Nach Berlin mit Liebe

Hanging out with Marx and Engels! 

In June I finally had some relief from German bureaucracy. Since May I had been working to get all the documents for a German visa - not for myself, but for my boyfriend, Deb. Because I was inviting him, and I wasn't a German citizen, everything was more complicated - but nevertheless, I found myself waiting at the airport for his arrival. :-)

It being his first time abroad, everything was exciting - even my small town of Marburg!  But to be honest, we started sight-seeing two days later, in Berlin.

Berlin is like any other big city - at least, what I imagine big cities to look like. But it definitely has it's own quirks - the Ampelmännchen traffic lights, the retro subways, sometimes with wood-paneled interior, and hidden monuments. Seeing all of Berlin in two days is impossible, but we certainly saw a lot!

Our first full day in Berlin, we walked from 9:00 in the morning until 12:00 at night. We ventured into all the main sites - the Brandenburg Tor, Museum Insel, Checkpoint Charlie, the East Side Gallery, Podtzdammer Platz. As we traveled from the middle of the city to Kreuzberg, the hub for multicultural cuisine and indie shops (and my favorite district of Berlin), performers jumped from subway car to subway car playing music. This was much more enjoyable than the cursing drunkardette picking fights on our way back to our hotel, located in Moabit.

A gorgeous mosque in Kreuzberg,  located in-between a
Mexican and Korean Restaurant.

Both Moabit and Kreuzberg turned out to be where Deb and I enjoyed ourselves the most. While in Berlin, we both contracted a cold. The next day, after walking from Moabit to Charlottenburg - which is exhausting, and visited the flea-market on 17th June Street, we made a quick stop in Kreuzberg. As we began walking in Kreuzberg, it began to rain heavily, and we took shelter next to a Korean restaurant. Deb and I had hoped to try some Korean barbecue, but without a reservation, we would have had to sit "yoga style", and both of us were too exhausted for that!

So we ended up back in Moabit - which is a beautiful area, and I wish we would have seen more of it! After freshening up and walking around, we settled for a small Indian restaurant, where Deb taught me how to eat biryani, rogan josh, and naan properly. More than tasty, the food was delicious! A hot one, at that! The next day our colds had nearly vanished - and then we were off to Marburg again.

Sculpture of Shiva, from Marburg's
Religious Collection

Although I enjoyed our time in Berlin, we had a ton of fun in Marburg. We visited Elizabeth's Church, dedicated to Elizabeth of Hungary who became a cult figure in the middle ages. The Marburg Castle was not nearly as interesting, as it has been modernized and turned in a museum for fairytales - with some folk galleries. They are working on the bottom of the castle, I think to show off a preserved version of the castle. Regardless, Deb and I both enjoyed observing the artwork, the religious icons and the armor and weaponry exhibits.

It was on our way to the castle that we stumbled upon the university's religious collections, which at the time were closed. So on Monday we returned, and ended up being the only ones interested in seeing the artifacts, taken or bought by Rudolf Otto. So we had a kind of private showing that encompassed nearly all mainstream religion - Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhism and so forth. Deb was able to contribute more to the Hindu and Buddhism descriptions - not all of which were authentic or correct on his account. And when we found an image from a Bollywood movie in the Islamic exhibit, we couldn't help but laugh!

Eventually, though, Deb did have to return to India. And although I missed him the moment he left - and I miss him now, my upcoming exams didn't give me much time to do anything but study!

Meine Lieblingsstädte in Deutschland

Lion's Castle in Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel

I know, it's been a while! As you might have expected, life goes fast when you're abroad - especially when you're studying and traveling. There will be a few more of these posts before I leave Germany, since I have a lot to catch up on!

It's been a while, but in May I visited Kassel - a city one hour north of Marburg, and home to the Brother's Grimm. Yes, the Brother's Grimm stayed in Marburg, too, but only to study law. The Grimm Museum, conveniently in the house the Grimm brothers grew up in, has two parts - the storybook exhibit (at least for right now), and an exhibit about the Grimm family. It's a fun side trip - the best part was looking at the various versions of the Grimm fairytales, and how they were adapted for different languages and cultures. The other amusing thing - seeing old paintings of Marburg in the exhibition.

A view of Heidelberg and the Neckar River from the castle.

Although I love storytelling and fairytales, I enjoyed seeing the Bergpark the second time I visited Kassel. The Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, or "Mountain Park Wilhelmshöhe", is a vast slope of green-space, with numerous monuments - the most well-known being the Hercules monument. It takes more than a day to see them all (and I wasn't able to), although my personal favorites were the Lion's Castle and the Roman Aqueduct. 

Visiting this park will be one of my fondest memories in Germany for several reasons - going was inexpensive, there were no lines to wait in, the scenery was gorgeous, and overall, it was a nice, relaxed outing (even if climbing the Hercules monument was difficult).

It wasn't long until another trip was planned - this time, to Heidelberg. I had been to Heidelberg before in 2008, and I was eager to visit it again. I actually visited it twice - once with some friends, and once with my boyfriend (which deserves a whole blogpost on its own). 

Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg lies on the Neckar river, and the castle, seemingly carved into the side of a mountain has survived since the 1100s. Although it lies in semi-ruin, it has been an important figure in the history of the 30 years war and in the rise of nazism. On a lighter note - it contains the largest wine barrel in the world. And depending on your tour guide, you will either get intense narratives of the political role of the castle, or romantic shorts about Elector Palatine Frederick V and his wife, Elizabeth Stuart. Every tour guide, however, will mention the commodes above your head, or the "vomiting pit", used by guests so that they could be polite and stuff their face all evening at parties. 

These two places in Hessen are also my favorite overall in Germany - although I have a lot to say next time about Berlin!