Berlinerfest!

What a weekend! The plan was to go to Oktoberfest, but my friend Jordie and I decided to save some euros and go to Berlin instead. Jordie has been an au pair in Europe this year as well, in Ireland with FIVE children. Some of her war tales made me glad I only had one rugrat.

We stayed in a New Zealand themed hostel which was kinda neat. Their NZ café didn’t have L&P OR pavlova which was a little disappointing but their burgers and chips were excellent and tasted like home.

Berlin had a pumping alternative culture. There were also an overwhelming number of homeless people who would beg to us in English and German.

On our first day, we met each other at Alexanderplatz, which became our local. Since this weekend was Reunification Day for Germany, there was a big market going on at Alexanderplatz so we ate lots of bratwurst and candied nuts there. As a salute to Oktoberfest, we drank a 1L beer each then crashed at the hostel after a long day of travelling.

15 hours later we staggered out of bed and decided to find the Berlin Wall. Handy tip: Information desk “help” people look at you funny if you ask directions to said wall. We walked in the wrong direction for a few blocks but we were in no hurry and we got to see more of the city. We discovered the wall at last and walked the length of what remains. The East side has been turned into a gallery and is covered in murals. We had intended on a pub crawl after dinner but we ended up gossiping for too long in the NZ Café over our burgers and beers. Oh well!

On the third day we decided to see some sights so we walked to the Berliner Dom, found some churches and an arty market and got a little lost. Never fear, we found the Currywurst museum: a fun little museum dedicated to the traditional German curried sausage. It was rather silly and a tad overpriced but we got a free sample and it was an interesting break from all that culture.

Our last day got off to an early start; after checking out of the hostel, we got a long distance train to see a concentration camp: Sachsenhausen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsenhausen_concentration_camp

Since it was a Monday, all the museums were shut but we got a map and wandered about. There was still loads to see and read and it was all very sobering. We completely lost track of time and were astonished to find that we’d missed our bus, which only came once an hour. We had a little picnic, of German bread and dried meats and made it back to the middle of Berlin with time to spare for Jordie’s train. I wandered about for a little by myself before boarding my own train back to Kassel.

And now life is back to normal. It was really great to hear another Kiwi accent and to talk to someone who knows what I’m on about when I say something distinctly Blenheim. Hanging out with Jordie made me re-realise the little differences which I have become used to between Germany and New Zealand, like the shape of the pillows. Definitely a trip I’ll remember for a while!