Travel across Germany
Ok, so I'm behind a few days and a fair bit has happened (it was something of a whirlwind for me, and I didn't have a lot of time to myself to write all of this up before now, I'll get the photos up later)
For starters, Frankfurt: I spent part of the day going around exploring some more before trying to get to the architecture museum only to find out it was closed for renovations, along with the film museum. However, I did find something that made up for all that, the Frankfurt Sculpture museum There was a special exhibit on one of the Egyptian Pharos but you couldn't take pictures. No matter though, as the best part was the old house that was integrated into the museum where they were displaying works from greece, the middle ages and rennisance amongst other things. That combined with the wonderful woodwork and architecture just made my day.
From there I hopped on the train to Weisbadenstayed the night in Weisbaden youth hostel, went to the only german irish pub in weisbaden with Katrin and Tobias. The next day had breakfast with Katrin, Tobias and Tobias's parents before starting off towards Trier. On the way we did a bit of touring, did some wine tasting at every place that actually did that sort've thing that we could find open (really was only a couple spots). Took a peek around an old fort/ winery and did a bit of a walk along the Rhine before exploring the rest of town. Due to this however we just barely missed the bus to a old monestary that apparently did the wine thing as well so moved further along the Rhine valley.
Our next stop just a little ways down from the Loreli (a huge cliff face along the Rhine that apparently caused many ships to sink due to the enchanting song of a girl at the top fo the cliff, though Tobias thinks it was just the sudden bend in the river that was the actual cause. The singing makes a good story though!) We did a bit of exploring of the town, discovered that a medieval fair was setting up for the next day which would've been neat to see but due to complications the next day that turned out to not be an option. While we were there we explored the town, including a neat but obviously a tourist trap street called Drosselgasse. Its one of those really narrow streets with shops on both sides and runs a huge long ways before there's any turnoffs (oh, and its pedestrian only, its actually surprising how many places are for pedestrians only in europe. At least compared to canada)
After passing the gauntlet of Drosselgasse we went up the hill for a hike to a war monument. Thing is that the sign said it would take half an hour. It didn't. The round trip took us something like three hours, partly due to me having to carry my pack with everything in it (and I was doing my best to pack light, so it really was just the one pack and a bag. It still left me after an hour or so of uphill travel wishing I no longer possessed feet.) However, the hike was beautiful as we traveled through a huge hillside vinyard and could easily see pretty much everything in the valley for a huge ways. Once at the top we stoped for some food and drink, so I got to try out a couple local foods, a sort've onion quiche as well as a drink that tasted a lot like cider called phillewiser (sp? really, I've got no clue) also a very soft, almost cream cheese dip that went with a huge freshly baked pretzle (really quite tasty!) Once we managed to stumble back down the hill (alright, I was the one doing the stumbling as I still felt like my feet should be a bloody mess after that hike) we deicded that if we were going to make it to Trier that night then we would have to catch the train directly there, so thats exactly what we did ultimately staying with Katrin's parents for the night.
Katrin's parents took us all out to do some sightseeing in Trier (really, I was the one doing all the sightseeing, they just sort've pointed me in the right direction and occasionally we chatted a bit, as much as their knowledge of english and my even more limited german would allow) Saw the Black Gate of Trier and right near it one of Karl Marx's houses (not sure if it was the one he was in while coming up with communism) some of the underground roman ruins and slid off of the Devil's stone in front of theTrier Cathedral. We had planned on leaving Trier mid afternoon that day however there was an accident on the tracks between Trier and Koblands and while the deutchebahn promised busses to take us past the problem they never arrived in the hour- hour and a half that we waited so back to Trier we went!
So upon attempting to reach Kobland the next day, we were actually successful! At that point I broke off from Katrin and Tobias as they went towards Frankfurt and I planned on going north, towards Norway. After they left I explored kobland (which contained "The German Corner" a little strech of land between the rhine and another river that essentially denoted a corner of germany) a little before catching the train to Cologne. That went without event however once I was there I ended up walking 3km away from the centre of town trying to find a hostel that turned out to be no longer there. Returned to city centre to grab a spot at one of the other, closer ones before taking a peek inside the cathedral (its freaking huge!) and calling it a night.
Once again, its kind've frusterating how mondays also seem to be holidays in germany. I tried getting into a couple places, including the Gestapo museum and some of the archeologial museums and city wall tower museums but they all seem to be closed. However, I did do something absolutely insane (though I didn't realize how insane it was until I was 1/3 of the way up, and there was no real opportunity to turn back) to start the day off. After checking out from the hostel I decided to try climbing the cathedral belfry tower. Thing is that I had my full pack, which as previously mentioned is both heavy and bulky, though manageable for a hour or so of normal travel. And I climbed a freaking medival belfry tower thats over 97 meters of narrow spiral stone stairwell. For both ways. I was quite worried that because of the backpack I might loose my balance and later because my feet were aching badly. Still, I managed to go all the way up, even past the belfry and ultimately as high as you can get in that place without going outside! What really struck me was that despite the height, the detail of the carvings and decorations never deminished. Not only that, there were still statues of people (ok, angels, its still a church afterall) all the way up there where you wouldn't be able to see them without a telescope or something! Afterwards there was some more exploring, but as previously mentioned most of the interesting stuff was closed for monday. So in my continued efforts to reach Norway, off to Hamburg!
As an aside, I freaking love this eurorail pass as I can go pretty much anywhere on the continent and not have to deal with lineups for tickets or questions as to where I'm going. I just flash the conductor the pass and I'm suddenly no longer a concern. Oh, I paid a fair bit for it all right, but so far it's been completely worth it! Just would be nice if I knew more german so I wouldn't have to worry about not knowing when the fabled german efficiency isn't all that efficient (mind you, I probably think higher of the german national rail company than most germans cause apparently it runs into problems all the time, paricularily with being late)
Also, check out this neat bit of animation: http://vimeo.com/13473459
For starters, Frankfurt: I spent part of the day going around exploring some more before trying to get to the architecture museum only to find out it was closed for renovations, along with the film museum. However, I did find something that made up for all that, the Frankfurt Sculpture museum There was a special exhibit on one of the Egyptian Pharos but you couldn't take pictures. No matter though, as the best part was the old house that was integrated into the museum where they were displaying works from greece, the middle ages and rennisance amongst other things. That combined with the wonderful woodwork and architecture just made my day.
From there I hopped on the train to Weisbadenstayed the night in Weisbaden youth hostel, went to the only german irish pub in weisbaden with Katrin and Tobias. The next day had breakfast with Katrin, Tobias and Tobias's parents before starting off towards Trier. On the way we did a bit of touring, did some wine tasting at every place that actually did that sort've thing that we could find open (really was only a couple spots). Took a peek around an old fort/ winery and did a bit of a walk along the Rhine before exploring the rest of town. Due to this however we just barely missed the bus to a old monestary that apparently did the wine thing as well so moved further along the Rhine valley.
Our next stop just a little ways down from the Loreli (a huge cliff face along the Rhine that apparently caused many ships to sink due to the enchanting song of a girl at the top fo the cliff, though Tobias thinks it was just the sudden bend in the river that was the actual cause. The singing makes a good story though!) We did a bit of exploring of the town, discovered that a medieval fair was setting up for the next day which would've been neat to see but due to complications the next day that turned out to not be an option. While we were there we explored the town, including a neat but obviously a tourist trap street called Drosselgasse. Its one of those really narrow streets with shops on both sides and runs a huge long ways before there's any turnoffs (oh, and its pedestrian only, its actually surprising how many places are for pedestrians only in europe. At least compared to canada)
After passing the gauntlet of Drosselgasse we went up the hill for a hike to a war monument. Thing is that the sign said it would take half an hour. It didn't. The round trip took us something like three hours, partly due to me having to carry my pack with everything in it (and I was doing my best to pack light, so it really was just the one pack and a bag. It still left me after an hour or so of uphill travel wishing I no longer possessed feet.) However, the hike was beautiful as we traveled through a huge hillside vinyard and could easily see pretty much everything in the valley for a huge ways. Once at the top we stoped for some food and drink, so I got to try out a couple local foods, a sort've onion quiche as well as a drink that tasted a lot like cider called phillewiser (sp? really, I've got no clue) also a very soft, almost cream cheese dip that went with a huge freshly baked pretzle (really quite tasty!) Once we managed to stumble back down the hill (alright, I was the one doing the stumbling as I still felt like my feet should be a bloody mess after that hike) we deicded that if we were going to make it to Trier that night then we would have to catch the train directly there, so thats exactly what we did ultimately staying with Katrin's parents for the night.
Katrin's parents took us all out to do some sightseeing in Trier (really, I was the one doing all the sightseeing, they just sort've pointed me in the right direction and occasionally we chatted a bit, as much as their knowledge of english and my even more limited german would allow) Saw the Black Gate of Trier and right near it one of Karl Marx's houses (not sure if it was the one he was in while coming up with communism) some of the underground roman ruins and slid off of the Devil's stone in front of theTrier Cathedral. We had planned on leaving Trier mid afternoon that day however there was an accident on the tracks between Trier and Koblands and while the deutchebahn promised busses to take us past the problem they never arrived in the hour- hour and a half that we waited so back to Trier we went!
So upon attempting to reach Kobland the next day, we were actually successful! At that point I broke off from Katrin and Tobias as they went towards Frankfurt and I planned on going north, towards Norway. After they left I explored kobland (which contained "The German Corner" a little strech of land between the rhine and another river that essentially denoted a corner of germany) a little before catching the train to Cologne. That went without event however once I was there I ended up walking 3km away from the centre of town trying to find a hostel that turned out to be no longer there. Returned to city centre to grab a spot at one of the other, closer ones before taking a peek inside the cathedral (its freaking huge!) and calling it a night.
Once again, its kind've frusterating how mondays also seem to be holidays in germany. I tried getting into a couple places, including the Gestapo museum and some of the archeologial museums and city wall tower museums but they all seem to be closed. However, I did do something absolutely insane (though I didn't realize how insane it was until I was 1/3 of the way up, and there was no real opportunity to turn back) to start the day off. After checking out from the hostel I decided to try climbing the cathedral belfry tower. Thing is that I had my full pack, which as previously mentioned is both heavy and bulky, though manageable for a hour or so of normal travel. And I climbed a freaking medival belfry tower thats over 97 meters of narrow spiral stone stairwell. For both ways. I was quite worried that because of the backpack I might loose my balance and later because my feet were aching badly. Still, I managed to go all the way up, even past the belfry and ultimately as high as you can get in that place without going outside! What really struck me was that despite the height, the detail of the carvings and decorations never deminished. Not only that, there were still statues of people (ok, angels, its still a church afterall) all the way up there where you wouldn't be able to see them without a telescope or something! Afterwards there was some more exploring, but as previously mentioned most of the interesting stuff was closed for monday. So in my continued efforts to reach Norway, off to Hamburg!
As an aside, I freaking love this eurorail pass as I can go pretty much anywhere on the continent and not have to deal with lineups for tickets or questions as to where I'm going. I just flash the conductor the pass and I'm suddenly no longer a concern. Oh, I paid a fair bit for it all right, but so far it's been completely worth it! Just would be nice if I knew more german so I wouldn't have to worry about not knowing when the fabled german efficiency isn't all that efficient (mind you, I probably think higher of the german national rail company than most germans cause apparently it runs into problems all the time, paricularily with being late)
Also, check out this neat bit of animation: http://vimeo.com/13473459