Berlin & 60 years of AIESEC Germany

AIESEC Germany became 60 years old, so AIESECers and Alumni celebrated in Berlin.

It started on Thursday in the German Foreign Office with an official reception, a panel discussion on "Taking responsibility in a global society" and several speeches. The last by Mr Kaltenthaler, the founder of AIESEC Germany.

Panel

On Friday, we visited the Reichstag (the German parliament) and met with two members of parliament. We talked about their work, got a tour behind the scene and visited the glass cuppola.

Reichstag (Parliament)

In the evening, we enjoyed a nice Italian dinner buffet in the restaurant Eierschale - delicious.

The next morning, we visited the new and not yet opened airport Berlin Brandenburg - actually, most of us had a flight scheduled to land here, but the opening was postponed to 2013. Several sound proofing and fire protection installations did not meet the safety requirements.

Outline of the new airport

Later, we did a long city tour with all the important sights: Alexanderplatz, Kreuzberg, Reichstag, Ambassy residences, Potsdamer Platz, Hacksche Höfe, and of course Checkpoint Charlie. But as the weather was very hot, we were more interested in the "Cold War" (German: Kalter Krieg) where we got some great ice cream.

ice-cream parlour

Saturday night, we went to Club Restaurant Felix that hosted our gala dinner.

starter

AIESECers from a parallel conference joined us for the party later on and we rocked the club.

Not only on Mondays!

I slept in on sunday and enjoyed my Motel One room. I met an old friend for lunch in Kreuzberg before I headed to the airport. Unfortunately, my flight was cancelled and I spent my evening queuing for an alternative. Air Berlin put me up at Holiday Inn and I got the early morning flight to Munich. So I could directly go to work.

Handschuhspitzen (2319 m)

I decided on short notice to spend this sunday in the mountains and joined a DAV group.

We met at the valley station of the chair lift in Biberwier in the morning and headed up on some rolling meadows. After the end of the first chair lift, it got steeper and steeper.

The last hour to the top was the most dangerous as we had to cross fields of mountains pines, boulders and snow.

As I was quite exhausted on the way down, I rested my knees and took the second chair lift down. 

From mid station to the parking lot, there was a summer toboggan run, so I had some fun enjoying a fast run!

Despite this greyish picture, the sun was shining most of the day and I got a sunburn. More sunscreen next time.

Basic Mountain Training - Kaiser Mountains

Day One

I joined a basic mountain training and  the four of us plus a guide left early from Munich to Kufstein. From a lake nearby we started on a trail uphill. After a bit more than an hour we reached Walleralm from where we continued to top Hochegg (1470 m). Unfortunately, the weather was not good: light rain all the time and slippery and muddy trails. The view was also limited but our hut Kaindlhütte was visible in the valley. 

Hochegg (1470 m)

There we had lunch and occupied our rooms. In the afternoon we had a session on the handling of our equipment: climbing helmet, climbing belt and set. 

Kaindlhütte

Then we went again outside and climbed on some rocks. The sun came out and it became really nice. From an elevation behind the hut, we had a good view on the mountains around. 

We returned at five and then we got a lesson of map reading and tour planning. Dinner was ample and our stomachs were soon full. At 11 we called it a day and went to sleep. 

Day Two

The bed was cozily warm so it took some time to leave it in the morning. It still rained outside, so we took our time for breakfast and did a session on mountain dangers and life on a hut. When the rain stopped at 10:30, we headed out in direction of Scheffauer top. We crossed a snowfield and climbed another slope. 

Snow fields below the Scheffauer

From there we entered a big snow bowl where we stayed some time watching marmots, exercising walking on snow uphill and downhill and simulating  falls and how to survive them. 

We continued up looking for another trail and crossed some more snowfields. At the end of them we found it and then it led us down to our hut. 

Trails from Kaindlhütte

We relaxed, tanked some sun and I enjoyed some chocolate cherry cake. Later we planned our tour for the last day, checked the weather and looked for the starting point. 

Dinner was delicious and then we sat reading and talking till bedtime. 

Day Three

Early morning, we left for another top - the Gamskogel. After one hour uphill we reached it and had a good view.

last four steps

We saw the clouds building up from west and thought we would soon get wet and right some drops caught us on the way down. Ten minutes later it stopped and the sun came out. We returned to Kaindlhütte by noon and had some lunch.

Gamskogel (1449 m)/ Kaiser mountains

We took all our luggage and started for the way back, first over Hochegg and then the Wilder Kaiser Trail at the foot of the south side of the Scheffauer mountain.

Scheffauer

At five, we reached the parking lot and Hintersteiner Lake. Before going back to Munich & the rain, we treated ourselves to ice-cream.