Berlin and Prague

Europe is Expensive… 

Putting your coats away in a cloak room is compulsory at indoor functions, but they shove a price tag on their service. You want to eat in a restaurant rather than take away? That’s extra. Want some strawberries on your ice cream? That’ll cost as much as your ice cream. Although water itself is free when taken from the bathroom tap before leaving your dorm, paying to empty it out however, is not…. I’m sure I’ve probably used about 5 euro on toilets already which could have bought me- well actually that wouldn’t have bought me much at all!

That is my rant, now here is my adoration of these amazing places.

After Amsterdam, Berlin was my next port of call and you could say I was just a little bit overexcited about this destination full of history and other goodness. If I had visited this city before I started my year 12 history I would have surely aced every assignment that had to do with Hitler and the Nazis! What I LOVE about Berlin is that everywhere you walk there is a story attached to it. There are a lot of buildings that have bullet holes in them since the late 40s, early 50s when the soviets took over, and there are still bits of the wall sticking up in places, not to mention the countless plaques and monuments commemorating families, of mainly Jewish origin, who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and then the Soviets.

The Berlin wall of course was a highlight although there was hardly any of it left, for obvious reasons. There is one section that is around 1.2 km long and it is called the East Side Gallery which is sectioned off into different panels that various artists were enlisted to paint in whichever way they desired. This section of the wall was originally intended to be knocked down, and the art just a temporary exhibition, but they have now decided to keep it there which I think is a great idea.

I must admit I didn’t know all that much about Berlin post Hitler days, so the wall and the history of it being put up was particularly exciting for me. I took a walking tour with a guide who knew everything about everything and was incredibly entertaining. The wall was 150 km long, all the way around West Berlin. From the time when the word was sent to start putting up barbed wire and its completion, just 6 hours passed. This meant that many people who worked in West Berlin, and lived in East Berlin (which was very common) were now trapped unable to get to work, or home.. Same if you had a child in hospital over in West Berlin (which had the best hospitals), while you went home to the East after visiting hours, as soon as the wire was erected you were trapped on the other side from your kid! Looking at photos from a birds eye view of Berlin during the 60s is very interesting, West Berlin is this tiny little patch of democracy, walled off by a very noticeable structure, surrounded by a sea of communism and the iron curtain! 

There are many crazy stories of people living in East Berlin who were desperate to get over the wall into the West. My personal favorites are of two families who together decided they wanted to get into west Berlin. So, one of them went over to the library and borrowed a book on hot air balloons. Naturally, these common people decided that they would attempt to make one themselves! Not only does this sound unbelievable in itself, but the fact that they gradually collected pieces of cloth only twice the side of a 50 cent coin, so as not to raise suspicions, and then sewed them together to  create the balloon part… crazy! Another is of a janitor who worked in the huge soviet office building that is located very close to the wall, only the most trusted soviet professionals could work here. Overlooking the janitor however, he was able to use ordinary fishing line and a homemade harness to glide over the wall, flying fox style one night with his daughter and wife over to the West! Such desperate and risky acts shows how bad life was in the East of Berlin during the 60s right up until the wall came down in 89!  

Anyway, I could go on forever about Berlin, but I did leave there after 4 days and set off to Prague. The countryside of Germany and Prague, while chuffing through it by train, is just spectacular. Everything in Europe seems to have the ability to look amazing from every angle, and the countryside is no exception to this!

 European women are also no exception to this rule, even in -6 degree weather! They manage to dress immaculately while still be practical…?! While I waddle around looking like a marshmallow all rugged up, they wear slim figure hugging coats, high heeled knee high boots, fur hats, look gorgeous AND stay warm! Have I mentioned they also have stilettos complete with snow grip so that they can still don them in this weather? Crazy. Yet, in saying this, the humble Ugg boot is probably the second most worn shoe here which to me is daggy aussie attire, but worn with a mini skirt, some tights and a short leather jacket with fur trimmings…they make it work..and yes the men also look gorgeous if you go for that metro sexual pompous gentleman look.

Prauge is a city that was particularly strange for me, because out of the places I have been so far, it is the most ex-communist feeling and actually reminded me a fair bit of growing up in ex soviet Kazakhstan. The language is also more like Russian, so it was sort of a flash back. 

What amazing architecture this city has to offer! All the little cobbled streets and alley ways are just fantastic fun to stroll around and get lost in. Prague was also the snowiest place I had been in Europe to date, it was cold at -8 one day, and very snowy. I had a surprise one night at the hostel when a ladies voice came over a loudspeaker I didn’t know existed, and announced that there was a fire and we needed to evacuate the building- Please don’t use the lifts. Well, this was all said in Czech, but before the English translation came over I had sort of got the point. So I got up, chucked on my jacket, grabbed my money belt with important stuff and quickly headed down the stairs to the reception area. When I got there nothing seemed unusual at all. In fact the only thing different about being in the lobby this time to all the other times I had been there, was the fact that my feet were feeling particularly cold…I was wearing FLIP FLOPS! If this had been a real emergency (which turns out, it wasn’t) then I’m pretty sure I would have lost my toes having to stand in the -10 degree night with nothing but a rubber strap for warmth.

I am spending all my food rations on a hot liquid diet at the moment, walking for 5-8 hours a day in this cold is amazingly fun but also very chilly…don’t worry mum, I’m managing to fill myself up on the lettuce and cheese sandwiches stolen from the breaky table most days. I suppose I could also add my laundry allowance to the food pot since I’m not doing any of that :P

Anyway, better get off money disappears even when you’re just sitting on the computer in Europe.

Love to you all!!

Lauren xox