Autumn in Freiburg

The scenery here is incredible during the Fall. Hopefully I can find some time to take another hike up the Schwarzwald and take more pictures of Freiburg.

I apologize for not writing in awhile! I've been so busy that I just haven't found time. The traveling never ends; I was hoping to take a break this weekend and just relax, but it seems another class trip to Heidelburg has been arranged for this weekend. Oh well, I'm only here for a year, and class begins on Monday, so I might as well make the most of it!

Thank you everyone who wished me a happy birthday last week and sent me cards and e-cards! I got them all, and it was great to be remembered back home! I'm looking forward to coming home for Christmas in December.

So I got to spend five days in Berlin last week, which was very exciting. I saw and touched the Berlin Wall, stood underneath the Brandenburgertor (famous gate leading into the middle of town), and visited a giant Russian monument to Socialism. The class stayed in a Jugend Gasthaus (youth hostel), which was a questionable establishment at the best of times and full of irritating Dutch teenagers. Berlin is an incredible place, there are thousands of museums and monuments to pretty much anything you can imagine. There is even a museum dedicated to the Ramones! The weather was pretty disappointing; it was always cold and overcast, which is typical Berlin weather I guess. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait to go back and see the things I missed.

Last Saturday, I also went to Frankfurt. Saturday was my birthday and a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go, since she had to pick up her friend at the airport anyway, so we made a day of it! Frankfurt wasn't quite as awesome as Berlin. When Shannon and I got off the subway and rounded the corner to go up the stairs, there were two men shooting heroin in the middle of the stairwell, in broad day light. I guess when you need a fix, you need a fix.
We eventually made it to the Alt Stadt, which was full of eight hundred year old churches and buildings. It was rather sad at the same time, since next to these ancient buildings were huge sky scrapers. Walking down the thoroughfare, I honestly felt like I was in Toronto, walking up Jarvis Street towards Bloor, with the huge (I think it's a Roger's building?) skyscrapers in front of me.
By the time we met up with her friend, it was 2:30 in the morning, so we sat in the airport pub until the train arrived at 5 am to take us back to Freiburg.

Let me rant a little about the trains in this country. It is true, public transit here is probably unmatched by anything else on the planet, but it isn't without its flaws. There are two major types of trains, the ICE and the Regional Express. The ICE is the ridiculously fast train, which we took to Berlin at 250 km an hour. The Regional Express, on the other hand, usually requires several transfers and it takes FOREVER to get anywhere. Frankfurt is maybe 2 and a half hours north of Freiburg, if you drive there by car. To come back on the RE took 5 and a half hours! And included FOUR transfers! Unless you take the expensive ICE, it is very hard to get to places directly and in a timely fashion, not to mention the fact that the trains like to go on strike frequently.

I'm not sure if any of you have heard of this, but Germans have something called "the German Stare". I didn't really notice at first, but since I've been here a month and a bit, Germans constantly stare at you. In North America, when people walk down the street and make eye contact with a stranger, they both generally tend to look away. Not here. Here, when you make eye contact with a German, they stare. And stare. And stare until you walk by them. It's slightly awkward and feels a little rude to me, but I guess that's just how it is here. I hope it's not a trait I pick up and bring back with me.

Another fun fact: male German youths in this city have decided that it is popular to sport a Captain Planet style mullet. I cannot fathom why. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Do these kids all think they're Don Johnson from Miami Vice or something?



I'll add a few photos of Berlin for everyone and then I'm off. I'll try to shorten the time between updates.

The first photo is the Socialist monument. It is Father Russia, with a child in one hand, a sword in the other, crushing a Swastika underfoot. Russians really like to go all out when it comes to symbolism.











Second picture is of the longest section of the Berlin Wall still standing. It's 1.3 km long, and artists were hired to paint murals all along it. Sadly, much of it has been ruined due to tourists writing graffiti all over it. They have to restore it every few years or so.










The third picture is of the Bundestag (German Parliament). It used to be the Reichstag (well I guess it still is, technically), and Russians captured it in 1945, signaling the fall of Berlin. There are places on the inside that weren't renovated and still contain graffiti from Russian soldiers and damage from explosions and bullets.


I have many, many photos, but I don't want overload this thing, so I think I might burn them to a CD and people can check them out at Christmas. I also have all of my current pictures up on Facebook, if you have it!

- Matt