Morning train to Frankfurt

Getting no sleep last night perhaps due to my newly excitement of leaving Europe and heading to Asia, I painfully had to get up early in the morning at 5:30 in order to catch my high speed train from Munich to Frankfurt.

I gave Andy and big hug and whispered some advice into his ear making sure he knows how serious my concerns about Africa were and told him to enjoy the new adventures that lies ahead.

As part of our traveling europe package, I used the last day of our 10-day western euro-rail pass to take the first training leaving Munich at 6:47 am in the morning and arriving at the Frankfurt International airport 3 hours later. This was not a problem for me as my flight to Singapore was at 12:30 pm allowing me some time to look around before boarding the 747 aircraft.

I was very surprised that I could plan this morning trip from the bottom of Germany and be able to make a flight in the north. This is what I wish Canada and USA would do as I give lots of credit towards the Europeans for their excellent planning and infrastructure of the train network.

Munich, Germany

Knowing that I will be leaving from Frankfurt to Hanoi the next morning, Andy and I decided that we would have our last meal together in a friendly Bavarian style restaurant in downtown Munich. The lively atmosphere / ambience with the huge wooden curved tables and 10 people sized benches certainly met our expectations of what this town would be like during the famous "oktoberfest" event. We both could see where millions of liters of local beer everywhere with big breasted women serving big jugs to thirsty locals and foreigners making this town a must do when touring Europe.

We both had a liter of beer each being greeted by a huge locally made traditional barbarian style dinner and we of us talked into the late night before heading back to the hostel a few blocks away. I knew this was an important night for both of us as our friendship of many years was still strong in our hearts. We certainly got a chance to talk about many things about life, and how much we enjoyed the European tour that we both made a promise to do.

Hitler's Birthday Present

After our wonderful cultural exchange with Roland's family in the Austrian Alps, Andy and I finally reached one of the places that we wanted to go during our European travels. Berchtesgaden being the home of Adolf Hitler's famous Eagle's nest was a place for the Third Reich leaders for their retreats away from any of the WWII events. Eagle's nest was built by the Nazi party as a 50th birthday present for Adolf in 1939 at the top of the mountain overlooking Berchtesgaden. The views themselves shows endless opportunities to see the larger than life landscapes, clouds, rain, sunshine, and of course breathing the fresh air that the Bavarian mountains have to offer.

The Kehlsteinhaus also known as Hitler's Tea House or the Eagle's Nest, is a chalet-style building, which used to be an extension of the Obersalzberg complex built by the Nazi's in the German Alps near Berchtesgaden.

The Kehlsteinhaus was built as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler. The Eagle's Nest was meant to be a retreat for Hitler and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries. It was commissioned by Martin Bormann, with construction proceeding over a 13-month period prior to its formal presentation to Hitler in 1939. It is situated on a ridge at the top of the Kehlstein mountain (1835 m), reached by a spectacular 6.5 km (3.9 mile) road which cost 30 million Reichsmark to build (~ 150 million euros). The last 124 metres up to the Kehlsteinhaus are served by an elevator bored inside the mountain, reached via a granite tunnel; the elevator itself is surfaced with polished brass. The main reception room is dominated by a fireplace of red Italian marble, presented by Mussolini. Much of the furniture was designed by Paul Laszlo.

Although the site is on the same mountain as the Berghof, Hitler rarely visited the property. It has been suggested he only visited the Kehlsteinhaus around 10 times, and most times for no more than 30 minutes. It was perhaps because of this lack of close association with Hitler, the property was saved from demolition at the end of the war. It was subsequently used by the Allies as a military command post until 1960, when it was handed back to the State of Bavaria.

Source: Wikipedia

Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's photos in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

Achtung!

Well, here is the surprise...

Both Andy and I decided to fly to Berlin, Germany as we felt that we needed the extra weeks to take advantage of our Western Europe Euro-Rail passes before they expire on June 26, 2007. The reason why we want to do this is that because we have paid 750 CDN dollars and if we use all 10 traveling days, we would exceed our savings by a enormous number making the whole Western Europe traveling a delightful and cost effective experience.

I called my old Hanoian co-worker friend who from Newfoundland (Please insert your newfie joke here) who is teaching elementary music at the International School of Berlin. Kirsty who has been living there since August 2006, was happy to hear from me as it has been a long time. She asked me when I was coming to Berlin and I said: "Tomorrow night". I swore I heard the phone drop through the speaker portion of the phone.

When we arrived, we took a taxi from the International Airport and within 20 minutes we found ourselves in the biggest and most obvious Gay district of Berlin. When Andy and I were walking towards Kirsty's apartment complex, we could feel the pressure that we were being watch or better yet scoped. Oh well, part of the city life here.

We spend the whole week in Berlin as we both know it has many years of history for the WWII battles as part of the Third Reich that Adolf Hitler was part of. Another major aspect of the historical life of Berlin was the famous Berlin Wall that was known as the Iron Curtain.

The first part of the week, we explore the historical landmarks that were related to WWII and where the famous decisions by the Third Reich leadership were made for various major battles between the Axis and Allies, Jewish concentration camps, Air Raid bombing plans and the Air force and of course the U-boat & the Atlantic Navy operations. One big part of the Third Reich tour we did was the exploring of the torture / interrogation building that was the home of the famous SS Police offices. Our Aussie tour guide (Don't ask) was completing his PHD in German history and was an incredible source and knowledgeable about the topic. Click here to view the passionate traveler's photos related to the Third Reich...

The next day, we went back down to the trendy tourist area and investigated the Jewish Holocaust Memorial which was dedicated to millions and millions of people whe perish or affected by the Nazi's destructive regime from the late 1930's up until 1945. I have included some photos of the memorial as the dark black cement colours blocks represent X number of people who were murdered. Click here to view these photos...

The last biggest thing we did in Berlin for Historical purposes was that we explore the history and facts behind the "Iron Curtain". The Berlin Wall was a physical and most clear example of the political and economical seperation between the communist nations centrally controlled by Moscow and the Western nations that was centrally controlled by United States. The horror stories and pictures that both Andy and I saw was a true representation how bad and severe the situation for the people of east Germany who suffered under Stalin's Iron Curtain. Click here to read more about the history behind this well known and documented event. Also here are the passionate traveler's photos of various locations in Berlin showing the famous wall and the remains it has left.

We spent the rest of the time in Berlin eating and drinking beer, and spending time with all my old Hanoian co-workers (Kirsty, Kate and Paula) who used to be elementary school teachers at United Nations International School of Hanoi.

Click here to view the rest of the Berlin Photos...