New Year’s 2024, Part 2 – The Best Weissbier In The World

On to destination two: Munich! This was a shorter stop but no less a part of the trip, so it gets its own post. We rode from Berlin to Munich on the Deutsche Bahn, a quick four hour ride. We got up to speeds of 160km/hr but the train was amazingly smooth. Truly, the best long-distance train ride I’ve taken to date. If any Germans feel Deutsche Bahn isn’t all that great, consider a “quick” ride from New York to Washington DC on the Amtrak. It’s less distance, takes longer, and is considerably less smooth. You’ll return with a newfound appreciation for Deutsche Bahn, I promise!

After resolving a hostel flub (we booked the wrong location) and getting lost in Ostbahnhof station for a good fifteen minutes, we managed to set our bags down and head out into the city. Munich felt distinctly different from Berlin, almost across the board. Overall, the city feels German in a way that Berlin doesn’t. We overheard more German than any other language, as contrasted with Berlin where it was a hodgepodge of essentially every language. Amy also noticed that the populace in Munich was a wider range of ages. The dogs were cute in both places though. We checked.

While we knew it to be a bit of a tourist trap, we couldn’t resist heading to the Hofbräuhaus for dinner. I worked my way through a full liter of beer and Amy worked her way through a pretzel as big as her head. The experience was worth it, but I ultimately have to agree with what our tour guide would tell us the next day, “It’s a great place to go for your last beer; by then the tourists will be gone and you will be so drunk you won’t be able to tell the difference.”

The next morning, we woke early to prepare for the main reason we inserted a one day stop in Munich: We planned a full day tour at Dachau, one of the first concentration camps built by the Nazis. Growing up Jewish, I learned about the Holocaust frequently. We watched movies, we read accounts by former prisoners, we examined the high level history that preceded the final solution. Even after a teenage life steeped in what should have been pre-work for this experience, I was truly not prepared for the contents of the tour. I fully believe that every person should take a tour of a concentration camp at some point in their life. They chronicle one of the darkest episodes in human history, and we all must find the courage to face them head-on.

The tour corrected a number of misconceptions I had about concentration camps and the Holocaust writ large. First, that concentration camps were developed and utilized only within the context of World War Two: Dachau was opened in 1933, six years before World War Two would even begin. In the six years between, Dachau was used to refine the formula of how to optimally torture and dehumanize. We walked through reconstructions of barracks and saw how the number of beds in each room increased exponentially through the years. We walked through an early gas chamber, later improved because the early design subjected the guards to prisoner screams. It was horrific, in the truest sense of the word.

Second, the Holocaust has always been pitched to me as targeting Jews, plus others. The more I learn, the more clear it is that the Nazis were far more far reaching in their distribution of punishment. Anyone who did not fit into their ideal mold was a candidate for the camps. While some reasons were racial (being Jewish, being Sinti or Roma, having even slightly darker skin), others were lifestyle (being a pacifist, being an alcoholic), and still others were simply opposition to the Nazi party in any way (having left-leaning political views, working slightly less hard than you should). While this should not diminish the cataclysmic impact the Holocaust had on the Jewish people, it seems to me that had the Nazis run out of Jews to kill, they would have happily continued onward with the next targeted group in line.

Third and finally, I had always believed that the goal of every concentration camp was death, as efficient and quick as possible. After all, with so many people committing so many “crimes.” (for example, not paying multiple parking tickets), there’s always another prisoner, always another condemned. Even the gas chamber has been taught to me as a brutally efficient means of dealing death on a massive scale. If the prisoners could only die faster, that would be more efficient, more ideal. Touring through Dachau, I was stunned by the amount of effort put into extending the deaths of prisoners, of developing more and more cruel ways of killing, even if they required drastically more guard resources to execute. In one particular example, a small room was set aside to house a single prisoner in complete darkness. They would be kept alive, for a full year, only to be forcibly blinded by the sun and then shot seconds later. It is clear that assigning guards to perform this work was lowering the total death count of the camp; so much attention on one prisoner, kept alive for so long. Yet, the goal does not seem to be death alone. The increase in suffering, the increase in torment, was somehow the purpose of this place.

Over the years since the end of World War Two, these camps have been transformed into memorials. Small chapels, art, and mementos have been added, dedicated to those who lost their lives here and to those whose lives would never be the same. Doors throughout the camp are permanently open, as a symbol that this place will never again trap a soul within its bounds. Most importantly, tours are held 364 days a year for any who would come to learn. I truly think that everyone should take them up on the chance.

Back in Munich, we had only a few hours left before our flight to our third and final destination. We talked to our guide for a few more minutes on the train ride back and he heartily suggested Schneider Bräuhaus. Located only a couple blocks from Hofbräuhaus, Schneider Bräuhaus was clearly the “real” version of the same idea. We shared a table with a bewildered looking older local couple and chowed down on roast pork and kaesespaetzle. To top it all off, I had a secret tip: Our guide was adamant that Schneider Tap #4 was The Best Weissbier In The World. Of course, I promptly ordered a bottle and even had it poured for me in just the correct style. How was it? You’ll just have to visit to find out! (Or find an international beer outlet, I suppose. But you should visit!)

New Year’s 2024, Part 1 – Follow The Ampelmännchen

It’s a travel post! To keep my sanity, I’ll be posting once per location instead of once per day. Off we go to our first destination, Berlin! We spent just over six days in the city, including New Year’s Eve. On the whole, I found Berlin to be an exceptionally international city; We were able to get around in english without any trouble whatsoever. The city is constantly mixing ancient history, recent conflict, and the search for a modern identity. Berlin is many things to many people and exploring it was a blast.

Our main order of business when we deplaned in Berlin was to stay awake. To these ends, we filled our first two days with tours. First, a general “Berlin History” tour that focused mainly on the 20th century, then second a more targeted tour about Holocaust resistance in Berlin. Both were great fun, though there was some overlap in content between the two. I was surprised that I already knew many of the broad strokes, given that the last time I formally studied Berlin in any capacity was in AP European History some 13 years ago. Once you learn about the Holy Roman Empire it sticks with you, apparently.

Both tours noted Berlin’s centrality as an artistic hotbed, but the constant street art, graffiti, and general “use of wall-space for artistic expression” really sold the point. Some images were historical, others simply beautiful and abstract, and still others were sarcastically witty. For example:

Throughout both tours and the entirety of our trip, I was constantly reminded how recent Berlin’s history is. It is tempting to think of “history” as sterile and dead; laid bare on a medical table for examination. Simply existing in Berlin challenges that notion. Every time you cross a line of cobblestone bricks the in middle of a paved street it reminds you: These were two different countries. A war was fought across these few feet. People spent their lives trying to cross these few feet.. sometimes literally. And now they are only marked by a zig-zagging cobblestone line, frequently ignored by tourists and locals alike as they go about their business. It gives me hope that other seemingly all-encompassing conflicts could be similarly laid to rest, one day, if only the will for peace outweighs the will for domination.

But, let’s say you visit Berlin and don’t spot the cobblestone line in the pavement. Or, lets say you are too far from the dividing line. How can you know if a particular corner once belonged to East or West Berlin? Simple: Follow the Ampelmännchen!

The Ampelmännchen (literally, “little traffic light man”), shown above on the right, was the symbol shown on traffic light signals in East Germany during the Cold War. (On the left is my girlfriend Amy, doing her very best Ampelmännchen impression. Hi Amy!) The west, in contrast, had a pair of regular old stopped stick figure / walking stick figure symbols, similar to the US and many other cities. When the halves of the city reunified after the wall fell, the Ampelmännchen was one of the few characteristics of East Berlin to stick around. If you walk around Berlin today, some walk signs will use the Ampelmännchen, while others still have the boring stick figure pair, neither of which have a very cute hat. Our understanding is that the intersections with the Ampelmännchen were once East Berlin and the others were once West Berlin, but it’s unclear if this is 100% true. After all, the Ampelmännchen has become such a hit with Berliners and beyond that there are multiple Ampelmännchen souvenir stores, featuring Ampelmännchen shirts, Ampelmännchen mugs, and even Ampelmännchen gummy candy. I’d hazard a guess that if a non-Ampelmännchen intersection broke down and needed repairing, the Berlin civil engineers might jump at the opportunity to sneak in just one more copy of the beloved little guy.

Now on to my favorite part of every travel destination: The food! While I’m not sure exactly what I expected from Berlin’s cuisine, I was definitely happily surprised. Berlin’s cultural scene is so dramatically international that it was almost hard to identify and track down distinctly German food. Even still, we ate like kings over the last week. Pho warmed us up on cold nights and Schnitzel over Fries filled rumbling bellies. Generally speaking, whenever we found ourselves in a line filled with people speaking German, we knew we were in for a treat. The easy winner, however, was Katz Orange, a lovely restaurant located in a former munitions factory. Every single item we ordered was fantastic, from the roasted cauliflower to the Flank Steak Tagliata to the “Candy on the Bone” Lamb. Best of all, food in Berlin is cheap, (compared both to food in other countries as well as other categories of expenditures in Berlin), so the meal felt like a steal. We would eagerly visit again, possibly even multiple times if time permitted. A big thank you to my dad for suggesting Katz Orange! We wouldn’t have had this fantastic experience without your suggestion or your very, very, very frequent reminders to make a reservation.

On top of all the lovely food, we got to share some of our meals with some lovely people! Amy has old friends in Berlin who were kind enough to entertain a pair of American tourists bumbling our way through the city. Through these friends we got to see Berlin through a Berliner’s eyes, a view of the city that is often hard to find as a tourist and a foreigner. We heard from one how the Berlin train system isn’t actually that great (sorry Saskia, it seemed pretty darn good to me…) and how it’s impossible to find a good apartment to rent for the location you want and the money you have (that one sounds familiar). We got to take a moment outside of the normal tourist track and hang out with a very fluffy dog, who, despite ignoring his owner and almost running into mud multiple times, was a very very good boy. In many small ways, we were included in the zeitgeist of Berlin, which is very big thing indeed.

Our biggest struggle during our stay was, somewhat ironically, New Year’s Eve. When our German friends warned us that Berlin goes a little crazy with fireworks every year, we brushed them off. After all, they’re just fireworks. They’re loud and they light up the sky, but there are surely worse things, no?

Here’s what we misunderstood: The fireworks were not always operated safely. Or in specifically designated areas. Or even consistently pointed upwards. Every third person we passed on the street seemed to have a pocket full of gunpowder and a head full of bad ideas. While no one specifically wished us harm, we frequently had to cross the street to walk around clouds of sparks, horizontally angled plumes of smoke, and shattered glass windows. One group of unsupervised teens even through a small bag at our feet which promptly erupted into flame, causing Amy to erupt into loud expletives and me to steer her away from them as quickly as possible. Our short journey from our dinner restaurant to the NYE club was, to say the very least, not fun. We now fully understand why other Berliners avoid the city each year; If I lived here, I would too.

Once we finally got to the club and away from the active explosives, we were able to relax and enjoy the party. The club we found was ideal for New Year’s Eve: Multiple dance floors, multiple bars, and extremely efficient bathroom lines. Berlin’s view of pop music is delightfully delayed, allowing us to jam to classic hits like Wannabe (1996) and Everybody [Backstreet’s Back] (1997). When the clock struck midnight we cheered, drained the remainder of our drinks, and kept right on grooving into 2024.

Nursing hangovers and lack of sleep, we spent our final two days in Berlin tying up loose ends and preparing for our next stop. Mostly, we spent four hours fighting with a laundry machine and begging it to actually dry our clothes. As a final postscript, I managed to track down Currywurst in the main Berlin train station. The ubiquitous dish is a fast and easy combination of chopped sausage and french fries, topped with ketchup and/or mayo, plus signature curry powder. The result is a tangy and salty combo served in a matter of seconds that hit just the spot before our long ride to Munich. So long Berlin!

 

Aaron & Ethan & Shnik’s Excellent Adventure – ADVINTCHAH

My blog for the next month (holy crap) will be functioning like a standard blog – some pictures, some commentary, some suggestions for anyone following in our footsteps. Stow your tray table and return your seat to its upright and locked position, because it’s time for an advintchah! HERE WE GO!

---

We made it! Despite losing Aaron to a different flight (who knew there were two different flights from LAX to SYD leaving ten minutes apart?) we managed to get to Sydney in one piece. We took a quick train ride to Sydney’s central station and walked a few minutes to our first hostel, Bounce Sydney. Because our room was not open until two pm and it was still mid morning, we stored our luggage in their luggage check room and went for a quick run.

The run was Aaron’s suggestion, but I can wholeheartedly echo his advice that it is an amazing way to get over jet lag. Additionally, you get to see a large chunk of your destination city quite quickly, and for free. From our hostel, we ran towards the water and the famous Sydney Opera House.

50% bonus culture and a free social policy

We decided not to poke around too much because we were all gross from running, but the Opera House even more impressive in person. On the way back we stopped for lunch at a little cafe by a park.

And yet, still healthier than the American equivalent

By this time we were really feeling the jet lag, but kept pushing through. A couple of calls netted us a free Shabbat dinner at a Chabad half an hour’s walk from our Hostel. There we had a wonderful dinner including salad, split pea soup, and rice with curry. They also had a homemade minty drink that was mild and very refreshing. We went poking around for a recipe and found this one, which is hopefully pretty close.

Unfortunately, it was pouring rain for our walk home, and by the time we reached our hostel we were all thoroughly drenched. After changing into dry clothes and hanging up our wet ones, we all immediately passed out, all the more excited for the days to come.