Germany

Germany was by far the most expensive country I visited in 2018, however I was here with friends on short holidays, and we also splashed out for Oktoberfest. I really didn’t know what to expect, although some of my friends had predicted I would love it.

My friends Emily, Jono and I travelled first to Berlin, via Flixbus from Krakow in Poland. The bus was about AU$38 each, and super comfortable with power adapters, USB plugs, aircon and Wifi. Jono’s friend Lachie met us at our AirBnB in Neukölln, a great location with good public transport nearby. We ended up spending our four days in Berlin partying, visiting bars, clubs and pubs and I honestly couldn’t tell you the name of a single one. I was pleasantly surprised that beer was pretty cheap, most below €4, although I found it quite heavy and ended up drinking gin a lot of the time which was considerably more expensive.

I do recall visiting an opening night Lister exhibition, which was brilliant; Anthony Lister is an Australian street artist whose work is ubiquitous in Sydney where I used to live for a few years.

We briefly visited the East Side Gallery, and another day decided to do some “sightseeing”, however as it turned out it was the Berlin Marathon that day, so getting around the hoarding proved quite troublesome.

From Berlin we traveled west to the charming university city of Oldenburg, where Lachie had moved to live several years before. We were lucky enough to be able to stay with Lachie at his home, and he showed us his city by bicycle. In Oldenburg, bicycles rule, and I was more than a bit rusty so that was a bit embarrassing, and I ran into Em more than once.. Lachie showed us his community garden, a ten minute ride from his house where he and his friends all shared the yearly lease on a small backyard sized plot of land. Such a wonderful idea, some came to read, drink or hang out, others tended their gardens, picked fruit from the trees, and I even joined in making a bench from a tree they’d had to cut down. Oldenburg also had some beautiful markets serving amazing coffee (always a treat when you’re not in Australia..).

From Oldenburg we made a daytrip to Bremen on the train, about $14 return for an adult. It was completely picturesque, and there was a plethora of cafes and bars to stop for a drink or two. We enjoyed glasses of Kölsch beer, kind of an ale, kind of a lager, served as tradition in tall, thin, cylindrical glasses. So easy to throw back a few with lunch, and are automatically refilled until you put your coaster on top of your glass.

After a quick 24hours in Amsterdam, I said goodbye to my friends and met some others back in Germany, in the south this time for Oktoberfest! My friends had come from London, although their travel time on the plane was probably much quicker than my 15hrs on a bus from The Netherlands!

We’d chosen to stay in a hotel in Munich for four days, walking distance from the Oktoberfest festival, on the opening weekend. Two of the guys had arrived earlier in the day, and by the time I finally made my way through the crowds and snuck in to meet them at the Lowenbrau tent they were on their 6th stein. What a complete chaos. An incredible experience; but for me, four days was a little too long. I only managed two or three steins each day, but am glad I didn’t end up like those I saw crying on the floor, or spewing on the tables.

One day we took a break from the festival and did a free walking tour which was absolutely fantastic. It was cold in Munich at the end of September, and I remember shivering anytime we stopped to hear more from our guide. The tour went for about three hours, so a bit longer than most free walking tours, but our guide recommended restaurants to try the local fare, the produce markets and took us to Hofbrauhaus. Hofbrauhaus is the famous beer hall in Munich, and is huge once you get inside! I think it’s a must-do in Munich.

After Oktoberfest, I said goodbye to my drinking buddies and caught a train to Regensburg. Four months earlier, in Sri Lanka, I had met a guy called Stefan and we travelled together for a couple days. He said if I ever made it to Germany I could visit and he would show me around his city, so I did! Regensburg is not far from Munich, so I visited for one night before heading to Czechia. It’s a wonderful Bavarian city with great historic/medieval importance (too much to take in over one day unfortunately) and the sunset over the Danube that night was a beautiful way to end my time in Germany.

I don’t think I was there long enough to fully appreciate or understand Germany; nor was I able to explore on my own. Perhaps this year I’ll be back!