After a recovery sleep-in after an afternoon/night at Oktoberfest, we headed to the train station to go to Berlin. The train is new and fast (~160km/h). We should be in Berlin by 6pm. After finding our way to the hostel, we had dinner at the restaurant next door, then went to bed. I didn’t even have a beer.

September 26 – Day 74

Today we did a free walking tour with ‘New Europe’. It started at the Brandenburg Gate, the only surviving Berlin gate. From here we could see the Hotel Adlon, one of Berlin’s top hotels, Embassies, and banks. We walked through the gate to the Holocaust Memorial – the one with thousands of concrete pillars. It is a strange memorial. It is certainly not something that anyone nearby can miss, which was part of the idea behind the design I think. Someone asked if there were any problems with graffiti, and the guide said they used a special paint that means paint can be wiped straight off. He also said that people eventually realised that this paint was produced by the same company that produced the pellets to be used in the gas chambers, which caused outrage when people found out. Apparently very few German companies survived the war without working with (or at least not opposing) the Nazis. From the memorial, we walked to the old HQ of the Luftwaffe, now the Ministry of Finance. It is a huge, ugly building – not many people like it, especially since it is where the taxes are paid. From there, we went and saw a surviving section of the wall, and continued on to Checkpoint Charlie. From there, we visited Gendarmenplatz, and St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, where two of Berlin’s 6.5 daily protests were taking place. Next we went to the War Memorial. The building has been a memorial for many years, but to different things. It is now a large room with the statue ‘Mother and her dead son’ at its centre. It has an opening in the roof, and takes on different feelings depending on the weather. It would be amazing to see with snow falling in the room. Next we were in the museum area, where we saw the Altes Museum and the Berliner Dom, which is very spectacular. This was where the tour finished. It was the best tour I have done so far, and I highly recommend the free ‘New Europe’ tours – I wish we had done more of them. We decided to see an opera, as the cheap seats are only 8 Euro. It was a German one – Der Rosenkavalier. We were able to move to much better seats before it started, but couldn’t really follow the story. On the way home, we stopped in at Marcus Brau, a small brewpub near Alexanderplatz. Their dark beer is good.

September 27 – Day 75

We started today at the ‘Topography of Terror’ museum, near Checkpoint Charlie. It goes into details about the SS and the SD, and is worth a visit. After the free tour yesterday, we decided to do the ‘alternative city tour’ today. The same guide was taking it, so we were pretty confident it was going to be good. The alternative tour shows a very different Berlin. We started at a building called Tacheles, a squat used manly by artists. Half of the building was torn down after it was declared structurally unsound, but the front is still used. The entire building – inside and out, top to bottom – is covered in Graffiti. I was amazed that a company could offer tours there. The OH&S laws must be a bit more relaxed in Germany. We saw a few other squats as we walked around, and others still while exploring by ourselves. One of them is owned by a bank, but has been occupied by squatters for about 20 years. The bank sold it to another company, which was a front for Eastern European gangsters who thought they could clear it out. After a number of luxury cars were torched, the gangsters started worrying about German law, and fled. The bank bought it back again, but doesn’t know what to do. Part of the reason for the squats is that it is still not known who owns some of the sites – while ownership is being determined, it is used by whoever wants to live there. Some squats are open for anyone to enter, others are not as open. One has a huge mural – tourist season should be hunting season. Others charge a fee, and sell things. I felt like it was intruding (especially in a huge group), and didn’t go in. The street art was really impressive. My favourites were stencils (especially by Xoooox). I also liked the ones by Alias. We also went into some courtyards where entire walls are covered in bright murals that look like they were painted yesterday. Where it is allowed, the art is almost always good. Where it is not, it is usually the graffiti that everyone hates. I got a bit sick of looking at the less appealing pieces, but most of the things we looked at were great. Next we walked along the East Side Gallery – the section of the wall where the famous art is. As it is 20 years since the originals were done, the artists have been invited back to touch up (or redo) their work. Most of them are now in as-new condition. We got to see a few artists painting when we were there, which was also great. Yaam, a famous squat, is now located on the wall, near the East Side Gallery. This is one that charges to get in. Apparently they serve some of the best chicken in the city. The tour ended across the bridge in Kreuzberg, where there is an amazing piece of art by Blu. From across the Spree, it looks like a giant pink face. Up close, you can see that it is made up of hundreds of individual human figures. It is one of the ones that artists were invited paint – there are a few in Kreuzberg. The tour was really great, it felt like we saw another side of Berlin. In Kreuzberg, we had a delicious Arabic meal before heading back to the hostel. We decided to go out for drinks – starting at Kulturzentrum Pfefferberg, an old Brewery (under repairs now, so pretty dead), then heading to Baiz, a proper pub with cheap beers and a good (if cold) atmosphere. After a few drinks we headed back to the hostel.

September 28 – Day 76

We went to the Jewish Museum this morning, but found out that it was a Jewish holiday, and they were closed, which was a shame. We got to see the outside though, which is impressive on its own. Next we went and saw a film about the wall. There were some interesting stories about escapes, and it was free to see, so it was worth it :) After, we went to Madame Tussauds, which opened in 2008. It is strange walking into a room full of people, then finding out it is actually empty. We went into the Reichstag (German Parliament) next. The glass dome is really amazing. It provides light to the parliament floor with an array of mirrors, and also has a heat exchange system – stale air leaves the building through a huge cone in the centre, heating air to be used elsewhere. It is definitely worth the wait to get in. From there we walked home, stopping at a bar on the river for drinks. Berlin is an amazing city. It feels very new, and everything seems to be happening now. There are no estblished norms – it feels like it is still a young city, even though it has been there for almost 1000 years.

Today we got the train to Munich, a clean, new looking Austrian train (a very welcome change). We got to our hotel, but had to wait a while before checking in. Once we had that out of our way, we headed off to Oktoberfest :) It is hard to describe. Most people there are wearing traditional costume, There are rides in the background, and there are huge, massive tents, bursting with people who are somewhere between tipsy and obliterated. After wandering around for a while, looking in tents (which were all full, as it was late in the afternoon). We eventually found some space on a table with a group of tourists, and settled in for the night. We had a lot of steins, which was good fun, then went back to the hotel.

September 22 – Day 70

We decided to do a city tour, which took us to a lot of the important sites in Munich. We got off at the palace, and had a look around there at the gardens before heading back in to the centre of town. We explored a bit more on foot, and eventually stumbled upon the Hofbrauhaus, where we stopped for a drink. After another beer over the road at Augustiner, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go out to dinner with a family friend. She took us to an Asian restaurant a little bit out of town, which was a welcome change from the heavy meals we have been eating recently. Her daughter and grandchildren also came, which was nice. Simone and I both had a great night :)

September 23 – Day 71

We decided to do a trip to Dachau for the morning, and went on a tour, which I recommend. We had a great guide who showed us everything we needed to see. It is a haunting place, however much of what is there is reconstructed. Seeing the crematorium and the gas chamber (which was aparently never used) was disturbing. After the tour, we met up with our friend for an afternoon with her. We headed south from Munich on the highway, heading towards the Alps. It didn’t take long to reach them, as we were doing about 170km/h on the highway – not the autobahn! The police obviously have bigger things to worry about than a huge Merc flying down the road, piloted by a grandmother! Our destination was Tegernsee, a beautiful town on the edge of a lake (or it may be the name of the lake itself – I’m not sure). We drove up a hill to a restaurant called Freihaus, which had a wonderfull view over the town and lake, with mountains in the background. We had a late lunch and drinks in the sun. Next we headed back towards Munich, stopping at our friend’s house in Grunwald (a beautiful village outside Munich). After seeing her house and the area she lives in, we went back into town, had a few drinks at a pub near the town hall, and headed back to the hotel.

September 24 – Day 72

For our last day in Munich, We went to Oktoberfest. We got there at around midday, and stayed well into the night. I drank a lot of steins. We moved around a bit, chatting with people as we went. It is an amazing festival, but my wallet took a huge hit. This isn’t difficult when a stein is 8.60 Euro, and they go down so easily. One thing I hadn’t realised is that Oktoberfest beer is brewed to a higher alcohol than standard – around 6%. I think that means that every stein has around 4-5 standard drinks (by Australian standards). Oktoberfest is amazing.