Eurotrip: The Plumly sisters do Europe

March 24th-March31st

On Easter Monday, yes the Germans have two, well technically three days of Christmas and two days of Easter (Crazy, I know!), Natasha and I decided to go to the Freilichtmuseum in Molfsee, where I was before with one of my teachers and her kids and which is just a short bus ride from here. I think I have written this before, but at the museum there are houses from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries here in the state. We woke up, ate breakfast, and then packed a lunch to take with us. When we were walking downstairs to get ready to leave we opened the door at the foot of the stairs to exit the building and a guy was standing there with a large red suitcase. Natasha happened to look down and realize it was hers, otherwise I would not have thought twice about it! We weren't sure why only one was there so I asked the man if the other one was still lost. He said it just hadn't arrived yet and should be here in the next few days. They were supposed to call before dropping off the luggage, but apparently didn't feel the need to do this! Anyway, Tash was excited to have her clothes and other items and to no longer have to wear my clothes. We brought the suitcase back upstairs and since we missed the bus we decided we would just start walking in the direction of town and catch the next one at one of the stops along the way. We were walking for about 10 minutes, when out of nowhere it started to snow like crazy! Our options were really limited because everything cafe-wise was pretty much closed, so I decided to show her what a McCafe was. This is a Europeanized version of a McDonald's and has a cafe attached to it with cakes and such. At least McDonald's knows how to appeal to its European customers by disguising its cheap self with fancy leather seats and wallpaper. We all know that you would never see this at home, as McDonald's is usually a place for kids and when it comes to colors and design, looks like a clown threw up in it. Anyway so we had our cake and hot drinks to warm up, before braving the cold again. The weather had calmed down and it was only lightly snowing and the sun came out. We caught the next bus and arrived at the museum, to find that there were actually a decent amount of people there. We spent over 2 hours walking the grounds of the museum, entering all of the houses, and watching some of the craftsmen doing their jobs. I think that Natasha enjoyed the museum because we don't have anything like it at home and the houses are really beautiful on the inside and the outside. After we were finished we had to wait on the bus again so we sat eating our lunch at the bus stop. We came back to my apartment to warm up and then headed back out to Holtenau so that we could walk along the canal and I could show her the old lighthouse there. Following this, we were exhausted and cold and came back and cooked dinner and went to bed so that we could wake up for the early train to Berlin on Tuesday.

Tuesday

When we arrived in Berlin, we bought 48 hour tickets for the transport system and checked into our hostel. We had a nice place, a room with 6 others. Two Australians, who we thought were foreigners because their English didn't sound like it came from an English-speaking country, a German boy from Munich, and three Chinese students who are studying abroad in Europe. All were very nice. We were going to stay two nights in Berlin, but then I had called my department chair of English and she said that she would like to take Natasha and I to Schleswig, her home town, on Thursday, which meant we could only stay one night. This wasn't a big deal because Berlin is too big to see in two or three days, so it didn't make much of a difference. We headed out from the hostel for the city. Again it was freezing cold weather and the snow was off and on. Our first stop in Berlin was the Charlottenburg Palace. I wanted to show Natasha a palace in Germany and this one was a great choice. When we got there, we decided to take the tour, which lasted about two hours. After this, we went to Ku'damm to see the Gedaechtniskirche (Remembrance Church, destroyed in WWII and left standing as a monument and place of remembrance) and the Elefantentor (Huge gate with elephants at the bottom) at the Zoologischer Garten. From there we went to the Siegessaeule (Victory Column), which we decided to climb. When we got to the top after two hundred and sixty or so stairs, we were disappointed to see that it was snowing and our view was horrible. Neither of us liked the fact that it was really a tight squeeze at the top either. After a few attempts at pictures, we headed out and decided it was time for dinner because we were frozen and had been walking a lot the whole day. We went to a really nice Chinese place across from the Gedaechtniskirche, where we were earlier that day. After dinner, we decided to head back to the hostel because we were completely exhausted from all the walking and the cold. We got our showers, talked to our roommates and laid in bed until we fell asleep. We decided to get up early on Wednesday so that we would have enough time to accomplish everything that we wanted to do. First we went to the East Side Gallery, where a mile or two of the wall was left standing and artists from all over the world have painted on it. Both Natasha and I were really disappointed at the fact that many people have disrespected the art and spray painted over it. I was there in the summer of 2006 and can tell that it is worse now than before. Not only do people painting over the artworks destroy it, but also the weather is destroying the wall and artwork over time. It's condition hasn't been kept up and the weather is therefore corroding it. Walking along the East Side Gallery only took us about an hour. When we got to the station, there was an advertisement saying happy birthday, this was how I remembered that today was my birthday...ironic I know!

From there we were off to Alexanderplatz, where we saw the Rathaus (city hall), the Neptunbrunnen (fountain), and the Dome. After deciding it would be worth it to pay the money to go in, we saw the beautiful inside, the crypts, the museum inside and climbed the steps of the tower to get an amazing view of the city, this time without snow! It was still really cold and windy though. Finally, we were finished after a couple hours or longer and Natasha wanted to use the restroom, while we were there. We went downstairs where you had to pay. I think it was around 40 cents (quite normal in Germany). Anyway the woman who was cleaning the bathrooms was crazy. First she yelled at Natasha for standing in the sink area, saying that there wasn't enough room for people to stand in there at that it was a hazard. Then she asked me if Natasha had fallen in because she had been in there for a few minutes and continued by saying it's not very nice that people take so long when there are only two stalls and people are waiting in line. First of all no one was out there and I answered her with a “well when you have to go you have to go.” Then I told her that it wasn't a big deal and we were paying for it anyway because she made a face at me after saying that! She then yelled at a woman who had just come out of the bathroom with her kids because she felt the woman had short-changed her for three people, even though the mother said that she didn't even use the restroom! The mother got mad and threw her money and walked away! Wow, all of this taking place in a church...even more irony! She must have been having a bad day or something.

Following this adventure, we went to find a bakery to eat some lunch. The World Time Clock on Alexanderplatz was our next short stop and then we were off to Checkpoint Charlie. At Checkpoint Charlie they have a museum, but we opted not to do this (I had already done it) because they had an outdoor photo and history exhibition. We spent an hour or two walking along this, reading the history of the wall and division of Berlin. It was nice because it was in English and German and I didn't have to translate all of it! It also had info on the cold war and statistics for people who had been shot or killed trying to cross the wall. This was also very interesting for both of us. From Checkpoint Charlie we went to the Brandenburg gate. Here there were skateboarders performing tricks and a kid breakdancing. We watched them for 15-20 minutes and then decided we were still hungry, so we went to a cafe for cake for my birthday. It was delicious. After cake, we went to the Reichstag (German congress building). It's free to go in, but the line is always long. The weather was nice though a little chilly even in the sun. We were over an hour waiting and finally got inside. You can take the elevator to the top and walk around the outside and in the glass dome.

After getting pictures, we were off to dinner. We had found a place called Maximillian's earlier that was supposedly typically German and decided to go there for my Birthday dinner. The food was delicious and we paid directly after finishing so that we could make it to the station for the train we wanted to catch. On the train on the way to Berlin, it was completely packed (they even had to hold the train until people got off it to take the next one at one of the stops, never had that happen before) so I decided we should book seat reservations for the way back so that I wouldn't have to sit on the floor this time. Unfortunately, I accidentally booked the reservations for the 9:30 train and not the one around 8 and the reservations can't be changed, so we were forced to wait around in the station for an hour sitting at McDonald's. When we got on the train we realized that we didn't even need to book seat reservations because it was really empty...had we not though it would have been full. That's life. We arrived back in Kiel around midnight or later and went straight to bed because my teacher was arriving at 10:30 the next day to take us to Schleswig. We found the other suitcase with stuff for me in it sitting in front of my door, when we got back. One of the people in my apartment had signed for it because they once again had not called to say they were coming. Overall, I had a great birthday spent in Berlin with Natasha and received a lot of messages from friends here and at home.

Thursday

My teacher came 10 minutes early, as expected because Germans (not all) are known for punctuality. The weather was really great and when we got to Schleswig, we parked by the school where she did her student teaching. The view of the city from above was amazing. I had been there once before, but it was night time then. We walked down through the main street of the city and went into a few shops. We walked along the small streets to see the squares, the architecture, and some small houses. Then we went to the dome and went inside. Afterwards we ate lunch at a very nice German restaurant. From there we decided to go to the Viking Musuem in Haithabu. I'm pretty sure it is the only one in Germany. It was really interesting, but smaller than Natasha and I expected. Apparently, there are houses like the Vikings used to live in there, but my teacher wasn't wearing appropriate shoes for this, so we didn't get to see them. At about 3 we headed back to Kiel. Natasha and I decided that we would spend the rest of the day relaxing. We did look for a book on Copenhagen because we are heading there tomorrow, but we didn't find any cheap ones so we decided to wait and hope to find one there. Around 5 or 6 we did go for an hour walk down to the harbor and then back up to my apartment. We cooked dinner, packed and went to bed because we had to catch a train around 6:30 so that we would get to Copenhagen around 12.

Friday

We woke up really early and walked to the station to catch our train. We took the route over Luebeck on the way there, which also goes over Puttgarden. I didn't know this at the time, but this means that the train has to board a ferry there and from Puttgarden to Denmark everyone has to get out of the train that is on the ferry and then re-board when it is time to put the train back on real tracks! This was exciting and hilarious at the same time! After a while, I realized that I had been to Puttgarden before and had seen the trains go on the ferrys. This was in the summer of '06 when Bethany's German club traveled in Eastern Germany and ended on Fehmarn an island of Schleswig-Holstein, the state I live in. After the 5 or so hour train ride, we arrived at the Copenhagen Main Station. We went straight to the hotel, which was only a block from the station. Our room wasn't ready so we left our bag and hit the city for an hour before checking in. After dumping our things in our room we were off to explore the grand city. We walked past Tivoli peering through the gates. Unfortunately it is closed during the winter season. We walked to the Rathaus and the Main square where there are a lot of beautiful buildings and then headed down the main shopping street. From there we went to the stock market building and saw Christiansborg, one of the three palaces in Copenhagen. We continued walking and found the Theater and the New Harbor, which is the most colorful and most known area of Copenhagen. There are lots of restaurants and cafes here and the boats were docked in the harbor. It was really beautiful. From the harbor we walked to the Amelienborg palace where we saw the guards guarding it, even though the queen wasn't there (the Danish flags were not flying, this is how you can tell). From here it's a direct shot to the Marble church (actually made of Sandstone, liars!), which was very beautiful inside.

When we got to this point, we decided it was time for dinner, even though it wasn't that late yet. We were really hungry. We had found an Indian restaurant in the travel guide that I bought on board the ferry ship and decided if in our price range (Copenhagen is outrageously expensive), then we would eat there. We found the place after around 45 minutes of walking. Along the way, we passed Rosenborg, the third palace in Copenhagen. No one was in the restaurant so at first we thought it was closed, but we figured out it wasn't. In our eagerness to eat, we forgot that we didn't have much danish money left over after paying for our hotel room. The two of us were freaking out about it, but not too much because we thought we had just enough to cover the bill. The food was absolutely delicious and the server (I think he was also the owner of the restaurant was very friendly. At first he thought that we spoke Danish because he had asked us if we wanted to sit at a particular table that he pointed to and I had understood through context and said 'ja,' not knowing this is not just German for yes, but also Danish. He brought us the menus, which I could about ¾ understand and I helped Natasha. She knew what she wanted and asked him if they had anything similar to it and he told her what to get. After eating very quickly (you would think we were starving, we were hungry from all the walking and traveling!) he laughed at us and we asked for the bill and where the nearest ATM is in case we needed more money. The funny thing was, that he didn't seem the least bit concerned, when we asked this. He told us there was one around the corner. We had as we thought, just enough Krone to cover the cost of the meal, but nothing left to tip, so we paid that and I sat in the restaurant until Tash came back with money for the tip. We realized we would have to get more money out to be able to do anything. The exchange is about 1 American dollar to 6 Krone, though everything is inflated so you are still paying way more. After dinner we were exhausted from all that we had done and seen, so we went back to the hotel and crashed, only to be woken up around 11 by a group of loud young men in the room next to us, partying and playing loud music. After about half an hour or so it finally died out. The walls of our hotel were literally paper thin and to give you an understanding of just how thin, Tash was drying her hair and I could hear it all the way on the opposite end of the building! Despite the party, it was still nice to have our own room.

Saturday

We woke up for breakfast at the hotel. There was a really nice selection and we were both satisfied. We decided that today we would start at the furthest things and make our way back toward town to avoid being tired at the end of the day and save some energy. We went to the armory/fort first and walked around there. A gothic church and a danish windmill were to be found. From there we went to see the Little Mermaid, the symbol of Copenhagen known around the world. I had heard that she really was little by friends who had been to Copenhagen before and had it not been for all the German and Japanese tourists surrounding it, we might not have seen her! We took a picture and kept moving. Unsure of whether the Amelienborg has changing of the guard, we attempted to see this, but without success. We continued in the direction of the Rosenborg palace and decided to stop for lunch at a cafe before we got there. When we finally got to the Rosenborg we bought tickets to tour the inside and the crown jewels. You could only go into a few of the rooms, which was a bit disappointing, but when we got to the jewels, it was worth it. The royal collections were vast and beautiful. We spent a good hour there and decided to go back to the hotel for a break so that we would be up for seeing Copenhagen at night. Tonight we wanted to eat typically danish style food, so we found a cheap restaurant in my travel guide again and went there. The atmosphere was great, the waiters were really friendly and funny, and the food was good. I ordered pork with sauerkraut and bread and the waiters were trying to convince me to eat the fat on it and the hard crunchy part. They said that would make dinner a few hours longer and that it is the best part. Tash and I just laughed. There was a man sitting beside me at the table and he kept staring at us and my plate and Tash and I never did figure out what he wanted or why he was staring, but it was quite obvious that he was doing it! After paying, we walked around the city and took pictures at night. The city was having an energy saving hour and shut off a lot of the lots in the evening, but thankfully left on the ones on the side streets or we probably wouldn't have trusted ourselves walking back to the hotel because let's face it, it wasn't in the best area even though it was close to the station.

Sunday

We had managed to see everything that we had planned to see in Copenhagen in the last two days, so we came to the conclusion that we did have time to take the train across to Malmoe, Sweden. We left early to ensure that we had enough time. We walked around the city for an hour waiting for the tourist info to open. At least it is open on Sundays, everything in Copenhagen closes at 3 or 4 including the tourist info. ( we tried to get a map of Malmoe there) and it isn't even open on Sundays. Once we had a map, we laid out a plan of things we wanted to see that we hadn't just seen in the hour we spent walking around. We had already found the fortress from the 15th century, seen the main square, a lighthouse, another old windmill, and the turning torso, a modern building with a creative architectural design. We went to the St. Peter's church, to the main square, where the Rathaus and residency were located, then walked to another square that was beautiful and had a lot of cafes. The alleys with small old colorful houses was our next stop. Then we went to the fishermen's huts, where fishermen usually sell fish that they catch there. This was really cute and for some reason there was a U-boat across from them in a field behind a fence...After three or so hours of walking around and seeing all of the sights, we went back to the station and boarded the train back to Copenhagen. We had planned to stay longer in Malmoe, but because of the central setup of the city, everything was really close and we accomplished a lot in a short time. We also didn't have any Swedish money and didn't want to take any out, so sitting in a cafe or something of the sort was out. After arriving back in Copenhagen and getting our bags, we went to the station to see when the next train to Kiel would be leaving. We jumped on board the next train and were on our way back to Kiel this time over Flensburg, which meant no boarding the ferry. We got back much earlier than planned and cooked dinner and talked to my roommate Nicholas. It was nice to just relax for a while. It was also good, because another teacher of mine had called a few days before and we planned that she would come over at 11 on Monday so that I could look over her corrections and questions that she had for the Abitur English test (very important test at German High Schools).