Posts tagged: germany

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DECEMBER 24TH, 2010
By SETH GHOLSON

Berlin

Thanks to everyone that enabled me to take this trip – especially my wife Jen, who was selfless enough to allow me to take this trip without her.

This is the only car the communists had - and it's busting through the wall. Genius.East Side Gallery

Berlin Hauptbahnhof – the largest train station in Europe. It’s quite impressive in its size and feels much more like an airport.

I ditched the turtle-looking hat after a while. It was crawling with cops carrying submachine guns.

Tiergarten – the park just in front of the Brandenberg gate. The parks are stunning when covered with fresh smooth powder like they were while I was there. The scenery was just as foreign to me as the culture. Here you see the first glimpse of how I promised Jen she would be with us:

She was there in spirit. I should've made one for my son too. Just 3 studs... creeping through the park.

Brandenburg Gate – Rain or shine, I think there are always people around this gate.

A real Christmas tree!IMG_0283

Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) – Walking through this place made you very uneasy. It was a bit disorienting at times while in the middle of it.

It went on forever The size was enormous. It's impossible not to want to play in it.

Christkindlmärkte (Christmas Market) – There were a lot of Christmas markets. We attended quite a few in Berlin and the famous large market in Nuremburg. These were a lot of fun. I ate lots of sausages and breads, the best hot chocolate in the world, guaranteed, and struggled to find a piece of chocolate that wasn’t loaded with rum.

Best hot chocolate. In the world. Ever. They always give you real cups and plates and cutlery and you are refunded a few dollars when you return them. CREPES WITH NUTELLA! AHHHHH! SOOO GOOD! Charlottenburg Palace NOM NOM NOM Nuremburg's Christmas market was packed Warm wine - DELICIOUS in cold weather! And kind of potent... Tasty looking dried fruits - I got sausage and crepes instead.The Mother of Hot Chocolate

das Essen – Food was a big target of mine while there. I hear Germans “only eat meat and potatoes” and frankly that generalization isn’t too far off the mark. My ideal cuisine!

A big wad of pork. And potatos. Schnitzel! The best beers in the world! Best (only?) brunch I have ever had! Brunch buffet - twice as long as this. And there were two. I could only identify one thing on this plate.Their beers are much larger than ours. *hiccup* "Ghetto Burger" - yes, it came with a shot of Vodka. French Fry Sauce (this was in Amsterdam)

die Geschichte – Spending time in a country with as much history as Germany is a clear reminder of how young the United States really is.

The scale of this church is hard to capture. This is no Southern Baptist church... Most of this church was destroyed during the war. Dead Prussian royalty in the crypt under a church. Wedding is the name of the neighborhood. Nazi War Criminals were tried here.

Lochgefängnisse – While in Nuremburg, we toured a medieval dungeon under what was once a monastery, then became City Hall in the mid 1300’s. This was genuinely the creepiest place I’ve been to in a while. It might’ve had little to do with the dungeon and more to do with the lady giving the tour only in German that sounded like she smoked twelve packs a day since she was 2.

She was a scary broad. Very cold - very low ceilings. The top of the door was at my throat level. That stone was hung from prisoners' legs. Window up to ground level. Leg stocks. This was the welcoming device - fingers were first crushed in it. The executioner's apartment room - can't explain this light. It happened multiple times. Some of the torture devices - the explanations were gruesome.

There were too many paintings  to photograph at the East Side Gallery, but I took some shots of a few remarkable ones:

The paintings go on seemingly forever Yes, that is Scrooge McDuck. They call him Dagobert Duck. I have no idea what's going on here.

A quick list of impressions this trip has left on me:

  1. I’d like to live in a big city some day.
  2. Public transportation is abysmal in most of the United States.
  3. Shreveport is a very dangerous city compared to Berlin.
  4. Die Erfahrungen sind wertvoller als Besitz.

An opportunity like this has made a much greater impression on me than anything I’ve got sitting on my shelf or in a closet. Thanks to my friends that had me along. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes for sharing their son with us while they were visiting. Most of all, thanks to my wife for encouraging and enabling me to take this trip.

DSC01950

Thanks, friends (including Ben and Elena, not pictured!)

NOTE: I’ve linked to all of the panoramas I took in a separate post here: Berlin – All Panoramas.

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categories Food, Travel