Thursday, March 27, 2008

SPRING BREAK 2008: GERMANY AND AMSTERDAM


Well Hello…It has been a rough 6 days as I have earned my membership in the “Jetsetters Club”; traveling through 5 cities in less than 6 days!! So much to share, Where do I Began...I guess I will just take it from the top. So on Friday March 21, 2008 I departed for Frankfurt, Germany via Ryan Air through Pisa; a small city about an hour outside of Florence. At the airport my travel companions and I purchased unnecessary bus tickets to Hanau, Germany from Frankfurt Hahn Airport under the influence of a German man who worked for the bus company and guaranteed us that we would be able to get a train ticket from Frankfurt to Berlin for at least 50 EURO because we were students…WHAT LIES!!! We finally get to Frankfurt feeling good because it all seems like a piece of cake. Take the bus to Hanau and then get a ticket to Berlin…SWEET. We walk out of the airport and its a fucking snow storm. Spring Break in the snow, I am disappointed but I knew the weather was going to be bad. I came prepared, you know I checked the weather; had to coordinate my looks. My other friends had cloth shoes and flats without socks...OUCH! Anyways I am like whatever and head to the bus. The bus driver was Italian and he told us that the bus did stop in Hanau, so I am like cool; we are good! while in route the bus stops on the highway and pulls over, the driver lets some people out on the high way, apparently a little baby ( from the Italian family that I would meet up with later in my travels) had to use the bathroom…LOL…We had no idea what was going on. this is the first of many irrational things to come. Finally after what felt like 20 hours of sitting we reached the deserted Hanau train station, and to our surprise it was closed (WTF). So it’s like 8 at night (because the bus ride from the Airport to the train station located in the middle of nowhere took like two hours) and we are freakin’ out because we can’t figure out what do. In Germany (in specifically Hanau) no one spoke English and the station was closed, I mean creepy closed like deserted.
By this time my fat ass (LOL) is starving and so were the girls; but we still wanted to feel relaxed, so our main focus was on purchasing train tickets. It was my turn to try again, so I asked a group of young adults(I am not sure where they were headed, but it was pretty late and they obviously has a destination), that I noticed spoke English, thanks to my ultimate eavesdropping skills; they were really nice and they tried to help us use the machines but to no avail, they basically told us to find a hostel because there were no more trains. After the trail and era I was done and was ready to eat. Lucky for us there was a little German fast food spot open right next to the station. We all were determined to have Frankfurters in Frankfurt, which was until I read the menu and could not figure out the difference between a bratwurst, snitchel, and anything else. So I opted for nuggets and fries instead. I figured go with what you know GLAM, you still have to make it to Berlin and there is no bathroom (with my standards) in site. So we decided that if we ate maybe that would help us figure out our ticket situation and hopefulkly give us more energy. We get our food and find shelter in the little restaurant, I forget the name of it but the guys that worked there were from Turkey and they were super nice. Besides freakin’ out about transportation from Frankfurt to Berlin, which I hated by now and was completely done with Germany; I was happy to be eating since it had been like 12 hours since I had a meal. Thank GOD there was also that Italian family in the restaurant who had taken the same route as us from Italy, however they knew what they were doing and where not stranded in the station. I asked the father (of the family) what German beer to purchase and where we could purchase rickets to Berlin (all in Italian of course). He told me Berliner (beer) was good as did the man who owned the shop, but after being tricked out of 8 euro I was determined to get a second opinion; so I purchased a few bottles for the road (dude I was stressed out). I had to buy my ticket and that wa the end of end it, I needed a beer or two calm my nerves. To make matters worse on my way out I see some mice right outside the food spot which freaked me out even more!

While some of us ate and watched the bags two other girls figured out how to purchase tickets from the electronic machines...(YES!!!) with our credit cards, but instead of 50 EUROS it turned out to be 97 EUROs… (You can close you moth now…tell me that’s not insane, using all my DAMN Amsterdam money). So we are all like what are we going to do we have a flight from Berlin to Amsterdam on Sunday and a Hostel to get to in Berlin, we have no choice but to purchase these tickets. We get our tickets and figure that we are good because we have enough time to relax a bit and let our food digest until our long ASS ride(over 3 hours) to Berlin. We head back to the deserted tracks in Hanau station, but to our surprise (once again….this trip was full of surprises) the long awaited train never arrives. So here we are 5 American girls stuck in Hanau with no answers, 97 EURO tickets, beer, full bellies, and luggage. What mad it even worse was that couldn't communicate with anyone, although one of the girls packed a European phrase book, we never used it(our German was horrible). That’s all we had (besides each other). Suddenly a train finally appears out of now where( I literally mean no where, this place was ghost town), by this time it’s like a mirage to us; everything is a blur; I mean we were pumped about heading to Berlin and then Amsterdam, but tired of not having solid plans. So we ask the conductor if that train was headed to Berlin and he gave us the look of death, it feels like everyone did that night, apparently Berlin and Frankfurt were not as close as we thought. He told us know and that he couldn’t help us, after he pretending not to understand English. He didn't really care about what we were asking. (Oh Germany)
So we were back to square one; still in the station with tickets to a non existing train. By this time it was after the train departure which was at about 10:38 pm. It’s going on 11:45 and we were still in Bloody Hanau! Finally I get tired of asking people, and another girl (who was traveling with me) steps up and asks someone to help us. I stay with her while two other girls do the same thing with another dude. Long story short we come to the conclusion that we have to take a train BACK TO FRANKFURT. By know I pissed, why the hell did we purchase those bus tickets to HANAU? We were informed that due to construction the train was cancelled, although it was available for purchase online, and at the electronic ticket booth. WTF, Communication is obviously not top priority in Germany. We had to take the train on track 4 to the BAHN which would get us to the main Station in Frankfurt, then connect to an overnight train to Berlin. OK finally some direction. We find the train and hop on, excited that we have a plan, we meet two army dudes one who was a native of Germany and an American stationed in Germany. They were headed in our direction and tried to help us figure it all out. While they were headed to the club we were headed to Berlin (P.S they also gave us that all too familiar look when we told them that we were headed to Berlin). We had to make it to the station by 1:00am because that’s when the overnight train was scheduled to depart.
Just when we thought everything was cool. They conductor comes to our car and asks for our tickets, we all show him our 97 EURO tickets from Hanau to Berlin and he is like this is not for Frankfurt....why are we on his train? He was so rude to us, we show him our itinerary and even one of the dudes who spoke German tried to explain our dilemma to him, but he demanded another 40 EURO from us as a penalty for boarding the train without a ticket. By then I was done, I told him I didn’t have it and that it’s not our fault the train never showed( we all told him, but then he said he only wants one person to speak at a time). After making a mockery of us he said” You are lucky that it’s Easter Sunday” and he walked off laughing. Shit my Ass was not about to pay another 40 EURO. Boy was I over Germany!
So, finally we arrive at a Frankfurt Station (again…the entire trip to Hanau station was B.S). This station was a little bigger and defiantly was not as creepy as the one in Hanau. I lead the pack to the information desk, after we say goodbye to the two guys who helped us make it there. The woman behind the desk was super rude; she was rolling her eyes and saying OMG under her breath (BITCH!!). You know I had to calm down because we needed her help, although all she did was tell us that we had to pay more to get on the overnight train because we had no reservations, and that she didn’t know how much because she has a car. Please remind me why she worked for information then? We meet a group of three cool looking German dudes (one had a lip piercing, which was a popular piercing among others in Germany). They happened to speak English and told us that we had to take the subway to Frankfurt Central Station, where we could catch that 1:00 am overnight train to Berlin. In conversation they gave us the same look that everyone else had given us when we told them of our journey to Berlin. We told the guys about our rude encounter with information and they said that they would go back and ask them for help. It’s all too funny now, but at the time I was like where is this Berlin? Ok so the train was leaving in 12 minutes and we had just enough time to purchase train tickets from that station to Frankfurt Central Station in order to get the train to Berlin Central Station, get a bottle opener for our remaining beers, and some candy for the ride. I left with 200 euro and buy this time which was less than 24 hours I was almost down 100 (not to mention the 97 EURO ticket I purchased via my debit card). Whatever, you only live once...right? We make it to the station with time to kill…YES!!! That is until we find out that we have to pay a fee for not having reservations and can only board the train if there is a compartment available for us. Where are all silently wondering how much is the fee, and praying that we can get on and out of the frigged German night, which happened to be just as equally cold has the authoritative figures that we came across. While I am trying to stay warm, crossing my fingers, and praying the train pulls up and two of the girls meets a man who speaks English and has agreed to talk to the conductor for us. We get on the first section (apparently the back end of the train was head to another part of Germany…Thank GOD for that bit of info or else that would have been another story) We find out that we have to drop another 10 euro each to get on the train and we are finally headed to Berlin, which we were scheduled to arrive in at about 8:30 am on Saturday, March 22, 2008.
Next Stop Berlin Central Station!!! We finally arrive and it’s all good
! Our previous day is embedded in our memories, but we choose to dwell on our futures in Amsterdam, (by then we are like FUCK Germany). Thanks to me the only one out of 5 people who printed out our entire travel itinerary and wrote down every street name we were able to go and purchase bus tickets in the right direction. Towards Grunberger Strasse; the street in which out Hostel, named Odyssee Globe Trotter Hotel was located. Due to a language barrier we almost purchased tickets to Nunberger Strasse, but I knew something didn’t sound right so I showed the woman the name and she finally got us on track(10 points for Glam). We had our bus tickets for another 2.30 EURO and found out that the 240 bus left every 20 minutes so we had time to stop and eat (YES!) That’s when I and two other girls were introduced to chili cheese poppers at Burger King. Normally I never go near BK, but it was like 9 am and not one place in the entire station served breakfast. I still don’t know what an officially German breakfast is; even the sushi spots were open and fish and chip stands...Go figure. To my amusement they even had a Starbucks in the station (but imagine me paying 5 EURO for a damned latte). So, I got poppers from BK, and a Tuna wrap from a stand with an name that reminded me of the word Obstetrician...LOL, Oh yeah and a pretzel, and some German pastry for the road. Baby Cokes were 2.30 euro and I was not about to pay for that, and then have to use to bathroom for another .80 EURO (public bathrooms or WC’s as they like to call them were not free). I figured I can hold out until the Hostel. And got a small coke fountain Coke from BK.
In a matter of a day and a half our 5 group tour had divided into two groups. One of the girls brought a friend from home along, and let’s just say she was not a person who I or the other two girls liked to be around. They (the girl who brought her friend along and her socially awkward friend) were going at it the entire time in BK and I we didn’t want drama. I mean the girl was insane, besides making the most racist and politically incorrect comments the entire trip, she was vulgar, loud, and had the worst case of potty mouth know to man or woman for that matter. For example, she asked questions like: Do Germans have money? And then stated (jokingly…or maybe not) that Germany didn’t like her because she was a Jew. OMG! Thats not even the half. This girl was a character, even for me, there were times when I was just speechless with this chick. ( I know me speechless right?) Moving along, we head out to the bus stop to the girls talking about Pussy and other raunchy things in octaves inappropriate for a German bus stop, and get on bus 240 and head out to the hostel. What was so weird was that we realized that we really didn’t need a ticket for anything and that the buses ( unlike in NYC, they open from the back and front, you just need a ticket in case you are stopped because the fine was not worth it).
Odyssee Globetrotter Hostel…was amazing! Besides reception doing math wrong with a calculator in hand and trying to charge us more, but my intuition kicked in and I figured that we didn’t owe as much as she said we did. (GO GLAM!) So we check in, paid the correct amount, and got our room key. It was like 12:30 when we arrived at the hostel and check in was not until 4 pm, so while to other two girls went on a walking tour, my group and I grabbed a German beer at the bar, and did a walking tour in our area and we found a store that sold cheap German Beer for .50 EUROS…HOLLA! We each copped three and head back to the hostel. We also found some not so impressive consignment shops. Once we arrived back at the hostel to get our keys, we were able to take it all in and the atmosphere was laid back and dorm like, we immediately felt comfortable after our long journey to Berlin. We meet an American guy from Minnesota who was just as happy as we were to see Americans and offered to take us out that night. We had to share a bathroom with the other people on the floor, but it was very sanitary (I even showered). Immediately we decided to take a nap and then explore the Berlin nightlife. Our Hostel was located in a great area so we wanted to see what it was all about. After the nap I dinned on German Thai food, and we decided to not to go out because we wanted to Tour Berlin all day on Sunday before our flight to Holland.
Sunday, March 23, 2008. The two groups split up again and my group and I ask the reception desk at Odyssee how to get to the airport from there. Well that was confusing but after a while we figured it out and came up with our plan to tour the city of Berlin in a day! Somehow we find out way to Alexander station which has a bus that ran directly to Tegal Airport, which we would later need to make our way to in order to catch our flights to Holland. We lock our stuff up all except my GIANT hiking bag, in a locker and head out on foot. We go picture crazy taking pictures of everything. Our first stop was an Easter first, with beer garden, rides, face painting, sheep and bunnies (Easter is Hella Big in Germany). We even had enough time to stop at the museum and catch the Egyptian art exhibit of Nefertiti
and other find Egyptian art. It was amazing. There was a rotunda in the museum full of statues with missing penis’s because the Catholic Church had removed them…LOL...they all had whole in the place for the penis! However all the boy statues still had their privates in tact...MMMMMMM Are you thinking what I am thinking? Anyways there were a lot of Africans in Germany and plenty of foreigners all of which seemed to not be American (I would’t know for sure because I never asked, and you cannot assume such things). Overall Germany was much more European friendly than American friendly…Wonder why? LOL

9: 41 pm on that same Sunday we are on the flight to Amsterdam!!! Hell Yes!
Our plan was scheduled to arrive at Shchipol Airport in Amsterdam at 11 and we were all soooooo ready for that. The travel from the airport to our hostel in Leidseplien square was rather easy. A member from my group wrote down tram info (1, 2, or 5) from the main train station and all we had to do was take one train to get there, which only costs us 6 EURO! LOL…Amsterdam was a pleasant experience in comparison to Germany, the people were much friendlier and they were happy to speak to us in English. Also the food was AMAZING!! We got off the tram to snow and extreme cold, but on the correct stop thanks to the high tech train system, which flashed the names of the stops on info bar (similar to the 2 and 4, 5, and 6 lines in NYC). Two police offers helped us to locate our hostel which was also alarming because the police in Germany were soooooo rude; they ignored us when we were asking for help. Finally we check in to a hostel that screwed up our room situation and gave us a couple’s sweet with one room for 4 people (the third member of my travel group was staying at a 4 star hotel by the station, with some other friends from school). Shit I was not about to pay 50 EURO for that night when they admitted to us that they screwed up. We didn’t pay and were told by the man at the front desk named Gucci that we could speak to someone tomorrow at 4 pm…ok cool. Once we walking the narrowest stairs ever, up three flights to room number 12 we all dropped our bags off and were determined to find the nearest coffee shop. We were prepared to face the snow storm for a blunt! However by this time it is after one and all the coffee shops close at 1 am on the weekend (12 am on the weekends) FUCK!!! I decided that I am done and it’s time for bed, I would wake up and be the first person at the coffee shop. The next morning (Monday in case you can’t keep up) we found a coffee shop called the Dolphin; it was amazing! For all coffee shops you had to be 18, but that didn’t matter to me because that stage of my life was so 2000 for me…LOL. A girl by the name of Anna also worked there and she happened to be headed to NYC for the first time, so my friend and I wrote her a detailed list (over another spliff) of all the places she had to see in NYC.
We ended up meeting up with our friend who traveled with us in Berlin and my other friends who were staying at the hotel with her. ”
I decided to eat then take a walk to the Ann Frank Huis (House). Well that line was around the block, we were going to go to the Van Gogh Museum, but it was late and we wanted them to try the White Dolphin…LOL. After that we went to the infamous: “Red Light District”. We toured this sketchy place at night and super high, it felt like it was all a dream. Oh MY GOD. It was nothing like what I imagined all of the hoes were either, old, washed up, and they all had the worst and cheapest make-up jobs ever. To my surprise the sections were divided: the African prostiututes, the Latinas, and the Blonds, also there was a Young and Old section. Honestly I dont know how they make a living because I dont know who would pay for that. All they do is sit in a room with doors that allow you to enter from the outside should you choose to pay the rather low price of 50 EURO for sex (imagine how much no intercourse would have cost) EWWWWWW…..These rooms were in building and according to the locals the prostitutes have pimps too. I wonder if they have to pay rent for the buildings. Who even owns the building is what I would like to know? Do the girls live there? Also not all of the “woman” were actually woman, I definitely saw a few trannies and my theory was confirmed once I read the tourist guide book that I had received from the information desk at the airport. I honestly didn't think that they would be just sitting there, I though some dancing or some sort of coaxing would be going on, but literally they all just sat there. One was even on her cell the entire time. I couldn’t wait to get out of sketchy Vill, and head back to a coffee shop.
Over all Amsterdam was a wonderful time! I love the city which was quoted to be “ a Disneyland for adults” Can you guess why?. I couldn’t agree more. On Tuesday (the day before we left, the other girls I had been traveling with left that morning for Paris) we got to go to the Van Gogh Museum and although we couldn’t take pictures the memories are amazing. I saw an amazing painting called Ophelia (Shakespeare’s Ophelia, when she is discovered in the pound after she committed suicide), by an artist named John Everet Millais. The painted was so realistic and took me right back to the text in Hamlet. My friend and I enjoyed a Space Muffin as we hiked up and down the stairs of the Museum. We took pictures in front of the I AMSTERDAM sign, and enjoyed our trip in the cold and off and on snow flurries. The weather in Amsterdam was so unpredictable it was insane. One minute sun, then rain, then snow, and then the cycle would repeat itself…it didn’t matter I was in Amsterdam .
My last night a friend who happened to live in Holland that I met on “Facebook “through a dear friend of mine met me at the Central Station at 8 pm; which was becoming a second home since I was there so many time, since out flight back to Pisa was at 7 am on Wednesday we didn’t have a hostel over night and we were determined to stay out as late as possible. We were "Thuggin" it. We had left our luggage at their hotel so it was all good, at least I didn’t have to carry that backpack everywhere, I would not have made it. First stop a coffee shop, my friend didn’t smoke but we wanted to chill in a new one, but after numerous attempts, due to crowed areas, we found a spot near the “Red Light District” and smoked what we had left before we headed home from “Disneyland”. We went to a bar after that and ran into some drunken Japanese business men, who were way too happy to buy us drinks until the bar closed at 1 am. That was an experience. I am not sure but they never clarified what type of business and after the long day and night I had ahead of me I didn’t bother to ask (LOL).
We stayed until the bar closed and made a pit stop a BK before we headed back to the hotel to get our bags, (my friend went home, it was a week day and he had work the next morning). The last group of Italian students arrived at the airport at 3 am which was 3 AND A HALF hours before our boarding time. Fuck it we would rather stay there then in the snow, plus coffee shops were closed, so we checked in at the airport and took the most uncomfortable naps.
7 am Wednesday, March 23, 2008 I am on the flight back to Pisa, and boy does it feel good to be heading home. As much as I disliked Germany, and loved Amsterdam I was happy to be back to my 2 by 2 bed and around a familiar city. That’s when I realized that I really love Florence (Firenze). Well tomorrow I head out for Paris, this will be smoother, I have directions from a friend that I am staying with so hopefully this ride won’t be as bumpy, but then again, bumps make it just a little funnier EXCEPT IN GERMANY…LOL). I had the time of my life, Thank God I made it back in one peice. Talk to you after Paris...Ciao, Ciao!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

crazy times cuz!! too bad germany sucked but im glad amsterdam was worth it:)