OKTOBERFEST!

Hi everyone,

I had 2 (ok maybe 3) reasons I wanted to go to Oktoberfest:

1. It's almost the only thing Germany is famous for, so if I didn't go, I'd get the question "Did you go to Oktoberfest?" for the rest of my life.
2. Every German you talk to about it says "Why would you want to go to that, it's awful, [horror story about their "friend" that went there and had the worst time]". And then you ask them what happened when they went, and they admit they've never been. But every year 6 million people go! Are the Germans just showing their dislike of all things Bavarian? Are they trying to keep the tourirts away to preserve it for themselves? Of course, I had to find out.

So we organised a group from all corners of the world (Poland, Portugal, Chile, Russia, Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand), and headed off to Munich!

The gang. From me clockwise; Chile, Portugal, Poland, Poland, Russia/Australia, Mexico.

We were staying in a semi-permanent tent (The Tent - highly reccomended) with about 30 beds. It was positively tiny compared to the main tent there - with 100+ beds. Queuing up to check it, I realised that one of the rumours about Oktoberfest is true: that everyone is Australian.

The "Weis'n" from the top of a ride.

We were there for the opening weekend, so on Saturday there was a big parade. We didn't get the timing right, but still managed to catch the last 5 minutes of the parade, before we headed to Oktoberfest proper. We arrived there just as the mayor tapped the first keg, and declared the festival open. We ran to the nearest beer tent, but they closed the doors just before we got through, and were told to wait for some seats to be free. This was worringly close to how many of the horror stories started. And the next hour waiting in line was too, as was the announcement that the tent was full.

A parade.

Getting a bit nervous, we decided to give up on getting a beer for a bit, and explore the fair ground a bit. It was big. The next tent we tried to get into was full as well, but we managed to wriggle our way into its beer garden, and scam a delicious beer. Success!

Inside the Hippodrom tent.

The next day we had a booking for a beer tent already, so we spent the morning watch another parade, and exploring Munich a bit. The tent we booked was one of the smaller ones, with only seating for 3300 people(!). Somehow we were in an exclusive booth with complementary fingerfood and a(n almost) private waitress. It was crazy how loud it was - and how drunk/happy all the Germans were! We made the most of our aliquoted 3 hours we were allowed there, and headed into town where we met some pretty rude waiters, and some deceptive fountains.

Monday, we had to head back to Potsdam, but we took a short detour to the Czech Republic for goulash and fried cheese. I collapsed into bed about 10pm, at the end of a fantastic weekend.

Thanks for reading, I recommend Oktoberfest for everyone, even if you're not so into beer.

See ya!

Adam

Sailing in Poland!

I've spent the last week sailing in Poland, in a region of lakes and canals called Masuria. I was lucky enough to be invited by 2 Poles from the institute (who were fantastic tour guides/translators/itinerary planners), a German guy and Portuguese girl also came from the institute, and we picked up several more Poles on the way or met them there.

The team. From left, Some idiot, Artur, Spirit, Marta, Nadia, Amid, Wolfram, Marek.

I had no idea what to expect, every time I talked to Marta she reminded me to take wet weather gear, warm clothes, and insect repellent, so I was expecting the worst on the weather front (turns out there was no need to worry - we had warm sun most of the time, and a couple of evening thunderstorms). On the other fronts I had no idea - how "wild" are the wilds of Poland? Anyway, after a 800km drive (and the motorway was closed for most of the way), we picked up our rental boats. They were trailer-sailer kind of things with bunks for 6 people. They were pretty simple boats, and pretty indestructible too - one of the 2 we had was sunken in a bad storm a few years ago - but they were pretty fun.

The mighty Andan.

So we spent a few days sailing south, stopping at little ports set up exactly for people like us, and motoring through old canals made by the Germans. I was a bit scared of the boats to start with, but after a day or so, I realised that even though I don't have my boat licence (2 years ago I didn't even know boat licences existed!), and I've never really been in charge of a boat bigger than a cutter, I could handle these boats just as well as everyone else. I kept having to stop myself using nautical terms (port, bow, jib), and use words that people would understand instead (left, front, small sail). I learnt some Polish words (levo, don't know, fok) and my favourite odbijacz (fender).

Halfway into the trip, we got to the most untouched forest I've seen in Europe. It looked just like the forests look in fairy tales, with tall conifers, moss covered ground with mushrooms and berries, and little frogs jumping around all over the place. We collected mushrooms and berries, and firewood from the less pretty woods closer to the boat. We cooked sausages over an open fire and hid potatoes in the embers for the next morning.

Cooking sausages on an open fire. Germans go pretty feral when they are away from the motherland for more than a couple of days.

The next morning, Marek was searching for the cooked potatoes and managed to fall into the fire a bit, and burnt his hand pretty badly. The wind had also come up (maybe up to 20 knots), and we had planned on staying in the same place for the day, but decided we should go and get some medical treatment. So we reefed in the mainsail, left the jib furled and limped to the nearest biggish city. Marek got some drugs and bandages and was happier.

Then we slowly made our way back up north, stopping every night in cute little "ports" and eating Polish cuisine in the local pub. And before I knew it, we were handing over the keys to the ripoff agent (who charged us 5 zloty per plate (x6!) he alleged we lost), and making the mammoth drive back to Potsdam (via Wroclaw). Work was a bit hard on Monday morning, but it was definitely worth it.

And to end, here's some building in Wroclaw.

Thanks for reading my story. Hope you enjoyed it. It's the first day of autumn, so I'm gunna have to start hibernating soon I think. Well, after our lab retreat and Oktoberfest. But then I'll hibernate.

Hope you're all well and happy - let me know what's up in your lives!

Adam

Summer!

Hi,

This post is coming to you from the other side of a pretty warm heat wave. For the last couple of weeks we've been having temperatures consistently above 30C, getting up to 37C! At work they cancelled all seminars, and used the seminar rooms as makeshift offices as they have air conditioning. In the last couple of days there have been a few thunderstorms which have cooled things down a bit, so now I'm sitting in a very pleasant 23C.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to go to work for the last week or so. I had an operation to remove the screws they put in my knee last year. It was really short, and I was home 4h after arriving at the clinic. It was good timing because it meant I didn't have to go anywhere much for a few days, but also kind bad timing because I couldn't (and still can't for a couple of days) go swimming with an open wound. Tuesday get the stitches out then it should be completely back to normal.

The souvenirs!

In other news my flatmates have got a new house, and are very busy doing housey things with it. It needs lots of work, but we're all moving in in a month or so. It's cheaper and closer to work for me, but it is of a slightly lower standard than the current flat. It's all good, I'm looking forward to moving in.

I'm gunna try to be better at this blogging thing, I promise. This is only the 3rd post this year, I think! Feel free to pester me if I forgot again after a couple of weeks, k?

Adam

Finally, an update!

I wrote this post a few weeks ago but didn't manage to click "publish", so here it is now!

Hello,

I've got horribly behind with this blog thing. It's been too long to cover everything, and I've been putting it off for that reason, but I'm gunna have to just bite the bullet and do a post of some kind.

So here goes, in no particular order:

I've caught a pretty bad case of (Football) World Cup fever. For someone who had never watched a whole game of soccer, I surprise myself how into it I've got. It's hard not to, when the whole country is completely crazy about it. When Germany is playing, all the projectors at the institute which are usually used for powerpoint slides, are definitely showing the game, and it's pretty much forbidden to work. Not soooo much interest in the NZ games, but I managed to watch all 3, people are still complementing me on our achievements. Undefeated! I'll bet money that we will be the only unbeaten team in the whole tournament!

Last weekend Sarah was visiting, and we went out to play frisbee in the park. One thing led to another, and we found ourselves in Poland. Poland was nice. Lots of shops selling cigarettes, vodka and haircuts to German "tourists". It was kind of bizarre walking over a bridge from Germany to Poland, and realising that our euros weren't official currency anymore.

View out the window of our hotel in Poland. This was the prettier side. But for 12 euros a night in a 3 star hotel you can't really complain!

A few weeks ago, there was a protest for promoting riding your bike. They closed the motorway, and let people ride their bikes from Potsdam to Berlin on the Autobahn. I went along with my flatmates, for the novelty of riding on a motorway. I thought there might be quite a few people turning up, but I wasn't really prepared for 200,000! Two hundred thousand people! Insane!

And here are a couple of carefully selected photos of other stuff.

Carnival of Cultures in Berlin

Part of Sanssoucci park, when Beryl was visiting.

Easter Bike Trip

Seven people from four continents have somehow all found their way to a small city, Linz, in the north of Austria. We all have our bike laden with supplies - hopefully enough to get us to Vienna. All that separates us from this city is 230km of bike path along the backbone of Europe - the Danube river.

Why did we not just catch a train to Vienna? To be honest, I'm still not sure, but I think it's something along the lines of the saying "lessons come from the journey, not the destination".

With our journey stretching out ahead of us, a blue sky above us, and a good Austrian breakfast inside us, we start our journey. We've only given ourselves 50km to do the first day - to get into the rhythm. We'll play the rest by ear. After a few minor bike adjustments, it's pretty clear that we'll manage 50km today. The next two days are a different question though. 85km sounds like quite a lot. We take it slow on this first day, and we get a bit separated for lunch, but most of us find a market square in (the first of many) cute little old villages. We manage to hold ourselves back from buying excessive quantities of exotic cheeses. Sausages for lunch.

After a mammoth hill climb, our accommodation is a bit of a shock. We'd seen on its website that they sell ceramic garden figurines, but that doesn't really prepare us for the reality. Every piece of land that isn't covered with house is covered with hideous porcelain gnomes. We slowly edge our way through them to the front door, and are rewarded with hot showers and comfortable beds. After a bit of down time, we limp to the local pub, and eat various kinds of deep fried meat and potatoes. And the pancake soup is great.

Day two. We're pretty sore from yesterday. But we would have been encouraged to hear from our future selves that that day was the hardest. I guess we all just had to get used to new bikes, etc.

This day has the nicest scenery - passing through so many really cute really old villages, and nice European "wilderness" between them. An impromptu picnic for lunch also felt very European. Cheeses and sliced meat on fresh bread in a courtyard surrounded by tiny cobbled streets.

The worst bike malfunction happens on Saturday too. Long story, and this blog already looks pretty long, but to cut it short, one of us peddles for about an hour with her front brakes on, complaining the whole time about how hard it is. Once we figure it out, disconnect the breaks and it's all good to go.

For our second night, we stay in a really tiny village called Willmersdorf. It's got half a dozen bnbs, a great pub, and a museum for a famous stone statue found in this village. This statue is so famous it's got its own wikipedia page.

The next day, Sunday, the Easter bunny forgets to distribute Easter eggs, but biking is easy. Really getting into the zone now. It's a bit windier than the last days, but Mirko seems happy riding at the front, breaking the wind for us. We easily cover about 80km and find another bnb in a place that's almost a suburb of Vienna. More deep fried stuff for dinner on the side of the river as the sun goes down - including the very healthy sausage stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, and served with chips.

On our last day, we have only about 1 hours ride to Vienna. By now this is absolutely no problem. I have to say it was very sad handing our bikes back to the rental place.

Vienna was fascinating. So many amazing old buildings everywhere. I'll spare you the details, though, as I told you it was about the journey, not the destination. So how was the journey? It was fantastic. We really lucked it with the weather, with the people, and had no accidents of any kind really. It was my first "bike trek", but I will definitely do more.

Thanks for reading, I'll post another update rather soon covering all (ok, some) of the goings on since Easter.

Adam

The latest from Germany

Hello!

Random sunset.

Again, I apologise for forgetting to blog. I think I've been hibernating through the winter. But finally spring is upon us! I never appreciated the seasons at home, I think because they aren't nearly as dramatic as they are here. Sure, summer is sunny in NZ, but the rest of the year is all pretty similar. But here, it's amazing how brown winter is, how white winter is, and how green spring is. A few weeks ago, there was still 10 cm of snow on the ground, that had stayed there since before Christmas, but then in a week it all melted, and the daffodils and co. have sprung up everywhere. It's not green yet, but it will be soon, I'm sure.

Archway at castle up the hill from my house.

While it was still winter, the Berlinale happened. The Berlinale is a big international film festival in Berlin. Unfortunately I didn't manage to see the NZ film everyone is talking about now, "Boy", but I did see an awesome NZ documentary about a family living off the land ("This Way of Life"). And the world premiere of some long lost footage of the classic sci-fi movie, Metropolis. I was completely blown away what they could do in 1927 (that's not a typo!). Sure, they didn't have sound, but they had some pretty tricky special effects and amazing sets. As you can see in the picture, it was an outdoor screening, and it was freezing! Glad I managed to stick with it and watch to the end, though.

Metropolis screen, with Victoria, the roman goddess of victory on the Brandenburg Gate.

Other than that, it's been quite a bit of working, and I kind of got some results which I kind of believe! But anyway, I won't be so slack about my next blog, a group of us are going to Austria to do a bike trip for Easter, so I will be sure to take lots of photos and will have something to write about (probably about what a disaster it was!), so check back in a couple of weeks for more!

Hope you are all well,

Adam

2010

My last blog, I see, was at the start of December last year, and now we're at the start of February. Two months... sorry.

So since then, I had a couple of weeks at work, then made the long and perilous journey back home for Christmas and new years. That was 3 weeks or so, which means I've been back in sunny Potsdam for about 3 weeks too. I'm gunna gloss over the 3 weeks in New Zealand, because most of you are kiwis, and stories set in exotic locations are much more interesting.

My flight back took me via Korea, not quite Seoul, but really close. I had an overnight stopover there, and the airline put me up in a (pretty nice, actually) hotel. It was really cold. Especially when I'd been in 25C the 3 weeks before. And I didn't have the best cold weather clothes, but I still braved the Korean subway system and found the city centre (not of Seoul, of Incheon - this city just beside Seoul). It was full of bright neon lights and icy footpaths. I did not see a single other tourist, all the people around seemed to be locals doing late night shopping in these brightly decorated clothing shops. With a bit of pointing and sign language, I managed to get some delicious Korean food (seafood pancake thing) that a friend had recommended (thanks Paul). That was Korea, I went back to the hotel and fell asleep with my backpack on.

Incheon town centre. There were actually lots of people - I don't know why there is noone in this picture...

"Simplicity Descending Life Line" in the hotel room on the 8th floor.

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful, got back to Potsdam in the early hours of the morning, had a few hours sleep and went to work the next day. Turns out this wasn't such a great idea, and the next day I had a killer cold, so I took the Friday off and it was all good by Monday.

Now I thought Korea was cold - maybe it was -5C. The day I got back to Potsdam was -15C, I think. Since then it's been close to 0 a few times, but also down to -25C. Minus 25 degrees is cold. Even in -15C it's very dangerous to lick a metal pole. I learnt this the hard way. But cold also has advantages - snow, for example. Potsdam is still covered in at least 30cm of snow now, it's lying in huge piles on the sides of the roads. It kind of rained a bit last week so it's really crunchy and satisfying to walk on. My flatmates and I went sledding the other day too in Park Sanssoucci.

The institute in snow.

Icicles on the balcony.

Last night I went into Berlin with friends from work. Twice a year, all the museums and churches and stuff stay open until 2am, and you can buy a cheap ticket to visit all of them. We didn't go to ALL of them, in fact we only went to 4, but we didn't want to rush through heaps and see nothing. So we went to the Berliner Dom - an impressive cathedral I've posted photos of before, St Marienkirche - the oldest church in Berlin, the Natural History Museum - with the biggest dinosaurs in a museum, and the first dinosaur they found with feathers, and finally we finished up at the aquarium - which is HUGE and even has a tuatara exhibit. I know tuatara aren't fish, but the aquarium also had reptiles, amphibians and insects. A good night, lots of fun and lots of interesting stuff. Got back home at about 3, and had to get up by 11 today cos it's my flatmate's birthday and we had a big brunch so have been eating food ALL day.

Dome of Berliner Dom.

Dinosaurs!!!

That's the highlights - feel free to drop me an email bragging about the fantastic weather you're having.

Adam