Episode Thirteen - 'Goodbye mainland Europe'

I know it's only been two days since the previous installment but we are feeling generous. Buckle your seatbelts people, it's time for episode thirteen!

So we did decide to go to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial site after all, finally getting our arses into gear after another sleep-in and breakfast mere minutes before the kitchen closed. Once again we headed down to Landsberger Allee and did the usual two-train-trick. Despite Berlin's well designed train networks it seems that no matter where you need to go, you will be needing to change trains to get there.
After around 45 minutes on the trains we alighted at Oranienburg and walked the two kilometres to the memorial site. Unlike our adventure to Dachau the previous week the weather for yesterday's trip to Sachsenhausen was surprisingly pleasant which seemed to clash with the obviously sombre feel of the place.

We spent the best part of three hours exploring the snow covered yards, the two remaining barracks and the various other buildings within the camp. The camp itself seemed substantially bigger than Dachau but I'm not sure if that was just due to more open space between the buildings or if it actually was bigger. When you are wandering around a place like that, it's so hard to keep in mind that you are walking on ground that saw the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people. Even at Dachau when we had a tour guide giving us explicit details of what went on at the camp, there is still a sense in which you find yourself distanced from the enormity of it all. I guess it's just hard to imagine such events actually happening.

Eventually we wandered back to the train station and, tired from all the walking around, boarded the train and slumped down into our seats. Not two minutes had gone by before we were raised from our collective stupor by a gentleman screaming at the top of his lungs. Sharon and I exchanged a couple of concerned and confused glances before the gentleman screamed again. It was all a little bit disconcerting but from what we could tell he didn't seem to be in any pain. He changed trains at the same stop as us and as he walked past us on the platform we could hear him spasmodically erupt into bouts of swearing and yelling. We weren't sure what to make of it all, but we guessed he must have been suffering from Tourettes.
The rest of the night was comparatively uneventful, punctuated by dinner at the packed Italian restaurant around the corner - one couple besides us - and some time spent watching the 'Dark Knight' which was being shown downstairs at the hostel.

This morning the alarm went off before 6am which wasn't the greatest way to wake up. We packed our stuff and headed down to Landsberger Allee. Being a youth hostel I'm guessing there is very little demand for breakfast service at 6:30am and consequently we jumped on the train with the intention of getting something to eat at the airport - it was time to leave mainland Europe.
After, you guessed it, two trains, we arrived at Schoenefeld Airport just as our flight ticked over to 'check in' on the departures board, and so began a drama-filled morning.
We headed straight to the security check where, for the second time this trip, we were pulled aside and told off for attempting to carry bottled water in our carry-on luggage. The truth is that we had meant to get rid of it, having learnt from our flight to Rome, but to our surprise the security check was the first thing we had to go through as we walked into the departure hall and so we were caught unawares. After that telling-off Sharon went to walk through the scanning gate only to be asked to remove her belt in addition to the jacket, money belt and other various bits and pieces she had already placed in the plastic tray. To her credit she just laughed, walked through and then set about getting redressed.
Once through the security check we headed over to the check-in desk. We stopped short, deciding to zip up the bottom of our bags so that all of the straps would be out of the way - not doing so had forced us to check-in our bags at a 'special' desk when leaving Athens for Rome. As we finished closing the zips we felt someone standing behind us - it was a big burly gentleman with some sort of security tag hanging from around his neck. He explained in broken English that opening and closing one's bags between the security check and the check-in desk was prohibited. We explained, with exasperated English and hand gestures, that we were just getting our straps out of the way. Luckily he waved us on and we wondered how much more the day was going to throw at us.

Being the stingy backpackers that we are we decided to fly Ryanair from Berlin to Edinburgh, being the cheapest way of getting across. The only thing with Ryanair is that, while their fares might be low, they hit you from all angles with extra fees and charges. Get this - our flights, including taxes added up to 118.20€ but then Ryanair charge you 10€ per bag that you check in at the airport, and then another 10€ per person 'check-in fee'. So already that's another 40€ extra. If you want 'priority boarding', that is, to be first in line for the free-for-all that is Ryanair's unallocated seating system, then that's another 4€ per person. We didn't take that option but it was the next fee that we were most worried about - for every kilogram over the maximum luggage weight of 15kg per passenger, you get hit with a fee of 15€. As I hefted my bulky bag onto the conveyor belt/scales I saw the display read '15.2kg'. I started thinking of the things that I would have to throw away in order not to have to pay the ridiculous fee, when suddenly the display changed to '15.1kg'. After a few more seconds it dropped to '15.0kg' and I breathed a sigh of relief.
A couple and their child, who were standing a few metres from the desk, hadn't been so lucky. As soon as our bags disappeared down the conveyor belt into the bowels of the airport they approached and asked us if they could borrow some money to pay for their excess baggage charge. Not thinking to ask when we would get the money back I handed them the last remaining note in our wallet and they followed us to the gate, with a money exchange stall standing nearby. It truly was a perfect example of miscommunication - we stood there waiting for them to head to the money exchange and get some money out for us and they just stood there, waiting. They even went and bought a bottle of water while we stood there, wondering what was preventing them from paying us back. After about 20 minutes of waiting Sharon approached the lady to ask if we could get our money back. You see, that last note was supposed to pay for our breakfast which, by now, was long overdue. The lady explained to Sharon that she had informed us that they would pay us back in Edinburgh, an explanation that we must have missed during the initial request for funds. Stomachs growling and more than a little frustrated we searched through our wallets for any coins that might help pay for at least a bit of breakfast. The 4€ that we found was just enough for three blueberry muffins from Burger King - quality. Surprisingly, it actually worked out really well because the 20€ note that we gave them would have left us with a bunch of change that we couldn't use in the UK but, using the give-money-to-strangers-and-get-it-back-two-hours-and-1000-kilometres-later-in-a-different-currency technique, we managed to get 20£ which we could use in the UK.

After the gentleman at passport control took about three hours to check my passport - maybe it was the black beanie I was wearing - we boarded the flight and found a couple of unoccupied seats. Despite all of the hinderances and humourous events at the airport the flight was actually very pleasant. As we flew up and over Germany it seemed as if the entire landscape was just pure white. Scotland, on the other hand, seemed to be almost entirely green from the air. As we touched down at Edinburgh airport a cheesy fanfare erupted from the plane's PA system - 'Welcome to Edinburgh! You have just arrived on yet another on-time flight by Ryanair - Europe's most on-time airline!'. It was quite funny and so unexpected and everyone in the cabin had a good laugh.
The first thing that hit us about Edinburgh was the smell. We had been warned by our tour guide in Berlin that the German capital had a propensity to smell rather like the swampland on which it had been originally constructed, but we didn't experience it. Edinburgh's initial odour, however, wasn't overly pleasant.
As we passed through immigration at Edinburgh airport we noticed a group of immigration police leaning against a wall just beyond the immigration desks. They seemed quite content to stand around and chat but the moment that an Indian gentleman - judging by his accent - had been through the passport check, the immigration police sprung into action. They stopped him and threw a bunch of questions at him - 'what are you doing here?', 'where did you come from?', 'who are you staying with?'. In the 10 minutes we stood in line he was the only man with dark skin to pass through the immigration, and the only one that was stopped by the immigration police, even after he had been allowed through by the officer sitting at the desk.

After getting our luggage, a couple of maps and our bearings we jumped on the airport shuttle bus and got off at the West End, some 20 metres from our hostel. We dumped our bags in our as-yet-uncleaned room and proceeded to get some breakfast/lunch. I can proudly say that the first thing I ate in Scotland was a haggis pie. How awesomely cool and cliched is that? It was surprisingly tasty and it seemed to be quite similar to meat pies back home, which isn't all that surprising given the offcuts and offal that no doubt end up in the ol' Aussie meat pie.

We spent the rest of a lovely warm day (eight degrees is positively scorching!) wandering through the West Princes St Park which is just across the road from our hostel and which sits under the watchful gaze of the Edinburgh Castle. After seeing a couple of little squirrels running around the park we headed up to Princes St and wandered in and out of shops and generally enjoyed the atmosphere of the city. So far we have been most impressed with Edinburgh. The people seem lovely, there are amazing buildings and parks everywhere you look and it just generally has a great feel to it.

Tomorrow we will be heading on another 'free' tour, run by the same people that run the Berlin tour. It will be a good opportunity to see a good chunk of the city and hear some great stories about the history and character of the place. It obviously has plenty of both.
Unfortunately we will probably only get a couple of days in the Scottish capital as we are catching up with some more tenuously-linked relatives on the 15th, this time from Sharon's family.

Well, that'll just about do. Until we meet again, thanks for reading and try to stay out of the Aussie sun! I think I'd rather eight degrees than 38!

Matt & Sharon

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