This church was truly gorgeous. The outside of the cathedral was so ornately carved that it looked like lace. If you look carefully, you can see Joe in the picture.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Strasbourg, France
After Liechtenstein, we traveled through Switzerland and had dinner at Swiss Chuchi, where we enjoyed extremely strong fondue and great Swiss beer. Like everyone told us, Zurich is extremely expensive. The equivalent of a sandwich costs about 20 Swiss Francs.
Finally we arrived in Strasbourg. The city is absolutely beautiful and I would love to go back and spend more time there.
Finally we arrived in Strasbourg. The city is absolutely beautiful and I would love to go back and spend more time there.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein!
We arrived in Liechtenstein with our busted tail light from a small fender bender on the Autobahn, but they still let us into their fine little country. The prince of Liechtenstein still lives and rules from this castle.
Austria
I was also excited that we made it to this little town in Austria. Even the buildings' facades in these little towns are decorated with paintings and biblical scenes.
Austria
Driving through the Austrian Alps is terrifying. As you are twisting and turning around the mountains on the snowy roads, there are rarely any guardrails. We chose to drive extremely slowly and this was how Joe felt after we reached a little town without perishing in the Austrian wilderness.
Hohenschwangau!
Here we are, at 800 meters above sea level within walking diistance of Neuschwanstein at Schloss Hohenschwangau.
Me
Here I am, posing with the castle and blocking off the other tourists' walking path. It was perfect for frolicking!
Neuschwanstein!
As you can see from this picture, Joe was extremely excited to try on the traditional German garb which looks like a wizard's hat. It was very becoming on him and I think he should incorporate it into an everyday look.
Neuschwanstein
We decided to check out the castles in Fussen and this was the magnificent site we were treated to approaching Neuschwanstein. The castle in Disney's logo was based off of Neuschwanstein. The walk up to the castle was very beautiful and they had lots of snow-covered trees and and babbling brooks to look at as you climbed.
Austria
We set out just after 3am on Saturday morning and the stars in Bavaria were absolutely gorgeous. We couldn't get a picture of them, but the stars were enormous and clear because we were up in the mountains in such an unspoiled environment. This picture was taken just after dawn in Austria. It was snowy once we got into the higher altitudes and you can see the Alps covered with fog.
Five Countries in Two Days!
Being that it is the week after mid-terms, we were awarded with a week of vacation from school. To celebrate, Joe and I decided to embark on a two-day journey through Bavaria, down to Austria, through the Alps, back into Germany to see the castles at Fuessen, then through Austria until we reached Vaduz in Liechtenstein, continued west through Liechtenstein to Switzerland, and finally ended up in Zurich for dinner! We slept in the car in a parking lot in Switzerland, then drove through Germany again to reach Strasbourg, France, a UNESCO World Heritage site used by the EU Parliament. It was quite the whirlwind European road trip. Enjoy the pictures we took while traveling!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Heidelberg Zoo
We took a picnic to the Heidelberg Zoo on Friday and Joe made friends with an orangutang.
Monday, October 8, 2007
German Reunification Day!
October 3rd was German Reunification Day and we celebrated by taking a road trip to IKEA (to find out it was closed for the holiday) and then we went to see Broken Social Scene that evening at the Karlstorbahnhof down the street from where we live:
Their opening act, Gentleman Reg, was outstanding and probably the best opener I've ever seen, not to mention that he had a platinum blond afro and a platinum blond moustache to boot:
Broken Social Scene was pretty mind-blowing too, except their ensemble shifts so frequently that I can't keep up with the members:
On Friday we made the 15-minute voyage to IKEA yet again and found lots of great stuff like a potato masher, a strainer, tongs, throw pillows, a cutting board, and lots of lighting. It was a magical experience as expected, but the prices seemed to be higher than the Canton store back in Michigan. Lame!
Their opening act, Gentleman Reg, was outstanding and probably the best opener I've ever seen, not to mention that he had a platinum blond afro and a platinum blond moustache to boot:
Broken Social Scene was pretty mind-blowing too, except their ensemble shifts so frequently that I can't keep up with the members:
On Friday we made the 15-minute voyage to IKEA yet again and found lots of great stuff like a potato masher, a strainer, tongs, throw pillows, a cutting board, and lots of lighting. It was a magical experience as expected, but the prices seemed to be higher than the Canton store back in Michigan. Lame!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
The Decemberists!
Our trip to Karlsruhe with Anna and Matt was great and I got a little video of the band playing:
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Berlin!
I didn't take any pictures in Berlin but it was a great time visiting with Devin. We arrived Friday night and went out for drinks with her friends, Hannah, Katerina, and Tara. On Saturday morning we walked around the city and saw the Nicolai Quarter and then Alexanderplatz. Then we went to the Pergamon Museum and explored all the artifacts from the ancient Greek temple to the gates of Ishtar which came from Babylon (Iraq). We also saw lots of Islamic artwork, where calligraphy is used in the artwork primarily because painting human likenesses was not allowed. We then had a pizza called Pizza Johannes at the 12th Apostle near Friedrichstrasse. It was raining, so we walked around Hackescher Markt and then went to the Hackescher Hoefe to do some shopping. To warm up and dry off, we went to a really cool coffee shop called Cinema Cafe. We met a guy named Andres who was living in Australia and was a political refugee from Colombia. It seems we meet very interesting people everywhere we go here! After the rain stopped, we went to go see Devin's band, ItaloPorno, play at Raw Temple for a "Female Attack" party. There were a ton of people and she put on a GREAT show. Her band is on myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/italoporno
The next day, we had to head back to Heidelberg, but stopped in Leipzig, the second largest city in the former East. We had the incredible luck to show up right in the middle of an annual medieval fall festival complete with merchants selling leather goods and other medieval-themed products. We tried the Himbeer (raspberry pop, I think), Met (honey wine, like Irish Mead), and a really tasty hot spiced wine. We also saw the church, Thomaskirche, where Bach was a choir director and performed many of his most famous pieces for the first time. Both Berlin and Leipzig were incredible cities in their own ways, and I hope to spend more time in both places in the future.
The next day, we had to head back to Heidelberg, but stopped in Leipzig, the second largest city in the former East. We had the incredible luck to show up right in the middle of an annual medieval fall festival complete with merchants selling leather goods and other medieval-themed products. We tried the Himbeer (raspberry pop, I think), Met (honey wine, like Irish Mead), and a really tasty hot spiced wine. We also saw the church, Thomaskirche, where Bach was a choir director and performed many of his most famous pieces for the first time. Both Berlin and Leipzig were incredible cities in their own ways, and I hope to spend more time in both places in the future.
The Decemberists
We went to see The Decemberists at SubStage in Karlsruhe with my friend from school, Anna, and her boyfriend, Matt. It was an amazing show and I was shocked by how many Germans knew about them!
Serbs.
This was a huge, intimidating group of Serbs, but mostly the one in the yellow shirt was the most terrifying.
Singing!
Joe and Matt chose to sing every national anthem they could think of...who knew they could sing in German?
Slobodan
Slobodan wanted to show us all of his wounds he got while fighting in "George Bush's war" while successfully making everyone nauseous.
Arm Wrestling
Here I am arm wrestling a giant Serbian soldier named Slobodan. He won and my hand was bruised for a week.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Oktoberfest!
We were at Oktoberfest on the very first day, which was actually at the end of September. It was extremely packed and every tent was full except to people with reservations. We somehow were lucky enough to see a door opening with a bouncer letting people in, so we snuck in with a huge family from Munich that had made reservations!
Oktoberfest!
I was really excited to be on my second liter of beer and have a delicious brezel the size of my face!
It's been a very exciting few weeks here in Germany. We've gone on trips to Oktoberfest, Karlsruhe to see The Decemberists, and then to Berlin to see Devin and her band, ItaloPorno. On our way back from Berlin, we also stopped in Leipzig, the second largest city in what East Germany. We only could stay for 3 hours so we could catch the ICE back to Heidelberg, but it turned out that we had the fortunate luck to arrive during an annual medieval festival complete with a parade and at least a square mile of vendors selling medieval-themed merchandise like handmade leather goods, capes, and skirts. We took it upon ourselves to sample some of the goods, like Met, which is the German version of Irish Mead (honey wine). We also tried some hot spiced wine, a waffle with hazelnut spread, and Himbeer (raspberry beer).
Oktoberfest was absolutely incredible! We took a bus with the USO to Munich and arrived shortly before noon. Noon starts the kick off of Oktoberfest, where the mayor of the city taps the first keg in the main tent and announces that all other kegs in other tents may be tapped and beer can begin to be consumed. There was a huge parade going between the tents and it seemed like everyone, probably 85% of people there, was dressed in the traditional Bavarian Dirndl or Lederhosen.
Please see the next few posts for pictures!
Oktoberfest was absolutely incredible! We took a bus with the USO to Munich and arrived shortly before noon. Noon starts the kick off of Oktoberfest, where the mayor of the city taps the first keg in the main tent and announces that all other kegs in other tents may be tapped and beer can begin to be consumed. There was a huge parade going between the tents and it seemed like everyone, probably 85% of people there, was dressed in the traditional Bavarian Dirndl or Lederhosen.
Please see the next few posts for pictures!
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