Finally I'm here to do what I wanted to do, travel. With totally amateurish planning zigzagging across three countries, it has officially begun. So here is itinerary:
Toulouse - Paris - Brussels - Koln - Munich - Berlin - Hamburg - Paris - Toulouse
I know it's totally haphazard, badly planned but who cares :) I m just loving the whole backpacking experience except for the RFH part which is soon going become the background noise hopefully
ParisOhh how happy I was to be in this city, I couldn't stop grinning. As usual things have to go wrong. One word: no accommodation. We were running all morning trying to find out where INT was. It took almost two hours to finally settle down and start the actual trip.
The city is so fast moving and at the same time makes you all maudlin. I just sat there staring and taking it all in. The architecture, all those road side cafes, and the people everything is so perfect. You don't need to talk to anyone just enjoy the view. But I still like Toulouse better because it feels as if you are a part of a very big family, in Paris you are the outsider sticking out like a sore thumb. I wish I could stay there for like a week and soak in the city rather than a cursory glance at the touristy places.
But for Eiffel tower you have to make the exception and do the touristy thing. Went to the tower around 6 30 so was actually able to see it in broad daylight and with its brightly lit splendor in the night. It just takes your breath away. I just stared and stared some more. I could actually see why so many of those corny romantic movies use this place. All the common sense takes a backseat (well at least in my case). We were there for more than 3 hours, I dint want to go back. The city that shines below and the tower above make you so sentimental for the most insane reasons.
BrusselsActually I wanted to go Bruges and when we reached Brussels at 1 in the afternoon after missing the actual one, I was so not in a mood to go out and explore the city. On top of everything it was raining. Took us almost two hours to find a place to stay. Finally got out around 4 only to be led to some random fountain in the name of the atomium :x Thanks to the awesome maps given by the hostel people, we were able to actually find the best pub I have been to till date "the delirium cafe". They had some 25 types of beers and the perfect Irish/German pub atmosphere. Couldn't ask for more. This would be the one place I ll visit if I ever go back to Brussels again. Ended the night with nice live music cafe sipping mint cordiale.
KolnI will always remember Koln as the place where I just lost it with the shops and shops and more shops. I just skipped from one shop to another buying junk. But the place is just as beautiful with its cobblestoned streets and old pubs and museums it was very old world but at the same time modern on her side.
Tip: while going on long trips don't drink till you drop
With the hangover from the previous night’s expeditions I couldn't actually enjoy the place much. But shopping I did, thanks to H&M. The places you shouldn't miss would be the Lindt factory and the old cathedral just outside the station. The other thing in Koln that I loved was the hostel (more about this one later)
MunichThe whole reason for this trip to happen was because we wanted to go to Oktober fest. Boy did we enjoy Munich :(. Wasted almost 4 freaking hours in the name of accommodation. RFH was supposed to find a place and when we go there the lady in question was nowhere to be seen. Anyways chucked our luggage in the locker room and made our way through to the fest area.
At first, I was like what the hell this looks like some sort of a carnival for kids with joy rides (well I took the same joyride and puke my guts out so not so kid friendly actually). But soon we discovered the "tents" which are like these monstrous pubs serving beer by the liter non-stop. It was very nice ( I know not the exact reaction you would expect but nothing weird happened other than some drunken brawls or some singing or PDA now that's pretty normal :))
The atmosphere is so lively with kids playing around and everybody munching on something or the other it was really beautiful. Ohh and how can forget the costumes they are the best part, I actually spent the better part of that night searching for a costume in my budget (sadly none were available)
Finally RFH found us a place to stay so at least we had a warm bed after one whole day of touristing (if there is such a word). I never knew about couch crashers till then. This is a website which lists people from different cities who help the wayward hitchhikers by giving them a free accommodation. Quite a neat concept indeed, we were able to find a quaint little place in a suburban neighborhood.
All thanks to our host we also found out about the Neuschwanstein castle which is two hours from Munich. Now this place is a thing of beauty, nestled in the mountains near this picturesque village. I am definitely going back to this place and spending at least a weeks’ time. There is small trek which takes you to the main castle through the mountain, though I was panting by the end of the trek it was so worth it with waterfalls and fig trees and horses all around.
That evening we went back to the fest for seconds. Ohh if you think that German people are wusses because they get drunk on beer think twice. This beer is so strong that with one pitcher I was actually feeling a little buzz (not that I am tanki but at least I definitely won't get drunk on one beer)
Dint actually see much of the city because we were busy doing much better things :)
BerlinWe reached Berlin the next day morning and found a hostel within an hour which in itself is a big big thing. We found out about these free guided tours in the hostel so we decided what the hell if you get something for free in Europe you better grab it.
This is one more experience I will never forget. The general rule till then was go ask the hostel people about the places to see pick up a map and find out or get lost along the way (which actually happened more than once). I never thought that Id like the guide chattering away but it was quite informational with tiny tidbits of the history thrown in at every place; it makes the whole thing more meaningful.
Found out a lot about WW2 and the Herr. With R in love with our guide and trying to chat she up it was quite funny ordeal actually. But to know about the city's history and its dark past is a must to get the most of all the landmarks. We saw the war memorial, Hitler’s chambers, and the surviving part of the wall. It is one of those things I would suggest to everyone.
One other awesome thing here is that they have this book exhibition going on everyday in front of the Humboldt University. They had so many books, most of them in German but I managed to ferret out a Maugham in English and now is my most prized possession from this trip.
The next day after getting rid of RFH (finally!!!) we started off to Sachsenhausen concentration camp tour. The guide from the previous day suggested that this is one thing everyone should do. So we took the metro and went off to Berlin's reminder of its dark past. Our guide was a guy doing his PhD in Nazi culture and its effects on Germany. He was pretty awesome in drawing a picture of the ww2 Berlin and the conditions in the camp. When you look at this desolate place, not even in your worst nightmare can you imagine the things that happened here. I couldn't actually listen to him but at the same time was obsessed to understand the need or the reason behind these actions.
I cannot explain or make you understand how you feel standing there in Station Z where thousands of innocent people were "exterminated". Walking on the same roads where they took their final breath during the death march.
It gets too emotional in the main exhibition where they tried to personalize the whole thing by showing pictures from the prisoners' lives. All those movies seem to picture only bits of pieces of the whole tragedy. Throughout this trip we have seen many cities being crushed by the allied troupes on one side and pillaged by the Nazis on the other. The reminders of the disasters of the past are everywhere; they have become a part of people's lives.
After a pretty serious touristing, we decided to go to the pub crawl. It's a 12 euro paid tour where they take you to 5 different pubs in the city. I wasn't expecting much other than few drunken people but it was awesome. The first one was called Zapata. It was part some sort of an anarchist commune (my impression actually) but seriously the people there looked like biker dudes. The next one was the proper rock pub with blaring music, had a nice glass of baileys while singing my heart out to the killers, offspring and blink 182 (okie something in English is better than anything in German). All in all a pretty awesome day :)
The next day we had time till around 4 in the evening to finish our Berlin tour. We went to the DDR museum, which is one of those places everyone should visit to understand what he country has been through post WW2. The kind of socialist ideologies that you read in books of Rand, Orwell is a reality here. I couldn't believe what the people had to go through for 30 years. This shows the actual reality of communism where there is no such thing as an individual. It’s very scary to comprehend the life in those times. But it was very educational at the least.
The final destination was the east side gallery, the surviving part of the Wall. It's very surreal looking at peoples' interpretation and reactions. Some of the paintings compel you to stop and think what the artist is trying to tell us. The whole walk seemed very out of this world somehow.
Berlin all in all has been a rather sobering part of the whole trip.
HamburgWe reached around 6 in the evening and actually had a really really hard time finding a place to stay. With my backpacks size growing exponentially I was so tired by the time we checked in I would have done anything to just sleep maybe for the next whole week. I slept like a log for like 14 hrs, a much deserved rest.
The next day we had the whole thing planned with the walking tour, museums and a Beatles covers concert. But all we did was the tour and the rest of the trying to find things and finding out that all of them were closed. (Fucking Sunday madness :()
Hamburg dint impress me as Berlin or Koln it was more commercialized. Tried to shop but was too broke by this time to actually go into any of the stores that I like. The only store I could actually spend was C&A which is like the seniors shopping complex. Even the people working in the shop are old :(
But the one thing that impresses you here is the architecture. Both the old and the new city have buildings which are designed by some really eccentric people. And the bridges, how can I forget them, they have like some 2000 in the city alone.
Paris Part DeuxWe had one final day to kill before returning back to Toulouse. The actual plan was to stay in Paris the whole day and then take a night train back. But I was so tired all I could think was the bed in my room.
Couldnt find a direct train on time ....so had to stay the whole day. Well so off we went to another walking tour. This has become a daily routine, land in a new city, stack your luggage in some locker, freshen up and get going for another 3 hour tour. Asusual good way to spend if you have little time to spend in the city.
This time noted down all the places that one should visit, so will be back in Paris soon :)
So, my first ever unplanned, to some extent adventurous trip across Europe came to an end. Should say one thing though never thought I d be doing these things. Its still to unreal to me. Will need some more time getting used to the idea that I actually did go to all these awesome places.
Till next trip cheerio!
