Drei Länder

Wednesday was full of adventure. We traveled to the home of Charlemagne and his empire. Needless to say, there was a lot to see. First we traveled around a bit walking the streets of Aachen and found this AMAZING ginger bread bakery. They aren't cookies, it is actual ginger bread, and it is delicious!

Afterwards, we followed the tour guide around the city.  Usually, even though the tours are in German, I can usually understand 60-75% of what is being said, but his dialect was very different. So, I really didn't learn too much on the first tour. Although, one thing to notice: the ground water stinks! Literally, it smells like rotten eggs. However, if you wash your hands with it (the fumes dissipate), the water will moisten your skin like lotion.  At first, the idea of sticking my hands in this stinky fountain was repulsing, but I got over it, and it actually worked. The water was also very warm, which was great in the cold, wet weather.

After we were done with our first tour guide, we met Pier, the guide for the church and all of its treasure. There seemed to be gold everywhere, it was just beautiful. Also, some of the gold sculptures had Charlemagne's remains inside!

This was Charlemagne's throne at church!

Besides the water, I would say that Aachen is very much a beautiful city.Ohh and I had my first currywurst, it was absolutely delicious!

After lunch we headed to Drei Länder point, where Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany meet at one point. For the last two days I have been very pumped to be in three countries at one time, but with the weather, it just wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. But, it's still pretty neat!

Once everyone took a thousand pictures we headed back home. Later that night we went to a classical music concert. Then it was party time!

Not going to lie, waking up this morning was a tad difficult, however we had made plans to go to a small town outside of Bonn so we could go see the Hangover 3 (very apropos) and go to a Thai restaurant. Unfortunately, it is a Catholic holiday- so the entire country just seems to shut down (including the Thai place!). The movie theater was still open, but they weren't going to have an English showing until 8:40. We once again, hopped back on the train and headed back to Bonn. For lunch, we went to Pizza Hut. It is exponentially nicer here than it is back in the states...its an actual restaurant.
On Saturday, we will be going on a Rhine cruise; I am definitely looking forward to that! Until then.
Tschüss!

Old Trier

The city of Trier, hmmm. Well it's cool for a couple hours, but not sure I would devote an entire day to it if I had the choice. One notable point: it is literally the oldest city in Germany, so we saw ancient Roman architecture, including a coliseum for gladiator fights.

After the Roman Coliseum, it kind of went down hill from there. We walked around some Roman ruins, went into another church (this time Protestant), then another Roman Archeologist Museum (hopefully the last one of those for a while, this is the third one, and they start to look a lot alike after a while), and then Karl Marx's birth house/museum (that was interesting...). The tour of Trier definitely should have ended with the Coliseum.

this is Karl Marx's birth house/museum

So overall not the most exciting day ever, but there were some beautiful sights and I did learn a lot.

Since I have now been officially been in Germany a week, I would like to share some things I have noticed....
1. The streets are smaller and they drive a lot faster. Who ever has driven with me, knows of my car anxiety, I have tried my best to stay out of the car!
2. People walk everywhere! I should have brought some ShapeUps! In the last few days I have walked more in than I have in the last month!
3. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle
4. as my host mom says, "This is Germany, everything is regulated."
5. The shopping... pretty good
6. everything is narrow and tall (shops, restaurants, houses)
7. be a conservative user of all things: electricity, water..... just everything.
8. Chocolate for breakfast is perfectly acceptable! yummmm
9. Cola Lite doesn't taste any different from Diet Coke, but there is no Diet Dr. Pepper
10. In case you didn't know, people drink here, quite often. I decided to not have an adult beverage today, first time since I've been here. Drinking is such a part of their culture that having a beer at 12 for lunch is perfectly acceptable, this might become a problem for my jeans in a couple of weeks!
11. I have been told that this weather is not normal, but it is really cold (and rainy!), much colder than I packed for, although today and yesterday were beautiful, until it started hailing on my way to the bus today.
12. People don't put ice in their drinks, but that doesn't mean that they aren't cold. I was worried about the rumors of the warm beer I would have to drink, but I haven't come across any of that.
13. Germans don't seem to be "people watchers;" if someone catches you looking at them, they really don't seem to like it at all.
14. The traffic lights go from Red to Yellow then to Green, that's kind of nifty.
15. No one "Jay-walks" they always wait for the sign, which can be annoying sometimes.

I will update this list weekly about little nuances that I notice. This week: Aachen tomorrow and  Rhine cruise on Saturday. Next weekend: PARIS!!!

Tschüss!

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Eifel

My trip back to Cologne on Saturday was interesting. A group of us sat along the river and drank beer, but then I started to feel classy with a capital "K," so I stopped and left the drinking to the boys. Then, after an entire day of dry weather, the slow rain started to come back. And once again, I was freezing. However, one good thing did come out of this trip: I found a shopping heaven, stores everywhere! Even I, a professional shopper, was a little bit overwhelmed: so many people, so many stores and so little time. Unfortunately for me, I ended up in lots of guys shoes stores and sports stores (I was outnumbered and didn't want to get lost!). Around 7 we hopped on a train home, which I was, of course, nervous it was the wrong one, so I was constantly stressed the whole way home. But, luckily I was not the one who picked the train and we got home safe and sound in time to watch the Champion League Finals game (it's soccer, for those of us who don't know anything about soccer) at a local Irish pub.

***Mom, Dad, don't worry I was home early from the bar, we had a big (and early) day on Sunday.

Our trip to Eifel (a low mountainous region) started with a trip to a very old and beautiful Catholic church, Maria Laach, where the monks still sing in Gregorian Chant. It was a very cool experience, although, they did use a lot of incense, so I coughed... a lot.

After Maria Laach, we traveled to Schloss Bürresheim. The construction of this castle started in the early 1500s and was used until after the French Revolution, then sold to the public of Germany. Unfortunately, the tour guide didn't allow any pictures of the inside of the castle, but here are some pictures of the outside and the view!

Could you imagine seeing this outside your window everyday?

For lunch, we went to a small town called Mayan, and I had my first Schnitzel. I LOVED it! It was like chicken fried chicken, just substituted with pork, just awesome! After lunch, we headed to a  low mountainous region to work off that greasy Schnitzel. The town we visited is called Monreal. This town is known for being the most picturesque city in all of Germany, and I must agree, it is beautiful. 

On the top of a hill was an abandoned castle that has a huge tower overlooking the entire region. I finally got to "climb a castle," something I have been looking forward to on this trip for months now. When I say, "climb a castle," I mean it quite literally. The path up to it was very steep, I was at a slope where my hands almost deemed necessary. When I finally got to the tower I was out of breath, and once again, my hands really wanted to help me up those steep stairs. But I prevailed and got to see one of the most gorgeous views! 

almost halfway up, not feeling that tired, that's about to change. 

Today, there were no castles or hikes or crazy drunk soccer fans. However, the sun did come out! For the last week it has been rainy off and on and sooooo cold, and being from Texas, come May, I am ready for 100 degrees and sunny! But today was perfect, the sun was shining bright and I'm sure it got to be around 68 degrees. It was just what the doctor ordered. Also, I got my train ticket to Paris for next weekend, I can't wait!

Tomorrow we head to Trier, then Wednesday is Aachen, Thursday is a free day, and then Friday is our Rhine Cruise (so pumped).

Tschüss!

Köln

Yesterday was a busy day. I went to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and went to Cologne with the class to site see. I didn't really know much about Cologne, but I was excited nonetheless. My first site of Cologne was this beautiful, majestic building, that at first glance (obviously before I started thinking) was that it was a huge billboard. It literally looked as if it were painted on to the landscape. Definitely my favorite sight so far. It was the Kölner Dom. 

 Not only is the Kölner Dom absolutely breath taking on the outside, but once I stepped through the doors I was speechless. The windows, statues, paintings, and even the pews were all just magnificent.

Pictures definitely do not give it justice.

We also went the Römisch-Germanische Museum, which is the home to the ancient Roman town that was built beneath the city of Cologne.

So at first, I thought this was a bathtub, but it turns out it was a coffin!

So while walking the streets on my way to lunch at a local pub, I found this gem!

I really wanted to go into Hermes, but they said we didn't have time (my classmates looked at me funny when I asked, I just wanted to look), but hopefully I will go soon!

Once we got home we went to a welcoming party, which was fun. There was a band, tons of food, and even better, tons of beer! So around 8:30 we headed to Alt Städt and went to a few bars. Today is a free day, some of us are going back to Cologne to watch the soccer game others are staying in Bonn. I'm not a big soccer fan, but as they say, "when in Rome."

Tschüss!

Ich liebe dich, Bonn

For those who don't know, I have officially been living in Bonn, Germany for three days now, and I must say, ich liebe sie! So far we have taken a tour of the city, went to the Reinisches Landes Museum, checked out some local pubs, and walked from one edge of the map to another!

So before I get into my actual trip so far, let me give some background information. I am a senior at the wonderful Texas A&M university. Although not born in Texas, I feel as though I have lived in San Antonio, TX (20 years) long enough to call myself a Texan (take that how you will).  I am fascinated by learning other cultures and how they solve problems, in particular, Germany's economy and growth over the last couple of decades; I am an International Commerce Major with a minor in Business and German.

Off to Deutschland:

My traveling day presented itself with one major hurtle to overcome. The plane I was supposed to take from San Antonio to Houston (to meet up with the other students and make our connecting flight to Amsterdam) had the right engine fail, not once, not twice, but three times, with an entire flight in it. Luckily the problem was detected during the taxi. It would start, then stop, and all the passengers could not only hear it, but smell it as well. As much as I wanted to get to Germany, I wanted off that plane! Unfortunately, United was unable to accommodate my need to get to Houston in less than four hours, but the greatest father in the world came to my rescue! By the time my dad picked me up from the airport it was 10:45, my flight was supposed to leave at 3:10 (boarding started at 2:10); driving from San Antonio to Houston normally takes 3 1/2 hours! Thank goodness for my dad's need for speed; I arrived at the airport around 1:45 went to the KLM counter sweating and nervous that security will take too long and I will miss my flight. But the guy at the baggage counter was very nice and saw how upset and nervous I was so he gave me "Fast Track" security pass. I got in and out of international airport security in less than five minutes. It was awesome! The rest of my flight went pretty smoothly, although in Amsterdam, Frau Passmore (my professor) and I almost missed the flight, because it took a lot longer to find an exchange station for euros than we thought it would.

Once we arrive to Bonn, we are escorted to a beautiful, old mansion which is called the AIB "old building." They have an entire array of chocolate assorted food... I must've been in heaven! The chocolate croissants were my favorite. I anxiously awaited my host mom to come get me. We had been exchanging Facebook messages back and forth for a month and we seemed to get along well. Once we saw each other we did that awkward handshake/hug combo, then we left and I had my first experience in a car on a German road. Scary! The roads are two ways but barely fit two cars- my anxiety definitely kicked in. Ela, my host mom, lives in an "apartment" (its more like a large duplex with neighbors on the top two floors and having the bottom two floors) with her daughter Anne who is 19. Their home is beautifully decorated, and even though Ela was apologizing for the untidiness of it, I didn't notice anything dirty or messy about it. After I got settled in we went to a place called Lamme and I had my first German (and legal) Beer; it was a Kölsch Bier. I had a pizza with some baby lettuce and ham on top, but as soon as I was finished ordering, I saw they had chicken tandoori! So I will have to go back and give it a try. Once we got back to the house I crashed for 12 hours.



Our first full day in Bonn, after an extensive welcoming meeting, we finally got to do some cardio after our long flight:

This is der Rathaus (town hall). The Burgermeister lives here and in a few weeks we will get to meet him! Eventually I will have a picture with me at the top of the stairs, but the tour guide kept saying "schnell schnell schnell" (fast, fast, fast).

In case you didn't know Beethoven was born in Bonn. As probably the most renowned composer in the world, he is the most celebrated citizen of Bonn. One last picture I find especially cool, is the "public library." It is in a converted, English phone booth. You leave a book and then take one, not sure how this would do in America, but it seems to be working here.

So after a long day of walking the group decides to relax and enjoy a Bönnsch Bier. It is the only beer that is actually brewed in Bonn and there is only one place you can get it. It was good, a little dry, but good.

(photo cred to Sydney, I forgot to take a picture!)

After dinner with our host families a lot of us met back up and when to Alt Stadt where there is a street just lined with bars, but on a Wednesday night it wasn't so hoppin. 

Today we went to the Reinisches Landes Museum. It was interesting; there were a lot of archeological artifacts that were pretty neat: some dug up barbarian bodies, a roman body, and weapons. The entire tour was in German, as is everything else, so I understood about 60% of it. But if you want to learn more about the museum just go to their website at: http://www.rlmb.lvr.de/

Tomorrow we are off to Cologne. The high will be 53 and the low is 33, isn't this supposed to be summer?

Tschüss!