Travel the world with Carrie and Jonathan! » Germany

Carrie’s Current countries visited

carrie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:32:47 +0000

visited 15 states (6.66%)
Create your own visited map of The World
On our trip through Central America, I got to add 6 countries to my map of visited countries. It’s too bad not all of them have a stamp representation in my passport.
I’ve actually been to more countries that this, but I didn’t spend the night, so they don’t count. I’ve been to France numerous times when I lived in Germany, and I also drove through Austria. They’ll be added to the list sometime soon through.

Merry Christmas

strive4impact — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:24:23 +0000

We want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!
We got back home to Colorado late on the 23rd, and are spending today with Jonathan’s side of the family. We’ll go to Pueblo tomorrow to spend the day with Carrie’s side of the family.
All the best to you and your family this Christmas Day, 2008.

Carrie and Jonathan at the Nymphenburg Castle, the “summer” castle (because, you know.. everyone needs a summer castle AND a winter castle) of the Wittelsbach family 1700-1914.

Dachau: I saw Dachau today

strive4impact — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:47:36 +0000

I saw Dachau today.
The name of the place, Dachau, brings shivers, or tears, or pain, or hope, to those who know what happened there.

When you go to Dachau, you might want to take someone with you who will hold your hand. I felt like a little kid at times, and it’s helpful to have someone standing by your side in a place where such dark things happened. I was honored and so appreciative of Carrie, standing by me, holding my hand.

Congratulations and thanks must go to the Germany of today, and to the survivors of these terrible places. Their courage, and their strength, allowed them to face this truth, so that others (like me) could experience and face these harsh realities of humanity even 75 years later.

A concentration camp memorial isn’t something you want to do.

But I’m convinced after today that it’s something every human should see with their own eyes, hear with their own ears, feel with their own hands, and tread lightly upon under their own feet.

Something terrible happened here.

What these people did to these other people
And the system that allowed…
No, encouraged…
No, trained those in the first…

So terrible.
So sad.
And so many.

So, so, so many.

If we could mine all the wealth
Of the human potential
That was lost in those years
On ALL sides
Imagine what a fuller, richer world we would have.

And yet, it is the destruction… not the potential
(A fact that yet again and still is so difficult to come to terms with) (2001 – 1) (2001 – 2)
The destruction is what led to the future I now get to live in.

Today.

This single today, when I bought:

An Italian Panini and
An Indian Chai at
An American coffee shop

In the marketplace that once was at the crux, the hauptpunkt, of the Third Reich…

And I walked from there to a tour of Dachau with men and women from:
Australia
Ireland
South Africa
Spain.

And the tour was led by someone from Canada

And after the tour, listening to a German organist play in a church,
Completely rebuilt,
Restored from what was 60% destroyed during World War II.

And later…

Eating middle eastern falafel
at a restaurant owned by a man from Turkey.

Finishing off the evening walking, and on just one block, passing:

A Japanese sushi bar
A Chinese restaurant
A Mediterranean café
A Thai Restaurant and Bar and a
German bakery…

And then using a web-based tool created in England to have a crystal clear voice conversation, calling America, from Germany, for free. (Skype)

It all gives me so much hope
Hope that we really can, and are, evolving
As individuals, and as a species

That even though atrocities continue today…
That even though we have so much to work on and improve…

I have the hope, and the belief, with this day as proof, that it is possible for us to learn from our past…
And to use that past to become the people and society we can and should become.

It is possible.

Today has been overwhelming, and I’m kaputt.

But despite this, I know, without a doubt, that a peaceful and harmonious future for humans is possible.

The question I am left with is; will we choose this future? Each of us?

This future won’t be found in some rally, or gathering, or in a political or religious agenda.

Will we choose harmony and brotherhood (in its real sense) every day, in the things we say and do, to and for ourselves and others?

I hope to see a day where that is global reality.

I have now lived a day where I’ve seen the depths of human depravity, and in the same day seen the beauty of human collaboration, and although it’s not perfect, and it is difficult, today became an example of what can become of us in an amazing and powerful human experience.

And it doesn’t have to be at some undetermined point in the future.

We can have it now.

The only question we must answer, each of us, for ourselves, is: will I choose to experience this harmony today?

When we can all answer yes, then the future we dream of will be now.

——————

Click on any of the placemarks in the map below to view my pictures of Dachau.

Nighttime On The Roofs Of Munich

carrie — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:45:03 +0000

One of the best things about having friends all over the place, and staying with them when we travel, is that we inevitably meet some of their friends and contacts.

Here in Munich, we are staying at our friend Anne’s place, while she is in New Zealand. (The free place to stay in Munich and the cheap airfare that Carrie found are actually what brought us here this time.) Her apartment is in an exceptionally great location (thank-you again Anne!) and we’ll be posting our guide to Munich in map form (thanks to Google maps) very shortly.

As I was saying though, we get to meet our friends’ friends and contacts, and here in Munich we’ve met Gero, Anne’s boyfriend, and Christoph, Anne’s roommate. Christoph works not far (at all) from here, working with the Boston Consulting Group.

Tonight, he was nice enough to take us over to the Munich office for the Boston Consulting Group (which is literally a 1 minute walk door to door), and he took us up to the roof of the building. We got a REALLY great nighttime view of Munich.

In this picture, you can see (off to the right and in the distance) the (new) restoration of the towers of the Frauenkirche (the church of our Lady) that was partially destroyed during the bombing of World War II. It has been faithfully recreated, with some modern enhancements as well. (We actually went to church here at the noon service today. It’s a Catholic church, as are most churches in Southern Germany, but despite Jonathan’s Catholic upbringing, we had a hard time following along as we couldn’t find any of the mass parts in the little hymnal we got.) The Frauenkirche is the tallest building in Munich and will remain so due to a bylaw that doesn’t allow any buildings to be taller than it, which really makes for a beautiful scene for nighttime shots.

Here is us with Christoph.

We’re so grateful for the opportunity to travel and meet fun people and to share these awesome experiences through the power of the Internet.

(Thanks again Christoph for taking us to the roof of your office!)

1 Euro Museum Entrances

strive4impact — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:13:50 +0000

On Sundays, the Pinakothek museums in Munich offer reduced admission. Only 1 Euro. Jonathan and I decided to take advantage of this today, since they were only a few minutes walk from where we’re staying.
We visited the Glyptothek Museum first (the museum that holds Greek and Roman Sculpture).
The building housing the Glyptothek is part of a squre that served as a favorite rally point for the 3rd Reich. They even put marble over all the grass so that they could march better. There was a challenge with this though. You’ll find out in our video (coming soon).
Unfortuantely, during WWII, the buiding (and the art inside it) were destroyed. So, all the sculptures that had been taken from ancient Greece and ancient Rome were demolished. It took over 30 years for art historians, sculpturists, and volunteers to put everything back together again. Needless to say, some of the pieces didn’t make it. But some of them did. It was pretty amazing to look around at the sculptures and see pictures of what they looked like before the bombing. Some of them looked drastically different, and some of them looked exactly the same.

From here we went over to the Alte Pinakothek. The Alte Pinakothek was also bombed during WWII. However, only a section was permanently damaged. The sides of the buiding are still original, even though the middle had to be rebuilt. This is the museum that is home to paintings. It houses over 800 paintings. Jonathan and I only had a little over an hour before they closed, so we only got through about half.
They definnitely make use of all their space in the Alte Pinakothek. Paintings are hung nearly to the ceiling, and even the hallways have been converted into galleries.

It was really cool to see some of the world’s most famous paintings. I got to see the self portrait of Albrecht Duerer (the leading German artist of the Renaissance). Albrecht Duerer is also famous for being one of the first artists to sign his name to his work. Before him, work was done for (and therefore owned by) the church. In Duerer’s earlier work, his signature (usually AD) is difficult to find. But it becomes more defined as time goes on.
If you ever find yourself in Munich, definitely take the time, and save the money by going on a Sunday, and visit the Pinakothek museums. You’ll be walking right through history.

Sankt Nikolaus Tag (Saint Nicholas Day)

strive4impact — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:05:54 +0000

The tradition of Saint Nicholas Day, usually on the 6th of December, is a festival for children in many countries in Europe related to surviving legends of the saint, and particularly his reputation as a bringer of gifts.
In Germany, many children put a shoe outside the front door on the night of December 5th to December 6th. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch in their boots instead.

Keeping with tradition, Jonathan and I set our shoes outside on Sankt Nikolaus Tag. It appears that we were both very good so far this year.
Lebkuchen and chocolate for Carrie, and beer for Jonathan. Mmmmm.

Berlin: KaDeWe and Currywurst

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:11:28 +0000

Our last full day in Berlin (and our last full day outside of the US on our honeymoon), we went shopping at KaDeWe (kah – day – vay), not really to shop, but just to see one of the most famous department stores in Germany. It’s kind of like going to Macy’s in New York.
KaDeWe was setting up for the Christmas season, and it looked like it was really going to be a nice display.

It may not sound all that exciting, but it was a really nice end to our honeymoon to just have a quiet day to hang out in Berlin, and we ended the day at Berlin’s most famous place for Currywurst, which is actually a hole in the wall. It seems that no matter where we go, or what city we’re in, some of the best food in the world is in the least fancy restaurants. (We’ve also discovered that it’s also in the most fancy restaurants… it’s just usually different kinds of food.)
From Berlin, we flew the next day to Houston, where Brian and Jamie live. It was great to get to spend a few days visiting with them on the end of our honeymoon.

Berlin Tourism: New Berlin Tour Review And HotelQ Review

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:00:49 +0000

we walked from our hotel and went to see some sites closest to our hotel.
We saw a church which (as most buildings in Germany) was all but completely destroyed during the bombing which took place during World War Two. They left the entrance to the church as a memorial, and built a new church on the site, which has walls made up of mosaic blue glass, and has an absolutely amazing organ.
We also took the New Europe tour of Berlin. While our tour guide in Berlin wasn’t as fun as Matt (the guide for our tour of Munich), he was incredibly knowledgeable.

We learned about much of the history of Berlin, which was really interesting, as well as why no buildings around the Brandenburg Gate are allowed to be taller than the gate.
The Brandenburg Gate was also built as a symbol of peace and freedom, but the statue on top was modified several times (in wars with France) depending on what the current political state of Germany was at the time.
We saw what’s left of where the Berlin wall used to stand, Checkpoint Charlie (what was the most famous checkpoint between East and West Berlin), and a lot of the historical sites from Germany’s history, including the activities of the height and downfall of Nazi Germany.
And actually, doing the tours the way we did (Munich first), we got a history, in order, of Hitler’s rise to power, rule, and eventual suicide, which happened at a bunker in Berlin.
Where the bunker was is now paved over (and filled) with concrete, and is a parking lot. There’s a small sign next to the parking lot marking what was there. However, fearing that the death site of Hitler could become a pilgrimage site for Neo-Nazis, it was decided that the site should simply be filled with concrete, so there’s really not much to see there.
Nearby to the parking lot/old bunker is Germany’s official memorial to World War Two. I could tell you Carrie’s and my experience there, and our thoughts about it, but I think it would be better to encourage you to go and experience it for yourself. It’s really a place you should experience for yourself.
While we were in Berlin, we stayed in an ultra-modern, trendy, and chic place called Hotel Q (Warning to American visitors, link may display artistic nudity). While it was fun to stay there, it was a little on the pricey side (as are all hotels in Berlin – or most big cities), and even though we were right in the middle of Berlin, we don’t know that we would stay at Hotel Q again. Although it was very comfortable, it was just a little too “chic” and “ultra-cool” for our tastes.

Munich to Berlin: Traveling by Train In Germany

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:57:34 +0000

We were rather sad to leave Mara, Anja (ahn-yuh), and Anne (ahn-uh) in the morning at the train station in Munich. But we wanted to get to see some of Berlin on our honeymoon, and we wanted to end our honeymoon just the two of us, so we left from our awesome time in Munich and said goodbye.

We rode the train all day – about a 7 hour trip from Munich to Berlin.
If you haven’t ridden in the nice car on a fast train going through Europe, it’s an experience you simply must have. In the U.S., our commuter trains just aren’t the same, and having not (yet) traveled on an Amtrak train, I can’t compare that to what we experienced on the German rail.
It was such a smooth, quiet ride, and easy to read a book the whole time, or just lean the chair back and close the eyes for a little. We had also brought lunch along from the pizza we had the previous evening, so we were able to pull that out and grab a nice bite to eat while watching the German countryside.
We arrived at the train station in Berlin (which is a nice, cool, modern (and multi-level – don’t ask me how that works with big heavy trains) train station), and took a taxi to our hotel.
I’ll tell more about the hotel tomorrow.

What’s Up with The Beer Glasses? Munich Tourism: BMW Experience, The HofbrauHaus, and a Jolly Good Time

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 06:52:31 +0000

Carrie, Mara, Anna, and I wandered through the city of Munich, visiting an old (rebuilt) church, and an awesome lunch at a restaurant called (I’ve forgotten the name, but hopefully Carrie remembers).
We hope that this restaurant will find it’s way to Colorado soon.
Later on in the day, we went to the BMW experience.
It was fun to go and see, but to be honest, it felt really hypey. The displays were cool, and it was neat to see the BMW’s, but wandering around admiring swatches of leather and 9 different kinds of chrome plating wasn’t all that exciting. Perhaps there was a guided tour we could have taken that would have made the BMW experience more interesting, but we didn’t, and it wasn’t all that exciting. We think you really can do the whole thing in about 20 minutes.

We also saw the swimming pools and the place that was used for the Munich Olympics of 1972.
It was pretty neat to see, and since it was cool outside, the air inside the heated indoor pool area was both warm and humid, which was nice.
Afterwards, we went to a pizza/Italian place (called Vapiano, Carrie remembered the name of this one) where you order pizza or pasta at a counter cafeteria style, they give you a buzzer, and you get your drink (which in Germany is usually beer-sometimes wine), and then when your pasta/pizza is ready, you go and pick it up at the counter. (I had a funny conversation with the guy who took my order – and I don’t remember all of the details of the conversation, but it’s funny that in my head, the parts of the conversation that I do remember are stored in my brain as being in English. It’s time to get back to speaking more German.)
From there, we went to the HofbrauHaus (because when you’re in Munich, you really must drink “ein Mass” which is a liter of beer, and Jonathan prefered a Radler which is basically a mix of a light beer and sprite.
It’s a great drink. And we had what you might refer to as a “jolly good time.”
(Pictures not to be used as evidence for any future appearances.)