15 days, 9 cities, 2 countries, 1 big adventure!

15/09/07 GERMANY- Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin

Me and two friends (Kirsty & Alison) decided to take two weeks off work and backpack around Germany. We got the usual cheap flights which leave at stupid o'clock in the morning and fly into the smaller airports around Europe. So we got the last train out to Stansted on Friday night and set up camp at the airport until Saturday morning. We flew into Bremen rather early, left our packs at the train station and spent the day exploring the city (which didn't take too long). Later that afternoon, we got the train to Hamburg, found ourselves a hostel and went out for the night. We asked the hostel for suggestions on where to go and as it turns out they pointed us to St Pauli- the red light district of Hamburg! So that was a rather interesting night.

We dedicated the next day to sightseeing around Hamburg on the usual open top tour bus but the translation was so bad we didn't really know what we were looking at! It was a really nice day though so we just made our own way around exploring city hall and walking around the lake before getting our next train to Berlin.

We arrived at our hostel in Berlin at about 8pm, but because we hadn't confirmed our booking, they didn't have room for us anymore. So we found another one which was more expensive but was worth it for the security of having our own room. So we dropped off our stuff then went out for dinner at an Irish pub down the road- It seems that no matter where you are, there's always an Irish pub! Then we decided we wanted to hang out with proper Germans so we found a really nice German pub where we parked ourselves up at the bar and made friends with the bar staff. They had us trying all kinds of different German beers in preparation for Oktoberfest and even threw in a few free ones. When they closed at 2am, we all packed up and moved to the pub next door.

As we only had one full day to explore Berlin we decided to do a free six hour walking tour to make sure we saw everything and didn't waste time getting lost. We had a really entertaining tour guide who gave us all the history along the way. We walked through West Berlin leading up to check point Charlie, then the Berlin wall, and then to a patch of grass in the middle of a car park. He got us all to sit down while he told us a few more stories then finished by telling us we were sitting on Hitlers grave! His bunker was 15m below us (only the floor is left now) and where his body was found was marked out between three trees- we were sitting right in the middle of them! After that he tried to cheer us up with chocolate, then it was on to the Jewish memorial, Brandenburg Gate, and even the hotel where Jacko famously hung his baby off the balcony! To fninsh off we went into The Reichstag building (the traditional Parliament House) and climbed up the spiral dome which had amazing views over the city. After dinner, we went back to the hostel, put on our glad rags and went out for another night on the town.

18/09/07
CZECH REPUBLIC- Prague

We got the train from Berlin to Prague which took most of the day. We arrived in the early evening and as soon as we got off the train we were approached by a man offering accommodation. It all seemed a bit suss but it was really cheap for our own room so we decided to go check it out. We followed him to the underground and got the tube to the accommodation. It was at that point that I had never felt so far from home. It all felt so foreign and strange but when we got to the city (and I saw a Tesco!) it started to feel a little less crazy. We ended up at a rather dodgy building that smelt really bad but it saved us wandering around looking for a hostel. So we put down our packs and went out for some dinner. We were feeling quite tired by that point so we decided to have a quick power nap before getting ready to go out again. Up until then we had been averaging about 4hours sleep a night so it wasn't suprising that we were out cold until 9am the next morning.

The next day was spent exploring Prague. It's divided into new and old Prague so we wandered around it all and climbed up the hill to the castle. Then we decided to climb all 287 stairs of the clock tower which was hard work but well worth it for the views. The city is beautiful- it has an olden day romantic feel to it. It's just quite a shame I think, that it's been so taken over by tourists, particullary Americans. It's meant to be 'the new Amsterdam' and is becoming a very trendy place to visit so it's not suprosing really that there were so many people there. Everything is really cheap though which was a good thing as soon as we got our head around the strange currency.
Seeing as we lost a whole night the night before, we had a few drinks and got ready then hit the town for another interesting night which was fun but not as good a nightlife as Berlin.
The next day was spent with more sightseeing and filling in time before we got the overnight bus back to Germany which was full of Aussies and Kiwi's heading for Oktoberfest.

21/09/07 MUNICH- Oktoberfest!

We arrived back in Germany at 6am to the freezing cold. I was wearing several layers including two jackets and a beanie and I was still chilled to the bone. And I thought London was cold! But by the time we got to the campsite, the sun had come out and we were wandering around in t shirts. We spent the day walking around Munich, exploring the markets and trying on the traditional outfits. It's another nice city, really clean and so full of visitors for Oktoberfest. After dinner, we headed back to camp for the first of the campsite parties. There were about six different tour groups at the campsite and over 3000 campers all staying in the one main Oktoberfest campsite. All you could see for miles was rows and rows of tents- the place was a mess by then end of the first day...i hate to thin kwhat it's going to look like by the time closing weekend rolls around.

After brekkie we got a coach into the festival. There are over six million people vising Oktoberfest over the two weeks so you can imagine how crowded it is. We were there for opening weekend so you need to get there by 9am to have any chance of getting into a beer hall. We didn't make it there until about 10am so we stayed outside and watched the opening ceremony then managed to get into a few beer gardens later on. The festival ground is just like a big drunken adventre park full of rides. So we went on some of the roller coasters and then managed to get into a beer hall later that night.

The way it works in the halls is that you have to be seated in order to get served. Some of the tents hold around 3000 people so it's not an easy feat. You pay your waitress to get your steins then she goes away and buys them. The more you tip her, the more often she comes back and and the more she can carry, the more money she makes. So these ladies are walking around with about eight steins in each hand (each one weighs 2.2kg's) so you don't want to get in her way!
Apparently the standard is to drink 10 steins, which is 10 litres of beer or 20 pints. Personally, I was quite proud when I made it to three!

The next day we took a trip with the tour group to Dachau where Hitler had one of his concentration camps. It felt really eerie walking through all the cells and the crematorium but it was really interesting too. After that we went to a Monestry, had a look around there then had a pork knuckle for lunch! What trip to Germany is complete without one! Later that avo, it was back to the beer halls until close.

For our last day at Oktoberfest we made sure we were there nice and early so we were in one of the beer halls by 9.30am and stayed there most of the day. Once you're in a hall, you don't want to leave coz you don't have much chance at getting into another. There are six main tents for each of the breweries in Munich but we really only stuck to two that we liked the most. The Lowenbrau tent and the Hofbrau tent (which is taken over by raucous Aussies and Kiwi's).

25/09/07
GERMANY- Black Forest, Freiberg, Triberg, Heidelberg, Frankfurt

After four days in Munich we decided it was time to give our livers a rest and go on a bit of a road trip. We left the campsite in the morning and picked up a rental car in Munich to spend the last few days in the Black Forest. After driving for the whole day we decided to stop in Freiberg and check into a hostel. We grabbed some dinner then crashed out until midday the next day. When we finally got up, we wandered around the city, then back to the hostel to sleep.

Early the next morning, we got back in the car and carried on driving through the Black Forest going slightly off track when it was my turn to play navigator... I told them I can't read a map! So we actually ended up in Triberg (home of the worlds largest cuckoo clock...who wouldn't want to see that?!) and then on to Heidelberg where we found some accommodation above a pub.

Heidelberg was my second favourite city after Berlin. The landscape is dominated by dominated by the ruins of the Heidelberg Castle which sits up on the hill above the Neckar river. We walked up the steep track to the castle which was partially bombed during the war. Spent a good hour wandering around the ruins and the gardens as it was so peacful up there and had amazing views pack over the river and for miles over the city (despite the fog).
Later that afternoon we got back in the car and hit the autobahn which we'd all been looking forward to. We had a 2 litre Holden and only managed to hit 177kms/hr and were being passed by cars going over 200kms! The excitement of that soon wore off tho and we got off in Frankfurt for a look around the city. We were flying out of Hahn which is about 1.5hrs out of Frankfurt so we decided to stay closer to the airport. We decided to be organised for once and had booked some accommodation ahead before we left Heidleberg. We booked a 'hotel' which turned out to be a converted barn in a hick town where nobody spoke English and looked at us like we were aliens. It was only for the night tho so we made do then flew out the next morning after dropping off a slightly dented rental car.

All in all, it was an action packed and really exciting trip. Germany wasn't a country I ever imagined backpacking around, but I'm glad I did becuase it was great. Using trains to get in between cities was a great idea too as we got to see so much of the countryside as well as the big cities. Being able to drive all through the Black Forest was probably one of the highlights- along with Oktoberfest- that's an experience I will never forget!


PROST!!

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