OK this is where the fun begins. Ankit and I have decided to travel together for 2 weeks, taking off the week before the Easter holiday week. We bought a Eurolines bus pass for about 165 Euros, which entitles us unlimited travel for 15 days. Our plan was to travel on short trips from one city to another so that the travelling time won't kill us, and night buses as well to save on accommodation. Well every plan has its flaws, we'll see.
Anyway, our plan was to travel from Copenhagen -> Berlin -> Amsterdam -> Paris -> Geneva -> Lausanne -> Interlaken -> Zurich -> Prague -> Copenhagen in 15 days. The plan changes at Geneva, we'll be joining 2 of Ankit's Indian friends, and they will be renting a car to drive through Switzerland, cos as we all should know, Switzerland is known for its mad costs.
It didn't start off very well. The printer wasn't working, the computer wasn't reading my thumb drive and I had a bicycle accident when I cycled into a rock at night. The stupid road lamp wasn't working and I was going down a slope, so I was praying that I didn't hit the huge rock but I did and ended up somersaulting, luckily I landed on my back. Cuts and bruises here and there,but that's about it. I was panicking, haven't had dinner yet and some stuff still unpacked. It was really last minute thanks to the stupid printer which I needed to use for my documents like hostel confirmation. I had to throw in my cookies with my pillow cos we didn't want to miss our bus. And yes my head pillow was sugared by the time I reached berlin.
The bus stand was in Copenhagen near the Kobenhavn H central station. We couldn't locate it as well and there were dubious people standing around cos it was 11:45pm at night and that street wasn't very safe. I don't get it, why do they not have a proper bus terminal? We couldn't even locate the right bus cos the organization was so messy and we had to ask every bus driver. And bus drivers' moods at 11:45pm without coffee weren't exactly pleasant so we just had to be a little patient. Finally the Berlin bus came and we boarded it.
There were many lone rangers in the bus (people travelling alone), mostly backpackers and some of them came up to us introducing themselves, and everyone said the same thing about the horrible organization. The bus was just half full, so I had 2 seats to myself, it had a mini washroom and the seats were relatively comfortable.
If your geographically educated, it would be wiser to travel by a ferry from the island of Zealand (which Copenhagen is located) to Germany. And that came to us as a surprise. I was sleeping when the driver woke us up telling us to get down. I had no clue where we were, the bus was parked at some type of carpark but I didnt' even know we were in a ferry. But it was very interesting, I bought some cheap chocolates and I enjoyed some refreshing night sea breeze as the ferry whizzed through to Copenhagen in an approximate time of 45 mins.
We finally reached the Berlin bus terminal, it was so different from the shitty street in Copenhagen. It looked proper organized and there was a washroom. BERLIN! We then went to check in at our hostel, of which we had to take a metro to. It cost us 2euros to get there.
Here's more details about the Eurolines pass. In order to get a reserved ticket for the trip to our next destination (which is Amsterdam), we have go to the Eurolines office in the country of embarkation which in this case is Berlin, and we have to book a ticket. But the stupid office wasn't open yet because we arrived so early, so we decided to go to the hostel first which is 40 minutes away. Here's the thing, if the office says that the bus is full, you're screwed. And there's no way of reserving the ticket before arriving. So we just had to take a little risk. And of cos pay 3 euros for reserving the ticket.
We decided to take a free tour (cos its free) and our tour guide was this lady by the name of Maria. She's half Swedish, half Japanese and she's a part time actress. I must say she's brilliant, the way she projected her voice, explained the history behind the attraction and danced around was amazing. The basis of these free tours lies in tips. So basically she has to work hard for good tips. We regretted not giving her tips because we wanted to save our $$, but we regretted it afterwards. She was very animated, detailed and engaging.
Might seem like a normal road mark but it is the line that divides East and West Germany. Interesting point out from Maria.
The Holocaust Memorial which the Germans spent about 27 million Euros in building. It's like an area of rectangular blocks of varying high on uneven slopes. And it's like a maze inside. The concept of it as explained by Maria, was inspired by an idea of a journey in which one loses his old friends and meets new people. There was also a Holocaust museum which we went later, and it was very very sad. It had letters of relatives writing to each other just before they were being sent for execution or to extermination camps. And I saw pictures of women made to strip and lie down in a pit before being shot so as to make it easier for them to be buried. It was so disgusting and repulsive.
The Berlin wall
Haha. Not the real berlin wall. But a nice parody of it.
The tour lasted about 3.5 hours, and by the time my legs were non-existent. We wanted to save money on metro so we walked back on a journey equivalent to that from Science Centre to Bukit Batok MRT station. yes.
Our hostel bar area. The hostel was run by some very friendly Australians, they even offered us Breakfast when we arrived. It was so pleasant, there's eggs and cheese, I loved it.
DAY 2
We took a tour to Sachenhausen, a concentration camp on the outskirts of Berlin. I mean how can you come to Berlin and not see it. It was a paid tour so we didn't have any concerns of giving tips this time. But the guide wasn't as good as Maria, he was informative but not as animated. I guess animation wasn't required there, it was a solemn place because many people died. Very sad and grossed out from the way he described how the Germans executed the Jews, the homosexuals and the handicaps.
Toilet bowls in the camp!
Uniform.
This was the place where the Germans shot(executed) the prisoners. I was told that they begged for their lives upon seeing their imminent death and even the Germans soldiers suffered depression upon shooting so many civilians. They decided to resort to gas because it was far more efficient and it takes away the pressure and anxiety of having to execute prisoners face to face.
This was the place where they did the laboratory testing for the gas chambers. And there were ovens which they would cremate the bodies after they were being gassed to death. The prisoners were made to think that they were undergoing some sort of a medical examination when they were just being treated like lab rats. How repulsive. I didn't even want to take any pictures of this cursed place.
