october fifth

This photo was taken in Germany last summer when I had beautiful long hair. And though my hair was beautiful, I’m happy to be wearing it shorter these days. I think my partner is too. Even a colleague mentioned it the other day; he called the long hair

so gross

which, though a statement generally too brief for a quote, merits it’s own distinction.

Germany is very cool. We visited Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, and Schwangau (to visit the castles, of course).

I was quite shy at first. We started our trip in Hamburg and I didn’t want anyone to know that I couldn’t speak German. On our second day, we stopped in at a lovely little gluten free bakery/cafe. I ordered a decaf coffee, my partner ordered a regular one, but when the guy brought them out he didn’t say which was which.

So, I mumbled out a question about which was the decaf and I guess he didn’t hear me, so he asked me to repeat myself, and again, being self-conscious about speaking English in the land of German, I mumbled the question. He figured it out that time though, and after pointing out the decaf, said,

“To be clear, I actually speak English very well. I just couldn’t hear you.”

And then we all became best friends.

Hamburg was really cool. Everyone told us to visit Miniature World. We thought it was a bit of a joke, but enough people told us to visit that we decided to go. You have to book in advance, and the earliest spot we could get while we were there was nine pm one night, but it was well worth it. They close at midnight, and we heard that you needed to budget at least two or three hours. We ended up getting kicked out as they were closing.

It is well worth it!

They have tiny models of entire cities! Little cars and trains that move on highways and tracks. They have a big remote control ship that moves around in actual water, but the best part is the airport.

The airport is so cool. They have planes that land and take off, and they have a little simulation where a plane catches on “fire” and then these little fire trucks race over from the other end of the airport to “put it out.”

After we’d spent a couple days in Berlin, I felt a little more settled. I think I could live in Berlin. It’s such an interesting city. Big and busy and cosmopolitan. Really great vegan food. Lots of cool non-alcoholic drinks. I had a fantastic non-alc rose and some delicious dumplings at a market there.

The twentieth century history is probably the most interesting part of Berlin. You can’t miss the ways the wall shaped the city. As an outsider, it’s fascinating.

Munich is different again. We were there as they were setting up for Oktoberfest. It seemed like dozens of huge structures were being built up to facilitate the celebration.

I don’t really know what Oktoberfest is about, to be honest.

Schwangau was one of my favourites though. A really small town that you can stay in while you’re visiting the Neuschwanstien and Hohenschwangau castles.

Also, I should take a second to shout out Asia Food Place where, as they could accommodate my vegan lifestyle and my partner’s gluten intolerance, we ate several times.

My castle photos didn’t really turn out unfortunately. Oh well. Well worth the visit.