Hallo from Berlin!

We’ve added lots and lots of posts today. We’ve been writing them but haven’t found internet for a while. But now we have and the blog has exploded. Be sure to check out our updats for Bath and Stonehenge, Munich, the Alps, and Rhine valley. We also have posts covering funny stories, language, and Amy’s traveling tips. Please enjoy! We set out for Scandinavia tomorrow so a Scandanavian + Berlin uber post might happen sometime next week haha

Hallo from Berlin!

Today we uploaded lots and lots and lots of posts. You will find highlights and photos from Bath and Stonehenge, Munich, castles in the Alps, and Rhine Valley. We have also posted some funny stories, language guides, and Amy’s traveling tips.

There is lots of reading for you to do!

We set off for Scandinavia tomorrow. So look forward to stories from up north and also from Berlin.

Hello again! This one is really just about hiking in general. We went on this hike because of a Rick Steves recommendation. He recommended a really nice hotel, the Gustof zum Schluxen (we agree, it was a very nice hotel) that had a path behind the hotel that goes straight to the castles. If you read the post for this adventure, you should have realized that I was really struggling with this hike. Brian really did drag me up! Such a good sport! I’m sure he was very tired too. So here are my tips on fighting exhaustion when you have to make your way back to your hotel!

1.Walking sticks really help! It’s not just a placebo effect. Brian and I think maybe it absorbs some of the shock? Who knows. It definitely helps with distributing some of the strain to your upper body so it’s not all on your legs to get you up and down the hills. Shape of walking stick is also something to look for (see picture on this subject). And instead of paying 9 euro for a walking stick (even though it was very tempting and it had a compass on the top….) you can pick one up from the trail!
2.If the locals say the hike is about 1 hour, expect it to take longer. Twice to two and a half times longer. You will get distracted by pretty scenery, you will take pictures, and the locals are probably in better shape than you.
3.Having a buddy to keep pace with really helps in getting your mind off from the hills and the trail. Here, walking sticks are not only useful in walking, but also in helping you establish some sort of a pace. We made it back in less than an hour despite being so tired! That was quite the feat.

Hello again for another one of Amy’s Tips! I hope you enjoyed the last one, I know it was quite long! This time, I will write tips on Munich!

1.We arrived on a Sunday. Everything is closed! Maybe this is indicative of the Monastery history of Munich (Munich is, after all, named after the German word for Monk in Old German (if I remember correctly): Munichen. The Germans now call Munich “Munchen”). Only eateries are open, so it’s probably a good idea to get all the food related activities over with if you have nothing to do on a Sunday. We went tried Pretzels and Sausages and went to the Hofbrauhaus.
2.Eat a sausage! It’s very good. It tastes a lot better than what you might get in the States! I have seen people just walking around and eating a sausage. They have many “fast food” type stores that just sell varieties of sausages and hams. I asked for a sausage and they automatically asked if I wanted it with bread, and I said, “sure!” and they cut the bread and gave me a hot dog. Try to ask for Sauerkraut in the beginning of your order so they can let it heat up in the oven while they prepare the rest of your order. The first time I ordered from a “fast food” place, I think I annoyed lady by asking for sauerkraut after she had already finished everything else. Some sausage varieties are quite salty, though…(next tip…)
3.Be careful when you ask for water at a restaurant. They might give you fancy mineral water. This happened when we got a sausage sampler plate our first day in Munich. We were still parched afterwards! (see post on our search for fluids) Unknown to us, water from the tap is completely drinkable. The Hotel Jeddermann receptionist said that everyone in Munich drinks it. At a restaurant, the word for tap water is pronounced “Lightons vassa.” Don’t ask me how to spell that in German. We learned this from the bike tour guide. He is Hawaiian but speaks German Just ask the waiter for “lightons vassa” and he will bring you a delicious glass of cold tap water. Free. This tip is particularly useful. Otherwise Brian and I might be dehydrated after the first day!
4.For bike tours, make sure you bring gloves! Even though it’s April, it’s still very cold! The bike tour guide told us that it’s not usually that cold, but always be prepared! If you’re stuck and you can’t find any gloves for less than 50 euro, walk towards Karlsplatz on the main street. You’ll see a discount corner store on the left (when you’re walking away from the main Marienplatz). Buy gloves for 2 euro here! And whatever you might find useful Scarves are sold readily by newsstands with tourist gear. 15 Euro. They just might have “Deustchland” written everywhere. And be careful about buying a scarf that has the soccer/football emblem for an opposing team. They’re pretty serious about that kind of thing… ^_~
5.Free walking tours: Even in London, (and unfortunately, we missed the one for Bath), Brian and I have found walking tours to be the best way to explore a city. Bike tours are nice because you get to go to farther places, but you really speed by a lot of things and the guides aren’t as detailed with the history and information. It’s also difficult to take pictures while on a bike. There is a free tour for Munich available, operated by NewEurope (tip courtesy of Karen Cheng). They meet at 10:45AM everyday, rain or shine, all year, by Mary’s pole in Marienplatz. (the big pole with the four cherubs killing various enemies of the church). Our tour guide was Meghan! She was great. Lots of historical information, and fun too! NewEurope has tours for London, Berlin, Amsterdam, and some other cities. Check their website! You pay on a tips only basis.
6.Cell phones in the European Union: The O2 phone that we had from the UK now charges 35 Pence per minute to calls within Europe and (after experimentation) 3 USDollars a minute to call the US! Don’t do it!! Try to find an Internet Cafe. The New Europe tour suggested one that had 5 cents per minute international calls, but we didn’t have a chance to go before we had to head to Fussen. The O2 in Germany didn’t have the nice free international calling perk that the one in the UK had, so we didn’t get another O2 card. Also, you had to pay 30 Euro to get a 40euro bonus. If you paid a lower denomination, you wouldn’t get any bonus. This is in addition to a (I think…) 20 Euro fee for the SIM card. We checked Vodafone, and they had 19.90 Euro for SIM packet with a 10Euro credit, so we got this. It’s about 90 Euro cents to call other countries in the EU, 20-30 euro cents to call within the country, free to receive, and about 1.90 Euro to call the US. The rates change relative to the country that you are physically in, so you can theoretically buy a card in Germany and have the same rates apply when you are in Italy. Theoretically Unfortunately, my phone did not get any Vodafone reception when we were in Fussen or St. Goar. This might be because the SIM card was improperly activated, but it could also be that Vodafone doesn’t have as good reception as O2. We wound up using our O2 card in these places. We’ll see if Vodafone still has a problem when we’re in Berlin.
7.Do not do the high Hitler Salute! It is illegal and you might get arrested!!! This is probably true for all of Germany as well. Nuff said.

Through our travels through, we’ve picked up quite a few pieces of useful knowledge (some learned the hard way, some serendipitously taught to us), and I thought that it would be useful for others who might be traveling similar paths for me to share them. Thus, Amy’s Tips was born! Here, I will write what is probably lesser known pieces of knowledge that we have accumulated. These will especially be useful for off season travel. Most travel guides are written for the high season, and there were disappointments when we found that certain attractions were not operating because of the low season. I shall start with London/Bath/Oxford! Here, in particular, I will include American translations of some British words that confused me

1.Cell phones in the UK: I can’t speak for other mobile phone providers, but O2 has a great pay as you go SIM card plan: Each time you “top-up” (that’s what they call buying a designated amount of credit for your SIM card), you get a certain number of free international minutes per month. This is great for calling home. The minutes do not carry over to the next month if you don’t use them, though. For example, if you top-up with 10pounds, you get 50 minutes free for the month, in addition to the 10 pounds of credit that you can use to call within the UK. If you top-up with 15 pounds, you get 100 minutes free in addition to the 15 pounds of credit, etc. Receiving calls and calling UK phone numbers is a certain number of pence (equivalent to the US “cents”), and it is more expensive to call mobile phones than land lines (about twice as much). Receiving texts is free.
2.Don’t buy a SIM card from a Vending Machine in the airport! Patience will save you 10 pounds! Brian and I bought a SIM pack for 10 pounds, but even after we thought we activated it, it wouldn’t allow me to call out. We finally found an O2 store in Trafalgar Square and asked. It turned out that we had only paid for a SIM card, but with no top-up voucher. If you buy it from an O2 store, they give you the SIM card for free when you buy the top-up voucher. Beware!
3.Economy airlines (easyjet, ryanair) usually depart pretty early from the London Stanstead Airport. To get to London Stanstead, you can either take the Stanstead Express. This usually isn’t the problem, as the Stanstead Express runs pretty early (first departure on a Sunday was at 5:10AM). The problem is getting to Liverpool street, the departure point for the Stanstead Express. The first train on the Tube (the subway) is around 7AM. What to do? We had an 8AM flight with approximately an hour on the Stanstead Express. A 7AM tube train to Liverpool was not going to cut it. We had to ask about three people to finally get a solution, the N11 bus from Victoria! It runs about 2 to 3 buses an hour between midnight and 5AM and goes to Liverpool Station in about half an hour. *note: when asking ticket tellers around the UK for information, they rarely know very much about any form of transportation other than what they are responsible for (ie, a Tube ticket teller will not be able to tell you much about the bus or other trains, the overground train teller won’t be able to tell you too much about the bus, or even a train from another company). In our experience in asking locals about transportation as well as reading guide books, we have gotten contradictory information, so just be careful in getting information. It is best to go directly to the people who run the mode of transportation that you are interested in to get the most accurate information*
4.Another option to tip number 3 is to sleep in Stanstead airport. There are a lot of tips on how to do this on the WikiTravel entry for London – Getting in.
5.Yet another option to tip number 3 is to take a “coach” (US: Bus). There is a National Express coach from Victoria straight to Stanstead Airport (takes about an hour and a half). This can bypass the whole getting to Liverpool problem. In general, coaches are a much less expensive way to travel through the UK (to Bath, to Oxford, etc), and usually depart from Victoria Bus Station. We were very lucky in booking a hotel in Victoria so we could just walk to the bus station. There is a coach from Victoria to Stanstead (about an hour and a half), and a coach to Oxford (for 9 Pounds only! With free internet on Board! Look for the green coach that says “Oxford Express, Travel in Style”). There is one National Express Coach from Bath back to London at 6:30PM for about 17 pounds. Other times will involve a stopover in Bristol. This might change for the summer. Our guide books had told us that there was one every hour, which we found to be not true. If the bus is booked and you don’t want to take the Bristol bus or pay 47 pounds for the train, you can consider taking the 13pound ~ 1 hour train ride back to Oxford from Bath and then taking one of the many coaches that go from Oxford to the UK (virtually one every twenty minutes to an hour, travel time about 2 hours). This comes out to be much cheaper than the 47 pound train!
6.More notes on the coach: The National Express has many bus lines running all over the country and is the most accessible from coach ticket booths, as is the Oxford Express, but there is also the Megabus (megabus.com) that you can only book on the Internet that is possibly cheaper (no internet, though). We didn’t have internet so we couldn’t book it. You can give it a try! *of course, taking the bus also runs the risk of sitting behind two really grumpy men… but I hope that doesn’t happen to you!*
7.Getting to Stonehenge: It’s tough getting into Stonehenge, you need to take a train to Salisbury and then a bus to Stonehenge. We wanted to get there from Bath. There is a direct bus from Bath to Salisbury, but adding up all the train and bus fares, we found it was cheaper to take one of the tourist vans from Bath that takes you straight to Stonehenge (14pounds. We even got a discount because they convinced us to take an earlier tour with fewer people! 12 pounds!). This gives you an hour to walk around. Unfortunately, that’s not enough time to walk around the trails in the area and to other mysterious sites, but it was very cold up and windy that I think, at the time, it was better that we didn’t The bus driver also points out various sites along the way!

Here are some helpful (and likeable!) phrases that we found in Germany!
Lighton’s vassa (Tap water. The waiter will look at you weird because you didn’t ask for beer, but say it again and you’ll get your water.)
Sprecken see English? (Do you speak English?)
Isch Sprecken Kein Deustch. (I do not speak any German ~> very helpful when people start talking to you in German and you have no idea what they’re saying)
Entrue-D-gong (Excuse me, both to get people’s attention and to say sorry, pardon me, etc)
Bitte (We think this may mean several things: You’re welcome, please, go ahead, pardon me, and sorry? (ie, when you can’t understand what the person said and are asking them to repeat.) )

Walking tour where we learned about and saw the WWII and the East/West Berlin sites. + Went to the Pergamon Museum and saw lots of Roman and Greek Statues. Including the first nude statue ever. Scandalous. + A Scavenger hunt for cought medicine. We went all over Berlin to find something so easy to find in the US. Things were complicated because it was Sunday and aparently all pharmecies close then. + Uber updated the blog.