The Deutschland is a place I never thought I'd visit this year. I'd never heard of anything peculiar about the place except the BMW automobile showroom that most engineering undergraduates gushed about like little girls. So, it's true when I say I never really wanted to go Germany at all!
When I was sick for a short while back then, my friend asked if I want to go Germany with her. I was like... sure! Mostly because I was under medication and I couldn't think straight. Thank goodness the tickets to Dusseldorf was cheap... and so the plan materialized.
I didn't do much research, was out having a good time on Monday night at the Kings of Leon concert and the trip was on Wednesday morning itself. I kept telling another friend that I'd be so dead for the trip... hoping that the friend who's joining me had done enough research.
Our first destination was Cologne. It's quite a huge city separated by a river. We were lost the moment we got there and we met a good Samaritan on the underground train who showed us the way. He was shocked, when he found out that we're touring Cologne and told us the best nightlife is in Berlin. Soon after checking-in to the hotel, we decided to try out the kebap (that's how they spelled it in Germany) restaurant which was HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by my friend. Got lost on the streets while trying to look for the underground station. I tapped the shoulder of a man and asked for directions. My goodness... he was such a gentleman!!! His looks were comparable to a prince and his accent was... unbelievably clear for a German. My friend was on the other side and once she saw his face... she hopped over like a bunny and asked him for directions... -TWICE. Just because she didn't hear what he said the first time she asked him to repeat... drowned in his good looks. So, dinner time. Kebap is a Turkish cuisine and the people serving us were Turkish people who speak German; not so much of English. Others had to queue, pay and get their food before entering the restaurant but we've got the special service. We sat down and the waiter tried to take our order. He asked BIG or SMALL bread... we're like what are the exact sizes? Guess what, he went into the kitchen and came out with the breads to demonstrate to us!!! We laughed our heads off! Then we're eating, halfway through I saw bottles of yellow liquid on the table. So I grabbed a waiter and asked him what it was. He couldn't speak English, so he dragged another waiter to explain to us. But he too, couldn't speak English. Final resort, he went into the kitchen and took out a slice of lemon to show us. Once again, we laughed our heads off at their funny demonstrations.
The next day in Cologne, we started off our journey well just because I finally grasped the routes for the underground. However, once we entered Heumarkt, we got lost on the way to Marienplatz. I told my friend to scout for hot guys so we can ask for directions. Just as we're scouting the people on the street across, the traffic light turned green and they crossed over. One lady walked directly to us and asked if we need help. Okay, so here comes my theory; take out a map, put on the very confused and lost look... people will come to you.
I tried this tactic twice, in Berlin and it worked wonders for me. I cannot list the number of good Samaritans that we've met in Germany but all in all, we met a wonderful lady in Berlin. She's 80 years old, walking alone in the freezing streets just to get flowers from the other end. I didn't put on the "lost" face on purpose but she was kind enough to offer her help. She was going the same way as the place we intended to go, Bebelplatz so she walked us there. On the way, she told us that she was once at the East Berlin side and she condemned Communism though living in it. I imagined, what if we just sit down at a nice, warm cafe and spend the afternoon just listening to her stories. I mean, since we were not enjoying Berlin. She's 80. She lived through everything. Too bad we didn't and she could only share the stories as far as her experience with the Embassies and the European Commission building. And the best part was... she knew where Malaysia is!!!
She really inspired both of us to try to enjoy Berlin. Maybe most of the sights that we saw were around East Berlin; we didn't enjoy them. Communist buildings are so dull and the highly anticipated Marx-Engels Forum with the Holocaust Memorials were just... disappointing. I guess Cologne, Fussen, Munich and Liepzig were too exciting that Berlin fared much worse compared to them. I really loved Cologne for the people and the culture. I wish to go back there again.
