So far Munich has been the highlight of my travel. It’s an amazingly large city and four days were only enough to see the most touristic sight seeings. It started in Marienplatz where the neo-Gothic Neues Rathause with its fabulous facade stands. At 11 am I joined the huge crowed to watch the Glockenspiel. The characters spring into action for 12 min portraying a knights‘ tournament. Opposite the Neues Rathaus stands the St. Peterskirche. It was a clear day with blue sky and that was agood enough reason for me to climb up 300 steps of the 92 meter tower for a good view of the city. I was even able to get the Alps in the city background.

No visit would be completed without going to the Bavaria’s most celebrated beer hall, the Hofbrauhause. I also found out that they make the best Schweinhexe which goes particularly well with Mass (1 liter) dark beer. The noise level of hundreds of excited tourists combined with the band gives that chaotic feel upon entry. However, after a liter of beer the noise doesn’t bother any more.

And last but not least was BMW Welt, redesigned from scratch and reopened in 2008. This is like no other car world/museum on the planet. Unfortunately, the factory tour was closed until the end of Janurary. I could not watch the ‚birth‘ of a real Beamer. However, the showrrom presented a variety of BMW’s of all times.

Hamburg is my last destination.

P.S. I was unable to post the great photos I took due to the hotel internet restrictions.

Today, was one of these days that you want to go out and wandering around instead of
having to write a test in your German course…It was a sunny, bright day that
resembled much more to early spring than mid winter. Berlin looked as if it was
a different city: the buildings, the parks, even the streets look different
when lighted generously by the sun.

Suddenly, everybody’s mood is changing and one can observe that people around look
happier and more optimistic. Those sunny-breaks in the middle of winter are
charging our mental batteries, helping us to cope with the rest of the hard
winter. It is so strange but also so obvious the effect that weather has on
most human’s behavior. If it could only stay that way for more!

For today, I picked a video from a recent live in Berlin. A “must see”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQqBVTwT0Jw

As I mentioned in my previous post my next destination was Wiesbaden, the capital of the state of Hesse, well known for its thermal and mineral springs. As much as thermal baths sound alluring I didn’t have enough time to go to one. During the limited time I was there I walked around the Old Town and had a glass of red wine in an outside cafe on one of the narrow, pretty streets. I was thinking to myself that Wiesbaden is one of the lucky cities which didn’t get destroyed during WWII and, therefore, one is still able to see the old buildings built even before WWI.It was early in the morning and dark when I left Wiesbaden and arrived in Frankfurt before the sun was out. Autobahns were already filled with cars and crossroads had a number of people waiting for the green light to cross the street. I quickly found the mall which had a roof platform from where you could have the view of the entire city. Luckily it was a clear day and I enjoyed a magnificent view of Frankfurt. I walked to the Rein river to go over the foot bridge but it was closed due to the flooding, just like the Schokoladen Museum in Cologne. It really took some playgrounds underwater. I quickly starting digging my dictionary for the word „flood“ but before I found it I saw the sign. It was as simple as „Hochwasser“. I thought to myself, „Well, that makes sense“.Below find a photo of Wiesbaden and the flooding-sign in Frankfurt. Till I get to Munich!

I am Stella and I study German in Deutsch Akademie. Living in Germany and learning German have always been on top of my wish list. Of all the languages in the world I’ve always admired German and, as opposed to many people, I found it a good-sounding language. Now I am lucky to be living in Berlin where learning German is only a matter of finding a good language school and practicing.One of the best ways of practicing German is when I travel. It’s like „Killing two birds with one stone“: I get to see new sights and speak to different people. Sometimes they reply in English trying to make it easier for you but I continue to speak German. There has also been times when I pretended that I didn’t speak or understand English which left them no other option but to speak German.I am doing a cross country tour now. I was in Cologne where I witness one of the most amazing cathedrals and climbed up 500 stairs to admire its beauty from close proximity. Then proceeded to check out the ‚Schokoladen Museum‘ which unfortunately was closed. So I stopped at a cafe in ‚Altstadt‘ to have a cup of something warm where I starting a conversation with a woman sitting at the next table. She was very patient with my slow and, at times, grammatically incorrect German. In the afternoon I took the train to Bonn. I assumed that at least the „Haribo“ better known as ‚gummy bear‘ factory would be open. It was a real blast. I strongly recommend all the fans of gummy bears to attend.  My next stop was at a highly recommended soup restaurant in Bonn. The big variety of soups confused me a bit in the beginning, however, I didn’t hesitate to ask for clarifications.  In the end I had a Persian curry soup. Delicious! My final destination was at Beethoven museum. The tour was great. The tour guide was speaking slowly and clearly and that was definitely very helpful for comprehension.I arrived in Wiesbaden a few hours ago but I will share the impressions later. Ciao!

Some of the most fascinating live gigs take place in Berlin. Groups and artists from all over the world representing a huge variety of musical styles come at least once in Berlin in order to perform in front of the Berliner audience. The city has a long tradition in hosting some of the most famous groups / singers in the world…

In Berlin, one can find at least one gig -some times much more- per day ranging from experimental electro-punk to philharmonic sessions. So, instead of just sit on your couch and watch sitcoms I would suggest to go out and find your favorite live performance! And who knows, you might find an interesting opportunity to practice your German language skills…

Zu guter letzt, for those who are interested in more experimental stuff, the 2011 Transmediale starts on 1 February. More information at http://www.clubtransmediale.de/.

And finally, a small taste of Berlin’s underground scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tee1bQbHu1o&feature=related

German learning is not only about grammar, syntax and vocabulary. It’s something more, especially here in Berlin.

It’s more about understanding a way of thinking, where structure is important but not in a restrictive way. It’s rather about engineering ideas out of words. It is about respecting uniqueness and realising that national identity is important but in a synthetic rather than a separatist way.

Living in Berlin is a privilege on its own. It is a capital city with almost 3,5 million people population, limitless cultural and entertainment possibilities and an international flair. Galleries and museums are widely dispersed in almost all of Berlin’s areas also known as “Bezirke”. It is like experiencing a perpetual cultural overdose.

But far most important from all the aforementioned data is the feeling one gets when living in Berlin…it feels like home…

Deutsch Akademie is in a way Berlin’s miniature, with people from so many countries and with so diverse backgrounds. Finally, all one have to do in order to learn German, is just being open-minded, ready to learn through daily interaction with people and absorb as many experiences as possible…

At the end of my daily entries I decided to link a video that reminds me of Berlin. So, for today let’s just “enjoy the silence”…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Dg5sMui0Y

Write to you soon…