Bye Bye Berlin

Bradenburg Gate

Well, my five week Germany experience is over and though I won't miss the toilets, the waiters hovering over me at my table while waiting for me to pay, or the excessive amount of second hand smoking I have been doing, I sure will miss the great friends I got to visit, the interesting strangers I met and the country itself.

Prison lock at Sauchsenhausen concentration camp

This may be brief as I don't have a ton of time to write but basically after I was in Friedrichshafen I made my way to Jena, to the east of Germany! This was meant to be a six and half hour train ride (long enough already) that turned out to be almost eleven hours, changing more trains than I would have preferred and well, all the other fun but actually not fun things that go with it. I made it, though. There's only so much you can do in situations you can't control so I figured I would get to my destination sooner or later and I did but definately later than sooner. I spent about three days with my friend, Reini who I worked with at Capernwray Harbour. One day I spent walking around the city and the other we headed to a place called Weimar and strolled around there. We also visited the Buchenwald concentration camp which was freezing cold. All I could think of was the fact that I was freezing cold though wearing wool socks under my boots,  long underwear under my pants, winter jacket, scarf, gloves, toque, the whole shabang while the prisoners here would normally just have worn a striped, simple uniform, just one layer of clothing. How awful and this wasn't even close to the hardships they had to face.

A little difficult to see but that is the steeple of the church in west Berlin

I then headed to Berlin which I absolutely loved once I got over how terrified I was of being in a huge city all alone with a whole lot of unknown. The first day I went on a walking tour and saw alot of cool things like the Berlin Wall of course, we stood above Hitler's bunker, Checkpoint Charlie and even saw the hotel where Michael Jackson hung out his baby. Lots of history in this city I tell ya! I walked alot and just looked around. One day I saw a church in west Berlin that had been bombed during world war two and they left the steeple the way it was as a reminder.

Toilets at Sauchsenhausen

The hostel I stayed at (Grand Hostel Berlin, I highly, highly, highly recommend it!) offered a tour to Sauchsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin so I went on that one day too. I was mostly hit by the treatment of the prisoners. I mean ya, that's pretty normal I suppose. That's what people go to see really. The physical abuse is indescribable but I never thought too much about the emotional. There is one story that just reminded me of immature little 12 year old bullies. In this camp they put together the tallest man and the shortest man, and I mean to the extreme, probably 7 feet to 3 and a half feet and the guards would make them go everywhere together. They were not aloud to be apart even if one had to use the bathroom. All for the entertainment of the guards. They were just made fun of and I thought, "Really?" I don't know, maybe it's not a huge deal compared to everything else that went on there, but my heart hurt for them and it reminded me how we often fall short in loving one another. Okay, so we don't force our neighbor/friend/family/enemy to work for us, and then starve them or beat them, or throw them in a gas chamber alive, but how do we treat them day to day, how do we love them? There is alot to see there and alot to think about, but it doesn't really feel like you're actually standing in those same places when you are there which I think I am thankful for because it could have been just too overwhelming.
When I arrived back and walked out of the train station I found myself at the premier of 'Burlesque'. I think that's what it's called. Anyway, Christina Aguilera and Cher were to be walking down the red carpet in two hours so I made friends with a very nice couple and just hung out until the stars arrived! I thought it may be a waste of two hours and gosh it was cold but I'd never done anything like that before so I thought what the heck?
On other days I visited the Memorial of the Murdered Jews which was, well I don't know what you would call it...simply sad perhaps. I also visited The Topography of Terrors where the whole work of the SS from the 1930's leading up to the war was explained. This really was a very educational time.

One day I got together with a friend of mine from Canada who is actually German and happened to be in Berlin the same time as me visiting family. This was really nice and happened to be a very cool provision from the Lord when my flight got cancelled not once, but twice and needed a place to stay for an extra couple of nights!
Hmm...it is hard to think of everything I did because there was so much but it was really a great time, lots of learning, walking, snow, meeting people, ah! It was great and I am so thankful for my time in Berlin. The last night I went to Vapiano's which is an aboslutely incredible Italian resturaunt that serves fresh pasta and you can choose what kind of sauce and pasta you want and they make it right infront of you. It's amazing and I hope it makes it to North America one day (unless it already has and I just don't know it yet!!) Anyway, so I ate pasta, sipped wine and just stared outside to a busy Berlin street. This of course didn't end up actually being my last night in Berlin but oh well, there is only so much you can plan! So that is all for now, England has welcomed me back and more adventures are in store I am sure. I hope you enjoyed reading and that you all have a Merry Christmas!!!

A Baroque Church on Museum Island

The Berlin Wall

A little bit of alternative Berlin

A Soft Spot For Germany

Outside a castle in Ludwigsburg

I am now in the second half of my five week adventure in Germany and still enjoying it very much. It's hard to believe I will be back in England in ten days. I am wishing I had this much time in each country I am visiting so I can get to know the culture and language more than you would in just a week or a couple of days. I have practiced my german a tiny bit. It is sometimes fun but mostly I feel silly. One problem with speaking german is that when I get a response from the person I have no idea what they are saying, so really I don't get anywhere at all but still it is fun. The other day I was in McDonald's (they are so nice here!) with a friend and I ordered my meal in german. The lady at the till said something really long and really fast and I just looked at her blankly for a couple of seconds and then said, 'Oh boy!' and turned to my friend who graciously translated.
I finish visiting friends on December 12 and then head to Berlin by myself to explore. I have been blessed above and beyond by every single person's hospitality I can't even describe it. I have a feeling my time in Germany will go down in the books of my favourite times in Europe.

Kind of creepy, I know.

So now I am sitting here eating apple cinnamon yoghurt that tastes like pie - amazing - and thinking about what to write. There is so much that has happened since my last post that it may be hard to pack it into one post but I will try to be short and sweet. I believe the last time I wrote was during the first half of my week in Stuttgart with Juliana. I then moved on to another friend's, Julia and mostly relaxed as I was pretty tired. One day I met up with a friend, Hanna who I had no idea lived in Stuttgart. Her cousin also joined us and we went out for coffee. I had a nutella latte. Oh my word! Real nutella on the bottom that you can scoop up with a spoon. Incredible! Julia and I also went to a Christmas market which was probably my favourite yet. I think I've been to almost ten and they are all fairly similar in what they sell. Crepes, sausages, glüwein, flammkücken, and then gifty things but this christmas market in Esslingen was special because it was Medieval style. Everyone dressed up in costume and different characters walked around and there was a concert as well. Very impressive! I heard Vancouver is having their first german christmas market this year. If you go, you will have to tell me what it's like!

After my time in Stuttgart I headed down a couple of hours to Freidrichshafen on the Bodensee Lake to friend's place who I actually had never met before. Her name is Caro and I knew her brother from working at Capernwray. We got in contact over the internet - a very neat story that I will save for those who ask. Anyways, we are having such a blast, it's insane. I never thought I could laugh so much with someone that I'd never met before. I arrived last Thursday and on Friday we headed straight for Zurich, Switzerland! We took the ferry across the Bodensee Lake (it is bordered by Germany, Switzerland, and Austria), just a short 25 minute ride. This really reminded me of my many ferry journeys to and from Thetis Island. One thing that this ferry had that the Thetis one doesn't, is a really nice cafe and passenger lounge! Once we arrived on the other side our first mission was to head to a Swiss Chocolate Factory where their amazing chocolate is pretty cheap. Needless to say, I stocked up. We then arrived to Zurich, the biggest and most happening city in Switzerland and then found our hostel. We walked around the city for probably eight hours, it was great! As you can see, we had a lot of time on our hands...

We also went to about three different Christmas Markets I think and the city was just beautiful. We were also among the priveleged to hear the amazing Singing Christmas Tree that night.  Not exactly what I expected, singing Abba and other popular english music but I was so excited that anything that came out of all the christmas tree's mouths was beautiful! Mouth's you ask? Yes, there were rows of children lined across the tree singing their Swiss hearts out! Here's a little clip above to give you an idea...



The next day we drove to Biel, where we stayed a night with Caro's friends. They were so sweet and hospitable and extremely funny! They took us to the Alps near the town of Grindelwald. The day before was apparently cloudy and the day after it had snowed but we we had so much sun, it was amazing! We took the gondala up the mountain and then walked down which took about an hour. This was probably one of my favourite days yet.

The view from the city wall. Notice the twisted chimney on the right?

We then walked around the captial city, Bern for a little bit, had some hot chocolate at Burger King and headed home for some authentic Swiss cheese fondue. Not sure what else to say about that except for incredible! The next day after a full out german church service, they took us to a very quaint town called Murten and we walked along the old city wall. Pretty cool. One of my favourite moments was walking along this wall and all of a sudden hearing 'Sweet Home Alabama' blasting from someone's home. Quite humourous if you can imagine.  Then Caro and I headed back across the lake to home and had a very good sleep after a busy but exciting and super fun weekend!

 On Monday I visited Julia from Stuttgart again but this time she was at her parents home just a ten minute bus ride from Friedrichsahafen. They live and work at the bible school also connected with Torchbearers called Bodenseehof. I was given the grand tour and was able to run into a friend who I was a student with for two years at Capernwray on Thetis. I knew he worked there but he didn't know I was travelling so you can imagine the look on his face - priceless. I also walked by the classroom where the students were as one of the staff members was saying to them, "If you are not going to be at any of the meals PLEASE sign out!" If you have ever been a student or staff member at Capernwray Harbour you would know that some things just never change.
Well, that is all for now. Caro and I are heading out to yet another Christmas market tonight with her five guy roomates (this has been very entertaining) and then moving onward tomorrow. I will miss my time here.

Second hand shop in Murten, Switzerland