Catching Up: Paris, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Drachenfels, Deutsche Welle, Hürtgenwald, and Amsterdam

I am alive and survived Paris and Amsterdam. I made it through the last crazy two weeks of traveling. First, Paris was beautiful. Seeing the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Notre Dom was very epic. So fortunate that I was able to go.

The week after Paris the class took a trip to Frankfurt. We saw the Paulskirche. Although originally started as St. Paul's Lutherin Church, it was transformed to seat the Frankfurt Parliament-- the first publicly and freely elected German legislative body. This is where the first constitution of a united Germany was drafted. President John F Kennedy gave a major speech in this building on his trip to Germany in 1963. This is the speech that is famous for Kennedy saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a donut.) For the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's speech, Obama actually came to Frankfurt a day before we got there to commemorate the bond between Germany and the US.

(Sorry, couldn't really get a good view with the entire building)

During our trip to Frankfurt, we were able to explore the city for ourselves a little. There was so much to see. The city had huge skyscrapers on one side but then you walk for five minutes and you can't see them anymore. There is a huge contrast to old and new Frankfurt. While we were in "old Frankfurt" we were able to visit Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's house. There were beautiful paintings and impressive sculptures. Everything had a "Do not touch" sign, so naturally I wanted to touch everything!

The next day we headed to Düsseldorf. It is the capital of the state in Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia, which I am currently living in and is also the 7th largest city in Deutschland. We visited the Heinrich Heine Museum. He was born in Düsseldorf and was the poet that wrote the song for the Lorelei (discussed in an earlier blog.) After the museum, I had my first Altbier, the beer of Düsseldorf. It was hoppy and great! 

After the big city we headed to Cologne to see the El-De Haus. During the Nazi era, it was the headquarters of the Gestapo (the German Secret State Police). For some reason, although 90% of Cologne was flattened this one building remained standing after the Allie's bombing. The upper part of the building looked like a regular office building. However, when you go down stairs... not so much. The Gestapo held thousands in these little cells over their time in power. The walls were covered in writing, people telling their stories, letting loved ones know they are still alive. Imagining the amount of executions and torture that when on in that basement was heart wrenching.

That Saturday we headed to hike the Drachenfels. It was definitely a workout. But the view was totally worth it! After that mountain, we hiked to another mountain where we enjoyed some nice Riesling wine from a local vineyard. Overall, pretty fantastic day. 

 so we hiked all the way up to that highest point with the torn down castle, this is the Drachenfels

 View from the Drachenfels

 The little torn castle from earlier

 This is the view of the Drachenfels from the second mountain we hiked, it is straight back, the highest point, it was a looonngg hike

The following Monday was the Global Media Forum hosted by Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster, at their headquarters in Bonn. During the day we had the option to go to whatever two debates we wanted, I chose "Youth Employment- Translating Challenges into Opportunities" and "Europe, an Economic Tale, the Current Financial Crises as Seen from Europe and Beyond." The first debate just put a damper on my hopes for getting a job out of college, although Germany does have a very low youth unemployment rate at a cool 7.9%, so who knows maybe I will becoming back. Next, was what I was really interested in. It was a great debate by 4 renowned journalists, professors, and authors. It was interesting to see what the views of other countries, such as China or Russia, had over the current financial crises in Europe and also the difference in opinions between the richest country (Germany) and once of the poorest (Greece). Along those lines, I was surprised to hear how many times they compared the EU to the US. It was interesting to see how many consider the two almost on the same playing field, because one is a group of countries and the other is just a country. After the two debates, it was time for what many people came for- Noam Chomsky. Disclaimer: I had absolutely no idea who he was before I went to this conference, apparently he is a big deal. However, to me he just seemed like a critic with no plausible solutions to any of the problems he stated, so I didn't really understand all the hype. But I did sit through it because I knew what was coming next- the Rhine Cruise... all I am going to say is I had a great time and the band even played the Backstreet Boys, I was in Heaven. 

Later that week we took a trip to Hürtgenwald. It is where the longest battle on German ground in WWII took place. The battle took place from September 19 - December 16 1944. Between the two sides there were around 80,000 casualties. As we walked through the forest I tried to keep an eye out for bombs (just incase), because they found a live one a couple years ago. However, to my dismay, my over-caution caused me to step on a branch and fall right on my ass. After the embarassing episode we saw the "Dragon Teeth." These are rows of pyramids just up to the knees but they were built deep under the ground so tanks couldn't cross. Unfortunately for the Germans, they were a great concept, but in practice the Americans just found a way to go over them. 

So after that depressing and somewhat haunting day, a group of us headed to Amsterdam. It was a ton of fun. I saw things I had never seen before, everything was a lot more .... open. I think Amsterdam is the poster child for sex, drugs, and rock n roll; if I could think of an opposite of Texas, I think it would be Amsterdam. It was an interesting sight, but not sure I plan on going back. 

 Instead of car garages at their airports, they have bike garages- those are all bikes!

Now that I am all caught up, I will try my very best to post about our 5 day adventure starting on Thursday. We will be going to Eisenach, Erfurt, Buchenwald, Dresden, and Berlin! 

*****Birthday Plug-in******: I turn 21 in 11 days! 

Tschüss!!