Tag Archives: East Germany

Hessen, holidays, short breaks, trip planning

A fairly boring weekend…

The featured photo is from this time last year, which was a more fruitful time for my travel blog…

We didn’t do much this weekend, mainly because Bill has to go to Stuttgart this week on business. Our big thing yesterday, after I mowed the lawn, was to watch a German movie on Apple TV called The Lives of Others. I had watched the movie when Bill was gone last month, and I thought he’d really enjoy it. So even though we had beautiful weather yesterday, I suggested that we watch it together.

This was interesting to us, since we’re both old enough to remember East Germany– aka The German Democratic Republic.

The timing of watching this movie is timely, given that German Reunification Day was this past Thursday. Of course, that’s not a holiday for us Americans, but Germans get the day off to celebrate the reunification of East and West Germany. The Lives of Others, which came out in 2006, is set in the mid 80s in East Germany. It’s a fictional story about a hardened Stasi agent who has an attack of conscience while spying on a playwright whose actress girlfriend has caught the eye of a government official.

What makes the film especially cool is that the guy who wrote and directed it, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, was born in Cologne, West Germany in 1973, and was only 16 years old when the Berlin Wall fell. I am a year older than Florian is. I remember when it fell, too. Bill was actually living here when it happened.

When Bill lived in Germany the first time, from 1987-1990, he spent a couple of months guarding the Czech-German border. When we visited the Czech Republic the first time, back in 2008, Bill was very nervous crossing the border, because it was his old territory. He half expected to be busted by the Czech border patrol. Of course, nowadays, you can just sail right through the border with no issues. But we’re old enough to remember when that was definitely not the case.

On Friday night, there was a wine stand in our village, but we opted not to attend. It was chilly and cloudy, and we didn’t feel like drinking cheap German wine in the cold. Instead, we drank German beer, listened to my enormous playlist, and ate Armenian/Greek food from the Ararat Olymp Grillhaus in Mainz, which was available for delivery. It was delicious! We had lavash, khinkali, gyros, fries, flatbread, and tzatziki, and there was plenty left over for lunch yesterday. It’s nice to have Armenian/Greek/Georgian food so close and available to us for delivery. I do kind of miss our evenings at restaurants, though.

As for today, our big outing was to the PX/commissary, to buy me some cosmetics and food for the coming week. The commissary was pretty busy and it looked like it needed to be stocked. I guess the supply chains were running low.

I think the rest of the day will be spent on some mundane chores that need to be done before Bill leaves. We are hoping to get away sometime this month after we go to Stuttgart for our dental cleanings. We just have to line everything up with the dentist and the dog kennel. 😉 I’ve been looking for potential long weekend spots. I think we’ll stay in Germany, but I am not averse to going to a country bordering Germany, as long as it doesn’t involve a super long drive. Maybe it’s time for another trip to France.

Other than that, I don’t have much to report. The Apple Wine fest went on Friday and Saturday in Wiesbaden. It might have been nice to attend that yesterday. I forgot about it, though, until it was too late. Oh well.

I’m glad fall is here, but I kind of dread the weather turning cold and shitty. But at least I’m not being eaten alive by mosquitos anymore.

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Ten things I learned on our trip to Sweden, Denmark, and East Germany…

Well, it’s time once again to write one of my “ten things I learned” posts.  I always like to wrap up a long trip with a summary post.  It’s mainly for those who don’t want to wade through all my crap, but are interested in where I went and what I did.  I find it’s also useful for me to digest our travel experiences.  I keep reminding myself that I probably won’t always have these amazing opportunities to see the world.  So here goes…

10.  Volvo is now owned by a Chinese company.

I knew that Volvo was once owned by the American company, Ford, but I didn’t know that it was bought by Geely, which was founded in 1986 and is based in China.  I also didn’t know that Geely means “lucky” or “auspicious” in Chinese.

9.  Hygge is a special thing in Denmark.

Actually, it’s a special thing in Norway, too.  The word denotes a certain kind of coziness and comfort, particularly when it includes togetherness with other people.  I didn’t experience much Hygge during our one night in Copenhagen, but I can see how I might if I stayed there longer… or if we’d ventured into Denmark’s cool tree walk.

8.  Always follow up if you don’t get firm instructions regarding a meeting.

My husband, Bill, was kicking himself because he took our Volvo salesperson’s word for it when he was told they’d come get us at around 9:00am.  He never heard from anyone at Volvo itself.  Consequently, we were surprised when they sent a cab for us at 7:40am.  Fortunately, we were able to go to the factory later and get our new car.

7.  The Volvo Factory Experience is cool…

It was interesting to see how robots created the luxury wheels we’re driving now.  Volvo also doesn’t look like a bad place to work, if you can stand factory work, that is.  The factory was clean and surprisingly quiet.

6.  The Stasi Prison Museum in Rostock is closed for renovations.

I was bummed that we weren’t able to see the museum.  It was the one reason we decided to stay in Rostock for two nights instead of Copenhagen.  Oh well.  Rostock is a pretty interesting city anyway. I wouldn’t mind going back.  If we do go back, maybe we can see the museum then.  Or maybe we should just go to Berlin again and see the one there.

5.  East Germany is still pretty unspoiled and vacant compared to the west…

It was a pleasure to drive on the mostly open Autobahns, although I kept wondering what it must have been like there before and immediately after the Berlin Wall fell.  I think the former East Germany is fascinating.  I’d love to spend more time there.  And yes, I know East Germany doesn’t exist anymore.  I’m a child of the 80s.  Humor me.

4.  Leipzig is a very musical city.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t know Bach, Wagner, and Mendelssohn had connections there.  I will admit, though, that they aren’t composers I’ve studied much about.  Aside from the heavy hitting classical composers, Leipzig is home to a number of talented buskers and hosts its share of rock stars.  We got to see one up close in the hotel bar where we were staying.

3.  Bedbugs may or may not have bitten my leg…

And if a bedbug did bite me, it proves that bedbugs aren’t necessarily attracted to filth.  Even really nice hotels can have issues with them.

2.  German Apothekes are very helpful if you have a minor illness or health mishap.

I’m sure I knew this, of course.  I just don’t make it a habit of visiting them because as an American with on post shopping privileges, I can get my hands on a lot of over the counter drugs without having to talk to a pharmacist.  But if you’re on a trip in Germany and something bites you or you have minor aches and pains, a German Apotheke may be very helpful and worth a stop.

1.  Autobahns in East Germany have emojis to indicate the length of building projects.

Maybe they have them in the west, too, but I have never seen them.  They’re pretty cute!

This is pretty much how I feel when I encounter a Stau… especially if it’s caused by one of the neverending building projects over here.

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Volvo, Mark Knopfler, and East German adventures… part seven

A sight for sore eyes.

We left Rostock bright and early on Thursday, July 4th.  The drive to Leipzig took about four hours through the former East Germany.  We were marveling at how unspoiled it is, even thirty years after the Berlin Wall fell.  There are many open fields and the Autobahns, for the most part, are nice and clear.  We did encounter a couple of Staus, which were caused by road construction.

Nice rural East German countryside.

I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw that the builders had used signs with “emojis” on them to express how long the construction would last.  The first emoji would be a red frowny face.  Midway through, one might see a yellow flat face– with a straight line for its lips.  Then, at the end, there would be a green happy face and the word, “Geschafft!”, which translates to “finished” or “done”, I guess.  I see by Google Translate, it literally means “made”.  I tried to get pictures, but wasn’t so successful.  You can see an example of what I’m writing about here.  I don’t know how I’ve missed these for the past few years.  I haven’t seen them used in the areas where we’ve lived.

The only picture I managed to capture in time.

We finally reached the city of Leipzig at just after one o’clock.  Once again, Bill got turned around and missed the street where the Steigenberg Grand Hotel was.  We had to drive around a bit to finally get to the right place.  Upon arrival, our bags were whisked away and the car was driven off by a valet.  I got an upgraded room, thanks to Expedia.com, which also awarded me gold status again (I had lost it in December 2017, when I used my points in Berlin).  Instead of the standard room I booked, I got a deluxe room.

Here are some photos of the room.

Bathtub… we didn’t use.

Nice rainfall shower.

His and hers sinks.

 

The shower and toilet next to each other.

This bed was mostly more comfortable than our bed at the Radisson Blu in Rostock… except for one issue, which I’ll get into in a future post.

 

The room had air conditioning and a mini bar, as well as free Internet and a nice big TV.  There was also a couch by the window, which appeared to be what made this a “deluxe” room.  The standard rooms had chairs instead.  I think the deluxe rooms were also slightly larger.

This hotel has a nice bar area, a restaurant, and a spa.  We used the bar, of course, but only visited the restaurant for breakfast, which I booked with the room.  I probably should have gone to the spa, but didn’t bother.

Since it was lunchtime, we decided to try Dhillon’s Irish Bar & Grill for lunch, since it was very close to the hotel and I was in the mood for fried food.  Lunch at Dhillon’s Irish Bar & Grill was fine.  I had fish & chips and Bill had Cottage Pie.  We also had beer.  Service was fast and friendly, and we weren’t left with a terrible impression.  Unfortunately, we made the mistake of going back on Saturday night and were completely ignored.  I wrote a very foul rant about this on my main blog.  I would not recommend reading it unless you want to read a lot of cussing.  I was extremely pissed off.  But here are a few photos from our successful Thursday lunch visit.  I will admit, lunch there was fine.

Obligatory shot of Bill.

Cottage pie.  Bill said it was good.

I liked my fish & chips.

This was a welcoming sign… however, on Saturday night, they didn’t roll out the welcome mat for us.

After we ate, we walked around Leipzig and found our way to St. Thomas Church, where Johann Sebastian Bach was music director for 27 years.  This Lutheran church is also affiliated with several other well known composers, including Richard Wagner and Felix Mendelsohnn.  Besides a lovely interior, the church has a small museum and a large statue of Bach out front.  A couple of classical musicians were outside playing beautifully.  They brought tears to my eyes with their heavenly music.  Leipzig is definitely a very musical city and a place to visit if music is your passion as much as it is mine.

This was painted on the wall near the church.

St. Thomas Lutheran Church.

One thing I didn’t know when I booked our travel was that this past weekend was also the time for the Leipziger Wein Fest.  We managed to try several wines over a few days and listened to some nice live music in the square.  It was a real bonus to get to taste wines and see Mark Knopfler!

At one point, I saw an adorable young family dancing to the music.  Mom was very pregnant and looked about ready to add to the family.  Dad was dancing with his toddler son, who was enchanted by the music by Benni & Ich.  It made me tear up watching them.

This guy seemed really into the music.

Later that day, we found out that Bill’s daughter, Catherine, gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Clara.  Catherine is Bill’s younger daughter.  Thanks to an acrimonious divorce, Bill hasn’t seen her or her older sister, who was also born on July 4th, since 2004.  For many years, they were completely estranged.  However, in recent years, Bill and Catherine have started Skyping and emailing.  Bill now has a grandson and a granddaughter and, with any luck, he’ll be able to get to know them despite his ex wife’s extreme efforts at ruining his relationship with his daughters.

I’d say our July 4th, despite being devoid of fireworks, was a success.

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Now we’re in Rostock…

What a cool town this is!!!  Literally, it’s cool here, but it’s also figuratively cool.  Rostock has a lot of fascinating architecture, and it’s right by the Baltic Sea.  We had a pleasant drive through Denmark’s countryside before we took an almost two hour ferry ride across the Baltic Sea to get back to German soil.  We left the Adina Apartment Hotel in Copenhagen bright an early and made it to Rostock in time for check in at the Radisson Blu.

I think I’m going to have to explore Denmark more.  I had been to Copenhagen before last night’s visit– we stopped there ten years ago on a cruise, but I had never seen any other parts of the country.  It’s really pretty, and the ferry is exciting, if not kind of crowded and expensive.

The new car is awesome and continues to surprise us by how smart it is.  I look forward to writing up this trip, because I have a feeling some people would love a series on buying a Volvo via military sales from Germany.  Suffice to say, the experience has mostly been a real pleasure.

So… just a few more days until I write up this trip in detail.

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Helpful apps

Honey made my latest hotel booking a little sweeter…

Sign up for some honey!

A big shoutout goes to my friend, Stephanie, who turned me on to “Honey“, an app that automatically finds coupons for you.  Although lately, I’m not a frugal as I used to be, I’m always up for saving money, especially when it’s easy.  Honey, a browser extension, is always looking for deals on your behalf.  I found this out yesterday, as I was searching for a hotel room in Leipzig.

On July 4th, we will be traveling to the east German city to catch Mark Knopfler in concert on the 5th.  I’ve been wanting to see Mark Knopfler for years.  Even though he’s also playing in Mannheim, which is a lot closer to where we currently live, and Stuttgart, which is near where we used to live, I chose to get tickets in Leipzig, because we’ve never been there.  Ever since we visited Dresden back in 2008, I’ve been wanting to explore more of what used to be East Germany.

July 7th, the day we’re coming home, is Bill’s birthday.  I figured, since we usually do fun stuff for my birthday, this year, we’d do something nice for Bill’s.  Although I was closely eyeing the Leipzig Adina Hotel, which is part of a great chain of apartment hotels and is a lot cheaper than the ritzy Hotel Steigenberger, the truth is, I like overpriced luxury digs.  I’ve stayed in a lot of inexpensive lodgings in my lifetime, so when I can splurge, I do.  We stayed in an Adina hotel in Berlin and liked it, particularly because Bill’s mom was with us.  The super clean apartment allowed her to have her own bathroom and bedroom.  But this time, it’s just Bill and me, and we don’t need a kitchenette, laundry facilities, or other apartment stuff.

I booked us at the Hotel Steigenberger, cringing a little at the price.  But then, just as I was about to pay, Honey went into action.  It found me a coupon that ended up shaving about $71 off the price of the room!  And better yet, I didn’t have to do a thing to get that discount.  In fact, I had completely forgotten about Honey and would have missed out on that coupon if it hadn’t worked automatically.  Also, looking at Honey’s official site, I see that they have “Honey Travel“, which is a site available only to Honey members.  One can use Honey Travel to browse deals and collect “keys”, which can be used to save money on future travel.

I didn’t use Honey Travel yesterday, because I didn’t know about it.  I can see how it will be useful, though, when I plan future trips.  I can use the dedicated site to compare hotels and find deals.  The site appears to compare prices at the major travel Web sites like Travelocity, Expedia, and Booking.com.  I already collect points on Expedia and am a Booking.com “Genius”, so I’m not sure how often I’ll also use Honey Travel.  It depends on if it allows “double dipping”.

Still, even though I didn’t use Honey Travel, Honey saved me money– about 10% off Expedia.com’s rate.  And every time I save money with Honey, I get Honey Gold, which I can eventually trade in for gift cards at stores like Amazon, Macy’s, and Target.  I already use other sites, like MyPoints.com, for collecting points that can be turned into gift cards.  When I was in the States, I also used MySurvey.com, which was good for a little pocket cash and the occasional freebie.  Honey appears to be somewhat similar to MyPoints, only you don’t have to remember to click through any links.

Anyway… I just wanted to share the news and the wealth.  I’ll be sure to keep using Honey for all of my online shopping, which is pretty much the majority of it these days.  God knows, I can use a little more cash for my travels!

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