Dustin and Bethany have made guest appearances on my blog in the past. They met Jordan and I in Madrid, and then I met them in Copenhagen for a weekend getaway. Bethany is on the same type of Fulbright grant as me, only in a town outside of Berlin, Germany. They have been in Germany since the beginning of September without a trip back to the states. After 8 months of being friends in the same continent, we finally all made it to each other’s towns. From May 6- May 9, Dustin and Bethany visited me here in Madrid. The next weekend, I spent four days visiting them in Berlin.
Dustin and Bethany arrived in Madrid at the perfect time. The rain had finally ceased, the sun was shining all day long, and the blazing Spanish heat had yet to arrive. And while they were here, we definitely lived the Spanish life. We took many relaxing siesta-esque breaks in parks around the city. We went to all the major Madrid sights, including the Prado, the Reina Sofia, a lunch menu of the day at the Ham Museum, and the Palacio Real. And we also took a day trip out to the city of Segovia. Although it was my third time to Segovia and the weather was foggy and chilly, that city is still one of my favorites in Spain. In all, I think they got a very accurate depiction of the Spanish life and the city of Madrid.
The three of us in front of the aqueduct in the city of Segovia.
Four days after they departed to go back to Berlin, I made the same journey and met them in Berlin for four days. While it was sunny and nice in Madrid the week before, it was also sunny and nice in Berlin… that same week. When I arrived, the weather was cloudy, rainy, and fairly cold. The first day, we endured the rain and waited in line at the Reichstag (Parliament building) to make a journey up to the top dome. It provided some really cool, free views of the city of Berlin. We then made our way over to one of Berlin’s many museums to see the Ishtar Gate and the Pergamon temple. It was really cool to get to see some of the history that Berlin had on display.
That night, we made our way back out to their town, Frankfort (Oder), a city about an hour west of Berlin that is right on the border of Poland. It was nice to get to see their “box” of an apartment, which really was just one room that was as tall as it was wide and long.
The next day, we went back into Berlin. I got to visit the Berlin Olympic Stadium, which was a great experience for me, especially with my future aspirations to work for the Olympics. From there, we went back into the heart of Berlin for a typical German lunch. We did some more sight-seeing in the city, including with the Berlin wall remains and Hitler’s bunker, before heading back out to Frankfort.
Of course I had to jump in front of the Olympic Stadium entrance.
Me in front of the Berlin Wall remains!
The next day, Dustin had a weekend ultimate frisbee tournament in the city, so Bethany and I stayed out in Frankfort (Oder) for the day. We walked all around the city, giving her a chance to finally be a tourist in her own city. We also crossed the river over into Poland! It was cool how easy it was to just cross a bridge and be in another country with a different language, currency, and culture. We had an amazingly cheap meal in Poland and bought some sweets at a market before making our way back to Germany.
Across the German border, into Poland!
On my last day in Germany, Bethany and I took a train out to Oranienburg to see the remains of a concentration camp. While the camp was a small one where not many people died in the grand scheme of things, it was still very powerful to see where so much brutality occurred. Bethany had not been there yet either, so it was nice for both of us to visit. From there, we went and met Dustin to watch him play in his last German ultimate frisbee match before heading into Berlin for some Subway and a movie. From there, I said goodbye to the two of them to make my way out to the airport. They had only one week left in Europe before heading home to the states, which made me really jealous.
After spending the night out at the airport on Miguel’s borrowed sleeping pad, I boarded my 7 am flight and headed back to Madrid. This definitely made for 2 great trips with 2 great people.
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