GEA2014: Silver Linings

July 8, 2014, Berlin to Heidelberg

I love European train stations! Such life, such sense of forward motion.

We left Berlin, headed to Heidelberg. Turns out fast trains and rain make it difficult to take photos. Most of the journey looked like this:

As we passed small towns, I noticed many of the old train stations were boarded up. It’s a pity something can’t be done with them. I was thinking, summer artist in residence programs where you live there and spend 2 hours of every day fixing the place up.

At this point in the trip I realize there are summer garden houses EVERYWHERE. Most are what I imagined they’d ideally be–cute sheds and actual food producing gardens. I’ve never seen another example of the upper East-side action I saw in Berlin.

I don’t know anything about Frankfurt but WOW. We pulled into that station and I felt like I’d stepped onto Wall Street. Buttoned-up, super intense business people on the platform, boarding the train. The change in mood was incredible.

We arrived in Heidelberg in pouring rain and, spoiler alert, it never let up. The town was cute but nearly impossible to photograph in that weather.

The good news: It was Germany vs. Brazil world cup at 10pm and though I could see the festive outdoor venues weren’t going to happen, the indoor bars were packed. We stumbled upon a Brazil-supporting bar and loved the vibe. The people were singing, passing out candy, trying to give us slices of homemade cake. I was overwhelmed by their hospitality.

I was so torn. I wanted Germany to win because we were in Germany, but the Brazilians were so happy! They were some of the nicest people we’d met on the whole trip.

Unfortunately German really kicked Brazil’s ass and near the end of the game the TV was filled with crying faces and the Brazilians left before the bitter end.

Despite the sadness, it was one of the nicer nights on the trip, experiencing a local bar filled with locals in what I feared would be a tourist area and being treated like family. I’m pretty sure this soccer match was the first sports game I ever watched from beginning to end and I thoroughly enjoyed it.