Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Germany... History, surprises, smiles and more old friends...




Tubingen


Hmmm… Germany. So many things happened in Germany that I’m not sure where to start. Let’s try with the beginning…


I was going to Tubingen with E. on Tuesday night, and didn’t even notice when we passed the border, although I wish I had… not that it makes much difference, but I’m a silly girl.

Then spent a week in Tubingen, going to all sorts of little places, eating out, staying in, cooking, and generally having a well deserved break… before going to Frankfurt for only one night and couchsurfing with a lovely British girl and talking for hours… next day I had a flight to Berlin, where I arrived in the evening, and was staying at A’s house.


It’s strange what happens when you see people who mean a lot to you after you haven’t seen them for a while. It happened when I saw E. in Zurich. It happened again when I saw A. in Berlin, though on a smaller scale because with E, I hadn’t seen him in 7 years, and with A it hadn’t even been a year yet. But it was definitely one of those special meetings full of memories and joy. We walked around Berlin for hours and hours, and I got to see as much of the city as you can see in 5hrs, then went home to sleep for like 3hrs, and get up at 5am to get a train at 6am and go to Magdeburg* (sorta) where I was going to spend the weekend.



 Berlin Wall... If you turn around, 
on the same street there's a sign for the Holocaust Museum.


Berlin is amazing though. I don’t know, I felt quite overwhelmed all of the time I was there. Granted, I didn’t spend much time there, but I guess there’s so much history, so many incredible and awful things happened there, that somehow my brain kind of exploded and I couldn’t grasp it all. It was a very strange feeling, and I think I have to go back there and spend a decent amount of time, read a lot, see a lot, and try to absorb some of that history, in order to feel more at ease…


The weekend in Magdeburg was great, with lots of little coincidences and a lot of laughter. I met some important people and hopefully that means good things for my future… but more on that later.

Then back to Berlin on Monday morning and straight on to Tubingen for another few days with E. before coming back to Berlin and heading to Paris to meet my mom! You may wonder (and A., this one is for you) why I’m going back and forth all the time, but it wasn’t originally planned that way… but the beauty of traveling without a schedule is being able to change it at will...



 Hanging out with C. and J. 


My last night in Germany, was in Berlin again, and I got to see my other dear friends J. and C. They came to pick me up, were totally happy to see me, and we spend a few hours talking and catching up on the last few months since we had last seen each other in Argentina and Colombia.
The next day, my flight from Berlin to Paris had a few interesting moments, but you can read about that here. 

Friday, April 9, 2010

Switzerland-- part II

Zurich

The next day, I got up early and took a train to Zurich, where I was going to meet a dear old friend I hadn't seen for 7 years. 7 YEARS!! Ok, so it's true that it ends up happening to me a lot, since I'm always going everywhere and have friends all over the place... but 7 years is a looooong time!!!

We met in Argentina (where he's from) and became really good friends very, very quickly. That's probably why we had managed to stay in touch, and I couldn't wait to see him. He's been doing his PhD in Medical Genetics in Germany, but took a week off work and came down to Zurich so we could hang out, before we went back to Germany together for a few more days before I went to Berlin.

So I arrived a few minutes before him, and was waiting at the train station. Then I saw him, and it was like we had seen each other the day before. Sure things had changed... we had changed, grown up, evolved... but we were still the same, and we realized we're just as good friends now, as we were back then.

Zurich was great... we were just staying for a couple of days, so we had to make the best of it. The first day was sunny and beautiful, and we walked around aimlessly in the little streets, looking at old churches, statues of reformers, and chocolate shops. Oh, yes...  the chocolate... ;)

City view... 

Frozen fountain which attests to the fact
that it may have been sunny, but definitely wasn't warm!!!

Us in front of a fountain...

A well deserved Starbucks break... :)

However, the second day was cold and windy, and walking around against the elements is just not fun... so we decided to go off the beaten track, and check out the Medical Museum of the University of Zurich. It was really cool, sometimes a little crazy, and pretty informative... It was also inside, which means away from the cold and the wind! After that we went to find some food, and grab our stuff and head to the train station, to get our train to Germany! 

So watch out Germany, here I come!!!!!!!!!!! :) 

Monday, April 5, 2010

Switzerland-- part I

After a lovely week in Denmark, I flew to Geneva, where I finally got my nice fondue with good friends... :) But that was for just 24hrs, before taking a train to Neuchatel, where I was meeting my wonderful friend Ewa, to go on a hike on the Jura mountains, overlooking the lake. We met a couple of her friends, took a cable car up to the middle of the mountain, and then walked the rest of the way up, through the dark, snow-covered forest, in a beautiful, quiet night, until we found the refuge, where we had another fondue! My second fondue in 2 days!! :)

Here are some pictures...

View from the cable car

The four of us on the mountain somewhere...

And the fondue!!! :)

The next day, Ewa and I went to Fribourg, stopping along the way in Morat, a lovely little medieval town by another lake, with an impressive castle and beautiful views! It was sunny and warm enough for a coffee on terrace overlooking the lake... :)

The view... 

With Ewa on the castle... :)

Then we went to in Fribourg, we had a nice, calm weekend, went to the movies, cooked great food, including some good ol' fashioned Argentinian empanadas! :) 

Me with the empanadas! :) 

Thanks for a lovely time Ewa! :) I'll be back soon to visit and have some more fun!! :)