Christmas in Germany, part 2
On the morning of Friday, December 28th the family took a train from Nuremberg to Aachen, an old German town near the border of Belgium. We didn't stay there for long though. My great uncle Fritz was waiting for us at the station with his two sons, Fritzi and Mark. They drove us to Fritz's place, only a few kilometers from Aachen - but actually in Belgium.
There we met Mark's two children and his wife. Olga, Mark's wife, is from Belarus and has lived in both France and Belgium. Olga speaks Russian to the kids, and Mark uses German. Growing up in Brussels, their children also learn both Dutch and French (the northern half of Belgium speaks a Dutch dialect, the southern portion French; Brussels is a mix). So Mark and Olga's kids - five and three years old - can speak four languages fluently! I am still jealous If only I could have learned like that at a young age. Now it is hard to even pick up one more language!
We had dinner at Fritz and Renate's (his wife) house. Afterwards Fritz showed me and my sisters photos of us that my mom had sent him over the years. He is a bit photo obsessed; he collects old cameras and has a room in his basement full of photo albums. He managed to fill two full albums from a three week trip he took to India and Nepal. The family pics were fun to look at but I don't know if we even have that many of us back home!
My parents and sisters stayed at a hotel in Aachen, but I spent the night at Fritz's house. The following morning we met up at the train station for a ride to Dusseldorf (another umlaut needed on the u). There we met more relatives for lunch. More bread and lunch meat of course. Following a short visit we headed on to a small town called Ennepetal, within the Rhur region. The Ruhr area is an amalgamation of many cities and towns in the historic coal and industrial region of Western Germany. Some of them include Dusseldorf, Hamm, Essen, and Dortmund.
In Ennepetal we met yet more relatives, and guess what we ate? Nope, actually not bread and meat this time. It wasn't mealtime, but we still had cake and pie, also regular features at our family occasions in Germany.
That evening we caught a train to Berlin. It was so packed that we couldn't get seats and had to stand! We had Eurorail passes, which allow you to hop on any train, but don't guarantee you seats. It hadn't been a problem before, but of course for one of the longest rides we were stuck without seats. Four hours later we were glad to be finished with the ride upon arrival in Berlin. My mom had booked a place in Charlottenbourg, a ritzy area of former West Berlin.
Of all the cities in Germany, Berlin is my favorite. No other in the country, and for that matter not many in the world, can boast a history like Berlin. Over the past 140 years Berlin has been the center of the unification of Germany, rapid industrialization and growth into a world class city in the late 19th / early 20th century, the fall of the Germany monarchy and Weimer Republic, capital of Hitler's Europe, division between East and West during the Cold War, and reunification of Germany after the fall of the wall. A lot to take in during three nights! We didn't see everything, but at least got a feel for the place.
Some photos from Berlin:
Our family did quite a bit of walking around central Berlin, including Alexander Platz and Unter den Linden. We toured the National Gallery (an art museum), East side gallery of the Berlin wall, and took a short trip to Potsdam. On New Year's Eve we got as close as we could to the Brandenburg Gate, the center of the countdown party. We were still far from the stage - we had to watch on a big screen. The crowds were so large that it would have been impossible to squeeze our way to the center. Luckily they had restaurants and bars set up for over a kilometer along the main avenue for all of the party-goers.
Also, Berliners - and Germans in general - love their fireworks on New Year's Eve. People were shooting them off at random all over the town. Lots of alcohol and fireworks seem like a bad combination, but that didn't deter many from participating. If you had just listened to the sounds of the streets you may have guessed it was a war zone, not a party.
On the first of January, too early for my taste, we took a train out of Berlin. Christine and I were headed to her dorm in Wurzburg, and my parents and Anna were off to Munich. My parents left the next day, and I followed on the 3rd, albeit not to the same place - I was headed back to Manila! Overall it was great to see my family and be in Germany, but I am also pumped for the Southeast Asian adventure to start up again!
There we met Mark's two children and his wife. Olga, Mark's wife, is from Belarus and has lived in both France and Belgium. Olga speaks Russian to the kids, and Mark uses German. Growing up in Brussels, their children also learn both Dutch and French (the northern half of Belgium speaks a Dutch dialect, the southern portion French; Brussels is a mix). So Mark and Olga's kids - five and three years old - can speak four languages fluently! I am still jealous If only I could have learned like that at a young age. Now it is hard to even pick up one more language!
We had dinner at Fritz and Renate's (his wife) house. Afterwards Fritz showed me and my sisters photos of us that my mom had sent him over the years. He is a bit photo obsessed; he collects old cameras and has a room in his basement full of photo albums. He managed to fill two full albums from a three week trip he took to India and Nepal. The family pics were fun to look at but I don't know if we even have that many of us back home!
My parents and sisters stayed at a hotel in Aachen, but I spent the night at Fritz's house. The following morning we met up at the train station for a ride to Dusseldorf (another umlaut needed on the u). There we met more relatives for lunch. More bread and lunch meat of course. Following a short visit we headed on to a small town called Ennepetal, within the Rhur region. The Ruhr area is an amalgamation of many cities and towns in the historic coal and industrial region of Western Germany. Some of them include Dusseldorf, Hamm, Essen, and Dortmund.
In Ennepetal we met yet more relatives, and guess what we ate? Nope, actually not bread and meat this time. It wasn't mealtime, but we still had cake and pie, also regular features at our family occasions in Germany.
That evening we caught a train to Berlin. It was so packed that we couldn't get seats and had to stand! We had Eurorail passes, which allow you to hop on any train, but don't guarantee you seats. It hadn't been a problem before, but of course for one of the longest rides we were stuck without seats. Four hours later we were glad to be finished with the ride upon arrival in Berlin. My mom had booked a place in Charlottenbourg, a ritzy area of former West Berlin.
Of all the cities in Germany, Berlin is my favorite. No other in the country, and for that matter not many in the world, can boast a history like Berlin. Over the past 140 years Berlin has been the center of the unification of Germany, rapid industrialization and growth into a world class city in the late 19th / early 20th century, the fall of the Germany monarchy and Weimer Republic, capital of Hitler's Europe, division between East and West during the Cold War, and reunification of Germany after the fall of the wall. A lot to take in during three nights! We didn't see everything, but at least got a feel for the place.
Some photos from Berlin:
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| The old East Berlin TV tower |
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| The national gallery museum |
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| Brandenburg Gate |
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| The East Side Gallery, the largest remaining section of the Berlin Wall |
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| "The Kiss" |
Our family did quite a bit of walking around central Berlin, including Alexander Platz and Unter den Linden. We toured the National Gallery (an art museum), East side gallery of the Berlin wall, and took a short trip to Potsdam. On New Year's Eve we got as close as we could to the Brandenburg Gate, the center of the countdown party. We were still far from the stage - we had to watch on a big screen. The crowds were so large that it would have been impossible to squeeze our way to the center. Luckily they had restaurants and bars set up for over a kilometer along the main avenue for all of the party-goers.
Also, Berliners - and Germans in general - love their fireworks on New Year's Eve. People were shooting them off at random all over the town. Lots of alcohol and fireworks seem like a bad combination, but that didn't deter many from participating. If you had just listened to the sounds of the streets you may have guessed it was a war zone, not a party.
On the first of January, too early for my taste, we took a train out of Berlin. Christine and I were headed to her dorm in Wurzburg, and my parents and Anna were off to Munich. My parents left the next day, and I followed on the 3rd, albeit not to the same place - I was headed back to Manila! Overall it was great to see my family and be in Germany, but I am also pumped for the Southeast Asian adventure to start up again!
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