A little bit of Eastern Europe, a country held together by dikes, and a little south, east, and central Germany!

germany

On the 9^th of May I got on a train at 11am to Munich Germany (direct from Verona to Munich) pretty nice, no train changing yet! The train goes through the Alps across Austria to Germany. Human ingenuity is amazing when it comes to the train going through the mountains and then to be able to see them through the train window. It is absolutely picturesque with the little towns or villages on the sides of the train tracks with the mountains in the background. But in my mind no highlands. It took about 6 hours to arrive in Germany (and no border patrol on the trains when we crossed the border) and it was pouring rain on arrival in Munich. I went to the tourism office and found out there were 3 vegetarian restaurants in the city for me to choose from. The vegetarian restaurant I chose to go to was called Prinz Myshlain a German character in a book or something. I found the food really dairyish. There was one thing on the menu with beans and that was hummus! Upon arrival I realized that in Bavarian they really liked sausages and even more they like to smoke...everywhere, even on the trains!

Another day of more rain on May 10th, in fact the whole day. I walked to the Deuchers Museum which is a huge science museum. The museum had 4 floors of fund with science and technology. I wish I could say I learned a lot, I did but I basically forgot it all. It might be tucked away in the old brain but where, I’m not sure. For dinner I tried a vegan restaurant called Vielen Dank, it was a fairly good salad with tempeh. In Munich I found that Henrich street turned into Paul Heyse Street (my old flat mate in Dublin’s name is Paul Hayes) so I found it kind of funny. That evening I hopped on a train to Prague. Sleeping sitting isn’t too bad but it is definitely not the best. I arrived in the Czech Republic at about 7am to be woken up for my passport. Since the Iron Curtain and the Czech Republic has joined the EU the Czechs’ are really cautious about border control. I think that their economy is fragile so they are super careful. And I got the 5^th stamp of the year in the passport in the Czech Republic. Upon arrival I sleepily crawled off the train and with poor directions and no Czech Crowns I used my ingenuity to trade in some Euros to get on the and bought a 3 day tram ticket so I could ride the tram anywhere for the next 72 hours or something. I found the tram that took me to my hostel, out in the middle of nowhere, on the river (which I still don’t remember the name of). I took a shower at this hostel and it was amazing to get out of the shower and be looking at the river and across the river in the distance is the old towne where the castle is. I bought some new walking shoes today, as mine were water-logged and giving my blisters (I will never ever buy NorthFace Shoes ever again!)

czech republic

The following day I got up pretty early to go to the castle Pražský hrad. I went there with an older French Canadian who now lives in France. There was a beautiful cathedral with so many different kinds of stained glass, all of it being done at different times or some if it probably had to be replaced at certain times in Czechoslovakia’s unstable state etc. Aside from the cathedral I purchased a ticket that was good for Old Royal Palace, The Story of Prague Castle (which was like the history of the monarchy in Prague), I also went to St. George’s Basilica which is the 2^nd oldest church at Prague Castle (aside from the first cathedral I went to). The Basilica served as a burial site for Premyslid family and the first Czech female saint, the Princess Ludmila. When I was in the basilica I sear I could feel the presence of Ludmila in the crypt. As soon as I stuck my head through the bars into the crypt I felt this sadness and cold move over my skin that cannot be described to those who do not believe in old spirits or ghosts. I also visited St. George’s Convent-National Gallery with Bohemian art from the Czech Mannerists and Baroque art period. Then I walked down to an area called the Golden Lane which was a bunch of shops that used to be inhabited by the castle’s riflemen and later by goldsmiths. I also visited Daliburka Tower which is named after the first prisoner Dalibour of Kozojedy, the tower is now a museum of ancient torture devices, maybe the photos will turn out even in that low light situation. The last place I visited was Prague Castle Picture Gallery which was the old stables, not great but fine for a collection of art. This gallery had many students of art replicating some of the paintings in the gallery, kind of interesting to watch the students paint these works of art. Next on the agenda for that day THE MUSEUM OF COMMUNISUM, did that seem ominous? That’s what I was going for. I learned all about how Czechoslovakia went from a Republic to Communist to a Republic (the monarchy was around way before the republic fell the first time so no info on that) there was lots of memorabilia, as well as propaganda and other antiques. There was also an excellent film about the Velvet Revolution and young men setting themselves on fire as a form of peaceful protest against the Communist state. If only I had taken notes during the film maybe I would have remembered more Czechoslovakian history. Later I found a vegetarian restaurant called comfort living with good cheap cafeteria style vegan/vegetarian food. I also made it to the clock tower to watch the tower change on the hour. The 12 apostles come out of the two windows and the skeleton rings a bell. Really neat to see, if you ever go the Prague the clock tower is a must, right in the middle of town the tourists all stop and stare at this clock and point and talk in all the different languages.

Some crazy things in Prague…

Aside from the super cheap great beer there is a store called “Bank Rot” which is like a dollar store/pound saver etc.

While on a tram I passed a house boat with a banner across it that read “Botel” clever I know.

“TV Products Store” the store that sells products “As Seen On TV” and lots and lots of channels with infomercials, whether or not people buy this stuff I have no idea.

Today was my last day in Prague and then off to Dresden for a night and then on to Berlin. First I headed towards St. Nicholas Church \located near the Castle of Prague when Nicole (a girl I met from Holland) and I arrived at the church we found that there was a morning mass church service taking place so we could only go into the back of the church. This church is one of the most memorable churches I visited in my tiny travel because it was super garish with fake marble and gilded statues. We wandered towards the Mucha Museum who is the epitome of Art Nouveau and he can probably be named as the most influential of the movement. The museum held many proofs as well as photographs of the artist and his family. Towards the end of his life he created a series called the Slave Epic which consisted of some 20 odd paintings about the history of the Slavs using Allegorical figures from their pagan past. Alfonso was Czech and Slovak. His commercial work defined a generation in France and changed the way posters were made but his paintings were his masterpiece. Nobody really wanted to commission him to do the Slave Epic, and in the end he found an American to fund the project. He was later interrogated by the Nazi party which in the end became the death of him. After the museum we met up with Anna who accompanied us to the church where we went earlier, but we could now get into the church. We got to go up to the 2^nd floor as well as look at some paintings of the Passion Cycle. After that we went up to the top of the bell tower-beautiful view of the city-then we separated as I had to head to the hostel for my things and then to the train station. Once I started on my trek to the hostel I was alarmed to find that was a marathon and the tram was not running that way so I had to walk 40 minutes to get to a metro and then I ran to the hostel and back to the metro and realized that I was not going to make it so I got off at the closer station to get a new ticket but they would not get me one and the woman in the window told me i was at the wrong station so I asked her how to get to the other station and she just turned away from me. I figured out how to get on the metro and found that my train was 15 minutes late.

germany

Somehow karma had worked in my favour and I was on my way to Dresden, I found my hostel took a shower and went to bed. I got up at 7.30 to walk around the city; you can visibly see that everything in the city had to be rebuilt after world war II. I stopped at a café for a machiatto an omelet and something called Hausgemachie Quarkkeulchen quiet a mouthful but it was a fried dumpling made of cheese and raisins-very heavy, but delicious. The café was right outside Church of Our Lady which had a piece of the old dome outside the church. Since I was out the door at 10 to 8 I was able to arrive in the city center to enjoy the bells of the churches-absolutely picturesque! Later in the afternoon I visited the northern part of Dresden (where my hostel was) called Dresden-Neudeust, literally translated as New Dresden, oh the Germans and their literalism! I went to a couple of churches and to a park and then headed to the train station, after almost getting stuck in Prague for another day I was 30 minutes early for my train! In mid afternoon I arrived in Berlin I found my hostel, in the forest of west Berlin and then headed for the internet as it was free at the hostel! Later on I met my roommate, an Australian guy named Luke, he had more of an English accent then an Australian accent, but that’s besides the point we headed into town for a cheap veggie burger beer and French fries and then to the Eastside Gallery which is part of the remaining Berlin wall covered in graffiti. The wall is amazing to see in person, you see old video from the wall being broken down but you are a bit disconnected from it until you actually see it. In 98 there were artists who were invited to come and do some murals on the wall, they are awesome.

The following morning I left at around 9.30am to find the Bauhaus Archive, which houses a lot of Bauhaus work including work by Moholy-Nogy, Kandinsky, Herbert Bayer (typography) so great work as I will not make it to Dassau where the school that was designed by Groupis is. Lots of history about he Bauhaus. Later on that day I went of a free tour of East Berlin which included Brandenburgh Gate, the Reichstag (the Government Building/Parliament), Hitler’s Bunker (which is now a dirt car park where Germans choose to bring there dogs to shit), The Holocaust Memorial-for Jewish people of Europe (controversial because what about the 3 million people the Nazi’s killed?), Postdamer Platz, The Berlin Wall that has the Topography of Terror, SS Headquarters, Checkpoint Charlie (after Alpha and Beta) Museum Island, Gendarmenmarket and the Book Burning Memorial. Later on that night I went to the Reichstag a beautiful parliamentary building which you can climb up to the top of a glass dome and look down on the Parliament-and it’s free! The info I read about the government and how it works it instilled in me the hope that this government will work for the people. It made me feel a sense of nationalism and pride in the government of Germany I wish my own government did that for me.

May 15^th, in the morning I chose to go to the Sachsenhausen Museum and Memorials this was the sight of the new more efficient concentration camp designed by Henrich Hilmner. It was constructed by Estonian and other Baltic State prisoners for the state of Prussia. This was not like a death camp like Auschwitz but a concentration camp. The site has 3 museums two mass graves and examples of the barracks both these are not the original barracks-they have been rebuilt twice-they were burned to the ground in 1992 as an act of anti-Semitism. I’m a bit dumbfounded at the moment and can’t really make a comment on the site at this moment in time. There was an empty pit of sadness that kind of was my stomach, and I had the knot in my throat like I could cry at any time and I could not speak. After going to this sight I think it is necessary to have these and to visit these kinds of things, even though we are so far removed from the time and the place, it makes you realize any feelings you have for humanity. That same afternoon I went to the Helmut Newton Gallery where i saw some work by David LaChappel, who shoots photos of celebrities which are usually shocking, for instance he shot a photo of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain in the pose of Michelangelo’s Pieta. Also at this exhibition was a war photographer, which by the time I started looking at the photos of Bosnia, on the verge of tears, I thought this is too much for me today. First the concentration camp and now photos of genocide and tragedies of war. The on the next floor of the gallery was an exhibition entitled “Humanism in China” the poverty and the amount of people going this way and that, and there were so many photos it made me a bit claustrophobic. Then I went out and looked at all the different sites that I wanted photos of and the Berlin wall, once again. I tried to go to the Botanical Garden but it closed at 8 and I got there at about 8.15L Then to find a restaurant was a little bit impossible but I managed to find a Greek restaurant but more cheese! Then later that night I found out my roommate was a crazy girl from Florence who married some random guy she knew for 2 months and he started drinking heavily and snorting stuff-and in the end left her. Super tragic. So she was moving back to Europe.

denmark

The following morning I was up at 5.40 to get into town for a 7.22 train to Hamburg I got off and had the pleasure of experiencing the lack of seats so I had to wait between cars to get a seat. It was no more then 10 minutes before I got a seat. Once in my seat I fell asleep and when I woke up it looked like I was in a warehouse-no just a ferry! So it is amazing how they get to Denmark, Copenhagen, rather then drive through the country, they load the train on a ferry and it takes about 40 minutes versus 3 hours! When I arrived in Copenhagen it was raining so I wandered towards my hostel (city public hostel) passing sex shops and kebab food huts. Once arriving at the hostel I realized where the name came from, it was a public hostel, as in down and outs lived there when they had enough money. So I was a bit apprehensive and asked, oh how many people in a room etc. and found they had smaller rooms with only 10 beds, for backpackers. So I stayed in one of the 10 bed rooms with 2 girls form Holland and we were the only people in the room. So I had the fortune of getting a bed that squeaks- a lot to the point where every time I moved I made the bed squeak, move my foot ‘squeak squeak squeak’. The afternoon I arrived I went to the Rundetaarn a tower in which you can see the entire city from, it was nice enough out for my time in the tower, there was sun and no rain. While up in the tower I heard some drunken singing and as I was leaving the tower there were people with pitchers of beer and a man with an accordion and I can only guess it is a tradition when the students at university finish classes they drink with their professors and then go up to the top of tower. Like in the university of Rome (as according to Cheope), you jump into the fountain after your final final!

So the next day in Copenhagen it was pouring rain but I went out anyway-I believe it was also some holiday as most shops were closed including the supermarket, but all the 7-11s were open! So I wandered by the castle-not so impressive and then towards an area called Christinia-an area in which a hippie commune still exists. There are people who are just squatters where they on the build a shack out of scraps and there are paintings everywhere absolutely amazing that the city lets this area remain; but apparently it draws in a lot of people. I also found a great sandwich shop near to Christinia which sold a huge sandwich with hummus and sun dried tomatoes-no dairy! Then there was wandering back to the hostel for my luggage and then I went to the train station-one thing really amazing about Denmark and Sweden-linked by a bridge you can get to Sweden in about 30 minutes, Malmö to be exact. Then I took a 5 hour train ride to Stockholm. The first night there I stayed in a 3 star hotel- I was able to wash my clothes and dry them on the towel heating rod. I also enjoyed my beer I bought in Germany along with a cheese and lettuce sandwich and an episode of Scrubs, with Swedish subtitles.

xoxo,
christie