Like hell.
Try the land of über hospitality, stunning forest, unexpected bohemians and great beer. A lot of great beer.
After 4 weeks, plus a detour through The Neatherlands, Belgium and Luxemberg (accidentally), Iḿ finally leaving Germany and will miss it a lot. Since my last email Ive stayed in 12 different locations, met dozens of people and found myself in a wide variety of situations so Iḿ going to make an effort to keep it brief.
In light of the fact Iḿ almost certainly going to fail in this, I miss the lot of you, including the ones I only left today (Castle Rieneck forever guys) and keep the emails coming! I love hearing about all your happenings and the everyday stuff is just as good as the extraordinary!
Photos and videos are up on facebook and youtube, see the links at the end of the email as usual. Plenty of new stuff to keep you all entertained.
But now, a run down, in rough chronological order, of The German Files:
Last I wrote I was in Hamberg, staying with Jana in the very north of Germany and getting drunk in the red light district. Next stop: Berlin.
Berlin
First some background - I met Lena, a German Scout, back in Australia. She put me on to some Scout people in Germany and eventually I met Therese and Hans-Juergen while working ain Switzerland. We agreed to catch up in Germany. So far, nothing unusual.
Two days before leaving Hamberg, we got in contact again and arranged to catch up in Berlin when I arrived. I did not realised they had organised a guided tour and full accomodation for 5 days with local scouts! This set the tone for the next 2 weeks...
My hosts for the week were Till and Kathi, and with their friends Elmar and Sandra, I saw bits of the city Id never have believed existed.
Highlights included:
- The incredibly unique courtyards in the centra city area: I would have sworn they were private driveways, but you walk into one and thereś cafes everywhere. You walk into another and itś covered in grafitti with underground clubs. Another one and itś a small garden. And these places are right next door to each other.
- The working girls: after dark, out they come, and the only reason they rate a mention is that they practically have a uniform here. Pink highheel boots, a belt masquerading as a dress, a second belt masquerading as a top, long blond hair, and a bum-bag with a can of mace attached to it. They might as well go around with neon signs - even I figured it out and Iḿ notoriously bad at noticing this sort of thing. Usually I just assume everyone is really friendly tonight...
- Bin fires: Bored on the weekend? In Berlin the place to be for students at night is the local park. Chill with friends, make a small BBQ, have some drinks, set fire to the bins, watch fire brigade and police out them out, wait till they leave, repeat. Good times had by all. Every Friday and Saturday.
- Cheap rent: Berlin is apparently the cheapest capital city in Europe. This is an understatement. The rent for a month in appartment in literally the centre of Berlin is what I payed last year in Melbourne per week. Madness.
- Biking escapades: So we went out. And in something of a running theme for me, the club we got into was filled with 18 year olds. The natural result was we all got rather happy on the local brew, danced like mad people and the rode Till and Kathi's bikes home. How we survived I still don't know; we ran into each other dozens of times, missed light poles by inches and sang all while singing very loudly. Badly.
Overall Berlin is a strange city, still feeling the social aftermath of WW2 and the Cold War pretty keenly, but with some incredibly unique elements to it as a result. I strongly recommend The West Side Gallery - part of the Wall still covered in art.
After Berlin it was off to a stint of hard labour at Großzelung, a nearby Scout Camp. But first a trip to the Saxenhausen concentration camp. Won't go into detail here, but you have to see one of these places and hear the stories to really understand the enormity of the horrors here. A must do.
Stone walling
Großzelung is working towards being an environmental centre, and Phil is doing a great job towards it. Our job for the weekend: build a dry-stone wall (a wall with no cement) for the bees to live in. I like solid work at the best of times and after lazing around Europe for 4 months this was exactly what I needed - carrying rocks. Ug like.
My enthusiasm earned me a new nickname though - the Australian Joker. Basically the German guys would have conversations along the lines of "Can we move this rock on our own, or are we going to have to play the Joker and call over the Australian?" I'm not sure, but I'm taking it as a complement...
Wolfsberg
Home of VW and also Therese and Hans-Juergen who put me up for a few days and entertained me lavishly. The visit to the VW Autostat exhibition was a definite highlight - this place is the equivalent of a thempark for cars. The fact that even I was impressed by it says quite a lot.
Solo trecking
Long term, er, readers may have noticed a theme up to this point - Ie basically been staying at peopleś places since I left Switzerland. While this is a pretty sweet arrangement, I decided it was to stop being a mooching bum and go try some of this solo travelling I hear so much about!
So after farewelling all my friends in Berlin and Wolfsberg, it was off to Frankfurt.
Palunawack tensions in Frankfurt
Call me odd, but for some reason it was really comforting to see skyscrapers again. Funny thing about Europe is that there aren't many of these around; very different to Aus. Great town this one and had a lot of fun wandering around, checking out the local jazz club and generally being a tourist.
Thereś a notable Turkish population here and it was at this point that the Palunawack T-shirt, after which these emails are named, started to attract some attention. I'm not clear on the details since I don't speak German or Turkish, but while wandering around the park at dusk I noticed a large group of Turkish guys staring at me in a not-all-that-friendly way. Naturally this scared the shit out of me, but I kept walking towards them. Because I'm an idiot.
Next thing you know one of these guys starts over towards me, points at the shirt and demanded something. Dunno what it was but Iḿ pretty sure it wasn't "nice shirt, where can I get one?". I got out of it with the usual dumb Australia tourist routine, with plenty of extra "mate!"'s thrown in there, but the shirt took a bit of a hiatus after that...
Triberg
Next on the list was Triberg, smack in the middle of the Black Forest. Thought I'd drop in for a bit of hiking and to see the countryside. I had no idea what I was getting in for, because at this point, everything went rather surreal.
Baggage Handling
The youth hostel at Triberg is up a bloody steep hill with no bus. While hauling the suitcase up here I learned why it pays not be a cheap with luggage.
Pulling away I thought "gee it's dragging a big heaving on the left side".
On queue, the handle falls off.
I stand staring at the bit of metal in my hand for a little while, shrug, swear a bit and start hauling the bag by the short handle, thinking "I s'pose it could be worse".
On queue, the left wheel tears off. Not falls off, TEARS off.
After 5 minutes of quiet contemplation I decide it's better to laugh than cry and attempt dragging the bag on one wheel. No go. Eventually the only option I can think of was to lift the entire bag on top of my head and carry it resting on my backpack, Tibetan style.
Take my word for it; this is not a good look. I became accutely aware at this point that I have packed far too much stuff...
2 hours later in the hostel and much work with a lighter and wire, I think I've got it fixed. For now...
Tiny Town
The first night in Triberg I headed out looking for some dinner. The first place I tried looked a bit odd on the outside. The inside confirmed this: bright pink, waitresses looking like Tina Turner in Thunderdome, and a dancing pole...after eventually making the connection I backed out at speed.
The second place I tried turned out to be the local hangout and there I met Dieter, a very friendly local who spent a lot of time in Brazil and the US and said I reminded him a lot of himself. 2 hours and a few beers later I'm invited to dinner the next night. It was a great party and really good to meet some people from the area, who were also well traveled.
Beyond this Triberg is a tourist town wuth a preoccupation with cuckoo clocks, but the forest is retty amazing and I spent two days happily lost in the trees.
Lace exhibitions to Bohemian escapades
At breakfast in Triberg I met Birgit. We chatted a bit with her OK english and my non-existant German, and after lamenting my suitcase shenanigans, she offered to give me a lift to Heidelberg and I could help her out loading some stuff into her car at an exhibition she had a stall at. Sounded good to me, so off we go.
Straight into yet another "How did this happen" experience.
First of all we arrive at the exhibiton, which turns out to be for German lace makers. Lace isn't exactly something I've had a keen interest in over the years, but after getting my head around the concept I actually quite enjoyed it - the detail is incredible.
So now suitably educated on lace, we head off again and Birgit tells me weŕe dropping in on her nice to say hi. Fine with me. And so I met Marlies.
Within 15 minutes of meeting Marlies I had riden a tandem bike through a park, been invited to a free-dancing event that night and a tour of the town, and arranged to stay the night.
Within 2 hours of meeting Marlies, I had climbed 3 trees, watched a sword fight, slacklining, juggling and various other performances in a park, discussed religion, ethics, sexuality and travelling, waded through a fountain, and been covered in spring flowers.
Then there was the free dance - essentially a DJ playing a wide variety of music and everyone just doing their thing, completely oblivious to everyone else around them and all 100% drug free. Very very awesome concept and great way to let go and enjoy yourself.
Overall, it was the high point to my trip so far and one I'll be looking back on for quite a while.
Heidelberg
The University town. Every time I roll into a new city I have no idea where I am, what things are like or what to expect. I usually also have a pretty negative attitude too thanks to the long train ride and carrying a suitcase on my head. But Heidelberg managed to impress me from the start - between the green hills flanking the river, the castle ruins on the hill, the amazing Old Town and the surprisingly warm weather, I was instantly a fan.
Ding dong the iPaq's dead - anyone who knew me over the last two year will have met the iPaq, AKA "That stupid, buzzing, interrupting, life-running, yuppie-device, shut-up-you-horrible-little-
The funny thing was that after 2 year of relying on this little phone, it turns out I'm doing perfectly fine without it.
Student angst
I don't know why I was surprised after my recent run of events, but while I was there Heidelberg was the site a couple of decent student protest. Quite entertaining to watch the way Germans do a protest. On the surface it was the same as back home, but there were little things...everyone kept to the road and left the footpath free; all the anners and signs were clearly spelt with proper punctuation; no-one smashed, set fire to, or spray-painted anything. Quite polite realy.
Cologne
Next on the list was Cologne, or Köln as it's called in Germany. Now I know this is anathema for the European traveller, but the catherdral wasn't that great. Yeah sure it's impressively big, but frankly, after a while they're all just churches. They all got the same stuff.
In fact Cologne in general didn't really excite me at all, with the possible exception of the guy who tried to steal my suitcase.
Ok, so I was asking for it, leaving it unattended while I was in a shop, but I was watching it through the glass and so noticed the guy standing really, really close to my bag and extend the handle...
Even then things could have gone badly, except for two innovative anti-theft devices I have installed. Namely the handle being broken and the left wheel having been ripped off. Kinda put a cramp on the poor guy's style when the handle came right off in his hand.
I wandered out and stood next to him until he got awkward and walked away. All the same, a little bit shaky after that.
Amsterdam - the city of lights of a specific spectrum.
Look,most of what I could say about Amsterdam everyone already knows. Let me sum it up by saying it was educational. Very eductional.
The prostitutes are more of a tourist attraction than anything else, though I was a little put off by the variety of people down there. Old couples and families with small children didn't seem to fit for me.
Frankly I learned more about marijuana in 2 days here than 23 years prior. The Hemp museum was extremely informative, and after three nights out on the town, I've see just about every reaction to pot going around. Want some fun? Try giving someone stoned a high-5. My hand was apparently "the size of an elephant". Why you would buy weed in Amsterdam in beyond me though. All you need to do to get high there is breath...
Amsterdam is straight up and down unique, the alternative is the mainstream here and I kinda like that. Surprisingly, having all the sex, drugs and videotape up in your face was quite refreshing in a way.
The only down side - Amsterdamage. Unless you know where to shop, the place is pricey. And since you're there to party...Big shout out to the Irish/Scottish/English crew I met out there. It was a good night we had and watching you lot giggling after 3 space cakes was extremely entertaining.
In Brugge
Brugge is the most well preserved medieval town in Europe. I know this because I saw the movie In Brugge on the plane on the way to Switzerland. The film is about two hitmen on holiday and I thoroughly recommend it, but it probably wasn'the greatest reason for visiting the town. Never the less I had a great time. Beautiful city, and the canals were quite cool.
But as with everywhere else, it's the people you meet who make the stay, and the 5 Perth guys, one Irishman and one Canadian I met made it for me. Much fun walking around sightseeing during the day, and much more fun hitting the local nightlife. If anyone tells you Brugge has no night life, they haven't been to the right places.
Luxemberg by accident - probably the best way to see it.
So I was heading back to Germany for a rather large Scout event I'd heard about and I; A) didn't pay attention to how far away Brugge is from Germany (12 hours), and B) miscounted the days involved. As a result, I found myself somewhat stranded in Luxemberg with C) a reservation.
Bugger.
Eventually I found a nice place about an hour out of town. Turned out to be in the middle of the countryside right next to a castle, so I enjoyed the night there. Turns out Luxemberg speaks French as well, so it was out with the phrase book, which the staff at the one and only restaurant found very amusing I suspect...
Beyond this I was very surprised how much forest there is in Luxemberg, as well as Belgium and Holland, once you get away from the cities - might be worth a return visit.
****INTERMISSION****
Congrats if you've made it this far. Sorry about the length, I think I'll have to make these emails a bit more frequest in future! As a reward for you're persistence, hereś a quick fact for you: German beer is exceptional and they drink it all the time. To put these two facts in erspective, I will have serious trouble drinking Aus beer when I get back as it's going to taste like piss, and of the 4 weeks I spend in Germany, only two days did not involve beer. It's that good.
****BACK TO THE SHOW****
Back in Heidelberg
One more night here before Rieneck, but I went for a walk up a hill, smack bang into another hippy-fest. Turns out thereś a huge ancient amphitheater on this hill and that tonight it was the stage for a drum festival. Watchd for a bit then decided to get some sleep.
Castle Rieneck Jubilee
Which brings me to here. Believe it or not, the German Scouts own a castle. A freaking castle. It's run as a hotel and mostly involves school groups. The place is incredible as it is, but I was invited to the 50th Jubilee celebrations this weekend and I couldn't have asked for a better introduction.
Three days of activities, meeting people, furtive poker games, long walks and occasional helping cook or run the event, followed by three nights of drinking, singing (or carousing since we're in a castle) and eating, and I'm more buggered than when I arrived. Which became pretty obvious to everyone when I fell asleep during the Sunday morning curch service (these are Protestant Scouts I'm staying with) and nearly fell off the pew. Smooth.
But 18 email address, 4 invitations to Austria, a invitation to stay on as staff at Rieneck, and about 40 invitations to come to an major event here in April 2010, later, I'd have to say it was an incredible experience all round. I expect I shall return.
Where to now Gumshoe?
France my good friend! Paris tomorrow and then off to a week volunteering on a farm in Bordaux. Plenty more stories to come I suggest.
Photos and Videos
Quite a few new ones up there and a hell of a lot yet to come - Iḿ gonna need a bigger memory card!
As you'll notice, I haven't labled a few of the films yet - stay tuned.
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What Cheer!
Gordon "The Australian Joker" Young
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