I am a jelly donut!

---

First of all, you might notice that it says above that I am in Bagram. I can assure you, I'm not in Bagram. I am in Munich, in fact. Long story short, for various reasons this website is difficult and rather infurriating to use, thus I have opted to just hit endless links until I am free to write what I want. So don't expect accuracy in my locations from now on. My computer time is far to limited to spend time fighting with bloody travelblog.org.

Berlin is now long behind me. Sad. My six days there were the highlight of my trip, for sure. The hostel was great, met lots of great people, and saw A LOT. Although not everthing I wanted to. Strangely, I was more into the cold war history than I was the world wars. Still, that didn't stop me from taking two British girls on my own personal walking tour. I think my only failing was with churches, as I don't know much about the religious history of Berlin. Everything else though, I was impressive in my detail, if I do say so myself (and I do say so).

Took in the Stasi Prison on my third day. It is guided by actual former prisoners. My guide was an adorable German woman in her fifties. She was persecuted endlessly for three years by the Stasi and then finally thrown in the prison for 6 months in 1978 when she tried to escape East Germany through Czechoslovakia. A harrowing but brave story.

And then there was Tony. Ah Tony. Let me tell you about Tony. An eccentric, buoyant American was he. I first met him at breakfast with my two British girls (Abbey and Zoe, that is). I asked him where he's from, my consistent first quarry with everyone (the beauty of traveling is that there is a built in ice-breaker). He replied, loud and boisterously, "It's complicated. I was born in Ohio."

"So you're from Ohio?"

"But I moved to Colorado when I was three," he said.

"Ah, so you're from Colorado?"

"No, I now live in Florida for school."

Pause.

"So you're from the U.S.?" I asked.

"Yes."

Later I was sitting at the computer in the lobby and I suddenly hear a voice behind me, aggressive and shrill, talking to the front desk staff. "Tell me where I can get the best strawberry daiquiri in town!" The two people behind the desk looked at each other. They looked back at Tony. They looked at each other again. Then back at Tony. Finally one piped up, "A bar."

Tony was not satisfied. "No no, but I want the BEST strawberry daiquiri."

They look at each other again, and then the other one says. "Sorry dude, I think you just need to go to a bar."

I was itching to introduce Tony to Dylan, a cool Torontonian I had been hanging with. I knew he would get a kick out of Tony, THE Tony. Later when we were down in the bar I called for Tony to come over. He came over, introduced himself and, well, was just Tony. Unfortunately Tony could not hang with us for too long, as he was headed out to find the best strawberry daiquiri in town. After he'd gone, Dylan had what I'd have to call the line of my trip - "Wow, I could play with that all night." Trust me, in its proper context, it was the funniest thing I've ever heard.

But Tony is gone from me now, and so is Berlin. Next was Dresden. The beauty of places like Dresden is that they are typically only travelled by the in-depth backpackers, so you meet more down to earth, cultured people, and less of the cliche party goers. My hostel even gave out free German lessons. A bunch of us had a blast sitting around a table, drinking beer, and trying to make our tongues do obscure, twisty German syntax.

The old town of Dresden was unexpectedly epic and beautiful, probably one of my favourites so far. I say unexpected because the entire town was levelled in 1945. But the buildings that made it through have been left in their original carnation, with black charcoal outlining much of their extreior, higlighting fires, and mystique. The famous Frauenkirche Church was detroyed in the fire bombing, and its remains were left as a memorial during the communist days. In 2006 they finally rebuilt it in its orginal form. The new building stands shiny and new, a beauty on the outside. The inside, however, I found to be hideous. Modern and...pink. Pink!

Nuremberg was another winner. In fact each German city I've been to has been incredible, yet all for completely different reasons. Each has its own unique magnetism. For Nuremberg, it was a lovely mix of British style medievalism and World War II hot spots. Basically all the things Abra's drool over. I visited the courts where the Nuremberg trials were held, the unfinished congress hall where many Nazi rallies were meant to be held (it's now a rather detailed museum), and then walked through the actual rally spot, designed by ole Albert Speer himself. It's now pretty much just an overgrown soccer field.

Still, there was an essence of creepiness when you see these places, envisioning the lined rows of soliders, Hitler youth, gestapo. Such structure, such organization. Sure, you always hear about how organized the German way of life is, but it's a different feeling when you spend three weeks actually witnessing and experiencing it. It really drives home how these peoples, among all others, was able to be taken in by a man like Hitler. Say what you will about that eternal prick, but he ran an organized ship, and he brought order when the unstable Germany desperately craved it. I've always found this somewhat ironic, because Germans are also a very practical people. Fascism, especially Nazi fascism, kind of has its own built in contradiction, whereby they seek and demand structure, yet consciously reject rationality. It is, by definition, an emotive ideology, one that rallies people through shouts and blusters, creating an atmosphere of jubilation whereby the words don't matter, just the zealousness. It is so strange to think of people stacked into these rally points, in perfect formation, the most practical of structures, and yet being taken in by completely irrational jibberish. And given the right conditions, it could easily happen again, and certainly not just in Germany.

Went down to Venice for a couple of days to hang with my sister and Scott. Was a lovely vacation from my vacation. Especially since they payed for most of everything. I felt a bit bad about that (actually, no, I didn't). I'm glad that I got back there. I forgot how magical that place is. To think that I was originally just gonna bypass it.

Anyway, I'm in Munich now. I"ve been here for four days yet feel as if I've barely seen the city. Probably because I've been laaaazy. Getting slightly burned out, and it turns out Munich is the place I chose to recharge. It's a lovely place, but I feel that I've seen enough of Germany to justify taking it less seriously. Besides, Beer Halls more than ensure that you get a worthwhile experience. Munich specializes in big beers. BIG beers. Let me say that again. BIG beers.

---