We found this cool German town when riding the train back from Cologne last week so we decided to take a day and go back and see the huge castle that was there. Also, some pictures from mini golf!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Duisburg and Köln
This weekend, I jumped on the train (a very long train) to Duisburg to visit one of the German students here and see where she lives in Duisburg. We were instantly greeted by her parents with a huge barbecue foll of pork steaks, bratwurst and kebabs. Once our plate was gone, her dad would shove another piece of meat on our plate. It was sooo much food, but so good to have an actual meal, living off salami sandwiches can get kind of old after awhile. Her parents didn't speak a ton of English, but it was enough to be able to communicate and joke around. After eating and taking some time to digest our food, our German friend Nena took us into downtown Duisburg and showed us a cool area of the city.There was an inland port that had restaurants and bars all along the sides, where we sat and had a drink by the water on a nice warm night.
The next day we hopped on another train to go to Köln (Colgone). As soon as we stepped out of the train station we were greeted by a huge cathedral called the Kölner Dom. It was the largest cathedral I had ever seen in real life and was amazing! We walked into the cathedral and saw some of the old staffs, old gold cups and other religious pieces that priests (I think priest is the right word) used hundreds of years ago. Then we climbed up about 500 stairs through a hot, and muggy spiral staircase to get up to the top of one of the towers and look over the city. The city of Köln is very unique compared to other cities in Germany, because no other city I have seen has such a mix of old and new buildings. After spending a few hours at the cathedral, we had a stereotypical lunch (beer and schnitzel) on the waterfront. Later after we fueled up with food we went to the Lindt chocolate museum and watched chocolate be made and molded. It wasn't all that exciting but at least there were samples and air conditioning. The last thing we did before we left Köln was go see the bridge. It is a tradition for couples to put a lock on the bridge whenever they get married, so we walked along and saw the thousands and thousands of locks that people put on there. It was really cool to see how many people had put locks on the bridge, and to see how old some of them were.
The next day we hopped on another train to go to Köln (Colgone). As soon as we stepped out of the train station we were greeted by a huge cathedral called the Kölner Dom. It was the largest cathedral I had ever seen in real life and was amazing! We walked into the cathedral and saw some of the old staffs, old gold cups and other religious pieces that priests (I think priest is the right word) used hundreds of years ago. Then we climbed up about 500 stairs through a hot, and muggy spiral staircase to get up to the top of one of the towers and look over the city. The city of Köln is very unique compared to other cities in Germany, because no other city I have seen has such a mix of old and new buildings. After spending a few hours at the cathedral, we had a stereotypical lunch (beer and schnitzel) on the waterfront. Later after we fueled up with food we went to the Lindt chocolate museum and watched chocolate be made and molded. It wasn't all that exciting but at least there were samples and air conditioning. The last thing we did before we left Köln was go see the bridge. It is a tradition for couples to put a lock on the bridge whenever they get married, so we walked along and saw the thousands and thousands of locks that people put on there. It was really cool to see how many people had put locks on the bridge, and to see how old some of them were.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Santander, Spain
During our studies here in Bad Mergentheim, a class is offered that we have already taken back at OSU so a group of us all got a week off of school and some time to travel further than Germany. I took this opportunity to get on a plane and go see my friend Becca in Santander, Spain. Unfortunately I don't know much Spanish beyond counting 1-10 or saying "Gracias", but luckily Becca knows a ton of Spanish so It wasn't too bad when I was with her haha. The day I flew in was really pretty weather so we got to head down to the beach and get a little bit of sun, but unfortunately this was the only clear day we got. After getting some sun we met up with one of Becca's teacher's daughters who was from Spain. It was funny because she learned English in the UK so she had a British accent whenever she talked English. I had never met anyone with an accent like that so it was pretty cool. We later went to this restaurant/bar where all the food and drinks were only 1 euro! Granted they were small portions, but it was awesome. During my stay in Santander, Becca's host dad took us on a little drive to a small town to get authentic Chocolate con Churros. Probably the best thing ever! They were much like the churros you can get in Disneyland or at a fair, but 10x better and came with a thick hot chocolate sauce to dip them in. It was a lot of fun to go see such a different culture, but it was nice to get back to a country with a language that wasn't so extremely foreign to me. This weekend will feel much like another vacation week because I lucked out and only have two days of school for some reason. Life in Europe is tough :-)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Frühlingsfest in Stuttgart!
Yesterday a group of sixty of us jumped on a bus and headed to Stuttgart for the spring festival. There was a big area for carnival rides and games and of course, Beer Tents. We walked in to our beer tent and it felt like a movie. People had their liter beers and were standing on their chairs singing to the music and clanking their beers together. We made our way to the table and were greeted (not very kindly if i might add) with huge liter beers and then half a small chicken and bread. After singing and dancing on our chairs for a while, a few of us ventured out to the rides (which were way overpriced) and acted like we were kids again.
Amazing Berlin
Wow where to start! So last tuesday our school took us to Berlin for four nights and packed us full with things to do and see everyday.
Wednesday: We started the week off by going to a memorial for the Berlin Wall, and hearing about the crazy stuff that went on only 20+ years ago. It still baffles me that these people were being treated the way they were, and no one could do anything about it. Our tour guide told us about how people would dig tunnels or try and find various ways to escape the GDR and get to the west side of the wall. The GDR were so crazy about their wall that they even dug up some graves that were in the way of the wall and moved them elsewhere. After the Berlin wall memorial we went to the Parliament building which was kinda boring but was really pretty!We also got to wander and go see the Brandenburg gate and one of the WWII memorial statues that was also built. After the parliament building we took a boat tour and got to see some of the beautiful german museums and other buildings that were along the Spree river in Berlin. And lastly before heading back to the hostel, we stopped by check point charlie, which is where you would cross into the American sector of Berlin, back when the wall was up.
Thursday: Thursday wasn't as exciting as Wednesday but still fun. We went to the Chancellery building (not as pretty as the Parliament building) and then went and sat in on a meeting at the Deutsche Bahn. It was pretty much as exciting as it sounded. But afterwards a few of us branched off and went to the Berlin Zoo, which was so much fun. Unfortunately we got there too late to see the Pandas and Lions but I would say it was still a successful visit!
Friday: Our last full day in Berlin we went to one of the German television studios in the heart of Berlin and got to tour the studios and also talked with one of the journalists that worked there. Later we went to the East side of Berlin and visited an old prison that was controlled by the Stasi police during the time of the wall. In this prison the Stasi put east Berliners into prison if they found out they had a plan for escaping, tried to contact someone outside Berlin to try and share info or escape or just did anything that wasn't in line with the GDR. They used psychological tactics to get information out of people, even if they hadn't done anything wrong. They used prisoners to get information about their families and friends because maybe they were trying to escape or living in a way that wasn't align with the GDR. The stasi were also under 24 hour surveillance so that no guard or interrogator could help prisoners or even help themselves escape. It was so crazy to me to see just how much the GDR wanted to find people to put in jail or punish. They couldn't even trust their own stasi!
Saturday: Before heading out and headin back to Bad Mergentheim, we stopped by the Charlottenburg Palace, where the Prussian kings used to live back in the day. It would have been awesome to go inside, but it cost a ton for some reason so we just admired it from the outside.
Wednesday: We started the week off by going to a memorial for the Berlin Wall, and hearing about the crazy stuff that went on only 20+ years ago. It still baffles me that these people were being treated the way they were, and no one could do anything about it. Our tour guide told us about how people would dig tunnels or try and find various ways to escape the GDR and get to the west side of the wall. The GDR were so crazy about their wall that they even dug up some graves that were in the way of the wall and moved them elsewhere. After the Berlin wall memorial we went to the Parliament building which was kinda boring but was really pretty!We also got to wander and go see the Brandenburg gate and one of the WWII memorial statues that was also built. After the parliament building we took a boat tour and got to see some of the beautiful german museums and other buildings that were along the Spree river in Berlin. And lastly before heading back to the hostel, we stopped by check point charlie, which is where you would cross into the American sector of Berlin, back when the wall was up.
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| Area in between the wall |
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| Pieces of the mall that were moved by the people of the cemetery, to show they weren't happy with the graves that were moved. |
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| Watch tower between the walls |
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| Brandenburg Gate |
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| Outside the Parliament Building |
Thursday: Thursday wasn't as exciting as Wednesday but still fun. We went to the Chancellery building (not as pretty as the Parliament building) and then went and sat in on a meeting at the Deutsche Bahn. It was pretty much as exciting as it sounded. But afterwards a few of us branched off and went to the Berlin Zoo, which was so much fun. Unfortunately we got there too late to see the Pandas and Lions but I would say it was still a successful visit!
Friday: Our last full day in Berlin we went to one of the German television studios in the heart of Berlin and got to tour the studios and also talked with one of the journalists that worked there. Later we went to the East side of Berlin and visited an old prison that was controlled by the Stasi police during the time of the wall. In this prison the Stasi put east Berliners into prison if they found out they had a plan for escaping, tried to contact someone outside Berlin to try and share info or escape or just did anything that wasn't in line with the GDR. They used psychological tactics to get information out of people, even if they hadn't done anything wrong. They used prisoners to get information about their families and friends because maybe they were trying to escape or living in a way that wasn't align with the GDR. The stasi were also under 24 hour surveillance so that no guard or interrogator could help prisoners or even help themselves escape. It was so crazy to me to see just how much the GDR wanted to find people to put in jail or punish. They couldn't even trust their own stasi!
Saturday: Before heading out and headin back to Bad Mergentheim, we stopped by the Charlottenburg Palace, where the Prussian kings used to live back in the day. It would have been awesome to go inside, but it cost a ton for some reason so we just admired it from the outside.
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