Guernsey, May 2013

In May I spent a weekend in Guernsey, visiting a friend from NZ, Melissa.

Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands - along with the more famous Jersey - which lie in the English Channel, although actually closer to France than the UK. It's a British Crown Dependency, although is not technically part of the UK. 

Before arriving, pretty much all I knew about Guernsey I'd gathered from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a great novel set during the German occupation of the island in World War II. 

Due mostly to their unique location, the Channel Islands have an interesting history, having been colonised, invaded, or influenced by Roman, Norse, French, German and British peoples over the years. The most visible influences today are the French and British however.

Castle Cornet 

Cute and delicious French restaurant

They have their own pounds, at the equal value of the GBP, and have some great ice cream (much better than neighbouring Jersey's ice cream, naturally). Nowadays it's a tax haven, hence the abundance of funds and companies based there, and need for accountants.

While I was there, we had dreadful weather one day in Guernsey, but the following day we visited the small neighbouring island of Herm and were treated to a stunning day. Herm is car-free, with a population of around 60, and we explored the island on foot, before checking out the island's beer festival that day. A lot of the landscape reminded me of NZ.

Deutschland, June 2013: brezels, bratwurst, and Berliner Weisse

In June we spent around 10 days in northern Germany. High school friend Melissa joined us and we were finally able to visit friend Insa in her home country, after she'd visited us in NZ numerous times over the years.

Our first stop was Hamburg, where Insa's sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to host us. We made the most of their local knowledge and explored the city together, taking in some beers in the sun on the 'beach' beside the river. 

Hamburg is a really cool city. It's relaxed and seemed quite forward-thinking. We wandered around funky little markets and cute canals, tried flammkuchen (delicious Alsatian dish similar to pizza), and walked through the tunnel under the Elbe, discovering a jazz performance on the other side. 

Next up was Berlin. We took a walking tour of the city which was really good for giving us an overall feel for the city, its geography and history. The Museum Island was really impressive - an amazing collection of buildings - although we decided to make the most of the beautiful weather and didn't venture inside. 

To me, seeing the remaining parts of Berlin wall, and all the memorials to the holocaust was so surreal. To think that these events happened so recently, and in the case of the downfall of the Berlin wall, even in my lifetime. Strange to imagine the country divided less than 30 years ago. The East Side Gallery of the wall, with it's colourful and eclectic paintings was amazing.

We also saw many other great examples of street art throughout the city. We managed to hunt out a local place for a delicious schnitzel and wandered through some really alternative, artistic areas of the city.

Kylie had read about an amazing kebab stand, and we queued for a good 45 minutes just to order one. It really was scrumptious though - lots of fresh herbs, yoghurt, and wrapped in pitta bread.

While in Berlin we were also able to meet up with some other friends from NZ over a few beers. Thinking that weisse means wheat, and that we like wheat beer, we ordered two Berliner Weisse. When the neon green and red drinks arrived we realised we'd made a grave mistake. It turns out the wheat beers have a sweet syrup added to them, and it was pretty awful. We had to order another two beers instead.

After five days in Berlin we hopped on a train to visit Insa in the small city of Bielefeld, where she was living at the time. Bielefeld is by no means a touristy town, but it was nice to visit a truly local city. We went on a number of nice walks, with plenty of greenery to be had in the city, climbed the tower and walked around the Sparrenburg Castle, visited some nice cafes, bars and restaurants, and enjoyed relaxing at Insa's flat, trying all sorts of different cheeses. 

From here, it was a brief stop in Dortmund before Kylie and I flew back to London and Melissa carried on her journey in Germany.