Campbell’s Tomato Soup. Margaret had Spinach Oyster Mushroom strudel. She said she liked the mushrooms, but guess what “sauce” they put in it... By the way, in their menus they have numbers in brackets beside the dishes to indicate what kind of additives are in the food. We ended our meals, by having strudel which was delicious.
-THE THINGS THAT CAN BE CAPTURED ON CAMERAS-
Pat has been entertained by the fact that I love taking pictures of food. On this trip, I’ve taken pics of my food, her food, Margaret’s food and random people’s food coming by on trays. The food can look pretty interesting. Pork knuckle is especially well-loved here. While I was taking pics of food, I also noticed that there were two sets of people at the bar. One set were twins who were dressed identically and beside them, two women who also looked identical. Pat and I had fun trying to figure out what the story was behind it.
-GUTEN TAG, MUNICH-
This morning we left our hotel at 5:45pm to get to the train station to Munich. Our train was at 6:08am. Thanks to Dave the German, we were comfortably seated in our own special car box. We mostly had it all to ourselves and the people in the other boxes were so desperate for sleep that they were lying down across all the seats in their box and on the ground and also tried to maneuver around the table as well. I was tempted to take a picture, but yeah, probably not a good idea to do something like that.
-TRAIN TICKET: 74 EUROS, TRAIN LEAVES WITHOUT YOUR FRIENDS….PRICELESS-
When it was close to our stop on the train, we all started to get ready. Pat got her stuff first, followed by Margaret and myself. They were a little bit ahead and when I got to the doorway they weren’t there. All of a sudden, I heard Margaret yelling and the sound of the door closing. Guys, no joke, this was like something out of a movie. The door closed just as I got to it with Pat and Margaret on the platform in shock. I was hitting the door with my hand and trying to press the button to open it. An American guy beside me tells me to pull the emergency latch, but I was worried that I might get in trouble. I tried anyway, but the train was already moving. I motioned to them to stay there. They had actually gotten off one stop early!! The next stop was Munich! Oh man…and I was the one with our ticket. I had thought they were going to wait to get off and didn’t realize they actually had.
Anyway, I was panicky and when I got off the train I called Pat from a payphone. Thank goodness for the following: 1. Pat had her cell ON 2. I actually had memorized it 3. Another train was coming shortly from there to Munich stn. What a morning! Pat eventually came to find me on the platform and told me about how she had initially thought I was the dumb one who didn’t get off on time and then realized that it was her that got off to early. Ah well, what can you do but laugh once the crisis is over.
-NOT YET OKTOBERFEST-
The place we are staying at is literally across the street from Theresa’s Field, where OKTOBERFEST happens. They are setting up and it looks like a crazyawesome time. The background behind it is King Ludwig I wanted to give his love, Theresa, a gift and so he gave her a field. They married in 1810 in this field and had horse races and festivities. It was such a good time, they decided to do it every year and this became Oktoberfest. Munich has a population of 1.3 million and when Oktoberfest happens, the population swells to 7.6 million!!! That is insane!
*interesting facts (from the Munich tour we did): The Aussies love Oktoberfest so much they have a special tent there. The worse thing you can do while travelling is lose your passport – and many do. There is no Aussie embassy in Munich, so they set up a little table in the British embassy for people who lose their passports. You hear that Kathryn? You have a huge tent to share with your peeps at Oktoberfest! Apparently a 10-year-old was on one of these tours and when the tour guide asked what the most important thing you could lose while travelling, he said “your life”. The second thing for him was “his brother’s life.” Hahaa…kids are hilarious.
-PLANNING AHEAD-
After we had checked into our hotel, we considered catching the tour with NEW EUROPE which is the same company that had the walking tour in Berlin. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to make it, so we decided to go to the Tourist Information Desk. Margaret had mentioned that she would like to see Schloss Neuschwanstein and when we checked in, the manager of the place told gave us a pamphlet of a tour that visited two of Ludwig II’s castles. We decided to get tickets to go to the tour on Sunday, since everything is pretty much closed on Sundays except restaurants and emergency services.
We’ll go on the free walking tour tomorrow at 10:45am and then later do the Beer Challenge with the same company. For the beer challenge, it costs 14 euros, but two beers and a free jagermeister (sp?) shot is free. We bought our tickets to the tour and decided to shop and eat. Pat and I immediately went into shopping mode. Margaret was very patient while we checked out various shops. We were starting to get hungry so we searched for foodage.
-SITES & SMELLS-
The first site we saw was the Glockenshpiel. It is a part of a clock that has figures which depict two stories and rotates. It rings every day at 11am, 12pm and 5pm. I got a bit hungry as we walked around so I bought a sandwich with cheesebread, soft dill cheese of sorts with cucumber and peppers. We dropped by the Drager Munchen tent that had ½ meter bratwurst and other types of sausages. We all got the regular bratwurst. We explored Marienplatz and did more shopping. I drooled over all the places that displayed food in the windows. I literally wanted to EAT my way through Munich. We also went up the Glockenshpiel tower and took pictures of the city. It was cold and rainy but there weren’t a lot of people, so it worked out okay. There was something like a guest book and we drew in it and signed. Magaret drew pictures of us and I was watching her, I realized that the first letters of our names spell out PMS ahhahahaa. I told them that and we laughed hysterically. So Margaret drew us in that order and signed it. There were some famous chefs doing a book signing, but I don’t know who they are and I was shopping while they were signing so I missed taking their pictures.
-NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER & HORSE RADISH SCHNITZEL-
We ate at zum Spockmeier where the benches were sturdy and high up. It is also the first time we noticed that often, if there was room at an occupied table, random people will ask if they can sit there to eat too. The Bavarians are quite friendly people. Spockmeiers classics included, Bavarian lung (veal), Fried calfs head, baked pork tongue, and roasted suckling pig in salavator-paulaner-beer gravy and some other side dishes. YUM! I ordered a Paulander (non-alcoholic) beer called Muchner Hell Alcoholfrei, since I was taking Reactine for a bug bite I got in Berlin. I ordered the Munich “Schnitzel” which was made with pork in mustard horseradish crust and potato-cucumber salad. Pat ordered pasta, which she didn’t like because the tomato sauce was like Campbell’s Tomato Soup. Margaret had Spinach Oyster Mushroom strudel. She said she liked the mushrooms, but guess what “sauce” they put in it... By the way, in their menus they have numbers in brackets beside the dishes to indicate what kind of additives are in the food. We ended our meals, by having strudel which was delicious.
-THE THINGS THAT CAN BE CAPTURED ON CAMERAS-
Pat has been entertained by the fact that I love taking pictures of food. On this trip, I’ve taken pics of my food, her food, Margaret’s food and random people’s food coming by on trays. The food can look pretty interesting. Pork knuckle is especially well-loved here. While I was taking pics of food, I also noticed that there were two sets of people at the bar. One set were twins who were dressed identically and beside them, two women who also looked identical. Pat and I had fun trying to figure out what the story was behind it.
Sam Explores Germany & Switzerland Pt 7
Thurs Sept 3/09
Woke up at 6:35am…actually Pat told me that I was snoring really loudly last night and she didn’t sleep at all. SORRY PAT! I can’t help it sometimes… Anyway, we decided that we would do a free day tour at 10:30am. We got ready for breakfast which was from 7-9am. I met Margaret and Pat in the breakfast room.
After eating breakfast, we checked out early as we are leaving tomorrow at 5:30am. Our train leaves at 6:08am for Munich. We bought another transit pass and headed out. Today was a crazy weather day. It was cool outside, but once we had been walking for 10 mins or so, it started to periodically pour. Pat decided to buy an umbrella. Margaret and I had hoodies on, so we decided to hold off on getting umbrellas. Soon it began to really pour, so we got on a bus. We didn’t realize that it was the wrong one and didn’t even stop near where we were going! We all kept an eye out for a station sign and finally got off at another station. We took the S line back to our regular stop Zoolischgarten (sp?) and headed to the DUNKIN’ DONUTS where the free tours would start.
Once there, our group was picked up by Katie and we went back on the trains to go to Friedricsen (sp?) Station. Their company offered two tours today – Sachsenhausen (Concentration Camp) or FREE walking tour. All of the tours began at Brandenburg Gate and we ended up with Paul as our guide. He’s an Aussie who has been living in Berlin for two and a half years. We covered the history of Berlin, Brandenburg Gate, the hotel, the embassies, the chancellor…,
Of interest: Fredrick the Great, the monument with the woman holding her dying child – handfuls of dirt from different battlefields, the end of the Berlin Wall, East & West Germany, Holocaust Memorial (which was quite an experience…you really feel swallowed up walking around the uneven blocks and uneven ground), Nazi building, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler’s Bunker (which is now the site of a parking lot in front of a building that used to be the S.S. housing)…
-A Former Wonder of the World: Ishtar Gate-
At the end of our tour we went to the Pergamon Museum that housed the Ishtar Gate which was part of the Walls of Babylon. There was some really interesting stuff there. The wall is SUPERHUGE and I’m always amazed at how well the museums preserve their artifacts. We did an English audio guide tour and it was very busy that day. We continued to take pictures of surrounding buildings and sites as we left.
-Dinner-
For our last dinner in Berlin, we went to a pub/restaurant. Margaret and I ordered smoked pork with sauerkraut (sp?) and potato dumplings. Pat ordered the goulash. The portions were MEGAHUGE! We couldn’t finish it all! We all ordered Berliner Kindl to drink…we had to have one last beer in Berlin.
After that, we went to a supermarket to buy some snacks for the train. We walked Margaret back to the hotel and Pat and I went back out with my netbook. We wanted to use the internet, so we parked ourselves at a restaurant called GOODLIFE, a Thai restaurant which advertised they had wireless, for dessert & Strongbow. Unfortunately it didn’t work so we ended up just drinking and eating fried bananas with ice cream. Headed back to the hotel to briefly sleep before leaving for our train.
Woke up at 6:35am…actually Pat told me that I was snoring really loudly last night and she didn’t sleep at all. SORRY PAT! I can’t help it sometimes… Anyway, we decided that we would do a free day tour at 10:30am. We got ready for breakfast which was from 7-9am. I met Margaret and Pat in the breakfast room.
After eating breakfast, we checked out early as we are leaving tomorrow at 5:30am. Our train leaves at 6:08am for Munich. We bought another transit pass and headed out. Today was a crazy weather day. It was cool outside, but once we had been walking for 10 mins or so, it started to periodically pour. Pat decided to buy an umbrella. Margaret and I had hoodies on, so we decided to hold off on getting umbrellas. Soon it began to really pour, so we got on a bus. We didn’t realize that it was the wrong one and didn’t even stop near where we were going! We all kept an eye out for a station sign and finally got off at another station. We took the S line back to our regular stop Zoolischgarten (sp?) and headed to the DUNKIN’ DONUTS where the free tours would start.
Once there, our group was picked up by Katie and we went back on the trains to go to Friedricsen (sp?) Station. Their company offered two tours today – Sachsenhausen (Concentration Camp) or FREE walking tour. All of the tours began at Brandenburg Gate and we ended up with Paul as our guide. He’s an Aussie who has been living in Berlin for two and a half years. We covered the history of Berlin, Brandenburg Gate, the hotel, the embassies, the chancellor…,
Of interest: Fredrick the Great, the monument with the woman holding her dying child – handfuls of dirt from different battlefields, the end of the Berlin Wall, East & West Germany, Holocaust Memorial (which was quite an experience…you really feel swallowed up walking around the uneven blocks and uneven ground), Nazi building, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler’s Bunker (which is now the site of a parking lot in front of a building that used to be the S.S. housing)…
-A Former Wonder of the World: Ishtar Gate-
At the end of our tour we went to the Pergamon Museum that housed the Ishtar Gate which was part of the Walls of Babylon. There was some really interesting stuff there. The wall is SUPERHUGE and I’m always amazed at how well the museums preserve their artifacts. We did an English audio guide tour and it was very busy that day. We continued to take pictures of surrounding buildings and sites as we left.
-Dinner-
For our last dinner in Berlin, we went to a pub/restaurant. Margaret and I ordered smoked pork with sauerkraut (sp?) and potato dumplings. Pat ordered the goulash. The portions were MEGAHUGE! We couldn’t finish it all! We all ordered Berliner Kindl to drink…we had to have one last beer in Berlin.
After that, we went to a supermarket to buy some snacks for the train. We walked Margaret back to the hotel and Pat and I went back out with my netbook. We wanted to use the internet, so we parked ourselves at a restaurant called GOODLIFE, a Thai restaurant which advertised they had wireless, for dessert & Strongbow. Unfortunately it didn’t work so we ended up just drinking and eating fried bananas with ice cream. Headed back to the hotel to briefly sleep before leaving for our train.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sam Explores Germany & Switzerland Pt 6
Wed Sept 2/09
-An Education-
Woke up at 7:35am…headed out to Sachsenhausen Memorial (Concentration Camp). We decided that it was important to do this trip, even though we’d be very depressed afterwards. I won’t go into details, but I will mention some interesting points…
*At Sachsenhausen, the most feared tower was Tower A, which housed a machine gun that killed many people who tried to escape or break the rules. When the camp was liberated there was a large monument built as a symbol of liberation/victory against Tower A.
*There were 18 Jewish resistance members who made a pact to die fighting and with honour. They made a plan and said goodbye to each other. Then they attacked the S.S. guards of the camp, yelling something along the lines of “shoot us, you bastards”. They had a big fist fight with the S.S. (who were surprised that this was happening) and once the fight ended they were imprisoned temporarily in an area, but were not killed as punishment. It is thought that perhaps the S.S. guards were ashamed at something like this happening, so these resistance fighters were then shipped to Auschwitz to work in labour camps. Some of these men survived the Holocaust at the end of WWII.
*This quote was on the wall of the examination area: “And I know one thing more – that the Europe of the future cannot exist without commemorating all those, regardless of their nationality, who were killed at the time with complete contempt and hate, who were tortured to death, starved, gassed, incinerated and hanged...” –Andrzej Szczypiorski (Prisoner of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, 1995)
There were many other things that I wrote down in my notebook and I only took 4 pictures – one of the gate which said “Arbeit Macht Frei” (translation roughly means: work will set you free), two pictures of the monument of freedom and the quote above. I must admit that there were some places at the Sachsenhausen Memorial, I couldn’t really handle. I have read a lot about the Holocaust and WWII and after travelling and touring Germany, there are no words to convey what an education this is. The people of Germany have really opened their doors for people to educate themselves on what has happened and that is all I will say on this topic. There are countless memorials and each of them has left a big impact on me.
I must also say that sadly some people need more education…people who take pictures behind the bars of the gate like they are prisoners, people who sit on the memorials (and sometimes enjoy a snack/lunch while they sit there), which mark graves filled with ashes despite the fact that rocks are piled on the surfaces to remember and honour those who died. Mind you, most are horrified when the guides or other people tell them what they are sitting on…maybe a more obvious sign that indicated DO NOT SIT HERE might be needed, but there must be a reason why they haven’t done it already. OK, enough with my long-winded thoughts…on to the rest of the day.
-A LIGHTER AFTERNOON-
We decided that after we left Sachsenhausen, we should enjoy a lighter afternoon. The boat tour we had initially planned to go on, however, we had missed. Our tour at the memorial had taken a few hours longer than we had expected. Nonetheless, we headed back downtown to shop and look around. We were really hungry by then and Margaret and I had curry wurst We tried to find the area where boat tours could be booked, but we ended walking around in circles …
We gave up that idea and then were trying to find the Tourist Information Office and let me tell you, it took forever. Each of the maps we had, had different information and directions. We were all getting tired and cranky. Finally, we found it!! It was in something like a square and there was a circle of “buddy bears” there. Each of the bears represented a country in the European Union, so we took pictures of them and I took a bit of video too.
We went inside the Tourist Information Office and asked about the boat tours. After talking to the person there, we discovered that there was still time for us to take a boat tour in the evening. So we booked a 1 hour tour and headed to the main station where it began. Unfortunately it wasn’t so obvious where to go, so we went to the TIO there and were given some bad customer service from the lady there. Not only did she decide to have a chat with her co-worker and block the desk with flyers, but when she finally talked to us, she matter-of-factly told us, it is at the other end where the water was. Well when we followed her instructions, she forgot to mention that we had to cross the bridge over to the other side, walk for 5 minutes and then go down the steps to where the boat was. We were a little pissed off at that, but we calmed down once we were on the boat.
-BOAT TOUR…in need of subtitles-
Since none of us were that keen on using audio guides, we ended up enjoying the boat tour in German. We took random pictures of things we did not recognize, but it was quite nice and relaxing. Margaret and I both had a beer as well. We wandered around for a bit before we headed back to the hotel. Margaret was tired and not that hungry, so Pat and I went to the pizzeria and had yummy pizza. I don’t exactly remember what I ate, but it was delicious and had zucchini in it as well. These pizzas could be shared between two people, but since the guy didn’t understand us we ended up with one each…oh well. We finished the night off at the other restaurant again. We had delicious panna cotta!! Then we called it a night…
So that’s the end of this journal. Thanks for reaching the end <3
-Sam ^__^
-An Education-
Woke up at 7:35am…headed out to Sachsenhausen Memorial (Concentration Camp). We decided that it was important to do this trip, even though we’d be very depressed afterwards. I won’t go into details, but I will mention some interesting points…
*At Sachsenhausen, the most feared tower was Tower A, which housed a machine gun that killed many people who tried to escape or break the rules. When the camp was liberated there was a large monument built as a symbol of liberation/victory against Tower A.
*There were 18 Jewish resistance members who made a pact to die fighting and with honour. They made a plan and said goodbye to each other. Then they attacked the S.S. guards of the camp, yelling something along the lines of “shoot us, you bastards”. They had a big fist fight with the S.S. (who were surprised that this was happening) and once the fight ended they were imprisoned temporarily in an area, but were not killed as punishment. It is thought that perhaps the S.S. guards were ashamed at something like this happening, so these resistance fighters were then shipped to Auschwitz to work in labour camps. Some of these men survived the Holocaust at the end of WWII.
*This quote was on the wall of the examination area: “And I know one thing more – that the Europe of the future cannot exist without commemorating all those, regardless of their nationality, who were killed at the time with complete contempt and hate, who were tortured to death, starved, gassed, incinerated and hanged...” –Andrzej Szczypiorski (Prisoner of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, 1995)
There were many other things that I wrote down in my notebook and I only took 4 pictures – one of the gate which said “Arbeit Macht Frei” (translation roughly means: work will set you free), two pictures of the monument of freedom and the quote above. I must admit that there were some places at the Sachsenhausen Memorial, I couldn’t really handle. I have read a lot about the Holocaust and WWII and after travelling and touring Germany, there are no words to convey what an education this is. The people of Germany have really opened their doors for people to educate themselves on what has happened and that is all I will say on this topic. There are countless memorials and each of them has left a big impact on me.
I must also say that sadly some people need more education…people who take pictures behind the bars of the gate like they are prisoners, people who sit on the memorials (and sometimes enjoy a snack/lunch while they sit there), which mark graves filled with ashes despite the fact that rocks are piled on the surfaces to remember and honour those who died. Mind you, most are horrified when the guides or other people tell them what they are sitting on…maybe a more obvious sign that indicated DO NOT SIT HERE might be needed, but there must be a reason why they haven’t done it already. OK, enough with my long-winded thoughts…on to the rest of the day.
-A LIGHTER AFTERNOON-
We decided that after we left Sachsenhausen, we should enjoy a lighter afternoon. The boat tour we had initially planned to go on, however, we had missed. Our tour at the memorial had taken a few hours longer than we had expected. Nonetheless, we headed back downtown to shop and look around. We were really hungry by then and Margaret and I had curry wurst We tried to find the area where boat tours could be booked, but we ended walking around in circles …
We gave up that idea and then were trying to find the Tourist Information Office and let me tell you, it took forever. Each of the maps we had, had different information and directions. We were all getting tired and cranky. Finally, we found it!! It was in something like a square and there was a circle of “buddy bears” there. Each of the bears represented a country in the European Union, so we took pictures of them and I took a bit of video too.
We went inside the Tourist Information Office and asked about the boat tours. After talking to the person there, we discovered that there was still time for us to take a boat tour in the evening. So we booked a 1 hour tour and headed to the main station where it began. Unfortunately it wasn’t so obvious where to go, so we went to the TIO there and were given some bad customer service from the lady there. Not only did she decide to have a chat with her co-worker and block the desk with flyers, but when she finally talked to us, she matter-of-factly told us, it is at the other end where the water was. Well when we followed her instructions, she forgot to mention that we had to cross the bridge over to the other side, walk for 5 minutes and then go down the steps to where the boat was. We were a little pissed off at that, but we calmed down once we were on the boat.
-BOAT TOUR…in need of subtitles-
Since none of us were that keen on using audio guides, we ended up enjoying the boat tour in German. We took random pictures of things we did not recognize, but it was quite nice and relaxing. Margaret and I both had a beer as well. We wandered around for a bit before we headed back to the hotel. Margaret was tired and not that hungry, so Pat and I went to the pizzeria and had yummy pizza. I don’t exactly remember what I ate, but it was delicious and had zucchini in it as well. These pizzas could be shared between two people, but since the guy didn’t understand us we ended up with one each…oh well. We finished the night off at the other restaurant again. We had delicious panna cotta!! Then we called it a night…
So that’s the end of this journal. Thanks for reaching the end <3
-Sam ^__^
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sam Explores Germany & Switzerland Pt 5
Tues Sept 1/09
-VIDEO CAM CONVOs & TICKET BOOKING-
Woke up at around 9amish and went online to see if I could catch Chris since I knew she was working late and would most likely stay a bit. I was right, she was awake and we were able to talk a little bit using our web cams. My dad was awake too and though I could see them and not hear them, we would just type out our conversations and make faces at each other. Chris then proceeded in carrying her laptop around waking up everyone to tell them I was talking to her via the computer. Through her web cam, I saw my mom sleeping and being woken up rather abruptly ahaha, but she was so tired. Josie groggily waved and Chris and I continued to talk. Nina woke up early as well to get her hair done for the wedding photoshoot. She came by and waved at Chris on her way out. I left a few times when I went to take a shower and then when Harry called me down for breakfast.
After breakfast, Harry brought me to his study to look at train schedules and tickets. Both he and Dave strongly advised me to buy my train tickets in advance to save money. At the same time, Pat was trying to contact me. Chris told me to check my gmail and I saw that the gmail chat was on and Pat was talking to me. They needed to know what time I was arriving because the owner of Hotel Bregenz usually left earlier in the day and he was going to wait until I arrived. At the same time, Dave was looking up train tickets while I was talking to both Chris and Pat. He found a really good deal on tickets from Berlin to Munich for the three of us. I got the okay from Pat and Margaret to purchase the tickets. Dave got us seats in a 6 seat car on the train. They also looked up train prices for Munich to Zurich and printed them for me. I will run them by Pat and Margaret asap so that we don’t miss the deals. One of them for sure was 117 euros for three people.
-LAST-MINUTE HEROES & SAYING GOODBYE-
Jos came online for a few minutes and I think, was able to talk to Dave. I was doing too many things at once to know what they were saying. Chris also brought the cats to the screen a couple of times. Those guys are growing fast.
We got ready to leave and went to the bank to deposit money from the wedding. While we walked Harry told me about the town and brought me into one of the churches there. Nina had already returned just before we had left for the bank and was ironing Dave’s shirt. They apologized that they would not be able to drive me to Essen, but Harry would drive me to the Coesfeld station. I really appreciated how much they looked after me and made sure I was okay. I said goodbye and then we took a picture. Me in travel clothes, Dave in his TTC shirt and Nina in her wedding dress hahahaa!
-OFF TO THE STATION-
Harry told me to relax for a bit, since we had some time. I sat outside in their yard with some orange juice and then I made some sandwiches for the train. Harry sliced the meat for me and set me up with things to fill my sandwiches with. He also gave me a large bottle of water. We went to the station, but the dumb ticket machine didn’t like my credit card, so he ended up putting it on his card. Harry said that if I missed my train he would just drive me to the other station, no problem. He’s so nice. Luckily the machine worked for him, and so I paid him right away and he helped me bring my luggage to the platform as he explained to me what to do when I transferred at Dortmundt (sp?). He carried my luggage on to the train and the door closed. Luckily he was able to open it again and I gave him a hug and thanked him for all his help.
I kept all my things close by to me, since the train wasn’t extremely packed. The transfer went well and wasn’t too complicated. I looked at the schedule to find what platform I should be on, like Harry showed me, but I double-checked with someone to make sure I was getting on the right train. I also took a picture of the schedule just so I would know what stops would be coming up.
I found a seat with a table and plug and asked the man on the other side if I could use it. Unfortunately, I could not use the internet. I watched a few clips of shows I had downloaded and tried to work on these journals. I finally arrived at Berlin HBF. I took a taxi and although the driver was nice enough, he started the car before I had even closed the door! Yikes. I gave him the address and map, but he said he didn’t need it and was using his GPS.
-REUNION-
When I got to Hotel Bregenz, a man was just going in, so he told me to go to the 4th floor. When I got up there, the hotel owner was waiting for me. He explained things to me and then was going to tell me about the room when Pat came in. They had been napping. I surveyed the room, which was pretty nice. The washroom was exceptionally clean. I rested for a bit before we headed out to find dinner. We ended up at a quaint Italian restaurant which had good food and superawesome panacotta. Nina, you got me so addicted to panacotta!! After dinner, we walked along Kurfurstdamm (sp?) just to see what was there and also to check how to walk to the Zoolichster station (sp?). We walked back and then went back to the hotel, which had no lobby lights whatsoever. We decided that whenever we returned from our day’s activities we would go up the elevator. It was too darn dark/scary to go up the stairs at night. We also used the internet but had to pay with coins, since they didn’t have wireless at the hotel and we were too tired to go to a café. I msged Dave to let him know that I arrived safely and changed my status on facebook so my family would know I was in Berlin. To be honest, we’ve been so on-the-go, I haven’t been able to properly do these journals, but hopefully I will do my trip justice with them.
Night!
-Sam ^___^
-VIDEO CAM CONVOs & TICKET BOOKING-
Woke up at around 9amish and went online to see if I could catch Chris since I knew she was working late and would most likely stay a bit. I was right, she was awake and we were able to talk a little bit using our web cams. My dad was awake too and though I could see them and not hear them, we would just type out our conversations and make faces at each other. Chris then proceeded in carrying her laptop around waking up everyone to tell them I was talking to her via the computer. Through her web cam, I saw my mom sleeping and being woken up rather abruptly ahaha, but she was so tired. Josie groggily waved and Chris and I continued to talk. Nina woke up early as well to get her hair done for the wedding photoshoot. She came by and waved at Chris on her way out. I left a few times when I went to take a shower and then when Harry called me down for breakfast.
After breakfast, Harry brought me to his study to look at train schedules and tickets. Both he and Dave strongly advised me to buy my train tickets in advance to save money. At the same time, Pat was trying to contact me. Chris told me to check my gmail and I saw that the gmail chat was on and Pat was talking to me. They needed to know what time I was arriving because the owner of Hotel Bregenz usually left earlier in the day and he was going to wait until I arrived. At the same time, Dave was looking up train tickets while I was talking to both Chris and Pat. He found a really good deal on tickets from Berlin to Munich for the three of us. I got the okay from Pat and Margaret to purchase the tickets. Dave got us seats in a 6 seat car on the train. They also looked up train prices for Munich to Zurich and printed them for me. I will run them by Pat and Margaret asap so that we don’t miss the deals. One of them for sure was 117 euros for three people.
-LAST-MINUTE HEROES & SAYING GOODBYE-
Jos came online for a few minutes and I think, was able to talk to Dave. I was doing too many things at once to know what they were saying. Chris also brought the cats to the screen a couple of times. Those guys are growing fast.
We got ready to leave and went to the bank to deposit money from the wedding. While we walked Harry told me about the town and brought me into one of the churches there. Nina had already returned just before we had left for the bank and was ironing Dave’s shirt. They apologized that they would not be able to drive me to Essen, but Harry would drive me to the Coesfeld station. I really appreciated how much they looked after me and made sure I was okay. I said goodbye and then we took a picture. Me in travel clothes, Dave in his TTC shirt and Nina in her wedding dress hahahaa!
-OFF TO THE STATION-
Harry told me to relax for a bit, since we had some time. I sat outside in their yard with some orange juice and then I made some sandwiches for the train. Harry sliced the meat for me and set me up with things to fill my sandwiches with. He also gave me a large bottle of water. We went to the station, but the dumb ticket machine didn’t like my credit card, so he ended up putting it on his card. Harry said that if I missed my train he would just drive me to the other station, no problem. He’s so nice. Luckily the machine worked for him, and so I paid him right away and he helped me bring my luggage to the platform as he explained to me what to do when I transferred at Dortmundt (sp?). He carried my luggage on to the train and the door closed. Luckily he was able to open it again and I gave him a hug and thanked him for all his help.
I kept all my things close by to me, since the train wasn’t extremely packed. The transfer went well and wasn’t too complicated. I looked at the schedule to find what platform I should be on, like Harry showed me, but I double-checked with someone to make sure I was getting on the right train. I also took a picture of the schedule just so I would know what stops would be coming up.
I found a seat with a table and plug and asked the man on the other side if I could use it. Unfortunately, I could not use the internet. I watched a few clips of shows I had downloaded and tried to work on these journals. I finally arrived at Berlin HBF. I took a taxi and although the driver was nice enough, he started the car before I had even closed the door! Yikes. I gave him the address and map, but he said he didn’t need it and was using his GPS.
-REUNION-
When I got to Hotel Bregenz, a man was just going in, so he told me to go to the 4th floor. When I got up there, the hotel owner was waiting for me. He explained things to me and then was going to tell me about the room when Pat came in. They had been napping. I surveyed the room, which was pretty nice. The washroom was exceptionally clean. I rested for a bit before we headed out to find dinner. We ended up at a quaint Italian restaurant which had good food and superawesome panacotta. Nina, you got me so addicted to panacotta!! After dinner, we walked along Kurfurstdamm (sp?) just to see what was there and also to check how to walk to the Zoolichster station (sp?). We walked back and then went back to the hotel, which had no lobby lights whatsoever. We decided that whenever we returned from our day’s activities we would go up the elevator. It was too darn dark/scary to go up the stairs at night. We also used the internet but had to pay with coins, since they didn’t have wireless at the hotel and we were too tired to go to a café. I msged Dave to let him know that I arrived safely and changed my status on facebook so my family would know I was in Berlin. To be honest, we’ve been so on-the-go, I haven’t been able to properly do these journals, but hopefully I will do my trip justice with them.
Night!
-Sam ^___^
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