Archive for December, 2003

Episode 13

Published on December 19, 2003 0 Comments Tags: , , , , . Post made from or about Strasbourg .

Greetings from Strasbourg!

Paul and I spent most of yesterday on the train to Strasbourg from Berlin, arriving just before dinner time. We’re staying with a lovely family here that Paul lived with for a couple of months when he was working in the lab earlier in the year. This family seems to have people here all the time - their own children’s friends appear to live here, they often have students staying with them, there was a Member of the European Parliament here tonight, and, of course they have their own children who live here (occasionally).

And, if you hadn’t guessed, they have a computer here too. This is now the second time on my entire trip that I have been able to email you without paying for it by the hour! If you don’t remember, the first time was in Lyon when the computer timer just decided to stop.

It’s a nice feeling, but I’m afraid it doesn’t mean that you’re going to get a very long email. It’s just before 1am, and I need some sleep.

For my last night in Berlin, Frederick (the Swedish guy) and I went out to a Jazz club. The music didn’t even come close to the club I went to Munich, but it was still fun. I hate leaving all these people and places behind, but it’s still exciting to arrive in a new city every few days.

Strasbourg is beautiful, and as it’s coming up to Christmas, the whole city is lit up at night too. Last night I just spent wandering around, getting a feel for the city - it’s a small place, but there’s lots to see. I found one shop in a little side street (all lit up in the Christmas spirit, of course) that was decorated with lolly pops and other sweets. I took a photo, but you’ll have to wait a while before I can upload any more photos, since the computer here is Windows98.

Anyway, today for lunch Paul and I went to the “Christian Assumptionists”, who he stayed with for a while when he first arrived in Strasbourg. The lunch was fantastic (even if the prayers in French before the meal were a bit weird). We then went ice skating with a Columbian friend of his who lives here, and then went out for dinner with his supervisor from the lab! All in all, its been quite a productive day!

Anyway, it’s time for bed, so I shall be off.

Good night to all! (even though it’s only 11am in Melbourne)

Episode 12

Published on December 15, 2003 0 Comments Post made from or about Home .

As promised… here I am in Berlin, and I´m writing to you all again!

I had a little bit of trouble with my train tickets her. Id organised to meet Paul at a station that doesn´t exist! I read my ticket, and it said I was going from Munchen Hbf -> Berlin Stadtbahn, so one would assume that “Stadtbahn” is the name of the station? Well, I was wrong. I noticed just before I left that on my RESERVATION (the bit that tells me which seat I have) it tells me that I arrive at the Zoo station. Hmm…. anyway, that all worked out fine, and I met Paul at the station, and we went to our Hotel. No, that´s not a typo. We´re staying in a Hotel - for only 20€ per night (the same price as some hostels I’ve been staying in - in Paris, for example)

We´ve had a bit of a walk around the city, and we´ve already seen two of the museums. Paul also has two friends from Sweden who are visiting Berlin at the moment who are staying in the same hotel. Its nice to have other people to go around with and do things with.

I´ve decided (in fact, I think I realised this a long time ago) that I find ancient Egyptian history and art very interesting. The museum we visited today was entirely dedicated to Egyptian things. When we went through the shop before we left, I was tempted to buy everything! So, instead, I restrained myself and bought nothing. There were so many books and pictures, and lots of Egyptian-style jewelry… but I couldn´t choose!

Paul and I also tried to go and see “The Matrix Revolutions” at the IMAX cinema here. I did a bit of research before I left, and realised that it wasn´t going to be shown in Australia, so I thought while I was overseas I´d try and see it there. Pity it only played in Berlin for 2 weeks after opening! Bummer.

We´ll be leaving Berlin on Wednesday, and moving onto the city where Paul has spent most of his time over the last year - Strasbourg. I´m looking forward to seeing it, and hopefully Paul will know lots of fun things to do there!

Anyway, its time to go pick up the washing! (Im here at an Internet cafe while our washing is turning round and round in a Laundromat down the street)

So… until next time!

Update: Photos from Berlin


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Episode 11

Published on December 12, 2003 0 Comments Tags: , , . Post made from or about Munich .

SOOOOOO not happy!

Id just typed about a page and a half telling you all what Ive be doing in Lyon, and Freiburg, and I was about to get to Munich, but the stupid computer lost it all!

Hmm…. quick version?

  • They’ve got a driver-less train in Lyon, which I caught about 4 times before I even realised!
  • We had a group of musicians move into the hostel in Lyon, who were nice enough to entertain us with their music (all night!!!)
  • On my way to Germany, I stopped in Switzerland (and had some small problems with currencies - oops… they don’t use Euro!!)
  • German people are really nice!! They actually help you!!

Alright….. now… lets just give you a quick rundown of Freiburg.

I arrived, and had a bit of trouble finding the hostel… cause the tourist office was closed!! I finally managed to find someone back at the train station who helped me out, but I was worried for a while! In my room there was an Arabic guy who had been there for a while. He took me and an American guy around on a “City Tour” on my first full day there.

Remember me talking about the trams in Montpellier? Well, in Freiburg,they have the OTHER trams that we have in Melbourne… very weird. Natalia (my cousin) told me that Yarra Trams is run by a French company, which explains the French trams… I’m guessing our other trams are run by a German company?

Well, I’m in Munich now, and I’ll be heading off to Berlin tomorrow.Today I went to Dachau, where there is an old Nazi concentration camp (in fact, the FIRST and longest running Nazi concentration camp). It was the most depressing and disturbing place I think I’ve ever been. I think the part that disturbed me the most was after I walked around the museum, and looked around the grounds where they used to have all the rooms (with beds cramped up as close as they possibly could), I found this nice-looking “cottage” off to the side, which had some nice trees and plants and flowers around it. I assumed this must have been where Nazi officers stayed or something, until I walked it. It was the crematorium, along with their very own gas chamber. Lovely cheery stuff.

Anyway, on a more happy note, I went out last night! (yey!) When I arrived at the hostel, I met an Australian girl called Heather. I soon found out that she lives in Blackburn (a couple of suburbs away from me!), and that she’d just met another Australian guy in the hostel who lived in Templestowe. Very strange - three people who live within about 5-10kms of each other meet on the other side of the world! Anyway, Paul (the Templestowe guy) met this girl on the train that day who invited him to a curry/movie night for some group that turned out to be a left-activist protest group (like the people we have in Melbourne that do the WTC and M1 protests). They were really nice people tho, and they cooked a damn good curry! After that, we went out to an underground Jazz club that we’d found in the Lonely Planet guide to Germany. We’re planning on heading there again tonight, cause we only arrived 1/2hour before closing last night, and it was REALLY awesome!

Anyway, that’s all for now. I think I’ll send this before the computer goes crazy on me again!

I’ll probably say more when I get to Berlin!

Update: Photos from Munich


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