Germany… thank you for inventing the Gummi Bear

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So I have officially arrived in Western Europe - and the home of my grandmother. Unfortunately I don't know any German, i have a brutal accent, and I can't drink beer.

The train ride to Berlin was relatively easy, I met a nice Russian guy named Boris (I know… seriously could he have a better Russian name) living in Berlin who helped me sort out a transit ticket and helped me get to my stop (not an easy feat to accomplish with my enormous bag). Friday night is mental in Berlin, but I was so exhausted from the Polish vodka the night before, and the long train journey – but Boris walked around the trendy areas with me and showed me to a hipster club on the river.

Everyone things Berlin is so cheap – but the 7 euro vodka long drink didn’t seem so cheap to me. I think most people coming to Berlin come from the west – and it seems cheap. Let me explain what cheap is… Albania is cheap. Bolivia is cheap. Indonesia is cheap. Berlin…. Is not Sharman kind of cheap.

Free Berlin

I took advantage of the free walking tour the next day, where I met some Saskatchewan girls doing their first big European adventure. Highlights included seeing where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of the window, beautiful buildings, and loads of memorials for the Holocaust, Nazis book burnings, and the Berlin Wall.

I think you really have to see this city to get an idea of how the wall really separated Berlin; there is a brick line through parts of the city to represent where the wall was. The Soviets set it up so quickly – almost overnight people couldn’t see their family and friends anymore. Loads of people managed to escape in the first few days – but lots of people also lost their lives trying to leave East Berlin.

Thankfully Berlin is filled with lots of free activities. A huge Holocaust memorial that looks like stone blocks (that cost 27 million euro) has a free exhibit, the Berlin Wall documentation centre is free (with pieces of the wall still standing), and I went to the former workshop of a man who saved several Jews during the war through his broom/brush business for deaf, dumb, and blind people – the back room had a place where he hid a family.

I also to a free alternative walking tour – where I got to see some of the famous artist squats, the east side gallery (another part of the wall that is still standing that has been painted by people all over the world), and learn about famous street artists and the works of art (some people call graffiti) all over East Berlin.

I was originally staying near abandoned train depot that has been taken over by artists, is home to a huge indoor skate park, a climbing wall, and some clubs. I heard that back in the day there was an underground club here that you had to enter through the washroom of a kebab shop. 3 or 4 people would enter the washroom at a time – go through a trap door – rave it up – and come out 3 days later.

New German Friends

Thanks to Eng, I met her friend Marcel – a guy who grew up only a few blocks from the wall on the East Berlin side. In a city filled with so many foreigners, it was a treat to meet a real East-Berliner. He picked me up on Saturday night and took me hang out with some of his friends (friends with incredible Berlin apartments) We went to the party of a girl who plays harp in a Berlin orchestra. I love how much people here love to drink – the bathtub was on the main floor and absolutely filled with booze!

On Sunday – Berliners go to flea markets. Thankfully there was one in my area and I walked through – poking at the random crap that people were selling. Everything from dishes, to clothes, to old glasses, to war paraphernalia. I found a couple of local designers and scooped up 3 dresses… even though I have no room in my bag. (Tressa you will love them)

I met up with Marcel and some of his friends to take in an activity that would make my mom jealous – we went to look at open gardens in the city. I got to see some of the fancy houses in the suburbs of Berlin – another random non-touristy activity that was fun.

Later Marcel, his friend Emily and I went to Mauer Park – another flea market, but a big park that fills on Saturday with randoms playing music, chilling out, or… singing karaoke in a small amphitheatre. Random people chose to sing in front on a 1000 people… some were good, but most times I was cringing or laughing my head off.

I had moved from one hostel to another – and decided to couch surf with an American going to school in Berlin. Austin is staying in West Berlin in a swank apartment thanks to a divorced guy who wanted a roommate– the location is a very different side of Berlin than the east. I had one raging night out in Berlin rocking one of my new dresses – we went to a club in an old abandoned factory. DJs in random rooms – it was pretty cool. When we got out the sun was up – I pounded a bowl of ice cream and went into a coma. It was great.

One not so free thing I did was pay 12 euro to go to the Pergamon museum. Uh - totally worth it for the crazy antiquities - centerpiece is the massive Pergamon alter, but i was shocked to find the massive bright blue glazed-brick Ishtar Gate of Babylon from 6th century BC. Not sure what is left in the middle east, because everything cool seems to be in German and British museums.

My last day there Austin suggested we go on a bike ride to the west of the city. He loaned me his roommate’s bike. Ok – I appreciated the free bike. But his roommate is a 6’7” German giant, and the bike had half a brake. I spent the day worried I was going to castrate myself after not being able to stop.

My legs couldn’t reach the ground, and I had to peddle on my tip toes. My ass bones were killing me, which Austin couldn’t understand because ‘I had a gel seat.” I must have looked ridiculous, but we did have fun, I saw the Berlin Olympic stadium, went to a lookout of the city, and then took a ferry across a lake… oh and I had some ice cream.

Efficient and Economical – the German Way

So they have a website here in Germany that is devoted to carpooling. Mostly for economic reasons, gas and the trains are expensive, but it is a great system. I managed to get a ride with a girl going to Munich – I paid 27 Euro, bus would have been 42, and the train would have been like 150!

People in Canada would never go for it – I think we would be too paranoid about who is getting in the car. (Oh – thankfully Austin let me store most of my crap at his place in Berlin so that I could travel like a normal person with a normal size bag).

When I arrived in Munich I was super excited. I was going to stay with my friend David who I met in South Africa in 2006. Together we hiked Table Mountain, and I have stayed in touch by sending post cards from some of my journeys. I wasn’t too sad when I said goodbye to him in Cape Town because I knew I would see him again.

After throwing my stuff in my new room for the week – we set off on bicycles for a David-style tour of Munich. David is a teacher, and very good with history and general information. I saw the Munich Olympic stadium, the university, museums, the river…. and learned all about Bavaria.

He also showed me a place in the English Garden where a stream under a canal produces a big wave. People spend all day surfing the wave one at a time – it was so random. At this stop we saw one of my favorite things in Germany – a beer bike.

Drinking in public is legal in Germany – you’ll see people dropping back liters of beer at 10 am, people drinking on the trains/buses, and just about everywhere. The beer bike is a tourist style ride around the city – you peddle, and they serve beer. We stumbled on a stag party that was dressed in Bavarian clothes – seriously hilarious. I love it. It would never be legal in Canada…gotta love the German way.

Saturday it was hot so we rode to the north of the city where we chilled at a lake. Part of the lake was for naked people! Apparently this was more of an East German thing, but has stuck around and been adopted by many. We were maybe 20 meters from loads of people of all ages, children up to seniors, all walking around and enjoying the sun in the nude. Nothing sexual about it – just chilling out au natural. I wish we were freer in North America.

Sunday David joined me as I went to meet some extended family in the suburbs – we met up with Thorsten, his wife and his adorable two little girls. They were meeting some other families for a hike to a waterfall and then out for lunch. Seriously – all German children look like little blonde angels with blue eyes. I kept thinking that people back in Canada would pay a fortune for their hair to be so blonde.

During a break – all the snacks for the kids came out (fruit, veggies, and gummies!) So… Haribo is a German company that started in 1920, and by 1922, Hans Riegel Sr. had invented the dancing gummi bear.

The success of the Dancing Bear's successor would later become Haribo's world-famous Gold-Bears candy product in 1967. Seriously… I think they make them with crack because I am so addicted. They certainly don’t make gummi bears like this in Canada. I have to find a way to bring boat loads of them back.

The best of Bavaria

Monday I set off on the free walking tour in Munich where I accosted a guy wearing a Vancouver Canucks t-shirt. Turns out Mark is from Vancouver and doing his best to watch the games from Europe. Seeing as I hate canucks fans – I enjoyed spending the afternoon harassing him and his team, much to the enjoyment of Blaire from Australia.

On my tour I learned all about how Hitler made his uprising from Bavaria, and the guy was almost shot in an attempt to overthrow the government. His bodyguard jumped on Hitler and took something like 11 bullets – how different history would be if would have died that day.

Also got to learn all about Oktoberfest – not too exciting for me since I don’t drink beer. I am sure this place is mental when it goes off – it seems like such a nice little city – I can’t imagine the debauchery during the festival. After our tour the three of us went to the market where we all polished off a plate of pork knuckle and sauerkraut (or dumplings for those who eat gluten). Fun times.

While David was working, I visited Dachau – the first concentration camp that was opened
just 2 months after Hitler came into power in 1933. It was the model for all camps after that, and when the Americans liberated it, there were over 30,000 people living in a camp designed for 6000. I know my sister came here when she backpacked Europe in 1996, but the memorial site is enormous now with an excellent museum documenting the 12 years the camp was in operation.

My last night in Munich I went with David back to his hometown in the suburbs for a bbq of one of his old friends who now lives in Switzerland. He warned me that Lionel’s dad was pretty intense, blunt, and loud. Just my kind of guy.

When I arrived he heating the bbq briquettes with a blow torch- which was followed up with giving them some air with a blow dryer. He looks and me and says (in one kick-ass German accent) “this is what we call a blow job in Germany.” I was dying.

The rest of the night was more inappropriate jokes and laughs. He told me the next time I visit I must speak some German. By the end of the night we had the bbq going again and we hammered back some more sausages and pork cutlets. I think he appreciated my healthy appetite for meat, even if I couldn’t have beer.

So my first 2 weeks in Germany have been amazing. Most people rip around the country seeing lots – I have chilled out in two cities and really got to experience them. And thanks to hanging with locals – I got to do some non-touristy things. I really really want a pair of Bavarian leder hose (leather short pants), and I actually went in a store for the Bavarian bar maid dresses. I don’t think I have the rack to fill them out, and there is absolutely no room in my bag.

I am doing the car share up to Hamburg this afternoon. Chilling at David’s place while he is at school – he doesn’t know it but I shed a few tears when I had to say goodbye to him this morning. He is one of the best people I have met on my travels, chilling with him again felt like I had just seen him a month ago.

I am so happy I got to see him again in his hometown, and I can’t wait until we get to see each other again. Definitely a highlight of my trip so far in Europe. David - I’ve learned so much from you and I can’t wait to see you again soon!

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Photos

Prince Charming
King Ludwig II was called the fairy tale king - his famous castle near Munich was what inspired the Disney Magic Kingdom.

Comments

[Erika]

fellow Canadian in Germany
hey, great blog! it was both informative and an entertaining read. I'm from Ottawa and spending 3 months in Bonn for an internship. I'm in love with Haribo too.. and the factory is in Bonn! in fact, the name come from HAns RIegel BOnn !!