Berlin (04/04 - 06/2009):
Today I took off from Cork, flew to Berlin. Was nice to see Cork from the air. We landed in Germany, at the Berlin Schönefeld Airport, where I proceded to go through immigration, and get my bags. After I went through immigration I decided that I would try and only speak in German for the rest of my time in Germany. I then walked across the parking lot to the train station, and bought a ticket to take the S-Bahn into the city, which took about 40 minutes. I had to transfer to the U-Bahn once, and then when I surfaced I was right outside of my hostel, The Circus. The Circus has awesome rooms, and a very nice atmoshphere. When I checked in I was given a card that I could redeem for a free pint of beer if I bought a pint of beer from the bar in the basement, [insert name]. So I went down bought a pint, and got my card signed for later, and then went to my room to unpack. For dinner, I walked across the street to a Mexican restaurant and got some enchiladas. That was the first Mexican food I'd had in a few months, and it tasted awesome. I was pretty tired so I came back to the hostel and just went to bed. Oh, and I failed to speak only German when I asked for a security locker, but besides that I did really well for the whole time.
Sunday(04/06/2009):
I woke up at 7:00 on Sunday, as this was my only complete day in Berlin and I wanted to try and get as much accomplished as possible. The first thing I did was figure out where the nearest Catholic church was. I had found out on Saturday night that a church on my map shared the same street with a Catholic center, so I figured it was Catholic as well. I walked out of The Circus, and started walking. I didn't actually use my map. I just kinda already knew where I was going, and I didn't ming wandering a little bit, as I knew I would take detours for photos anyway. It was about 7:30 or so, and it struck me instantly as odd that I was literally the only one out. I don't think that 7:30 AM is really that early for a Sunday, but I saw one car, and no pedestrians go by the entire 40 minutes it took for me to walk to St. Sebastian's Kirche. It was raining very, very softly, so that you might feel a drop every 10 seconds or so. It was eerie in some ways, walking entirely by myself down the streets, in the still cold morning air, next to remnants of apartment buildings built during the Cold War era, which were covered with graffiti. I didn't mind it though. It was very peaceful in fact and when you can hear your footsteps echo off history it's a very reflective time. 
I got to St. Sebastian's Kirche, and found that the first Mass of the day wasn't until 10:00, so I took some pictures and headed back to The Circus. The Circus is a cafe, hostel, and bar, and at the cafe they have a €5 all you can eat Frühstück deal. I got this, and so for breakfast I had my choice of tea, coffee, or orange juice, and then my selection of different granola breakfast cereals with milk, and then a selection of rolls, white and whole meal bread, Nutella, marmalade, hard boiled eggs, orange slices, a platter of cold cuts, and some soft cakeish bread. I definitely ate my fill and then walked back to St. Sebastian's. It was Palm Sunday, and I noticed that their palms were very different then the ones I'm used to. Instead of the long, thing palms I'm used to these were more a bundle of small twigish branches. I was disappointed with the amount of the Mass that I could actually understand, so I guess my German needs a bit of work. After Mass I walked back to The Circus, and there I rented a bike for the day for €12. It was a pretty nice bike in my opinion. It had 7 gears, a cable lock that I just wore around my neck, and a little bell on the left hand side. I haven't had a bell on my bike in probably 12 years, so it made me smile to have one again. I definitely rang it a lot for the heck of it. 
My first stop of the day was the Mauerpark, where they had sections of the Berlin Wall up.I walked up and down the stretch they just looking at everything on it. I guess you can still paint on it, as there was an artist who had blacked out about a 20 foot section of it and was starting a new graffiti tag on it. 
I walked around for a bit longer, and took some pictures and then headed out to Alexander Platz. On the way I really began to notice how bike friendly Berlin was. The bike paths were very wide and the cars gave you lots of room. They definitely knew how to drive with bikes on the road. It was very nice. When I finally got to Alexander Platz I just pushed my bike around looking at all of the shops and carts. All the smells were making me hungry, so I got a Currywurst with a roll and .5 L of beer from a vendor for just €4.20! That made me instantly fall in love with Berlin, along with the fact that you can drink publicly in the streets, as a comperable meal back in Cork would have easily been over €10. From there I went on to the Berliner Rathaus. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get any good photos of it as there was a half marathon going on that day and there were a bunch of crowds and vendors right in front of the building. It was still really cool to see though. At the end of the half marathon there were people from Erdinger giving out free cups of their non-alcoholic beer to everyone. I never say no to free stuff, and especially not German brewed beer. I then biked over to the Brandenburger Tor, which is probably one of the coolest sights in all of Germany. 
Along the way there though, I stopped to watch a band that was playing some funk/rock music on the street, or Blaskappella as the Germans would call it. They were really good so I bought their CD. Their name is Rupert's Kitchen Orchestra, and I'm really glad I discovered them. From the Brandenburger Tor, I went to The Holocaust Memorial. The Holocaust Memorial is the most powerful memorial I've ever been to and it's massiveness just washes over you. 
As you walk amongst the stones you begin to feel smaller, and when you reach the center you realize that you are entirely engulfed and overpowered by the Memorial, and that fact burns into your mind the massive murder that was carried out, and how the massiveness of it's toll is insufferably huge. It also struck me how that the older people there, in their late teens and up, for the most part just walked silently through the Memorial looking, touching, and stopping to just let it all wash over them. Younger children ran through the halls laughing. It just emphasized the importance of the Memorial even more. That there will be something to bear witness to what happened when these children grow up to be adults, and they can have the experience of walking silently through the rows of concrete. 
After I left the Holocaust Memorial I went to the Tiergarten. I biked through it, just enjoying the beautiful woods, the blooming Spring flowers, and the lovely lakes and monuments in it. It was just perfect. The Tiergarten is also really huge.
After I had enjoyed the Tiergarten for a long time, I went North to the Reichstag, which was cool, but I didn't go in. 
I took a few pictures and then biked over to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to make reservations for my train ride to München and Verona. It was getting late in the day, so I just finished off by biking around the Tiergarten some more before I got dinner and went to bed.
I got to St. Sebastian's Kirche, and found that the first Mass of the day wasn't until 10:00, so I took some pictures and headed back to The Circus. The Circus is a cafe, hostel, and bar, and at the cafe they have a €5 all you can eat Frühstück deal. I got this, and so for breakfast I had my choice of tea, coffee, or orange juice, and then my selection of different granola breakfast cereals with milk, and then a selection of rolls, white and whole meal bread, Nutella, marmalade, hard boiled eggs, orange slices, a platter of cold cuts, and some soft cakeish bread. I definitely ate my fill and then walked back to St. Sebastian's. It was Palm Sunday, and I noticed that their palms were very different then the ones I'm used to. Instead of the long, thing palms I'm used to these were more a bundle of small twigish branches. I was disappointed with the amount of the Mass that I could actually understand, so I guess my German needs a bit of work. After Mass I walked back to The Circus, and there I rented a bike for the day for €12. It was a pretty nice bike in my opinion. It had 7 gears, a cable lock that I just wore around my neck, and a little bell on the left hand side. I haven't had a bell on my bike in probably 12 years, so it made me smile to have one again. I definitely rang it a lot for the heck of it. 
My first stop of the day was the Mauerpark, where they had sections of the Berlin Wall up.I walked up and down the stretch they just looking at everything on it. I guess you can still paint on it, as there was an artist who had blacked out about a 20 foot section of it and was starting a new graffiti tag on it. 
I walked around for a bit longer, and took some pictures and then headed out to Alexander Platz. On the way I really began to notice how bike friendly Berlin was. The bike paths were very wide and the cars gave you lots of room. They definitely knew how to drive with bikes on the road. It was very nice. When I finally got to Alexander Platz I just pushed my bike around looking at all of the shops and carts. All the smells were making me hungry, so I got a Currywurst with a roll and .5 L of beer from a vendor for just €4.20! That made me instantly fall in love with Berlin, along with the fact that you can drink publicly in the streets, as a comperable meal back in Cork would have easily been over €10. From there I went on to the Berliner Rathaus. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get any good photos of it as there was a half marathon going on that day and there were a bunch of crowds and vendors right in front of the building. It was still really cool to see though. At the end of the half marathon there were people from Erdinger giving out free cups of their non-alcoholic beer to everyone. I never say no to free stuff, and especially not German brewed beer. I then biked over to the Brandenburger Tor, which is probably one of the coolest sights in all of Germany. 
Along the way there though, I stopped to watch a band that was playing some funk/rock music on the street, or Blaskappella as the Germans would call it. They were really good so I bought their CD. Their name is Rupert's Kitchen Orchestra, and I'm really glad I discovered them. From the Brandenburger Tor, I went to The Holocaust Memorial. The Holocaust Memorial is the most powerful memorial I've ever been to and it's massiveness just washes over you. 
As you walk amongst the stones you begin to feel smaller, and when you reach the center you realize that you are entirely engulfed and overpowered by the Memorial, and that fact burns into your mind the massive murder that was carried out, and how the massiveness of it's toll is insufferably huge. It also struck me how that the older people there, in their late teens and up, for the most part just walked silently through the Memorial looking, touching, and stopping to just let it all wash over them. Younger children ran through the halls laughing. It just emphasized the importance of the Memorial even more. That there will be something to bear witness to what happened when these children grow up to be adults, and they can have the experience of walking silently through the rows of concrete. 
After I left the Holocaust Memorial I went to the Tiergarten. I biked through it, just enjoying the beautiful woods, the blooming Spring flowers, and the lovely lakes and monuments in it. It was just perfect. The Tiergarten is also really huge.
After I had enjoyed the Tiergarten for a long time, I went North to the Reichstag, which was cool, but I didn't go in. 
I took a few pictures and then biked over to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to make reservations for my train ride to München and Verona. It was getting late in the day, so I just finished off by biking around the Tiergarten some more before I got dinner and went to bed.Monday(04/06/2009):
I woke up and went down to The Circus's cafe for breakfast before walking to the bus stop and catching the next one do the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. I was an hour early or so, so I bought some fish and chips and then just listened to music on the platform until my train finally arrived. The trains in Germany are really rather nice, and clean, and my train ride to Bremen was very comfortable and fast. Along the way though, I noticed that Northern Germany looked incredibly similar to Illinois (so I'm not really surprised that so many Germans settled in Illinois when they immigrated to America). I arrived in Bremen and Svea was there at the Hauptbanhof to meet me. It was so great to see her again! We walked around Bremen's city center for a while, where I saw the statue of Roland, the protector of Bremen, and got Eis (ice cream auf Deustch) by the river. 
We then drove from Bremen to Svea's house just outside of Gnarrenburg in Svea's car. Svea's family's house is incredibly beautiful. It is out in the country, next to some farms, but they have total serenity around them. Their property consists of a lot of land, and they have enough room that her father decided to build a lake in their "back yard" with his backhoe. 
Svea's family is also quite delightful and friendly. Her mother and brother both spoke english, but her father only speaks german, so this gave me an excellent opportunity to try and improve my german. The evening that I came her family was having a barbeque, so I helped them set up a bit, and then we all ate. We had salad, potatoes, potato salad, some wonderful bread, and then our choice of barbequed Wurst, chicken, and pork. It was great!
We then drove from Bremen to Svea's house just outside of Gnarrenburg in Svea's car. Svea's family's house is incredibly beautiful. It is out in the country, next to some farms, but they have total serenity around them. Their property consists of a lot of land, and they have enough room that her father decided to build a lake in their "back yard" with his backhoe. 
Svea's family is also quite delightful and friendly. Her mother and brother both spoke english, but her father only speaks german, so this gave me an excellent opportunity to try and improve my german. The evening that I came her family was having a barbeque, so I helped them set up a bit, and then we all ate. We had salad, potatoes, potato salad, some wonderful bread, and then our choice of barbequed Wurst, chicken, and pork. It was great!Rest of blog will be finished at later date.
