Berlin's 775th Birthday

I think out of all the cities, I was really very excited about heading to Berlin. Everyone I spoke to only had good things to say. 

I expected nothing less than something amazing.

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and it has seen some pretty bad times over the last 100 years. The city was completely destroyed in WWII by the allies and there is STILL a lot of construction around the city today.

  The total division of Berlin, between East and West did lead to some rather interesting architecture choices. Like their infamous TV tower which appears to be Berlin's homage to the 70’s disco era;

I like that Berlin doesn't try to cover up its history. It doesn’t celebrate or condemn it anymore either. Berlin kind of just presents all these things to you, acknowledges that it was horrible, that it was filled with despair and unnecessary heartache for so many and lets you decide how to feel about it all.

While in Berlin we visited a concentration camp. Since I’ve been travelling, I can’t help but feel a little more connected to the world. Seeing something and simply reading about it are two different things. Being at a location where hundreds and hundreds of lives were laid to waste, makes me realise how lucky I am.

I’ll never complain about any aspect of my life again. It’s upsetting beyond comprehension that these events took place and that so many people were condemned for no reason other than who they were. It’s sad that so many did nothing to prevent it.

Germans aren't without a sense of humour though. One of the most intimidating buildings I've seen, with it's barred windows and thick sandstone coloured cement blocks, once a Nazi airbase, was turned into a taxation office.

We rode our bikes past where Hitler committed suicide. It's a car park now for some apartment buildings and there's nothing but a small objective sign to let you know that this was the location where his bunker was. I bring this up because next to the car park is a Chinese Restaurant, a Jewish Bakery and a Gay Sauna. Better than any memorial they could have ever erected in my opinion.

Berlin impresses me so much.

OK, so I have a bit of a confession.

I'm a MASSIVE history nerd.
It was my favourite subject in high school.

I know what you're thinking, 'but Tara, you're so cool and hip and with it, I would have never of guessed. I always thought you'd be one of those girls that sat with the cool kids and wasn't heavily involved with the drama club.'

I also made rap songs to help me memorise chemistry elements.

I am the coolest.

You know what they say though... Historians do have good times.

Oh I went there!

You can imagine how much of a feast somewhere like Germany is for a geek like me.

It's like Friedrich Nietzsche said;

"You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame. How could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?"

Berlin has completely reinvented itself into the most beautiful, tolerant, pleasant city in the world. It has the highest population of Turkish people outside of Turkey, so many kebab shops it’s insane and is the world capital for contemporary art. 

It has been home to some of the most inspiring minds in the world including Albert Einstein and some other 27 Nobel Prize winners.

Berlin’s a really cool place to just be in. I’ll definitely look at going back there sometime soon.

Vienna

Austrian’s call it Wien, and my astounding grip on languages leads me to believe that it means Vienna in English.

My affection was won after I walked past this store combining some of my favourite things;

Bitches shopping for lingerie and coffee, all in one convenient location.

It’s quite small by European standards with a population of only about two million and every one is incredibly friendly. Unfortunately a lot of Vienna was destroyed in World War II but the result is amazing 19^th century architecture blended with new futuristic buildings.

Austria’s speak German and my friends are teaching me words they think will help me get around best.
I feel like I’ve gotten my head around the language. Basically, you take the English word, triple its length, chuck an ‘o’ in front then throw in some ‘s’s and ‘z’s for good measure.

Here is a practical example for those of you playing at home;
‘Oachkatzlscawoaf’ = Squirrel Tail

Although they share the same language, they don’t like Germans. Really don’t like Germans.

I found this fascinating and obviously, I needed to ask as many drunk Austrian’s as I could exactly why. Most didn’t have the slightest clue about how it originated but some offered interesting insight.
My favorite responses were;
“Germans are jealous of Austria because we can make the good skiing,”
and
“Germans have smaller intellect.”

Site seeing here is really fun because I get to do it with my beautiful friend Thomas, who has also graciously opened up his apartment to my Californian friend & I. 

(Can you guess which side of the bed is mine?)

He’s also introduced me to some of his amazing friends too. They politely let me indulge in all my lederhosen wearing fantasies.

Thomas & I visit the stunning grounds of Schönbrunn Castle,

and I get to I loose my shit over seeing some wild squirrels.

The world’s oldest (and probably prettiest) zoo is also located close by. I don’t know where my love of animals stems from but conservation zoos have always been one of my favourite things to do. Further feeding my obsession with finding my spirit animal.

Thomas says he’s happy to have me staying with him and I love that his favourite meal is breakfast so I wake up to sights like this;

On the day we arrived it was their annual street festival which had me drinking outside of their Parliament house from 2pm till 7am and learning the lyrics to, what I can only assume, is their version of ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’

Yeah… Austria was pretty awesome.

Parlez Vous Francai?

When I was sixteen I had this complete obsession with Paris.

I listened to French music, read French literature, cut out pictures from Vogue Magazine and plastered an entire wall in my bedroom with them. I was convinced that I would learn French and run away one day to live there.

So, when I came here when I was 17 and fresh from high school, the world was beautiful and I remembered Paris as being magical and wonderful.

Some five years later, on my own, Paris was different and I felt like it was a change I didn’t enjoy.

As sad I was to leave my love behind in Sweden, I was excited to come back because it meant that I gained the company of some of the most intriguing people I know. The only ones for me are the mad ones.

My experiences have definitely changed since they’ve joined me. 

Trying to navigate your way through Le Louvre is not pleasant after you drink heavily for the first time in a while and well... one of us threw up in that very culture rich establishment, making someone dry reach while someone else laugh too hard to be of any help.

Regrets...?

Ahh... well, I certainly have a few.

That’s the price you pay for travelling with friends. Not only are there people to share all these wonderful experiences with me but they’re also there to laugh hysterically at my misfortune and take photos.
They're a bunch of assholes and I'm so happy to have them here.

Mostly because there’s someone to laugh with me when we catch trains with names that sound like funny English words for genitalia.

During our time here, I enjoyed heading out of the city and going to Versailles. Although there's not a whole lot to do there and the line to get in is a total pain, it's nice, it's beautiful and it smells much fresher.

I mustn’t be all that pleasant to argue with at the moment because a month on your own makes you head strong and very self assured to the point of arrogance but I think that’s also what I needed.

One of the good things about travelling with people is that I can do things I didn’t want to do on my own. I’m sure going to Disney Land would have just made the most magical place on Earth, very, very sad.

The city it self reminds me of a fifty five year old chain smoker.

You can tell she used to be beautiful once. You can appreciate all the history and the culture she’s experienced but when you look closer you realise she’s plastered in make-up and desperately trying to pick up twenty year olds at a speed dating singles night. I wish Paris were a little more Meryl Streep and a little less Madonna in a unitard.

Maybe my fading love for Paris has a lot to do with how much my view on the world has changed. It’s not good or bad, just different.

I still like Paris, we can share some nice moments when she isn’t trying too hard. 

I would come back but that’s where it stops. As it turns out... I probably just put those Vogue pictures on my wall for the girls rather than the city.

Uncharted Viking Territory.

The entirety of my time here is dominated by one longing...
to see a wild moose!

After our trip to Norway, and being mercilessly taunted by hundreds of 'moose crossing' signs, I ask everyone I encounter where I might find one.

BUT...
there is PLENTY to distract me here...

I think if there's any country that will lead to my total demise, it's Sweden.

I'm lost in a sea of ice blue eyes and that just so happens to by my kyponite.
Also it doesn't help that, to quote Usher;

"Honey got a booty. Like pow, pow, pow. Honey got some boobies. Like wow. Oh wow."

I've been spending most of my time roaming around the country side after some unexpected car trouble landed us near Rickard's childhood home. About 10 minutes from the town of Säffle.

I instantly wish I'd grown up here because there really is NOTHING quite like the Swedish country side. We spend most of our days roaming from lake to lake and forest to forest, listening to old school dance music like Michael Jackson's Dance Machine. 

I can't quite capture it with my camera but when it's overcast the skies open up just enough to let the light shine onto the wheat fields and they almost look alive with a stunning saffron glow.

Four days in and still no moose.

It's cold here but Rick's parents house is sweet and warm, regardless of the temperature. 

In the morning, I layer up and go for a walk, "sometimes we persure the call into the forest, looking for it, as though it were a tangible thing."

I can actually see the season changing. I think only of how badly I'd want to see this place in the spring or deep winter.

I remember stumbling upon an opening in the trees and just see yellow. Yellow all the way to the horizon. I feel so full of life and energy.

I bound around the field like a puppy.
Excited, exhilarated, free. It doesn't matter what I do, or how loudly I chuckle to myself there's no one around. I don't think you can get that kind of freedom in the city.

I don't think you can get that kind of freedom anywhere without making a lot of sacrifices.

Just when I decide the world is sweet,

when I decide I'm invincible,

I realise...

the field is COVERED in bees!

So I put my tail between my legs and bound the heck out of there. I'm pretty sure that's just natures way of bitch slapping me back into my place.

People here have genuine love for their country. They never complain that everything is highly taxed, (to the point where a McDonald's burger costs about $13) because they know that their tax money goes straight back to them.
It goes towards their free health care system, free education, free medicine, free media, free universities.

Apart from my new perspective on nature, Sweden has given me so much;

My first home cooked meal in nearly four weeks,

My first petrifying right sided driving experience,

My first, very failed attempt at commandeering a viking ship,

and finally

My first wild moose sighting;

Sweden even throws in a family of wild deer for good measure (left, near the woods).

It's just one of those rare things in life, where your expectations are not only met but they're actually exceeded. Something that just doesn't happen often enough for anyone.

I can very easily picture myself living out the remainder of my days here.
Happiness surrounding me in a small red wooden house, drinking whisky and reading a leather bound book by an open roaring fire.

I'm sure the love of my life is in Sweden.

But that's the bitter-sweetness of traveling. It's flirting with life. Lisa St. Aubin de Teran put it best when she said it's like saying "I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station."

So I kiss the forest green and amber fields, the roaring open fire, those I've come to love and all the promises of my life here goodbye and risk that I'm looking in on the good life, I might be doomed never to find.