Tag: Germany

Hamburg

We traveled to Poland from where we took off to Hamburg for a weekend where I was to become a God Mother of little Gabriel. It was a bit of a crazy stay as we arrived Saturday midday and left Sunday afternoon and had family events in between but we managed to squeeze in some sightseeing tour. I have already been to Hamburg a couple of times as a child and a teenager but forgot all of it. I wanted to come earlier but somehow never actually made it. And now I am sure I will be back as only one weekend is not enough to get to know this lovely city (whoever reads my blog from the beginning may know that I am particularly in fond of German cities).

TenaciousD concert in Berlin

Twelfth of September I went to Berlin for a rock concert of a band called TenaciousD. This is my favorite still living band so I had waited for this moment for ages. Unfortunately I could’t share this music experience with Ania because of her health issue 😉 but one of my best friends with whom I discovered TenaciusD joined me in Berlin and we went to concert together.

To summarize it was the greatest concert in the world.
Also because of flight schedule we had two days to enjoy and see Berlin. I have never liked Berlin because it is not enough „exotic” to me. Except small part of the city center it is like my home city – just bigger.

Two days is just perfect to see all important points of Berlin. Fortunately we had just perfect weather for sightseeing so we could walk all the time.

Ozeaneum in Stralsund

After a long walk at the seaside (see: Natureum post) we headed to Stralsund – the main destination of our trip. It’s known for the Baltic See museum called Ozeaneum. Inside one can see a lot of underwater marvels – it’s a place I have wanted to travel to for a long time now. We didn’t see so much of the city. It was freezing cold and gloomy so we went straight to the museum

The exhibition started creepily – with a lot of plastic (to-me-lame) specimen or taxidermized animals or, even worse – shellfish in formalin. We rushed through those rooms, not having a lot of interest in non-organic exhibition. Fortunately, it was just a warm up before the real fun – the multitude of aquariums.

At some point we had a close encounter with a sea monster (an octopus of some kind). It was both, scary and amazing. I was taking a photo of a seemingly calm creature, but apparently it didn’t like my camera and leaped on me! (I am not sure if a creature can leap in water, but for the sake of my dramatic description let it stay as „leap”). After a while the octopus came back to it’s withdrawn position at the back of the aquarium. I have to say I was very surprised by this sudden display of power. Bullies are everywhere!

The biggest aquarium was really huge and looked like a cinema screen. One could watch the wildlife in it from 3 different floors. Schools of fish were amazing. The glass was thick for 50 cm!

At the end of our round we visited penguins. Penguins, yay! I love penguins. They are soooo adorable. It’s a pity it was too bloody cold to stay outside and watch them play under water. Their aquarium was situated on an upper level of the building and we could see Stralsund panorama from there. Having said goodbye to penguins we went to the old town of the city, had a cup of coffee and a bite of cake and went back to our warm car.

Natureum in Darsser Ort

Boy – we had a lot of fun taking that photo!

Our tour cycle around Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany continues. I already described the story how we decided to travel around Szczecin (see: Greifswald post).
This time we chose Stralsund for our destination. However, before we reached Stralsund, we went a bit further west and north – to Darsser Ort (Parow).
I came across that spot when I was checking out places around Stralsund. It’s a typical summer resort, with a lot of (what we call) junk-stalls, summer houses etc. – all of that of course deserted in winter. But we didn’t seek for hustle and bustle of summer, to the contrary – we went there to breathe in the tranquillity of winter. And undoubtedly – we got it.

It was very cold (around 8 Cels. below zero), so to warm myself up a bit I slid a couple of times on frozen water. It was fun though my boots were not designed for that activity. Ice skates would have been better for that occasion.

In principle, we were looking for Natureum – museum of nature at the Baltic See. There was supposed to be a lighthouse and a building with sea life exhibition. What I didn’t discover in advance was that the place was located in Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft Nationalpark. That meant no car access and a walk of around 12km (both ways) in order to see the lighthouse. But OK – we said „A” – we needed to say „B”, so we marched courageously in the cold. Fortunately, the views were worth it.

To reach the lighthouse we needed to turn away a bit from the beach and traverse a field of cane and a forest. The path was very narrow and sometimes we needed to watch our steps in order not to fall down to the bulrush. When we finally reached Natureum we were pretty tired and cold, so we rushed back to our car (which was not that close).

Weihnachtsmarkt in Berlin

Christmas is coming, on St. Nicholas day I heard „Last Christmas” by Wham on the radio – it’s a definite sign! In order to catch a bit of a Christmas spirit, we decided to go to Berlin. We’ve never seen the city in winter and everyone said it was remarkable in snow and lights. Luckily, Goethe Institut (where we both learn German) organised a trip to Weihnachtsmärkte in the capital city of Germany so we gladly put ourselves on a participants’ list.

We arrived on the Hauptbahnhof – a newly built railway station that cost around 1 billion EUR. All right, it’s quite a cost, but the result is stunning. It’s really a very modern and pretty place (yes, a pretty railway station – how odd is that?). What I liked particularly was the huge Christmas tree placed in front of the glazed front.

The organisers prepared an itinerary for us:
– Hauptbahnhof,
– Reichstag,
– Brandenburger Tor,
– Sony Centre, Potsdamer Platz Weihnachtsmarkt,
– WeihnachtsZauber Gendarmenmarkt

We did the whole route twice – at the day time and in the evening. With no doubt, the evening route was a more attractive one.

At the Reichstag (parliament building of Germany) we did a group photo and moved quite quickly to the Brandenburger Tor where we found a lot of wonders (like an ice sculpture, Mario Bros or a waving bear).

On our way to the first Christmas Market we passed by the remnants of the Berlin Wall, Lego street exhibition and Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

When we reached the first market it was relatively uncrowded. It was still bright and the weather was very cold. I liked the fact that I could stroll around the place quite freely. The stalls were superb! It was exactly what I thought of Weihnachtsmarkt. The aroma of Glühwein (mulled wine), apples in chocolate, hearts from gingerbread, hand-made marvels and freezing cold – it was all there!

At last a photo together…

After some time we went to see the other market – the one that is thought to be the most glamorous in whole Germany – WeihnachtsZauber Gendarmenmarkt. Zauber in German means 'charm’ and I find the name pretty descriptive. However, what I didn’t like about this place was the crowd. It killed the atmosphere a bit, but I reckon that in the working week it must be a really amazing place.

Since it was really crowded, we decided to come back to the Potsdamer Platz Markt where we wanted to buy a souvenir (a wooden Christmas windmill spinning from the candles heat) and see everything again in the dark. It was worth it.

We finished the day (really tired and cold) by seeing again the monuments from the morning – but this time at night. The city looks so much different in the dark.

Wilkommen in Greifswald

I find it a bit baffling that many people (including me) tend to travel to far away places, without getting to know the obvious vicinity. I tried to figure out the reason why on earth I have never been to Mecklemburg-Vorpommern, a German region just right away the polish border (so let’s say 10-15 km from my place). Frankly speaking, I failed – there’s no reasonable explanation. Anyway, as long as we’re alive, it’s never too late to correct the mistakes. This is why I decided to travel to the nearby places in the upcoming year. Greifswald was the first choice and it just reassured me in my decision.

We went there on Sunday, maybe not the best choice of a day for travelling to Germany, but I have to say that the surrounding void in the city was somehow charming. And we were lucky anyway, because there was a pottery sale / exhibition at the marketplace, which definitely generated some life around.


The pottery sold was really quaint and (I would even say) old-school and artistic. That is why I wouldn’t call the venue a sale, for me it was more of an exhibition with the possibility to buy the exhibits.

When we were done watching the pottery, we went to explore the town. Since Greifswald is rather small, we just tramped along with no specific aim. I was really entranced with the surroundings (as I always am in Germany). Everything was so neat and nice, making me feel very peaceful.

Since Greifswald is situated at the bay, we took the chance to walk along the water. The weather was exceptionally good for September and I guess at the bay the mistery of abandoned Greifswald was solved. Everyone was at the promenade by the canal, many people were sailing. What a lovely way to spend sunny Sunday.


We finished the day with having a lunch in the restaurant. It was a very nice day and it really encouraged me to travel to germany more often. A perfect end of the summer.

Long May weekend: Dresden

’What to do during the long May weekend?’ – we considered a lot of options this year. We started from „a 3-capital-journey” (Wien, Budapest, Brno) but changed plans and decided for a Dresden-Prague trip.

We arrived at Dresden around midday on Sunday. The city was badly demolished during the allies bombing in the IIWW but now it’s not so apparent, since a lot of monuments were rebuilt. We started our trip from die Frauenkirchie – the church that was renovated just a couple of years ago and is now the sign of distruction the war left.

The church inside didn’t make a huge impression on me – everything was new, rather modest. What I liked best about the buidling was the tower, and – to be more precise – the tower view.

It was windy…

Dresden has rather a small old city part, so when we came down from the tower, we just strolled around without a map. At the river side there was some kind of a race accompanied by a festivity. From what I noticed, 'festivity’ in Germany is understood as drinking beer, eating Bratwurst and listening to German folc music. That’s I guess what we call „local charm”.




When we decided we were done with the city tour, we went to the hotel and came back to Dresden in the evening to have a bite (no, we didn’t take Bratwurst). As always, the cities in the sunset are never the same as in the day light.