Month: August 2019

Categories
Europe Germany

Munich

Munich was another stop to visit some travelling friends, from early on in my trip- in Chile and another from Namibia- though the latter did not work out. Munich was also a lovely city to visit with its strong Bavarian culture and guys in lederhosen 🙂  I happened to end up on Marienplatz (the main square with yet another great town hall) just on time to watch the Glockenspiel –or moving clock. The first 6 minutes though is a disappointment of nothing but bells, then only do the moving parts start. There are two levels which depict two stories from the 16th century. The first of Wilhelm V’s marriage to Renata complete with jousting knights. The second includes dancing coopers which apparently danced to chase away the plague.

As I often do, I joined a free walking tour to learn about some more of Munich history. During this time, we visited three beautiful churches: firstly, Frauenkirche, then St Peters –which is small but has a beautiful painted ceiling. The third took over 100 years to finish- Theatinerkirche- it has very little colour but grand, detailed stucco work throughout the he church. There is a 17m dome! It is built in a baroque style.

On the same square as Theatinerkirche is Felderrnhalle. Hitler made this the monument to the Nazis killed in the failed Beer Hall Putsch and decreed that all shall salute upon passing this monument. People who did not want to submit started using the small alley parallel to the square. The Nazis quickly cottoned onto this and you would be jailed if you didn’t have a good enough reason to walk through the main square. There is now a monument of copper cobbles in the cobblestone alley in memory of these people.

We also visited The Hofbrauhaus where Hitler gained popularity with his speeches prior to gaining power. It is in Munich that he practiced his speaking techniques to see what won the masses over and what didn’t work so well.

Munich is of course also the host for the annual Oktoberfest. There are only six beer houses that can participate in the festivals as they have their breweries within the city limits. These companies make 30% of their annual profits during the two weeks of the festival!

We were on my way to meet up with my friend for dinner, when her boyfriend drew my attention to guys with surfboards in the metro. He then explained that there is a small channel that locals surf in called Eisbachwalle. I decided to check this out for myself when I was around town in the next few days. When Mick Fanning was around he also tested the waters allegedly. This channel is just a few meters across- but when you are a surf addict then what to do??? Check the videos out for more context and skill. 

Categories
Europe Germany

Leverkussen

I took the train from Hamburg to Cologne in the morning, with another large delay of 1.5 hours. 

I had my “uncle” from Leverkussen pick me up from the station. I stayed in Leverkussen nearly 20 years ago. The purpose of my visit back then was to improve my German as I studied it in high school. 

Chances are you will only know where Leverkussen is if you follow German and league football – Bayer Leverkussen is the local team. 

It was great to catch up with the family, which included my Uncle’s grandson 4 year birthday party. It was like so much changed in terms of family and circumstances and growing up and yet we all stayed so similar! 

Really lovely catching up with everyone! 

 

 

Categories
Europe Germany

Hamburg

Visiting Hamburg only happened in one afternoon- and it was a very rainy afternoon- with heavy rain showers every 20-30min! 

Hamburg was bombed very heavily during the war and is thus a very modern city.

Two very notable buildings in the city that i liked was the Rathaus or town hall and the St Nikolai Memorial.

St Nikolai Memorial was a church that was bombed during the war and was not reconstructed but was left as a memorial and war museum. 

 

Categories
Europe Germany

Berlin

My trip from Wroclaw to Berlin did not start well. I had to get up early (03h45) to make it to my 05h07 train to Berlin. My brother dropped me off at the train station and I went to check out my platform number. Lo and behold- the train was over 3 hours late!! So I called my brother to turn around and stayed at his place for a few hours before taking the tram to the station. The train finally left at 08h46! It turned out that there were electrical problems enroute.

Rather than having a good amount of time in the city I just chilled at my friends flat and had a nap. I was staying by a friend that I had met in Colombia. We spent the evening catching up over some wine, cheese and grapes.

On day two I covered a large amount of ground and went to many well-known sites around the city. I liked the feel of the city and the restored buildings.

The next day I signed up for a free walking tour, called, The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, which covered the history of Berlin after the split of Germany and Berlin between the allies and Soviet Union. There were a few years that East Germany was under communist rule but the free movement of people was allowed. At this stage millions of East Germans left, which lead to a massive brain drain which concerned the Soviets. It is this that led the Soviets to throw up barb wire on the east/west boundary overnight on 13 August 1961 and from this point no one was allowed to cross over-which means families were instantly split. About 140 people were killed while trying to cross the Berlin wall. This wall went from being a barb wire set up, to a wall, to dual 8ft wall, covered by sewer pipe which was round and thus harder to get a grip on. There were regular watch towers and the deadmans land between the two walls was policed by guards and dogs. There was also sand there so that guards could check for footprints and thus potential escapees.

All buildings in deadmans land were destroyed to allow for this elaborate wall. It is interesting to note that the Berlin Wall memorial connects a few pieces of the old wall by bars in the ground, however these are spaced such that people can pass through- a stark difference between now and then, that people take for granted. 

The STASI (secret police) kept intricate records of all personnel in the DDR (Demokratische Deutsche Republiek). They used special trained spies to gain access to information as well as neighbours and family. They would break into people’s houses when they were at work, gain information or tap your phone and put microphones in your house then rearrange a few items to mess with your head. These records were made public after some were saved when communism was overthrown. They are available for families to view to see if there are any files on them.  There have been many families split after finding out that their partners were perhaps part of the STASI or provided the STASI with information.

Having a tiny bit of experience with Communism in Cuba, I could imagine this information seeking and spying as well as manipulation of people and how draining it would have been for such a long time.

During the time of communism the architecture around the East took on that of the Soviets in the form of prefabricated 11 story buildings which were erected very quickly and have no real character- as everyone was equal.

Spending much of the day on Berlin Wall history, I continued the pattern and went to visit the Eastside Gallery- a large portion of wall that was persevered and contains street art. There were a few good pieces of work, however during my time in South America I have seen much better examples.

Categories
Europe Poland

Rogalin

I spent most of my time in Poland with my niece, parents and family as well as planning my NZ hike. However i did squeeze in a visit to a lovely Palace. 

On the way to my cousins wedding we decided to stop by a nice palace in the area that was recommended by family friends. It is near the town of Rogalin. More in depth history can be found on their website here.

It has been in the Raczynski Family for many years now and includes gardens, forests and some of the oldest oak trees in Poland- some being national natural monuments.

The EU has provided funds for the restoration of the palace and its interior. Inside there are beautiful chandeliers and crafted ceramic fire places in each room and the most magnificent restored library! The library also exhibits a golden/wooden exhibition box where newborns were presented to the public and shown off officially to friends.

There is also a coach house with many forms of transport as they changed over time.

The painting gallery contains many great works of art including a wall sized painting of the famous Polish artist Matejko. 

In one of the wings of the palace there is a reconstruction of 8, Lennox Gardens, London SW1 – this is the address where Edward Bernard Raczynski, President of Poland in exile, spent 26 years of his life.

 

Categories
Central America Cuba

Havana Final

On our return trip from Vinales we stopped by Fusterlandia neighbourhood. This neighbourhood is a few blocks that has creative mosaic art works covering walls and buildings. It was started by artist Jose Fuster and has become a must see on many travelers’ lists. There are small works from artists from around the world.

We were then dropped off at the casa we stayed in the first couple of nights. I found out later, at our farewell dinner that immigration had instructed our casa owner to report back to them whether I had changed bags during my trip… I think that they had noticed that I grabbed a duffel bag at the airport as I transport my backpack in one to be able to lock it, and then had travelled with the backpack and duffel bag rolled up and stored on the side. So clearly my immigration friends had been keeping an eye out on me. 

We had another day free around Havana, which was for packing and having ice cream and lunch. I ordered my taxi early to the airport as I need to figure out where and how I am supposed to retrieve my GPS.

No one I asked could point me in the direction of an actual customs office. One person told me to wait at the exit doors and catch their attention…but they just told me to wait and did nothing further for 15 minutes. I then tried upstairs without much reward so I went to one of the immigration desks, cut in line and asked the lady there. She was helpful and said that I only get it back after check in, immigration and crossing the border. I thus check in, where I found out that my flight would be over 2 hours late and I would thus miss my connection to London. Luckily, I was travelling alone and was among the first to check in and thus she got me in on a later BA flight. Others were not so lucky.

I then asked my immigration person about my GPS, cut the security line to the front- which was really long, and the lady explained that it will cost s lot to get my GPS back as they only store it for free for 5 days. Otherwise it is 3 dollars per day plus 1% of value of object!! I needed it back and knew I had to pay…but first had to wait.

Some 20 minutes later I was called to the customs room and a few forms were filled in by officials, calculated my pricey GPS recovery after I had already changed my CUCs to Euros, and they didn’t accept them. I had to re-exchange money and pay then. Then they let me be.

I was hopeful for a bit of dinner until I saw the line to the one canteen (only 1) of over 30 people and decided I was not hungry! As I was waiting I heard and announcement that I need to see customs. I went over to the office where I was before and there was no one there. I asked a lady where I need to meet but she couldn’t tell me. So I gave up. About 30 minutes later…same announcement with “immediately” added to it. So I tried again. I eventually found out that I need to see customs, in their downstairs office. I went there- and who do I see but the two that dealt with me and my GPS earlier. The smug youngster gives me a “What have you done now” look” and tells me to point out my bag. There were several bits of check in luggage on the floor, my duffel bag/ backpack being one of them. I was instructed to put it on the table and the woman started unpacking all the items. Very cocky and unfriendly with the statement “You have tobacco in here”. This I did- the legal amount and NO more. She found the first box and asked how many I had, to which I replied: Two, the amount that is allowed. She asked if I was sure, I replied yes. She didn’t believe me and scanned my bag again. They looked and looked but found nothing. I got my bag back and got to re-pack it in front of the camera. This was a pain as I had packed the boxes carefully so they do not get damaged while she chucked everything out and around and things fell on the floor.

I left my locked bag on the floor thinking that I would probably never see it again. Zippo trust left here!!

Miraculously I did get it in London though!

After another delay of the BA flight I was just too happy to see my brother and sister in law and being off Cuban soil for good!