though it wasnt the most cheerful tourist thing to do, we decided we wanted to see a concentration camp whilst in germany, so our third day we took the bahn to sachsenhousen, the "model" concentration camp just outside of berlin. the weather was really miserable that day, rainy and freezing, and after splitting up and walking around the camp for a few hours, we were ready to go. i didn't take any pictures, sorry about that..didn't feel quite right at the time.
anyways, we were happy to get back on the warm train, and headed back into berlin to check out the famous bit of the wall that's covered in artists' graffiti. but first...WURST! we needed some food, and i was sick of sausage by this point, so i got a greek sandwich and helen opted for german fare yet again! after lunching, we spotted a dunkin donuts next door--they're everywhere in germany! i wanted to see how their donuts measured up, so we each got one. i must say, it was pretty dry, and not amazing.
a few hours later, when my stomach began to churn in pain, i (somewhat involuntarily) cried out, "dunkin, you've betrayed me!" much to helen's amusement.
we made it to the wall, and walked along the remaining length of it...the artwork was very cool
frolickingthat afternoon, we decided to have a look at the berlin holocaust memorial museum, which was very well put together. i dont feel much like describing it on here, but suffice it to say we spent the afternoon here, then came back to the hostel to rest.
by this point, my insides were twisted into such junk-food-induced knots that i decided it would be wise to skip dinner, and take it easy for the night. helen and i chatted with some of our hostelmates--they included:
a 40-year-old chinese/british man who snored like nothing i've ever heard. "chainsaw" is a gross understatement. he had a full-blown construction crew lodged in his sinuses
sarah was a sweet kiwi gal in her mid-20s, traveling the world by herself for 6 months
macgregor from new york was "freelance," making helen snarkily whisper to me, "I BET HE'S JUST UNEMPLOYED!" hahaha. macgregor decided to regale us with tales of tiny passageways in pyramids that had tiny doors at the ends of them. i couldn't even look at helen while he was talking, because i knew we'd both start laughing uncontrollably
the next morning, we went downstairs to check out, and saw macgregor and sarah woozy after an all-night chat in the lounge. we hugged them goodbye, then hopped on over to the train station. i wanted a fruit parfait from mcdonald's (haha, i know), and while grabbing a spoon, i noticed the small packs of nutella that were up for grabs...so i grabbed. then, while i started eating it right out of the tiny jar, i noticed all the germans looking at me in disgust, and i shame-facedly put it away.
after boarding the train, for the first hour or so of the ride, helen and i could only be classified as vagrants. we hadn't noticed that our tickets had assigned seats, and didn't realize that the seats we'd found were reserved for someone else.
so, imagine my surprise when--literally--one of the most obese men i've ever seen came wheezing up the aisle towards us. he had to squeeze himself through the aisle, huffing and puffing, till he was standing over us. he said something in german which helen couldn't make out, and with scared looks on our faces, we timidly asked, "english?"
he was really angry by this point, and with spit flying out of his enormous purple face, began to scream over and over, "MEIN PLATZ! MEIN PLATZ! MEIN PLATZ!" which we immediately understood! like the scolded kids we were, we skulked around and found some other empty seats. a few stops later, more germans kicked us out of them (though kindly).
not knowing what to do, we found an empty private carriage with sliding doors. i felt certain we'd get kicked out of there, too, but helen goaded me into trying it. luckily, third time's the charm! we stayed in for the next 6 hours or so, finally arriving in munich in the afternoon.
digging into my stolen nutellaat last in BAVARIA, helen and i high-tailed it to our hostel. right away, we noticed the packs of sketchy men that were very reminiscent of italian and french homies we'd encountered on earlier journeys...perhaps because of all the BIER?
we walked around and took in the sights until it was time for HOFBRAUHAUS--the BEER HALL! it's actually very famous...hitler gave a speech there back in the day! the inside was lined with wooden tables and benches, and filled with wonderfully wasted germans.
helen and i, after taking a look around, plopped down at a table next to some middle aged and older germans, who were delighted that we ordered the GIGANTIC tankards of beer. finally, one of the elderly men came over to us, holding a sketch pad that he showed us...he had DRAWN US. at first we thought he was going to ask us to pay for it, and we were going to refuse, but turns out he was just having fun. he happily informed us that his entire table was "tipsy," and throughout our dinner he kept taking photos of us and waving. his table seemed to think it was pretty funny, as well, and they kept turning around to make sure we were eating all our food (meatloaf, kraut, and pretzels).
when they eventually left, another man from the group came up to us, totally red-faced and sloshed, and declared, "you'd make good nude models!" hahaha
we were soon joined by some other germans, closer to our age. we chatted a little bit with one of them, and he was really friendly and nice. he was impressed that our first stop in munich was HOFBRAUHAUS.
after dinner, i won't lie--we were feeling the BIER! we gigglingly decided that gelato would be nice, so we stopped at a stand and ordered. the guy knew we were tipsy, because he laughed in my face as i pointed at the "cookies" flavor and asked, "..uh...EIN COOKIES?"
EIN COOKIES IN MUNICH!the next day, we embarked on yet another free walking tour, since we'd had such a good experience in berlin. well...our tour guide was a bit eccentric, and although it was informative, it wasn't as well done as the berlin tour. also, he kept randomly cursing, and lectured us for 20 minutes about a pamphlet he'd found with misinformation in it. yikes.
marianplatz--main munich square, where these older folks were protesting in front of city hall
glockenspiel (spelling?) clock, voted the #2 most overrated tourist attraction in europe
inside of a church where pope benedict gave a mass! his hometown is close to munich
market where i bought a peach for freaking 1.70 euro. and it was hard!after the tour, we wanted to go to englischer gartens--it was beautiful outside, and perfect for BIER! so we picked some up at a convenience store, and drank them on our walk over (no laws forbidding open containers in germany...sweet!).
englischer gartens are famous for nudity--on warm days, germans strip down and sunbake. we saw a few nudies! the gartens were gorgeous, and we meandered around them until we could find...the BIER GARTEN inside!
we got to the BIER GARTEN--and i got bratwurst, SAUERKRAUT, and MUTARD. it was so good!after lunch, it was time for some relaxing. helen plopped down in the sun, next to all the naked germans (jokes, there were only a few), and i found a bench in the shade. i took a nice little nap, and an hour later we found ourselves walking back towards marianplatz, to look in the shops and make our way towards the AUGUSTINER BIER HALL!
augustiner beer hall (acutally i took this photo the next morning...cheater!)unfortunately, once we stepped into our room, a cloud of stink met us with a vengeance. we couldn't figure out who was to blame, but accepted it as a consequence of staying in a 15 euro/night, 12 person room hostel.
we awoke early the next morning, and said goodbye as helen headed for the train station (to austria!) and i scouted for the bookstore in marianplatz. i bought "me talk pretty one day," and pulled a jk rowling similar to the one i did in rome, reading and writing in my journal while nursing a coffee for three hours. at least, it was time to go to the airport, so i took the s-bahned it and planed it and arrived in london at 5:30 that night.
it was funny, as i got off the plane in london, and took the various trains home (gatwick express to london victoria, victoria to mile end) and walked down mile end road, i kept excitedly thinking, "i'm home, i'm home, i'm home!" i had really missed london, and the london cronies, while i was gone, and i can only imagine what it'll be like once i'm back in the states.
speaking of which, i need to go get giftoids for the american homefries this afternoon, which i'm not looking forward to. oh dear!
but i hope that you enjoyed my euroblobs. from now on, its england till the day i leave (which...is in 4 and a half days!). in my next postings: london museum trips, brighton, and oxford! hooray!
glad to be done with writing about europe, practically a month later,
lilly
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