The South African Trip. Telling the story in beer language.

Not everyone relates to travel in terms of what nature did you see.

For these other travelers I'd like to repeat the South African story in a language you may understand. Beer!

In South Africa I these beers were consumed. Some were consumed repeatedly.
While others just repeated on me.

And after Göttingen I was gone again

Alas all good things come to an end. And well my 6 weeks away from work had run it's course.

On my final full day in Germany I was off to Göttingen. Another fine choice made by my guide Lina.

This place is mainly known as a university town. However I better remember the place for 2 things.

1) The City Hall. The artwork on the walls was fantastic.
And
2) It was freezing that day. It snowed. In the middle of spring.

The city also allowed me to mark off another state of Germany in my visit. Not that we get to know the states of Germany so well.

After visiting Lina's sister who also lives in Göttingen we went for a drive. To nowhere it would have seemed, as we had no idea where we were going. Nor a map to help us. We were in search of a historical castle associated to the Brothers Grimm. Lina had visited there once before. Eventually after stopping to ask for directions we found our way. To the castle which was officially shut for the winter, but open if you just walked in.

And that ladies and gentlemen was it for the trip 2012. Awe!

The End.

Hercules lives in Kassel

Castles and Kassel

I had decided upon Kassel as a stop in Germany on the basis of it being described by former Couchsurfers, and my former flatmate Lina as a must. Lina was again my host and guide for my stay in Kassel. I can't thank Lina enough for her hospitality during this trip.

Kassel was literally the surprise package of Germany. Alas in saying this I need to identify that emphasis was on the word "package". Because in Kassel that's what they seemed to have focused on in the past. Let me explain.

Hecules i on a pedestal in Kassel

You see Williamshöhe Park, is the most important park and castle built on the side of a hill on the edge of Kassel. This Palace was the vision of Jerome Bonaparte, the other other brother of Napoleon. Jerome was appointed the King of the region by his more famous brother. During his time Jerome spent up big on partying and castles. Yes I had never heard of Jerome before either. And well after seeing the park I kind of now understand why this place has never been given the top billing as a site of significance outside of local tourism.

It seems that Kassel, or well the builders of the most important park of Kassel were somewhat oblivious to what they were designing, or just very clever comedians having a good ol' chuckle to themselves. It's not until you've seen a map, or started the accent to the top that you realise you're in one giant phallic symbol of a park. It seems Napoleon had a family secret. That secret being that his brother Jerome loved the penis!

Whether it was that he was gay, or he was just in loud and proud of his own anatomy we'll never really know. Don't need to know. But one thing for sure is that once you've had the first one pointed out, then that's all you see. Makes for a funny park walk when you realise you realise that you've just walked around a symbolic water feature with 2 wider symetrical ponds at the bottom, and were now walking uphill along a cascading straight water feature, towards a giant Hercules statue perched on the top of a hill. Innocent, yeah right!

Having mentioned all this, the park is absolutely stunning. The walk uphill, although it took away my breadth was worth every step. It is a place of beauty even in the cold winter. For anyone wanting to see a map of the park as a reference. Look here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Bergpark_wilhelmshoehe_karte_1.jpg

Anyway that's not what Kassel was all about. There was a 2nd significant castle nearer to the centre of the city. Grand in size, and a magnificent in appearance. But with less phallic references.

That evening, Good Friday, was my last night of going out in Germany. Luckily with Kassel being Lina's old stomping ground we were able to find a great local pub with a few of her friends to sit and drink with. One last German Weissbier.

Dortmund Statues are sick!

Warning: this article contain graphic depictions of Soccer Ball Abuse.

I went on to travel from Dusseldorf to Dortmund. Partly because I was thinking I'd catch up with a former couchsurfer, and partly because I wanted to cover off the whole of the west side of Germany. Dortmund is afterall an important city.

Dortmund was very "new". Just like many of the cities on this side of Germany the allies in World War 2 didn't leave much in original condition. So my experience here was somewhat walking the streets enjoying Europe.

I tried to be cultured by going to the Dortmund U. Their Modern Art museum on the edge of downtown. However I struggled enjoying this outside of one or two exhibits. From there I followed the real culture of Dortmund, the Football. Everywhere you look, everywhere you walk, there was the Yellow and Black. Bumblebee's everywhere. This city was sure proud of it's football team. In the stores you could get everything Dortmund. I even saw Dortmund the dog food.

They even had a Football Museum to commemorate the club's success. So off to the Football stadium I was in search of this football culture.

Alas the visit was not as inspiring as the build up. Perhaps it was the colours. More likely it was the disturbed statue out the front calling me to action. Dortmund "Say no to the abuse of soccer balls by statues". I don't need to explain what I saw this statue doing to soccer balls. The photos below speak for themselves.

It left me wondering just how disturbed are these Dortmund statues. Getting away with such despicable acts to soccer balls. Alas I was too late to save these soccer balls.

But with my now highlighting the dangers of this statue, perhaps, just perhaps, other soccer balls can come out of hiding. I hope the authorities will act now to put this sick mythical statue away. Before more balls are punctured.

The du's and don'ts of Dusseldorf

The one rule of Dusseldorf I learnt to fit in with the locals was to say "I like Altbier. I don't like Kolch."

After trying the beer I was at least able to say this without lying through my teeth. Sorry Cologne I wasn't just baiting you in my previous post.

However another thing I learnt. Was if you actually play "Menu Russian Roulette" with the chef you'll probably lose. I ordered the "I'll eat what the chef puts in front of me" from the menu. The was whilst out at dinner with my couchsurfing host who had taken me out for the night to introduce me to Dusseldorf. Actually wasn't disappointed that much, although I do hate liverwurst. It was a fun item to see on the menu. It just proves that I don't enjoy all German food.

 

Dusseldorf is a nice city. It has it's old town centre, the Aldstadt, and all the new buildings. One thing I have taken away from this trip is that in WW2 we didn't miss much. Every city in this region was like 95% wiped out.

Anyway I spent a full day on foot again exploring. One other small highlight during the day. I found a small restaurant which had pork knuckle on the menu. The owner once realising I was "english" was so keen to get me in and eat at his restaurant. I was pleased he had an english menu. Even more so once I realised I had found a german dish I really do enjoy once in a while.

I added in Essen

After planning my trip and how many days here and there within the Western side of Germany I was planning my former flatmate Lina added in, "You should go to Essen for a day". So a lesson on Essen is what I had.

I lived it up here. Stayed in a hotel as compared to the normal hostel stops I make when traveling normally. It was a good change. But alas I didn't know anyone in Essen. And it was Sunday night. No one goes out Sunday night in Essen.

Then during the Monday I did a very cultural thing. I visited a historically listed mine site. Zollverien. The experience was somewhat lost on me as it's "Industrial history". Very cold feel. It's not natural beauty. It's not historical architecture. And well I now know it doesn't interest me. To me it was just a former coal mine site.

Alas part the failure was me. Because I don't speak German. However the tourist information people in Essen didn't assist the situation. They suggested I go here on Monday instead of Sunday. As a lot of the other Museums were to be closed on the Monday. Alas they run the English tours only on the weekend. I could only go around the outside of the huge site with headphones. Which alas was deserted thanks to the cold of winter.