Germany

Do you make use of Couch Surfing Berlin or other such organizations when traveling to a foreign country? Its a way to meet locals who will not only put you up for awhile but will show you their favorite pubs and local activities and introduce you to their friends.
Its not just for the over-sexed twenties set.

Quote: Fleastiff

Do you make use of Couch Surfing Berlin or other such organizations when traveling to a foreign country? Its a way to meet locals who will not only put you up for awhile but will show you their favorite pubs and local activities and introduce you to their friends.
Its not just for the over-sexed twenties set.

No. Never even heard about it but it sounds like a great idea.

Did you see a section of the Berlin Wall? I saw a part of it here, even have a pic of me climbing it, but I always wondered if they had any "footprint" of where it was or something.

Perhaps but I think the whole idea was to replace it both physically and in their memory.

Quote: Fleastiff

Perhaps but I think the whole idea was to replace it both physically and in their memory.

I am surprised you would think that. It seems to me that people treasure the physical reminders of their conflicts. The fields of Gettysburg, the Alamo in San Antonio, the still submerged battleship Arizona, are all major tourist draws.

Quote: AZDuffman

Did you see a section of the Berlin Wall?

Yes. I'll post pictures of that next.

Here are a couple pictures of the Berlin Wall. They were taken at the longest remaining stretch, which goes about half a mile. My first hotel in Berlin was very close to it.





There is another stretch of the wall at Checkpoint Charlie, but I never made it there.

By special invitation, here is my German perspective on this thread.

Quote: Pacomartin

I am surprised you would think that. It seems to me that people treasure the physical reminders of their conflicts. The fields of Gettysburg, the Alamo in San Antonio, the still submerged battleship Arizona, are all major tourist draws.

There are markers all throughout Berlin where the wall used to be. "Treasure" is maybe the wrong word though. For most people it is a responsibility to remember the past, and there is no sense of pride in it. More like, "things used to be really fucked up." There are always exceptions though.

Those "exceptions" are also responsible for the violence against refugees right now. In general, there is overwhelming support for the refugees. Both by authorities and volunteers. But of course, the arsonist makes the news.

PS: Concerning Absinthe: I always have a bottle in my liquor cabinet. The hallucinogenic stuff is indeed an urban legend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thujone
It still took many years after this had been known before European countries would change the laws making absinthe illegal.

Quote: Canyonero

PS: Concerning Absinthe: I always have a bottle in my liquor cabinet. The hallucinogenic stuff is indeed an urban legend:

It's interesting that absinthe was was made illegal at a time when heroin and cocaine were both legal and marketed as medicine.

It's amazing the scientific errors of the past. One fascinating story that I saw on PBS involved the arrest of a man in NYC in 1926 in what can be only termed an open and shut case. He was found lugging piece of the body of his neighbor to the waterfront and he confessed that he thinks he murdered her. In one of the first cases of forensic science in America, it is shown that carbon monoxide gas from Travia's stove had poisoned her to death. The suspect passed out but survived, but awakes and think he killed his neighbor in a drunken stupor. He serves time for illegally disposing of a body, but not for murder.

Quote: Canyonero

In general, there is overwhelming support for the refugees. .

Wow, the press is keeping that a secret.
All we see here is stories that say the
opposite. I just Googled 'German's
support refugees' and got mostly
stories that said there is a huge
amount of unrest over the 'crisis'.
That it's moving Germany as a
country to the far right politically.

I'm glad you cleared it up and Germany
loves being invaded by thousands
of Muslim men, cause we sure as
hell don't want them here.