Berlin Zoo

I’ve never been to a really big zoo before, at least to my recollection. I’ve been to Mogo several times, but I’m fairly sure that’s all. Since the guide in our room told us it was 11EUR per person for both the zoo and aquarium, and that Berlin’s zoo has the largest number of species in the world, we figured this could be a good day. It turned out to be 18EUR each, but we didn’t let that stop us.

Day 1 in Berlin

Berlin is probably the place I’ve been most interested in going so far. Took us almost 5 hours to get here by train (30 minutes+ in delays!) and when we did get here, the weather, and the general feel of the place, remains me a great deal of Melbourne. As we walked from the station to our hotel, and crossed the Spree, we found a plaque, telling us of a number of attempted border crossings at this particular bridge. It dawned on us that we would be staying in what was East Berlin, and at the same time, that this was a city that used to be divided, and it’s only really been what it is for the past 20 years or so. That hasn’t stopped it from becoming a vast, modern city.

One of the most striking things about Berlin is there’s no altstadt the way the other German cities have had so far. That is naturally because it was destroyed, both during the final days of the war, and then further during the separation era. The next thing we noticed is that it’s big. To compare to everywhere else we’ve been so far, it’s like Rome in terms of size. All the other cities haven’t seemed so big. This is probably to fit in all the buildings that are also big, impressive and powerful, the way the Roman buildings were big.

The other major thing you notice is the cobble-stoned line through out the city, that shows where the wall used to be. There’s not so much signs of socialist lifestyle any more – the big concrete block buildings and so on, but there’s definitely parts of the wall remaining, with information plaques telling you the stories and so on. It was while we were at Checkpoint Charlie that I remembered mum has been to Berlin, and that it would have looked nothing like it does now. That she couldn’t just walk around freely the way we have done. It’s one of those things that makes you realise we are pretty lucky to be living when we live, and where we live.

We had dinner at a little restaurant across the road from our hotel (after an abortive attempt at a cheaper one) a traditional german sort of dish of meatballs in a creamy mushroom sauce with fried potatoes for me, and a veal and mushroom creamy pasta for Rhiannon. Tomorrow, we’re going to the Zoo.

A note to hotels

Here's a note to hotels, in line with my rant regarding offering free wireless.

coffee and tea equipment, including kettles, is not something that should be excluded from a hotel. It especially shouldn't then be offered back to customers for a 5EUR a day fee. Get fucking real. For 5 EUR, I could buy at least 2 real coffees. It's just fucking tight.


I'm looking at you, Mercure Arthur Frommer. Loss of a quarter of the room space due to slanting roof, then you want to charge me for a fucking kettle?

Heidelberg

Heidelberg is Der Romantisch Stadt – The romantic town. We think this is because it seems rather Italian and Roman. Either way, it’s only about an hour from Frankfurt, so we thought it would be a good little day trip, rainy and cloudy weather aside.

Weiner Schnitzel, Hefeweizen, Apfelwein, and Chocolate Popcorn.

Yes, you heard correctly. Chocolate Popcorn marked our first afternoon in Frankfurt. Closely followed by good, hearty German food, and of course, beer.

Cologne and Bonn

As I sit on the train departing from Cologne for Frankfurt, I have an opportunity to review the past day or so. We got to Cologne fairly late in the evening, and tired as always, to find yet another hotel room without a kettle, so we went for a stroll, then ate our bacon/egg sandwiches we purchased back in Amsterdam.

Utrecht and Anne Frank

We had originally planned to go to Muidersloot on one of our days, but it seemed a bit of a hassle to get there, and only see a castle. Hassle vs reward and all that. So instead, we went to Utrecht on a whim.

Amsterdam

After a late night and sleeping in, we decided to do a walking tour of Amsterdam, wandering around the canals, looking at the buildings, and general touristy stuff that people do.

Mini-Europe

For our last day in Belgium, we jumped on a tram, and headed out through the northern suburbs to Heysel, where the Expo centre, Atomium, The Waterpark, and MiniEurope is located. MiniEurope is kind of like Cockington Green in Canberra – everything is 1:25 scale, so it’s still kinda big in some situations.

Gent and more Brussels

So right now, we're sitting in a pub on Anspach in Brussels, drinking some cold beverages. Ok. Yes, It's an Irish pub. But they had free wifi. And we're drinking Belgian beer. (Yes, We.)

Brussels Light and Sound !

After our fulfilling day at Gent, we had a rest till about 10pm, wanting to wander round, see the city at night, and take some photos. We mumbled our way up to Grand Place, where it was about 10:55, and hundreds of people sitting and standing everywhere. We figured we’d just take some photos and then keep going.

In Bruge

Bruge has been referred to as the Venice of the north, due to it’s plethora of canals, and the buildings that are right on the edge of the water.
I don’t really agree. Sure, it’s got plenty of canals, and plenty of buildings right on the edge, but it’s not like Venice.

Day 1 in Brussels

After a smooth, quick ride on the Eurostar, through relatively flat, green farm lands of france and Belgium, we got to Brussels Midi, and jumped on a local train to De Brouckere. The local train was kind of like a tram, more than a train, but ran underground. Very clean.

St Pancras

So this morning was somewhat of a clusterfk. No trains on the jubilee line.

It's almost time...

We've been in our little apartment here for almost 5 months now. But the time has come. It's homelessness bound.

Yay for server migration.

So yesterday, I got another day of work with a managed services company. The emailed job description was 8 hours from 1p-9p, and involved working in a team of 4 to deconstruct a set of 10 racks at an IBM data centre

Expatting can be hard.

Sure - it seems like a fabulous idea. You're half way around the world. You claim your expenses to decrease your tax. You're experiencing all sorts of wonderful new things, life has changed, all of that.

But Expatting can be hard.