A ton of photos

My photo albums seem to be like busses - none for ages, then three come along at once. There's quite a lot so grab a tea and biscuit to get you through!

Czech Republic - here

Poland - here
Germany - here

As ever you don't need a Facebook account to view these particular albums

Exit Germany

Berlin, Germany to Amman, Jordan, via Gatwick, England!

So last time I let off at a point where my brother and I were about to exit Germany - him to go home, and me to fly to Jordan, but it was to be a little drama filled...

Waiting for the train that didn't arrive

The last morning in Berlin we looked up the train times to the airport for later, to allow Chris to get to his flight home in plenty of time, and knew we had to be back at the hostel by 3.30pm to catch the train there. At around 3pm a little way across town, we went to get the subway back to the hostel, only to find it wasn't running on that route due to maintenance, so had no option but to walk back instead and therefore missed the first train to the airport. No problem we thought, plenty of time still. He got his bag from the hostel and we then went to the station, but once on the platform, despite it clearly showing 'airport' on the screen the train simply didn't turn up. A problem. We went to the ticket office to check, who told us another train was due in half an hour and where to go, which was pushing things tight but he could just catch the flight if he ran. And low and behold, despite doing everything right, that train didn't turn up either. It was very strange, and we couldn't seem to get an explanation from anyone for it. But that was it - Chris missed the flight - a bad end to a good week. He eventually got to the airport, and had to pay £70 to catch the next one.

In the meantime, my passport was ready for collection in the Indian Embassy - I'd had to leave it there for a few days to apply for a visa to visit, and you can only collect them between 4.30 and 5.30pm. I was flying later that evening so HAD to get it back. But because I couldn't have just abandonned my brother amongst the problems, I was now running very late. Two subway trains later, and a half mile sprint later, I got to the embassy at 5.25... Phew, disaster just averted.

  

I managed to get to the airport with plenty of time, to find my brother was on the same flight as me. Which might sound odd since he was going home, but the reason for this was that the only sensibly priced flight for me to get to Jordan was via Gatwick, England with easyJet - everything else was nearly twice the price. I was going home, but not going home! 

The flight was fine bar a very sketchy landing, and after collecting my bag I said my goodbyes to Chris and went to wait for my connecting flight in the morning. After nearly four months away, I was on English soil - It was a very strange feeling I tell you, partly because I was only there for nine hours. I had mixed feelings about whether I should have left a gap between my next flight and gone home for a few days, but rightly or wrongly decided not to. It would interrupt the flow of this trip, and wouldn't feel right. If I'm away, I'm away. My consolation was a splurge in the airport Marks and Spencer for a taste of home. I then found myself a row of seats and settled down for the night... for I was sleeping in the airport!

Gatwick Airport, a very odd view. Looks like I'm wearing a skirt. I'm not.

Final thoughts on Germany

I got thinking about my time in Germany. In all I've spent just over a month there on this trip, and it's been fascinating. Whilst I've met and chatted to many Germans, I've not felt I've managed to get under the skin of the country as much as I'd have liked to, to really understand the people and culture. I think I was spoilt in that respect in Sweden. But I've seen enough to realise that the Germans are really not as different to us Brits as you might think. The country isn't as over organised, serious, and expensive as the stereotypes say. The people are friendly and have a sense of humor. Germany being expensive is a bit of a myth - German products we see at home are often expensive, but that's because they're of a superior quality. With normal stuff, I felt the costs were pretty similar to the UK, though supermarket food and beer is cheaper. Of course in terms of common backpacking places, it isn't by any means cheap.

I only found a few areas where the scenery was particularly interesting, but there is a real depth of history, and loads of interesting stuff to see. The weather has put a bit of a downer on things sometimes though, with some of the cold and wet spells and I must say it made me question why I was doing this trip the odd time. Which looking back really meant, questioning why I was in a cold country similar to home, when I could be somewhere hot and different. No regrets though, it really has been great.

Anyway, back to the airport. I managed to sleep surprisingly well for five or six hours, given that I was lying across a row of seats. I was pretty paranoid about the security of my valuables whilst I slept, so put everything in my pockets, got inside my sleeping bag liner, and it all ended up fine. The next morning I went to departures, and boarded the plane - next stop, Jordan. We flew back over Germany, then down over Slovakia, Croatia, Greece, Cyprus and Israel, and finally started descending over very different scenery - the scrubby desert of the Middle East.

Kent countryside

Over the Austrian alps. Amazing.

Slovakia

Over Greece

First sight of Jordan

Berlin brothers

Berlin, Germany

The past few days in Berlin have been brilliant. Despite it being bitterly cold at times, having my brother Chris in tow has been great, making everything more enjoyable and given me a fresh perspective towards this trip. 

He's in his first few months working as a doctor in Lincoln, and the hours and stress have taken their toll a bit, so he was equally as pleased to be out here for a break. Monday therefore started with a lie in, for him anyway, before heading off to be proper touristy and see the main sights. We stopped first at the Brandenburg gate - an icon of Germany due to its prominence through WWII and the Cold War, followed by a walk through the park past the Reichstag - the German parliament, down through the park to the Viktoria statue and a bus ride down to the other end of town via 'Checkpoint Charlie', before getting off by the cathedral to look in the DDR museum which told the story of life in East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell. Phew. With Chris finishing looking round way before me, I realised I sometimes spend a bit too long looking at everything in these places without necessarily taking it all in. He has got a short attention span mind.

Brandenburg Gate

After, a stroll to the Alexanderplatz area, a Currywurst and chips (classic Berlin fast food) for lunch then a bus ride back across town for our booking to go up in the Reichstag dome. This glass and steel dome hovers over the main debating room of the German parliament, and is a real icon of the city. It, along with the parliament was burnt down, slightly suspiciously, just as Hitler entered power and was only fully rebuilt in the nineties after the two Germanys became one. It's a stunning building, and the dome above had great panoramic views over the city, and some info on the German government today. To round the evening off, we went for my first pizza in three months, accompanied by a decent German wheat beer. Proper.

The Reichstag - German parliament 

Tuesday was Berlin Wall day. Chris doesn't cycle much, but I somehow managed to persuade him to join me in hiring a bike and following part of the route where the wall used to stand. It was marked right through the city by a line of bricks in the road, and in a few special places the original wall still stands, as well as various info and photo points showing then and now. One piece in particular opened our eyes - they had restored a hundred meter section to exactly how it was in that era, comprising a double concrete wall with barbed wire and access track between, and watch towers looming over. It would have been a pretty grim time to be a German. Further along we managed to track down an unrelated sight - that of where Hitler's underground wartime bunker was located. It's now completely filled in and exists as a car park, but the information by it showed exactly where everything was. It was here that he committed suicide, then was burnt outside by soldiers. We kept cycling after this until dark, ending up at the east side gallery - an original section of the wall, nearly a mile long which various artists and painted muras, mostly based around peace, the wars and the city.

Berlin Wall section

It was my last night, and nearly the end of Chris's flying visit already, so we went out to a German restaurant for tea. He had a bad stomach so kept it simple with steak, I went proper German and had rolled beef and bacon, with red cabbage and potatoes, followed by Apple strudel. An excellent final meal. Chris's stomach soon improved, so we found a traditional pub to try a local brew, then for the true German experience, drank out of one litre glasses back at the hostel.

The final day was to be a bit on the short side because we both had flights later on, so we headed to Berlin Olympic stadium. This was another Hitler idea - to host the Olympics in 1936 and show what a great country they were (but hide all the racism and murders). After falling to rack and ruin post-war, it was gutted and rebuilt for the 2006 football World Cup. With Chris being a big football fan, we paid to go in and have a look about. The grandeur of it all was pretty impressive, though it wasn't as stunning as some of the other Olympic parks I've visited. 

After this it was time for both of us to be on our way to the airport, which was a bit drama filled but that's a story for next time...

1936 Berlin Olympic stadium

East side gallery

The last supper... In Germany

Dresden

Dresden, Germany

When I write these updates it sometimes feels a bit repetitive - 'went for a wander, went to this museum, saw this interesting thing', so I hope it's not boring to read. It's not boring to see - Germany is a really interesting place to travel around - not particularly hot, fun or adventurous, but sometimes interesting is more than enough. That said, I think I'm getting a little burnt out with just looking at stuff at the moment - more variety, experiences, and activities are required. And are coming soon...

Dresden's beautiful skyline

Maybe it's just me, but the word Dresden sounds a bit like dreary, dread, dross - negative words, but the place is far from that. A city a couple of hours south of Berlin - we bombed it to pieces in the war, but instead of just being rebuilt in grey concrete, they did an excellent job restoring what was there and putting some nice buildings in the gaps. After the high speed journey to get there that I wrote about previously, I found a good hostel in the young and creative area of Neustadt. Staying local on Friday, I set off bright and breezy for a change, on foot following a street art tour I found on a map, followed by another walking route to the old town around these grand old buildings, past the old opera house and palace, ending mid afternoon at a place I'd read about at home - the transparent factory.

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Now a lot of car companies like to have a top of the range model that lures people in, only to realise they can't afford it and then buy a cheaper model. Volkswagen have gone a step further by creating a quite frankly, out of this world factory to draw potential customers in. The building is completely glass clad inside and out (hence the transparent) and set over many stories, with polished hardwood floors rather than concrete, minimal noise, and barely a spec of dust to be seen. Very fake, but quite a sight nevertheless. There was no factory tour available so I made do looking round some exhibits, and at the building itself. The best bit is where they store the finished cars - in a huge round glass tower, where the cars are lifted into their bays with a robot - it's like a giant vending machine and amazing to see in action. A beer in the hostel bar chatting to a Filipino guy who was here to study finished the day nicely.

A week or so ago I flicked through a photo book of Germany - nice scenery but nothing too amazing, until I came across an area called Saxon-Switzerland which looked like another world, and fortunately it was near to where I was staying. So last Saturday it was time to head to the country - something I've not done enough recently. I had planned to hire a bike and cycle down there, but walking out the door to both rain and cold weather soon changed my mind, so I headed for the train - which with no explanation didn't turn up despite clearly saying so on the board. After a bit of hassle I managed to get the next one and a bit later than planned given the shorter days now, eventually arrived in the beautiful national park and soon forgot about the hassle. Full of weird looking sandstone formations - it was stunning, one of the best places I've been on this trip. After walking past the touristy bit, I escaped the crowds and hiked about ten miles around the forest, through deep and narrow tree-covered valleys, which hid more rocky formations. Having spent too much time in cities recently, seeing barely a soul for most of the walk was exactly what I was after.

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That night a German couple around my age came into the lounge of the hostel, and we got chatting. Their English was nigh on perfect, thanks to their jobs as an English teacher and university researcher, and they were a clever pair too. This little chat soon turned into a few beers out in town along witha Kiwi girl, first at an alpine hut bar set up for winter, then by the roaring fire pit in the garden of a rock bar. Really fascinating people, and once again I got to understand the country a bit better whilst having a good laugh.

The last day in Dresden was taken up with a visit to the Military History Museum; a bit of a one of a kind. The building itself is a bit controversial - an old arsenal, with an ultra modern knife shaped feature running through it. History wise I don't seem to generally have much interest in anything older than WWII - I guess I find it hard to relate to anything older than my grandparents, so didn't spent too long in those sections, and instead put time to the post 1930's exhibits on war technology, drugs and suffering among others. One section was on use of animals in war - did you know that in Normandy and the Falklands, the British army used to send flocks of sheep in front of them to detonate minefields?! Fascinating place.

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After my success with car sharing to get to Dresden, I tried to replicate it on the way back. After messaging four or five people in the morning (admittedly in English, to Germans!), like last time it wasn't looking good, until the last minute when I got a reply to meet a guy by the train station in an hour. Perfect. On the autobahn again, this time the chap was in his forties, driving his new Ford Mondeo a bit more sensibly on the autobahn than the last guy; only 90mph ish most of the time, with the odd burst up to 110. People were still overtaking us though!

Almost back in Berlin, I got the guy to drop me at the airport. Not because I was flying, but instead to meet a visitor for a few days - my brother. He had no idea I was going to meet him until he saw me at arrivals holding a 'Dr Butter' piece of card. I'd been looking forward to this for a while, and after three and a half months without seeing anyone I know, I was absolutely delighted when he rocked up. We then headed off into Berlin for a few days of slightly more upmarket travel than I've been used to of late; always nice!

Old Dresden

Neustadt area

Transparent factory

VW Transparent factory

German night out

Swiss-Saxony

Swiss-Saxony

Military history museum

Back to Germany

Berlin, Germany

Poland was a fun little excursion for a few days and I'd like to have stayed longer, but unfortunately I had a bit of a deadline to meet back in Berlin to get a visa.

I'm heading to India in a few weeks and having looked into it found that I need to apply for a visa to visit. Visas are funny things - often when they're required you just pay for them on arrival and it's quick and painless, but the Indian one seems to be an exception involving going to the nearest embassy, filling in loads of forms, a big fee and a five-seven day wait. So this was half of last Tuesday gone, with the other half down to sorting out some chores, and as I was passing, a look in Germany's version of Harrods which was every bit as grand and expensive as you'd expect.

Holocaust Memorial

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It was back to normal on the Wednesday, starting with a wander to the Bauhaus museum. The Bauhaus movement was something I studied at Uni years ago so was interesting to see it first hand - a German design school from the 1920's which was very influential in modernising the look of products and buildings. After this, a walk through the Holocaust memorial, and across town to look around a museum called the Topographie des Terrors - a small building in a huge clearing, where once stood the headquarters and offices of the Nazi regime. It felt pretty odd stood outside, looking at this patch of land and trying to comprehend that so much evil and destruction came about because of what happened on that piece of land; the exhibition explained it all pretty well.

After the nice heat of Poland last week, Berlin is pretty chilly, and with the clocks gone back an hour the days are over too quickly. After grabbing a few layers, I spent Thursday mostly wandering round taking in a few areas of Berlin, seeing a huge former art squat, watching a fantastic street drummer, the Alexanderplatz, friedrichshain and neukollner areas, and finishing at the Stasi museum. The Stasi were in charge of state security in former East Germany, back when the country was divided in two and the place I visited was their former headquarters; left laid out exactly as it was when the Berlin Wall fell. As I learnt, it was a very perculiar country to live in back then, and not all that pleasant.

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With a few days to go until my visa was ready, I decided to escape south to Dresden - a city a hundred odd miles south, and rather than the bus or train wanted to try and use a liftsharing website called blablacar. After contacting a few people over the day it wasn't looking hopeful, but just as I set off to try and find a bus, a guy text me back saying he had spare seats. An hour later I was sat beside a nineteen year old German law student in his Renault Megane, cruising down the Autobahn, which as you probably know has in most areas no speed limits at all. He was a very knowledgable guy, and we had a proper a proper good chat about all things German. Sadly I realised that after nearly a month in the country, he's the first German I've had the opportunity to have a really decent conversation with - better late than never I suppose. But with the needle glued on 170 km/h, or about 105 mph pretty much the whole way, it wasn't the longest chat I've ever had!

Bauhaus museum

Topographie des Terrors

Art squat

Street drummer

Stasi museum

Germany photos

For your viewing pleasure, I've put a a load of my Germany pics online - the rest will follow next week, so sit back and take a look.

Click here

You don't need a Facebook account to see them

Munich: cars, castles and camps

Munich, Germany

When planning this trip, I was thinking about the sort of things I'd like to see and do, and for some reason more than any other place, these things seemed to revolve around Munich. Unfortunately for you that means an extra long blog! It's an interesting city in many ways - close to the alps, a bit of a hub of German engineering, hosts the biggest beer festival in the world, and on a more grim note - is the birthplace of the Nazi movement.

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The first night I arrived I got chatting in the kitchen to an English guy called Darren who's working in Munich; Really interesting guy and we got on really well throughout the week.The kitchen seemed to be the place to socialise. I often had breakfast the same time as either some Aussie girls or an American girl and her Dad, met loads of English and Italians who were there for work, and one night, a group of four Russian guys. We got chatting, and they said they said they were on holiday for a week or so around Europe, and had spent nearly the same amount of dosh in that time boozing it up, as I'd spent on my whole trip so far! Naturally they had vodka and offered me shot - I obliged despite it being 6pm, followed by a pancake they'd just cooked, filled with Russian caviar. Living the life eh!

The first full day in Munich, I had quite a bit to sort out - boring stuff, like banking, emails, planning, booking, finding flights etc etc - and decided to write the day off to get stuff sorted in one hit. After lunch I nipped out and get my first haircut in a while which was interesting in itself - the guy didn't speak as good English as I initially believed, so I was given some hairstyle picture books and had to pick out the one I wanted - a bit like buying a haircut from a catalogue. The upside after was that because of the language issues there was no boring small talk at all!

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DJ Shadow

How's this for a lucky chance:
At 8pm that night, I  Googled 'gigs in Munich this week'.
At 9pm that night, I was at a gig watching DJ Shadow!

Shadow is a very innovative and skilled US record producer and DJ who you've probably never heard of but whom I've been a fan of for years, and was doing a DJ set at a club just down the road. I went along on the off chance they had tickets available, only to find they did, and spent the next couple of hours watching him flick between hip hop, soul, funk and dance music in a way I've never seen before.

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The next day I headed into the city to the city museum. I had no interest in a lot of it, but because I paid I looked anyway - but finished with the bit that I went for - a section on Munich's role in the Nazi era. Basically Hitler rose to power in Munich - it was both the birthplace and capital of the Nazi movement. I didn't learn about WWII at school so my knowledge is really patchy, but I'm quite interested and want to learn more, and where better than Germany. The nation is completely ashamed with it's past, but has moved forward whilst being quite open about what happened.  The museum showed this era in detail, with many original documents, propaganda posters and pieces of Nazi memorabilia. There was little gore in the exhibition, but I felt pretty uncomfortable by the end of it.

Having heard many good things about Couchsurfing recently, I became a member of the website, which allows you to arrange to stay with locals in different cities in exchange for people staying with you one day. I've had no luck at all with finding hosts so far, but I saw there was a social meet up for travellers and hosts arranged in Munich that evening, so thought I'd go along and see what it was all about. Most people hadn't met before so there were no social barriers, and it was quite a fun night - just a couple of beers in a nearby bar, chatting to some French, Czech and Polish people.

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I seem to have been to quite a few museums on this trip, which admittedly sounds a bit dull but they've all generally been good in different ways. Wednesday was one of the best - a trip to the Deutsches Museum - the biggest museum of technology and science in the world - it was quite incredible, and I learnt tons. And so huge I only saw maybe a quarter of it in a whole day - mostly on engineering machinery, metals, photography, green energy and space travel. Every day's a schoolday on this trip.

BMW Factory & museum

Thursday was BMW day. Munich is it's founding place, and home of it's main factory. I started off in BMW Welt (world), which is a showcase of everything about the company in a stunning building. I then went across the road to look around the rather large and impressive BMW museum, and finished up on a factory tour. As a car lover it seems I'm on a bit of a car pilgrimage on this trip - this was now my fourth car factory tour, and I must say probably the best. It was very professional, walking on overhead gantries around the plant, and unlike the other factories, they let you see right inside the sprayshop whilst robots apply the five layers of paint.

Dachau former concentration camp

Munich was not only the home to the Nazi movement, but also where their first concentration camp - Dachau - was established, which became the brutal model for many others around Europe. I decided to do one of the guided tours, which was a good idea as the guide gave a very good insight into just how bad it was, going round a replica of the dormitories, the crematorium and the prison. The camp in a nutshell, was a place that the Nazi's collected anyone who wasn't part of their plan, treated them appallingly, and worked them to death making things to further their war effort whilst lining their pockets. The camp was eye opening, slightly disturbing, and left me wondering how people could possibly have behaved like that to other humans.

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Neuschwanstein Castle

Germany had another crazy leader in the 19th century - Ludwig II - but thankfully this one was harmless; spending his time building wacky castles instead of murdering people, so on Saturday I took the train south to Neuschwanstein Castle in the foothills of the Alps to see one of them. The train journey was very nice with a great view of the mountains along the skyline, but because of it's popularity the castle was absolutely packed with tourists, and all you can get is a forty-five minute rushed tour late in the afternoon. After a stroll around a lake, both waiting for the tour and escaping the thousands of tourists, I wandered up to a viewing point of the castle, and as I rounded the corner it was one of those moments that just hits you; absolutely spectacular. Inside it was just as grand, but unfortunately for old Ludwig, seventeen years into building the place he was sectioned, then died before it was finished.

On my final day in Munich, I decided to hire a bike to explore a bit. I cruised round the Oktoberfest site which they were dismantling, stopped at the Deutches transport museum for a couple of hours, went to the Olympic park from 1972, and finished at the English Garden - a large and very beautiful city park. Autumn is in full swing here, and with leaves falling everywhere the park was beautiful. It seemed like everyone was out walking round - I've never seen a park so busy, and one of the busiest and most exciting points was on a fast flowing river where people were actually surfing. Very unique.

Munich was everything I expected it to be and more. Next: Prague, Czech Republic.

Black Forest Gateaux

Freudenstadt, Black Forest, Germany

It may have been mostly the name that led me to the Black Forest - it just sounded a bit dark and mysterious. And reminded me of a nice cake.

The Black forest

To get there from Stuttgart though was a real pain - finding somewhere to go that was nice, but also had a hostel and train station - eventually I settled on Freudenstadt; a small town right in the forest, and got the next train from Stuttgard. The hostel was another dull Hostel International place - the only affordable way to stay in the countryside though - and was with the exception of me; taken over by a rather annoying band camp! (Cue American Pie jokes...).

The next day I walked outside and had a bit of a shock - the temperature has been fairly comfortable for a few weeks, but here it was under 7º all day, and I must admit it, along with the lack of sleep due to those noisy band campers, it put me in a miserable mood all morning.

I've not had much bike in my life recently (addict), and decided it was the best way to explore the area, so hired a mountain bike from nearby and set off into the Black Forest (route). It was really mysty which only enhanced the beautiful area, which was full of lots of steep and deep tree covered valleys, with a few small villages in clearings by the rivers below. It wasn't the most testing or exciting biking I've ever done, but because of the scenery it didn't really matter, and the ride eventually lifted my spirits. 

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Forty miles later at 5pm I got back to the hire shop, and to my dismay found it was shut and everyone had gone. Brilliant. The guy had clearly told me twice they shut at 6, but on reflection he probably meant to say 16:00. After a moment I decided to just take it back the next day, until I realised they'd be shut cause it was a Sunday. Great. I was leaving in the morning, and really didn't want to sit around another day just to wait for a shop to open. There was nowhere to put it, and my only real option seemed to be to leave it in the back room of the Kebab shop across the road. I decided to go back to the hostel and see if they had any ideas first though. Which was a good idea as the guy on duty was fortunately a really nice guy, and volunteered to take it back for me on Monday if I put some change in their charity pot (lets hope he does!). Sorted, phew.

This morning it was on again heading east, which was involved four train journeys, a cancellation, a long diversion, and some banter with a Columbian and Aussie girl here on exchange. Rather than totally waste the day to travelling, I stopped partway for an hour or so in the city of Ulm - Einstein's birthplace - and went for a wander, spotting a crazy statue of his head attached to a snail (long story), the tallest cathedral steeple in the world, and some nice old buildings. And now, Munich; a place I'm really looking forward to.

The Black forest

Ulm

Ulm, Birthplace of Einstein and home to this fairly kooky statue

Porsche and Pilsner

Stuttgart, Germany

Second biggest isn't always second best. A month ago I was in a bar in Gothenburg, talking to a German guy about Oktoberfest - the world's biggest beer festival in Munich. 'Too touristy, too busy, too expensive - go to Stuttgart instead - the second biggest, but much better' he said. Locals know best (usually), so the next day it was booked, and here I am at Cannstatter Volksfest.

Meeting the locals at Cannstatter Volksfest

As well as the festival - one of the big draws to Germany for me was to see some of the pinnacles of design and engineering, and Stuttgart is the home town to both Porsche and Mercedes - certainly not second best in their case. 

Mercesdes

At lunchtime on Tuesday I rolled into town, and with time a bit tight - I could only get a bed for three nights because of the festival - I thought I'd better hot step it to the Mercedes Museum. Bit of a mistake it turned out as two hours there wasn't nearly enough and I ended up rushing too much. It was a very good museum though, in a stunning building, and especially interesting as Carl Benz is generally known as the inventor of the car, kind of making this the birthplace of modern transport.

That night in the hostel, I managed to find myself some company ready for the 'Cannstatter Festival' (as it's known) in an Argentinan guy called Rogelio, then along with some Irish and Aussies, ended up talking in lounge til the early hours. Fascinating. 

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Mid-afternoon the next day, after a bit of a look around town, Rogelio and I went to the festival site on the edge of town. And man, it was huge. A large fairground and German food stalls, surround nine huge marquees in the middle. You pick a tent, find a place on one of the long tables, and from then on you're served promptly by waitresses in their traditional German dress. Funnily enough though, rather than a huge selection of beers to try, each tent only serves one type, and they come only in one litre glasses! There's no wimping out, whatever your age or sex - it was funny to see eighteen year old girls grasping these huge glasses with both hands.

Over the day, as well as going to a beer tent or two, I ate a half metre long hot dog, tried some pretzels, got told off by the Police for taking a photo of them, then told to delete it, and wandered around the fairground. It turns out oddly they don't really have fairgrounds in Argentina, so Rogelio persuaded me to join him on one of those rides that spin you and turn you upside down at the same time on a huge arm... brilliant, and I even managed to keep my pretzels down. 

Back in another marquee, there was always a band playing, mostly cheesey German music, with the odd burst of Sweet Caroline, Rocking All Over The World or Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be). There was lots of lederhosen and dresses, boiled bratwurst sausages in bowls, people smoking indoors, cooked chickens on spits, and loads of cheers moments when a little ditty was played. As the evening went on we first hung out with some Dutch girls, then joined some young Germans who were great fun, spending most of it stood up on the benches like everyone else. A fantastic day, something I'd wanted to experience for a long time.  

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Thursday started a bit slowly; I have no idea why?! Around noon though, I was on the outskirts of the city at the Porsche Factory and Museum complex. Like Merc, the building itself is a real architectural wonder, and I couldn't work out how it didn't collapse with all it's angular overhangs. I enjoyed the exhibitions, especially one where they'd chopped a 911 in half with a laser cutter, so you could see a complete section through; just like a knife through an onion. I tried to get a factory tour, but the two month waiting list put paid to that, so just wondered along the front of it for a nose instead.

Friday was frustrating, spending a lot of time trying to work out where to go next, as info, beds and trains seemed to be in short supply. But this was broken by a tour around the Mercedes engine factory nearby which I'd booked a few days before. I'll spare you the technical details, but it was pretty fascinating to see the full process of V6 and V8 engine assembly, and was extremely automated - even more than I expected. Mr Farley - you'd be in heaven there.

A brilliant few days in Stuttgart, but a bit of countryside is needed to break up the grey, so to the Black Forest it is.

Frankfurters

Frankfurt, Germany

What a contrast between two days - going from a dirt-filled hippie hangout in a small village, to the skyscraper-filled financial centre of Europe.

Because the German rail system likes to sting you for buying tickets last minute, the only affordable way to get to Frankfurt was to buy a pass for local trains only, which meant changing trains five times! It didn't matter, it broke the eight hour journey up a bit and I was just pleased to be heading south from the hippies. Eventually the train rolled into the big city in the evening light, and straight away you notice the high-rise skyline - they call Frankfurt 'the Manhatten of Europe' (I hate those limp comparisons).

On top of the Main Tower skyscraper, Frankfurt

The next day I set out for a wander to explore the centre, looking in some of the unique shops as I went; mostly of the bespoke furniture, electronics and design variety. I hate shopping generally, but I like to keep abreast of new stuff and Frankfurt was definitely the place to do so. Things such as a kitchen where the whole worktop slides across to reveal the sink, an 82"(!) Samsung TV, a hob with a touchscreen in it and a curved LG TV. Also, some cool bikes, an army surplus store that sold tazers, a building with what looked like a belly button in it, beautiful Bang and Olufsen equipment, a great bookshop for design, and an €80,000 pair of hifi speakers. Ideas, ideas, ideas. I of course considered buying some of this, but in the end concluded that my rucksack just isn't big enough.

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I've left my bike in Sweden - it was always the plan, and it's getting a bit cold and wet now - I'll get a courier to collect when I get home (or go and get it myself...). And so on Saturday I'd been planning to hire a bike to explore the city a bit. Except it was absolutely pouring down. I decided to not bother and instead find an Internet cafe to try and sort some plans for the next few weeks. Once it had cleared up a bit I went for a stroll to a 'fair for sustainable consumption', which I thought might be full of clever ideas, but turned out to be mostly energy investment firms and people making things from tyres, ring pulls and records. Yawn. These things are a bit pot luck sometimes. To top the day of wonder off, the hostel I was staying at had a kitchen compromising just a couple of microwaves, so I became well acquainted with microwave meals for a couple of days. The suprise is just how cheap they are in Germany, the non-suprise is that they tasted crap. 

I was determined to make a bit more of Sunday, so started off by going up the 'Main tower', the second tallest in Frankfurt, for a good view from the 56th floor - life looks very small and trivial from 200m up! Afterwards, a look in the Architectural Museum, which barely had any English and was a bit dry, then a stroll through the old town. I'd heard about a big meet up of cyclists at 2pm so then went to see what it was all about. It was supposed to be a bit of a flashmob for cycle awareness, but was a bit on the small side to make an impression. There was a real selection of both people and bikes though so was good to see.

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Frankfurt was nice enough, but it was time to move on. I wasn't sure where to really, but decided I'd had enough of cities for a day or two so picked a smallish town called Weinheim an hour south. I made a stop halfway to see a building called The Waldspirale that I'd read about at home. See pic below. Designed by an Austrian artist; it's one of the craziest looking buildings I've ever seen and was definitely worth a look... despite the three mile walk with my fully loaded backpack. 

Weinheim turned out to be a traditional, pretty town, and just what I was looking for. The HI hostel I stayed at, part of a chain, was as quiet and dull as could be, but it meant I got a dorm room to myself which was a nice change. After accidentally drowning, then reviving my phone again (it's a fighter), I awoke on Monday with a strong urge to go for hike - don't you ever get that? There was a lot of big forested hills around, with a couple of castles amongst them so I walked up to them, then just seemed to keep going and going as it was so nice - in the end I walked over 16 miles (route). A pot of tea at a cafe in town finished things nicely. All very civilised, what's happening to me?!

By the way - feel free to use the comments box below any time folks; always great to hear your side.

Frankfurt - financial centre of Europe

Cycle meetup that didn't really happen

The crazy looking Waldspirale residential building complex in Darmstadt

View over Weinheim

Help! In Germany

Amt Neuhaus, Germany

Authenticity. Something you don't necessarily get too much of as a tourist. The hotel, shop and tour staff you encounter may appear nice but at the end of the day they have to be to get your business. Likewise with many tourist attractions - setup for tourists but not always very real. When you're travelling for longer this gets to you I find, and you crave real places, real life and encounters with real people. 

So after a fair bit of searching on the web I find myself in rural Germany - former East Germany to be precise, staying in a very run down farmhouse on a smallholding with a couple in their late 30's. It's very authentic, but in this case turns out to be not very pleasant.

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I'm here through a scheme called Help Exchange - where you work a few hours each day in exchange for board and keep, and then have time to explore the local area and get to know the locals in your spare time. I've done it before in New Zealand and it worked out brilliantly, staying in a nice beachside house with a lovely couple. Unfortunately here it's not quite the same experience.

I respect that everyone's different. People have different perceptions of what's normal and what matters in life so I hate sounding critical here, I'm just saying what I see. They are both nice enough people, who care deeply about animals and environment and try and live as simply and self-sufficiently as possible. Qualities that are admirable since our modern lifestyles are often wasteful, unsustainable and based on exploiting the third world. I try to minimise my impact on the world but don't come anywhere close to these guys. 

Before they bought this place they spent years travelling themselves, she living in a old van selling jewellery and leatherwork she made. He around Brazil mostly. They are hippies through and through, and have a lifestyle that suits them but wouldn't suit the wider world. But instead of them being relaxed as you'd imagine, this is a world of a thousand rules, tensions, and living in filth as you'll see...

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In the house: they pile up dirty plates on a shelf and wash them every three days, there's no fridge as apparently the cellar keeps food cool enough (11º vs 3º fridge, I think not), and they (not I) use tea bags two or three times. You eat bread off a small chopping board that just gets brushed off every time but not washed. The cat walks all over worktop, bread board and table and eats scraps from the sink. You each have your own tea mug that gets rinsed each time but washed every few days.

They (and therefore we) don't eat much meat cause they don't like commercial meat practices, there's no proper hot water - to have a shower you ask two hours in advance so they can turn the boiler on. Electric and water use is kept to a minimum, including the shower. The kitchen sink has no cold water as such, you use the adjacent bathroom, and the animals food buckets get mixed with water there, from the hot water tap, which is usually cold. 

Chickens wander in and out of the kitchen, and the geese wander and mess right outside the backdoor, which gets carried in. Floors are also all covered in mud and the only rooms you remove your shoes and wellys are the lounge and bedrooms. Only the lounge and their bedroom have heating, which doesn't get turned on much, and my bedroom was therefore pretty cold. They collect the waste water from the washing machine in a container, then carry with a bucket to flush the toilet. 

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It's OK to sit in the lounge in the daytime but not the evening. You can only use the Wifi in the evening. You can only use plates and food from certain cupboards. They only cook for you once a day, and you make your own eve meal from a handful of ingredients. The food is as basic as can be and prepared on dirty surfaces with food from a dirty cellar. 

Then there's outside which is totally inefficient. The horses don't eat from a feeder - you place planks of wood around a round bale tied in with ratchet straps which need to be tightened every day. The horse fences need to be checked every day as they sometimes break. The animals water comes from a well into a dustbin - the pump is carried out and plugged in each time - you then fill the horse and geese troughs using a watering can. The round hay bales for horses are stored behind a van that you have to push out the way, then back every time as it's got a flat battery. The wheelbarrow has a puncture and needs pumping up twice a day.

It's just a madhouse. 

I feel like a snob to criticise them, sympathise that they don't earn much which makes things hard, and respect the way they want to be self-sufficient which is honorable. They have a big task to renovate the place and few resources to hand. But you also need to clean, live healthily and have some degree of comfort, and that should come before everything else. Basically here it's camping, but in a house.

Everyone is different, you have to respect that. It's interesting to see it, but you don't have to embrace it. So I escaped. 

The kitchen at Hippie hell

Day by day...

 

Monday
Christer kindly drops me at the ferry in Trellaborg, Sweden and I have a smooth crossing to Sassnitz, Germany. I get a train 3 hrs south and 'Helga' lets call her, picks me up from the station - her friend drives as her car has broken down. I'm given a tour of the place. A few small sausages, spaghetti salad, bread and half a potato for tea. 

I meet Niv, a 27 year old Israely guy also staying there. He's a top bloke and is my allie through this experience. He hates it is well but is both more tolerant than me, and broke so can't leave until his flight home. 

Tuesday
Everyone gets up late so can't start work til 10am. Collect and chop wood, peel windfall peaches for freezing. Scrape flaking old paint off ceilings and walls in the cellar (aka the fridge), with just a couple of dust sheets covering all the fresh food. Hmmm.

After work, borrow a bike to explore. Buy loads of junk food from a supermarket as an antidote for the frugal blandness we're given at the house. 

Get home and 'Franz', lets call him, directs anger towards me that a horse is missing and the geese have no food. It's their animals and they've told me nothing about them. Very weird. I look outside anyway and horses are there, and geese have food from earlier. Very weird. He later apologises and says it was a misunderstanding. 

Wednesday
9am people seem to roll out of bed. We finish cleaning out the cellar (aka fridge) - we remove three huge buckets of paint scrapings, dust, dirt and rubbish. From the area most of the food is stored I hasten to add. Wanting to do the job properly, I ask if we can mop the floor and she agrees. I joke the floor might go from brown dirt back to the actual red of the brick - 'don't worry too much about that' she says. Hmmmm.

PM - we knock down an internal wall in the barn, takings care not to damage the original mud bricks as he wants to reuse them. On a good note, with Franz being a carpenter it was interesting to watch him building a doorway with some of the huge timber beams in a traditional style. 

Borrowed a bike... not allowed to use his one now, have to use an old 80's road bike stuck in one gear. Nice ride to the Elbe river - the former border between East and West Germany and see a sign marking this. On the journey I decide that's it, I have to get out of this place. I agreed to stay a week, but two days is too long. 

Niv and I cook eggs on toast again - the only proper ingredients available. I'm then determined to plan my exit.  Except the Internet isn't working. 

Thursday
Awake at 7. Get the Internet working and try to work out where to go, and how to go. Trying to do all this on my tiny phone screen drives me mad. Eventually at 11, I hand them a bottle of wine, say thanks but this isn't for me, and walk. It's a four mile walk to the train station with my rucksack, but she wasn't offering a lift, and just imagine the tension sitting beside her if she did! 

It was sunny, though cool and the walk was good. Cleared my mind, gave me a plan for the next step, and tested my walking shoes and rucksack which are ace. Get on the next train heading for Frankfurt - financial centre of Europe and a total contrast to hippie hell.