Sleeping on the train was not exactly a restful experience but I’m glad we tried it out. We arrived in Munich exhausted and our first priority was to find the hotel. I actually navigated us from the train station to our hotel. Taking a good tip from the Rick Steve’s book (an excellent gift from Mark and Cindy) we avoided the seedier section of the city and are located in a very cute area. We dropped our backpacks off and went to Starbucks to wait until things opened. This gave us time to catch up on our travel writings and relax a bit. We then wandered around, as is typical of our travels, and actually found rain ponchos. We stopped at the Marienplatz (platz is the German word for plaza) in front of the New Town Hall (Rathouse – see picture below) to see the Glockenspiel (large clock with moving figures) and headed to the Frauen Kirche (Church). The church is Munich’s most famous church, and also one of its oldest. Interestingly, it was apparently built using money from the sales of indulgences. The interior was stunning, with high ceilings, many statues and paintings. We opted out of paying extra to go up an observation tower; after the last couple days in Berlin, we were done with stairs. We did take a small staircase below the altar to visit the crypt, where several Bavarian kings were buried. Already exhausted, and with our stomachs beginning to beg for attention, Steven insisted that we find sausage. We found an impeccably clean buffet style restaurant not far from the churches. We both got Weisswurst (white sausage), Bavarian mustard, and a pretzel. The sausage comes served in a bowl of hot water. Steven was feeling very proud for ordering exactly what we wanted. This pride was not to last. I watched Steven eat first to see how to go about eating sausage in a bowl of water. An old man sitting next to him rapidly intervened and explained he was doing it all wrong. I got a good laugh along with old man’s wife at Steven’s faux pas (Steven points out here that I was well on my way to joining him in his “faux pas”). You take the wurst out of the water, one at a time. The water is to keep it warm. Next, you cut it down the middle and remove the skin. The skin is not edible. He also mentioned that Munich has the best water in all of Europe and it is free at all restaurants. For having the best water in the world they sure do drink their share of beer. I kept this comment to myself. After getting a few more helpful hints we continued eating. We wearily made it to the hotel to FINALLY make use of my specialty, a nap. Somewhat rested, Steven decided that sleeping is for the meek so we headed off to see St. Peter church. The church contains many of the relics found in Munich. Munich has the second most number of Catholic relics in the world. (First is Rome). Munich was one of the bastions of Catholicism during the reformation, which is why the papacy gave them so many relics. The church contained fabulous frescos, stunning statuary, priceless paintings, glorious gilding, and… a mortifying mummy. The mummy lay sideways in a glass coffin. She was covered in silk and jewels covered her bones. It was extremely unsettling, but Steven enthusiastically paid for a postcard (He didn’t think it was fair that only we should be disturbed by the sight). After seeing another church and making a quick visit to the Residenz (the Wittlebach family’s palace), we made our way to the famous Haufbrauhaus. The Haufbrauhouse is the beer hall that is the center of Oktoberfest every year and where Hitler first began making speeches to large crowds of people in Germany. At the Haufbrauhouse we got to see the traditional beer maids carrying a dozen huge beer mugs at once, hear a traditional Bavarian band play polka-like drinking songs over and over again, and 15 year old boys drinking beer and trying to pick up girls. We also saw a couple of obnoxious American tourists who were drunkenly staggering in the street shouting to each other while sloshing around mugs of beer. We were both still tired at this point, so we decided to make our way back to the hotel (several times Steven got a goofy grin on his face and pointed at something; thinking he had spotted some new landmark I would look only to find he had spotted some exotic sports car. Apparently many rich Arabians come to Munich so they can drive their cars on the autobahn).
By the end of day 4 we both discovered that traditional German food (cheese, sausage, and bread) requires an intestine made of steel. We also discovered that neither of us possessed such an intestine.
Signing off,
Libby and Steven

Question of the Day:
How do they manage to make the city look so old, when eighty percent of it had to be rebuilt after World War II?

On our final day in Berlin, we decided to take it a little bit easier. With that in mind, we slept in a little later than we had before, and had a leisurely breakfast. We had a nice conversation with the hotel keeper, who told us more about the history of the hotel, Berlin, and the local weather (it apparently has been a very odd summer). We finally found an open T-mobile store, where we were able to pick up the SIM card we’d been trying to find since Day 1. We headed back to the hotel to check out, then, carrying our backpacks, navigated the train system over to the Hauptbahnhof station where we would be departing in the evening. We checked our large backpacks there, then headed to the Zoo Bahn to rent bikes. The rest of the day could be summarized as “Biking and Stair Climbing”. We ended up with Fat Tire bicycles: large, orange cruiser bikes with, as you might have guessed, very fat tires. They weren’t quite our normal style of bike, but they were well suited for the city with lights, fenders, racks, bells, and in my case, a clown shaped horn (oh yay). Vicki, if you’re reading this, thanks for the tip about Fat Tire. We biked through the large garden/park in central Berlin (Tiergarten) to the Siegessaulle (Victory Column), which is in the center of a massive roundabout and is only accessible by going through a tunnel on one of the corners. It contains a very narrow spiral staircase leading to top. Of course we had to climb it. The (for some of our party) frightening vista provided an excellent view of Berlin. Shrapnel marks covered much of the monument. WWII had not been kind to it. Interestingly, we found that the column had once stood in a completely different part of Berlin, but had been moved by Hitler when he was trying to rebuild Berlin as Germania. Climbing back down from the Column, we continued on through the Tiergarten. The Tiergarten itself is beautiful. It covers almost all of central Berlin, and is crisscrossed with wide, shaded trails, lawns, and sunny meadows. There are even several rivers and ponds with rowboats and people fishing. It is also home to several administrative buildings of the government, and the entire park is dotted with monuments and statues that appear suddenly out of the trees. We headed over to the Brandenburg gate and then down the Unter den Linden to the GendarmenMarkt. During the stroll down the street a storm trooper approached and seeing my pretty fiancé, he began talking to her. Pretty soon I could tell he was trying to impress her with tales of intergalactic adventures on a Star Destroyer. When he started talking about his blaster rifle, I knew I had to step in. I successfully defended Libby’s honor and drove him off. We continued on to the GendarmenMarkt, which is an old, beautiful square that blends German and French influences. On the south side of the plaza is a German cathedral, and directly across it to the north is the nearly identical French cathedral (apparently when they were built during the reign of Friedrich the Great, there was a very large French immigrant population). The Berlin concert hall was also on the square, and most importantly of all, the biggest chocolate shop in Europe, Fassbender and Rausch. I was in heaven. Or perhaps like a kid in a candy store. Chocolate fountains, chocolate sculptures, chocolate bars, and an elaborate display of truffles were present. After spending much time we left with a block of chocolate and box of truffles. We wandered back over to the French cathedral and decided to go inside for a tour of what promised to be a stunning interior. Unfortunately, we bought tickets to find that the only open part of the church was the observation deck. So, we climbed our way up several hundred meters, again, for a different bird’s eye view of Berlin. Making our way back down we hopped back on our Berlin cruisers and made our way back through the Tiergarten to the Zoobahn to return our bikes. The Tiergarten was by this point full of people. The ponds had dozens of small rowboats on them, children were playing on the lawns, and several rough and tumble fussball games had started up. Sunbathers were also out in force; entire families sitting on blankets, young couples talking, and… naked old men. Lots of naked old men. Certain sections of the park, at least, were full of them, appearing as suddenly as the statues out of the trees (but even more surprising).
We returned the bikes, and decided to get something to eat. Libby and I had a small argument at this point, which I ultimately won. She wanted to stick around the train station and just eat there. I wanted to take the train back to the area we’d started from this morning. We’d seen several markets there, and I thought we could get some food from a market and make ourselves a less expensive dinner. It wasn’t a long journey away, and I assured Libby we could rapidly grab some food and get back to the Hauptbahnhoff to eat. So we hopped on the S-bahn for the five-minute journey back to Savigny-platz. Here we discovered that most of the markets had by then closed. Oops. This did not go over well. We spent a half an hour wandering around in a large circle around the station before finally giving up and resigning ourselves to returning empty-handed. Fortunately, I was saved by the appearance of a fruit market, bakery, and general grocery. They happened to be right next to the train station; I had turned the wrong direction when getting off the train. Double Oops. The shops were preparing to close as we arrived, so we bought some fruit, grabbed a loaf of bread, and some cheese and juice and then headed back to the main train station. Of course, inside the station we found a plethora of bakeries, shops, and groceries, all of which were still open. Oops Oops Oops. Libby earned some major gloating points there. She assured me she would make good use of them.
We ate our hard-won dinner on one of the extremely rare public benches in the train station. This particular bench was special though. It was a T-Mobile hotspot! I had Internet, so I was happy. We used the time before our train arrived to begin writing our day’s journey, and to research our next destination, Munchen. We also took the opportunity to call Susi, Emily’s old roommate from ASU. Our train arrived at around 10:30 in the evening, and we found our car. I had gotten us a sleeper car, thinking that it would just have reclining chairs for us to sleep in. Instead, I found we had a private (if small) first class stateroom with two beds, a shower, and a water closet. All would have fit comfortably in a walk-in closet. The conductor came by and explained that we had an 8-hour journey, and would get a wake up call an hour before arrival so we could eat breakfast in the diner car. We prepared for bed and Libby decided to take a quick shower before going to sleep. As the train jerked into motion, a series of squeals and yelps began coming from the bathroom. After coming out of the bathroom, Libby explained that, due to its size, you could fall in the shower and still stay upright. The Germans as usual have good designs.

Signing off, Chagrined Steven and Gloating Libby

Question of the day: If these monuments were in the US would an elevator have been included?

Steven decided after years of yearning to go to Europe the morning should start early to make the most of the day. After a delicious breakfast of croissants, breads, cheeses, prosciutto, eggs, and coffee we headed out for an adventure. We wandered several blocks before deciding to postpone our adventure until something might actually open.
We did notice that, contrary to what we said yesterday about there being no mobile stores in Germany, there are in fact mobile phone stores on every corner. How we missed this yesterday we aren’t sure. (Likely its that we were in the posh “designer” district, where useful stores were verboten). Unfortunately they were all closed on Sunday.
The wait for things to open provided Steven with time to buy a month’s worth of internet connectivity in Germany. After waiting a while we restarted our adventure through Berlin. Our first wandering stop was the remainder of the destroyed Kaiser Wilhem church. The partial façade of the bombed structure stood out as one of the only historical buildings surviving in the area after the bombing of Berlin. I soon reached what Steven refers to as the “need food so bad anything looks good stage” and we stopped at a typical German café. It served many delicious meals in differing combinations of sausage and potatoes. Steven successfully ordered the noodles that I had unsuccessfully tried ordering the last two days. As usual, I ended up eating half his food too. Steven discovered that his cell phone could connect instantly to the WiFi there, dissolving his edgy withdrawal symptoms. Per usual, Steven spent the next ten minutes zoned out researching the sites during our morning “bumbling around Berlin” tour. Being able to spout out dates and facts to his hearts content and finding our blue spot of location on Google Maps, Steven became a fulfilled traveler.
Instead of taking the tourist friendly buses that make stops at all of the must-see sights in Berlin it was decided that we should walk to all the sites to feel “more like the locals”. After a long walk we found the Gemaldegalerie, which is Berlin’s painting gallery. (It was next to tourist bus stop). I was worried about Steven’s interest in the gallery. Being the artsy one of the duo, I quickly piqued Steven’s attention with “Hey, look there’s a painting by a ninja turtle!” The response of “Oh, which one, Michelangelo? Donatello? Leonardo? Or Raphael?” provided Steven with the confidence of being able to rapidly spout out the names of four famous artists without hesitation. (It was by Raphael). We continued onward viewing masterpieces by Titian, Caravaggio, Van Eyck, Bosch, Rembrandt and others. We followed the remains of the Berlin wall to the Topography of Terror display (Conveniently next to a tourist bus stop). The outdoor display was a graphic historical pictorial and written display of the area that had housed the SS, Gestapo, and Third Reich headquarters during WWII. The bomb-damaged buildings were quickly destroyed after the war to suppress memories of the atrocities committed there. The wall continued to the old East sector of Berlin. Partial wall fragments were on display along the way. Checkpoint Charlie, the United States guard post between the allied and soviet sectors, still stands. (Oddly, it too was directly next to a tourist bus stop). The Checkpoint Charlie museum was an incredible history museum. Devices used to aid Germans escaping illegally across the border were on display along with artifacts from both sides of the wall, and commentaries from much of the Cold War period. Here too Steven’s desire to read Every. Single. Display. In. The. Museum. became apparent. After finishing the entire first floor while he was still in the first room, I went back to grab him, and gave him a quick oral tour of the rest of the museum.
From the Checkpoint Charlie museum we decided to head to the Unter Den Linden, the “main street” of Berlin. (Huh, there was one of those tourist bus stops there too). By this point our feet were almost falling off, so instead of walking the 10 or so blocks, we had our first experience with the U-Bahn. This underground was, like everything else in Berlin, incredibly clean and modern. One of the biggest things we noticed about Berlin, in fact, was how clean the whole city is. After strolling down the Unter Den Linden, we realized that yes, everything was still closed. There were some restaurants, but nothing that looked particularly good, so we walked past the Brandenburg gate again, past the Reichstag, and then to the Hauptbahnhof station to take the exact same train we took last night (20:16 to Potsdam via ZoologischeGarten bahn) back to our hotel. (As we walked in to the hotel, we noticed yet another tourist bus stop). Once at the hotel, we realized we were still starving, still tired, and that restaurants were probably closing soon. We walked over to the first place we saw; an Italian open-air restaurant. It ended up being delicious, but if we thought ordering in German was difficult, it was nothing compared to trying to order Italian in German. Once again, our trick of “staring stupidly at the menu” produced results, as the Italian, German-speaking, English-speaking owner was kind enough to translate some for us. We ended up with Spaghetti with Lamb, Fettuccini with rabbit, and a delicious Tiramisu (here Steven said “no, I’m not hungry, I don’t need dessert”, which in Steven-speak is “Yes of course I’ll eat half your dessert, are you kidding?”).
Signing off,
Libby the Elder, Steven the Younger

Question of the day: Since we have had more people approach us and speak in German than English, on the second day are we no longer obviously tourists? (We even had a group ask us directions in German).

We decided to take over the blog from the stalker who seemed to be following our every move in Germany. The blog seemed like a good idea, but having everything written from an over-the-shoulder perspective was a little creepy.

After signing off from day 1, Libby and I still had a full half-day left to explore Berlin. We were tired and more than a little cranky, but we set off full of high hopes. Our first bit of business was to try and find the nearest train station. We bought our tickets (two 72 hour passes) and set off on the S-Bahn. As with everything in Germany, the transit system is very logical; all the transit components operate on the same system, so our tickets work on S-Bahn (fast aboveground train), U-Bahn (underground), and bus systems.
We made it to the big hub station next to the Zoo, and expected the train to head on to the main station in Berlin (Hauptbahnhoff). That’s what the map said, after all. We happily sat there as everyone else jumped off the train, until someone took pity on us and tried three languages before settling on English to say, “The train ends here, you must get off”. We left the train to look for where to go next. As the train to the main station didn’t leave for another 45 minutes, we decided to try the bus. We went outside, where dozens of buses were leaving, and began trying to decipher the bus map. Here, we once again encountered the odd weather in Berlin. Out of a clear sky it began pouring rain once again. We found the bus, made it to the very impressive Brandenburg Tor (gate), and found ourselves in a stream of Moccasin-wearing, bandana-toting hippies. Apparently they’re a cross-cultural phenomenon. One of Libby’s coworkers had said to her before we left that she thought I’d probably propose in front of the Brandenburg Gate. I’m glad I didn’t take her advice; the majesty of the moment might have been diminished a bit by the Peace Rally going on directly in front of it. Leaving the odd fumes of the rally behind, we decided to get a snack at a bratwurst stand. I ordered a bratwurst, and Libby attempted to order her favorite German noodle dish her grandmother used to make, “Spatzel”. Instead she ended up with a pound-patty of deep-fried calf, “Shnitzel”.
We made it to the Reichstag next. The Reichstag is Germany’s very-old general assembly building, which had burnt partially down during Hitler’s reign (he blamed it on the communists and used it as an excuse to take more power). The facade of the building was very impressive, but the interior and the new dome they had built on top in the eighties to replace the bomb and fire damaged one were not. It was cold and industrial looking. We walked up to the top of the glass dome after waiting in line for an hour (which gave us plenty of opportunity to ponder our PDA question of the day). In the dome we were given an audio tour which pointed out much of the sites visible in Berlin. After a weary day, we headed back home via the S-Bahn, and went to bed without dinner (everything else had closed by then).
Auf Wiedersehen.

Libby and Steven have successfully survived the first day of their adventure. After arriving at the Indianapolis Airport (compliments of their lovely chauffeur, Cindy Kady), they settled in for a long day of travel. The wait for the plane was, as might be expected, uneventful. Once on the plane, Libby immediately dug into her book, while Steven discovered the first disadvantage of using a Kindle for all his book needs. Namely, it is considered an electronic device, and as such must be turned off for the first 30 minutes of the flight. Fortunately, they had not yet planned where to go or what to do upon actually arriving in Germany, so he grabbed the Rick Steve’s Guide to Germany 2009 TM, his trusty Moleskine, and got down to work. Two hours later, the plane arrived in New York. And then sat on the Tarmac for 45 minutes. Libby and Steven had to run to the baggage claim, retrieve their backpacks, run to the bus station, discover that tickets for 2 to JFK airport cost $26, and then sit on the bus for an hour and a half through New York rush hour.
The upside of all this is that what was supposed to be a boring, 3.5 hour layover, turned into a tumultuous, stressful, but not at all boring scramble to arrive at the gate on time.
Waiting to board the plane, Libby and Steven began to wonder if perhaps they had arrived at the wrong gate after all. Confused, the two thought they might instead have been in line for a Clash reunion tour. They soon came to realize that the current German style runs towards tight and studded.
After a rough 8 hour flight, where little sleep was actually achieved, Steven and Libby finally arrived in Deutschland itself! They dashed off the plane, ran through customs and realized: They had absolutely no idea what to do next. Worse, they didn’t understand a single sign they saw. Remembering Nathan’s advice that nearly everyone in Germany speaks English, they decided to simply ask for help. The Airport Information guide did not speak English. The cab driver did not speak English. The waitresses at the restaurants they attempted to eat at did not speak English. They would need to forage through Deutschland utilizing Steven’s half remembered high school German, and Libby’s even more comical attempts to mangle the native tongue via Rick Steve’s phonetic Handy Phrases guide.
Deciding to use public transportation for a full immersion experience, Lib and Steven stood in the line for bus tickets. After a ten minute wait the clever attendant decided, in the ever popular passive aggressive style of customer service, to place a “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign at the desk and hide behind it. When the line did not dissipate as planned, he stealthily crept from the booth, pointed at the sign, and vanished in the direction of the food courts.
The weary travelers were in luck though; this foreign land did use the universal symbol for Taxi. Namely, a sign that says “Taxi”. They made their way to the Mercedes of the aforementioned non-English speaking driver, who did understand the language of “Point to place in guide book”.
Once in the cab, things went smoothly, and they were soon at the (locked) front door of their hotel. After a brisk debate over the location of the main entrance, Libby decided to press a curious button next to the door over and over. This no doubt irritated the staff to no end, but ultimately produced a disembodied “Hallo! Hi Hi Hi! Ah Hallo?”. Our young adventurers looked high and low, but could not locate the source of this voice. They rapidly dismissed it as irrelevant to their cause. Fortunately, the voice’s owner took pity on our weary travelers, and opened the door. And finally, finally, Libby and Steven met their first English speaking German.
The manager of the hotel (a very old, but beautiful small hotel in Western Berlin), showed Libby and Steven to their room. There, they noted the hardwood floors, the high ceilings, the typical European large windows which opened to a beautiful view, and a bathroom small enough that if one were to slip and fall from the shower, they would not only hit the toilet, but continue down several steps before ultimately landing unconscious next to a bed.
That was the least of their concerns by then. What was far more important was the fact that they were tired and hungry, and they had seen several delicious bakeries on the way to the hotel. They quickly ran outside, where Libby employed her legendary navigation skills. Confidently stepping forth, she got them lost, walked in a circle, and ultimately ended up back at the hotel where it was decided Steven should take over as navigator.
With new resolve, they set off to find food. Stopping at a bakery, they got their first nourishment: delicious Croissants. Libby attempted to use her only German phrase she knew. Fortunately, Steven had already informed her that contrary to what she had been taught, “Dumkopf” did not mean Thank you. They then wandered to a cafe for something more substantial, where they learned the most important thing yet. If you act dumb enough, eventually an English language menu will be thrown at your table, and you can point at what you want.
So now, nourished, partially refreshed, and still tired, Libby and Steven are off to explore Berlin for the rest of the day. Steven is coping without his internet, and Libby is coping without her naps. Neither are coping particularly well.
Spirits are high, however, and adventures are afoot.
Signing off,
Frauline Baltes und Herr Kady

A side note: It rains a lot here, and we’ve yet to even arrive in England. Its possible not buying a raincoat ahead of time was a poor choice. Of course, having recognized that, no shop selling raincoats is to be found.
A further side note: Its pleasantly cool. It didn’t get above 70F today.
A further further side note: for a country that relies so much on mobile phones, they don’t seem to have many stores carrying them. Thus far we have come across one T-mobile store, and it is closed on the weekends.
A further further fur- you get the idea. Finding Internet is even worse than mobile phones. It’s quite expensive when you do find it too.
Finally: Addendum to important lesson about acting dumb. It works for trains and buses too. If you spend enough time staring blankly at a public transit map, some kind soul will invariably stop and tell you where to go.

Question of the day: What is the appeal to making out at national monuments? (I am thinking that this is a cultural thing, I don’t remember any Americans making out at the Lincoln Memorial; Cedar Point yes, but American monuments no).