Berlin, Germany

First, a little background story:

In February I was supposed to spend a long weekend in Istanbul. I was so excited to explore the markets, the Haga Sophia, and buy some turkish delight (my favorite)! Unfortunately the tourist-targeted bombings in January lead us to cancel our trip. I was really bummed. It makes me sad to think that there is all this violence in our world, and I wanted to believe that the odds of it impacting me were minute. So I said that we should just go anyway, but my friend insisted that we do the safe thing, and in hindsight I'm grateful we did.  The day before we would have left, another bomb went off in their capitol, and a few weeks later there was a suicide bombing less than 1 kilometer away from where our Airbnb we had rented was. 

So instead we booked a trip to Berlin, which really wasn't a bad consolation prize. 

It was a little cold in February, but I had an awesome time! Berlin is not quite picturesque like some other German cities, so much of it was destroyed during WWII. But it has great museums, food, and so much history! I definitely recommend it. I was really only there for about 2 days, but I saw so much of the city and had a great time, so it was worth it! 

The Brandenburg Gate ^^  a symbol of Berlin's freedom and peace. One of the most iconic landmarks in Berlin, it was built in 1791 and survived both the World Wars. The gate is near the Berlin Wall and thus was prohibited from being accessed between 1961 and 1989, which is why it is now, especially, considered a symbol of freedom and unity. 

^^ Travel buddy & roomie for 3 years! s/o to Marina! 

This is also the sight of Regan's famous 'Tear Down this Wall' speech and to the left of the gate (out of the picture) is the US embassy which recently was in hot water for hosting NSA officials who were tapping Angela Merkel and other top German official's phone calls. Oops.  

I only included this photo because our tour guide told us that this the Hotel where Michael Jackson held his child over the balcony (if anyone remember that incident?), who knew it was a sight-seeing destination! I guess I can say I've seen that now! 

Love these little 'Trabi" cars that you'd see all over Berlin! They were produced by East Germany.

World War relics 

This photo (^^)  doesn't look like much, but beneath this unassuming gravel soil is the bunker where Hitler committed suicide. It caved in and the German people decided to leave it as a kind of unmarked grave, there is only one small sign that let's you know it isn't just an empty lot. 

The checkpoint between East and West Berlin that got pretty heated at times! 

^^ This is me making fun of Marina for never smiling in photos of us together! Ha, who's laughing now! 

Candid at the Berlin Wall ^^ 

Berlin Wall artwork!! 

My favorite Berlin Wall mural!! "My God Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love." I looked up the story behind it too. I thought it was supposed to be an ironic painting, but it is based on a real photograph (!) Apparently in the communist party there is such a thing as "the fraternal kiss" and if you want to show that you're 'really' brotherly than you kiss and the leaders of the Soviet Union and East Germany pictured here in 1979 were celebrating their close alliance at a communist party event. Ten years before the Berlin wall came down. 

That avocado toast was insanely delicious! It had some kind of infused olive oil on it that was to die for. We ending up going to this coffee shop for breakfast every day we were there! 

I loved the little crossing sign guy! It's one of the few unique East German things to have survived the fall of the Iron Curtain. 

We spent an afternoon at the Pergamon Museum and it was honestly one of the coolest museums I've ever been to! I think that the Germans and British must have a real monopoly on Near Eastern Antiquities and Islamic Art, I've never seen exhibits like this in the US!  

The highlight was definitely the Gates of Ishtar that were one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and marked the entrance to Babylon! I still am in disbelief that they actually excavated these and restored them! It's amazing! The gate was under renovation when we were there, but you could still mostly see it! 

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (^^) 

The spy museum! (^^) In the museum I also saw the Turing Machine and the Engima machine, both featured in The Imitation Game, a great Benedict Cumberbatch movie!

A female femme fatale spy ^^ 

Wall of Poisons in the Spy Museum ^^ This is me when Marina tells me to do my best 'serious' face.. I'm really bad at 'not smiling' on demand. 

And that's it for Berlin! It was a short, but sweet weekend adventure! 

I've got lots more to catch you up on this semester! Hopefully I'll get to that soon! 

xx Jess 

Munich, Germany

Coming back from Iceland we flew into Munich and then while the rest of the group took a bus + train ride back to Lugano, I decided to stay in Munich for the weekend and meet up with my adopted aunt! It was one of the best decisions I have made all semester! I was exhausted from academic travel, but I was not ready to go back to Lugano and face my mountain of research papers, so it was really great to put that all out of my mind and just be with family for a few days! 

this whole main square looked like a disney movie set. so pretty! 

Basically this (^^) was me every meal.. My Munich diet mainly consisted of: soft pretzels, sausages, apple schorle (like sparkling apple juice), and sauerkraut. Breakfast, lunch and dinner! I loved it! [Plus a really yummy thai food dinner one night] The picture above is from a biergarten, but we also ate dinner one night at the famous Hofbräuhaus where bavarian beer originated. 

oh and this (^^) was one of the more unexpected sights of our trip! My aunt had seen a youtube video of it, but all we knew was that it was in the English Gardens (which are the Munich equivalent of Central Park) a very large area! Eventually, after walking for 40min, we found it! It basically is an area of the river that surges over these cement posts, forming a very strong current and a consistently surfable wave (like a wave rider, if you've ever been on one of those) it is pretty dangerous, so advanced surfers only. But it was mesmerizing to watch, I think we stood there for at least a half hour. 

T H E   R E S I D E N Z 

The former home of Bavarian royalty, now the Residenz is a giant museum! We were there for hours, but it was such a cool place that I didn't mind. I especially loved this fountain because I had never seen anything like it before, it is entirely made out of shells. So cool! 

Julius Cesar or He-who-must-not-be-named? you decide.

This staircase leads to my favorite part of the museum, which I unfortunately don't have a photo of. Basically there was a large chapel attached to the Residenz, but it was completely destroyed in the second world war. Instead of trying to recreate it, they decided to make it a very open, light and modern space that now hosts orchestral concerts. I love looking at the old baroque architecture, but I am a total sucker for clean, minimalist, industrial design. 

M A R I E N P L A T Z 

This central square in Munich was so pretty and always teeming with people bustling about their business. It was enroute to our hotel, so we tended to walk by it multiple times a day. A highlight was when the Glockenspiel at the New City Hall (below) turned on and I watched the little figures dance and joust. 

This trip will always be remembered for the shoes! I almost never go shopping while I am in europe, just because I'd rather spend the money on traveling, but due to an unfortunate series of events I only had 1 pair of closed toed shoes that weren't hiking boots.. So I decided I needed one more to get me through the last 6 weeks of school! And somehow I ended up taking home 3 pairs of shoes! I swear there were shoes shops on every corner, I have never seen so many options! Thanks to my aunt Anna for enabling my brief shoe shopping addiction! 

Not to mention how much this city enabled my love giant soft pretzels. 

#deutschlandisthebestland

xx

Heidelberg, Germany

I know this post is WAY overdue, but indulge me for a minute here. I was organizing my photo library and am feeling sentimental. Plus, Heidelberg is my 2nd favorite European city and absolutely deserves its own blog post (even if I am 10months late)! So this is just the inevitable result of photo editing on a Tuesday night. Accept it. And welcome to my first experience in Deutschland. October 2012, a perfect weekend + perfect way to wrap up two weeks of travel. 

Snippets & tidbits: a building in the main town of Heidelberg, a best friend, heiße Schokolade, a view of Heidelberg, the cathedral in Speyer, and the architecture within the Heidelberg castle. 

The first "snow" of the season & my favorite HEIDELBERG photo 

(it actually was a runner up in a photography contest at my university!) 

The story behind the trip: my first semester academic travel last year {posts here here here and here} ended in Strasbourg, France, right on the German/French border.  That, coupled with my desire to visit the German side of the family sometime during my freshmen year, presented me with the perfect opportunity to do a mini trip to Germany! My friend Mackenzie and I diverged from our academic travel group in Strasbourg, met up with my German family and the four of us had the best time exploring Heidelberg + the surrounding region. Sadly, it was only for the weekend and over much too soon. It truly was an incredible trip. Autumn foliage + beautiful architecture + yummy food + rich history. Heidelberg easily was declared my favorite city of Fall 2012. 

After spending a day touring Heidelberg, we drove through the countryside ⇡ to reach SPEYER

Confession time:  I totally had this misconception that Germany was ultra industrialized and synonymous with dark/gothic architecture. I don't know exactly what I expected to see, but certainly not rows and rows of colorful/historic buildings.. Germany definitely proved me wrong! But in the best possible way. I love how beautiful and bright the two cities we visited were. 

And last, but not least, this post would be incomplete without a special thanks to our incredible hosts Anna + Peter!! They were so kind to have us in their home for the weekend and play tour guide for us around Heidelberg + Speyer. The highlights of the weekend definitely involved having fondue with them for dinner one evening, Peter's frequent ice cream stops (despite it being freezing outside), plus just feeling the love of a family when ours were so far away. The weekend may have been short but Heidelberg will always hold a special place in my heart! 

Thanks for following along and allowing me a trip down memory lane.. Stay tuned because next week is the start of a 10 day adventure across France/Switzerland/Italy! I can hardly wait!  

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