European Vacation

Unfortunately I don't have too much to write on Leipzig and Dresden, not because they weren't beautiful cities, but because I only spent one night each in both of them. After my lively time in Berlin I took the train to Leipzig which is only a couple of hours south.

Leipzig is one of the larger cities in the old East Germany and is often remembered fondly as the city of heroes. The reason for this is that the demonstrations which ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall began in this city in the summer of 1989 and spread throughout the GDR. The old town of the city is quite beautiful but currently cluttered with one construction site after the other (as seems to be the story for most of the monuments in Europe!) For this reason I didn't take too many photos as I can report, scaffolding looks the same the world over!

I did however find a couple of interesting buildings which have been decorated with a lot of love and care- not necessarily the most artistic of pictures, but they certainly stand out in the otherwise concrete jungle that is Leipzig...

Again, my time in Dresden was very limited but certainly enjoyable. Dresden was almost destroyed at the end of WWII by the allied bombings. The carpet bombing which flattened most of the city has often been critised because of the fact that much of the destruction occured when Germany was almost defeated. Regardless of which side of the argument you agree, it is amazing to walk through the old town and see the entire area beautifully restored.

In fact, some of the restoration is actually quite recent. For example, the Church of Our Lady (pictured below) was only completed in 2004. The original church was left in complete ruins at the end of WWII. After the war, the Russians and the GDR Government left the ruins as a memory to the war. It was only after reunification that the decision was made to rebuild the church to how it was before the war.

As the photo might show, there are areas of the church which are darker than the rest. These darker blocks are from the original building, the rest of the blocks are new.

I would have liked to spend a little more time in Dresden as there is quite a lot I didn't get to see, or what I did see I saw in darkness (the problem with European Autum/Winter, it starts to get dark at about 3.30pm!). Then again, there's always next time! :-)

Throughout my travels across Europe, I hadn't found any city which, on a whole, left as much of an impression on me as London had. Granted, London isn't the most beautiful city I've seen, nor the cleanest, but one I fell in love with regardless. It was the buzz in the city that I enjoyed, along with the chaos and the sheer number of people from all corners of the globe. Nevertheless, London, for me at least, has found it's match in Berlin!

I found Berlin to be a truly amazing city not only for its history but also its culture, atmosphere, variety and of course the nightlife! It should be no wonder then that my blogging seemed to stop and I'm now having to play catch up!

The history of Berlin is shaped by a series of dramatic events as we all know and of which you are constantly reminded when there. It was in Berlin that Hitler came to power in 1933 and met his own death via suicide after forever tainting Germany's history and creating some of the most indescribeable horrors that the world has seen. At the end of World War II, Germany was defeated and Berlin in ruins. The dawn of the Cold War then saw Germany and Berlin divided into east and west. This division was reinforced in the most extreme way possible by the creation of the concrete border which not only encircled East Berlin, but also East Germany (GDR).

Given my interest in WWII and the Cold War, I enjoyed not only walking through the city, but also visiting the different museums and monuments relating to those periods (and it was a nice change from the art galleries and churches I seem to keep visiting in my travels!)

One of the most significant buildings in Berlin is the Reichstag which is the house of parliament. I braved the crowds and had a look at the dome of the Reichstag. The Reichstag itself is a building which, like many aspects of Belrin, has seen its fair share of controversy. It was set secretely alight by the Nazis in 1932 who blamed it on the Communists and used the fire to gain political advantage through the creation of fear which ultimately saw Hitler attaining full power. When the Russian's took over Berlin at the end of WWII, the total defeat of Germany and the end of the war in Europe could not have been more dramatically signified than when Russian soldiers hoisted the Russian flag on top of the Reichstag. After Germany was reunited, the Reichstag was renovated and the Parliament again returned to Berlin.

What draws the crowds to the Reichstag these days is the huge glass dome that was installed as part of the renovations. Regardless of whether it rain, hails or shines, you normally have to wait for about 1.5 hours to get inside (not much fun in the best weather, but unfortunately I managed to pick the coldest day I experienced in Berlin for this adventure!)

After the Dome was finished some people criticsed it as not fitting in with the rest of the building but I quite liked the dramatic difference between the building and the dome. You can walk up a series of ramps inside the dome to have an amazing view over Berlin and the Brandenburg Gate. Also, when inside the dome, the inverted pyramid made of glass and mirrors is also fascinating to look at...

Just near the Reichstag is the Brandenburg Gate. During the period of the Berlin wall, the wall stretched along just in front of the gate which meant that it was left standing in no man's land with neither east nor west Berliners being able to reach it. Now, it's impossible to get a picture of it without a large number of tourists also being in the shot. I thought it was rather amusing to find out that the statue on top of the gate also has quite an interesting history and hasn't always faced in the direction it does now. After the Berlin wall was built, the GDR Government had the statue turned around as it didn't want it to face into West Berlin. They also replaced the emblem on the pole held by the statue to a hammer and sickle in true Soviet style. After the fall of the wall the statue was then turned around again to its original position and the hammer and sickle were also replaced.

Yet funnily enough, that's not the only thing that's been moved around in Berlin. At the other end of the avenue which ends at the Brandenburg Gate is a giant column with a golden victory angel on top of it. I'm not sure how high the column is but you can climb the stairs to the top and let me tell you from personal experience, I could feel everyone of the 268 steps it took! Originally the column was in a different location but Hitler didn't like that location so had the entire monument moved.

Right near the Brandenburg Gate is the Holocaust Memorial which consists of a large number of grey columns of different heights.

It's an interesting memorial not least because architecturally it's quite stricking to look at but also because if you didn't know that it served as a Holocaust memorial you'd have absolutely no idea what its purpose was.

Only a few hundred metres from the Holocaust memorial is the location of where Hitler's bunker was during WWII. You could easily miss the significance of the location as the only thing that lets you know what used to be there is a board on the footpath which has been erected in front of the apartment complex which now uses the site. (I`d love to know whether they highlight the history of the site when selling apartments- would that increase or decrease the price?)

Walking through the city I couldn't help but wonder what it must have looked like after the war, or even during the period of the Berlin Wall. While Berlin's history certainly is dramatic, it's good to see that it doesn't try to sweep it under the carpert but will confront it. For example, some buildings in the area of Berlin which used to be the old Jewish quarter have metal plates placed in front of the buildings. These plates state the names of the Jewish families who used to live in the apartments before they were deported to the concentration camps.

It is also interesting to see how some of the buildings have been recycled. For example, the building which used to function as the Gestapo headquarters during WWII (the Gestapo having been the much feared secret police of the Nazis) now houses a Government department similar to the taxation office- tax evasion in Germany is still treated very seriously!

As I walked around I also couldn't help trying to figure out whether I was in the old east or west Berlin. The actual path of the wall is marked by two rows of red bricks which trace their way through the city, so that was easy enough to look for. In different parts of the city they have left sections of the wall as a reminder. The largest section is called the East Side Gallery and stretches for about 1km. I must admit it was a rather surreal feeling to walk along the wall and think about what it must have been like to have been fenced in like that.

When you're away from the actual location of the wall the easiest thing to do is look at the traffic lights, or more specifically, the pedestrian crossings as the men were different in the east than they were in the west or what we're used to.

Although it has now been 17 years since the fall of the wall and the reunification of Germany, you still notice the division in the people not only in Berlin but all over Germany. I ended up spending much of my time in east Berlin basically because the people I had met all seemed to live there and I found the best bars there also! (Really, what other reason do I need?). When I spoke to the Berliners I had met, most of whom came from the GDR, it was interesting to find out that they hardly ever ventured into the western parts of the city and that many of them would not consider living there. Then again, I know of enough people who live in the inner west of Sydney who consider taking a packed lunch for any trip of the Bridge so maybe Berliners aren't that unique after all!

Due to the reunification and the fact that the GDR was not as advanced as West Germany, considerable amounts of money have had to be pumped both into East Berlin and East Germany. While this may not be the only reason for it, but the reality is that Berlin as a city is broke. This has led the mayor to declare that Berlin is 'arm, aber sexy' which means that it's poor but sexy. As could be expected, this has now been printed on anything from T-Shirts to placemats and I guess, in its own way, has led to money coming back into the purse- at least for the shopkeepers selling them by the dozens to the tourists!

I did get a chance to visit a family apartment in a suburb of East Berlin which is about a 15-20 minutes train ride from the centre of town. When I was there I got a better understanding of differences that still exist between the two areas when looking at the streets and the concrete rendering falling off, or having fallen off, large sections of the walls to expose the bricks underneath. Even now there are still buildings in the easter parts where you can see bullet marks from WWII.

During the GDR era shops often did not have enough stock to meet the demand. For example, the average waiting period for a Trabant which was the make of car produced in the GDR was 16 years! Going into a shop and simply buying what you wanted wasn't as easy as it seems as most of the time there simply wasn't enough (or any) stock. Secretaries often only worked half a day as there wasn't any paper on which to type on in the afternoon.

Yet lack of goods was not the only problem of the GDR probably just as big a problem, or possibly even worse, was the amount of secret surveillance that was carried out by the secret police, the Stasi. I did find a funny example of the Stasi gone mad, in my mind, in the Stasi museum. The Stasi had secret agents who would work in the Post Office. These agents were put in place to screen the mail that was being sent and received by GDR citizens. In the Museum, they have a stack of postcards on display which people had tried to send to the GDR. For whatever reason, these were considered inappropriate and never arrived. But, never missing an opportunity to make money, the stamps on these postcards would be cut out, sold back to a West German company who would remove the stamps and resell them. Recycling gone mad if you ask me!

Then again another extreme example of recycling are the remains of a train station in Berlin. The Anhalter Bahnhof as it's called, was left largely untouched by WWII and from the pictures looked quite beautiful. Nevertheless, in the 1950's, someone needed bricks and made an offer on those in the train station. The price must have been right because they blew it up to reuse the bricks and now the only thing left is the front!

Well, I'd like to say that Berlin was simply about the history of the city and museums but I'd be lying. There certainly was quite a lot of partying also! (Made for a nice change from the rest of my Europe trip! :-)). Whatever it is that your after, chances are you'll find it in Berlin. Dad and I managed to see Cabaret (as made famous by Liza Minelli) one night he was there and a musical cabaret-style show another. I also went to see some live music which was also great. And then of course there were the bars and the clubs and what fun they were. I did go to one amazing party which was being held in an abandoned villa. It seems like this house holds parties every couple of months. All they've done is installed a couple of bars, hooked up some lights and thrown in some old chairs and pretty much nothing else. The wallpaper hangs off the walls and the paint has faded to almost nothing but it was an awesome venue and great party (And yes, it was perfectly legal).

Then again, this isn't so out of the ordinary for Berlin. There is also a large squatting culture in Berlin where artists simply move into abandoned or empty buildings and set up shop. Some of these buildings will then hold art exhibitions or dance parties. It seems that the Government will either turn a blind eye and let them live there, or they will require them to pay some marginal amount of rent. If the building is needed, or it is being torn down, the squatters will either try to make the arrangement more legal to remain there, or they simply move on to another one!

Well, all in all I had a great time in Berlin and yes, there are more stories but none which I'll share at this point in time! ;-)

Since my last blog, I´ve crossed from Germany to Belgium and back again and had a great time in all of the places! To begin with, the Pink concert was awesome and the fact that I only got about 3.5 hours sleep before I had to get up to catch my flight was certainly worth it! She did seem to mess up the first line of a couple of the songs, but all is forgiven! I´m not sure if she´s coming to Oz but lets just say there´s a number where she performs in a bikini, strung over the stage in a net...hmmm memories! :-) Anyway, nothing much more to say on the matter really!!!

Last Friday I arrived in Belgium to visit my aunt and cousins who I haven´t seen since leaving Germany nearly 17 years ago. It was great to catch up with them and I´m quickly learning which of my cousins are just as happy to have a couple (plus just a few more?!) drinks like me! And you know who you are if you´re reading this!

On the Saturday we visited a city in Belgium called Aalst which is beautiful.

After that my cousin and his wife picked me up and took me to Brussels. We watched the South African Rugby final (not sure if I´ve got the correct competition but it was a final of some sorts). It was quite a good game with the most bizarre ending for a final. I didn´t think this was actually possible in a final but it was left at a draw after extra time. So, it seems that each team will get to keep the trophy for six months- a little weird if you ask me!!

On the Sunday we took a walk around Brussels which is also a beautiful city. , even considering that there seemed to be a plague of girl guides and scouts infecting the city! Everywhere you turned, there they were!

So after my time in Munich and Belgium with family and friends, I am now back on the road and alone again! No need to feel sorry for me though, I´m keeping myself entertained and find that I´m quite the conversationalist when it comes to talking to myself!

I´ve actually enjoyed Hamburg more than I thought I would and would have loved to spend a few more days here as it´s quite a cool and vibrant city. Not necessarily the cleanest of cities as there seems to be graffitti everywhere. Nevertheless, lots of fun! I did make a comment to someone from Hamburg about the amount of graffitti in the city, apparently they quite liked it and told me that it was the trend at the moment. Don´t get me wrong, I can appreciate good graffitti artwork but when it´s simply a matter of people´s tags or scribble sprayed on every second street corner I tend to see it more as an eyesore.

The photo below is of the town hall in Hamburg and, for another random fact, contains six more rooms than Buckingham Palace. At least that what the guide book said, though the actual building seems quite a lot smaller than the Palace itself so I´d love to see how small some of these rooms are meant to be!

The port in Hamburg is meant to be one of the busiest ports in the world and it certainly looks that way when walking around it. Nevertheless, the industrial side of it is also nicely balanced with something a little more laid back.

I also had a look at the St. Nikolai church which was almost destroyed during the allied bombings in 1943. The only parts of the church which remain are the main tower and parts of the surrounding walls.

Blanten un Blomen, the botanical gardens in the middle of Hamburg, is also a very popular destination and although I know next to nothing about plants, I did enjoy the stroll through and the free deck chairs that they provide are a nice touch!

As you can see by my clothing it is getting colder here. But I realise I can´t complain too much given the fact that when I was trying to keep cool in the hot Greek sun, you guys were reading my blogs in the middle of winter. Nevertheless, at least you didn´t have to consider the approaching snow which, last year at least, first appeared at the end of October!

For my last activity in Hamburg I watched a film as part of the gay and lesbian film festival held this week. Yes, I have managed to visit another gay event and no, I did not know that it was being held this week until after I arrived. If I visit anymore gay and lesbian pride events this year I´ll probably come home with my skin coloured in the rainbow flag!

Apart from that, nothing more to report really until after I arrive in Poland tonight.

My time in Munich is nearly up and on Friday I set off for the remaining part of my trip. Yes, I´m coming home, in fact I´ll be home on the 6th of December! I am extremely grateful for my dad to organise the flights home for me, via New York which is even more amazing! I wasn´t even surprised with the speed he had me booked on the respective flights after my initial email ( a little worried I´d change my mind to stay longer maybe??). So, where am I off to next? Well, I spend this weekend in Belgium visiting family, then onto Hamburg, Poland, Berlin to catch up with dad there, then Leipzig, Dresden, Prague and maybe one or two other places in the Czech Republic, before returning to Munich to pick up a few remaining things and flying on to London to catch my flight there for New York and then SYDNEY! Just a relaxing little holiday really!!

The next few weeks will certainly be a little more intense than the last couple of weeks here in Munich. I´ve had a nice few weeks here and spent a few days with my aunt and uncle who live in a small country town. They took me for a drive to another city in Bavaria called Passau which is quite a nice city. The claim to fame for Passau is not only that three rivers converge in the city, but also has to do with its cathedral...

The reason for this is that the cathedral has the largest organ in the world. To me it didn´t seem any bigger than many of the others I´ve seen, but what do I know?!

Regardless, it is a rather beautiful cathedral and trust me, I´ve seen quite a few churches and cathedrals since beginning my travels! Of course, the major problem with this is that after a while they all tend to blend in together so once you´ve stepped outside again, you´re really not sure which cathedral had what!

Apart from visiting my aunt and uncle, for my Oma´s birthday we took a drive into the countryside and visited one of the many lakes in Bavaria called the Spitzingsee.

A beautiful area where we enjoyed a childhood favorite dessert of mine Dampfnudel! It´s dough which has been rolled in a ball, cooked a certain way and served in hot vanilla sauce. It´s quite nice, though in honesty I probably enjoyed it more as a kid than I do now. A little sticky after the first few bites!

The weather here has been quite nice the last couple of days, even getting up to 20 degrees during the day. Nevertheless, autumn is here and winter is approaching quickly! Last weekend it dropped down to 5 degrees at night and as the picture below shows, the Bavarian Alps have had their first snow.

Apart from that I don´t really have anything else to report, apart from the fact that I´m going to see Pink in concert tomorrow!! Whoohoo!! Given the fact that the concert is in Nürmberg which is about 1-1.5 hours away from Munich and I have to be at the airport on Friday morning at about 7 to catch my flight it probably isn´t the smartest thing to do but hay, a friend here in Munich managed to get free tickets so I couldn´t pass up the opportunity to see her...and I´m sure the music will be good too ;-)

I know I´ve been a bit slack with not updating the blog earlier but when the largest beer festival in the world is happening, the last place you want to be is in an internet cafe!

Yes, the Oktoberfest, or Wiesn as it´s referred to in Bavaria, is coming to a close after 18 days of great wheather, approximately 6 million visitors in that time and lots and lots of beer!!

It´s a fantastic event and to borrow a saying from someone else...It was the best party ever! The atmosphere is amazing and everyone is ready to party and have a good time. Of course, some poor sods end up a little worse for wear and you do see quite a lot of people passed out in all manner of positions, either standing, lying or sitting. They are often referred to as Bierleichen or beer-corpses and either end up sleeping off the alcohol in any location they manage to find, or in the first aid tent.

Nevertheless, it´s probably a good thing that it´s finishing for another year so as to give everyone´s liver a rest! Also, it is surprising how many people you seem to see with their right arms/wrist either bandaged or in plaster- no joke! I´m not sure whether they´ve developed RSI from lifting the 1 litre beer jugs?!

At least I´ve been careful to regularly swap arms, last thing I need is a visibly musclier right arm because of lifting the beers, though it would complement the beer belly I´m starting to develop!!

After having seen four pride events in my time in Europe, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that even the Oktoberfest has a Gayday, well two in fact! Who would have thought that the entire GLBT community of Munich and surrounding areas converges on one of the beer tents on the first Sunday and the second Monday!

Unfortunately for some visitors to the respective tents, not everyone is aware of this so it was rather amusing to see the looks of straight peoples faces wondering what they had walked into! Given that they also close the tents because of overcrowding, it wasn´t an option to leave either because there was the risk they wouldn´t get into another one. Nevertheless, it didn´t take them long and fun was had by all!!

I must say that ´leather fetish´takes on an entirely new meaning when you see them walking around in Lederhosen!

This is me at the steps of the Bavaria (the statue in the picture above). Given the fact that this picture was taken after an entire day in the beer tent and after 5 mass beer, I think I´m looking rather well!

And, just so you don´t begin to think I might be developing an unhealthy relationship with binge drinking here in Europe (I had that before I left Oz! ;-)) a friend and I hired a car for a couple of days last week and took a drive to Austria. We visited Salzburg and Innsbruck which were both very beautiful cities (can´t upload the photos at the moment so you´ll just have to take my word for it!)

Salzburg is of course famous for the movie The Sound of Music and the fact that Mozart was born there. Innsbruck is also a stunning city encircled by the alps and twice host to Winter Olympics.