Ich fahre nach Berlin - Part Two

If you read my blog regularly, you'll see that I've already posted about part of my trip to the Deutsch capital, Berlin (see 16/12). This post covers the second and final half of my trip.

You may have noticed from my first post that one of the most famous elements of Berlin - the Berlin Wall - was conspicuously absent in our whistlestop tour of all the sights. That's because we made sure to cover that on Saturday, my second day in Berlin, braving absolutely freezing wind and fog to do so (woe is me!)

We started off my taking the U-Bahn over to the site of the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is a 1.3 km stretch of the Berlin Wall, which runs along the River Spree and which has been covered in graffiti art by various artists - apparently there are 105 paintings [or at least there were originally - a lot of the graffiti has itself been graffitied], all painted in 1990, the year after the wall finally fell, on its east side.

It's interesting to go and see - despite the fact that what's left of this part of the wall is covered in colourful and meaningful pieces of artwork, and is full of gaps through which you can see the river and everything on the other side, I still found the wall to be very imposing.

We all walk past walls every day and barely bat an eyelid at them or what is in the other side of them. But somehow, I think that the Berlin Wall seems a whole lot more solid than your everyday wall.

I suppose that part of that is knowing what it once represented; what it meant to the people of Berlin. But some of it, I think, is it's height and length, even considering it is much reduced from what it was. It was built to be imposing, after all, and to cause unease to the human psyche, and cause unease it does, by both it's physical presence and, now, also by it's reputation.

From the wall, we headed back into Central Berlin to see Checkpoint Charlie, which was the only official entry point between East and West, marking the entry into the American Sector.

It took us a good half an hour or so to get from the East Side Gallery to Checkpoint Charlie, which really started to give you an idea of the scale of the disruption caused by the wall. But what really put everything into perspective for me was going to see the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer - the Berlin Wall memorial.

This is a 60-metre (200 ft) section of the former border, including an old watch tower, and information about how there used to be a row of houses there, from which people tried to escape in the early days, before being forced to evacuate. The houses were later blown up. 

It was seeing this part of the wall - which felt a lot more real again than the section of the East Side Gallery - and reading about the effects of these evacuations and escape attempts, which really made me think about the wall. It only fell a few years before I was born, so not all that long ago really, and it's something I feel like I should make an effort to know a little more about, especially now having seen it for myself. 

After we'd finished at the memorial we called a halt to our strangely Cold War themed day and stopped off at the department store Ka De We (which reminded me very much of Harrods, and was exceptionally festive inside). We grabbed some dinner and then attempted to go the Christmas market at Alexanderplatz (I say attempted because it was actually closing when we rocked up, but there we go!).

The Christmas Section in Ka De We

Then on Sunday, we went for a meander around the flea market in Mauer Park before going back to Immy's flat to 'festify' it before some of her Erasmus friends came over, which lead to a lovely afternoon/evening of Christmas music, good food, conversation, and glühwein!

And with the end of my Berlin trip, that's basically my limit for cool year abroad stuff for 2013. We're already mid way through December. This week we've had a mini Christmas Dinner at our apartment with some friends, and in the next few days I am going HOME!! It feels like absolutely ages since I was there at the end of October for my 21st, so I absolutely cannot wait to see my family and to get in some Christmas traditions. 

On which note, this will be my last blog post for 2013. I'm pretty pleased with how things are going so far with my year abroad (and with my blog) and I hope to keep it up for 2014! 

So, I would like to wish everybody a Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année. I'll see you all again when I start posting again in the New Year!

A bientôt, Bis später!

Vicky xx

P.S. I feel the need to mention my flatmate, Parisa, here, because as I am writing this, she has just read Part One of my Berlin Blog and announced that she's very disappointed to see that she hasn't been mentioned, and did I not miss her at all? Yes, Parisa, I did :) I even instagrammed all my photos in your honour because I know how much it annoys you when I don't edit them! x

Ich fahre nach Berlin - Part One

So, have you guessed what my second exciting event is yet? The title of today's blog is not in my customary French, but in German, and that's because I visited my uni friend Immy in Berlin this weekend!

I was super excited about going to Berlin. Literally everyone I know who has been there before had told me that it's a really amazing city, and so I have wanted to go there for quite a long time. So what better chance than on my year abroad when a friend of mine happens to be doing her year abroad there?

I'm splitting this blog post into two parts because it's promising to be just as long and photo heavy as my Strasbourg post (see 8/12) which I almost made two parts itself, and that was just for a one day trip!  I arrived in Berlin late in Thursday night, and the air was absolutely thick with fog, which didn't bode very well weather wise, but thankfully we woke up on Friday morning to beautiful (if wintry) sunshine and crystal clear blue skies! 

We got up and got going nice and early to fit in as much as we could. Berlin was the European Capital of Culture in 1988 - for good reason - and it has advanced so much in that time so there was an absolute ton that I wanted to fit into three days! 

We started off by taking the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz, which is a large public square practically in the middle of Berlin and close to pretty much everything, such as the Fernsehturm Berlin - a TV tower which at 368 metres is the tallest structure in all Germany, and was built by what was at the time, East Germany.

Walking away from Alexanderplatz, we passed Berlin Cathedral, on 'Museum Island'. It is pretty spectacular from the outside, and it seemed a shame not to explore a little more, so we decided to go inside and see what it was like.

For only €4 euros we got to explore most of the Cathedral - from the main section to the crypt, where lots of royalty are buried, and the large dome at the top, which was rebuilt after being bombed twice towards the end of World War Two - ...and wow, was it worth it! Berlin Cathedral is absolutely stunning inside - really, really beautiful. A bit like last weeks Strasbourg post, I shan't try to do it justice myself. As they say, a picture speaks a 1000 words.

Climbing up to the dome made me laugh, as it was the second cathedral I've climbed in a fortnight and anyone who's read my Strasbourg post will know how that turned out last time! Luckily, I didn't embarrass myself this time and made it to the top in one piece, which provided me with my first view over Berlin of the day [the second of which I'll come to later on...]

Once we were done at the Cathedral, we carried on meandering down the road, passing the Neue Wache (Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Victims of War and Tyranny) and Humboldt Univeristat, where Immy is studying this year (and whose building is also pretty spectacular, certainly in comparison to my own glass and chrome building back in Paris). Eventually we reached Berlin's famous landmark, the Brandenburg Gate. 

For those who don't know is a former city gate, a triumphal arch, and the site of a lot of famous by US Presidents during the time of the East/West German split and the Berlin Wall.

Then we grabbed a coffee each (everybody should know the the Christmas Orange Mochas from Starbucks are amazing!) before heading for the site of my second view over Berlin. 

The Reichstag building (history students will know that this is the one which famously caught fire in 1933) has a large glass dome at the top from which you can see most of Berlin, and which Immy booked for us and her friend Emma to go and see.

The dome has a giant ramp inside which takes you to the viewing platform at the top in a massive spiral and which, at certain points, automatically triggers a new commentary on the free audio guide that is available.

It explained a lot about what I was actually seeing of Berlin, and a little of it's history, which was interesting seeing as Berlin is absolutely rolling in it. 

After we finished in the dome (and we sure took our time, because there was a lot to look at) we headed to the German Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which is just a few seconds away from the Brandenburg Gate.

The memorial basically consists of 2711 concrete blocks of varying heights, which is supposed to (and again, this is all thanks to Wikipedia which I freely admit may be leading me up the garden path):

"produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere... [and] represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason"

I personally found it a bit, well, random, and thought it looked a bit like a graveyard, but there we have it. Ours is not to question why.

After that we went back to Immy's flat to freshen up and grab some dinner, before we headed back out in the evening to meet with her friend Casey at Rosenthaler Platz. We walked from there to the Weinerei Forum, which was effectively a wine tasting bar.

Okay, so the photo isn't wonderful, but the inside of this bar was wonderfully quirky and, so I'm told, very 'Berlin'.

It's effectively a wine tasting bar. You pay €2 to get in and get a glass, and then you can try out and then drink as many of their different wines as you so choose, with helpful recommendations from the bar girl, before giving (at the end of the night) what you deem to be a fair price for the amount of wine that you've consumed while you're there.

Result: the most cost effective few glasses of wine I've had since hitting the continent back in September and a thoroughly enjoyable night out - and that was just Friday! There was a lot more to do in Berlin besides that which I have covered and I planned to do a lot more of that over the following two days...

On which note, the second part of this blog post (covering the said following two days) will be definitely go up by the end of the week, so keep an eye out for that, it will definitely be worth it! 

Until then, tschüss!

Vicky xx

À Strasbourg: le Christkindelsmärik

Hooray! A proper Erasmus post! This is going to be very long and very photo heavy - I've been on an instagramming spree! I mentioned in my last November post that I had some really exciting and Christmassy things coming up. Well, now it's December and I'm allowed to feel festive (according to my little brother who has apparently decided he is the authority on such things) - and this is the first of those Christmassy things!

Ever since I decided to come to France on my year abroad, ever since I found out that I'd be spending this year in Paris, ever since the beginning, I have wanted to go to Strasbourg for the Christmas markets - there are several - or as they say in Alsatian,, the Christkindelsmärik. 

Strasbourg, for those who don't know, is a city in the east of France, practically sat right on top of the border with Germany (and it has actually been German at certain points in its history). For that reason, it's quite different to a lot of French towns. It is France's little piece of Germany - the architecture is quite German, and scattered throughout the city there are little hints of each culture, such as the French/Alsatian road signs [Alsatian being a German dialect of sorts] It's an interesting blend!

The Dual-Language Road Signs found all over Strasbourg

Anyway - a couple of weeks ago I finally acted on this plan and booked my ticket. Then, yesterday morning, I hopped on the metro over to Paris Est and thanks to the TGV, I was in Strasbourg nice and early to spend the day there :)

Now, it would be a shame to go all the way to Strasbourg to do the Christmas Market and not to look at anything else in the city, so I was actually armed with a list of places to visit, and a route of sorts to take in my meanderings. I only had 7 hours or so, and I meant to make the most of them! 

So on leaving the Gare de Strasbourg, I didn't barrel straight for the market but headed off towards Barrage Vauban. It's a 17th century on the river Ill. That and the Ponts Couverts, where I headed next, make for some great views, and kind of act as a gateway into the city centre; a pretty entrance into La Petite France.

Barrage Vauban

The Ponts Couverts

The centre of Strasbourg itself is actually an island, the Grand Île, and in 1988 it was granted UNESCO World Heritage Status [according to Wikipedia, this was the first time it was conferred on an entire city centre]. I can totally understand why it got this status having wondered around La Petite France, where I went next.

This part of Strasbourg is so pretty. It is also known as Gerberviertel - the tanner's district - and all the buildings are very Alsatian and very medievalesque - I have no idea when they actually date from.

It was gorgeous, and after the past few stressful weeks I've had in Paris, really lovely to be able to meander around winding streets and just dip in and out of little shops and the various markets [they're literally scattered all over the city] as I felt like it.

By this point I was basically at the Cathedral, which is interesting both on its own and as the host to part of the city's Christmas Market. The Cathedral itself is something very like what I have come to expect from French cathedrals - at least, to those I have seen, which admittedly, it very few - with it's very gothic architecture, although it's kind of a rose colour, which is a little bit different.

I'm told it has a quite interesting Astronomical Clock, which puts on a performance every day around half twelve. I was in the the Place de la Cathédrale at the time, but I walked around several times and didn't actually spot it. I have a feeling that this is probably just another example of my not paying enough attention to my surroundings, for which I am sadly well-known by my friends.

Strasbourg Cathedral. 

Then, seeing a sign, in my wisdom, I paid the €2.50 to climb to the top of its spire. There's something like 322 steps to climb, which didn't seem like alllllll that many when I was stood at the bottom but seemed like a very different story half way to the top! 

The steps were very steep and in a spiral all the way to the top [unsurprisingly], and I had to stop several times up the tower huffing and puffing [only to be asked, quite embarrassingly, several times if I was okay by the 50-something year old French woman following behind, who was clearly convinced that I was about to drop dead of an asthma attack and that she had better not overtake me in case I needed resuscitation. Or something]

Although in my defence, I wikipedia'd the cathedral tonight when I was writing this blog, and I am quoting this directly from that webpage:

“At 142 metres (466 feet), it was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874 (227 years), when it was surpassed by St. Nikolai's Church, Hamburg. Today it is the sixth-tallest church in the world and the highest still-standing structure built entirely in the Middle Ages.”

So please don't judge me too badly!

On the plus side, the view was totally worth it. On a clear day, you're supposed to be able to see all the way to the Black Forest in the East, and the Vosges Mountain Range in the West, which despite the clouds, I could definitely make out in the distance.

When I eventually got my breath back enough to go back to the bottom [I swear, I'm really not as unfit as it sounds!] I went inside. I'd try to describe it, but I'm not sure that any words I could come up with would do it justice, so I'll let you see for yourselves.

Now [finally] we come to the Christmas Market! It was founded in 1570, which makes it one of the oldest Christmas Markets in Europe, and it's a good one!

The main thing that you notice about this Christmas Market, which I have never picked up on anywhere else [and this is also on its Wikipedia page, funnily enough] is that the streets smell heavenly, of Vin Chaud and spices. It's enough to get anyone's taste buds drooling, so it's no surprise that I sampled some of the Mulled Wine. I also got my hands on some marron chauds [chestnuts] which I have been craving ever since I spotted them at the Paris Christmas market, and a gaufre au chocolat [waffle]. My family will inevitably read this and point out that yet again I am talking about food, but I don't care. I'd like to see them do any different!

Other than the copious amounts of food on offer, there was a complete range of things, from beautiful hand made wooden dolls, to Christmas decorations, hand painted candlesticks and many many candles, models, Christmas decorations and so so much more that I'd never be able to cover it all in one post. 

One thing I did notice, though, was the lack of any music whatsoever - Christmas or otherwise. To me, a Christmas Market needs carols, which granted, are quite an English thing, but there was no music at all that I noticed, not even French music. I had to walk around humming to myself to fill the gap it left, like a slightly deranged person!

Back on track: finally, I ended up at another Christmas Market on Place Kléber, which is also home to Strasbourg's MASSIVE Christmas Tree. I got photos of it both before and after the sunset, and it definitely made an impression at night, when all the lights could properly be seen.

So that's pretty much that! I was going to walk up to see a few other things in Strasbourg, like the European Parliament, and the Jardin Des Deux Rives, which is basically the last stop before you cross the border from France into Germany, but I was having such a nice time meandering around the markets that I didn't bother. As it is, I have like a trillion more photos, and a trillion more things to say, but this blog post is long enough without adding all that in! Strasbourg is a beautiful city and I see myself going back there one day, not least for the fact that my mum has her name written all over it! I'm very jealous of all you Erasmus people who get to live there :)

I've got something else really exciting coming up next weekend as well, which I will also make sure to post about afterwards and which is also likely to be pretty long and photo heavy - so please keep an eye out for that! It's something I've wanted to do for a long time...

Hope everyone is having a lovely December,

Vicky xx