We leave behind the relatively derelict East Germany to make our way towards the west - the same path travelled in generations past by thousands of people seeking a better life in the West. And like them, we are going to meet waiting friends on the other side of the iron curtain.
Only, of course, this time there's a high speed train taking us across the curtain. And that the curtain doesn't actually exist anymore.
A brief side-note: I said that Dresden and East Germany and East Europe is 'derelict', but I probably have to add in the fact that perhaps I'm making my comparisons to cities like London or Munich or even Singapore. Cities who either were not touched by the war, not burnt to the ground by it, or had the money to re-build after the war. As Colin from Prague said; we must not forget that for Eastern Europe, WWII only ended about 20 years ago.
Anyway we're on the way across Germany - its a five-hour trip and I have plenty of time to tell you, as promised, about Daniel Hach. And Christina, his fiance. Actually don't know her surname, my apologies.
Daniel is Lase's friend from Sydney, and by extension, Gobi's friend. The three of them knew each other from Sydney Uni. And how do I know him? When Daniel and Christina came to Singapore earlier this year, I showed them around. Well, Puva and I. Singapore was a short stop in their long trip to this part of the world, which included India and New Zealand. Currently, as I write this, incidentally these two countries are the least and most likely countries I would live in, respectively. After Singapore, of course.
They live in Mannheim. Or somewhere nearby. Considering the famed German Autobahn, I reckon no place is exactly too far. So we will be staying with them for a couple of days. Well with Daniel and his mum, actually.
So anyway we're reaching Mainz Station. Daniel told us to go to Mainz first, which is somewhere near Mannheim. I check the map, and find out that technically they're not even in the same state. Nearby though, and again; consider the famed German Autobahn, where there is no speed limit.
Mannheim and Mainz technically seem to be part of the 'outskirts' of the major city in the region, Frankfurt. In fact they're connected by Schnell-Bahn. So now we realise that our Europass covers S-Bahn. Which means we kinda wasted a bit of money somewhere someplace. Oh well.
When we reach the station (once more German Efficiency deems that we shall arive at 1500hrs on the dot) we see Daniel and Christina on the platform. German Efficiency once again. Which makes me feel a little bad considering the last time we met (back in Singapore) I was late. German Timing vs Indian Timing. Then again, considering that they had just come over from the Motherland (India) I reckon they would have expected me to come a little over 2 hours late. So probably they'd have been glad that I came only 15 min late.
Christina comments that she's seen me more often than most of her friends. Obviously, this startles me, but then, it makes sense because Germany is a huge country - and we (Eugene and I) live in a country which you can cross end to end faster than you can cross Greater London. And, not to mention, a country which is about as wired up as it could possibly be. Then again, I realise that I haven't exactly seen my old friends very often either, even given the puny nature of my country.
Anyway, we leave our luggage in Daniel's car and he puts a coupon. It comes to my attention now that Singaporeans' complaints about parking fines are unwarranted, as I hear about the standards of parking fines in Germany. Either that, or the German Minister for Parking Fines, on visiting the Singaporean Minister-for-Parking-Fines, got a few unwelcome ideas.
First on the agenda is Mainz city centre. Daniel and Christina have bought an apartment near where we are right now, but it's not ready so we won't be staying with them. We'll be staying instead with Daniel and his mum. Anyway, I also learn that Daniel and Christina are actually engaged - so they'll be getting married next June. Or sometime then. Wow. But then he is quite a fair bit older than us. Of course with the exception of the now 29 year old Henrik Larsson.
First on the stop in Mainz city centre is the Gutenberg Museum. And no photos are allowed in so we'll just take the one outside.
Why is there a Gutenberg Museum? Because Johannes Gutenberg, father of the printing press, and, not to forget, the man whose invention triggered the Protestant Reformation, was born in Mainz.Christina is not joining us for the Museum - she's got errands/shopping to do. Anyway, its a shame that I didn't bring my student pass - its in Daniel's car. So I pay the full adult price. Shame. But not too bad since we're not really in one of the major attractions of the world and even full adult price is not really substantial.
For a museum dedicated to one man's one invention, the Gutenberg Museum is surprisingly large. Perhaps due to the fact that this one invention has had such a large impact on the world. Perhaps the last two inventions before this that had such an impact were fire and the wheel. So think about it.
Anyway, the obvious repercurssion of Gutenberg's printing press, as mentioned above, was the Bible. So there's a whole room dedicated to the storage of Gutenberg Bibles. Which are old and light-sensitive so there is a very special dim room for them. And a very special anti-theft glass which alerts security whenever someone touches it. We know this because we touched it and got a scolding. In the room upstairs, the other effect of the printing press which is more obvious. Strangely enough, I hadn't considered this on entering the Museum. Newspapers. So there is this whole room on the effect of Newspapers, good and bad. How the MadMan known as Hitler used the Newspaper to control people etc etc.
Anyway, no more about Gutenberg Museum. And we're off to the Dom. Now, der Dom is the main cathedral in Mainz. Still don't know what denomination of course but Daniel says he used to go there sometimes. So at least we know that Daniel and der Dom share the same denomination. Oh. Holy water fonts. Okay, that makes it obvious, especially when Daniel dips his finger and crosses himself. Can't really make out where the altar is, such is the size of der Dom. By the way, "der Dom" means "the Cathedral" in German. And there is no large dome on top of it.
See?
Anyway, its just a little too early for dinner now; but I reckon that considering that the travelling party is relatively tired from all the travelling that we have been doing, we're quite okay with sitting for awhile and eating dinner. We have our dinner at some pizzeria - irony considering that even in Germany, we are having pizza. The taste, however, is distinctly different from the Italian version. Wonder what Jean would say.
We also try a new drink. If you recall, Gobi does not drink; and yet in that picture it might appear that there's a fizzing glass of German Bier in front of him. That is, in fact, sparkling water mixed with Apfelsaft (apple juice). Now, till today, I don't understand the European obsession with sparkling water. But its a huge thing here too.
Personally I can't stand the taste of carbonated un-flavoured water. But, in this case, the Apfelsaft makes the drink quite nice. Nothing compared to the traditional Mother of all Drinks in Germany to which it looks so much alike, though. Bier, if you didn't get that.
After dinner, its just a little too early to go home. I'd like to say here that I'm a sucker for natural beauty. Mountains especially. No, no mountains here in Mainz, unfortunately. But what we do have is the Rhine. Now, ten years ago, on my visit to Switzerland, I saw Rhinefalls. The significance of it being (one of) the largest waterfall(s) in Europe was lost on me then. The Rhine here, however was way way different. Peaceful, quiet. (If there was one thing I remembered about Rhinefalls was the deafening noise the water was making).
Anyway Mainz is a quiet town; the Rhine flows quietly, people walk or jog by quietly and we are probably the noisiest people around. Interesting event though, as we were basking in the glory of the Rhine - someone quite near to where we were sitting was on the brink of being indecently exposed. And before you get your hopes up, it was not even the type of somebody to which you want to see indecently exposed. So most of us force our heads in the other direction, fighting against the glare of the setting sun. Oh well.
It is still worth chilling by the side of the River Rhine for awhile longer; mainly because it really is relaxing and we really are lazy. However, of course, all good things come to and end and we have to go back eventually.
Daniel Hach lives in a village (Gau-Bickelheim) a short while away from Mainz. Well, I reckon distance wise, it is quite far, but time wise, well, now we shall introduce the concept of the famed German Autobahn.
Enough said.
So once more I have a little time (very little time) to tell you a little more on Daniel Hach's visit to Singapore. Trust me, its relevant. Daniel worked on a project during University on smart fridges. Ones that could take advantage of fluctuating power supply from wind power so as to better conserve energy. Back in Singapore, of course, wind power is unheard of. Mainly because with the exception of the shore and certain places sparsely distributed around the island, wind has mythical status i.e. practically non-existent. So to us, the concept of wind power is absurd.
So to see wind turbines like those below on the way to Daniel's house is a completely new thing. I wonder how immensely huge those things are. I mean, considering the speed that the car is going at; and then consider that the picture is quite clear; hence the turbine must be quite far away. That makes it huge.
Anyway, as I said I have a very short time to explain this - we're at Gau-Bickelheim. Daniel gives us the whole basement since the house, despite being relatively huge, is just shared between Daniel and his mum. We don't see his mum, though, I think she's inside somewhere. I reckon that's enough to show how big the house is. Definitely the best hotel insofar. And that's even if I ignore the fact that we aren't exactly paying for it. We must get them some presents from Singapore when we get back.
You know, the view from Daniel's house (above) makes us wonder why on Earth for all that is good did he ever think of moving out. It is a vineyard down the road; and Daniel says we can just go down there. I see the hills, and recall my obsession with mountains; and coupled to my obsession with sunset; I want to see sunset from the mountain top. Really wonder how that would look.
Of course, it turns out that that hill was too tall to climb before sunset so we settle for sunset from somewhere near the middle of that hill.
A bit of bad news though, by the time we reach home; Eugene has a temperature. Apparently the searing heat had an effect on him. Gobi's not feeling too well either. I'm still spiffy but I'm absolutely sure that its a matter of days before my immune system falls. I'm very familiar with this phenomenon - its called the immune lag. Matter of time.
Anyway, Eugene being Eugene does his laundry again in Daniel's house. Once more, I just contribute one or two sets of clothing; and this is considering that I still have spare to lend Eugene as he has run out of clothes. Somehow.
Scene 25 - 14th July (Baden-Württemberg)
Before I go on any further, let me explain a little bit what those words in the brackets mean. First, if anyone reading does not know that I'm in West Germany now, well, I'm in West Germany now. Big question is perhaps where in West Germany we are. If we recall a little, we arrived in the city of Mainz, which is in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz. Gau-Bickelheim, too, is in Rheinland-Pfalz. At least that is my understanding. Rheinland-Pfalz is borderd by the River Rhine, which we walked down the other day. So you can say that yesterday we crossed the state boundary a couple of times and travelled between Rheinland-Pfalz and Hesse (where Frankfurt is).
Today, we're travelling further south from Gau-Bickelheim. And in doing so cross state boundaries once more. This time to Baden-Württemberg. Hence, the bracketed word.
Mind you, I actually have to research and look at the map properly before I tell you these things; because on the German Autobahn, you probably could cross state boundaries without putting too much thought in it. And that's kind of what has been happening so far.
ANYWAY,
on this trip south I shall tell you that Daniel attended the University of Mannheim; and hence we'll be visiting that later. However, the first thing on the agenda is Heidelburg Castle. Now, let me tell you here that this is the greatest piece of news (and purely coincidental, I think) because Prague Castle was a scam of a medieval castle. I wanted a real castle ala Chillon. One that was in ruins. So, Daniel telling me that we're going to visit a medieval castle really made my day.
And, this time, the castle didn't disappoint. A true medieval castle with a history. One where the slaves will be put into a place and natural fertiliser from the castle's occupants dropped on them. Apparently these slaves/prisoners made quite a fair bit selling this fertiliser. The first true entrepreneurs cum marketing geniuses. Royal Poo. True story.
You see, had we been there a couple of hundred years earlier, we'd actually be standing in deep sh*t. Literally.
Thank God for Indian Timing.
There's a story in this castle regarding a footprint of a man who, in an attempt to escape from the castle, apparently jumped from a window on one of the upper floors, landed on the lower floor on one foot, left a large footprint in the ground, and sprung from the lower floor towards the city at the bottom of the castle. Being engineers, we came up with all possible explanations as to why that story is impossible, including the brittle fracture of bone on contact with the floor.
Of course, considering the fall from the castle to the village at the bottom, I don't think calcium hyroxyapatite's brittle nature comes into play at all.
~*~
Anyway, after Heidelburg Castle, we make our way to Mannheim University and Mannheim city centre in general. Now I'm honestly wondering why I didn't put Germany as one of my choices for exchange.
And once again, we have fun in the classroom, just like in Imperial.
Anyway, the next item on Daniel's itinerary (btw he's super organised) is a swim. Now, none of the travelling party has swimming trunks, and though Daniel offers to lend us some, nobody is in a real mood to go swimming. Besides Eugene is sick, so ultimately we decide on going home earlier.
~*~
Today Daniel's mum is sitting on the porch. She doesn't speak English. And irony of all ironies, the one of us who first starts trying to talk to her (in German) is Gobi. Not Ben, who has 3 years of German studying under his belt. Not Lase, who has 8 years. But Gobi.
Anyway, that leads me to start trying to talk to Frau Hach. Since I can say that at least I ought to know more German than Gobi. Obviously, in German that is as terribly fractured as the leg of the guy who tries to jump four floors from Heidelburg Castle and land on one foot, I talk to her for awhile.
Soon the conversation goes to the weather. But its not because she's very bored; its because the weather has become terribly scary. It starts to rain, and she asks if that happens in Singapore a lot.
Well.
Jeden Tag I say. (Everyday).
However, the severity of the storm is kind of scary. Makes me reconsider saying Jeden Tag.. Considering that it was scorchingly hot for the past few days; so much so that I think they tried cloud seeding, I think nature heard their call. And answered. Very loudly.
I honestly thought the house was going to be ripped up by a twister that would spontaneously generate. To say that tables and chairs were flying, however, would not be an exaggeration. I don't understand how they are sitting outside with the flying chairs and tables. I'm happy hiding in the basement with sick Eugene. I heard that was the one place that wouldn't go flying off in a twister.
Anyway, by the time the storm blows over, I'm looking kind of silly, thankfully only to myself since I'm the only one who knows that I pictured the house being blown away. Well, until you read this. More importantly, however, its late enough for most dinner places to be closed.
Now, perhaps I have a clearer picture of one of the downsides of living in a village the size of Gau-Bickelheim. In the end we have pizza delivered; so for the second consecutive dinner with Daniel Hach, we have pizza.
~*~
I feel terrible now, because I've discovered that our indecision had caused Daniel to be forced to change his plans. Worse still, apparently, dinner was supposed to include Christina. So, now, as it turns out, we won't be seeing Christina at all. Not for a very long time at least. Oh well. No more indecision, then.
Scene 26 - 15th July (Rhine)
The Rhine is a river that originates in the Swiss alps and passes through West Germany, as mentioned earlier, before draining into the North Sea in Holland. Now I must bring up a point I neglected to bring up previously, since we mentioned Holland. If anyone were to have been following our trip, the original plan in Europe did not involve Mannheim or Gau Bickelheim or Mainz, but Amsterdam. Of course, considering the fact that we were mirroring the Eurotrip of the four teens in the Eurotrip movie, AND considering the fact that it seems that the general consensus seems to suggest that no Eurotrip will be complete without a visit to the Sex and Drugs capital of the world, it seems odd that we would do this.
It had come to our attention, somewhere in Paris, that Amsterdam was highly overrated and expensive. Also, given Eugene's sheer paranoia of the HIV virus, it also didn't seem logical. By the way, paranoia is probably the nicest thing I can say about it; and even then, I concede that the word is an understatement. And we haven't even mentioned Gobi's repulsion towards all things immoral - we'll come to this later. Anyway, I reckon I'll choose visiting friends any day over seeing the erm - windmills - of Amsterdam. And by 'windmills' you know what I mean.
Anyway, back to the Rhine. I get distracted easily.
Where was I..?
Oh yes, this area of the Rhine was deemed a World Heritage Site. What's that? Erm...
So we get onto the River Cruise. For some absurd reason, this boad is inundated with Asian people. From poor disillusioned Eugene's motherland. Of course, Henrik Larsson is in danger of missing the beautiful sights outside the boat if he's too distracted by the beautiful sights inside the boat.
Our plan is to take the cruise up for about 3 hours; then take a train back down to Mainz and then off to Berlin. You'd think that we'd get bored sitting on a river cruise for 3 hours; but, while I can't say that for my fellow Eurotrippers, I wasn't bored.
To me, taking a peaceful relaxing trip down a river that is not the Singapore river, viewing beautiful scenery on either bank of this river, is probably the ultimate end to our experience in West Germany. I think Gobi and Eugene are enjoying the boat ride - me and lase (all asian chick jokes aside) are enjoying the scenery outside the boat.
A picture tells a thousand words; so there a couple of thousand words in those pictures. To me, those couple of thousand words tell the story of why this place is indeed a world heritage site. AND here I have to thank Daniel for this - its amazing that he found the two things that we had not managed to see or do during our Eurotrip - the boat cruise and the castle..
Three hours fly by and soon its time to get off the train. The train station, however, where we get off, is well, desolate. It doesn't seem that the train is coming any time soon; but apparently upon checking with the schedule on the station, there is one coming in erm.. oops. now.
We rush up to the platform just as the S-bahn comes to a stop - Lase is down below with Gobi trying to buy the tickets. We had brought up the bags to the platform; but we don't dare board the train lest it leaves, splitting our group in half.
They're done with the ticket purchasing, run up, and we rush into the train! Yes!
And, just as it has to be... we wait another 3 minutes before the train finally departs from the station. Hmmm...
*
Prelude to Act 10 - Berlin, 15 July.
IF anyone were to take a look on the map of the world, or just a map of Germany, for that matter; they would probably see that Berlin is back in East Germany. This has Historical significance
The significance to us, though, is that this ride across to Berlin is pretty long; and by the time we reach there, it is dinner time.
Now, here I'll tell you that we are staying at the Meininger Hotel Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Anyone following this blog might recall that this means "Main Train Station". So, for once, we have ABSOLUTELY no trouble finding this hostel - its right next to the Hauptbahnhof, where we got off the train.
Oh, by the way, I observed something interesting just now. When we were on that high-speed train, as we entered Berlin city centre, it slowed down dramatically. Its almost as if it was going to stop; that's how slow we felt it was going. And at that point, I realised that it was in fact zooming past ordinary Metro trains on adjacent tracks. I say this to emphasise the speed at which these high-speed trains travel - so fast that even when they slow down dramatically they still zip by the ordinary city trains. I reckon we were still travelling at about 80kmph. Which, if you think about it, is a drastic slow-down from 300kmph.
Anyway, one thing about arriving in Berlin and then living next to the rail station is that its not exactly near the hip-and-happening places. So we ask the Meininger clerk to help point us to some place to eat. He obliges, and we go to walk down to the region where he indicated on the map.
My life gets slightly (only slightly) interesting here. As we walk by the restaurants down the street - these restaurants are still slightly pricey - we notice that (according to Gobi) the restaurants seem to have an interesting marketing strategy by having girls parade themselves in very strange outfits outside each restaurant.
Obviously, while I'm not actually kidding when I say that Gobi had thought it was a marketing strategy, we soon realise that they're not really too interested in promoting the restaurant they were standing outside - but moreso just standing there. Walking the street.
Its about this time that Eugene seemed to realise what they were and took painstaking efforts to plan his walking path to maximise the distance from them. In the event that maximising distance didn't work, he didn't hesitate to increase his 'distance' from them by adding a buffer (i.e. one of us) between him and them to further protect himself. Remember I said paranoia?
If anything, I found watching him and them interesting. I was actually quite curious as to see how this concept of prostitution worked. Never actually observed it. Obviously I'm careful not to appear overly interested in them i.e. give anyone the wrong impression. But for academic curiousity...
Anyway, I don't think its the time of the night where their business starts to pick up.
Can't say much about dinner, apart from the fact that it is probably the most affordable thing there is in this region of Berlin. Probably Berlin, being a capital city, is more expensive. Oh well.
But the hotel receptionist was not lying. This is the happening place of Berlin. Even if you consider what I now called Whore-Strasse.
We walk back up Whore-Strasse (I don't know how we actually managed to convince Eugene - apparently we're very convincing) and I get to see more activity. (i.e. the people I named the street after are finally getting business.. IT turns out they operate like this. People actually go up to them and ask them for their rates, and they tell. Then there is actually bargaining and negotiating, and finally if they agree upon a fee, they disappear around the corner.
Obviously, I do not observe past this point because that's crossing the boundary into voyeurism, out of academic interest. In any case, I don't really have much intention to see what's going on around that corner. Besides, in the dark, this place looks about ten times as dodgy as it looked in the light.
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