Deutschland Journal

Germany, or as the locals call it, Deutschland, has been in the top five of my little ‘to-go’ list. Known for its castles, great beer, rich culture and advanced technologies, Germany is naturally the perfect choice to start at for anyone who is interested in touring Europe.

Having heard so much about Germany before the trip, I was really excited to embark on this journey with 10 of my other friends and one teacher. Our first stop in Germany was to Munich and what a long flight it was! The stopover at Dubai definitely added on to the total flight time.

Upon reaching Munich, my initial thought was that it was a lot colder than what I had expected it to be, especially since it was already mid-April by the time we were there. We quickly dropped our bags at the Meininger Hostel located near Hackerbrücker and went off to Marienplatz, one of the city’s largest shopping areas.

Before I start, can I just mention that the Meininger Hostel was actually really good for the price that we paid and to top it off, it was really youth friendly and located at such a sweet spot. I would definitely stay at one of their hostels again.

So Marienplatz was just like any other busy shopping street, filled with high fashion brands and street brands spanning across what felt like a few football fields long. But what I really liked about this place were the buskers that filled the street. There were so many of them that brought their own instruments into the centre of Marienplatz and just perform for the passer bys. It’s things like this that makes Singapore a little less interesting when compared to such countries with an immense culture.

During our stay in Munich, we also visited the BMW Welt as well as the manufacturing plant of theirs right smack in the middle of Munich. This was really an eye-opener for me seeing how they were able to produce so many cars every single day in the confined space that they have. Each level, produced something different or pieced different things together, and how they placed the different robots so closely together yet, still being able to produce world-class quality cars that BMW is famous for. It really is a feat to be able to work with that.

And as the saying goes, what is a visit to Bavaria without a trip to the beer halls? The most visited beer hall in Munich would probably be Hofbräuhaus since it is the most famous of beer halls and true to its fame, it was such a delight to be sitting in such a grand hall with a live band playing. Contrary to what some of us had expected, the beer hall was filled with joyous people instead of drunkards and everyone was really having fun in there. The atmosphere and the fact that a lady could carry five one-litre glasses in one hand is definitely something that will be etched to my mind for a long time to come.

Being so close to Salzburg, our group also made a short day-trip there! Salzburg, a little different to Munich has a much richer culture and the architecture that surrounded us was just so European! A church stood in the middle of what I would like to believe is the city centre, and the interior of this church was so detailed and decorated it made me really inspired.

After a pretty tiring day in Salzburg, all of us headed to Zugspitze which is a ski area and also the peak of Germany. It was freezing up there but all was good when we started skiing and sledging. The weather was awesome initially but started to get a bit snowy just before we left. Had a small accident while sledging but it was all in good fun.

Füssen was our next stop the day after to see the very famous Neuschwanstein which is said to have inspired the design of the Disney Castle. It was a fun trip up and having been to a number of castles myself, I must say that this is one of the craziest castles I have ever seen! The exterior of the castle looks like any other you would find and so were the first few rooms we visited, albeit furnished with elaborate touches and details, but what really fascinated me was the fact that there was a man-made cave right in the middle of this structure. Well, it just proves they did not call him the crazy king for nothing.

This was also where we found one of the best Currywurst mit Pommes Frites in Germany, probably due to the extreme hunger that we were experiencing, but that really was the best.

About four days in Munich and we were off to Stuttgart where our first stop was the Porsche Museum. I was never too interested in cars to begin with but this museum was something special, it made me appreciate the finer details in cars and how success is never to be taken for granted. Our tour guide was extra engaging in our entire tour and that made me more intrigued about the humble beginnings of a now world renowned car brand.

On top of that, we also made a brief stop at Metzingen for some shopping and this was what we got.

Never too much. ;)

Something that was exciting, for me at least, as well, was that we had chinese takeaway! Isn’t it ironic how in Asian countries, takeaways never look like that of how they package it in the Western countries but still get famous for that.

Another day-trip that we had on our trip was to Strasbourg in France. I believe the initial plan was to sit in for a talk at the EU Parliament but unfortunately, it was closed on the day we visited. Oh well!

After our day in Strasbourg, we proceeded up north to Cologne.

Don’t remember doing too much in Cologne since we were there more because it was nearer to the university that we were to visit in Mannheim. The visit to the university was something I was also looking forward to, seeing how I am always fascinated with living in a foreign country and learning isn’t forsaken. Thankfully, there were two NP students who are doing their internship there, so we were given the opportunity to explore how life is like in a rural town and what they were doing whilst on internship.

It really was quite the eye-opener for myself since what they were doing is completely different from the diploma we are pursuing and of course, you might be good in your field but never let that balloon your head for there are better people out there.

Now, supposedly, we were to head for another visit to a university in Lemgo, however, while on our way there, a friend of mine realised that she left her bag in the hostel at Cologne! This means that she had to travel all the way back to retrieve the bag. I volunteered to accompany her back to Cologne and we assured the teacher that we would be fine and would meet them directly in Berlin instead.

After recovering her bag, we managed to take a direct train to Berlin and arrived a few hours before the rest were slated to and so, we toured Berlin by foot on our own for a little.

We managed to make our way to the Berlin Wall which was nothing but disappointment. I think the both of us expected the Berlin Wall to be so much longer and really a blockade between west and east Berlin but alas, it was not.

The chilling night soon set into the skies of Berlin and this made me ponder about how Berlin is not really what it seems, it has such a dark history to every train station, every road and every sign you see. Sure, it has since become a cosmopolitan, urban city but the dark past that still haunts the city sends chills down my spine even as I write this.

Even so, we wanted more, we wanted to see more of Berlin and the best way to discover a city is by a bicycle! We rented bicycles from the hotel and rode around Berlin the entire day.

Throughout the day, we cycled into the city area and got a peek at the burnt towers, we cycled in a park and stopped by a random cafe for some light refreshments.

We also managed to find our way through the darkness towards the Berlin tower by dusk.

And us in our Berlin t-shirts, taken en route Berlin to Munich.

All in all, this trip has been nothing short of amazing and even though there were ups and downs as in everything else in life, the majority of it was a very positive feeling. If such a trip were to occur again, I would definitely not think twice in signing up since what I have learnt from here is so much more than anything anyone could ever learn within the constraints of a classroom.