My dissertation is complete! Which means, I finally have the time and energy to finish the many blog posts I started. Also, I am welling up just thinking about it but sadly I have only 3 weeks left in Trier! This has gone WAY TOO FAST. Right now I really wish I could borrow Bernard`s Watch for a while (apologies if you`re not a British 90`s kid and don`t get the TV reference). He may have used it for worthwhile things like helping his friends out or getting the better of bullies: I`d just use it for a couple more schnitzelabends, evenings sat around with flatmates (new and old) and Sunday afternoon walks along the Moselle.
Anyway, where was I? Of course, the roadtrip! We`d left the tale at Kassel, having just left Pepe the hire car (traumatically). The next day we got picked up by a business man, which we`d organised through a German website called Mitfahrgelegenheit (http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/). Say you`re a German businessman/woman, a commuter or someone just generally going on a long car journey past several cities. To save a few bob on fuel and to escape the German radio (it`s a bit tedious, sorry Germany but it is) you can post your journey on this website and people ring you up and ask to join for all or part of it. The Brit in me was highly skeptical of the safety of this venture, but then the adventurous side won over and tried it out. This was the second time we`d done it, and to get from Kassel to Leipzig in a couple of hours in a roomy car with good conversation for 13 euros, you can`t complain. We arrived in Leipzig in good spirits, and he dropped us off 5 mins from our hostel right in the city centre.
One of the main reasons for going to Leipzig was that the German Society of Southampton Uni was having their annual trip there at the same time. GerSoc is always good fun and having been heavily involved last year as pres I was keen to join them, so we booked ourselves into the hostel. The group quickly treated my American and Canadian co-travellers as one of the gang, and we had a LOT of fun over the next few days sightseeing, exchanging banter and trying not to turn into human icicles.
Incidentally, I seem to have spent a large part of my year abroad trying not to turn into an icicle. Germany definitely does get colder than Britain.
Making myself at home in the amazing hostel. (Say Cheese! Hostel, Leipzig). BIG THUMBS UP.
Leipzig Rathaus. Leipzig is beauuuutiful.
Statue of Johann Sebastian Bach outside the Thomaskirche.
Leipzig is famous for its influence on and prevalence of classical music.
We visited a Stasi museum in the old Leipzig Stasi headquarters. Whilst wandering around the displays of anti-capitalistic propaganda, I was see-sawing between 2 emotions: incredulity verging on hilarity at the conditions, beliefs and actions of the Stasi. The second was horror, which crept up slowly. It may be interesting to read about, but the extent of the observation the Stasi subjected on East Germans came as a complete surprise. I knew, obviously, about the black vans and the neighbour-on-neighbour- suspicion and the Überwachungskamera (CCTV), but I hadn`t realised just how much the lives of the everyday East German had been remotely-controlled like a child`s race car. It puts the CCTV debate back in Britain in a new perspective, certainly, and I left thinking about how lucky I am to live in a country where freedom is almost exactly what it says on the tin.
I`m not saying East Germany was in general a bad country to live in. In fact most people I spoke to (including the business man who drove us there who had lived in East Berlin until the fall of the wall) spoke of it very fondly on the whole, but the Stasi really was a nasty business indeed. Below is a list of the Stasi officers themselves who were executed for disloyalty (hingerichtet) to the party, and other reasons. The last one, Werner Teske, (wiki page here) was one of the Stasi elite, executed for alleged treason and the last person to be executed in Germany.
Quick story I`ve just remembered. We asked the businessman "where were you when the wall fell?" (always a good question to ask any Germans older than about 33). His answer (remembering he lived in East Berlin and was about 18 at the time) was great. I can`t remember the facts exactly, but this is my best retelling.
He said he was at a house/bar getting drunk with his friends. They`d been discussing the tension in the city, but none of them thought much would really happen. One of the friends was particularly drunk, and went outside (to get some fresh air I imagine.) Later on, when they thought the guy had passed out, he suddenly banged the door open, stumbled into the room and said "Morgen fahre ich nach West Deutschland!" (Tomorrow I`m going to West Germany). They all laughed, and the businessman said "go to bed, you`re drunk and talking rubbish". That was indeed the night the wall was torn down, so their drunken friend was right after all, drunk or not.
We also went to Dresden for the day. I was mal gespannt (no direct translation, kinda means like curious to see how it turns out) to see Dresden, as I had no idea how much it had been rebuilt since being essentially completely destroyed during the Second World War, particularly during the bombings of February 13th - 15th, 1945. The old town has been completely rebuilt, and is very beautiful. I didn`t like it as much as the new town though, which, though rather ugly, feels more like the Germany I really like : a bit alternative, bustling with locals and hidden gems. Two of these gems we found; one was a huuuuge bycicle, the other, a tiny photo booth, where we`d heard the record amount of people in there at one time was 8 people. Naturally we tried to break this record, but only managed 7.
GerSoc on a bike.
Cosy.
The middle photo makes me laugh every time, what possessed me to make that face I have no idea.
On the last night in Leipzig we headed to the Moritz Bastei for a night out. It was good fun, its like a series of underground tunnels, during the day you can eat there very cheaply and in the evening the same goes for the partying. We had a small er, run in with the police on the way, when Paddy was fined for urinating in a rubbish bin. In the words of the Leipig Polizei: "We are sorry but we just do not like that in the city of Leipzig".
The next day we sadly left GerSoc behind and headed on to Prague. We did another Mitfahr, though sadly this one wasn´t er, quite so good, as the Czech driver turned out to be slightly psychotic. An example: we`re driving along the stunning river Elbe. We`re in a new country, and the sun is shining. However, only one eye can appreciate the beauty, and our nerves not at all, as the rest of us is concentrated on the extremely erractic over-taking of the Czech guy, and praying that we won`t crash. Good news! He didn`t crash, but lesson learnt: not all Mitfahrs are the best.
We reached Prague, and proceeded to get some money out so we could travel into the city centre. This triggered a typical tourist moment: standing there, with 1000 Kroner in one`s hand (about 40 euros) and thinking "do I buy a car with this or a chocolate bar?".
I have to admit though, that over the next few days we spent a lot of time wandering around Prague, waiting for that "I love this city this city is amazing its even better than what everyone says it is" moment. It never came. Prague is gorgeous, and there`s plenty to see, but what I think ruined it for me was being such an utter tourist. I`m afraid readers I`ve got too used to being able to speak the language, and knowing where I am, and being shown places by locals. I`ve been spoilt, basically, so suddenly I was all too aware of the swarms of loud, ipad carrying (I kid you not, people use Ipad as cameras, hahaha!) and semi drunk tourists. I felt embarrassed and uncomfortable, and wanted to be back in Germany where I blended in with the locals. Speaking of which, aside from manning the overpriced stalls and coffee shops, the locals were nowhere to be seen in the city centre.
My dislike of Prague may have had a lot to do with my state of mind generally though, as by now the journey was starting to take its toll on us. I was getting nosebleeds from the cold, Tylor had a bad cold and Whitney was still limping from Würzburg, and badly. Being a decent tourist requires a bit more energy and interest than I could really summon up at the time, so take my thoughts of Prague with a pinch, nay a bucket of salt.
That`s it folks! Part 3 coming soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment