Welcome to Washington D.C.
19. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ 🌩️ 26 °C
The next day we had to wake up nearly in the middle of the night (6.30am), so that we could grab some breakfast and check out the amazing Kimpton, to get to the train station of Charlottesville. We took the AMTRAK to the Capital of the United States: Washington D.C.
The train ride was very enjoyable, but longer than I expected. It took us nearly 2,5hrs, the train wasn't very fast. It was old, though, so maybe that had something to do with it. When we arrived at Union Station in DC, we were kinda disappointed at first, as it looked like a normal station, not interesting at all. But then we got to the entrance hall and that was beautifully designed. It looked old but very fancy. We hopped onto our bus and drove straight to our next destination: Unlimited Biking. As the name suggests, we got some bikes there and went on a tour around all the different Memorials and Monuments DC has to offer. And there are loads. I haven't had lots of expectations, but I definitely haven't thought that DC was so big and green and accessible by bike and foot. The National Mall was yet again not a shopping center but a huge kind of park along Pennsylvania Street, that started at the Capitol and went on up to the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. These buildings were all so impressive! And you can see them all for free as well. DC was a planned city, which used land from Maryland and Virginia to be created. It was basically only marsh land before the founding fathers decided to dry it completely. They started to build the Washington Monument in 1848 without any funding and thought that the money would come, once people realized how cool of a project it is. However, that didn't work out, so that they had to stop...and for 26 years the unfinished obelisk was an eyesore. When money was eventually raised, the slaves in DC finished the project in 1884, and was for five years the tallest building in the world. Then came the Eiffeltower of course, but the Monument remained a very impressive structure and until now the tallest building in the world that is only built with bricks. It's hollow inside with stairs and an elevator to get up to a visitors platform. The first elevator took 11 minutes to get up to 555 feet, can you imagine? It's enough time to have three panic attacks and two calm downs. Until 1976, people could use the 896 steps up, however they closed it down since, as they were sick of rescuing people half way up. We saw the Vietnam War Memorial which was the first War Memorial in DC. The founding fathers originally wrote down that they didn't want to ever have any war memorials in DC, as they feared that this could somehow seem as if they'd glorify war. After the Vietnam War though, hundreds of veterans petitioned to get a memorial for their lost comrades and finally got one. The one they've built has actually lots of architectural meaning behind it. It's dug into the Earth, so to show the deep wound the war has left. They also have engraved all the lost soldier's names chronologically and clockwise, so that they meet back in the middle, back to back which symbolizes that they all come back together in the end. Thousands of people have since left gifts for their loved ones and as the National Park Service (who manages the memorial) thought that these things can't be thrown away or stolen, so that they started to collect them. After all those years, millions of little things came together and space tight. So now they have to decide what to keep and what to throw away. They wanted to show them to the public by building a museum next to the memorial, however funding is still not enough. After they built the Vietnam War Memorial, other War Memorials followed, like e.g. the World War II Memorial from 2004. It has a huge pillar for every state that was part of the US plus Hawaii and Alaska. In the middle of the ring of pillars, a big spring was created. The architect of the memorial actually wanted people to be able to jump into it, as it is a kind of ritual to do that after war to show community and hope. However, it's only allowed to sit on the rim and put your feet inside nowadays. Still a good way to cool off during a hot day like today. We didn't have time for that, though, as we were on a strict schedule (as usual on FAMs). Our next stop was the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial which looked across a lake right to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Our last stop on the National Mall was the Abraham Lincoln Memorial which is really impressive. The assassinated president really is huge. The building itself is created after the Pantheon in Athen, as Lincoln was a huge democrat and Athen the birthplace of democracy. In front of the building are the world famous words "I have a dream" by MLK Jr. engraved at the exact place where he stood all these years prior and held this speech. He was looking at 250.000 people at the National Mall. That's a quarter million. I can't even talk straight to one other person sometimes.
Our last stop was the White House, home to all presidents of the United States but Washington. We couldn't get close to it, though, because it was in use that day. Kamala Harris and some other politicians worked there to discuss the budget of the US. We even saw how one of the helicopters escorted Kamala to the meeting, driving through the streets. It is so weird to know that such an important person is in the same city as you, and even kind of in reach. I'm really crossing all my fingers and toes that Kamala is voted president in November. Otherwise, it will be a difficult 4 more years not only for the states but for the whole world. I don't want to know what happens, when two tyrants like Putin and Trump are in power at the same time.
Giving our bikes back at the pickup station and saying our goodbyes to David our guide, we finally drove to our last hotel. The Yotel was opposite of the Hyatt, only a ten minute walk away from the Capitol and 40 minutes from the wharf. It was super modern, with mood lights and a very weird but somehow cool bed that you could roll in and out like in the hospital (but cooler).Weiterlesen
2nd Day of the Fair + Paramount Theater
18. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Another day, another bunch of appointments that were over quite quickly, and with it the GTE. It was actually not as bad as I thought it would be, I could have had a couple more appointments. Obviously, I didn't ask for more.
Instead, I wrote my name on the list for people who wanted to go on a tour through the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville. I've learned about it during one of my appointments and when Teresa, the woman from Charlottesville, told me that she wanted to organize a trip to the mall downtown, I just asked her if it would be possible to see the Theater as well. She arranged it immediately, and so me and a few other people left the hotel a bit earlier at 4pm to go there. It was a very nice, old theater from 1931, which was restored to the old glory 20 years ago, to be a place for live music, ballet, opera and cinema. We were able to go onto the stage and try the acoustics (Alex randomly started to sing and decided that the acoustics were brilliant), as well as see where the changing rooms were, where all the people who have ever performed in the theater have signed the walls. A funny story about the Paramount Theater: The former owner wanted the floor to be painted and when the employees asked which colour, he just answered: "For all I care, you could paint a dinosaur. Just do the job." When he came back, there was a dinosaur on the floor, grinning. It's been there ever since and everyone remembers the floor with its dinosaur.
After the tour around the Paramount Theater, we looked at the little shops at the mall. I honestly expected a huge shopping center, as I only knew the word "mall" to be that. As it turned out, it's more of a European pedestrian zone with a nice open space, surrounded by little shops, restaurants and cafés. We sat down in the Crush Pad Wine Bar, which was recently named in the Top 5 wine bars in the US. And it really was a nice place with shelves full of wine from around the world (but especially the region). The most expensive wine I saw was a bottle for $400. The vibe was cozy and laid-back, though. And we met the owner of the bar who was French, has lived in Germany (in the non-existent city of Bielefeld) and Belgium and didn't like to live in the states. He said that the Germans are the best people, we would always be very funny and chill. I don't know what they did to his brain in Bielefeld, maybe some tests on aliens, but I didn't know that such a positive feedback for us Germans could exist. It felt very appreciative, though.
After an hour, it was time to move our group toward The Doyle Hotel, where we'd have our closing event of the GTE. We had good food and drinks and a DJ who could mostly read the room. And I must have been in superb company, as I was convinced to go onto the dance floor to actually dance. Whoever knows me, knows that I've never ever danced before in public and felt 100% uncomfortable with it... But for some reason I started to feel alright with the people I was with. I gotta admit that I have never felt so good within an international group before, so I really enjoyed the feeling of being amidst... New friends. The party at The Doyle Hotel ended quite too soon, but we went into the Buyer's Lounge at our hotel and did some more or less karaoke there. Marlon sang (amazingly good) to Celine Dion and Adele, the French girls sang to some French/Belgian songs. The Brits at the other table tried to dampen our mood with nasty comments about the songs we chose, but we fought them with our happiness, until 11pm. Then I went to bed, tomorrow would be a very early rise.Weiterlesen
First Day of the CRUSA GTE 2024
17. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ 🌧 22 °C
The day started early with breakfast at the Lower Level of the Kimpton Hotel. As it was my first show, I was kinda nervous, but the older folks reassured me, that it would be easy-breezy. We were the buyers, they wanted to sell things to us, so we didn't owe them anything. That was good advice, however, I was still not 100% sure what to expect. I didn't have to wait long, until I found out with my first appointment of the day. Luckily, it was Jake from Frederick, Maryland, so that I could learn more easily with him what to say and expect. The appointments came and went by pretty fast, each one of them being only 12 minutes long, and the 3 minute breaks were always good to write down notes and mentally prepare for the next one.
The day went by with lots of chatting, listening and sucking up all the information the sellers offered. I don't know how on Earth I should remember all of that, but luckily they would all do a follow-up afterwards.
The day was done and we had a short break, before getting on yet another shuttle to the Southwest Mountains Vineyards, our location for the night. It did not disappoint. That was the most beautiful location we've been to so far. It had such a good vibe, so cozy and nice. The food was good, the drinks were good, and we had some amazing music playing. The photographer was on cloud nine with all the people asking him for pictures. We did a bunch as well, I just don't have them yet. I'll follow up, too.Weiterlesen
The History around Charlottesville
16. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Today we had breakfast at the Lower Level in the Groove Ballroom where we'd also have our GTE fair. Luckily, it was served on real plates with real silverware and not on paper or plastic. The waste in the US is crazy.
After breakfast, we hopped onto a shuttle which brought us up to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello which he architecturally created in the late 18th century. He has always dreamed of living on top of the hill he was looking up to growing up, so when he had the money, he just did it. He was the third president of the United States and the writer of the Declaration of Independence. He actually didn't want to write it but John Adams asked him to, as he wasn't as known to the other influential characters of that time and therefore they wouldn't find so many things offending. Also as Jefferson is from Virginia, one of the first states of the US, his word had kind of more power to it than the one of the later 2nd president to that time. When the first draft of the Declaration was given to the congressmen, they had 86 changes, which made Jefferson feel mutilated. He was an architect, creating multiple famous buildings, and he founded the University of Virginia, the 2nd oldest university of the US. He was also a huge hypocrite, as he wanted to end slavery in the US, and still had dozens of them to build Monticello. He also thought that you shouldn't mix "white" blood with "black" blood, and still had a very long lasting relationship of some kind with one of his female slaves and got at least 6 children (of whom 4 make it to adulthood) out of that. Sally Hemings, said slave, was taken to Paris with him during his Ambassador time there. In France she was free, because there wasn't an institution of slavery in place, so she could have stayed there to have a free life. But she negotiated with him, that she wanted to do only light work, get special treatment, and that the to-be-born children of theirs to be freed when they'd reach their 21st birthday. She was 15 at the time. I think, that is absolutely remarkable of her and somehow still stupid. But when you've lived in more or less of a cage all your life, it can be quite scary to actually go out into the real world and be free.
Jefferson died on the 4th July 1826, exactly 50 years after the Independence, and also on the same day as former president James Adams. There were lots of rumours about that at the time, obviously, but it was just a weird coincidence.
After getting to know all of this controversy, we hopped from one president's home, to the next. James Monroe's Highland sits only a short drive away on the hill next to Jefferson's. Monroe actually only bought that land, because he was very good friends with Jefferson and they wanted to be neighbors. After Jefferson's death, the Monroe's sold the house, and the original one burned down in 1829. They've only found out about it ten years ago, as the later owners have built (unknown to them) on top of the old president's home, and everyone thought that the home of the fifth president of the United States was a small little house that actually was only the guest house. Well...
After all that history, we got some lunch in an old historic Tavern, and drove to an Apple Farm afterwards where they also had loads of pumpkins.
That was it for the tour through Charlottesville (not seeing anything of the actual city) and we had some resting time before dinner.
Tonight was the big opening event with all the buyers, suppliers and allied members of the CRUSA GTE 2024, so I thought I could make myself a bit pretty with wearing a fancy dress and - oh my word - make up.
I was glad that I put extra effort in my appearance, when we arrived at the Montalto Winery, our location for tonight. It was pretty fancy a very nice place to hit the show off. Good food, drinks, view and company. It was a nice evening, but we kept it short, as tomorrow would be the first day of the fair and we'd have to be in check for that.Weiterlesen
Skyline Drive through Shenandoah
15. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Our lunch took place at Isabella's Taverna & Tapas Bar, which served us some very creative and delicious food. For an entree, I had fried green esperagos with a mayonnaise-tomato kind of sauce that somehow tasted like from McDonald's (but I loved it) and was served in a glass for champagne. That was funny.
We enjoyed our meals and were all pretty full afterwards, which made the tour that would come now rather uncomfortable. We hopped on our bus and drove down the Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park. It was quite a cool scenic drive, and luckily the Vomex I took beforehand saved me from getting sick during all the hard turns and sharp curves. The weather was also pretty perfect to have a good view from the Blue Ridge Mountains and so it was quite an enjoyable experience. In the evening, we finally arrived at our hotel on the campus of the University of Virginia. It was just beautiful and my room was so stylish, I loved every bit of it. Our dinner was a fancy little event sponsored by Virginia Beach with good food and nice chats that introduced us to the buyer's side of the GTE fair, we'd attend the next few days.Weiterlesen
Walking through Downtown Frederick
15. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
The morning began early once again and with a last breakfast at the TownePlaza Hotel before checking out, and walking through downtown Frederick. The Visitor Center welcomed us with a short movie about Frederick, showing off all the different things you can do around the County. Then we walked further on to the National Museum of the Civil War Medicine, which (who could have guessed) explained all the medical happenings during the Civil War. It was actually very interesting to hear how many things were invented during that time. For example, they haven't had usable ambulances before that, that could bring wounded soldiers to the field hospitals to save more lives. Jonathan Letterman eventually created better, more stable ambulances that wouldn't hurt the wounded more than they'd help them, and trained the ambulance corps to do the job. In the Civil War, the Union fought against the Confederates. Both had only one hospital before the war. Afterwards they had over 200 hospitals each. But the hospitals they used to have, were bad. Every fifth person didn't survive the hospitalisation back then. They believed that people died from bad smells, because where did people get ill? In swamps and big cities, i.e. bad smelling places. So, Florence Nightingale created a new structure for hospitals. She invented small, airy buildings, that only held up to 60 people, having huge windows and lots of space between the patients. She made sure, that the patients and buildings were kept clean, which resulted in the death mortality decreasing to under 5%. They did it for the wrong reasons as they didn't know about germs and bacteria yet, however, it worked.
Did you know that the usual Hollywood movie scenes with wounded people getting amputations and no anesthesia whatsoever are totally dramatized? 90% of the amputations were done under patients given chloroform or ether. They would also get morphine and opium afterwards to ease the pain. That actually resulted in a lot of drug addictions later on. But they were aware of the mental difficulties the war could bring with it, so they tried to work against that. The funniest fact for me was that most men didn't die from the actual fighting, wounds, drugs or hygiene - they were starving to death. But not because they didn't have enough to eat... But because they didn't know how to cook it. Their wives always did that, the men never learned to cook, so they were basically lost. How ironic it is, that tough, strong guys who might have always looked down upon cooking and women's work, now needed that "unnecessary, unworthy" knowledge to survive. What's even worse: They didn't learn from it. I bet, if we'd be in a war nowadays, most men would still not know how to cook properly to get sufficient nutrients during the war.
They also died because they drank the water from the latrines from them and their horses... Not like directly from them, but from downstream. Speaking of horses: It was very difficult to not only feed all the men but also the horses and mules they had with them. Millions of horses and mules died during the war, that's the really sad part. They didn't have anything to do with it...
We learned quite a lot about the Civil War and the inventions during the time, the exhibitions were interesting and engaging, so it was a good time there. I would have loved learning more, however, time is always limited on FAMs, so we left the museum and went to the next stop which was a hotel still under construction. The Visitation Hotel Frederick, Marriott Tribute Collection was a girls school run by nuns once. It'll open at the end of the year and will be a tribute to the history of the nuns' lives.
Afterwards, we made our way to our lunch through the city once more and I gotta admit that Frederick is so damn pretty. It looks very European with its Historic District and all the little independent and locally owned shops. it's walkable, super clean and you just feel safe around there. I'd never expected that I'd like the city so much, but I did.Weiterlesen
A Day In Frederick County
14. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
After an amazing 9 hours of sleeping, I woke up at 6am and made myself some coffee in my kitchen, before heading down for breakfast. It was continental, so I could eat like a normal person and not like an American. Then we started our day of touring around Frederick County with driving to the Cunningham Falls State Park. It's situated right next to the Catoctin Mountain Park and creates a huge Recreational Area for the citizens of Frederick. We hiked the Falls Trail with a Ranger explaining a bit about the nature of the park until we reached the Cunningham Falls that give the State Park its name. Loads of the stones there have a greenish tint and that comes from metabasalt which "burns" at much lower temperatures than jade, so that it doesn't get a glassy look but stays stone-ish. The water of the Cunningham Falls isn't drinkable and there are actually pretty toxic algae in the lake at the moment that also kills the wildlife living in the State Park that drinks from it. There are white-tailed deer, black bears, turtles, many birds and insects in the park. Then we made our way down towards the men-made lake and its beach, which felt rather natural and not at all artificially created. The birds and crickets there were so freaking loud, you really felt the surrounding nature. We left the State Park behind us and drove to the Catoctin Furnace Museum which showed off the history and makings of the furnace. There was an actual Blacksmith working outside in his workshop, who we could watch working for a while. Then we looked at some old houses from the 1820s which could also be rented as an apartment and had original furniture of the time when Catoctin used to produce iron. There was also an old shop which was the only opportunity for the citizens of Catoctin to get groceries without half a day trip to the next town back in the day. We also saw the last remaining furnace called Isabella (named after the owners wife) where the African American slaves have worked really hard to produce iron. When they died, they were buried next to a busy street, which gave them no peace, even in their deaths.
We took off to the Roddy Road where the first stop of a Covered Bridges trail is. The Covered Bridges are covered to prevent the snow and rain from destroying the bridges. Apparently, they are used in the Beetlejuice movie, old and new. So, fans of these movies would like it, I guess. The Roddy Road Bridge is the shortest Covered Bridge in Maryland, there are two others that are much longer.
Lunchtime brought us to the Catoctin Breeze Vineyard where we could see the harvest taking place. At harvesting time, they have to pluck the grapes and pick out all remaining greens manually, before they can become wine. The Catoctin wine is only available regionally at the moment, however the family owned business plans to expand someday to national and maybe even international. We got to test the red Adagio and the white Symphony of 2022. As the big wine-drinker I am, I could say that I liked the white one better than the red one. Other people in my group, who actually understand something about wine, said that both were pretty good wines, very light, fruity and tasty. What I did find very tasty was the catering, though. They had a lemon cheese that was to die for and amazingly delicious chocolates as dessert that reminded me of German Dominosteine that we eat during the winter season quite a lot.
After lunch, we went outside to enjoy the sun a bit. However, there were loads of moth-like bugs that kept flying around us and we kept trying to kill them, as Emily explained to us that they are invasive and eat the trees and the government actually asks people to kill them. Only following the rules there.
The live music began and we had to drive to our next stop: The Monocacy National Battlefield Museum. The Monocacy Battle actually saved Washington D.C. from being taken over by the Confederates during the Civil War. The Union (people against slavery) hasn't won the battle, however they postponed the Confederate troops to get to Washington D.C. for 24 hours, which was just enough time for more troops to come from Petersburg to defend the capital against Earlys troops. Basically, the men fell in Monocacy to save lives in Washington D.C.
But the Monocacy Battlefield has more layers of history to it, as there is a whole other story about the farm and its black slaves on the battlefield documented as well.
Leaving all the history behind us, we drove back to our hotel to rest for a bit, before driving downtown to join the "In the Streets" Festival. There was lots of good music, beer and wine to enjoy. Carroll Creek Park is actually the biggest water-based park in the US, and has hundreds of different water lilies in the creek during the summer time. During winter, handcrafted boats are put into the water instead of the plants. Each boat comes from another local company-charity cooperation. You can scan the QR code on the boats and vote for your favourite boat. Each vote is one dollar that then goes to the charity the boat represents. This fundraiser takes place each year from around Thanksgiving until March. I'd actually love to see the boats with their lights in the middle of winter in Frederick. Next to being a beautiful park, the Carroll Creek is also home to lots of nice art displays like murals, sculptures and historic milestones. For example, there is a memorial of the tavern where George Washington and Benjamin Franklin met for the first time, discussing their battle strategies before being the famous people they eventually became.
We ended the day with a very loud but atmospheric dinner at the hip new restaurant of Bentztown.Weiterlesen
Once Again: Off to the US
13. September 2024 in den USA ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Waking up at 6am in the morning is never great. But waking up at 6am next to my cute little doggo is always great. Especially when I cuddle up to her furry butt until she greets me with her tongue on my face. We were laying on the couch of Marv. He would look after Aluna once again when I was flying over the Atlantic Ocean for the second time this year. And as I wasn't able to sleep in Frankfurt the day before as usual (due to a horrendous price of 395€ per night for the Maritim because of a fair), I had to wake up in the middle of the night to catch the train. But I wouldn't miss cuddling with Luni for ten minutes longer for anything in the world. That actually led to me having to run to the train so to not miss it. I'm never running. I can't run. It's horrible. Who invented that? Well, I caught the train nevertheless and it actually looked as if it would arrive on time - which it eventually did. I still got bad news during the ride: Maria wouldn't come with us. She was the group leader of the CRUSA GTE (the FAMs name) and she and her whole family had COVID now. So, as I would have shared an aisle with her, now I was flying alone. Well, not completely alone. The other person on our ticket was Yannick, another buyer for the fair. I immediately texted him to ask when he'd arrive at the airport and we made a plan to meet up. I found him without any problems, and we hit it off right away. We went through Check-in and Security without any problems as well, however, I had to go through a special security check. It wasn't that big of a deal, and was done within two minutes. Therefore, we had more than enough time to get comfortable at the gate. At last, the Boarding started and we had to get in busses to get to the plane. A last bit of fresh air, then we were on our seats. I was actually hoping, now that Maria wouldn't come with us, that we'd have an aisle for ourselves. However, there must have been a last minute booking or a seat change or whatever, because another man got Maria's seat next to me, which meant that I had to sit in the middle for the next 8 hours. But it wasn't that bad actually, as I had good conversations with Yannick and otherwise enjoyed the Board Entertainment. The flight was over quickly and we got off from the plane and into a very NASA like moon truck thingy which could lift itself up and down and dock onto the different platforms where the planes would roll to. It really looked surreal, but we thought it was super cool and efficient!
The immigration control was something I've feared quite a lot after the last officer interrogated me so harshly I thought I was a criminal. This time, a young dude asked me about my last time in Vegas, as I was wearing my Las Vegas hoodie, and we discussed the heat there. It was pretty chill and I liked him. Then he asked me whether I'd have any fruits or vegetables with me, and... Of course I still had some carrots and my obligatory apple with me. I told him as I didn't want any debacle like in Australia again and he sent me and my passport off to some other officers. Although I was separated from Yannick now, I wasn't that nervous. They were all very polite and even friendly when they brought me to another location behind the luggage collection. I had to wait a couple of minutes before an officer completely butchered my name, calling for me. I can understand... They always write my second name on it as well, as if it's one name. Another officer saw the "Michelle" in it and we all had a good laugh about it. I have already taken out the carrots and apple from my backpack, so she just threw them away and gave me back my passport. I could go. Well, that was a very nice little side-quest and not terrible at all. Coming back to pick up my luggage, I found Yannick standing there with Thorsten, another buyer and a good friend of my boss. We'd be together on the Pre- and Post-FAM, and I liked him immediately. Another woman came to us, her name Elizabeth, she's from the US government and would come to the GTE fair. After getting our luggage, we went to the arrival zone where we found Scott and Stacey immediately, who were welcoming us to the CRUSA GTE FAM-trip. We were the first to arrive which gave us some extra time to look around, go to the toilet, etc. The others were coming in one by one and then within a whole group. The FAM was international this time, so we got people from the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Britain. It's always a bit different with an international group, because you can speak way more freely in your own language, and therefore you'll do it more and stick with your national group more. So the exchange can be there but somehow it is limited still. A good thing was though, that the French speakers were willing to speak English. Good sign. It's also always weird to be there as a younger person, because usually the older ones know each other for centuries and are like a well-oiled machine, like class mates. And I always feel like I'm the new kid that stands awkwardly at the side and is afraid of talking. But I felt that there was another "new kid", the Swiss, and I told him exactly that feeling and we bonded over that really quickly. Now, I already had a way in. As we discovered that we wouldn't be in the same FAMs, I introduced Yannick to him, as he'd be with him, and our small group grew. Then Thorsten came back and we were four. That felt good. I wasn't the new kid anymore. It's easy within tourism, though. Everyone is pretty open, pretty chill and very friendly. So, it's never difficult to find friends.
When everyone was there, we were brought to our busses and I had to say goodbye to Yannick and Sam (the Swiss) for the next two days. We'd see each other again on Sunday evening. Thorsten and I entered the bus and sat down in the last aisle which I found to be a huge mistake immediately. We were sitting right beneath the air con and it was set on "Antarctica". My brain felt like freezing after seconds and I grabbed my hoodie that I took off earlier as it was 26°C outside. Now, I was shivering and I literally felt my just shaken off cold coming back to grab hold of me yet again. Luckily, Thorsten felt the same and we asked the driver to turn off the air con a bit. He did turn it off to less, however, the air con temperature was still competing with Antarctica, so I was still super cold. After an hour of driving in the fridge, my head wanted to explode. The hotel had our room keys prepared, so that we could put our luggage in our rooms. I would have my own room which isn't a given on FAMs but I appreciated it dearly. The room wasn't really special, but it had a whole kitchen and walk-in wardrobe, which made me question how long they expected people to be wanting to stay here. Anyway, I just left my luggage behind and went down again to meet the rest of the group that had arrived earlier and to get some food. We met in one of the hotel's meeting rooms and Emily, the person from Visit Frederick who'd be with us for the next two days, greeted me. She seemed to be just as young as I was, which I thought was pretty cool. The food was catered and there were veggie options, even salad. I didn't like the vegetarian lasagna at all, but I did like the mashed potatoes (with like 50% butter in it), so I could fill my empty stomach. The other people were friendly and funny, however, my head was hurting so much and my social battery was on a very low Low, so that I could barely sit there and not fall from my chair. Wolfgang, a Dutch sitting next to me, sensed my tiredness and told me that it would be fine to just leave. I was too shy to actually do that. So when he told Emily that he'd go to sleep, I gladly followed him. He said "We could sit there for another hour and try listening to these people talk about something I couldn't care less about right now, or we could just go to sleep and be social again tomorrow." And that was such an honest and true statement that I couldn't help but smile. Sometimes, you gotta be true to yourself and listen to your body. And right now, my body was screaming for a hot shower and my comfortable hotel bed. So, I gave it to myself and went to bed at 9pm. Tomorrow would be an early rise nevertheless, so better catch some much needed rest now.Weiterlesen
Ingolstadt and AUDI museum mobile
26. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Today we had a quiet breakfast before checking out. Afterwards, we went into Downtown Ingolstadt where I spent some more money on new clothes but otherwise, it wasn't a very interesting city.
We quickly went back to the Maritim hotel to get the car and drive to the Audi Forum. There, we looked at the history of Audi in the museum mobile and the current exhibition about aerodynamics. It was quite interesting but a little cunfusing because of the structure of the museum.
After a little lunch, we made our way back home.Weiterlesen
Attention Car-Enthusiasts - MotorWorld
25. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
After sleeping away half the day, we finally got in the car and drove back to Munich. There, we visited the MotorWorld which is a place for car enthusiasts to see and experience loads of nice, fancy cars. It's for free, as all the cars on display are from individuals or motorsport clubs or whatever that want to show off their cars. In return, they get a safe and dry place for their babies. And maybe they get something out of people wanting to look at their cars, too. It was pretty cool, especially because I could watch F1 for free there. If I'd live near Munich, I'd make it my Sunday ritual to go there whenever F1 is on. But there were also so many details like the bathrooms or the decorations that were just screaming "CARS", lovely.Weiterlesen
Singing with Adele and 80.000 others
24. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
We arrived at the concert and were baffled by the good organisation of the whole thing. Luckily, we've bought the parking ticket in advance and therefore hadn't have any issues with parking. Then, we joined the hundreds and hundreds of people on the 30min walk from the parking lot to the Adele World. When we arrived, itWeiterlesen
Schloss Nymphenburg and its Park
24. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
The heat prohibited any fast movements but I rushed around the park anyway. There wasn't too much to see actually, so the hour that my fam gave me was enough for me to see all the "highlights" of the park.Weiterlesen
Blossoms at the Botanical Garden
24. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
The day started with an alarm clock screaming in my ear which felt like a fist directly into my face. My mood went to Minus 100 immediately. The next thing I recognised was my sisters face, which didn't bring up my mood at all. I'd much rather would have liked the fluffy little butt of Aluna in my face.
But gotta work with whatever life brings you.
We met for a nice, long breakfast with my parents and had just a couple of arguments instead of a dozen. Improvement.
We were done around 10am and wanted to get going at 11am. We actually left the hotel around 12pm. Yeah. And we only had one huge fight about wasting our time! Amazing.
After a quick one hour drive, we found a parking lot very easily and headed toward the Botanical Garden.
There we found lots and lots of interesting flowers and plants from around the world. I would have loved to learn more about the specifics of each one of them, but I'm not a botanist and we didn't have a guide unfortunately. Maybe next time.
As we still had time before the Adele concert, but my family didn't want to move anymore, I made my own way to see the Schlosspark of Nymphenburg next door.Weiterlesen
Spending Money on the Way to Ingolstadt
23. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Today I woke up at my parents house to a very lovely "Kids! Wake up!" shout from downstairs. It got better when I got a pillow thrown in my face by my sister. I love travelling with my family...
Downstairs, the stress my mother felt was tangible. She was behaving as if we'd travel for 4 weeks and not only 4 days. Well, I ate breakfast and tried to block out the questions and commands for at least 10min. After making myself ready, I packed the car and honestly, it was way too full for the length of the trip. But hey, we're ready for all eventualities.
Avoiding a breakdown from my mom just by millimeters, we finally took off, driving south. We stopped for my sandals at home real quick and drove on to the highway afterwards. Construction site after construction site, we conquered the kilometers. We made a stop at the Puma outlet store in Kirchheim, spent some money and drove on. Because we all can't get enough of spending money, we decided to visit the Ingolstadt Village today, which is a huge Outlet Center with lots of different brands. I can't remember when I was trying on so many different kinds of trousers last time. But at least I got new sweat pants, sports trousers and some very nice Levi's in the end. But my wallet was much lighter afterwards.
Finally, we were all done and tired of spending money, so we drove to our hotel, checked in and had a very nice dinner. Then we tried out the pool of the hotel, to tire out our bodies as well. Now, it really is time to sleep.Weiterlesen
Ingolstadt Village
23. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Traffic Jams Back Home
4. August 2024 in Deutschland ⋅ 🌬 22 °C
After sleeping in, we took a stroll to the dog beach where Aluna couldn't go in the water because of the shore that is made of big stones, no sand. Shitty, I know.
As it was the end of the summer holidays in Lower Saxony as well as the Wacken Open Air finished, the streets would be full, so we decided to drive home directly without stopping in Lübeck. A pity, as I really would have liked to visit the city again. Next time, I guess. And it was a good decision, as the highways really were full. We got several times into a traffic jam, but luckily made it home safely.
Songs of the trip:
Wonderland - Natalia Kills
Too sweet - Hozier
Stargazing - Myles SmithWeiterlesen
Binging on the Ferry Back Home
3. August 2024, Baltic Sea ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
The day on the ferry was dark, full of food and binging "Türkisch für Anfänger" (Turkish for beginners). It was way better than the way to the Baltic States, maybe because we knew what to expect. And maybe because I didn't try to convince Aluna to pee on the 2sqm of fake grass.
At 7.30pm, the ferry landed in Travemünde and at 8pm, we were at my dad's flat. Finally some WiFi! Got many YouTube videos to watch.Weiterlesen
Enjoying Beaches and Back to the Ferry
2. August 2024 in Lettland ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
From Klaipėda in Lithuania to Liepaja in Latvia, we only needed 1,5hrs. So, we obviously packed our drive full of stops on the beaches alongside. The weather was perfect and the sand finally got back between our toes. The sea was more rough than last time, I guess because of all the bad weather down south around Germany. But the cold water was refreshing around the legs. After around 4, 5 stops along the way, we arrived in Liepaja and ate some last real dinner in Lithuania. It wasn't real Lithuanian cuisine, though, because I bet a vegan burger pizza isn't only non-traditional in Italy. After our tummies were filled, we went shopping for a last time, to get us some much needed slavic groceries back home. We also found 400g noodles for 36 cents and decided to buy a whole bunch. The last forever and in Germany, the noodles are way more expensive... We also bought some sweets of course.
And then, we drove back to the ferry. This time, we had to go into the check-in by foot and register on a counter. I think that was much better than sitting in a car for 2 hours, driving 5m ahead every 12 minutes.
The sunset and cabin were much nicer this time. We had bought a card game, so hopefully, the next 23hrs wouldn't be that boring again.Weiterlesen
In the Second Capital City - Kaunas
1. August 2024 in Litauen ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
Kaunas doesn't seem to once have been the capital city. It seems rather empty here and lots of places are under construction.
But it's still nice, especially at the castle with its surrounding parks. We saw a statue that represents the old Lithuanian flag and we both ate our first ever bubble waffles. It's actually just normal waffle dough but pressed into bubbles. I don't know what else I expected.
After a 2 hour stroll around, we decided it was time to leave for Klaipėda, our last destination before going back on the ferry.
On our way there, we stopped at a forest path with lots of cute little statues made from trees. We had some fun with them for a while, before the last hour drive to Klaipėda.Weiterlesen
South of Lithuania - Green and Holy
1. August 2024 in Litauen ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Today, we left the capital city behind, and had the longest drive in front of us. It would be 5hrs, because we wanted to look at some things in the South of Lithuania before then driving back to the coast to Klaipėda.
We had several stops in the forest, visiting broken bridges, a house on a chicken leg and abother observation tower, overlooking the river. The most interesting place, we visited was the Pyramid of Mekine, which is a spiritual place. Apparently, there has been a Revelation to a man who then built lots of things to represent it. The biggest representation is the glas dome in which a glas Pyramid with 3 sides is built. When you meditate and pray on each side, you get healed, they claim. They've also got a water spring protected by an angel. They claim that the water is holy and can heal. We tried it - tastes alright at least. After the spiritual nonsense, we drove back North to Kaunas, the 2nd capital of Lithuania.Weiterlesen
Vilnius - The Capital of Lithuania
31. Juli 2024 in Litauen ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
An early morning start brought us to Vilnius (speak Vilnüs) for our last Free Walking Tour.
Today's guide was called Indrė, which is the short form of water fairies. But she's afraid of water. Indrė taught us that the Lithuanian language is like no other, but closest to Latvian. But they don't really understand each other, only the most northern Lithuanians with very thick dialects can speak to Latvians. Just that they aren't understood in their own country then.
In Lithuanian, you've got female and male endings of a word, -a and -ė (btw is this letter ė only used in Lithuanian) for females, and -as or -s for males. Berlinas and Stockholmas are therefore male cities, but Roma is female (whoever decided that).
The words I've learned today are "Aju" (like sneezing) for "Thank you", "Labas" (speak Labasch") is "Hello", "Iki" means "Bye", and "Taipe" (with a forced smile, so that you don't really hear the -pe) is "Yes".
As you can see are these words rather short, because the Lithuanians are direct and don't like to interact too much with others. They usually don't smile very often, maybe the Resting Bitch Face comes from them.
But they still scored the highest in happiness for people under 30.
Maybe a little history lesson:
Around the 13th century, Lithuania became a kingdom with an actual king, but the Polish and German Christians took over quite soon. They baptised the pagans with blackmailing them basically. Of they wanted to marry the Polish dutchesses, they had to get baptised. And every poor Lithuanian wanted to marry a rich dutchess.
Poland and Lithuania started cooperating and built a Union, creating a huge empire in the 15th century (from old people called the Golden Age). The empire was including todays Belarus and parts of Ukraine down to the Black Sea. Of course, the Russians had to destroy the fun. They took over until end of WWI, after which a short time period of independence existed. Then they came back, then Nazis, then Soviets again, until 1991.
After the communism fell apart, capitalism took over and lots of people lost their jobs. There were only three options for them then: 1. Build a startup - preferably around bananas. 2. Become a thief - preferably of bananas. 3. Leave the country.
700k citizens chose options 3. When the country has only 3 million people, that is a huge portion.
Funnily enough, COVID-19 stopped that outflow of people, and actually brought back lots of Lithuanians. Since 2019, more people have come to Lithuania, than have left. So, at least one good thing came out of that crisis.
About the history of Vilnius itself:
It was found in the 14th century and mentioned first of the Dutch Gediminas. His statue is in front of the cathedral and is quite different to others of people like him. Usually, you'd see a man riding a horse with a sword held ready to fight. But not Gediminas. He's standing next to his horse, his sword in front of his chest, gesturing that he wants to talk, not fight. He was the first diplomat of Lithuania and rather used a pen and tongue, than horses and swords.
Vilnius wasn't always the capital of Lithuania as they once lost the city to Poland. Therefore, a new capital had to be built, and so the small village Kaunas (speak Kauuunas) was growing into the 2nd biggest city of the country. That's why you find more modern architecture in Kaunas and not so much classic or gotic like in Vilnius.
When Vilnius was the capital in the 19-20th century, it was a melting pot of cultures. There were actually only 5% Lithuanians living there. 36% were Jews, and the rest was split between Belarussians, Russians, Polish, Germans, and what not. That led to a language mixed with words from Jiddish, Russian, German, Polish, and even nowadays it's completed by Lithuanian itself and, of course, English. No wonder they are so happy, if nobody understands a word.
But the older generations are still deeply engraved by the Soviet times. They have lots of mistrust regarding the government they've fought for for so long, but also regarding other people. For example, they'd still try to sneak into a queue first, because they wouldn't trust, they'd get their sausages otherwise. Of course, in communist times, if you were too late in the queue, everything was already gone. Understandably, they don't like to share either. So, now you know, why you've got to say "Taipe" with a forced smile - they don't share nor smile very often.
The Lithuanian flag has three colours: Red for the blood they've shed for their country, green for the forests and that should have been it. But the flag creators found it too depressing, so they've added a happy colour: yellow. It's stands for all the yellow things, they've got (and love) here: The sun, potatoes, wheat, beer and blonde hair.
Now some funny stories:
As the Lithuanians were pagans, they still have some traditional festivities they cherish. The biggest is the midsummer. At the 23rd June, all people go into the nature, make a huge bonfire and dance around it. The women however go on a mission: They go to find a blossoming fern. The legend says, that whoever finds a blossoming fern, will get a man and husband. I don't know how many of you are botanists, but ferns never blossom.
One of the pagans goddesses was Medeina, who protects the trees, forests and animals in them. There were two misunderstandings, though: The hunters thought, Medeina was their Goddess and protected them whilst hunting. So, when the hunting community in Vilnius wanted a statue of Medeina, looking like a female bear, the artist understood that they wanted a female on a bear. Now, a naked woman riding a bear sits in front of the hunters community and protects all animals of these hunters. Yeah.
The German Christians tried their best and built around 100 churches for 600k people in Vilnius alone. As nobody goes their for religious reasons, lots of them were repurposed. Most of them were warehouses, but others became restaurants, gyms or... Car services. One church got actually a rebuild to get cars in and out of it. Later, a lift was built into it for the warehouse. Nowadays it's a pancake restaurant, community center and chapel.
The funniest story is the Republic of Uzupis though. Uzupis has been a dorty wreck in the 1990s, the worst place you could be at in Vilnius. There, you couldn't only lose your wallet, but also your fingers at 2am. Obviously, nobody wanted to love there and therefore it was extremely cheap to rent apartments there. And who goes into wrecked districts with cheap renting? Exactly, artists!
They came and claimed the area for themselves, calling out the Uzupis Republic. They even got a president (human) and a vice president (the idea of a cat in general, don't ask). They've got a real constitution and it's really accepted by the capital. They've got rules like always smiling and enjoying the art which is everywhere to be found. And as they've claimed their "independence", they wanted the same for Tibet. So they supported them, so much, that the Dalai Lama himself came several times to Uzupis and visit the Tibetian square there.
Iceland was also supporting Uzupis acceptance (and the Lithuanian in general), so they've got a street named after them, and the Lithuanians still celebrate the independence day of Iceland. Although, I'm not sure, whether this isn't more a win-win on just the Lithuanians side.
And if you were ever wondering: Yes, the singer PINK is quarter Lithuanian, however, she might not know this herself.
After all these informations and walking, we did some hiking on top of the hill behind the cathedral, to overlook the old and new town parts of Vilnius. Then, we bought some Lithuanian donuts, which smelled like German Quarkbällchen but weren't nearly as good as them. Then, we went back to the Republic of Uzupis to buy me some new sandals (which took forever) and some souvenirs.
And then, we could finally drive back home for a quick ice cream break.
Afterwards, we jumped right back into the car and drove to Trakai, 45min from the town, to walk around the castle and manor of Trakai. The lake and sun were beautiful and it was the much needed calm end to a busy day.Weiterlesen
Between Lakes, Manors and Flowers
30. Juli 2024 in Litauen ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Leaving a sad Russian host behind that was beaming about Aluna, we made our way to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. However, we can't drive 3hrs straight, we have to see something from the country. So, we chose lots of places to visit.
Obviously, we started in Biržai itself, where we looked at the old Astravo Manor at the Sirvenos Lake.
A little 10min drive further, we climbed the 32m high observation tower that is randomly shaped into a half moon, overlooking the Kirkilai Lakes that are made from karst and inhabit millions of sulphur bacteria.
Back down to Earth, we made a quick stop at the nearby Mantagailiskio Manor which looked rather old and bad out of shape, before we drove further south to a lavender farm. There, not only did the purple flowers bring us nice pictures and joy, but the ice cream made of lavender also brought us some sugar and calories. It looked like vanilla ice cream, but tasted conspicuously much of lavender. I wonder how many lavender flowers it takes to make one ice cream cone?
Afterwards, we drove to the Palevenes Manor, which is partly a ruin and partly still inhabited by the ancestors of the Kumaro family (going back to the 17th century).
Our last stop was the beautiful Hydrangeas Park with hundreds or even thousands of Hydrangeas in a very well designed garden. I didn't know that there were so many different kinds of one flower species! And they all have great names like Great Mont Blanc, Pinky Winky or - my favourite - Bobo. Okay, tbh it's only my favourite because it's called Bobo, but common...
All in all, it was a lovely day with lots of little things that made for great experiences.Weiterlesen
From Latvian Rain to Lithuanian Storm
29. Juli 2024 in Litauen ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
Today started with rain. Not just drizzle, but real rain. Damn, I wanted to wander around in the National Park around Priekuli.
After some breakfast and a cold shower, it still rained and we decided to stay as long as possible in the hotel and decide further after Check-out. Quarter to twelve, we left our hotel room and started our drive to the Kangeri Trail. It was a 20min de-route, and we hoped that the weather would get better until we'd arrive. It didn't, but as we were already there and our rain coats haven't been out for quite some time, we chose the wetness.
So, we walked the Kangeri Trail around the Great Kangeru Lake (which isn't actually that big, and only 1,5m deep). There was a 35m tall tower to overlook the high-grown trees and lake, which Aluna didn't like to conquer at all.
After combating her fear of heights, we drove on to Birzai, our first stop in Lithuania. Our apartment for the night was very atmospheric and nicely decorated. We went to the supermarket, found some dog food that Aluna actually wanted to eat and some more Kohuke!
Stuffed again, we went on a walk to the many sights of Birzai, and we're nearly blown away. Apparently, rain was out, but instead, the heavens let the storm out now. Nevertheless, the castle and churches were lovely to look at. Tomorrow, we'd have some more things to explore in the region.Weiterlesen
Tartu - European Culture Capital in 2024
28. Juli 2024 in Estland ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
The day started with an early breakfast, packing up our things and driving back to Latvia. As it's only a 40min de-route, we decided to stop in Tartu, the second biggest city of Estonia and a university/student city.
When we arrived there however, it didn't seem lively at all. Everything was kinda quiet and calm, no young people, only a few tourists around. Having grown up in Göttingen and living in Oxford for months, I'm used to student cities, and Tartu didn't seem like one at all. But hey, can't expect a full city with only 100k citizens...
Tartu is one of three European Culture Capitals of 2024 (the other two being Bødo in Norway and Bad Ischl in Austria). This award was founded in 1985 by the French and Greek ministers for culture to get European countries to feel closer and to support the cities culturally longtime (the last part cannot always be seen... Exhibit Maribor in Slovenia 2023).
As the first and nowadays best university of Estonia was and still is in Tartu, there is a long list of cultural highlights to be found.
For example the Kissing Students fountain in front of the beautiful pink town hall who display open love and affection to support the acceptance of every race, gender, beliefs, etc.
Or the Cathedral of Tartu which has been destroyed in the 16th century. As we've learned that Estonians aren't particularly religious, it's no wonder that nobody thought to rebuild this beautiful dome. Instead, they recycled the building to part of the University in early 19th century. Nowadays, it's a museum for the university and holds lots of precious books and furniture of the 19th century.
There's also the old Observatory which bone chamber and morgue were used by medical students of the Anatomicum in the past century.
And if you're a little Monk like me, you'll have lots of fun with the Art Museum at the main square which leans to one side just like the tower of Pisa. I can't even look at that. Apparently, the leaning is caused by the building’s uneven ground surface. The whole of Tartu oldtown is built on the soggy bank of the River Emajõe, therefore the foundations are mostly laid on logs. Due to the decreasing level of groundwater, one side of the building has sunk over hundreds of years. According to legend, the building has deviated even more after the bombing of the nearby Stonebridge (Kivisild) in the Second World War. In the 1980s extensive restorations were realised by Polish builders, thanks to which the sinking has suspended. The “Leaning House” is under 5,8 degrees, which is greater than the Pisa tower. So... Whenever you wanna do the famous picture but it's too crowded in Italy - there's plenty of room in Estonia.
We strolled around for quite some time, but we quickly had enough of all the culture and especially the sun, and so, we went to buy some very specific things in one of the many coops around.
One thing we had in mind, was the little Estonian cheesecake called Kohuke which Kadri recommended yesterday. Luckily, we found it and bought some to eat right away. I chose the normal vanilla and a berry one. And dear Lord, it was absolutely delicious! I'm a total sweet tooth and so I know lots of different kinds of sweets. But this cheesecake... I could bathe in them. I would have bought the whole stock of the supermarket, but unfortunately, these little things have to be refrigerated and that we could not guarantee. Maybe I can order them from home in bulk...
Happily stuffed, we drove towards Latvia now and we're surprised when, yet again, the "border" was as much as a SMS of our providers that were back in Latvia. We were driving through the town of Valga (Estonia) / Valka (Latvia) which is right at the Estonian-Latvian border. Both cities have been one big city until the 1920s. Under the Russian occupation, there were no border controls and everything was fine. But when both countries declared their independence in 1991, they couldn't decide which country the city parts should belong to, so they devided them into Estonian (north of the river Pedel) and Latvian (south of the river). What's the first thing that you do, when gained freedom? Exactly, diminish it by building border controls, right in the middle of the cities in that regard. Now, pedestrians and drivers had to cross country borders, when they wanted to get to their family, friends or work. And the dumbest thing was, that the drivers' border control was stationed outside both of the two cities. This story is as insane as the East and West Berlin story. Sadly, I came across this weird story when we've already arrived in our next hotel, 1h away from the (nowadays non-existent) border. Next time I'm here, I'll definitely make a stop to hear the stories of individual citizens there, who've lived in that crazy circumstances.Weiterlesen
Tallinn - The Capital of Estonia
27. Juli 2024 in Estland ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Waking up at the earliest hour of the whole holiday, we ate breakfast at the hotel at 9am. Honestly, you could barely call it breakfast, as it was merely toast and cornflakes and wouldn't make us full for long. But well, we had something to eat at least.
Afterwards, we jumped into the car for a short drive to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. We hadn't had issues finding a parking lot, we had issues to actually pay for it. It was either possible by coins (in what century are we living?!) or via app (which app ffs?!). As we didn't have coins and we didn't know which app as it wasn't explained or named anywhere, we were a bit lost. But then, a good samaritan saw our trouble and came over. I explained our problem and he then said: "It's no problem, you can drive around and park here. I work here and told my boss you're friends. It's alright! " There ARE good people out there! I knew it!
Super thankful, I drove the car to the parking lot he meant, so that we could make the Free Walking Tour just in time. Just like in Latvia, everyone was super excited to have a dog on the tour and honestly, I just love how everyone adores Aluna from the get-go. Our tour guide Kadri had a dog herself and she was absolutely fascinated by Luni.
On the tour, we've learned that Estonia had the same independence years as Latvia (1918 and 1991), but they've been mostly ruled by the Danes, Sweds and Russians. Funnily enough, they liked their Danish occupation so much that they've built a garden for the Danish king. And they loved the Sweds because they've built the first university of Estonia in Tartu. Apparently, it didn't matter that the Estonians weren't allowed to study there, only the German aristocrats could.
But when the Estonians eventually could study, they've invented their own flag and brought it to each and every national event, so that it didn't take long, that the students' flag and Estonia were associated. After the first independence, when Estonia needed a flag, they didn't have to look far and just chose the next best thing. So, whenever someone wants to tell you, that the Estonian flag symbolises the sea/sky (blue), the soil/forest (black), and freedom/peace (white) - you can call out the bullshit! You're welcome.
They had an easy time with their national anthem as well. When they and also Finland have been occupied by Russia, they gave them the same melody as their colonies. They wrote different lyrics, of course, but the melody was the same. And after they both got their independence (Finland 4 years earlier than Estonia), they both just kept the songs as their national anthem. Why waste all the money on something original?
Talking about wasting money: Estonians loved that especially in the 1990s. Not only was that the time everyone was so happy about the new gained independence that they made loads of babies (biggest baby boom ever), but it was also the time of corruption and throwing around money. For once, they've built the rather ugly statue of Freedom and Independence for 6million Euros, but they also need around 3million to maintain it each year. And secondly, they've built a toilet right in front of the Andreas Nevsky Cathedral for 200k that nobody really needed, and it also costs 4x the money people pay for going on it each year (each piss costs 20cents). And people ask where all their tax money goes to.
Well, nowadays, the Estonians have themselves way better in check. They are actually one of the best developed countries IT - wise. When they've been attacked in 2007 by Russians as the first country to be hacked, they took that personal. Nowadays, they brush Russian hackers off like flies. They've even created a new record for more online votes given than paper votes at their last Parlaments election. They've also had an all-time high with 80% of the population voting.
Estonians are also famous for great computer-based inventions like Skype, the bank card company WISE, and the cute little food delivery robots. They even have a saying that if you don't have a startup, you're not really an Estonian.
Considering, that there are around 1,3million Estonians, there must be an abundance of startups.
30% of the Estonian population is actually Russian, even 44% in Tallinn. With such high numbers, you'd think the integration would be good. Wrong...
There are separate kindergardens, schools, even universities for Estonian speaking and Russian speaking Estonians. The Russians live in different areas and the kids nowadays can't speak a word in Estonian, even when being born and raised here. It's actually crazy, it's a bit like segregation. The Russians don't mind, apparently. They neither see themselves as Estonian, nor as Russians, but as Europeans. And they don't want to change a thing. Now, the Estonian Parlament has decided to not longer waste the Russian populations' potential and to shut down all the Russian kindergardens, schools, universities. However, they don't have enough Estonian speaking teachers... So they can't put every Russian child in an Estonian school. The kids learn the other populations' language, but everyone knows how languages are learnt best: By speaking them on a daily basis. But when there is no need other than learning some vocabulary... Well. And what are the results of that? The Russians get far worse jobs and are poorer in the end.
I guess that's a good example of how to not do integration.
The Russian population also has quite a different lifestyle, as they are very religious and use the churches for their actual reasons. The Estonians however, see them more as decoration. Only 4% of Estonians have a religion. All the others are more or less Atheists. So the German crusades bringing religion to the pagans didn't work at all. But the Estonians do believe in some things... e.g. that trees have souls. 69% believe in that. Maybe that's their religion after all.
Estonians don't quite like to be one of the Baltic countries, they would much rather like to be considered as Scandinavian. But as not even Finland or Iceland have been allowed to wear this label, the Estonians have little hope to be welcomed to the gang. However, maybe the occupations of Denmark and Sweden help the argument.
Two funny stories for the end of the tour: The narrowest street in Tallinn was too narrow for two women in the 18th century to go side by side in, as they all wore these gigantic blown out dresses. So when two women wanted to go through it, there would often be a fight until the police had enough some day. They invented the rule that whoever was older, should go first. Now, the arguments still continued but much nicer. "You go first!", "No, you go first!" was the polite way of saying: "Fuck, you look older than me, I won't go first and be the older one!".
Second story: There's been a man called Otto in the 18th century. He's been a party king, having women left, right and center. And he didn't care at all. But when his end came near, he finally regretted his sinful life and asked the church for forgiveness. He paid them lots of money to put his grave right in the entrance of the church. He told the church, that he hoped that whenever a believer would enter the church and pray, it would wash away his sins. However, Estonian believe otherwise. Remember the enormous skirts of the ladies? And his first row seat right beneath them when they were entering the church? Yes... Once a womaniser, always a womaniser!
The tour ended at the great market place beneath the Town Hall, where Old Thomas always gifted candy to children (nowadays, he wouldn't make the top of the town halls dome, I guess). Kadri has told us about the big market at the station, so we headed right there. The first thing I saw was the chimney cakes. I know them from my trips to Prague and Lrskow and I'm obsessed with them, so I definitely wouldn't resist today. Especially not of they offered them with ice cream, strawberries and chocolate! I was in heaven immediately. For Aluna, they had some nice meaty lamb snacks as well, which underlines the Estonians love for dogs. Honestly, every person we meet goes "Awwww!"
After finishing our delicious dessert, we headed inside to find some souvenirs, vintage shops and lots of food stands. We could've stayed the whole day, but I had the nice guy from the parking lot in my ears telling me, he's only working until 3pm. And, oh shit, it was already 2.45pm. I gathered Shakhzoda and Aluna and rushed them back to the parking lot, but the gate was closed. I just wanted to freak out, when I realised, that the locket wasn't actually locked and that he must have just closed it for show. Oh my god, whoever you are: I hope you and your loved ones live happily ever after and that you'll get a good samaritan when you need them one day!
Having avoided a huge mess now, we parked at the parking lot next door, where the paid time has already been up (Saturdays only until 3pm, Sundays for free), and decided to go back into town. There, we wandered around some more through these beautiful streets of Tallinn and just enjoyed our time. When it finally was time for dinner (5.30pm, no, I'm not 83 years old, I'm just hungry), we decided to go to the vegsn restaurant near the Town Hall. There, the waiters were extremely kind again (especially to Aluna) and we ordered some amazing vegan food. I had the lasagna, Shakhzoda chose the burger and luckily, I said Yes to the bread the offered. Holy shit, the bread must have been fallen from heaven. I'm a total bread lover but not easily pleased. This bread I could have bathed in. I don't know what's in there... I need the recipe.
When even the last bit of your delicious meal was digested, we asked for the receipt. When the waitress came with the check, she was amazed by Aluna. She told me, that she had lost her dog a year ago. And I said that I couldn't even imagine how that must feel like, maybe like losing a child (as Aluna is basically my child). She looked me in the eyes, so deeply, that something clicked as if our souls bonded, when she said: "No, it feels as if you would need to die, too". And it's strange, but really, in this moment, I felt so connected with her, it was crazy. I got goosebumps all over my body and tears into my eyes and I just knew, thst she felt the same. I don't really believe in cosmic energies or whatever, but if I would...that would have been one.
Maybe I should really make an appointment at the tattoo studio and get my Aluna tattoo at last.Weiterlesen
Walking through Estonian Nature
26. Juli 2024 in Estland ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
After a sunny morning with some freshly plucked raspberries, we said Goodbye to our extremely friendly host and in the direction of our next destination.
Our first stop was the Sooma National Park which waited for us with lots of Mosquitos but also quite a nice path to walk on. After having enough bites for the day, we continued on to drive to Kaisma Lake as we wanted to walk around it. However, there was a real plague of Mosquitos, so we decided it was way to hot outside anyway, and drive to our hotel for the next 2 nights.
Before settling down, we went for another walk around the DiscGolf Park next door. For everyone who has never heard of DiscGolf before (just like me) - it's basically golf but with a Frisbee.
As Aluna was still super hot, we decided to get back to the hotel and get some dinner. We've always cooked for ourselves since we arrived in Latvia, but this time we wouldn't have a kitchen, so a restaurant was needed. Luckily, our hotel was right above a restaurant. It was a Georgian style restaurant which made Shakhzoda rather happy, as she craved some good old shashlik. I ordered some Khachapuri which is basically a super fatty, cheesy pizza with nothing but cheese. I was happy, I had a fruity rhubarb cider to drink, as I was feeling full after only two slices. Maybe next time, I go for the salad.
Completely stuffed, we went on our last walk for today to explore Kurna a bit more. We discovered the cultural tunnel right beneath the highway and one of the many storck nests around. Then we settled down to watch some Deadpool and finish a bit earlier for the next morning's early start.Weiterlesen
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