Germany Trip: Part I

5/15-5/16 The first Day

Our flight from Logan Airport was delayed by two hours making our journey to Frankfurt, and ultimately Berlin, a bit longer than expected. Kate and I had intended to get supper at the airport, however the international terminal in Boston has limited food options. We ended up eating some McDonald's cuisine. The service was so awful it was funny. Our cashier refused to actually give anyone their food and it just piled up as it was prepared. Apparently everyone else was on break and he wasn't properly trained on how to put burgers into a paper bag. It was a good thing we did not have a quick connection to make because it took twenty minutes to get our food.

The flight was cramped and painfully dull. (I suppose a "dull" flight is better than one filled with turbulence). I unfortunately finished my reading relatively early in the journey and found myself with little to occupy my time. Even if I had more to read I probably wouldn't have chose to do so. All of the lights on the plane were switched off since it was an "evening" flight. They did show "Dan in Real Life" which wasn't a bad film. As I sat there in the darkness, time went by dreadfully slow, minutes seemed like hours, hours like.... well you get the idea. The sandman refused to pay me a visit. If all of this wasn't enough irritation, due to the prevalence of "Gold members" on the flight, Kate and I were split up and we were both surrounded by strangers.

The ICE (Inter-City-Express) in Germany was a pleasant change of pace from the airplane. The train depot was a simple walk across the street from the Frankfurt International Airport. Once we got our bearings we had no trouble hopping on a train for our trip to Berlin. We had one connection to make in Leipzig, which was easy. The transfer time was literally about ten minutes. This was of no concern since trains appear to be ALWAYS on time, if not slightly early.

Once in Berlin we only needed to ask a couple of questions from helpful and polite (Nice change from the MBTA) Deutsche Bahn employees to buy our Berlin pass and find the hotel. We stayed at Hotel Boulevard am Kurfurstendamm which was located near "Zoologischer Garten Berlin". The room was interesting, different to say the least, but was very clean and comfortable. It had two twin beds, which is standard for hotels in Germany, with the exception that usually they are pushed together, and these were arranged in an L shape set up in a corner (see picture). The other bed is behind the wall to the right.


The church seen in the next photograph was a block away from the hotel. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was originally constructed in the late 1800s but was nearly completely destroyed in WWII bombing raids. A modern church was built adjacent to it using the remainder of the old church to complement the design and serve as a reminder of the war. It is very beautiful, especially in the evening when lights shine through the new portion to reveal patterns in a mosaic of stained glass cubes comprising it's walls.

The location of the church in the middle of a busy city square has a similar effect to that of Trinity Church in Copley square in Boston. In both locations the churches are given a plaza to complement their grandeur. Their settings are frequented by modern structures which compliment and contrast with the older more ornate architecture.


One of the first observations that Kate and I had when walking through the streets of Berlin was how well things "worked". An excellent example of this is the sign below which was located at a bus stop. Yes... the buses are monitored, timed, and they are accurate. Additionally bikers and pedestrians strictly obey traffic rules. When the cross walk light signals "don't walk" (with a symbol), people don't walk.... even when there is no traffic coming. This took some getting used to for Kate and I, but once we following these rules, it was nice not to have to guess when it was OK to cross the street.
While Berliners seem to obey traffic rules with ease, they don't seem to respect laws regarding graffiti. Berliners seem to have no boundaries that Americans have on where they display their "urban art". For example, in the United States you typically won't see graffiti on a church, home, public building, or a monument. Graffiti in American cities seems to end up on infrastructure (bridges, cement walls), businesses, and abandoned buildings. It seems every piece of brick or stone in Berlin is fair game. Additionally I gathered that graffiti in Berlin occasionally actually seemed to have political significance, where here it usually is someone performing some territorial pissing.

Kate and I looked around quite a bit before settling on a place to eat. There wasn't very much open, and I think it was 8:30 before we actually sat down. Things tend to close early in Germany, apparently even when you are in a big city.


This Chinese food establishment won us over. Partially because we were indecisive, tired, and this was just familiar and an easy solution. There were some differences on the menu but for the most part what we ended up ordering was very much comfort food. The location was great. It was up on the second floor across the street from the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The restaurant was our first experience with European service. We are used to the wait staff constantly asking if there is anything we need. In Europe the reverse is true, you have to tell the wait staff everything. If you don't go out of the way to get your check, they'll let you sit there the entire night. Waiters and waitresses in Germany are paid regular wages and aren't dependant on tips. Tips tend to be small and as a result there is no incentive for the staff to hurry people, or go out of the way to pay customers any extra favors.

Kate and I immediately missed the extra refills on soda that are prevalent in the states. Despite our food being reasonable in "Euros" we cringed to think of the exchange rate. Thank you deficit spending. It had been a long day of travel and Kate and I returned to the hotel shortly after eating and promptly went to bed.

Writing from Nürnberg

Well, Kate and I are just about midway through our trip and so far we are having a great time. I'll have to admit that the plane ride over was a bit cramped and uncomfortable to say the very least, however Berlin was a great new city for us to explore. After you are here for a day or so things become familiar and you tend to forget a little that you are in a foreign country.

We even got to partake in a German Beer festival which was completely unexpected. Erlangen is a city in the hills just outside of Nurnberg and our first night was spent here drinking beer and sampling German cuisine. I'll write more and share pictures when I get back. Today we spent roaming the city of Nurnberg with a couple of excellent personal guides. It has been good to see Jens again and meet his wife Marija too.


Tomorrow it is off to Munich, and we may take a quick jaunt to the Alps too if the weather is good.

Till we return!

Stay Tuned for my Return!

Well... I leave today, or tonight rather! My first skip across the big pond, and hopefully the initiation of more traveling to come. That being said I won't have any posts till Memorial Day. I'll be sure to put up pictures when I get back.

Of course I'll eventually get to my part 3 rant on government health care as well.

The issue could become moot if I'm faced with the prospect of voting for a GOP ticket that includes Mike Huckabee.

Source: Huckabee Tops McCain's Veep List

I will have to jump ship if he's on board and either vote Libertarian, or for Barack. I can't vote for backwards thinking and someone who believes our laws need to be made to abide by "The Bible" as Huckabee has been quoted as saying.
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

Other gems by Huckabee include that AIDS patients need to be quarantined, abortion is like the holocaust, support for intelligent design/ creationism being taught in public schools, made poor comments about the Mormon faith, has compared his weight loss to "being in a concentration camp", has publicly joked about suicide... (maybe appropriate for a comedian or Joe-schmoe, but not a presidential candidate), has suggested that homosexuality is the same as bestiality, has shown an almost laughable grasp of foreign policy, and did I mention he thinks putting illegal immigrants through college may be a good idea? If that wasn't enough his fiscal policy is shaky at best and where it counts the most (The economy and government structure) he's a populist. His fair tax plan would eliminate income tax in favor of a sales tax in the range of 25-30%. Simple, maybe, but what would it do to the economy? It is more like a pipe dream than a realistic plan.

I've gone to John McCain's website to leave a comment suggesting he will lose my vote if Huckabee is his VP. The idea that he is even considering him troubles me, if you feel the same way I encourage you to do the same. If not because of Huckabee's social views, do it because of his shaky fiscal and foreign policy credentials.

The "swing" states aren't the states that Huckabee carries any weight in. I actually believe that Huckabee will damage McCain's chances which should be pretty good thanks to the Electoral College. Honestly if Huck is his choice, he doesn't deserve to be president.... not by any stretch of the imagination. To me it would just indicate the potential for many more lapses in judgement to come. I think the U.S. has already had it's fill on bad judgement.