The German radventure started in Dusseldorf and was kicked off with sharing our train carriage with boom box carrying and partying Germans (a common theme throughout the country). The first night we scoffed down the local dishes of Schnitzel and accidentally ordered Blood Sausage (best described as interesting) and our body weight in potatoes, at a suburban pub.
Scott's Birthday was celebrated with the too rare sleep in and then a beautiful wander around the old town. Sara created a treasure photo hunt and Scott reluctantly had to have his photo taken with a stiener, pretzel, bratwurst, ice-cream and much more in his hand. Luckily not all at once.
By the river in Dusseldorf on Scotty's birthday
Treasure hunt - pretzel photo
The next day entailed a day trip to the town of Cologne, the main highlights were the heavy metal gothic gathering around the local gothic Cathedral and the Lindt Chocolate Museum, it is hard to say which was more interesting.
A quick train down to Frankfurt on a public holiday meant the city was very quiet and we made the most of the sunshine wandering and relaxing around the river which cuts through the city. We also snuck in a taste of the German delicacy, pork knuckle, which was delicious!
More strolling by the river, this time in Frankfurt
We continued our train hopping around Germany and travelled north to the city of Hamburg. The Maritime Museum taught us all there is to know about this grand port city and sea-bound history. Many of the old warehouses have been transformed into chic modern galleries. Being a port city, it was coupled with a red light district which rivals Amsterdam; it includes a street which is off limits for women and men under 18. No city is complete without a sample of it's cuisine, so we had to chow down a few currywursts. Thumbs up from us.
Sara enjoying one of many bratwursts!
Next was Berlin. Wow. It is the perfect combination of history, culture and mystery. So many people had told us how cool Berlin is and they were dead right. The amount of things to do in this city really means you need to live here for at least a few months, but we valiantly tried to fit as much as we could into 4 days. The stops included the open air Berlin Wall Memorial, Jewish Museum, a full city walking tour, Topograhy of Terror, another chunk of the wall, the coolest market (you'll see our cool clothes on our return), Brandenburger Gate, Hitler's Bunker, Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and the Bookburning Memorial. Through this time Scott got entranced by all the incredible street art and we made a trip to the Eastside Gallery on the largest section of the Wall. Mid way through all the fun, in Berlin, we were met by Sara's bro, David, and enjoyed many a refreshing beers as we explored this incredible city with a new radventurer.
The Berlin Wall
The Holocaust Memorial
One leg in the East and the other in the West
One of the many great buildings in Berlin
The Brandenburg Gate
Berlin street art
Making own art in Berlin
A few hardcore punks in Berlin
Oh dear - just imagine the fun Sara is having!!
After a hiatus through some Eastern countries we re-entered Germany and enjoyed the flavours of Munich (barley, yeast, hops - aka Beer!). Before we hit the Beer Gardens, we saw a few sights on another lovely walking tour. The Glockenspeil twirling display lived up to it's poor reputation as the most dissapointing tourist attraction in Europe. We continued our WW2 history studies, and retraced Hitler's steps in his failed the Beer Hall Putsch. However, the highlight had to be the relaxing Beer Gardens and Beer Halls. David relived his 18th birthday at Hofbrauhaus by trying to drink 8 liters of beer (he was terribly unsuccessful as he only made it to somewhere between 4 & 5 liters). We blended in with the locals as we nibbled on bratwurst and some of the biggest pretzels in the sunshine of numerous gardens. A great finale to Germany. Brostch.
Sibling love in the Beer Garden
Fiancee love in the Beer Hall
David's love in the Hofbrauhaus
Another European country ticked off the list and we have now passed the half way point of the trip. Start counting down... we will be home soon!
Scotty, Sara (and Dave)
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