It's hard to not like Germany these days... the World Cup, sausages, beer, lederhosen, luxury cars, the funny accent, David Hasselhoff. Hitler? Nazis? Communism? They're just good material for war and spy movies. Somehow, Germany managed to reshape its image in the recent past, and to people of my generation, who barely remembers the dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall, the dark periods of 20th century German history are merely that... history. Just being in a youthful and energetic Germany gave me hope for the world we live in today... one where the clashing of ideologies fill people with fear and hate. I'm looking forward to the day 30 years from now, when I can spend a relaxing afternoon in a Baghdad cafe reminiscing about the dark days of the early 21st century. |
"WHAT LIES BENEATH"
Back in Munich. The celebrative atmosphere was in high gear with the
Oktoberfest grounds just a few blocks from the main station. As much as
I wanted to dive into all the fun, my hostel reservation wasn't for three
days. Taking a look at the night train schedule, all of Europe seemed to
be within reach. I randomly chose Berlin... it seemed important... being
the capital of Germany and original axis of evil and all.
Since it was such a late reservation, the only seat available was in a
smoking cabin. Hmm... a train full of asphyxiating gasses heading
toward Berlin. Should I be scared?
Guten Morgen!
You've been Punkt!
The Bundestag in the distance.
Grubby, and reeking of cigarette smoke. Ugh.
Inside a McCafe. Very unMcDonald's-like.
8AM... the train arrived soon after 6AM and I spent the
the next few hours trying to wake up, find a free bathroom
(there were none), figure out my money situation (running
low on euros and ATM machines in Germany wouldn't take
my card), find a hostel at the internet cafe, upload my
photos, recharge my batteries, orientate myself in the city,
and figure out the public transportation system... all before
even thinking about breakfast. I wonder how many security
personnel had their eyes on me loitering around so much.
By the way, elevated indoor train platforms are awesome.
The impressive Berlin main station.
Huh? What's going on?
Berlin Marathon! Whoa! I happened to arrive on the very day
of the marathon. I'd seen a marathon before... until now.
For those with REALLY BIG headaches.
mmm... so tempting. I settled with finishing my sausage from
Innsbruck though.
It had been sitting at the bottom of my bag all
night, but it's okay... right?
I jostled my way to the very front of the crowd as close to the finish
line as I could possibly get. I wasn't going to miss a moment of the
excitement. The paraplegics in wheelchairs were the first to cross.
This was absolutely awesome. As one guy approached the finish line,
he got off his wheelchair and pushed it through the finish line. He
then walked on his hands the remaining 50 meters to finish the race.
The crowd went wild.
26 miles down, a few paces to go. The freaky thing about this
picture is that it's of the same guy I took a picture of an hour and a
half earlier (scroll up a few pics). How is it that out of hundreds of
participants, I take a picture of the same guy twice? Uncanny.
Me
After experiencing enough human drama, like watching one guy
collapse just meters before finishing the race only to be helped up by
others to cross the finish line, I started my exploration of the city.
Funky crosswalk graphics. These were the original designs used in
East Berlin. When Berlin became united, these were one of the few
things they kept as a memory of a darker time in history.
Here come the white guys... an hour later.
The Russian Embassy. I bet there was a whole more security 20 years ago.
70 Fahrtwinds... try to beat that.
The Brandenburger Tor... symbol of a divided Germany, symbol of a
united Germany. Napoleon, Hitler, and John F. Kennedy all contribute
to its history. Though our attention has been on the Middle East in
recent decades, just being in Berlin reminded me that THIS was the
center of history in the 20th century.
Interesting architecture at the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz
Hostel search success... marathon participants had taken up most
of the beds in the city, but I managed to find a room for the night.
The Bundestag, the modern Parliament of Germany. It is inside of the
shell of the building that used the be the Reichstag
which supposedly
Hitler burned down as part of a plot to gain power. The architecture
is really funky with a glass and steal modern structure encased in an
old building.
Me
A sunset view.
There's not much of a skyline to Berlin.
The glass spiral dome that tops the Bundestag is open to the public.
It's pretty neat, providing a 360 degree view of the city.
Too late.
Half chicken dinner at the train station. Luckily they took credit card,
I was all out of cash.
Wandering around the gritty streets.
Fernsehturm Berlin... a TV tower.
hmm... unexpected.
Some late night movie filming I stumbled upon trying to find my way
back to the hostel when the U-Bahn had already shut down for the night.
Breakfast at Meininger Hostel with my Aussie roommates. It was an
all you can eat buffet... very exciting. Unfortunately, I couldn't extend
my stay another night, so put my bags in the storage room and went
about my day... hoping I'll find a room along the way.
I joined the New Berlin free walking tour. This is run by the same
people who do the New Amsterdam tour... highly recommended.
Here he's showing a picture of Potsdamer Platz when it was a death
zone while the Berlin wall up, and it's revitalization during the last
15 years. It made me think about why touristy monuments don't
come to mind when I think of Berlin. Everything is constantly being
destroyed and rebuilt. This guy used to actually live in East Berlin,
so the stories he shared about how his life changed when the wall
came down really brought the time period to life.
We all gathered at the Starbucks (a commercial eyesore) at Pariser Platz.
The group was huge, so we split into two. Our guide was Pen, another
Australian. My goodness... there were so many Aussies. I learned that
day that Steve Irwin had died a few weeks earlier. I didn't even know!
It was like a national tragedy for them.
The columns of Brandenburger Tor, patched up from
bullet damage acquired over the years.
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust
Memorial. Just a few blocks from the Brandenburger Tor. Get it? Blocks?
Fun fact... The structures are sprayed with Protectosil, an anti-graffiti
coating made by Degussa, a company whose subsidiary manufactured
Zyklon B,
the poison used to kill jews in the gas chambers. Ironic :)
It's neat how from the street level, it looks like a low
profile structure, but once you walk inside, the slabs
of steel tower over you.
Touching.
An unassuming sign marks the location of the Fuhrerbunker, Hitler's
headquarters for waging war on humanity and where he eventually
committed suicide with his mistress Eva Braun. Nothing but a patch of
grass now. The city will eventually remove the sign and take another
step toward erasing their dark history.
A GDR era socialist propaganda
mural.
Pen with her funny expressions standing in front of the last segment
of the Berlin Wall left standing. I have a very vague memory of watching
the
news coverage the night it came down. I would've been... 8.
Mark and Lisa, a couple Americans I hung out with during the tour.
Me and the Berlin Wall.
Checkpoint Charlie, a symbolic epicenter of the Cold War.
Berlin was divided into four sectors after Germany's defeat
in WWII. The sectors controlled by English, French, and
Americans became West Berlin. The sector belonging to
the
Russians became East Berlin. I never knew this, but the Berlin
Wall actually encircled West Berlin, an oasis within the borders
of communist East Germany. Anyway... a lot of dramatic border
crossing attempts and standoffs happened right at this spot.
After lunch at
Schlotzsky's, we were told about a
pub crawl they were hosting that night. I'M IN!
Umm... I was looking for lighter reading material... Thanks.
Look closely, what do you see? Underneath the glass are empty
bookshelves representing the 20,000 books burned in the infamous
Opernplatz book burning. Remember Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade? When Indiana goes to Berlin to retrieve the Grail Diary from
Elsa and runs into Hitler, who signs the Diary? That was here.
That's the old East German Parliament building being deconstructed
in the background. In it's place, they will reconstruct the
Berliner
Stadtschloss, the old Prussion Palace... Uhhh... why?
Berliner Dom, some Protestant Church.
I spent the rest of the afternoon searching for a hostel with a vacancy
and finally found one. It was called Helter Skelter, but wasn't as bad
as the name might suggest. Funny thing... The girl I was talking to on
the train from Munich was staying in the same room. Small world.
Ahhh....
Friedrichstrasse. I have a lot of fond memories up walking
up and down this long long avenue and sneaking onto the u-bahn
without paying.
Currywurst. Did you know that curry was a popular seasoning in
Berlin cuisine? If you didn't. Now you do.
Germany, land of cheap meats. I love Germany.
Trivia question. Am I in former West Berlin? or East Berlin?
YES!!!
Some vintage Cold War era photography of the area.
Pub Crawl starts here... all you drink beer and vodka
shots, admission to hot bars and clubs I'd never find
on my own, a fun group of international travelers,
all for €9... I put some food in my stomach from
the Kebab stand across the street. Let the fun begin!
That was the tour guide, I forgot his name. After loading up on beer
from a keg, he started pouring screwdriver shots as we walked from
place to place. Screwdriver... OMG so dangerous... I love orange juice,
and vodka doesn't hit for a while, so I was gulping these down as if I
was re-hydrating myself after a running he marathon.
The Aussie dudes Shane, Ian, and Bodine. I had breakfast with them
at Meininger's and was surprised to see them here.
Scary DJ
The stairwell in one of the bars... the graffiti actually gives it character.
Renee, Dan, and Mark. I met Mark earlier on the walking tour. Renee
and Dan were were a couple guys from Berlin just enjoying a night
out on the town. They talked about their aspirations to come to the
States and open up a German themed restaurant... as if it would be
real simple. Mark and I introduced them to the terms: liquor licenses,
permits, zoning regulations, health inspectors, and labor laws, pretty
much crushing their American dream.
That's Scott and Chris... we were only at the second bar, and Chris
wasn't feeling too good. He was giving me his e-mail, and he could
hardly finish writing it down. A few seconds later, he stood up to
walk toward the bathroom and... BLAAHHHH... SPLAAAT. You are
the weakest link, goodbye.
Hmm... I was used to seeing Herren and Damen for gentlemen and
ladies. Being slightly drunk and slightly non-German speaking...
these doors really really threw me off.
The decorations look like they were salvaged from a landfill. It's cool
anyway. All the places we went were cool, some were super trendy
(which we were way underdressed for), and some were laid back.
The girl on the left was from Louisville (and totally impressed I could
pronounce it correctly). Meaghan and her brother, on either side of me,
were Duke fans from North Carolina. God decided to be funny and
brought us all the way to Berlin to argue about NCAA men's basketball.
Oh my goodness, I was fraternizing with the enemy. I need to wash
my hands now.
Chug chug chug!
Actually... it was Meaghan who had to wash her hands... literally.
This was the last stop of the pub crawl, a club all the way on the edge
of town. We had to take the U-Bahn to get there (I think... I was
so wasted by this point, I don't remember the trip). Bouncers didn't
let in people who looked drunk. Luckily, I have great balance and
an innocent smile, so I got in fine. Once inside though, something
about the flashing lights and thumping dance music... I wasn't feeling
too good. Meaghan pulled me to the dance floor... the spinning and
bumping wasn't helping the situation. I was having a good time, but
I had to sit down and asked for a glass of water. Next thing I know,
there was a volcano in my stomach, and it was about to erupt.
I hurried to the bathroom, making it just in time. BLAHHH... SPLAT!
Orange juice, vodka, beer, and Jagermeister shots aren't
quite as
enjoyable the second time around. There I was standing over the
sink when Duke girl came in to ask me if I was okay. "Yeah, I'm
OkkaaahHH... splat. Yeah, I'm okay". All the while, other guys were
walking
in with the "what the hell's going on?" look on their faces,
and
she'd ask them, "Are youuu okay?", as they passed by. I wish I
could've laughed. It was so funny. After my stomach settled down
a bit, I returned to the table and finished my water, phasing in and
out of mental awareness. Apparently, I didn't get it all out of my
system the first time around because a moment later, my stomach
was rumbling again. I wasn't going to make it to the bathroom in
time. With the expertise of someone who'd nursed a drunk friend
before, Meaghan quickly held the empty glass up to my mouth...
BLAHHH... all over the glass... all over the her hand. All she did
was smile and ask if I was better. And THAT is why Meaghan had
to wash her hands. And THAT is why I can always say I threw up
on a DUKE fan!
At some point, I left the club. It was late at night, and the
U-Bahn lines were no longer running. Great... just great.
Some kid and I (I totally forgot who he was) found a night
bus that would take us toward the center of the city. Good
enough. When we got off, I recognized the area somewhat.
It was near my old hostel! DAMN!!! My old hostel was an
hour's walk from my new one! It was surreal stumbling
through the empty streets, occasionally stopping to vomit
along the way. I was so cold, sleepy, and weak. It was
simply a matter of putting one foot in front of the other,
until I finally got back to the hostel at 4 in the morning.
Next morning... I missed the free breakfast at the hostel. Time to sample
some German pastries!
Some delicious Chinese food I bought at the station. One thing I
failed to mention is that Berlin is a very cosmopolitan city. There
is a ton of diversity and the food choices are endless.
This was my view for the next five hours laying on a bench...
totally hung over...
watching the fountain turn on and off, on,
off, on, off... while the birds came and bathed. Watching people
going about their daily lives around me.
By 4 in the afternoon, I was motivated enough to get up and walk around a bit.
Beneath the Holocaust Memorial was a sobering exhibit of those
who died in the concentration camps.
German school kids on a field trip.
This stuff reminds me of China.
An unassuming brick path marks the former boundaries of the
Berlin Wall.
Topography of Terror exhibit, an open air museum of Germany's covert
operations and the Nuremburg trials which brought them down. The
headquarters of the SS and Gestapo used to stand here. Like many other
buildings from the time, it was destroyed during the war.
Geheime Staatspolizei... if you ever wondered where the term
"Gestapo" came from, it's German for secret state police.
Die Well.
Checkpoint Charlie at night. The sign that dominates the view is just a
public art display. On the opposite side is a guy dressed in a Russian
uniform. Each man looking upon the other country's sector, symbolizing
the tension during the Cold War.
Goodbye Berlin... thanks for the history lesson.
"PROST!"
Wombat's... one of the top rated hostels on hostelworld. The
Oktoberfest is the one thing I actually planned around on my trip.
I read early on in my research that rooms fill up months ahead.
When I booked my stay here all the way in June, the choice days
were already snatched up. I was lucky enough to get two nights
in a row
in the middle of the week. Other people who showed up
in Munich without a reservation... not so lucky. Anyway, I arrived
in the wee hours of the morning, long before the 3PM check in time.
The staff was nice though; they let me take a shower and enjoy the
breakfast buffet. After that, I passed out on one of the cushiony
beanbag chairs in the courtyard.
Delicious
Marienplatz, the heart of Munich. So Bavarian!
Since I had nothing better to do before check-in time, I joined another
free walking tour. They were advertising the ones in Amsterdam and
Berlin, and I was like... whoa, I was there... and there!
The Rathaus-Glockenspiel... the most famous Glockenspiel
in the world. Then again, how many other Glockenspiels does
it have to compete with? What the hell is a Glockenspiel anyway?
I'll tell you... Glockenspiel is German for "play of bells". It's like a
xylophone. The Rathaus-Glockenspiel plays a 12 minute melody set
to animated figurines telling the story of a marriage celebrated by a
joust on top, and a dance celebrating the end of the Plague on the
bottom.
Not as exciting as it sounds. It's quite anti-climactic actually,
when a small golden bird comes out at the very end going chirp,
chirp, chirp, and you wonder... why have I been standing here
straining my neck for that last 12 minutes?
All around the city were playfully decorated plastic lions.
The Munchner Lowenparade
was to raise money for needy
children... usually cities use the cow theme... West Hartford,
Connecticut had the cows a few years ago.
Devil's footstep. My feet didn't fit. I'm surprised.
A cool bronze model of the city.
Eight clocks... for those times when seven clocks just
won't do.
We were brought to
Viktualienmarkt, a huge open air
market full of fresh sausages, cheeses, and baked goods,
for lunch. That huge blue and white striped pole is a
Maypole, part of a centuries old Bavarian tradition.
It's
made from a single tree, and after prepared, decorated,
and erected, young men from other villages would try
to steal them from one another... like a huge game of
capture the flag. I don't think anyone's walking away
with this one though.
Sharing a pint with Matt from California.
Hofbrauhaus, the famous State owned beer hall in Munich.
Beer mug lockers for the regulars.
It's like the Oktoberfest year-round
Oom-pah oom-pah oom-pah oom-pah
This is where Hitler tried to sell his whole National
Socialist idea... yeah... Nazis. I'm sure you won't find
that in any tourism brochures.
Delicious.
umm... okay.
Back at the hostel, it was time for check-in. Oh my god, so many
Australians. We amused me were people asking, "Are there any
available rooms?". Of course not you dumb fucks! You're so stupid
you deserve to sleep in the streets.
I love not having to worry about parking.
OKTOBERFEST!... what can I say? Six million visitors. Two weeks of
drunken
revelry. MASSIVE consumption of beer. Then there are things I didn't expect,
the family fun atmosphere, the rides, incredible food, festive band music,
people's laughter, the smell... the oh so sweet smell of honey roasted nuts,
and the feeling of being happy and giddy for no reason. I can only hope that
I captured a fraction of that feeling in my pictures.
There were so many souvenirs to be bought... I had
to follow my rule though.
Enjoying ein maß of beer at the Augustiner beer tent. A maß (mass)
is a liter of beer. Not just any beer, a special Oktoberfest brew that
has 7% alcohol content as opposed to the usual 3-5%. So drinking
one of these is like drink 3 regular pints. Thing is, it's such high
quality beer, I didn't feel sick after drinking a couple (which was one
thing I was afraid of after the roller coaster in my stomach in Berlin).
Each
maß is €7, plus you gotta tip the waitress €1. Expensive, but
totally worth it.
Some German guy. The Augustiner tent was great because it's
preferred by the locals, and the beer is also ridiculously good.
Prost!... as the band plays that toasting song.
You can only imagine how many of those they went through a day.
A pork knuckle sandwich. Delicious.
After a quick meal, we headed to the Paulaner tent.
Toasting total strangers. I loved it! Observe how I demonstrate proper
toasting technique. You hold onto the glass, not the handle. A thick glass
mug
filled with a liter of beer is actually quite heavy and requires a lot
of control (especially when inebriated). And you tap the bottom of the
glasses
when you toast, not the tops,
so that should you accidently
chip
the glass, it doesn't fall into the precious beer.
Lots and lots of beer. Man, one of those glasses
would've been a great souvenir.
At a point in the night, everybody's drunk, singing and dancing on
the tables, and hugging everybody in sight.
Backpacker Rule #20: Drink and be merry!
Oom-pah oom-pah oom-pah... Traditional Bavarian songs, toasting
songs, interesting variations on pop songs, they played them all.
The best one I heard was an interpretation of "Achy Breaky Heart"...
some songs just shouldn't be oom-pahfied.
Me and some of Hitler's Aryan progeny.
Dude... that guy was soooo drunk... so drunk he was making the
other drunk people uncomfortable. We danced anyway.
My Oktoberfest gingerbread heart cookie. Alright...
I gave in and bought a souvenir. Then again, it's
technically a food purchase, so no harm done.
The guy on the right looks like he's had a few himself.
There were many
Lebkuchenherz
(gingerbread hearts) stands scattered
around the fairgrounds. I bought the smallest one, but some were huge.
The Lowenbrau tent. I'm calling these tents, but they're really buildings made to
seat
6,000-10,000 people. The craziest thing is that when Oktoberfest is over,
everything in the park is deconstructed. All of this is just temporary!
The giant beer mug model rotates!
A statue of Bavaria, symbolizing the Bavarian state.
Night-time view of the fair.
Next morning, I met Australian girl named Karleigh during
breakfast and headed to the fair grounds. I can't believe
that old man went on that ride. I looped around like crazy.
He was probably a fighter pilot... "That was it? that sucked"
The rides on the fair grounds were incredible. They were just like
rides in regular amusement parks, even full size roller coasters. I
thought the loops on this one were just decorations... until I saw
it in action. A temporary looping roller coaster??? HOLY COW!
That's Karleigh... she one of those Australians who go
on epic around the world trips. The ride was only €5.
SO good!
America! Fuck yeah!
Happy Tree Friends! I love Flippy.
Things are way more relaxed in the afternoon. This is when die hard drinkers
claim there seat and drink all the way into the evening. Many tables are reserved,
and you don't get served unless you're sitting down, so you either gotta be lucky,
aggressive, or patient to get a seat at night when the REAL crowd shows up.
Ausgang means exit ladies.
Get your pretzels while they're hot! At some point, I lost Karleigh
at the Hofbrauhaus tent (it's easy to lose people... trust me).
I just hope she wasn't kidnapped.
uh he he humf he haw haw
The waitresses make about a €1 tip per liter they serve... I've seen
some of them hold about 7-8 liters in one run. Multiply this by the
hundreds of times they take orders in one day, and you can imagine
all the money they make in two weeks.
Grilled "fish on a stick".
A beer carousel.
The German guy the night before told me that all men in Bavaria own
a pair of lederhosen for special occasions... imagine how awesome
it would be if people always dressed in their traditional clothing.
awww
I was mad... the first day when I visited with Matt, there were a ton of
picture perfect Bavarian families all dressed up. I was hoping for the
same that afternoon to get a picture with them. But there was always
someone missing, a father, a mother, a kid... just a sign of the times.
If lederhosen weren't heavy and impractical, and I wasn't traveling
for another three weeks lugging around an overstuffed backpack,
I would've totally bought a pair.
The
Neues Rathaus, at night.
When I got back to the hostel, I met Lisa in the room. She
was hungry, I was hungry, so we went on an epic journey
to find food. The mission: Find something that was quick,
cheap, and satisfying. Along the street of the hostel were
plenty
of cheap pizza and kebab places, but she, as well
as I,
had been traveling for a while and were pretty bored with
that stuff... there must be a cheap German food place around.
I thought about the food market I visited the other day.
It
was
a twenty minute walk, but should be worth it. But
when
we got there, everything was closed for the evening. Damn.
So we wandered some more... stomachs growling. We
passed
by some quick cheap fast food establishment, but
we'd
already
put this much effort into finding a dinner, might as well go all
the way and make it really special. We stopped by a hotel to
ask for suggestions. They directed us to a restaurant a down
the road. Over an hour after we set out for a "quick meal",
we were finally sitting down. oohhhh how it was worth it.
Meat heaven, a giant roasted pork leg, fresh cabbage salad,
a cold pint of Bavarian beer. Our stomachs were very happy.
Next morning, Lisa introduced me to Vegemite... a very salty malty
yeast spread that Australians love. They love it so much it's a national
food. Lisa brought along a jar for her travels and was down to the last
bit.
She showed me the typical way to serve it, on toast with butter. I
didn't dislike it, I didn't particularly love it either... it was just a very
strange flavor.
Oh yeah, I reunited with Karleigh too... nice to know
she wasn't kidnapped after all.
"UP UP and UP "
I had planned on staying 3 whole days in Munich, but when Muriel
couldn't make it to the Oktoberfest as planned, I decided to go visit
her instead. Two days of drunken fun was enough for me anyway.
As the train was approaching the city, I saw a giant
gray spire piercing the sky, and wondered to myself,
what the hell is that? It's so ridiculously tall that I
can't even fit it in the frame.
Woohoo... Muriel! She used to go to school nearby and
knew the city well. The
first
stop was the Ulm Münster,
that
ridiculously tall gray spire straight out of
a fantasy
illustration. It's a Lutheran Gothic Cathedral which began
construction in the 14th century and wasn't completed until
1890. Muriel said it might be the tallest something in the
world. 768 muscle burning steps later, I didn't doubt her.
Church bells.
A GIANT basket blocks a doorway... just like in an
old RPG. Oh... how do I pass this obstacle, let burn
it with the torch I found in the last level.
About to climb up the final spiral staircase to the very
top of the cathedral. We passed one lady on the way
up who asked her to walk up with her because she
was afraid of heights. At a certain point, she got so
terrified, she gave up and turned around. We were
really really high up.
I wonder if there's a law about the red roofs. It looks so old and quaint, but a city
like Ulm, like so many other European cities, was devastated by WWII. Most of what
you see here is probably newer than the diner down the street.
A view of the Danube river. Wow, I've seen the river in Austria, Hungary,
and now Germany.
:)
I'll have a super dicker karton please.
The interior of the breathtaking cathedral.
Some contemporary stain glass.
I had to walk half a mile away to get a full length shot
of the building. I did some research on the Ulm Münster
when I got home and learned that it IS the tallest church
in the world. Not only that, it was THE tallest building in
the world at the end of the 19th century when the spire
was completed, until modern skyscrapers were invented.
Ulm's favorite son, Albert Einstein.
Some guy playing the didjgeridoo.
The scenic
Fischerviertel, or Fisherman's quarter.
Since Muriel couldn't come to the Oktoberfest, I
brought a piece of the Oktoberfest to her.
Unfortunately, the gingerbread cookie tasted like burnt
cardboard, so we sat on the banks of the swift flowing
Danube river watching ducks fight over cookie pieces.
Good times.
No walking, no cars, no football, and NO HOUSES!
Train time. My original plan was to take a train from Munich to Paris,
which would've been very simple. But from Ulm, there was no direct
connection, so I boarded whatever train was heading west hoping it
would work out.
Now why would a train from Ulm to Strasbourg be packed? I don't
know, but I ended up sitting on the floor the entire four hour ride...
people stepping over me to get on and off.
Strasbourg... lucky for me, there was a very late train to Paris. I spent
a couple hours walking around.
That's different.
Strasbourg is officially in France, but the city has been
fought over by the French and Germans for decades.
The mixture of cultures reminded me of Brussels.
"The Devil Wears Prada" had its European release while I was in Europe,
and it was strongly marketed everywhere I went. It was fun learning the
word "devil" in so many languages. "Indigênes" is a movie about the
courage and mistreatment North African soldiers who fought
for France
during some war. I'm gonna download it right now to see if it's any good.
Maharajah Chicken sandwich... I was expecting Foie-Gras McNuggets
or something more French on the menu... Ehhh... French Fries.
Paris, here I come.