mannheim

(it seems that again blogger wont let me spellcheck or add pictures, so you'll have to get by without my pictures and any spelling mistakes are too bad. this is starting to really piss me off. is it something i'm doing or not doing? i don't think it's the size of my posts, as some of the earlier ones are larger and i could still use all the basic tools and add pictures. if anyone knows could they please tell me before my frustration makes me move this blog to a different site.)

let's talk about mannheim. now mannheim is south of heidelberg and takes about 20mins to get to by train. one thing i have noticed is that that travelling by train in germany is more expensive than at home. that being said, i think it may have something to do with the country being alot smaller than australia so the prices are upped a little. this doesn't really bother me though, as with the extra revenue raised by this makes travelling by train a little nicer than at home. the carriages are smaller, but they are kept in a really nice state. something that i am not that used to. in melbourne, and i guess the surrounding metlink areas, the carriages are covered in graffiti and have this vibe that anyone who isn't used to it would feel a little cautious of their fellow commuters. i have only felt this vibe in frankfurt, and if you read my earlier post about frankfurt you'd understand. oddly enough, everyone i have spoken to about frankfurt agrees with me. no one seems to like it except those who live there, and i'm assuming it's that strange patriotism one gets about their hometown. but enough about frankfurt, this post is about mannheim.

mannheim is beautiful, as has been all that i have seen of germany so far. the only difference between heidelberg and mannheim is that there is no castle there and there is no american presence. thank god! the american accent seems to bombard the ears and grate the brain. no offence to any americans reading this, but when in a non-english speaking country, that particular accent stirs up stereotypes and ideologies that are better left behind. and just so you feel better, the australian accent is no better off. we just have a different boganish quality to ours. now mannheim is seems to be all about the statues and architecture, the shopping and the nightlife. (the nightlife i'll have to take the locals word on this as i haven't experienced it yet.) the acchitecture is brilliant, but somehow not as grand as heidelberg. that said, there are some fantastic buildings here. the water tower for one (pictured). this 'thing' stands proud and surveys the area like a king amongst paupers. as you approach you can see it from all sides and several streets away. the only thing is that there is no water anywhere near it. i asked alexis if this is normal and he was unsure. he told me last time he was here the large water pool in front of it was full and there was a grand fountain shooting water out of the middle. i saw no water. i saw no fountain. the tower itself has windows all up th sides and has this entrance, between two sphinx, at teh ground level. i started thinking if there really was water around here and if it wasn't some relic from yester-year to attract tourists and those looking for a hookup. the ledge where you can walk around has graffiti all over it, mainly with hotmail addresses with names such as 'hot_greek_boi' and 'lusty_girl_4U' - you get the picture. shame though, cause it really is a sight to see.

'the castle' in mannheim is not a castle. don't be fooled by the mannheim tourist board! it is merely a palace. there's no moat, no turrets, no drawbridge or anything else you would describe as a being castle in appearance. it was a fine building in its own right, but it is not a castle. however, now it seems to have been transformed into a university building.

other than this the martkplatz in mannheim is worth the trip. there's a statue in the middle that was given to the town by heidlberg and it stands in front of the town hall (pictured). it's an older german style building that has these two ledges either side of it. i was half expecting the mayor or someone to come out onto it with a proclamation about something or other. apart from the many random statues that again line the streets of a german city (there was even one here that seemed to be about young gay boys getting busy outside the bibliotek (library)) there was the christuskirche (church of christ) (pictured). this was truly amazing. sure it wasn't one of the biggest churches i've ever seen, but it had this cool vibe about it. that and the place didn't crumble to the ground by lightening stricking it when we walked in. as soon as we entered in knew that this place was important as there three older people ready to tell you about the place. one guy walked straight up to us and started going on in german about the place. me not knowing anywhere near enough german to understand what was going, and alexis being the same, we just listened and gathered that he was talking about the accoustics and the organ that stands behind the altar. we know this cause the german word for accoustics and organ are pretty much the same as english, that and he pointed alot. when i mtioned if i could take a photo he nodded and came right up close to me and whispered something about something being fantastic. i just smiled and nodded. as we left i grabbed a pamphlette in english and he said, 'oh, englisch. haha...' then continued on in german. alexis said that he was amazed that people keep speakin german to me, but i retorted by saying, 'look at me, i'm blond as can be. you're oblviously not german with your cuban looks.' then we laughed and said a few random rascist things about me having a black servant because he was holding the bags and how the older germans must love it. thank god no one can understand our english, cause if they did the polizei would be on their way! lol.

the shopping in mannheim is wonderful. there are so many shops to waste money on. there's a place called saturn that sells electronics that is about three or four levels tall. i got to show alexis the playstation stuff and start to tempt him with going halves in a PS3. (i really miss the one i left at home. my brotherhad better not be leaving it to collect dust or he's in big trouble. she needs to be played everyday.) this store aslo had a largish DVD section, from which alexis bought the proposition (aust movie) and several others. apat from that mannheim is also great for clothes. i bought a jacket here for the german winter and i love it. some black thing with a fur-lined hood that i keep wearing and it being almost a week later i think it's staring to need a wash. although i can't uderstand the german on the tag and how i wash the damn thing! it only cost 99euros and was insanely cheaper than alot of the other stuff on offer. the only thing i can't seem to find anywhere in germany is a good pair of jeans. they all seem so flimsy and american in style. where are all the cool euro styles? i have found a few shops down the hauptstrasse in heidelberg though, so i might go looking down there as i don't like the generic clothing and like to opt for a more alternative style of dress.

so that's mannheim. the only other thing that happened on this trip was at the station before we entered the hauptbahnhof (main train station) alexis was approached by some old guy who asked for change. the only reason i bring ths up because he described himself, in english, as a man who lives under a bridge. i've never heard this phrase before and had to stifle a laugh. not because he was funny, far from it, but it brought on these visions of the simpsons and the hobos tikling each other with a feather.

photos from the hauptstrasse

because blogger wont let me add pictures to my last entry, i've decided to just add the pictures here. i'm not going to explain that much about them because i explain everything in the last post, just a short note to let you know what's what. enjoy...

this is the entrance to steingasse through the keep, which then leads to the marktplatz and the hauptstrasse.

this is steingasse, on the left about half way down the street is where we stopped for beer. mmm... beer

this is the church in the marktplatz. very gothic, especially the little german gift store at the bottom. for some reason they sell flags from all over the world, not an australian one though. but i did find a new zealand one. very odd.

this is the knights hotel/pub. crazy.

these are just some of the christmas decorations to make my mother insane. the whole shop was full to overflowing with madness. it must be absolutely insane in there around mid-december.

just another shot of the haupstrasse. you can see alexis, matthias and one of his boys in the foreground.just a final shot of the north side of heidelberg from the side of the river neckar at the end of the hauptstrasse. the town is beautiful.

main street (hauptstrasse)

(for some unknown reason blogger wont let me spell check or add images. i'll try do this later so keep your snooty comments about this to yo'self for now, fool!!!)

to follow on from what i was writing yesterday, my companions and i walked the philosopher's walk (philosophenweg) and down across the river neckar via the old bridge. this bridge leads us through the keep and into the old town. (to note i have no idea if this construction is a keep, a ford or what have you. if any medieval nerds reading this know what it is technically called then please let me know. i am nowhere near nerdy enough to know of these matters.) this was my first visit to the old town and to the main streets of heidelberg. it seems strange to me that this most touristy of places is actually a thriving shopping district and used regularly by the residents of the city. if it was in australia, or anywhere in the more westernised and recently-built places, it would be heritage listed and everything that lay inside would be untouched and companies such as mcdonald's and starbucks would be denied permits to sell their sub-par wares. however, in germany it seems the corporate and comercial spirit is alive and well. that being said, unlike frankfurt, these corporations seem to have gotten into the spirit of the old town and given that the main street is exactly that, a main street, they don't seem that out of place. in frankfurt the starbucks and subway 'restaurant' in the old town stick out like sore thumb and ruin the atmosphere and view, blighting any picture taken.

i digress, so we walked into the old town and into the small alleyways (steingasse). the first thing i notice is the market feel of the place. everything looks and feels like you've gone back in time. as if at any moment a guy in a suit of armour and riding a horse will canter past claiming the french have begun their attack on the western front. incidentally the french did attack heidelberg and burnt the place to the ground. (reading the history of heidelberg it turns out that nearly every race has had a go at trying to claim heidelberg. the french, the bavarians, the americans and even the swedish have had a go. i've been waiting to hear if the dutch or the italians tried, i'm sure somewhere around here i'll adventually hear something about them.) having a guy ride past on a horse is actually not so stupid a concept, it turns out that there is a hotel/pub here on the haupstrasse that was initially used by knights to sleep after quests and such. just a place for them to hang out, get drunk and shag a local barmaid, proclaiming stories of past deeds and galantness of all sorts. (the picture here is of the knights' hangout)

one of the first things you see after walking into this area is a strange monkey cat thing with a space in it's head for you to put your head in for a photo. i seriously doubt this was here back in the day, but makes for a very amusing photo op and continues the german tradition of strange and random things getting immortalised in statue form. no one i was with could tell me why it was here and no one could even guess. it just was. i made alexis put his head in it for shits and giggles, and yes i did giggle, but no shitting cause that's for berlin or frankfurt. this is a classy city, not one of 'those' german cities (link nwf). apart from the weird mokey cat thing statue, everything else here is like i said, straight out of the past. our first stop along this trail was a small pub (brauhaus - i think that's how you spell it - means brew house) which makes its own beer in either light or heavy. (note that in germany light and heavy means light or dark in colour, not the amount of alcoholic content) and me not being a fan of guinessy drinks or dark ales, chose the light. it was fantastic and had i have not been suffering still from jetlag and not being with companions that included kids, i would have insisted on staying for more. but then again, on reflection, i think i had consumed enough alcohol to stop a hoard of rhinos in the past couple of days so it was a good thing that we continued on our way after one. the beers are freakin' huge here, so after two i'd probably be pissed. looks like all the pint drinking in preparations for this trip with kiwi ben (my old work colleague) and irish pete did nothing to prepare me. at least i have the australian drinking culture down, we may get tipsy a little quicker, but by god can we keep going and outdrink nearly everyone. (ask my canadian friends about their trips to australia and what they can remember for evidence of this) but then again what else would you expect from the second biggest beer drinking nation after germany. in this particular pub there are wooden seats that run parrallel to the wooden tables that are setout cafeteria side along one wall and run around the corners, while on the other side of the building from the tables and chairs there is the bar and next to that, two huge metal vats for the beer making. sitting down and enjoying our beers you can't help but notice all the stuff over the walls. i personally liked the dodgy painting of the drunk monk holding some kind of drinking flagon. turns out that monks used to originally make the beer here and i can see why, it's heavenly. (haha... sorry couldn't resist the crappy one liner) there's german sayings written over the walls (all of which i obviously can't understand) and over the doors and above the bar are fake grape vines, which i assume to mean they make their own wine too. don't ask me where, cause i don't know and don't care, i'm here for beer! if i wanted wine i would have stayed in australia or maybe gone to france or italy.

so anyway we left after a beer and continued on down the steingasse and around a corner, which then opened up into the fischmarkt and the marktplatz (for those not getting the german lingo - fish market and marketplace). here you can see the marvelous church of the holy spirit and the city hall. (church pictured) the church dates back to 1693 and for awhile was the largest gothic building in the former palatinate, an earlier name for the heidelberg area when it was under rule by one of the surrounding kingdoms. just as a side-note of star wars related stupidity, everytime the name palatinate comes up, i want to say palpatine. it makes me giggle thinking that the area was once under rule by the evil leader of the sith. hehehe... ahem... in the middle of the marktplatz is a statue, i don't know what of, but it's not that impressive compared to other statues i've seen. and nowhere near as amusing as the monkey cat thing or the random giger alien made from spare car parts in a chandelier shop front that i saw much later.

from here we start our way down the hauptstrasse and walk for what seems like an enternity. the hauptstrasse in heidelberg is apparently one the longest in germany, perhaps europe. it goes on forever. to compare, if you took the main CBD of melbourne including QV, melbourne central and the 'paris' end of collins street and layed them in one long row you'd get something similar but probably still not as long. this is pretty impressive considering the population of melbourne is something like 3.2 million and heidelberg is about 150,000. i personally would have been in shopping heaven, if it weren't for the picturesque buildings and absolutely gob-smacking scenery. i think you can all guess by now that i am in love with the way heidelberg looks. the people and culture i don't know about yet as i've only just got here and only know one german person who lives here. but if the looks are anything to go by, this place is definately on the list of world's prettiest places. montreal and madrid can kiss my arse. not that i've been there, but they'll have to try pretty bloody hard to beat this. having said that, alexis has shown me pictures of oporto in portugal and it might just do it.

the shops that lie along the hauptstrasse are of varied sorts. everything from vodafone (dear god, my old work is everywhere!) and thai restaurants, to winter clothing stores and traditional german souviners. there is also a christmas store along here, which my mother would have died to get her hands on some the items inside. i took some pictures of it to taunt her with, cause there is no way in hell i'm wasting room in my return luggage for christmas nonsense. considering it's still october i can't wait to see what comes out for december. from what i hear there's also a huge christmas market that gets set up in the marktplatz and you can get everything there from gifts to christmas hams. just something else to make my mother jealous.

to finish up, the walk along the hauptstrasse ends at the main public transport junction. not as exciting as the start of the walk, alot more functional. hehehe... here you can see the diversity of the inhabitants of heidelberg. students, corporate suits, funky hipster types and your basic heidelbergers. i'm a little dissapointed at the serious lack of gothic and hardcore germans, but i think they live in the of the country. but then again i haven't been out that much and i'm sure they're somewhere here, after all this is germany. i did see an emo in mannheim, but that journey's for the next entry. so we made our way back to the car, crossing the neckar river once again, this time via a modern bridge and down bruckenstrasse. two of the most amusing things are along this street - an eyeglasses shop with red fake cows on the roof (i haven't figured out why) and a big grey building which has written on it 'heidelberg klinik fur plastische und kosmetische chirurgie' which means, you guessed it - heidelberg clinic for plastic and cosmetic surgery. until next time, when i talk about mannheim, buying my jacket (which i am not-so-secretly in love with), enter a church that still stands after i leave and other random events. auf wiedersehen.

the philosopher's walk (Philosophenweg)

so i went on the philosopher's walk, so named because back in day heidelberg's thinkers and lecturers used to walk along it to, well, philosophise. i can say it is beautiful and i can definitely see why they used to do it. we started from the less-steep side and made our way up the road towards where the walk starts. from the beginning i knew i'd love it (not the walk, but the view. i'm not much of a hiker or walker, so you can imagine how my legs felt at the end of the day. lol.), because even the houses are amazing, let alone the view. now the road is just your basic german road that's tiny and littered with some of the most brilliant houses i have ever seen, and makes you feel like if a truck comes along you're done for. i've been told you have to be rich rich rich to afford a place along here, and it definitely shows in the architecture and gardens. most of the houses are the kind that make grandparents cry with jealousy and young people long for the days they can afford such extravagance. on the way up the hill we also passed a university building, which isn't so uncommon here, as heidelberg is a university town (one of the oldest in europe) and there are university buildings scattered all over the place. i can't remember what building it was, but it sure as hell matched the houses in terms of character and style. just a little past this and up the hillside is the philosopher's walk.

the walk itself is just a path that cuts through the hillside (by hillside i mean just short of being a mountain - this thing is huge) and follows it around to give a perfect view of heidelberg, it's castle and the old town. at the start i was like, this better be worth it, but as soon as i saw the view i was mesmerised, but more on that later. on one side of the path there are small areas where you can sit and enjoy the serenity on one of the park benches. now for the australians reading this, no bbqs allowed, this is purely a sit and reflect kind of deal. on the other side you have these little gardens that are individually owned by the german residents of heidelberg. these are basically little patches of hillside surrounded by fences that are almost filled to the brim with plants, shrubs and flowers. i can only imagine what this place looks like in spring. the residents, with their houses and no backyards buy an area on the side of the hill and tend to it as if it was their own garden in their backyard. it seems a little odd, but when you consider the high density living that most of europe has, i guess it's a way to escape the daily pressures and, what i deem as dangerous, streets. (not because of crime or anything, but more the tiny nature of the laneways, and the way people seem to zoom along, but more on this in another post.) the most amusing part of all this is the barbwire that adorns the top of all the fenced in areas. it looks as if they're terrified of another allied attack, or just trying to keep their garden gnomes from escaping. apart from the little parks and the individually owned gardens, there are wild berry trees all along this stretch, which if no one is looking you can eat. we tried some and just like the store bought fruit here, it's fantastic.

at the end of these areas is a lookout where, as i pointed out earlier in this post, heidelberg, the castle, the river neckar and the old town are in plain sight. the view is amazing. the castle on a clear day is superb and overlooks the surrounding area as if still keeping a watch on the town folk. at this area there is also a map that lets you see heidelberg as it used to be and shows various points of interest, such as the castle being erected somewhere before 1300 BC and where the fence used to be to protect the township. at the time there used to be only one entrance over the river and a small keep that allowed those keeping watch to see who was advancing and whether or not to let them pass. during the second world war i've been told that the germans destroyed this bridge to stop the americans from gaining entrance to heidelberg. don't know if it worked or not, but heidelberg was one of only a few towns that wasn't bombed half to death. this definitely shows in the architecture of the town and when compared to somewhere like frankfurt, is beautiful and still holds its old world charm.

on the walk down from here we took the alternative and much steeper route. i have to say that i am very pleased that this is the way down and not up, because i, as unfit as i am, would not have made it. and anyone considering to do this walk, bring sensible shoes as the way down is all cobble stones covered in moss and leaves. i nearly fell on my arse a couple of times. (damn non-stick converse soles!) i wasn't the only one though, one of my companions took her time too for fear of going A over T. i found myself wondering for the second time in germany about health and safety regulations. if it were in australia there would be rails everywhere for grip, fences at every lookout point to stop jumpers and probably some sort of mechanical stairway to help the elderly. although i am glad none of that is here, as it would distract completely from the wonder of the place. the one thing i didn't like was the name goethe being brought up once again. seriously guys, get over it. apparently he kissed someone here, and not really caring to hear anymore about a dead guy whos books i've never read (like anyone's finished faust!), i tuned out and focused on the beauty.

well that's my trek along the philosopher's walk. hope you enjoyed my first semi-serious blog entry that doesn't include drinking and includes some 'dubious' tourist information. if you ever come to heidelberg, do as i did and take the walk first before going into the hauptstrasse (main street) or visiting the schloss (the castle). it's a brilliant introduction to the town and besides that, the walk leads you directly to the old bridge over the neckar river and into the old town through the keep. it's well worth it, even for someone like me who's not into walking. for those that aren't, there's plenty of german hospitality at the pub at the end of the walk (ie local made beer - beir ist gesund!), which is where my next semi-serious entry will begin. hehehe...

so i'm at my destination

i'm here. in heidelberg. freezing my arse off. i've been here for a couple of days now and this town is beautiful. it's all old style buildings and completely german, as opposed to frankfurt's 'look at me, i can be western too!' the first thing i noticed here was that there are no youths and junkies milling around the place giving tourists and uneasy feeling. there's plenty of milling going on, but nothing compared to the creepy vibe you get in frankfurt. to compare, frankfurt is irreversible, to heidelberg's sound of music. (the comparison may seem a little harsh, but i believe i have made my point! lol)

the train trip here was pretty uneventful except for me sitting in the first class section and the conductor telling me off in german. to which i said, 'sprechen sie englisch?' she sighed and then said move to the back, behind the dining car. (the dining car, incidentally, was just a little dude with chips and coke to sell. not much of a dining car, more a snack car.) once i moved back there though, you could tell it was economy. people cramped in and looking very unpleased by the situation. especially me with my big bag smacking people around with the dangly clips. my most used phrase at this point, 'entschuldigung' - sorry. once in heidelberg though i was seriously overjoyed. this place looks amazing and like a postcard. no matter where i go, things are beautiful.

when i got off the train i walked up the escalator and found alexis. i was a little worried about meeting him as i've never met him in person and i was worried that as an aussie i would be too loud and way too obnoxious. even though he's cuban, he's lived in europe for ages and i thought he might think, 'dear god! who have i invited to stay at my house?' this wasn't the case though and i was quite pleased to find him very accommodating and very friendly. something that i would need in the coming days, as i just spent some solitary time in frankfurt and needed to talk to someone that i knew from before my travels begun. he made a brilliant dinner that afternoon (remember, i'm kinda still on australian time, where 4pm is really midnight), and remembering that australian's like lamb he made something that was absolutely fantastic. it was like a three course meal, with fried bananas, a kind of lamb casserole, some rice and a dark bean sauce/side dish. it was delicioso! unfortunately my return meal of pasta didn't work out as well as this, mainly because the pasta here tastes different and the only meat we could find for the sauce was a weird combination of cow and pig called hackfleisch. that's right - two animals in one called hack flesh. it's the name it as you see it game. it tasted okay and alexis seemed to like it, so it was all good. i just wished it could've matched his meal. but as i can't cook bbqs and lamb is terribly expensive, the only australian thing left to cook would be lamingtons, and that, my friends, is no meal. it's hardly even a snack! haha...

anyway, after sleeping for what seemed like 5 minutes, but what was really about half a day, it was now sunday and a day for meeting some friends of alexis' and going out for brunch followed by a walk around the town. alexis' friends were fantastic. paula who is columbian and her german husband matthias along with their two kids, samuel and lucas, took us to a place that serves a buffet brunch. now sam and lucas didn't talk to me much, they were a little in awe of an australian, cause as paula put it, i'm from where nemo comes from. haha... i tried to ask them stuff like how old are you etc in german, but they were very shy and i decided to stick to talking to matthias and paula. now this didn't go very well as i was kinda overwhelmed with the atmosphere and the food on offer. from what i'm told it was a very german affair, a massive spread of various meats and side dishes. it was good to see ye olde pasta salad make an appearance, a little bit of simple home in the middle of a german banquet. all this, by the way, only cost about 9.50euros, bargain and a half! but as i've come to see, food here is very very very cheap. i went shopping with alexis some time later and we bought food that cost us 15 euros, in aust $$$ that's around $20-$25, but at home would have cost us about $50.

after lunch they took me for a massive walk around heaidelberg, taking in the philosopher's walk, the old town and the hauptstrasse (main street). i was overjoyed at this, mainly because for the first time since i got here i got to see the castle (or schloss). not up close though, from a distance, i'm saving the castle and the chairlift beside it for another day. the chairlift takes you up higher than the castle and to a place called the king's chair, where you can see all of heidelberg and surrounding areas. after this very tiring walk we went over the neckar river into the old town and then went for a beer followed by a stroll down the hauptstrasse. i'll tell you about that and a few other things, like visiting mannheim and just trying to go to the heidelberg supermarkt and buy some coke and nibbles, next entry as this one's already fairly long. probably this afternoon as for the first time in a few days i'm by myself and don't feel rude typing up a storm. til then auf wiedersehen.

night out with the hostel

i went out with the hostel guys last night. it was an interesting experience. they were all american and i was the only other nationality in the group. there were 5 of us in total (not including the crazy german leader who organised the night out), 3 white guys, me and a black dude from chicago. the black guy was called troy and i sort of made friends with him during my last couple of days. he was pretty cool and had this way of speaking that reminded me of a jazz cat. everything was spoken in a slow rhythmic way and he was very worldly. which was a complete opposite to the other three. one guy from texas and two other dudes who looked and acted like they were straight outta a recruitment video for the US army. i didn't really like them and they didn't seem to like me that much. i don't think troy liked them much either, as his accent wasn't as strong as theirs and he told them he was from england when they aked him were he was from. it was very funny when he told them, he just looked at me and winked. they had no idea even though he clearly wasn't english.

we went to this club, i think it was called A66 and is apparently one of the biggest clubs in frankfurt. it was pretty big, but as i'm from melbourne the size wasn't that impressive. if you want somewhere to be big, then try and beat the metro on bourke street. i'm not jaded, just spoilt by my previous outings in my home city. the music there was a little odd at first, as they mashed up r'n'b and some dance music. not the way i'm used to, ie putting dance beats to rock songs or putting two songs together, but playing a verse and a chorus to one and then changing the songs. it was kind of irritating. but then they started playing some hardcore dance music and i was at home again. aaah, revolver and the lounge, how you've conditioned me. it was here that i was reminded of my friend cecilia again, and another friend vickie, who i instantly texted and said something like, 'i'm here listening to this music that you would die for! hahahaha...'

what was odd though, is that when you walk into this club you get your photo taken and handed a card. the card is for drinks, because inside no money changes hands. all your drinks are put on this card and then you pay for what you drink when you leave. at first it was a little discouraging, thinking but how do i know what i've drunk. i got over that quickly though, as instead of having just bars, there's also vending machines so you don't have to line up. the crazy german leader told me to go for the top option as it was apparently the best drink and as i couldn't read what it was anyway i said okay and went for it. turns out it was tequila beer. an interesting drink, and one i don't think i'll be having again. the crazy german loved it and a little later the came back with a couple of them screaming, 'it's happy hour at the vending machine!' the second time i went to the vending machine i tried a different drink. what i thought was vodka though, turned out to be absinthe. again another interesting choice.

now at this club no one was really speaking to me, by that i mean germans, but i think this was because i was with all these americans. two of which had really strong accents. hell, one of them was from texas and you could tell that pretty easily. oddly enough he was the guy with the USA jacket i was talking about earlier, though thank god he wasn't wearing it tonight. even though i was in frankfurt, everyone seemed to have a basic understanding of english, so i think they knew americana were there. it was cool though when i went off by myself to find the smoke machine, i ran into a couple of germans that were friendly and decided to take me under their wing and show me around and chat and what have you. this was the start of something. once this began and i was separated from the americans everyone wanted to chat to me. i met so many people and even made a few contacts in frankfurt so that if i ever go back there i have some friends and maybe a place to stay.

i think my americans didn't have such a good time as i couldn't find them after awhile and i think they all went home. not surprising really, when you consider no one was talking to them. it was quite obvious people don't approve of them. there was one point were i accidentally bumped into someone coming out of the toilet and he said something to me in german, and by the expression on my face he knew instantly that i had no idea what was going on. he then furrowed his brow and said, 'americana?' i replied by saying, 'nein! ich bin australien.' as if i was disgusted by the mere thought of it. he then smiled, gave me a hug and dragged around to the bar to drink jager and red bull shots. this wasn't the first time and it wont be the last time something like this happens. at the end of the night, as i was leaving i had to pay for my drinks via card, so i had to walk back into the club and pay it at the coat check. as the club was closing a bouncer stopped me and when i pulled the drink card and pointed, he nodded and said follow me americana in german. i gave him a foul look and said i'm not american in german. to which he nodded and walked me to the coat check/drink card woman. he then said to her, and i'm only guessing here cause it was all in german, english needs to pay for his drinks. to which i smiled and kinda gave him a pretend arm slap and i'm not english or american, i'm australian. he looked at me amused then asked the coat check/drink card woman what i said. when she translated he laughed his arse off and said, 'entschuldigung.' which basically means sorry, literally my apologies, and again he seemed to like me more.

after i left i went to one of my new friend's house with about 6 others. had a couple more drinks and then exchanged some numbers. i don't know if i'll ever see them again, but i enjoyed myself. i think the germans liked having me there as a novelty, but i don't mind. it's a conversation starter and hopefully means i wont be over here without friends for too long. today i arrived in heidelberg and my final destination. i'll write about this later once i've had some time to process what's going on and what this town's like. i haven't seem much of it except the train station and alexis' apartment, which i have to say is very nice. i'll also let you guys know about the train journey and what i make of country germany as opposed to the city of frankfurt and international germany. i'm guessing less junkies, prostitutes and sex shops and more wurst, liederhausen and steiners. i can tell you one thing though, it's bloody cold in heidelberg. i'm now wearing a t-shirt, a long sleeved t, a jumper and a hoodie and i can still feel the cold. i'm going to have to buy a big jacket real soon.

first night out on the town

(NB this entry is going to be huge!)

i went out last night by myself. i was a little scared to do this because, well, i was by myself. alexis, my friend in germany, chatted to me on the phone before i went out and he warned me to be very careful. not because i don't know how to handle myself, but because i'm in another country were i don't know the language. if i got into trouble a) how would i get out of it, b) how would i know i was in trouble until it was too late, and c) i could get deported for stuff i don't even know about. sound advice that i took on board, but it didn't stop me.

before i went out i checked the internet to see what were the best places i could go that were kinda quiet so i could at least try to talk to someone and that weren't too fancy. don't get me wrong, i love fancy, but as my bag would only hold so much, i couldn't bring fancy with me. plus, no matter what i wear i don't dress like a german so their fancy is different to my version of fancy. so anyway, i drank two beers before i left the hostel. which in germany means i drank a litre of beer. bottles are .5L and only cost 2.50 euros, which i think is about $4 aust. the beer over here tastes pretty good, the beck's is the same as it is in melbourne, but they have another beer in the hostel called groller, which is actually really tasty. i've been told that it's a local beer and is favoured by alot of locals, however once out i found out that they drink alot of beck's, so all my beck's drinking in melbourne came in handy. i can drink loads of that stuff!

so i left the hostel in 'good' spirits, a little tipsy, but nothing i can't handle. i walked for what seemed like half an hour and finally got to my first pub. i had to walk past it a couple of times to before i realised it was there, and when i looked in the window it looked like a lesbian bar so i was a little unsure. but once i walked in i realised that the men sat on one side and women sat on the other. it was quite the spectacle. the place was called control and run by a little blond woman who spoke english so i ordered my first beck's in english, which was handy. because she was lovely and i'd drunk a little i started in with the german when ordering after that. there were three bartenders and i have to say, they seemed to like me. i think this was mainly because i was trying to speak their language, unlike some friends i met a little later who were made up of four americans, one canadian of indian decent and one german. the four americans were very american and even though i liked them it was still odd to be in germany and hear so many american accents. the canadian accent was nicer to hear, a little more subtle and subdued. the german guy had an accent that was awesome. just think of wolfcastle from the simpsons and you got him. 'my eyes! these goggles do nothsink!'

now these guys were lovely and let me tag along to their night. two of the americans were only here for 10 days and kinda doing a quick tour of the country. the others all work here, so it was their town and i knew that if i stayed with them it would be okay, because they knew the town, could speak german and could speak english. what i didn't intend on doing was getting absolutely shitfaced and seeing some real dodgy sights. but more of that later.

so after sitting in control by myself and drinking up a storm of beck's, 'ein bier bitte?', i started to chat these guys, they invited me out for a smoke so i went, in germany they have the laws that australia has, no smoking inside clubs and such. which is odd because nearly everyone here seems to smoke. but most places seem to have smoker's rooms, which are just tiny rooms with massive air conditioners. like the hong kong airports but dirtier and full of drunken germans. it was out there when i noticed that people can walk into bars and pubs with dogs. i was a little put off by this and asked if it was common. the german guy said yes and seemed quite surprised that i asked this. i then asked if they had any health and safety issues and if i could walk in with a cat. he though i was taking the piss, which i was sort of, but i was also curious. he couldn't answer my question and i left it at that.

after some more beer the guys wanted to take their american friends to experience some real germany and they let me tag along. the first stop was a place i can't remember the name of, but the bartender knew english so it was good. unfortunately one half of the americans couldn't at this stage and had no idea what was going on. it was quite amusing to see a german get annoyed because his english and comprehension was better than an americans. now while we were here i was told that this tiny dirty pub was actually a place to meet prostitutes and then you you go upstairs to an apartment and 'transact' some business. i laughed my arse of at this and just thought, by the look of the place, they'd have to go cheap.

the next place we went to was pretty creepy and pretty amusing at the same time. the bartender liked us here because we were buying up big, and just quietly i think he was amused by the sight of us in such an underground kind of place. now this 'pub' was very interesting. it was a gay bar and had a smoking room as well as a dark room. if you've ever been to the peel in collingwood and noticed the upstairs 'for men only' section you will know exactly what a dark room is. for those that don't, let me explain. when you're out with a man-friend and you're getting along nicely enough that you can't wait to get home to do the nasty, you take them to this room out the back were you can't see anything at all except for the door. hence the name dark room. now this sounds a little skanky and dirty, but if you actually go in there you notice it's much worse. i poked my head in to have a look and it was basically just a square room with park bench type seats all the way around and no flooring, just concrete. i guess the minimalism of it all makes it easier to hose off at the end of the day. i just wondered though, how many people have gone in there and sat down either on someone, or on someone they weren't suppose to. i'd dare say you'd get a nasty shock or at least be needing a change of pants.

we then moved on to another place which i don't really remember at all. which is probably a good thing as the further we went that night, the more gross and weird it got. all i can remember is another tiny smoking room and hardcore house music, which i remember liking and thinking this sounds like revolver when it's pumping. it reminded me of my friend cecilia and i remember giggling with the thoughts of a thousand 'tanked' nights with her and thinking if she ever comes here i am so going to find this bar again and demand that we go, but it would require alot of drinking beforehand to get the courage to go through the door.

this was our last stop, and as some of our companions had to work at 10am the next day we said auf wiedersehen to the bar scene and went home. the night was massive and i'm definitely hungover. there's a pub crawl going on tonight from the hostel and i'm debating whether or not i should do it. it's my last night in frankfurt and i'd really like to see a nice version of it before i go. last night was very interesting indeed, but i think i'd like to see the comparison. if only for the blog's and curiosity's sake. plus i want to hear some hardcore german beats and see them dance. i saw a bit of that last night and i had to stifle a laugh. the hardcore german mod types dance like goths to craftwork. it's so fucked up that i can't even describe it without giggling, but i loved it and if i get a little tipsy tonight i'm going to give it a try. if you could imagine someone doing the robot but arms out straight at the sides dressed only in black and emo hair, you've got it. for an example of something similar and creepily accurate click here. (for some reason, this is the only clip on youtube. it's not the one i wanted, but you get the idea.) i'll let you know how it goes and what exactly i end up doing on my last night in frankfurt. whatever it is, i bet it's going to be interesting and quite the experience. but it's going to have to try hard to beat the skanky, gay, prostitute-filled weirdness of the night before!

(as a side note, i've realised just how often i've used the word creepy when i'm talking about germany or anything german. just so everyone knows, i don't use it as a derogatory term, just as the only word that comes close to describing what i'm seeing and experiencing. when i find the right word i'll let you all know, but something tells me it's not going to be an english word, maybe german or perhaps russian.)

supermarket? not while there's photos to be taken!?!

i was suppose to go to the supermarket this morning and pick up some things. after a disastrous attempt at going to buy shampoo and conditioner yesterday, (it took me twenty minutes to distinguish the conditioner from other hair care products - i laughed insanely the whole time, and i think the woman behind the counter thought i was high. i would have thought i was high.) this was not a trip i was looking forward to. i was almost fearing it to tell you the truth. i know how to say how much is that? and so forth, so it wasn't going to be too bad, but i just had this feeling i'd be there for hours trying to find the things i needed. and without annoying the staff by having them drag me around like a blind dog, i was walking with some trepidation. however, after asking the guy at reception where the nearest supermarket is i was off. but before you can say zeig heil mein fuhrer! i veered away from the path and was lost in a mass of old-school buildings in the middle of a fancy residential area of frankfurt taking happy snaps of buildings. so i still haven't gone to the supermarket. haha. but i have some brilliant shots, which to be honest isn't that hard when you're in a town that looks like the opening credits to La Law and schindler's list had a fucked up baby.

my walk went for about two hours, which makes my future 2 hour walk with the hostel kind of redundant, but i'm going anyway. it's a chance to see things i missed, get the names of things i saw already (if you are a friend of mine on facebook, look at my frankfurt pics - i have no idea what half the things i was looking at were. they're very pretty though!), and, most importantly, make some new friends. it's kind of hard to do that here, when you're avoiding americans, aussies and everyone else speaks different languages and is afraid to talk. apparently the thing to do is smile and nod and say hi very quickly before running away. i'm not having a go, because i've done it too! (there was this one guy though, and this is a complete by the by, who came in this morning wearing an american jacket with USA written on it and all the stars and stripes and usual fanfare that adorns such patriotic nonsense that america spews. how many friends do think he'll get? i'd wager not many if he keeps that jacket on. is he aware that america bombed the fuck outta this town? that's like going to hiroshima and wearing a USA hoodie. yeah, thanks for the atomic blast, all our children's children have cancer you bastards!)

anyway, two things happened to me on my walk this morning. one amusing and one creepy. the amusing thing is i was mistaken for a german by an old lady. she looked at me at asked for directions in german - a whole lot of german. (before i go on, please be aware that i don't know how to spell big german words. and they have a lot of them) i responded in german by saying, 'enschuldigung, mein duestcher nicht so gut. sprechen sie englisch?' she responded, 'nein.' and then a shitload more german before walking away. now, it was about two blocks down the street when i realised that what i had said was literally, 'apologies, my german woman is not so good.' i giggled to myself and realised hey, she understood me despite my incorrectness so my german can't be that bad. it gave me some hope for later on when i will have no option but to speak german.

the second and creepy thing that happened, was when i was walking through a statue filled park, taking photos and enjoying the serenity, i noticed a guy apparently peeing in the bushes. now i thought nothing of this, because hey, every guy once in a while has had to go the bathroom at a time when there's been no toilets (that's another thing, frankfurt seems to have no public toilets. unless of course they don't have pictures, only words saying toilet? interesting...), but as i was walking past another guy walked past me and straight up to him. now walking guy grabbed a cigarette out of peeing guy's mouth, lit his own cigarette with the end, before putting it back in peeing guy's mouth. nothing that strange, well okay, it is strange, but i'm in europe, so hey, stranger things are bound to happen. now this would have been fine if that's all that happened, but it wasn't. walking guy, from behind, then looks over peeing guy's shoulder and at his dick. he then stands directly beside peeing guy and undoes his pants. peeing guy then smiles and does a 'reach across'. it is this point where i realise peeing guy is actually MASTURBATING GUY!!! now what kind of country is it, where at 11 in the morning you can pick up another man in the thinly spaced bushes of a public park, where people are constantly walking past, none of whom seemed shocked or frightened or disgusted. it was as if this is a normal occurrence here. just to let you know, on the other side of the thinly spaced bushes is a main road. a jam-packed, full of little german cars main road. and anyone who's been to frankfurt knows that if it's a main road, it is a busy as fuck main road. cause everywhere else is one way and incredibly small. think the movie ronin with robert de niro.

anyway, that's it for now. the one thing i learned about germany so far today, is that apparently you can do anything you want and no one cares. which i must say, gives me hope for the future. especially with the nightlife. hehehe...

a brand new day

i slept pretty well last night. i was going to go out and either see a rock band from sweden or go to a metal club/bar that the girl at the counter told me about, but apart from the fact it was on the other side of town, i passed out at around 9:30pm german time (5:30am australian time) and slept for about 10 hours. i guess that just made up for the sleep i missed out on during the trip here. i'm still a little tired, but i can push through that today. as the title says, it's a brand new day and without the sleeping pills effecting me and with a shit load of sleep under my belt, i don't have to fear looking like a junkie or zombie. and who knows, i might even try some of my dodgy- as german.

last night i decided to be boring and have mcdonald's for tea and it was funny trying to order. i asked the girl at the counter, 'sprechen sie englisch?' to which she replied a little. i then said, 'ausgezeischnet!' (that's excellent and spelt wrong. lol) and clapped. she just giggled and then in broken german/english we figured it out. so today is all about getting my bearings and trying out some german. i'll let you all know how it goes. i might head down to the supermarket later, but my real plan is to go on the walking tour of frankfurt at 4pm and take some photos, make some new friends and then maybe convince one or two of said 'new friends' to go for drinks somewhere. i can't keep to myself for much longer otherwise the first person that shows me any kind of friendship is going to have to put up with an out pouring of chatter from yours truly. and anyone who knows me, will know that if that happens i may not stop. haha...

anyway, today is photography and german language day, not to be confused with international talk like a pirate day, or international toilet day. which are real days, but have to have the stigma of not being cool enough for a place on calenders or diaries.

finally in germany!?!

yep, the title says it all. I'M FINALLY HERE IN DUETSCHLAND!?! and boy what a long trip that was. apart from the three months it took me to organise everything and get myself here, the trip was a killer. 9 hours from melbourne to hong kong, 7 hour stopover (duty free is not that interesting as i don't care for cartier watches and hugo boss sunglasses), then another 12 hour flight from hong kong to frankfurt. i'm here now and loving it, but by god am i tired. irish pete warned me about jet lag, but he said i'd feel it a couple of days after i got here - he lied. i'm feeling it now and i'm slightly delirious. as i sit here typing this, i continually yawn, have to blink to make my eyes focus and am a little scared at trying my very basic german on anybody, let alone an actual german. i'd consider it to go something like this;

tim - guten tag

random german - huh?

tim - guten tag

random german - huh?

tim - guten bloody tag

random german - vbndjg lhbfdjsvghb (read as german for what is wrong with you? are you okay? do you need some help? how about a hug?)

tim (softly) - guten tag

random german (strange look)

tim (sigh and walk away)

on a different but same note, frankfurt is a very contrasting city. there's uber-modern buildings everywhere and yet in the middle of it all there's all these tiny traditional buildings. i went for a walk before without my camera, a spur of the minute kind of thing, and as soon as i hit the old town i wish i had brought my camera. the buildings there have been restored from the war and are almost exactly like they used to be before the allies bombed the shit out of them. well, except for the starbucks and subway 'restaurant' (if you can call it that).

the train station is amazing as well. it's like 'southern cross' on spencer street on the inside (if it was a restored building) and totally traditional on the outside. i'd put photos on here, but i didn't take my camera for the walk. (edit - tried to add some photos, but blogger is currently being fixed and wont let me) there's a good reason for that though, in my current state of zombie-ness i didn't want to add to my troubles by looking like the complete tourist. i already did that in hong kong. try being white with blond hair and surrounded by asians. they like to stare. it was good fun for awhile, a bit of an ego boost, but after the millionth time it lost it's charm and just became annoying.

best thing about being stuck in a hong kong airport? the $18 aust carton of smokes i bought! bargain in any language. worst thing? the smoker's lounges. they are small and filled with, you guessed it, smoke. nearly made me stop smoking.

best thing about frankfurt so far? the architecture. worst thing? the shittiest exchange rate from aust to euro in the world. i regret not changing all my money in hong kong. although i now have 3 different currencies and have no idea what they're all worth separately. although i do know that when i go back to hong kong, i have plenty of money to buy stuff. read as smokes.

(ps sorry about the weird line spacing, for some reason blogger wont let me do spaces between paragraphs)

family closure and disappointments

so i've been in stink-town now for two weeks and to be honest i haven't really minded it. this is only because i've been hanging with my family and one of my best friends. if it wasn't for them i would have spent the last few weeks in melbourne crashing on people's couches and just being a drunken lunatic. my brother and sister, who are both in high school, have just gone back to school this week so it's been cool to sit around watching tv, mucking around and basically annoying the crap out of both of them. it was funny to note, however, that as soon as i was back i went from being a somewhat adult-acting 28 year old to going straight back to stereotyped big brother. i've stayed up late chatting to mum and dad, and now the kids are all back at school it's been wonderful to sit around and talk to them. i haven't been able to do this for ages as i lived in melbourne and worked on weekends and pretty much had a separate life to them, so the two week stint has been very welcomed, especially because i don't know when i'll be back from germany, or even if i will be coming back.

my extended family i haven't seen much of. my nan and pop both live in stink-town, as does my aunt, but i did think that i'd see them more than i have. i've seen my nan and pop twice, which isn't too bad, but i haven't seen my aunt once, except for her popping her head in the door while i was asleep one morning to say hi before leaving. it is a slight disappointment. although i have been informed that this can be explained - everyone thought that i was staying alot longer than i am. i have no idea where they got that impression from, as everyone knows that this is a hugely rushed and spontaneous trip and that i would never spend too long here. not because i don't like being with my family mind you, but more because i fucking hate this town. hopefully i will see more of my extended family before i go.