Surfing USA - well no, in Munich

For those of you who have not been to Munich, there is a crazy spot not far from the city center, just inside the English Gardens. The river that runs through here (Isar) creates a nice wake just in front of a bridge. Some people take the opportunity to surf. It is a sight worth seeing. Who would have ever thought surfing would be a popular sport in Munich?

Check it out!

München-Berchtesgaden

This past weekend I traveled to the southernmost German state, Bayern (or Bavaria), for the second time in 2 months. My previous trip there was short and only included a visit to Munich.
The second time around was a bit different from the touring perspective. On Friday, my partner in crime, Nick, and I bought a day pass for Munich's public transport and headed to the Olympia Zentrum. Munich hosted the Summer Olympics in 1972, perhaps best known for the kidnapping and the killing of 11 Israeli team members (among them were athletes, coaches and referees). It was a sad moment in West Germany's history who at the time was trying to cope with the aftermath of WWII and did not need this to happen on its territory. Nevertheless, we visited the grounds and the Olympic stadium.
I must admit that Berlin's Olympic Stadium is more of a sight but Munich's Olympic Center and park as a whole are a nice area of the city, complete with many sporting compounds (arenas, pools, fields, etc.) and a lake in the middle of it.
After the visit we proceeded half a mile down the road to the BMW Museum. I am a big fan of BMW cars and this tour was really exciting for me. The museum and the BMW Welt buildings themselves are architectural beauties.
The interior of the museum is enhanced by a very modern design. Collaboration with Apple is evident as all of technology within the compound is Apple made plus there is this "experience" feel to the whole thing. Furthermore, the colors are very simple, white and black for most of it. The building is then sectioned into different BMW eras, each room containing historical information as well as the best cars, motorcycles and engines of each decade. A cool add-on is headphones above engines that allow you to listen to that particular motor's rumble.
One car in particular caught my interest. It is a 1956 507 model, which is just a nice looking sports car. To be honest, even though one can see many features of this car belonging to the 50s, I see it as a car ahead of its times. In fact, this car was located on the floor next to the 1996 Z3 and 1999 Z8 models, and it didn't not stick out like a sore thumb, but rather it was, in my opinion, more beautiful than the other two.
After the BMW Museum tour it was time for lunch. We hopped on a subway and were supposed to ride it for 4 stops. On the third stop, for some unknown reason, the subway stopped and sat idle for about 20 minutes. It was funny to see people run out of the train we were sitting in and get on another one on the other platform and perform the same process multiple times back and forth. I guess the loudspeaker announcements weren't really helpful explaining people what to do. Anyway, after a long delay, we were finally at our destination: The English Gardens and more specifically the Chinese Tower. Now this place is famous for a gazebo-looking building resembling a typical Chinese architecture but in reality there is nothing Chinese about it. In fact it is a beautiful Biergarten in middle of a huge park. As you can see, I took the opportunity to indulge in a real Bavarian lunch: Bratwurst mit Knödell (dumpling) und Püre (mashed potatoes) and of course a brewski. The rest of the afternoon we spent enjoying München but called it an early night as we had more traveling planned for the following day.

We took a train from Munich to Freilassing, about a 2 hour ordeal, and from there another train to Berchtesgaden. This place is famous for being the location of Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), which was built by Hitler. I must admit that the whole ride down to Berchtesgaden was beautiful. The landscape was a series of rolling hills filled with alternating evergreen woods, beautiful pastures, and farmland (animal as well as some corn and hops).
Once at Berchtesgaden, we took a bus to Obersalzburg, which is where the tour to Eagle's Nest starts. Then another bus takes you 6km (about 3.7 miles) up the mountain on a very narrow road with breathtaking sights. On a clear day one can see Salzburg, which is just across the border in Austria, about 20km (or 12 miles) away. Once the bus has reached the final destination, tourists can either opt for a 120 meter elevator ride up to the Kehlsteinhaus or take a walking path. We did both (the elevator on the way up and the path on the way down).
It is a strange feeling to be enjoying gorgeous views from above knowing that such an evil man had this place built for his enjoyment. I guess one can say that at least he didn't lack taste in his "secret layer" selection. The amazing thing about this place is that all of it was built within 13 months, including the road and the elevator.
On the mountains around this place there is some snow that failed to melt even though it was definitely above freezing on the day we were there. To complement the views, a few hang gliders were roaming around making me feel jealous; I can only imagine the view they had.

I am really glad that I was able to see some of the countryside besides the major German cities. Now I am back in Cologne and the next few weeks will be very busy. Finals start in a week and a half; and this week I am in a Logistics Seminar from 9am till 5:30pm every day. It is crazy to think that this experience will soon come to an end, and that I will have to get back into a work routine. However, before that happens two more trips are coming up. I am going to Paris on July 18th for 3 days and then on July 22nd I am off to Naples to spend the remaining 10 days with my family. I cannot wait.

Potsdam

While visiting Berlin, I took the opportunity to take a short train ride to the town of Potsdam, a beautiful quaint town perhaps known mostly as the place where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin discussed the future of Germany in 1945. However, this is also a place with a number of historic buildings and beautiful palaces.
As I stated above, the train ride is usually 30 minutes long unless you take the city transportation, S-Bahn, which stops at every little station. I of course made that mistake on the way to Potsdam but learned from my mistake fast and took a Regional train straight into Berlin on my way back.
The town is surrounded by a water system featuring a river and a number of lakes. Some of the sights are located in parks around the lake. I decided to walk the entire town instead of relying on the public transportation. In one hand it was great to see everything on foot, on the other I regretted not having come to Potsdam on the previous day as it was I believe close to 90 degrees on the day I was there. I seriously contemplated jumping into this one lake and join the numerous Germans who were taking the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather.
I guess the highlight of my short visit was the Schloss Sanssouci (or Palace Sanssouci) and its own Bradenburg Tor (like the one in Berlin). The area around the Sanssouci is breathtaking. Nicely organized and maintained gardens, fountains and sculptures, fill in the surroundings.
The Bradenburg Tor leads into a pedestrian street filled with cafes and restaurants. Walking through town I got the sense that this place is where one comes to relax; a very nice complement to Berlin and I could imagine Berliners flocking down to Potsdam on weekends or holidays to get away from the busy city.
If you do go to Berlin, I would suggest making your way to this nice town as it is worth a visit.

Berlin

On Friday June 20th, early in the morning, I took a Lufthansa flight to Berlin from Cologne. About 45 minute flight as expected went by really fast especially since I was asleep the entire time. After getting off the plane I took the bus and subway to Pegasus Hostel as its website had suggested. I was in Berlin for 3 full days.



Day 1
My first day in the city was pretty exciting. I was still tired from staying up all night after celebrating Germany's Euro 2008 Quarterfinal win over Portugal, but had enough energy to walk all over the city and do a preliminary sightseeing. I first walked to Mühlenstraße, a 10 minute walk from the hostel and near the Ostbahnhof (East Train Station). As you may have guessed, this was the eastern part of the city once under Soviet influence/rule. And Mühlenstraße still features about a mile long stretch of the original Berlin wall. After the reunification, many famous graffiti artists were commissioned to paint the portions of the wall. Now, almost 20 years after the fall, the government is looking for ways to preserve this portion of the wall and the featured paintings; this is obviously very ironic as the West Germany's government 20 years ago was doing all in its power for the wall to be destroyed.
Standing in front of this structure I kept reliving images from the movies such as "Other People's Lives" and "Good-Bye Lenin", both of which featured a story of East Berliners trapped on the wrong side of the wall.
After a quick tour and a few pictures I wandered towards the biggest building I could see in the distance, or the TV tower, for no other reason than I knew it was located at the Alexanderplatz or the Mitte (German for middle) part of the city. There I walked past several interesting buildings. In the pictures one can see the interesting composition of buildings, from new to old to destroyed. I was crossing between East and West parts of the city during the walk and the Communist era buildings in the East certainly make one remember the recent past, but then other buildings such as the Berliner Dom reflect more remote history of the city.
During my stroll I noticed that around most bridges there are street musicians playing either classical or folklore music. And the styles were mixing between what I believe were German interpretors to Rom ones. And they were reminding me of the movie "Dom za Vjesanje" (Time of the Gypsies is the English title), as the music sounded similar and it could have been a rendition of Bregovic's "Ederlezi" soundtrack. This all made it for a quite nice experience.
Next I walked past the Brandenburg Tor (Gate), which is the gate to the city that ended up behind the Wall by a few feet. Right across the street in fact there is a memorial to the victims who were shot while attempting to escape to the West. In front of the Gate one can take a picture with stand-ups dressed in Soviet and American army uniforms, one holding a Soviet flag and the other an American one. A great tourist trap but nonetheless a reflection of a place that was once divided.
A few feet down the road is the Reichstag, or German Parliament Building. "Dem Deutsche Volk" sign is inscribed on the front facade, which is German for "To the German People". The building is a mix of historic architecture and modern engineering. Inside, in fact, features a big what seems to look like an upside-down mirror pyramid enclosed by a glass cupola. Very neat sight, but more than just aesthetics this "sculpture" is an intricate solar-panel system that captures daylight through the cupola and turns it into energy that provides electricity to the whole building. Talking about self-sustainability...
From the Reichstag one can venture straight to the Tiergarten, a huge park in the middle of the city. Alongside the park, runs Strasse des 17. Juni, which leads to Große Sterne Monument. The name of this street derives from people's uprising in East Berlin that took place on June 17th, 1953. Interestingly, along this street one can find also a Soviet War memorial that commemorates those Red Army soldiers fallen in WWII.
After the long walk, I headed towards Postdamer Platz, which was completely destroyed in WWII as it housed Hitler's bunker (or it was near it). On the way to it, there is a huge memorial dedicated to Jewish Holocaust victims. It is a very powerful sight; it is composed of hundreds (maybe even thousands) cement blocks creating an interesting maze one can walk through. The passages then go up- and downhill creating interesting optical illusion while walking through. And one is really overwhelmed by the magnitude of the evil that prompted for this memorial.

Day 2
Day 2 had a bit of a late start due to having gone out with some Irish guys I met at the Hostel on the previous night. I needed sleep after making it back to the Hostel at 5:30am. The adventure with the Irish necessitates a blog post on its own, so I'll try to post it later.
On this day I visited Checkpoint Charlie, which used to be a security/border checkpoint through which most diplomats went through between East and West. Also a spot where US and Soviet tanks faced each other in a power stand up. Today a replica checkpoint exists as a monument and of course two stand-ups wearing US and Soviet Uniforms complete the scene. All around this place there is quite a bit of construction going on as I believe Germans are trying to undo the damage that the Communist era did to this part of the city. Besides that there are also quite a few informational signs discussing the history of the Berlin Wall. To commemorate its divisive existence, a two-row cobblestone line has been placed throughout Berlin's roads where the Wall once used to stand. This line at times cuts through a large city street diagonally and it's an eyesore, but it drives home a point, the Wall was so senseless.
My next stop was the Olympic Stadium. This place hosted the controversial (because of Mr. Adolf Hitler) 1936 Olympic Games. It has since been remodeled; its history and remodeled architecture create one great sight. I spent about an hour walking around, getting close to the soccer field. For me it was more than the 1936 Olympics; this was where Italy beat France to win the World Cup two summers ago. I cannot wait to show pictures to my Italian friends as I don't believe any of them have made it there yet.
After touring the stadium I went to see the Schloss Charlottenburg, which is the biggest Palace in Berlin. It is surrounded by a nice and quite gardens and a big park. I ventured into it, found a bench and enjoyed the scenery for a while. I needed to re-charge after a long walk especially since later that evening I was meeting some friends who were also visiting Berlin. I knew another long night awaited me.

So this is as much as I will write about touring Berlin. Day 3 I spent entirely visiting Potsdam, a town about 30 min away from Berlin, known for the Potsdam Conference, and you can read all about it in my next post.

Number 44

I meant to post this last Friday, June 20th but didn't get around to editing it.

This is a random post; it doesn't involve yet another trip account but rather it focuses on our, American, Presidential Election.

So, tonight I was out with a few German friends plus Nick from the U of M watching the Euro 2008 Championship Quarterfinals between Germany and Portugal. We went to the Kölnarena, which is the equivalent of the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul Minnesota. It is an arena that hosts professional hockey and basketball games as well as numerous concerts year round. Tonight though, they had the "public viewing" of the Euro 2008 Quarterfinals. It was a great experience. Some 20,000 fans packed the arena, chanted and celebrated as Germany beat Portugal 3-2. It was really fun to watch the Germans celebrate their team's victory.

One thing, though, caught me by surprise. After the game, we decided to go to Zülpicher Strasse, which is an area close to the University, known for parties as well as the place to go to celebrate National team's victories. As we got off the tram, a few people were standing by handing fliers. To my and Nick's surprise, the fliers we were handed were about the American Presidential Election (see picture for the flier).

Now, we all know that the election is a few months away and that it certainly doesn't allow anyone else but American citizens to participate in it. So why am I getting "Obama" fliers in the middle of summer in Cologne, Germany? To be honest, I have found out that Europeans really follow American politics, some probably more than your average Yankee; and over the couple of months I've been here, I've noticed that most Europeans would choose Obama for the next US President if it were up to them. So after seeing this I start wondering if Europeans (or for that matter anyone else besides the US citizens) have any influence on who we (Americans) elect for our president. From the flier I can deduce that they are not sponsored by Obama's campaign but they are rather independent. (also, why in the world would Obama spend his funding dollars in Europe where people cannot vote for him; and even if they could the exchange rate is so bad that he'd be better off not wasting money here). In reality no one but the US citizens have the privilege (or duty) to cast the vote; but it would be inconsiderate to say that the rest of the world doesn't have its input. The matter of the fact is that Europeans cannot wait till the person they recognize as the US President is not George W. Bush. Most will tell you that, even though it's a common belief, they don't "hate" Americans but they hate Bush. And now to prove their point, I, an American citizen, am getting solicited by Germans, who don't have the right to vote in the American election, to vote for Obama.
One of my favorite economics/current events authors, Thomas Friedman, wrote a column for New York Times a week or so ago focusing on the similar issue I am describing. He wrote about his experiences in Egypt. In his estimation, most Egyptians would vote for Obama as well. He goes one step further to say that Egyptians would vote for Obama because of his Muslim roots. Now, Obama has done everything in his power to distance himself from Islam but the fact remains his father's background is Muslim; he has never been a practicing Muslim, in fact he has been brought up as a Christian, however, his father's roots are Muslim even though his father was never a religious man. For more information on what Thomas Friedman wrote click HERE. Muslim or not, he is one American leader that apparently stands a chance in the Middle East.
One might ask why are not Europeans talking about John McCain at all? Do they even know he is running? Do they know who he is or that he was a POW in Vietnam? My guess is that fewer people in Europe know who McCain is than those who know about Obama. Additionally, my intuition drives me to conclude that a minority candidate in a traditionally white-male dominated election is making huge news in Europe. For what is worth I believe our partners are ready for us Americans to enter another chapter in the history and defy common beliefs. I am not endorsing Obama (yet anyways, I need to start learning about both candidates' agendas), but one cannot ignore what he's already done for America: People from around the world are watching and see this man as the changing of the guards in the American society. Many European nations have elected women to political posts such as the Prime Minister, but none have elected a minority PM or president. In one way, one may think that the US is behind as we've only had white males as leaders; however, regardless of the election outcome, Americans are the only ones that are considering a member of a minority group to be their next president. This is huge and obviously others are noticing it. And even though I hate politics, I cannot wait for the 2008 Election. Whether it is Obama or McCain, we as Americans need a change of direction in order to undo the damage the current administration has done.

Enough about politics; I am an hour away from going to Berlin. Yes, I am pulling an all-nighter as the really good deal I got on the plane ticket involves a 6:45am departure from Cologne.....ouch.
I am ready though for another experience. Berlin is still the symbol of the Cold War and I cannot wait to see it and write a post about it.

Till then....

From your Naturalized American abroad

Amsterdam

Amsterdam – June 5th – June 8th



A good friend of mine from Minnesota, Tony, was coming to Amsterdam for work and told me to join him and stay with him for a couple of days. Decision to travel to Amsterdam was one of the easiest ones to make given that: a) the lodging was free; b) Cologne is only 3 hours away by train; and c) this was the weekend of my 29th birthday.
I arrived to Amsterdam Centraal around 11:30am on Thursday, June 5th. Tony was already in town and in meetings but he managed to leave a key for me at the reception desk of the Amsterdam Apollolaan Golden Tulip hotel. I took the tram to the hotel, which is situated a bit on the outskirts of downtown giving you a nice and quiet Amsterdam experience; yet close enough to the action thanks to the public transportation.

After having left my stuff in the room, I decided to head downtown and walk around a bit. I walked a while through various neighborhoods, going through several street markets filled with people from all over the world. I assume some people were local immigrants, while others were tourists. It was pretty entertaining, many different languages were being spoken, and in a sense it was a similar ambience one experiences while walking through the streets of Manhattan. I only saw a few areas when I decided to go back to the hotel and meet up with Tony.

We decided to go out and begin celebrating my birthday right when it turned midnight. The tram we took dropped us off at Dam, which is the main square in the city center. From there we proceeded to walk through the adjacent streets. We settled for a nice looking pub where we had a few drinks. The bar was filled with young Dutch professionals, who we presume were still there after a happy hour that might have started 5 hours earlier. After a few drinks, we decided to go the Rembrandtplein, a square in the center of the city named after Rembrandt. This part of the city is famous for the number of disco clubs. I really didn’t know what to expect on a Thursday night, but we went to a place called Escape. This club is one of the nicest dance venues I’ve been to. It is quite large and to my surprise it was packed even though it was a Thursday night. The music was loud and typical of Holland as most famous House/Trance music DJs come from here. We stayed till 4am and took a cab home. Poor Tony had lots of work to do the next day; I on the other hand could sleep in and then venture into touring the city sights.

I slept in of course. When Tony came back from work around 1pm, we decided to go to the city center for lunch. After walking around the many areas, we finally found an Italian restaurant on a side street. The food was good, but not great. The main attraction was the one coffee shop across the street. Now, as many of you have heard, the sale of Marijuana is legal in Amsterdam in these coffee shops. The government here apparently believes that by legalizing it, it will make it safer as prohibition will not stop people from smoking pot. At the entrance they have a counter with a menu. The menu lists the different types of cannabis and prices. The clerk is there to tell you what type of aroma, strength and occasion each type fits in, sort of like a wine rep selling you different type of wines. Pretty funny.

After lunch, I went to explore the rest of the city. I stumbled upon the Nemo Museum, which I believe is a science museum. The cool thing about it is the shape of the building which reminds one of a big ship. From there I walked through the various canal streets and enjoyed the scenery. Some people travel by little boats through the canals. This option is suitable for those who don’t have time constraints as it is illegal to create a wake with your boat and therefore navigation speed is very slow. The other preferred method of transportation is bicycle. Now there are bike paths on every street and people really respect cyclists as part of the traffic flow. For us foreigners (even though I should be used to it having lived in Cologne for 2 months now) it might seem strange and also dangerous. The danger comes from not being aware of the bikers and walking on the bike paths without paying attention. So one must really be careful crossing the street as one must look for trams, buses, cars, and yes, bikes.

One of the attractions in this city is Anne Frank’s house. It is located in the city center. It is nowadays a museum one can visit, which I did. It is a very interesting experience going through each floor of this house and learning about the secret Annex where Frank family took refuge from the Nazis. It is amazing to think that you’re standing in the room where Anne wrote her famous diary. A few old notebooks are on display showing Anne’s dad’s business records as well as Anne’s writings. It is a very sad story as the family’s hiding place was discovered by the Nazis and the entire family was deported to Auschwitz. Only Anne’s dad made it out alive, after which he found the diary (well it was saved by the family that gave the Franks the hiding place in their own home). He was very proud of his daughter and was really pleasantly surprised after reading Anne’s diary as her thought process was extremely mature for her young age.

After the Anne Frank house, I ventured back to Rembrandtplein and visit the statue built to commemorate Rembrandt. The monument is composed by a dozen sculptures. The biggest of all is Rembrandt and then in front of him is a mix of soldiers and musicians/artists.

Friday night Tony and I decided to walk through the Red Light District. Legalized cannabis and prostitution are the things that make Amsterdam, well, Amsterdam. I am not going to discuss the ethics here, but again, the government here decided way back, in the 18th or 19th century that prostitution was going to happen regardless of their involvement as many sailors were coming in and out of the city. So, they made the oldest profession a legal affair. It felt awkward to walk through the streets and see all these women promoting themselves in the windows. Along the streets there were many bachelor parties roaming around. Now, what kind of bride to be would be ok with her future hubby going to Amsterdam for his bachelor party is beyond me?

On Saturday, I decided to visit the Van Gogh museum. In Amsterdam there is a whole part of the city dedicated to various museums, and it is called Museumplein. This sight is best known by the “I am Amsterdam” sign displayed in the middle of the park. Van Gogh museum features several hundred artifacts this artist composed. The interesting story about him is that he had no formal training and began painting after he was fired from his job at the age of 26. He quickly became one of the leaders of the Impressionist movement, however he only had about 10 years worth of life to dedicate to art as he suffered from some sort of mental illness, which made him cut a piece of his earlobe off first and then in the end cost him his life (he shot himself). The paintings that he left behind are awesome.

So this is my Amsterdam experience. I am glad I went and saw it, but I am not sure it is my favorite place as the things that make Amsterdam famous are a bit too outrageous for my liking.

In other news, Euro 2008 has started and I am so happy to be here in Europe to watch the games. I am back in Cologne now and tonight Germany plays its first game, against Poland. There will be a huge public viewing in the center of the city and it should be a good experience. Tomorrow my Italian ragazzi take the field against the Netherlands. Forza Italia!!!

So that’s all for this post.

Aufwiedersehen

Exam

This will probably be the most boring of all the posts I've written to date. It doesn't involve me going to yet another fun trip but it's about my first final exam in Germany.
One of my classes here was only a 2 month ordeal (faster pace, we met for 3 hours/week vs. 1.5 hours) and yesterday was the exam day. I feel like I did pretty well; the only issue with the test was the time allotment that was only 1 hour and one had to really fly through the questions and answer them as quickly as possible.
To celebrate the end of the class, a group of us got together last night. It was really cool as there were people from Germany, Spain, Greece, UK, Romania, Hungary, Norway, etc. We cooked dinner and had a great time playing games and chatting. Interestingly, everyone speaks a few languages, so our conversations were going from being in English to German, Spanish, back to English, etc. Really fun.
After taking this weekend off to study, I am ready for my next trip, which is Amsterdam. I leave on Thursday and will be there through Sunday. I will celebrate my 29th birthday in Amsterdam; it should be a lot of fun.
Well that's all for now. I have to go back to studying.

Tchuß