20th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down

November 9, 2009 is the 20th Anniversay of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Wikipedia tells us: The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a concrete barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (East Germany) that completely encircled the city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The Wall included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses.

There will be many activities and celebrations including U2 singing a free concert at the famous Brandenburg Gate. Ironically the concert organizers are building a wall 20ft high barrier around the free concert so only people who have (the free) tickets can see!

From our trip to Berlin in May 2008: In Berlin they mark where the wall was using bricks and metal markers that show where the wall used to be.




They have pieces of the wall on display in Potsdammer Platz.

The wall used to be in front of the Brandenburg Gate.



Near the Check Point Charlie museum is a replica of the Checkpoint. This is how you would get from the American/British/French sectors to the Russian Sector.

BonusHasselhoff: David Hasselhoff did not bring the Berlin wall down, but he was there to sing over the ruins.

Halloween

I wasn't sure how much Halloween there would be in Germany. In the supermarket, they sold some pumpkins. There was a Halloween display with some decorations, but sort of in the back.

I asked on my "German Way" ex-pat mailing list what the chances of Trick-or-Treaters were and they said:

"Depends on how many kids you have in your neighbourhood and whether they know that you "do" Halloween. When my boys were in elementary school, a few kids, mostly Turkish and Russian, would come to our house trick or treating, but in the past few years we've had no one show up despite the jack o' lantern outside the door.

"As others have said, not very likely. Although Halloween is more common in Germany these days, trick-or-treating is not."

So we got some pumpkins (they have many varieties, see above) from our local OBI (think Home Depot German Style) and carved them so we could show we "do" Halloween. I bought a couple of bags of candy "just in case". They don't have giant bags of candy for sale like in the U.S., but we could find some "fun" size candy bars.

As soon as it was dark and I lit the pumpkins and put them outside we had our first trick or treaters! In Germany they don't say "Trick or Treat", they say "Süßes sonst gibt's Saures" , that is, Sweets or we give Sours. I even saw some little boys prompting other little boys to say "danke"!

After a bit I had to drop the little one to go trick or treating with her friends...she said they would go up to small apartment buildings and push all the intercom buttons and when someone answered they would go up and who ever opened the doors would give them candy. Not everyone was really doing trick or treating so they got this one older lady who was sorry that she didn't have anything for them, but you know how all old ladies are required to have a dish of hard candies? She gave them "schwarz krauter" flavored hard candies...that means Black Herb and tasted like menthol to me.

When I got back we quickly had given away the last of the candy, so I went on a candy run. There was not much left at the store! Of course when I got back we only had one more group of kids come to the door...but hey! leftover candy!

I had also tried to see if there were any other Halloween activities...like pumpkin picking or Haunted Houses. The only thing I could find was a haunted house as the real Castle Frankenstein but you needed tickets for that and it was sold out. We did end up going to the Theme Park "Europa Park" over fall break and they had Haunted Houses and themed rides, but that is for another post.

Ireland, Day 4: Glendalough, Powerscourt, St. Stephen's Green

• Day 1: Adventures with Ryanair
  
• Day 2- Walking Tour of Dublin

• Day 3 - Newgrange, Tara and River Dance

• Day 4: Glendalough, Powerscourt, St. Stephen's Green

We continued on our bus day trip on this day. Glendalough, which means Glen of the Two Lakes, is one of the most important sites of monastic ruins in Ireland. St. Kevin built a retreat there in the 600's. For 500 years it was one of Irelands great ecclesiastical foundations and schools of learning. The establishment was attacked, burned and plundered by the Danes, who were based in the stronghold of Dublin, a shortish distance away, and making it an easy target..
Glendalough, despite extensive fire damage in 1163 A.D. prospered until the early 13th century. In 1163, Laurence O'Toole, Abbot of Glendalough, who later became Irelands first canonised saint, was appointed Archbishop of Dublin.
The arrival of the Normans in Ireland sealed the fate of Glendalough, as in 1214 the monastery was destroyed by the invaders and the Diocese of Glendalough was united with the Sea of Dublin. After that, Glendalough declined as a monastic establishment and gradually it became deserted.

Entering into the cemetery:

Next we walked around the two lakes.

The first lake...

The second lake.

After our hike out to the lakes, we were off to Powerscourt Gardens.

Powerscourt Garden is a 45 acre blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, statuary and ornamental lakes together with secret hollows, rambling walks, walled gardens and over 200 variations of trees and shrubs.

A view of the main estate building from the pond below:

The Italian Garden...

Close up of the lily-pads...

Entrance to the Japanese Gardens...

Pet Cemetery...

The Walled Garden...

Rose Garden...

Finally we drove back to Dublin and took a short walk in St. Stephen's Green.

St Stephen's green is a peaceful oasis in the heart of Dublin.Within the stone walls of this public park you will discover nine hectares of gardens/ponds/trees/lawns.

O.M.G.

O.M.G....I think the German's really do love David Hasselhof!
Spotted at the Kirwa (church fair) in Fürth today....





Wikipedia says:
"While his star rose, fell and rose again in the US, Hasselhoff's popularity remained a little longer in Europe during the end of the 80s. Hasselhoff had one number-one hit in the German pop charts in 1989 ("Looking for Freedom"), which very much resonated with the fall of the Berlin Wall at that time, and two more top-ten hits in 1989 and 1993."


or maybe they just love the 80's...this image was found on the same ride at the fair. Alf. In lights. Why? And there was the A-team too, and Kindergarten cop.







Greetings from the Kirchweih!

Also, the German's really like recycling. When you buy a ticket for a ride, you get a token instead of a paper ticket.

The Fürth Maypole.

A statue.

Seems like we go to alot of these fairs...but I was determined to get the kids outside today and this is what they would agree to! Also, German's love any excuse to go outside and drink beer, hence all of the fairs. Besides, today is German Reunification Day and nothing else was open.

Strange "health" things

Germany has some health-related things that are new to me!

You can find Sauerkraut juice at the supermarket...evidently it can be used for "cleansing" or a hangover cure.

or while hiking along the other day we ran into a "Kneip". I thought it was a kiddy pool, and I was told that is was not. It's a pool with cold water (I think this one is fed from a stream) where you march around, holding onto the railing in the middle. It is supposed to be good for circulation, which Germans are very concerned about.

Things I saw at the Supermarket

Unlike America where California or Chile is constantly churning out fruit/vegetables, Germany is much more "seasonal produce" oriented. Strawberries are pretty much gone and now it is plum season. I have also seen some other strange things:

Conical Cabbage:

Not sure what this is but I call it the "Fractal Vegetable":

and even Pumpkins! I hear that Halloween is getting bigger over her in Germany.

Things I saw on a bicycle ride

I got a bicycle path map from the Erlangen Tourist office (yes we have a tourist office) and I decided to go on one of the paths. Erlangen is extremely bicycle friendly. As I was riding along the path all of a sudden we need to go up!

This is basically stairs for a bike!

Am I in Germany or the Carribean?

Germany is having an election in a couple of days.

In the U.S., a typical election sign might look like this:

The goals seems to put the names in the largest letters possible so you will see the name and remember it.

In Germany a typical election sign looks like this:

The picture is the biggest thing, and then their name is at the bottom.

They also have their parties on the sign, in the case below, "CSU". I still think that looks like a logo for an energy company or something!