The last two days have been stark contrasts. From downtown Gotham to the epitome of a German village. It is like being transported back in time, or expanding the German area of Disneyland. Our time in the Rhine Valley has been very enjoyable. The only problem has been with transportation.
Our morning started out well. We caught the 7:30 am train to Koblenz so we could start early in Cochem and our tour of Reinfelds Castle. At Koblenz we changed over from standard trains to what they call milk-run trains that stop at all the little towns. This is also where our time tables started slipping. Because the train to Koblez ran late, we missed the connection to Cochem and had to wait for the next one.
Once in Cochem, we had a great walk through town to Reinfelds Castle. The town was picturesque and we had a great time meandering.
One of our stops was to get some apple strudel. A far cry from the turnover style strudels I have had before and even better than the strudel I had in Deusseldorf about 10 years ago.
The castle was impressive. We took the tour so we could see inside, but didn't know the inside had been styled after the 19th century aristocrats who restored it. Apparently, though built around the year 1000, it had been empty for a few hundred years after the French destroyed it in the 1600s. But it was fascinating all the same.
Leaving Cochem for St. Goar (pronounced Sankt Guar), took some effort to avoid missing the next train, but proved futile because we missed the connecting train in Koblenz. After waiting a little more, we caught the train to St. Goar and bought passage on the Rhine cruise. Here again, the connecting times compounded and while we just missed a boat, the next one didn't leave for an hour and a half.
St. Goar was a great town. They had bakeries with things like rhubarb strudel and a cream strudel. But it was the coucou clock shop that held our interest. We couldn't afford any, but it was great to look at them all.
Alicia and I found a great German restaurant on the bank of the Rhine that served spätzle. Probably my biggest embarrassment came when I tried to say what I wanted to eat. I have been pronouncing spätzle as spatezel. I only received blank looks when I asked for it that way. Then I was informed that it is pronounced spetzla with the "e" like the e in Ted. Wow. I thought I had that one.
But it was delicious. I had the spätzle with goulash while Alicia had it with schweinschnitzel (pork schnitzel). By the way, Weinerschnitzel means Viennese schnitzel and in our experience here that means it is made of veal.
The cruise of the Rhine started just across the street from the restaurant. I liked the views it afforded us of the banks and some of the castles along the way. There were hundreds of little kingdoms set-up before Germany became a country. Each of these robber barons would build a castle, many along the Rhine and charge a tariff to go up or down their section. With the Rhine being a main transportation path for goods and 10 tariff kingdoms along the short ride we took from St. Goar to Bacharach, it was easy to see why merchants were in favor of nation states.
At Bacharach, our last delay happened. We had just missed the train to Mainz and our connection to Frankfurt and then on to Berlin. As we sat waiting for the next train, the ramifications started to hit me. We could be in trouble getting back tonight. We were far enough off plan that by the time we would get to Frankfurt it would be about 9:00 pm. With Berlin 4-5 hours from there and most trains stopping about 1:00 am, we would be catching the last train.
But as we got off the train in Frankfurt and read the departures, we saw that the day of delays had finally caught up to us. The last train for Berlin left about 10 minutes before we arrived. A check of the night trains that would get us there early morning showed that all the seats, bunks, and berths were sold out. We were stuck until 5:00 am.
It is some kind of lame justice that the only place outside of Berlin that we will have stayed for two nights is Frankfurt, the place I said we never wanted to go to again. Why couldn't we have been stranded in Munich or any of the storybook towns?
Frankfurt didn't disappoint on the second night. We found a hotel really close to the station that was reasonable in price, but still felt like we were staying in an inner city. Hot, cramped, stinky. Oh, and did I mention that the women's World Cup was playing tonight in Frankfurt and all the hotels in town are full and the only room at this hotel left was on the 5th floor - without an elevator.
We were full from dinner, so we went to bed right away so we could get up at 4:00 am and catch the first train out.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Day 8 - Frankfurt
Let me start the description of our feelings about Frankfurt by telling you one of the first things Alicia told me when we arrived, "Brett, where have you taken me?" I don't think either of us ever wants to come back to Frankfurt. Alicia says it is like Gothem in the Batman movies. Think the run down areas of New York and the near South side of Chicago. We arrived in early afternoon, but determined to get some dinner and head back to what passed as a hotel before dark in case things came out and devoured people (like in Will Smith's "I am Legend" movie).
This all could have been avoided if either of us had read our travel book's entry on Frankfurt. Since we were both having great exploratory journeys without any problem, we hadn't bothered reading about places until we arrived. Let me give you some examples of what we should have read:
Frankfurt, while low on Old World charm...
For years, Frankfurt was a city to avoid...but today, it's energy makes it worth a look.
This sightseeing walk...shows you both the new Frankfurt and the old - starting at it's train station, taking you past junkies and brothels...
Warning: This walk now goes into a neighborhood of hard-drug users and prostitutes. It can be creepy any time of day. If you use common sense, it's not dangerous, but it unnerves many...the aggressive women at the strip shows can be unsetteling.
Wow. I am glad our hotel wasn't near this area. But it wasn't a nice hotel by any stretch of the imagination. Crazy hot and only cooled at night with a rain storm and the windows open, a disturbing painting over the bed and the cheapest accommodations we have seen yet.
After scouring the guide for any other surprises, I found there was an area that might be more our style and we headed out for dinner. The Hauptwache and Romerberg are Frankfurt's old town and a market square. But even this was only marginally better and had a small circumference of normality.
We did find some things for the kids, dinner, and a grocery store. We are always finding grocery stores because instead of spending $3-5 for a glass of soda or a liter of water, we van get a liter of milk, liter and a half of water, and some treats for dessert. We eat dinner without drinks and then drink and have dessert later.
Dinner was the high point for me. In a city where one-third of its residents hold foreign passports, Frankfurt, even more than Berlin, has little "German" food (wurst, schnitzel, spaetzel, etc.). As we were moving out of the town square, we found a Chinese food placed loaded with Chinese and were just about to move back to it when Alicia said, "Wait, let's look at this place."
It was a Greek place with gyros, pitas and that yummy gyro sauce to dip the pitas in, and what looked like a vegetable casserole. We were starving and it looked great, so I ordered one of each of those things, thinking we could share the gyro and pita/sauce ad our main course with some of the vegetable casserole on the side.
When the food arrived, it was a plate of the vegetable casserole. Since I was the one who really thought the casserole looked good, I picked that to start and Alicia began with the gyro. All of the food was great. The gyro had thinner sliced meat than I was used to and it wasn't my favorite, but it was still good. The pita and sauce was fantastic.
But the vegetable casserole stole the show for me, and Alicia thankfully let me have most of it. It was large florets of cauliflower and broccoli along with sliced red bell peppers in a cheese-type sauce. I liked it so much, I asked the waiter to write down the name of it so we could look for a recipe. I want to have that for my birthday dinner. It is called überbachengümüse (try saying that five times really fast).
Very full from dinner, we hurried back to the hotel in the failing light. Once there, we prepped for tomorrow and went to bed early, knowing we could get up at first light and move out of Frankfurt toward a much better place.
This all could have been avoided if either of us had read our travel book's entry on Frankfurt. Since we were both having great exploratory journeys without any problem, we hadn't bothered reading about places until we arrived. Let me give you some examples of what we should have read:
Frankfurt, while low on Old World charm...
For years, Frankfurt was a city to avoid...but today, it's energy makes it worth a look.
This sightseeing walk...shows you both the new Frankfurt and the old - starting at it's train station, taking you past junkies and brothels...
Warning: This walk now goes into a neighborhood of hard-drug users and prostitutes. It can be creepy any time of day. If you use common sense, it's not dangerous, but it unnerves many...the aggressive women at the strip shows can be unsetteling.
Wow. I am glad our hotel wasn't near this area. But it wasn't a nice hotel by any stretch of the imagination. Crazy hot and only cooled at night with a rain storm and the windows open, a disturbing painting over the bed and the cheapest accommodations we have seen yet.
After scouring the guide for any other surprises, I found there was an area that might be more our style and we headed out for dinner. The Hauptwache and Romerberg are Frankfurt's old town and a market square. But even this was only marginally better and had a small circumference of normality.
We did find some things for the kids, dinner, and a grocery store. We are always finding grocery stores because instead of spending $3-5 for a glass of soda or a liter of water, we van get a liter of milk, liter and a half of water, and some treats for dessert. We eat dinner without drinks and then drink and have dessert later.
Dinner was the high point for me. In a city where one-third of its residents hold foreign passports, Frankfurt, even more than Berlin, has little "German" food (wurst, schnitzel, spaetzel, etc.). As we were moving out of the town square, we found a Chinese food placed loaded with Chinese and were just about to move back to it when Alicia said, "Wait, let's look at this place."
It was a Greek place with gyros, pitas and that yummy gyro sauce to dip the pitas in, and what looked like a vegetable casserole. We were starving and it looked great, so I ordered one of each of those things, thinking we could share the gyro and pita/sauce ad our main course with some of the vegetable casserole on the side.
When the food arrived, it was a plate of the vegetable casserole. Since I was the one who really thought the casserole looked good, I picked that to start and Alicia began with the gyro. All of the food was great. The gyro had thinner sliced meat than I was used to and it wasn't my favorite, but it was still good. The pita and sauce was fantastic.
But the vegetable casserole stole the show for me, and Alicia thankfully let me have most of it. It was large florets of cauliflower and broccoli along with sliced red bell peppers in a cheese-type sauce. I liked it so much, I asked the waiter to write down the name of it so we could look for a recipe. I want to have that for my birthday dinner. It is called überbachengümüse (try saying that five times really fast).
Very full from dinner, we hurried back to the hotel in the failing light. Once there, we prepped for tomorrow and went to bed early, knowing we could get up at first light and move out of Frankfurt toward a much better place.
Off to Frankfurt and the Rhine
We will be leaving in the morning for Frankfurt and then the next day sail up the Rhine river and visit some storybook German towns and a castle. Finally, we'll head back to Berlin to help Jody and Erik get into their new home while orienting to our new base of operations.
Since we will probably be out of contact until we get back to Berlin, you probably won't hear from us over Skype or updates to the blog. But I'll work on today's blog entry and have the other days ready to upload once I'm back too. Of course, this will all be without photos or video until I have a few moments to gather them together.
Since we will probably be out of contact until we get back to Berlin, you probably won't hear from us over Skype or updates to the blog. But I'll work on today's blog entry and have the other days ready to upload once I'm back too. Of course, this will all be without photos or video until I have a few moments to gather them together.
Day 7 - Back in Berlin
Most longer vacations have at least one of these days. A day when nothing goes as planned and you get more and more frustrated until you realize it's time to stop worrying about it and enjoy the experience.
Even though we arrived back in Berlin at 2:00 am, we were planning on getting-up early, doing our laundry, and leaving for Hamburg or Hanover (both relatively short train trips from Berlin). The long travel to Munich had taken more out of us than we thought and were weren't up as early as we wanted. Then, we found that the laundry places weren't very close. But we picked the closest one that we could reach on a walk, and left.
Looking back, it would have made so much more sense to call Jody and Erik and see if they also needed to do laundry, and maybe all ride over to the laundromat together in their car. Instead, I mixed-up the path and even though I was following along on an offline GPS map, I took us down one wrong turn after another. Since we were walking, it wasted tons of time. Then, when we went probably a mile out of our way to get over the rail tracks, we found that the laundromat had turned into a warehouse. This wasn't a good part of town either.
Thankfully, I had written down an alternate laundromat in my book. This one was further away, but it was still in business. We were exhausted, so we bought a day subway pass and made our way to the nearest line.
Along the way, we picked-up some lunch at a stand the locals were flocking to near the S-bahn (suburban subway) entrance for Yorckstrasse. They had a giant spit of Gyro meat spinning. I thought gyros sounded good and ordered one for each of us. Instead, because of he language barrier, I ordered falafels. This was a good thing though, because Alicia said it was her best meal in Germany yet. She was confirmed later when she asked if we were anywhere near that stand again because she wanted another falafel.
Once we hopped off the subway, what looked on the map like a short distance turned into another long, long walk. This time through the city's auto center. We passed Mercedes, BMW, VW, and Porsche dealerships and repair shops. These are different from their American counterparts in that they don't have rows of cars to examine. Instead, they have a beautiful showroom (often with a restaurant) and you work you deal out in the office. I don't know how they work test drives. Perhaps in a sample car.
When we finally arrived, the laundromat, Freddy Leck sein Washsalon, was a like a breath of fresh air. There was not a hot, languid squalor of people plinking coins in machines and schlepping laundry around a filthy interior. Instead, there was classical music, an impeccably maintained interior and machines, and a pleasant young gentlemen who spoke English and helped us operate the machines properly. And no coins. You pay for what you use at the end. Our two loads of washing and drying was 10€. You may be thinking that $14 to wash two small loads is extortion, but in expensive Germany, it as half of what I had expected, and a bargain when compared to letting the hotel wash our clothes.
Another neat find was the laundromat's neighborhood. Instead of feeling like we were in the uber clean city, it felt like we were in SoHo in Manhattan. Nothing dangerous, but a melting pot of cultures. We explored a little and found another present for one of the kids.
This area doesn't have a subway stop nearby. Instead, buses serve these regions. So we took a couple busses to the Zoo and caught a subway to the hotel. While we were there, we caught a flash mob doing a promotion for the upcoming world culture fair.
I called Erik when we arrived back at the hotel and asked how they were doing. They had been having fun with ball games, work, and keeping the kids occupied while shopping for furniture and appliances. They had just finished dinner, had a lot of leftovers and invited us over. We were grateful for the food and the chance to visit.
The house transfer is tomorrow (6/30) and I think they are excited to get out of the hotel. The kids are taking it in stride, even though Jody said there have been some times of anxiety. Sophie and Lucy were already asleep and Sam was out in the first minutes after we got there. But we had some fun with Pete, Karston, and Chloe while talking to Jody and Erik about washing machines, German adventures, and business.
As Alicia and I returned to our room and prepared for the next day, we started talking about what we really don't want to miss while we are here. That way we can go to those places first. Both of us agreed that the Rhine Valley (what they call storybook Germany - Cochem, Bacharach, and St. Goar) with a castle visit and Prague were important. So we spent some time planning the Rhine Valley for the next two days.
The train journey is pretty long again, about 4-5 hours to Frankfurt, then another 2-3 to the Rhine Valley. So we decided to head to Frankfurt tomorrow morning, get there in the afternoon, explore Frankfurt, stay the night there, and then head out to the Rhine Valley first thing the next morning. Then we can enjoy the Rhine and be done in early afternoon and head back to Berlin hopefully in time to help Jody and Erik move all the luggage to their new home. I say hopefully because I have found that it is very hard to predict how things are going to go when there are so many unknown, foreign variables.
Even though we arrived back in Berlin at 2:00 am, we were planning on getting-up early, doing our laundry, and leaving for Hamburg or Hanover (both relatively short train trips from Berlin). The long travel to Munich had taken more out of us than we thought and were weren't up as early as we wanted. Then, we found that the laundry places weren't very close. But we picked the closest one that we could reach on a walk, and left.
Looking back, it would have made so much more sense to call Jody and Erik and see if they also needed to do laundry, and maybe all ride over to the laundromat together in their car. Instead, I mixed-up the path and even though I was following along on an offline GPS map, I took us down one wrong turn after another. Since we were walking, it wasted tons of time. Then, when we went probably a mile out of our way to get over the rail tracks, we found that the laundromat had turned into a warehouse. This wasn't a good part of town either.
Thankfully, I had written down an alternate laundromat in my book. This one was further away, but it was still in business. We were exhausted, so we bought a day subway pass and made our way to the nearest line.
Along the way, we picked-up some lunch at a stand the locals were flocking to near the S-bahn (suburban subway) entrance for Yorckstrasse. They had a giant spit of Gyro meat spinning. I thought gyros sounded good and ordered one for each of us. Instead, because of he language barrier, I ordered falafels. This was a good thing though, because Alicia said it was her best meal in Germany yet. She was confirmed later when she asked if we were anywhere near that stand again because she wanted another falafel.
Once we hopped off the subway, what looked on the map like a short distance turned into another long, long walk. This time through the city's auto center. We passed Mercedes, BMW, VW, and Porsche dealerships and repair shops. These are different from their American counterparts in that they don't have rows of cars to examine. Instead, they have a beautiful showroom (often with a restaurant) and you work you deal out in the office. I don't know how they work test drives. Perhaps in a sample car.
When we finally arrived, the laundromat, Freddy Leck sein Washsalon, was a like a breath of fresh air. There was not a hot, languid squalor of people plinking coins in machines and schlepping laundry around a filthy interior. Instead, there was classical music, an impeccably maintained interior and machines, and a pleasant young gentlemen who spoke English and helped us operate the machines properly. And no coins. You pay for what you use at the end. Our two loads of washing and drying was 10€. You may be thinking that $14 to wash two small loads is extortion, but in expensive Germany, it as half of what I had expected, and a bargain when compared to letting the hotel wash our clothes.
Another neat find was the laundromat's neighborhood. Instead of feeling like we were in the uber clean city, it felt like we were in SoHo in Manhattan. Nothing dangerous, but a melting pot of cultures. We explored a little and found another present for one of the kids.
This area doesn't have a subway stop nearby. Instead, buses serve these regions. So we took a couple busses to the Zoo and caught a subway to the hotel. While we were there, we caught a flash mob doing a promotion for the upcoming world culture fair.
I called Erik when we arrived back at the hotel and asked how they were doing. They had been having fun with ball games, work, and keeping the kids occupied while shopping for furniture and appliances. They had just finished dinner, had a lot of leftovers and invited us over. We were grateful for the food and the chance to visit.
The house transfer is tomorrow (6/30) and I think they are excited to get out of the hotel. The kids are taking it in stride, even though Jody said there have been some times of anxiety. Sophie and Lucy were already asleep and Sam was out in the first minutes after we got there. But we had some fun with Pete, Karston, and Chloe while talking to Jody and Erik about washing machines, German adventures, and business.
As Alicia and I returned to our room and prepared for the next day, we started talking about what we really don't want to miss while we are here. That way we can go to those places first. Both of us agreed that the Rhine Valley (what they call storybook Germany - Cochem, Bacharach, and St. Goar) with a castle visit and Prague were important. So we spent some time planning the Rhine Valley for the next two days.
The train journey is pretty long again, about 4-5 hours to Frankfurt, then another 2-3 to the Rhine Valley. So we decided to head to Frankfurt tomorrow morning, get there in the afternoon, explore Frankfurt, stay the night there, and then head out to the Rhine Valley first thing the next morning. Then we can enjoy the Rhine and be done in early afternoon and head back to Berlin hopefully in time to help Jody and Erik move all the luggage to their new home. I say hopefully because I have found that it is very hard to predict how things are going to go when there are so many unknown, foreign variables.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Photos and Video on Days 4, 5, and 6 Coming Soon
Sorry, we just got home and we are crazy tired. We'll work on it some more tomorrow.
Day Six - Munich
We slept hard and well and didn't want to wake-up, but an ancient Bavarian city was waiting for us. We checked-out of the hotel at 9:00 am and headed for the subway that would take us to Marienplatz (Mary's Square).
Marienplatz is the center of old town and tourist central. Since we arrived early, we avoided a lot of the bustle that would come along later. We also caught some soft early morning light for pictures. The baroque detail iOS impressive considering most of the town had to be rebuilt after being bombed flat during WWII.
Next we had more great breakfast sandwiches from a local bakery before starting our walking tour.
The Viktualienmarkt (Alicia told you some of these words are long), created by King Maximilian I (also known as Max Joseph - put in power of Bavaria in 1806 by Napoleon under condition that his daughter marry Napoleon's step-son), is a farmers market. It has a maypole that shows the cities six great beers and the beer being served in the Viktualienmarkt that day. Don't ask me what is was today. Water was my drink of choice.
Both Alicia and I really liked this area and spent the most time here of anyplace in Munich. I think just really like farmers markets. We picked up treats for the kids as well as their presents from is city here.
Many of the other cites along the walking tours were impressive cathedrals, including Frauenkirche, the cathedral that Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger occupied over until he moved to the Vatican and ultimately became Pope Benedict. They all were very ornate and some really took your breath away in terms of scope and grandure.
One of our favorite stops here was the very touristy Hofbrauhaus. The Hofbrauhaus is exactly what you think of when you imagine a German beer hall. The original was destroyed during the war, but this reconstruction s one of the first completed. I guess everyone has their priorities.
It is one of the few halls that has a real oompah-oompah band still playing. Don't confuse this with an umpaloompa band. That would be a Willie Wonka band and they doesn't exist. An oompah-oompah band is a traditional German brass band that is anchored by a tuba that makes an oompah-oompah sound.
We had lunch here and I think they were surprised that we didn't want any beer. But they decided to serve us anyway. Alicia had a cabbage roll with potatoes that she didn't like very much and I didn't like either. I had the weisswurst (pronounced veissvurst - a veal sausage) with German potato salad and rotkohler (boiled red cabbage). All of mine was heavenly.
Maximilianstrasse is Munich's version of Rodeo Blvd., Park Place, and the Magnificent Mile. I saw my first Leica shop here. Boy would I like to be wealthy enough to go in and buy one of those camera systems. With my backpack and travel clothes I didn't even feel worthy of going in to browse. But I think I left plenty of longings by the window displays.
Odeonsplatz was a square that we couldn't see until we rounded a corner. Then both of us stopped and quietly said, "Wow." The sun was in the wrong position for me to get good photographs or video, but I am not sure I could have done it justice. It is just impressive.
The last stop of our day was Hofgarten. Hofgarten is the people's state garden. Think of it like some of our great parks like Golden Gate Park, Central Park, and The Mall in Washington, DC. It was great to rest for a few minutes and stop by the renaissance gazebo with amazing acoustics and an incredible violin player.
After some last minute errands, we piled into a subway and headed for the main rail station for our trip back to Berlin.
Tomorrow we have planned Hanover and Hamburg. Both short distances from Berlin. And yes, I plan on eating a hamburger in Hamburg and a frankfurter in Frankfurt. I would have some munster cheese in Munster, but we don't have the time to stop there. Don't judge me, I am just silly that way.
Marienplatz is the center of old town and tourist central. Since we arrived early, we avoided a lot of the bustle that would come along later. We also caught some soft early morning light for pictures. The baroque detail iOS impressive considering most of the town had to be rebuilt after being bombed flat during WWII.
Next we had more great breakfast sandwiches from a local bakery before starting our walking tour.
The Viktualienmarkt (Alicia told you some of these words are long), created by King Maximilian I (also known as Max Joseph - put in power of Bavaria in 1806 by Napoleon under condition that his daughter marry Napoleon's step-son), is a farmers market. It has a maypole that shows the cities six great beers and the beer being served in the Viktualienmarkt that day. Don't ask me what is was today. Water was my drink of choice.
Both Alicia and I really liked this area and spent the most time here of anyplace in Munich. I think just really like farmers markets. We picked up treats for the kids as well as their presents from is city here.
Many of the other cites along the walking tours were impressive cathedrals, including Frauenkirche, the cathedral that Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger occupied over until he moved to the Vatican and ultimately became Pope Benedict. They all were very ornate and some really took your breath away in terms of scope and grandure.
One of our favorite stops here was the very touristy Hofbrauhaus. The Hofbrauhaus is exactly what you think of when you imagine a German beer hall. The original was destroyed during the war, but this reconstruction s one of the first completed. I guess everyone has their priorities.
It is one of the few halls that has a real oompah-oompah band still playing. Don't confuse this with an umpaloompa band. That would be a Willie Wonka band and they doesn't exist. An oompah-oompah band is a traditional German brass band that is anchored by a tuba that makes an oompah-oompah sound.
We had lunch here and I think they were surprised that we didn't want any beer. But they decided to serve us anyway. Alicia had a cabbage roll with potatoes that she didn't like very much and I didn't like either. I had the weisswurst (pronounced veissvurst - a veal sausage) with German potato salad and rotkohler (boiled red cabbage). All of mine was heavenly.
Maximilianstrasse is Munich's version of Rodeo Blvd., Park Place, and the Magnificent Mile. I saw my first Leica shop here. Boy would I like to be wealthy enough to go in and buy one of those camera systems. With my backpack and travel clothes I didn't even feel worthy of going in to browse. But I think I left plenty of longings by the window displays.
Odeonsplatz was a square that we couldn't see until we rounded a corner. Then both of us stopped and quietly said, "Wow." The sun was in the wrong position for me to get good photographs or video, but I am not sure I could have done it justice. It is just impressive.
The last stop of our day was Hofgarten. Hofgarten is the people's state garden. Think of it like some of our great parks like Golden Gate Park, Central Park, and The Mall in Washington, DC. It was great to rest for a few minutes and stop by the renaissance gazebo with amazing acoustics and an incredible violin player.
After some last minute errands, we piled into a subway and headed for the main rail station for our trip back to Berlin.
Tomorrow we have planned Hanover and Hamburg. Both short distances from Berlin. And yes, I plan on eating a hamburger in Hamburg and a frankfurter in Frankfurt. I would have some munster cheese in Munster, but we don't have the time to stop there. Don't judge me, I am just silly that way.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Day Five - Moving Toward Munich
This morning we decided that our two long journeys (Munich and Prague) would be now and the end of our trip. In-between we would do day trips to closer German cities. Since Munich (Munchen in German) is six to seven hours away by the fastest (ICE) trains, we could ride it the rest of Sunday and then be ready to explore Munich tomorrow before riding a late train back.
The hard part ended-up being understanding the rail system. There are helpful people, but most only spoke a little German until we reached the main station. We set out for Hauptbanhauf, the main station, but we mistakenly went to Friedrichstrasse Banhauf.
We bought our World Cup special ticket and then tried to get some help knowing where to go to catch our train. The gentleman who helped us tried to put us on the night train with regional trains instead of the shorter ICE trains. We asked if we could take the ICE trains and he said no. I knew we could and that ICE trains ran all night. So we said danke and went off to find out why.
Being at the wrong station was important. Most of the ICE trains leave from Hauptbanhauf, so when Alicia looked at the station map and pointed out that we were in Friedrichstrasse Banhauf, we understood. We hopped on the next train to Hauptbanhauf and when we got there knew we shouldn't have ever mistaken it. Hauptbanhauf is enormous and beautiful.
After a short visit with an English-speaking agent, we were on our way to platform two (no platform 9-3/4 that we could see). It was easy after that.
While riding along I have noticed a slight obsession of mine, windmills. Not the old storybook kind, nor the kind that are in Altamont pass near Livermore, California. These are huge! The propellers are probably 6 stories in diameter and 15 stories up.
I found there is something sublime about listening to a Rachmmaninoff piano concerto while speeding through the German countryside at sunset. I know of a few people who would relish in the colors thrown out by the sun as it passes in and out of clouds, through trees, and over towns older than America.
It was pretty late when we arrived in Munich. By the time we stopped I had reviewed the map on my phone and knew where the nearest subway stop was to the hotel.
Since in all German cities with subways that I know of have the main subway station as the central hub, it was pretty easy to catch the subway and after a couple stops we were there. Well, almost there. It didn't look like the best part of town at night. So I plotted a new route that kept us on well lit paths and we arrived without incident.
We booked the hotel online using hotels.com and paid online in dollars. The night clerk thought we hadn't paid and wanted to charge us 125€. I corrected him and after he confirmed it, we were just fine. I think I really like hotels.com. 125€ is their standard rate and hotels.com sold me the same room for $75. That is equivalent to 52€. I saved 73€ or about $108. I always thought most online hotel sites saved you a little if anything.
Tomorrow we look forward to the former capital of Bavaria, former host of the summer Olympics, and front-runner for the 2018 winter Olympics.
The hard part ended-up being understanding the rail system. There are helpful people, but most only spoke a little German until we reached the main station. We set out for Hauptbanhauf, the main station, but we mistakenly went to Friedrichstrasse Banhauf.
We bought our World Cup special ticket and then tried to get some help knowing where to go to catch our train. The gentleman who helped us tried to put us on the night train with regional trains instead of the shorter ICE trains. We asked if we could take the ICE trains and he said no. I knew we could and that ICE trains ran all night. So we said danke and went off to find out why.
Being at the wrong station was important. Most of the ICE trains leave from Hauptbanhauf, so when Alicia looked at the station map and pointed out that we were in Friedrichstrasse Banhauf, we understood. We hopped on the next train to Hauptbanhauf and when we got there knew we shouldn't have ever mistaken it. Hauptbanhauf is enormous and beautiful.
After a short visit with an English-speaking agent, we were on our way to platform two (no platform 9-3/4 that we could see). It was easy after that.
While riding along I have noticed a slight obsession of mine, windmills. Not the old storybook kind, nor the kind that are in Altamont pass near Livermore, California. These are huge! The propellers are probably 6 stories in diameter and 15 stories up.
I found there is something sublime about listening to a Rachmmaninoff piano concerto while speeding through the German countryside at sunset. I know of a few people who would relish in the colors thrown out by the sun as it passes in and out of clouds, through trees, and over towns older than America.
It was pretty late when we arrived in Munich. By the time we stopped I had reviewed the map on my phone and knew where the nearest subway stop was to the hotel.
Since in all German cities with subways that I know of have the main subway station as the central hub, it was pretty easy to catch the subway and after a couple stops we were there. Well, almost there. It didn't look like the best part of town at night. So I plotted a new route that kept us on well lit paths and we arrived without incident.
We booked the hotel online using hotels.com and paid online in dollars. The night clerk thought we hadn't paid and wanted to charge us 125€. I corrected him and after he confirmed it, we were just fine. I think I really like hotels.com. 125€ is their standard rate and hotels.com sold me the same room for $75. That is equivalent to 52€. I saved 73€ or about $108. I always thought most online hotel sites saved you a little if anything.
Tomorrow we look forward to the former capital of Bavaria, former host of the summer Olympics, and front-runner for the 2018 winter Olympics.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Off to Munich
We found a great deal on our German rail passes. For the women's World Cup, the DB rail service has a special. One month of travel for the same price each of us were going to pay for 10 flexible travel days before.
To start our tour of Germany, we are going to the southern reaches of Germany to Bavaria and the town of Munich. Yes, I am going to try some of the vaunted Bavarian cream. I may weight more, but I think it will be worth it.
We will be leaving soon. On the high-speed train it will take six hours to reach Munich, so we will get there in time to check into a hotel and get ready for the next day. Monday we will spend until about 5 pm exploring, then head back to Berlin, arriving about Midnight.
We're not sure if we will be able to connect to the internet in Munich, so you may not hear from us until we get back to Berlin. When you do, we'll have all kinds of update to provide. It may be text first, then pictures and video later as we will have time to compose posts on the train, but not edit and add in the photos and videos.
To start our tour of Germany, we are going to the southern reaches of Germany to Bavaria and the town of Munich. Yes, I am going to try some of the vaunted Bavarian cream. I may weight more, but I think it will be worth it.
We will be leaving soon. On the high-speed train it will take six hours to reach Munich, so we will get there in time to check into a hotel and get ready for the next day. Monday we will spend until about 5 pm exploring, then head back to Berlin, arriving about Midnight.
We're not sure if we will be able to connect to the internet in Munich, so you may not hear from us until we get back to Berlin. When you do, we'll have all kinds of update to provide. It may be text first, then pictures and video later as we will have time to compose posts on the train, but not edit and add in the photos and videos.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Day Four - The Last Day of Only Berlin
There was more research again this morning. So many options. Finding out yesterday that we can get a special World Cup pass that covers all of Germany for one month for half the price we were expecting to pay switched things up again.
At first we thought we might have to lose Prague from our plans since there is plenty to enjoy in Germany. But then Alicia came up with the idea of pricing the trip from the closest train stop in Germany to Prague. It would cost another 77€ for both of us round trip. Not bad and still much cheaper than our original plan.
Now all we had to do was figure out what other places we wanted to visit and on what days. To do that, we gathered up the data and headed out for food.
As we went across Potsdamer Platz we realized we probably missed the Transformers 3 premiere. Our visit confirmed it. We just missed the stars going inside the theater. So I had us wait outside the backdoor, a trick my friend Jason taught me, to catch the stars coming out. They don't stay for the whole thing. But even then, we didn't see much of them. But Patrick Dempsy was within 100 feet of Alicia. I am certainly glad it wasn't closer.
However, a neat thing was happening all around Potsdamer Platz. The promotion and excitement of the women's World Cup. They had booths and games, and even the mobile Sony truck. If Alex had been there we would have gone in. But I did get a picture of me holding hands with a giant sackboy.
Germany has won the last two consecutive World Cups (spaced every four years). If they win this one, they will be the first team to ever win tree times, let alone win them consecutively. The experts say Germany, the US, and Spain all have equal chances of winning this year.
For lunch Alicia had a McDonalds hamburger and I had an Eisbein (boiled ham hock) sandwich. Wow was that some tender and tasty ham. I am sure by now you probably think that I like everything I have eaten in Germany and might be glossing over all the food with a Euro crush. That isn't quite true. I just haven't mentioned the marginal or not so good food.
For example we bought some chili lemon chips that I really thought were gross. There have been a couple wursts (pronounced vursts and mean sausages) that I thought were marginal. So far, I have only mentioned the good food experiences. Alicia told you about the cheese we have purchased so far. Wow were they gross. I couldn't even bring myself to try them. They would give Limburger cheese a run for the stinkiest cheese.
This time we went a little further on Friedrichstrasse, the Park Avenue (New York) or Magnificent Mile (Chicago) of Berlin. Friedrichstrasse has extremes. Before were have traveled the middle area with tourist shops and mid-priced boutiques. We also went to the other extreme where gambling halls and poverty were prevalent. Now we passed the Bentley dealership, Cartier, Yves St. Laurent, and other high-end shops. Restaurant prices started at 25€ (about $37). We kept walking.
Another place where we kept walking was near the Brandenburg Gate. We thought the pride parade was over, but they were making a night of it. Stupidly we went closer because we thought it was more of the World Cup festivities. Wow were we wrong.
Eventually we found ourselves tired physically and of looking at menus with obscene prices, that we decided to try some international cuisine. Mexican. Not my finest travel hour, but it would have to do. An interesting note is that Germans must not like their Mexican food with retried beans, lettuce, or tomatoes. There weren't any of these with the dishes. The meat was also seasoned with what seems to be a favorite Berlin curry. Below mediocre for me, but interesting none the less.
At first we thought we might have to lose Prague from our plans since there is plenty to enjoy in Germany. But then Alicia came up with the idea of pricing the trip from the closest train stop in Germany to Prague. It would cost another 77€ for both of us round trip. Not bad and still much cheaper than our original plan.
Now all we had to do was figure out what other places we wanted to visit and on what days. To do that, we gathered up the data and headed out for food.
As we went across Potsdamer Platz we realized we probably missed the Transformers 3 premiere. Our visit confirmed it. We just missed the stars going inside the theater. So I had us wait outside the backdoor, a trick my friend Jason taught me, to catch the stars coming out. They don't stay for the whole thing. But even then, we didn't see much of them. But Patrick Dempsy was within 100 feet of Alicia. I am certainly glad it wasn't closer.
However, a neat thing was happening all around Potsdamer Platz. The promotion and excitement of the women's World Cup. They had booths and games, and even the mobile Sony truck. If Alex had been there we would have gone in. But I did get a picture of me holding hands with a giant sackboy.
Germany has won the last two consecutive World Cups (spaced every four years). If they win this one, they will be the first team to ever win tree times, let alone win them consecutively. The experts say Germany, the US, and Spain all have equal chances of winning this year.
For lunch Alicia had a McDonalds hamburger and I had an Eisbein (boiled ham hock) sandwich. Wow was that some tender and tasty ham. I am sure by now you probably think that I like everything I have eaten in Germany and might be glossing over all the food with a Euro crush. That isn't quite true. I just haven't mentioned the marginal or not so good food.
For example we bought some chili lemon chips that I really thought were gross. There have been a couple wursts (pronounced vursts and mean sausages) that I thought were marginal. So far, I have only mentioned the good food experiences. Alicia told you about the cheese we have purchased so far. Wow were they gross. I couldn't even bring myself to try them. They would give Limburger cheese a run for the stinkiest cheese.
This time we went a little further on Friedrichstrasse, the Park Avenue (New York) or Magnificent Mile (Chicago) of Berlin. Friedrichstrasse has extremes. Before were have traveled the middle area with tourist shops and mid-priced boutiques. We also went to the other extreme where gambling halls and poverty were prevalent. Now we passed the Bentley dealership, Cartier, Yves St. Laurent, and other high-end shops. Restaurant prices started at 25€ (about $37). We kept walking.
Another place where we kept walking was near the Brandenburg Gate. We thought the pride parade was over, but they were making a night of it. Stupidly we went closer because we thought it was more of the World Cup festivities. Wow were we wrong.
Eventually we found ourselves tired physically and of looking at menus with obscene prices, that we decided to try some international cuisine. Mexican. Not my finest travel hour, but it would have to do. An interesting note is that Germans must not like their Mexican food with retried beans, lettuce, or tomatoes. There weren't any of these with the dishes. The meat was also seasoned with what seems to be a favorite Berlin curry. Below mediocre for me, but interesting none the less.
So Far Everything is Very European
Berlin is...
A lot like San Francisco, without the water.
Pretty clean, the only trash I see has something to do with beer bottles.
Rainy, at least once a day for about an hour.
Pretty friendly... if they speak English. If not, no smiles.
Architecturally fascinating, the juxtaposition of very old and very new is fantastic.
Just like New York, but with a lot less people.
Full of tourists. Unless they work here they are probably from somewhere else.
A constant reminder of their regrets of WWII. Solemn memorials abound.
In love with beer, curry, paprika and sausage in any shape or combination.
In love with beer... Did I mention that?
A serious biking people. Just on cruisers and such, not race biking like the hills of Herriman. Watch out, or you are likely to be skewered by the front end of a bike... especially on the sidewalk.
A bunch of uber-crazy drivers. I've decided it's man against teeny-tiny car.
Very touristy. Just like any other big city.
Amazingly quiet. Shhhhhh. Jody and family REALLY stand out here.
Fashionably.... about the same as a big city in the U.S.
Still getting over it's past of soviet and nazi oppression. There is a wide range of murals and graffiti... on everything that doesn't move.
A parade city, one day it was a Catholic Mass in the open square...The next it was the Christopher Street parade, otherewise known as a gay/lesbian pride parade. Ummm... We avoided downtown this morning. :)
Has the longest words I've ever seen in my life.
Full of really, really stinky cheese. Even the mild havarti we bought smells of things I really can't describe to in mixed company. Ewwww. Really.
Very appreciative of nuts, especially hazelnuts.
Insistent upon makingup the hotel room no later than 11:00. So you had better be dressed, they'll enter no matter what you are doing.
Isn't a fan of refrigeration in general. Eggs and meats sit out and seem to dry out around the edges. These are the sandwiches we get from any and all bakeries.
Awash with herring; pickled, creamed, and prepared in ways I can't quite identify.
Not full of beggars, I have only seen one guy pull something to eat from the trash. And he looked like he was living out of his back pack.
McDonald's friendly. Burgers taste just the same. But you can get a deep fried veggie burger here. Oh...there's no dollar (euro) menu.
To be continued...
Alicia
A lot like San Francisco, without the water.
Pretty clean, the only trash I see has something to do with beer bottles.
Rainy, at least once a day for about an hour.
Pretty friendly... if they speak English. If not, no smiles.
Architecturally fascinating, the juxtaposition of very old and very new is fantastic.
Just like New York, but with a lot less people.
Full of tourists. Unless they work here they are probably from somewhere else.
A constant reminder of their regrets of WWII. Solemn memorials abound.
In love with beer, curry, paprika and sausage in any shape or combination.
In love with beer... Did I mention that?
A serious biking people. Just on cruisers and such, not race biking like the hills of Herriman. Watch out, or you are likely to be skewered by the front end of a bike... especially on the sidewalk.
A bunch of uber-crazy drivers. I've decided it's man against teeny-tiny car.
Very touristy. Just like any other big city.
Amazingly quiet. Shhhhhh. Jody and family REALLY stand out here.
Fashionably.... about the same as a big city in the U.S.
Still getting over it's past of soviet and nazi oppression. There is a wide range of murals and graffiti... on everything that doesn't move.
A parade city, one day it was a Catholic Mass in the open square...The next it was the Christopher Street parade, otherewise known as a gay/lesbian pride parade. Ummm... We avoided downtown this morning. :)
Has the longest words I've ever seen in my life.
Full of really, really stinky cheese. Even the mild havarti we bought smells of things I really can't describe to in mixed company. Ewwww. Really.
Very appreciative of nuts, especially hazelnuts.
Insistent upon makingup the hotel room no later than 11:00. So you had better be dressed, they'll enter no matter what you are doing.
Isn't a fan of refrigeration in general. Eggs and meats sit out and seem to dry out around the edges. These are the sandwiches we get from any and all bakeries.
Awash with herring; pickled, creamed, and prepared in ways I can't quite identify.
Not full of beggars, I have only seen one guy pull something to eat from the trash. And he looked like he was living out of his back pack.
McDonald's friendly. Burgers taste just the same. But you can get a deep fried veggie burger here. Oh...there's no dollar (euro) menu.
To be continued...
Alicia
Link to Additional Photos in Flickr
Those who would like more photos, can find a few more at Flickr in my Berlin set. There aren't a ton more, but there are some that I didn't want to fit into posts.
Brett's Flickr Berlin Set
Brett's Flickr Berlin Set
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day Three - Berlin
This morning, Alicia and I met up with the Hansens and went to a local bakery to get some breakfast. We had some fantastic pastries and some open-faced scrambled egg sandwiches. Before we were all finished, the rain started coming down, so we quickly finished our food and went next door do the Aldi grocery store.
I know Aldi from my mission in Chicago and I didn't like it very much. Mom really likes it in Kansas. Jody said that Aldi is a German company. This one wasn't bad. It isn't a frilly store by any means. But it had the basics and prices were reasonable. We picked up some good food supplements as well as some items to help us get through if we get to busy to stop for dinner, or we can't find any place reasonable.
Jody, Erik, and the kids then went over to a friend's house and then on to the eBay company summer solstice (mid-summer) party. Later, they said they had a good time, staying until 7:00 pm and even though it rained, the kids rode horses and enjoyed themselves.
We started exploring in another area. This time we found the area that still had a portion of "The Wall" up along with a timeline of pre-war through the end of the Soviet occupation. It was absolutely fascinating. Knowing that when Alicia and I met, the wall was still up everywhere and enforced with the threat of death was sobering. It was also interesting to think of my father dancing along the top of a section of this wall.
We had more great food finds, including some pretty authentic Italian pizza. We were heading down the street when we heard some Italian customers talking to an Italian shop owner in this small walk-up window that was identified as a Focacceria. The pizza looked amazing and didn't look anything like pizza at Pizza Hut. That along with the owner only speaking Italian to us made us think that this could be authentic Italian pizza. So we took a chance and it was well worth it. The pizza was amazing. It was prosciutto and tomato. We'll be coming back for more.
On the way home we picked up some more groceries. More milk for me, more drinks, and a new favorite mustard. I had it on the Brautwurst in Tiergarten park. I took a picture of the packet so I could find it again later. Bautz'ner Senf Mittelscharf is a Dijon style mustard, but with only a light horseradish taste and great flavor. At the store, cups of it were about $0.50, so I bought a bunch of them to bring home. After I'm out I'll have to get Jody to send me more.
We also saw some pastries we wanted to show the kids. One is a Kiwi cake that looks delicious and some creme puffs that would surely be worth the calories.
We also saw this dog dressed-up waiting for his owner that was in the store. We thought Maddie would find it cute.
I know Aldi from my mission in Chicago and I didn't like it very much. Mom really likes it in Kansas. Jody said that Aldi is a German company. This one wasn't bad. It isn't a frilly store by any means. But it had the basics and prices were reasonable. We picked up some good food supplements as well as some items to help us get through if we get to busy to stop for dinner, or we can't find any place reasonable.
Jody, Erik, and the kids then went over to a friend's house and then on to the eBay company summer solstice (mid-summer) party. Later, they said they had a good time, staying until 7:00 pm and even though it rained, the kids rode horses and enjoyed themselves.
We started exploring in another area. This time we found the area that still had a portion of "The Wall" up along with a timeline of pre-war through the end of the Soviet occupation. It was absolutely fascinating. Knowing that when Alicia and I met, the wall was still up everywhere and enforced with the threat of death was sobering. It was also interesting to think of my father dancing along the top of a section of this wall.
We had more great food finds, including some pretty authentic Italian pizza. We were heading down the street when we heard some Italian customers talking to an Italian shop owner in this small walk-up window that was identified as a Focacceria. The pizza looked amazing and didn't look anything like pizza at Pizza Hut. That along with the owner only speaking Italian to us made us think that this could be authentic Italian pizza. So we took a chance and it was well worth it. The pizza was amazing. It was prosciutto and tomato. We'll be coming back for more.
On the way home we picked up some more groceries. More milk for me, more drinks, and a new favorite mustard. I had it on the Brautwurst in Tiergarten park. I took a picture of the packet so I could find it again later. Bautz'ner Senf Mittelscharf is a Dijon style mustard, but with only a light horseradish taste and great flavor. At the store, cups of it were about $0.50, so I bought a bunch of them to bring home. After I'm out I'll have to get Jody to send me more.
We also saw some pastries we wanted to show the kids. One is a Kiwi cake that looks delicious and some creme puffs that would surely be worth the calories.
We also saw this dog dressed-up waiting for his owner that was in the store. We thought Maddie would find it cute.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Videos Fixed
Thank you to the kind person who let me know that our video of Day 1 wasn't working. I had it set to private and it wouldn't let anyone else view it. That video and all future videos will be set to public so there won't be any problems viewing them.
Day Two - More Berlin
Day Two meant a lot of analysis in the morning. We slept in a little, but no later than than a nice Saturday/vacation day - 8:00 am. I think my jet lag went away with yesterday's stay-up strategy. But as I type this, 11:13 pm, I am falling asleep while I type.
After getting all of the amounts, travel times, and other information for Stockholm and the rest of our trip, Alicia and I set out for some lunch and to discuss the rest of our trip.
We found a great bagel place with some fantastically fresh and delicious ingredients. Alicia's had chicken, pesto, and fresh veggies. When I tasted it, I think it was the first time I thought it tasted like I was eating something with fresh basil in it, instead of a quagmire of olive oil and basil devoid of flavor.
I chose a slice of Quiche Lorraine with fresh spinach, tomato, and I swear there was a splash of lemon in the very thin and light crust. It was amazing. I pride myself on making quiche with super light and tender egg filling, but this quiche took super light and tender to a whole new level.
During our walk toward lunch and lunch itself we talked about our plans. The long story short is that we won't be going to Stockholm now. The cost is an extra $900, or $450 each, not counting hotel costs. Both Alicia and I believe we can get airfare into that range on a deal and would rather go to Stockholm with my dad who speaks the language, knows the country and therefore help us have a better experience.
We will spend the remaining 14 days of our time in Europe in Germany and Prague. Since Jody and Erik's hotel is in the middle of Berlin, we are thinking of staying here longer to explore Berlin, then go to Prague and use the remaining time to go through many of Germany's other cities. We will talk to Jody and Erik tomorrow and make sure that will work for them and then check events in Berlin.
One of the events happening soon is the premiere for Transformers 3 in what they call the Sony Center, just a short walk from the hotel. When we were cutting through the center to get to someplace to eat, we saw this sculpture. I was pretty sure either transformers were really taking over the world, or some kind of event was going to happen (Sony Pictures made Transformers 3).
After lunch we found a great dessert option. Our kids and Alicia have loved Ritter Sport chocolate bars. We found a Ritter Sport shop that is similar to M&M World in Las Vegas. It is really cool. There, you can get a crazy amount of different Ritter Sport bars in sizes from very small bites to very large bars, including the option to make your own bar. You start with white or milk chocolate, then add in whatever add-ins they have. The result is a one-of-a-kind ritter sport bar just for you. They have some gummy things, so you could create a gummy Ritter Sport bar, which, to my knowledge, doesn't exist at any store. I think we are coming back here. One of our targets is a custom square carrier that has ice packs on two sides to keep your Ritter bars cool. Me? I haven't really like Ritter Sport bars, they always seemed to be rather average to me. I think the problem was that I wasn't getting bars that were fresh enough. The mini bars I ate were crazy good.
Although our intent was to figure things out, get lunch and come back, the while searching for lunch, wander lust took us over. During our journeys, we stumbled upon what seemed like an outdoor Catholic mass with a high-ranking church official. They had a procession, a fantastic choir and orchestra, and beautiful backdrop. I have pictures and some video, but I'll just put the video here.
We found the holocaust memorial and while the museum is below ground, the above ground was enough to captivate us. The pictures and video probably won't convey a portion of the impression this place made upon us. I bet you can guess the size of the rectangles.
While heading toward the Brandenburg Gate, we found the parliament building and a relay race in the large city park. We found a great bratwurst stand there and had what I think is the best bratwurst I have ever had. Even Alicia, not a huge bratwurst fan, said if they tasted like this at home we would have them regularly. I agreed, they didn't taste greasy, heavy, or a heavy garlic taste. I didn't need anything but the bun and a type of spicy mustard that didn't take my breath away with horseradish taste. Another great balance.
The last flavor of the day was at a gelato shop, Caffe e Gelato. They had amazing flavors, but we decided to try just one to see how good they were. It was my choice, so I went with apricot (in German, aprikose). As with the other things I have eaten here, it was fantastic. It not only had the sweet elements of apricots, but also the slightly bitter. The result was like eating creamy apricots on a cone. I think I will get one of those every day that I am in Berlin. But then I'll have to get another one so I can try other flavors too, plus the cone(s) Alicia wants to eat. I'm glad this is one of the cheaper things. In fact it may be cheaper than I can get it for in Salt Lake.
Another great day of experiences and a new course charted. Tomorrow we'll figure out the order of days, talk with Jody and Erik and see what else we can discover. I am having an absolutely amazing time. I think Alicia is too, but you will have to hear from her to be sure.
After getting all of the amounts, travel times, and other information for Stockholm and the rest of our trip, Alicia and I set out for some lunch and to discuss the rest of our trip.
We found a great bagel place with some fantastically fresh and delicious ingredients. Alicia's had chicken, pesto, and fresh veggies. When I tasted it, I think it was the first time I thought it tasted like I was eating something with fresh basil in it, instead of a quagmire of olive oil and basil devoid of flavor.
I chose a slice of Quiche Lorraine with fresh spinach, tomato, and I swear there was a splash of lemon in the very thin and light crust. It was amazing. I pride myself on making quiche with super light and tender egg filling, but this quiche took super light and tender to a whole new level.
During our walk toward lunch and lunch itself we talked about our plans. The long story short is that we won't be going to Stockholm now. The cost is an extra $900, or $450 each, not counting hotel costs. Both Alicia and I believe we can get airfare into that range on a deal and would rather go to Stockholm with my dad who speaks the language, knows the country and therefore help us have a better experience.
We will spend the remaining 14 days of our time in Europe in Germany and Prague. Since Jody and Erik's hotel is in the middle of Berlin, we are thinking of staying here longer to explore Berlin, then go to Prague and use the remaining time to go through many of Germany's other cities. We will talk to Jody and Erik tomorrow and make sure that will work for them and then check events in Berlin.
One of the events happening soon is the premiere for Transformers 3 in what they call the Sony Center, just a short walk from the hotel. When we were cutting through the center to get to someplace to eat, we saw this sculpture. I was pretty sure either transformers were really taking over the world, or some kind of event was going to happen (Sony Pictures made Transformers 3).
As we went further in we saw workers busy putting together a walkway for star to travel as they go to the premiere. When we came back this evening, it was closer to being ready, but from what we have learned, the premiere will be on Saturday. The main characters will be there, including... wait for it... Patrick Dempsy. Yes, Alicia's favorite actor will be there. I am certainly glad we don't have one of those "free pass" lists. I think I would be in trouble. Who could resist Alicia?
After lunch we found a great dessert option. Our kids and Alicia have loved Ritter Sport chocolate bars. We found a Ritter Sport shop that is similar to M&M World in Las Vegas. It is really cool. There, you can get a crazy amount of different Ritter Sport bars in sizes from very small bites to very large bars, including the option to make your own bar. You start with white or milk chocolate, then add in whatever add-ins they have. The result is a one-of-a-kind ritter sport bar just for you. They have some gummy things, so you could create a gummy Ritter Sport bar, which, to my knowledge, doesn't exist at any store. I think we are coming back here. One of our targets is a custom square carrier that has ice packs on two sides to keep your Ritter bars cool. Me? I haven't really like Ritter Sport bars, they always seemed to be rather average to me. I think the problem was that I wasn't getting bars that were fresh enough. The mini bars I ate were crazy good.
Although our intent was to figure things out, get lunch and come back, the while searching for lunch, wander lust took us over. During our journeys, we stumbled upon what seemed like an outdoor Catholic mass with a high-ranking church official. They had a procession, a fantastic choir and orchestra, and beautiful backdrop. I have pictures and some video, but I'll just put the video here.
We found the holocaust memorial and while the museum is below ground, the above ground was enough to captivate us. The pictures and video probably won't convey a portion of the impression this place made upon us. I bet you can guess the size of the rectangles.
While heading toward the Brandenburg Gate, we found the parliament building and a relay race in the large city park. We found a great bratwurst stand there and had what I think is the best bratwurst I have ever had. Even Alicia, not a huge bratwurst fan, said if they tasted like this at home we would have them regularly. I agreed, they didn't taste greasy, heavy, or a heavy garlic taste. I didn't need anything but the bun and a type of spicy mustard that didn't take my breath away with horseradish taste. Another great balance.
The last flavor of the day was at a gelato shop, Caffe e Gelato. They had amazing flavors, but we decided to try just one to see how good they were. It was my choice, so I went with apricot (in German, aprikose). As with the other things I have eaten here, it was fantastic. It not only had the sweet elements of apricots, but also the slightly bitter. The result was like eating creamy apricots on a cone. I think I will get one of those every day that I am in Berlin. But then I'll have to get another one so I can try other flavors too, plus the cone(s) Alicia wants to eat. I'm glad this is one of the cheaper things. In fact it may be cheaper than I can get it for in Salt Lake.
Another great day of experiences and a new course charted. Tomorrow we'll figure out the order of days, talk with Jody and Erik and see what else we can discover. I am having an absolutely amazing time. I think Alicia is too, but you will have to hear from her to be sure.
Berlin Room
We have a lovely modern room in. Very modern, but in an old building. In fact it is the original Seimans production and administration building built in 1914. We are on the east side of Berlin, the "other" side of the wall.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Day One - Berlin
After lunch, we checked everyone into the hotel and after some luggage arrangement, brushed our teeth and took showers. That was really important after traveling for almost a solid day. The wave of fatigue that then hit us was so overwhelming that we knew in order to stay awake until evening, we would have to be doing something active. So we wandered around downtown Berlin, taking in some of its culture and treats.
While I like to believe I have a great sense of direction and have mad exploring skills, I have to admit that by the end of our very circuitous journey, I had us all turned around. It was getting dark and it the cool pleasant day had turned to pretty intense showers. After getting some groceries and an umbrella, we started off and then asked for directions from a very kind doorman at the Ritz-Carlton who also insisted that Alicia take his umbrella (he didn't think much of our new umbrella). While I may not be able to afford places like the Ritz-Carlton, I am always impressed with how well they treat everyone, including those who are staying in competing hotels and asking for directions.
When we finally arrived back at the hotel we called the kids, had a quick dinner from a local sandwich shop and some of the groceries, but when we tried to look at a few things on the computer we literally couldn't keep our eyes open and eventually gave up.
Tomorrow we will be figuring out how to get to Stockholm (train, plane, ferry). Then it will be Sweden for Midsommer Eve and Midsommer. We are very excited.
While I like to believe I have a great sense of direction and have mad exploring skills, I have to admit that by the end of our very circuitous journey, I had us all turned around. It was getting dark and it the cool pleasant day had turned to pretty intense showers. After getting some groceries and an umbrella, we started off and then asked for directions from a very kind doorman at the Ritz-Carlton who also insisted that Alicia take his umbrella (he didn't think much of our new umbrella). While I may not be able to afford places like the Ritz-Carlton, I am always impressed with how well they treat everyone, including those who are staying in competing hotels and asking for directions.
When we finally arrived back at the hotel we called the kids, had a quick dinner from a local sandwich shop and some of the groceries, but when we tried to look at a few things on the computer we literally couldn't keep our eyes open and eventually gave up.
Tomorrow we will be figuring out how to get to Stockholm (train, plane, ferry). Then it will be Sweden for Midsommer Eve and Midsommer. We are very excited.
Hot Dogs in a Jar/Can
This one is for the kids. We saw these hot dogs in jars and cans and thought the kids might find them interesting. I would imagine they taste like longer Vienna Sausages. In fact, that might be how the smaller American versions get their name. I think I might have to get some before we leave to check that theory. I like Vienna sausages. I don't know if I want to eat more than one though.
Having an OK time
I have been having an OK time. I'm at a Place that sells food and lets you eat the food there.
Swimming has been Really good but I still need the Video of me showing off my swimming skills might get today might not.
Swimming has been Really good but I still need the Video of me showing off my swimming skills might get today might not.
Good Morning Berlin
It was a long night, but eventually all the kids and most of the adults slept at least a little. The plane didn't have as many amenities as we were hoping and the seating was messed up, but we made it work. We all arrived safe and sound.
Another problem for our group was with Jody's house. The house was supposed to be ready for us when we arrived. However, Erik received word before we left New York that the house would not be ready until around 7/1. Until then Erik's work will put them in a hotel. So that is where we headed after the airport, the Movenpick.
But even that had complications. The room wasn't available when we arrived at around noon. So we had to go somewhere to eat and wait for a few hours. Alicia and I picked the spaetzel.
Another problem for our group was with Jody's house. The house was supposed to be ready for us when we arrived. However, Erik received word before we left New York that the house would not be ready until around 7/1. Until then Erik's work will put them in a hotel. So that is where we headed after the airport, the Movenpick.
But even that had complications. The room wasn't available when we arrived at around noon. So we had to go somewhere to eat and wait for a few hours. Alicia and I picked the spaetzel.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
A little break before Berlin
At JFK airport, before gate 28, the crew is having a little snack break. Everyone is still in good spirits and looking forward to Berlin.
Arrival... sort of... maybe just for a minute
For those who want to know when we land and take off, we have landed at JFK in New York. We are waiting on the tarmac for our gate to open-up. Then we will have just under two hours to get to the next gate, maybe get a snack, and then board.
The kids are getting a little punchy waiting on the plane now that we are on the ground, but we'll pull through.
The kids are getting a little punchy waiting on the plane now that we are on the ground, but we'll pull through.
Flight to New York
The arrival and journey through the San Francisco airport was very well done. Thanks to a crew of very tired and selfless helpers, we unloaded a staggering amount of luggage and navigated security and the gate in no time.
On board the airplane each of the kids was very well behaved, and Peter who I thought was going to be a handful, has been amazing. He even grabbed a nice nap.
On board the airplane each of the kids was very well behaved, and Peter who I thought was going to be a handful, has been amazing. He even grabbed a nice nap.
Early Morning Caravan
Up at 5:00 am and leaving for the airport at 5:30 isn't as glamorous as it seems. In our instance, it also involved a caravan of three fully loaded vehicles. Have I mentioned the total of 20 pieces of luggage, 6 car seats, and 6 kids under 8?
No matter what happens, this is going to be an adventure!
No matter what happens, this is going to be an adventure!
Monday, June 20, 2011
A Big Day
So Today was a big day I had swimming lessons, I said bye to my parents, and...... Actually that's it. So I had a big day and I have swimming lessons tomorrow and I'll upload video of that so post ya later.
Boredness
First of all I want to have a video to try to beet my dads not clear view Of my underwater skills
Second I want to know what do you do when you have nothing to do on vacation? Leave your Answer in the comments.
Second I want to know what do you do when you have nothing to do on vacation? Leave your Answer in the comments.
Swimming Lessons
Papa Mike has arranged swimming lessons for the kids while we're gone. Today was the first lesson and all the kids had a great time and are excited for the rest of the lessons.
The secret is that we stayed out of it. Who wants to learn from their mom and dad anymore?
Below, Alex shows off some of his mad holding his breath and going underwater skills. For those who know Alex, this is a big thing.
The secret is that we stayed out of it. Who wants to learn from their mom and dad anymore?
Below, Alex shows off some of his mad holding his breath and going underwater skills. For those who know Alex, this is a big thing.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Alex saying things
So here's Alex, the owner of Colawesome with the website Fun Shall Overcome and just posting to let you know I will post on here.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sam's Baptism
Today was Samuel Hansen's baptism and we were so happy to be there! It took driving through the night, but it was worth it. Sam did a great job and we are very proud of him for making the decision to be baptized. It is a great step and will help him throughout his life.
After the baptism we took pictures in front of the church and then went over to Jody and Erik's house for some great food and company.
Of course, it would have been nice to have left on time so it could have been a less stressful journey, but I have had garden issues all week. So, to make a long story short, it was my fault. One of these days I'll learn. The problem is my parents have said this to me my whole life. How many days more is this thing going to take?
After the baptism we took pictures in front of the church and then went over to Jody and Erik's house for some great food and company.
Of course, it would have been nice to have left on time so it could have been a less stressful journey, but I have had garden issues all week. So, to make a long story short, it was my fault. One of these days I'll learn. The problem is my parents have said this to me my whole life. How many days more is this thing going to take?
Friday, June 17, 2011
On Our Way
Our vacation 2011 journey has begun. I don't know if any of us are prepared for the three weeks of adventure ahead of us, but necessity is the mother of invention, creativity, and... serendipity. In my usage of the word, serendipity is what happens when you are flying by the seat of your pants and crazy, unexpected things happen that are at least somewhat cool.
Our family will all be contributing to this blog for this trip and future trips. Each has a mobile phone or other kind of computing device and will be updating with text, pictures, and video. I expect it to be a very telling experience. Stop by for updates, or use the RSS feeds, or sign-up for e-mail updates from the links at the bottom of the blog.
Our family will all be contributing to this blog for this trip and future trips. Each has a mobile phone or other kind of computing device and will be updating with text, pictures, and video. I expect it to be a very telling experience. Stop by for updates, or use the RSS feeds, or sign-up for e-mail updates from the links at the bottom of the blog.
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