Day 58-61: Berlin: Rathaus and Schloss Charlottenburg

As mentioned in the previous post, Charlottenburg to me appears to be a mix of several cities.

Here is Rathaus Charlottenburg (reminiscent of Moscow metropolitan)

Day 54-57: Berlin: Charlottenburg, a mix of Paris, Brussels, Karlsruhe and Moscow

Everything changes when the sun comes out. Previously I only briefly explored Charlottenburg, but now finally had the chance to devote a decent amount of time to it.

Basically, Charlottenburg is home of the rich and is reminiscent of 4 cities:

• (Obviously) Paris, as the Kurfürstendamm looks a lot like Champs-Élysées in the French capital. A lot of stores (too much H&M per square meter), starting with youth clothing stores and ending with Gucci, Valentino and the like. Shopping heaven for any type and size of wallet.
• Sidestreets, on the other hand, reminded me of Brussels. Quiet and at the same time slightly posh streets with nice-looking houses (as, for example, opposed to the ugly Karl-Marx-Allee, previously officially named and to this day looking exactly like a Stalinallee).
• If you have been to Karlsruhe, Schloss Charlottenburg will definitely remind you of the local Schloss. Same style that honestly looks a bit boring for Berlin.
• And finally, if you have been inside Moscow subway, Rathaus Charlottenburg will remind you of the some of the metro stations in the Russian capital.

The Paris and Brussels parts are below.

Day 9-11: Karlsruhe is as great as it ever was and arrival in Berlin

What is the best way to start your first day of a new year?

Right. Eat. Even though last night you said you were so stuffed that you would never eat even a single crumble ever again. But the next morning you longingly think of food again. Happens every year and yet it takes you by surprise every time.

My friends kindly took me out for New Year’s Day lunch in a lovely family-owned restaurant 40-50km out of town and the good was delicious. The view on the mountains was mesmerizing and it was nice to see people waking up and slowly flocking to the restaurant to have a bite or two. I’m pretty sure they were all thinking the same thing about never eating again the previous night as well.

The same night I felt like going out to see a movie and although I was not alone in this desire (as the movie theater was full), there was literally not a soul on the streets, I understand January 1 is mostly dedicated to hangover and chilling later on. I saw Tykwer’s Drei at my favorite movie theater. It was a good movie, although I imagine it could still be considered shocking by some people? I mean I definitely wouldn’t be surprised to hear that. At the same time, the audience was quite interesting: older ladies, middle age couples, teenagers and twenty-somethings and yet no one gasped or giggled at quite explicit portrayal of gay sex and the like. It’s a positive change from what I’m accustomed to in Russia. Also, I appreciate the silence during the movie. But was amused to find out that somebody people bring in homemade sandwiches and snacks.

The following day I saw my friends (who were my Gastfamilie twice in Karlsruhe/Waldbronn before, in 2005 and 2007), two amazing people with who I always find a topic to converse about. We first spent some time in their cozy home and then went out for some Italian delight. I introduced them both to the CouchSurfing and I think they might try it at some point, as they are quite interested in cultural exchange and travel, especially one who devotes some of his time to developing relations between Germany and Russia (and a whole lot of other countries). Was fantastic to see them again and it definitely wasn’t the last time.

January 2 marked my first visit to a zoo in my life. It wasn’t the best date as obviously some of the animals don’t find cold weather as fascinating (even the polar bear! who I would’ve gladly taken a peek at), but nevertheless it was a nice stroll around with my friend. I later walked around a bit on my own, Karlsruhe stills charms it, I must say. It now seems a bit smaller than I originally thought, but still it’s a place from where I have some very fond memories. Dear to me are also the people are met there, the former Gastfamilie I just mentioned as well as my friend from school and her husband who were thoroughly welcoming and made my third stay in Karlsruhe great.

Therefore I was sad to leave yet again, but the thought of coming back makes me all warm inside, so it’s definitely a done deal. Also Karlsruhe seems to have more bakeries than any other place I’ve been to so far (I’m just saying that so people get motivated to come here as German bread is the best you’ll find).

Next on:

A Deutsche Bahn adventure that was a bit of a hassle… although it all didn’t matter very soon because… BERLIN!

Day 7-8: Leaving Munich, arriving in Karlsruhe for the 3rd time

How do you know that you’re happy? Me: I’m traveling and I’m simply walking down the street, grinning to myself, enjoying everything that’s going on around even if it’s usually not that interesting to me. That has been happening a lot to me since I set off on the trip 10 days ago.

I do hope this lasts. Obviously that almost entirely depends on me.

On an unrelated note, Deutsche Bahn employees didn’t check my ticket on my night trip from Cologne to Munich, so I wonder if anybody could’ve just gone in and taken a night-long trip. Surely makes for a good adventure.

On December 30 I had a nice 1.5-long walk around Munich once again before departing for Karlsruhe, all of the sights remained just as a beautiful as I remembered them from the first day. It must be a nice place to live. I also had a nice time with my third CS host who has traveled around the globe quite a lot, she also has been a freelancer for a long time, was interesting to discuss this very subjectwith her. Also great English. Although I must say most CS hosts or guests normally speak great English, far above average.

My train left on time and the landscape in front of my eyes was charming all the way to Karlsruhe. Snow and beautiful trees in forests of all kinds make for an awesome picture.

Upon arrival I was greeted by my friend with whom I'd studied briefly here in Karlsruhe and with whom we've kept in touch ever since. She and her husband have a very lovely apartment and are both great to converse with. On our first evening my friend showed me breathtaking pictures from their November vacation in Lanzarote, Spain and I had no choice but to add it to my travel wish list. It looks a lot like Mars - not that I've seen it, but it absolutely fits our/Hollywood image of this planet.

December 31 was of course the last day of the year. In the afternoon we went for a walk, now it needs to be mentioned that I'm not accustomed to this: German (and most EU) stores and supermarkets are closed starting afternoon on December 31 all the way through January 1 and 2. So that's 2.5 days without access to shopping at all! Who could survive that?! But apparently everyone gets by and if you really, really need something, you could splurge on a visit to the train station store or a gas station kiosk. Unbelievable! Around where I live most stores will be open all the way till 8pm or maybe even later on December 31 and will re-open at 11am-1pm the following day.

We walked around for a couple of hours and ended up being tired as if we'd worked extremely hard. The year's end was apparently taking its toll on us. Later on, my friend made a cheese fondue (delicious stuff, I get dizzy just thinking about it) while I was brave enough to make an Olivier. Much to the laughter and hilarity of my friends and family at home. That's a typical Russian salad you eat every New Year's Eve and some people opt for it on all holidays possible, every Russian has eaten dozens of hundreds of kilos in his or her life and it's just too contrite nowadays and yet most people still make it each time. I ate some as well. It's particularly good the next morning.

On New Year's Eve I also got introduced to Wii and have already had some success with tennis, ping pong and rowing. It's actually quite fun, and your arm hurts afterwards as if it were the real thing. We also did a round of Mensch Ärgere Dich Nicht just for laughs (it was especially funny to me because I won, ho ho). Board games in general are popular in Germany - I have also played Memory during my two previous stays here.

An hour and a half before 2011 finally started we were joined by the family's friend as well as somebody I knew from being in KA before. A fascinating person, someone I'd like to get to know better. She brought a fresh kind of spirit to the evening and was fun to watch dancing.

At midnight we all congratulated each other, watched some fireworks, dialed a couple of numbers (that's universal) and eventually ended up watching about half an hour of a live concert in Berlin. (Although to the best of my knowledge it was in real time, but no live singing was going on...) It was bad and trashy. I take most of what I said about Russian New Year's program on TV back, this was a low budget show with old and almost forgotten (and unknown to me) singers and bands as well as David Hasselhoff. Yeah, that wasn't great. But thankfully no obligatory speech by head of the state right before the year started.

Nevertheless it was a good way to welcome the new year, especially in such a great company. Here's hoping it's be a year full of fabulous travel.

Off the beaten path: Karlsruhe, Germany

Karlsruhe is known to Europeans for being the base of The Federal Supreme Court of Justice, it is almost always left out from travel itineraries of people who undertake trips to Germany. However, in recent years it has gained some popularity due to the fact that it was elected to be the host town of Virtual Tourist’s Euromeet 2008. More than that, the idea of VT, one of the first travel-oriented sites and communities on the web, was actually conceived in Karlsruhe.

This town is worth visiting for anyone interested in off the beaten path travel, mingling with locals for a bit and forgetting crowded tourist spots for a while.

The most famous places in town are Schloss, Marktplatz and

Rathaus, the former and the latter two are located within 3 walking minutes from one another.

Schloss Karlsruhe was built in 1715 by Karl Wilhelm in the middle of nowhere (more precisely: forest) as his summer cottage of sorts and later became his residence and the political hotspot of the state of Baden. Initially, all streets led to and from the Schloss, so if you reach the top of the tower, you’ll see them going off in different directions like rays from the sun. Nowadays the palace is home to Badisches Landesmuseum surrounded by a huge botanical garden with a pond and lots of nice places for lunch or rest.

Marktplatz is home to Karlsruhe's most famous landmark, the Pyramid (right across from the Townhall) that was built over the tomb of Margrave Karl Wilhelm. Rather small and boring, it’s worth maybe for taking a single picture of it and walking on.

The street separating Marktplatz and the territory adjacent to Schloss Karlsruhe is Kaiserstrasse which is the main shopping strip in Karlsruhe featuring some very nice buildings, only to be contrasted by dozens and dozens of stores, from Karstadt to H&M, Pimkie and the like (another place worth visiting for charging your card – EKZ located at Ettlinger Tor).

Karlsruhe has one of the best independent movie theaters I ever had the pleasure to visit – Schauburg, located not far from the Badisches Staatstheater (which I would not necessarily recommend visiting, maybe only to get an idea that balet, for instance, is better in other destinations). The program is very diverse and almost everyone will be able to find something suiting their cinematic taste. Every once in a while they’ll have a Sunday brunch with a Q&A with German film directors. The interior is very nice as well. Ten meters away from Schauburg there’s a fantastic Italian restaurant where you’ll have quite possibly the best pizza in town.

Best way to experience Karlsruhe: walk around, sit down for a drink or meal, walk some more, have dinner, have a stroll before going to bed. You might also consider visiting the zoo, located directly across from the main train station. Anyone interested in modern art and technologies should stop by ZKM.

And before I forget:

• centrally located Bierakademie is a hit with locals

• Baden Baden is just a 40-minute tram/train ride away

• Strasbourg is an hour-drive away

• the nearby town of Ettlingen (10 minutes away by S1 or S11) has a fascinating little old town, it’s a nice place for a leisure afternoon

• also you might want to check out Durlach, one of Karlsruhe’s boroughs and climb 600 stairs to the top of a hill to check out a splendid view of the town

• best time to visit, according to my personal experience, seems to be September-October, the day might start off with as low as 6C, but it'll be a sunny 25C before you know it.

Why it is okay to change your travel plans

Here’s the story. For my Christmas/New Year trip this year I had a plan in my mind: I would go to Italy, then spend 5 full days in Switzerland and then go to Germany for a week. Now, I’ve never been to Switzerland and I’d obviously heard some very nice things about it, so the idea of going to this fascinating country was very tempting.

I applied for a visa, was given one and then let the topic rest a bit, as it was a bit too early to decide what and where I wanted to do (early October, 3 months in advance) – the important thing was plane tickets and I’d already purchased them at a good price.

I had several locations I wanted to visit in Switzerland: Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux/Vevey, Lucerne, Interlaken, Bern, Zurich, maybe Basel. Initially, I wanted to cram all of that into 5 days. Which was quite unreasonable as I later realized - I did not want to visit all those cities just to cross them out on my list and several hours/half a day is just not enough for me to fully enjoy the experience of visiting a new town.

So I talked to several friends who’d been there and started playing around with locations that I wanted to visit (keep in mind I don’t ski). Geneva and Lausanne? Lausanne and Lucerne? Geneva and Lucerne? Lausanne and Interlaken? Geneva and Zurich? I was looking at affordable hostels here and there, but in the end nothing felt right. Nothing at all. I spent at least two weeks stressing out about my itinerary and then for some reason I thought of Cologne and some other German cities and then, within a day, I booked all flights/trains for my prolonged stay in Germany. It took me only two hours to come up with a updated travel plan (Cologne, Munich and a day trip to Brussels) and I’m very satisfied with it. You know why? Because it feels right! And I want to be there asap. With Switzerland, I was lost and felt discontented and there was quite a risk of me not being happy about my trip in general. And that's so not what I want to remember about the great trip that I was supposed to have.

So what conclusions I can make for myself (and hopefully others) based on this example?

• it’s okay to change your travel plans
• if a destination doesn’t feel right at the moment, then switch over to something else because… why risk being unhappy with a trip?
• try booking hotels and hostels via booking sites that foresee cancellation free of charge (booking.com, hrs.com) in order to avoid losing money in case you change your mind or there’s an emergency
• at the same time, if you for instance booked a hostel via hostelworld.com (and they normally charge you 10%, it most definitely is non-refundable) and now hesitate about going to your selected destination, it’s best to lose the 10% (which is normally not much.. 3-5 euro, but of course that depends on your choice of accommodation) than end up hating your trip, right? It’s important to be wary about money, but at the same time there’s no need to be overtly fanatic about it

In other words, travel and be happy!

Next trip: Thailand or Germany?

The moment I quit my job, I started thinking about my next trip. You know the usual data mining, flights, hotels, things to discover, the whole nine. I had already had another trip planned that I was happy about, but who can be satisfied with one trip if you can have several?

The thing is, I really want to go to Thailand. I want to see Bangkok and then, as it was eventually decided, Krabi and Phi Phi Island. Initially, I also wanted to go to Hongkong (or maybe Kuala Lumpur, or Phnom Pehn), but decided against it because I realized one country would probably do for my first official visit to Asia.

I found reasonably priced tickets, thought things through, came up with an approximate itinerary, booked accommodation in Krabi Town and then we found out my mother has some health issues she needs to take care of. Maybe she's going to have a surgery in December. And maybe not. My sister and grandmother are both willing to take care of her... but do I want to find myself 10 flight hours from home and know my mother just had a surgery and worry sick about her without being able to attend to her? Not really. So even though it's not yet clear how things will progress from here, I've decided to stay home simply because family comes first.

The funny thing of course is that those tickets are still available online, I mean it's just 5-6 days before I would be setting off and these cheap tickets are still out there, on emirates.com! Very, very tempting!

Instead, my new Plan is: I have tickets to Milan on Dec 23 and from Berlin on Jan 7, which was how I originally planned to spend the holidays. But now that I quit my job, there's nothing stopping me from stay longer in Europe and finding good use for my one-year multiple entrance visa to the Schengen zone. So I'm in talks with the airline to rebook my flight back from Berlin to Mar 3, 2011 and basically my trip would look like this:

Dec 23-25: Milan, Italy

evening flight to Cologne, Germany

Dec 26-28: Cologne, Germany (with a day trip to Brussels, Belgium)

night train to Munich, Germany

Dec 29-30: Munich, Germany

day train to Karlsruhe, Germany

Dec 30-Jan 3: Karlsruhe, Germany (with a possible day trip to Strasbourg, France)

night train to Berlin

Jan 3-Mar 3: rent an apartment/room in WG in Berlin, Germany (undertaking trips to Stockholm, Copenhagen and ..?)

Right now, I'm very very happy with this itinerary. So maybe Thailand is not going to work out this time, but instead I'll spend some quality time in Europe, attend the Berlinale and enjoy the spirit of Berlin for a while.

Life is good. Travel when you can!