Hallo!
In this post, I will be discussing some interesting (or not interesting, depending on what you're in to) cultural aspects I have observed during my time in Germany. I will not be posting any pictures, however. Just text this time, folks. Gonna see if you're paying attention.
I will put these observations into categories and will discuss what I have noticed and my thoughts on them. Some things I love, some things I am indifferent towards, some things I don't care for...
Here we go!
Shopping
- In general, grocery stores are much smaller in Germany than in the States. Which is to be expected. Their food selection shows variety in different areas. For example, their selection of sodas and snacks are less varied. But they have seemingly hundreds of different kinds of cheeses. Also hundred of teas and coffees. And many stores have their own bakeries because Germans value fresh bread. I am indifferent.
- Many, many grocery stores (and other kinds of stores) have a small, automatic gate at the entrance that opens up when you walk up to it. Once you're "in the store," the gate closes behind you and will not open for you to leave. This is to prevent shoplifting. Instead, you HAVE to exit through a check-out lane. Which I think would be really awkward if you didn't buy anything. Basically, I don't care for this. It makes me feel trapped.
- Speaking of check-out lanes, the registers are a perfect example of ruthless, German efficiency. The cashier MIGHT say hello to you, but will begin throwing your things over the scanner and towards your cart. While this is happening, you need to be shoveling these items into your cart. If not, you will end up with a massive pile of your groceries and a very annoyed look from your cashier, and maybe even the people in line. At no point will the cashier smile or ask you how you are or if you found everything. I'm shocked German cashiers haven't been replaced with machines--they basically already are and you wouldn't have to pay them.
- One thing I absolutely love is that tax has already been included in the price. And this is the case for any product except plastic bottles--you have to pay about 15 cents extra, but you get this money back if you return the bottle. For example, if you see a shirt that says "10 Euros," you're going to give the cashier 10 Euros and be done. If it says 4.99, you're going to pay 4.99. It just makes it easier to figure, I think. But I do think it's silly they do this and still have prices that end in .99. Just spare me the trouble of that penny and make it one cent more.
Restaurants
- If you go to a sit-down restaurant, you will not be greeted by a hostess. You just walk in and sit at a table. A waiter will notice you and come to you. When you order, they put-in the order on a cool handheld machine they have with them and the order goes to the kitchen. They use this machine when you pay at the table, too. The waiter just has a pouch filled with money and will make change right there on the spot. It is also not MANDATORY that you tip the waiters. It is polite to tip a little bit, but they do not depend on tips like in America.
- There are some places where you order at the front and sit down and they bring you your food. These are mostly the Turkish kebab places. Then when you pay, you just go to the front and remind them what you ate. I have noticed in Ulm and other cities that these Turkish-owned kebab places are very, very popular. I can think of at least 6 in Ulm alone. They also usually serve gyros and individual pizzas. Quite the combination.
- Free refills don't really exist in Germany (except in the next point). Neither does free water with your meal. I suppose I can understand the free refill thing, but REALLY? No free water with your meal? Something about this just irks me.
- You can get free refills at a soda fountain in some fast food places--namely KFC and McDonald's. Even then, the selection is limited to 5 drinks (3 of which are Coke variations). The menu at McDonald's is also a little different than the US menu. It has fewer options and the options they do have just seem like the exact same thing. Like, what's the difference between the McChicken and the Chickenburger? I couldn't tell you. They look the exact same. Although they do have McBaguettes, which I think is hilarious.
- Germans stole "bon appetite" from the French. They say "Guten Appetite." It just sounds a little silly to me.
Language
- In Germany, children start learning English as early as 1st grade in school. I have found that almost everyone speaks enough English to communicate with me if I need help or something. I have also learned that "I speak a little English" means "I can communicate clearly and fluently." Germans seem to be very self-conscious when it comes to their English abilities. Maybe they think as a native speaker, I am just waiting for them to make mistakes. Language is about communicating, not using "perfect" language.
- As I mentioned earlier with the "Guten Appetite," Germans have adapted some French words and sayings. I cannot give any specific examples at the moment, but believe me. I find this interesting considering France and Germany are kind of rivals, I figured Germans wouldn't want to take French words. France, on the other hand, has a government organization that controls the dictionary and translates everything that comes to France so they don't use "foreign words."
- German has an interesting aspect of the language called compound words. A compound word is essentially two or more nouns slammed together to describe something in lieu of prepositions. For example, the word "Hähnchenbrustfilet." This is essentially three words: Hähchen (chicken), Brust (breast), Filet (filet). This has led to both confusion and enjoyment as I walk down the streets and see words that are 15+ letters. Many Germans have complained about this.
- German numbers are also an interesting area. I know many foreign languages do this same thing, but it still annoys me. Each number is essentially original (though 13-19 is debatable) until 20. From there, instead of saying "twenty-one," they say "one and twenty," "two and twenty." This is, of course, a compound word: einundzwanzig.
- I didn't know where else to put this factoid, but the Germans have a cute word for gloves: Handschuhe. This translates literally to "hand shoes." Isn't that just adorable?
Driving
Note: this area has caused many frustrations
- Traffic lights. In the US, you stop at the white line (or a little past it, whatever) and you can comfortably look forward and up a little bit to see your traffic light hanging on the opposite side of the intersection. Neat. It's right in front of you and easy to see. In Germany, you stop at the white line and you look forward and all you see is cars looking back at you. This is because traffic lights are on your side of the intersection. There is usually one directly above you (mostly for the cars behind you) and one of the right and/or left on the sidewalk. This means you have to twist your neck and maneuver yourself to look past the rear view mirror or any other obstacles. And people tell me, "Well, you have to stop AT the white line. You can't go past it like you do in America." Joke's on them: I do stop at the white line. I've even started stopping several feet in front of it so I don't have to turn my head like an owl.
- Manual transmissions. As you probably know, almost everyone in Germany (and Europe [and the rest of the world]) drives a stick-shift. I learned a little bit before coming and having to drive every day has made me, I dare say, quite proficient at it. However, this does not mean I enjoy it. The invention of the automatic transmission was mankind's triumph. People may say it makes us lazy, but so does a lot of technology, and they're not complaining about that. Maybe I'm just a spoiled princess. I don't care, I'm looking forward to driving an automatic again.
- Cryptic yielding rules. In certain areas of the city (most residential areas, but it seems unclear to me), you must forfeit the right-of-way to the person on your right regardless of the intersection. Cruising along at 30 km/h and you approach and intersection with no yield or stop sign. Suddenly, a car on your right (who wants to turn left in front of you) slowly inches its way to the intersection at 5 km/h. How long does it take Sean to rage at the fact that he has to slam on the brakes so His Majesty can make a left turn? Come on.
- Nebulous speed limits. At every entrance to the residential area, it says "30 Zone." Fine, got it. As soon as you leave this zone, there is a nonexistent sign that tells you the speed limit in the town. I shouldn't have to ask a local what the speed limit is in an area. The only place the speed limit is clearly stated is on country roads between towns and the Autobahn. I'm just used to frequent reminders and notices of changes.
- Big Brother. In Germany, there are traffic cameras everywhere trying to catch you speeding. In the cities, on the country roads, on some parts of the Autobahn... If the radar on the camera catches you speeding, you will see a flash and you will receive a letter with a speeding ticket within the week. Additionally, it is common (I am told) for police officers to park in civilian cars on the side of the road (in parking spots) in civilian clothes and to clock your speed and take a picture and send you a speeding ticket in the mail. Essentially, Big Brother is Watching.
- Not entirely about driving, but the radio in Germany is very interesting to me. I am not sure if I have explained it in an earlier post, but I'll describe it again. The radio will have 5 solid minutes of German commercials. Okay, pretty normal. They will then play 4 songs in a row from the US. And maybe one song in German, French, or Spanish. Then a little talking in German, then another English song. Then more commercials. The ratio of US songs to German (or even European) songs is quite one-sided. Also, the radio does not censor profanity in any language. This is because they believe the artist used those words for a reason and does not feel it is their place to censor. I really like this, actually. I have always thought this kind of censorship was a bit much. It just gives profanity more power by making it so stigmatized.
Stereotypes Regarding the USA
Note: Many of these come from a conversation course at Mortimer in which we discussed stereotypes
- "Americans are crazy." Some Germans believe that the American way of life is seen as a bit strange and we are lunatics. Based on the conversation about this point, I believe this stems from Americans being more willing to be open in public and to groups. It seems like Americans are more willing to be goofy and loud in public and to let people know that they are having a good time. These outward emotions seem to make the Germans a little uncomfortable.
- "All Americans own guns." Frankly, not far from the truth. The Germans are aware that gun ownership is big in the US. In Germany, owning a gun is virtually impossible, it seems. They thought it was strange when I said the right to bare arms was put in the Constitution basically to allow people to protect themselves from the government. But that was how the US was born, really. We had to fight against a government to gain independence.
- "You can't skateboard? But you're American!" An excellent quote from my host mom. And not a stereotype I expect to hear.
- "Cowboy hats." Self-explanatory. Gave me a good chuckle.
- "Hamburgers and hot dogs." I was very quick to respond with "Schnitzel and Bratwurst." We all agreed that we all enjoyed our stereotypical foods. No harm, no foul.
- "Americans are lazy." Yeah, yeah. We know.
Unfortunately, that is all I can remember at the moment. Or care to write because I am pretty tired and this post is already late. Whoops--things have been a little hectic the past couple of days.
Tomorrow morning I leave for PARIS. I am very excited to explore the City of Love with Becky (take that as you will) for the next week. And we just found out that she gets work off all day Thanksgiving. We will be going to many, many tourist spots and such. Hopefully I will be taking lots of pictures (that's the plan, at least) and will be able to write a couple of good blog posts about my trip. I think that should be easy. So chances are good that my next post will be coming to you from Paris. How cool is that?
Until next time, here is a quote:
"Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures."
- Cesar Chavez
Bro-Pair Abroad
Friday, November 22, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
November 14th: Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Hello!
So, I feel like I should apologize. It has been two weeks since my last blog post. Two. Weeks. And frankly, that is unforgivable. I am not sure if this post will be long, but I suppose we shall see. I will get you up to speed and talk about some future plans.
I think this post took awhile for me to write because many things are becoming so ordinary and I am falling into a rhythm. Earlier, everything was so new and I was traveling every weekend. Now I have a schedule and that schedule has some variations, but nothing too wild. This causes time to fly by rather quickly. I blink and the weekend is over. I blink again and it's Wednesday.
In this blog post, I will discuss two big events that have occurred/that are occurring. The first one is the local English club/school called Mortimer's. The second thing, and the title of this post, is my trip to the very scenic Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Just two streets away from my house in Germany is a small business called Mortimer's English Club. My host mom knows the owner and teacher, Bernd. I met Bernd at a Stammtish (bonus points if you remember what that is) he was having for students of his school. Almut invited me and I got to speak with some of his students and they were excited to be speaking with a native English-speaker. I was then introduced to Bernd who is a young, charismatic fellow. Frankly, I thought he was a native speaker when I first met him. He was happy to meet me and happy I came to talk to some of his students. He then invited me to come and attend a course at his class to see how it operates and to offer my services (I suppose) as a native speaker.
This was several weeks ago. I attended the evening conversation course (there is a different conversation course every weekday at 6 PM) and had an absolute blast. The classes are usually between 3-6 people. And I was surprised at the average age of the students in these classes. In the first class I went to on Wednesday, roughly half of the class was 60 years or older--with the oldest being 73, I believe. They were incredibly warm and inviting. And although self-conscious of their English (which is honestly quite good), they were very happy to speak with me and to ask me questions about the USA and what I thought about Germany and everything. It was such a good time that I agreed to come back the next week. And after the next week, Bernd convinced me (although it didn't take much convincing considering how much fun I was having) to attend the evening conversation course whenever I could. And I have tried to do just that.
Doing this, I have met many people spanning various ages (17-73), professions, reasons for learning English, and levels of English competency. I have learned a good amount about their culture and the "average" German's view of America. In fact, in the first class I attended, Bernd threw out his lesson plan and we did an impromptu lesson about different stereotypes and conceptions (or misconceptions) of Germany and the USA. It was quite and interesting experience hearing what they had to say and sharing what I believe to be commonly held German stereotypes by Americans. (Only representing my country--no big deal.)
Last Saturday I decided to take a Saturday trip to a town called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. First, let me tell you a little bit about the town and then I will show you some pictures. The reason the name is so long is because Germany contains several Rothenburg's. And in order to tell them apart, there is a second part to the name. In this town, they added "ob der Tauber," which means "over the Tauber [a river]." It is often shorted to just "Rothenburg odT." The town is incredibly old. I believe dating back to the 14th Century or so. It was built on a plateau overlooking a valley through which the Tauber flows. The town is surrounded by a large wall as a kind of fortress to protect its citizens and royalty.
Due to its beautiful setting and historic buildings, the Nazi Party in the 1930's considered it to be the ideal German town. It was essentially put up on a pillar to be admired by all Germans. During WWII, there was only minor bombing (compared to the other cities I have visited like Augsburg where large portions of the city were destroyed) because the US general understood the historical importance of this city and ordered it not be shelled with artillery. When the German soldiers occupying it realized the Allies would win, the commander went against Hitler's orders of fighting to the bitter end and threw down their weapons in order to preserve the town. To me, this is an incredible demonstration of both sides understanding the importance of history and not wanting to destroy it.
Now, a little about my trip (though there really isn't much to talk about...oops). I woke up QUITE early to shower and get what I needed. I rode my bike in the cold darkness of morning to the Neu-Ulm Bahnhof, bought my ticket, and jumped on my train three minutes later. Like my trip to Füssen with Becky and my trip to Freiburg, this trip involved changing trains many times. Luckily, I had a small index card in my wallet where I wrote out what time I would be arriving at what stations and what platform my next train would be on, so I was never in a hurry and always knew what was next. In total, the trip to Rothenburg odT was 3 hours one-way. Similarly to my trip to Füssen, the closer I got to Rothenburg, the more Asians I saw. It's interesting, really.
When I arrived at the tiny, tiny Bahnhof in Rothenburg (only one track that only goes to one other station), I was underwhelmed. I expected to be greeted almost immediately by this beautiful city. Instead, I was greeted by a very modern town. I walked to a street corner that I thought might be the way to the scenic section of the building and a German man came up to me and asked me (in German) if I knew where this particular building was. I shrugged and said, "I don't know" in English...it slipped my mind how to say that in German at the moment. He laughed and asked if I knew what he said and I told him yes and I translated the question into English, but that I didn't know where that building was. He then completely understood that I was here for the tourist part of the city. I asked him if he knew where it was and his answer was very simple: he pointed at a group of Asian tourists reading papers and said, "just follow the Chinese." We shared a laugh and I followed his advice. Of course, following the Asian tourists took me straight to the city.
So, I feel like I should apologize. It has been two weeks since my last blog post. Two. Weeks. And frankly, that is unforgivable. I am not sure if this post will be long, but I suppose we shall see. I will get you up to speed and talk about some future plans.
I think this post took awhile for me to write because many things are becoming so ordinary and I am falling into a rhythm. Earlier, everything was so new and I was traveling every weekend. Now I have a schedule and that schedule has some variations, but nothing too wild. This causes time to fly by rather quickly. I blink and the weekend is over. I blink again and it's Wednesday.
In this blog post, I will discuss two big events that have occurred/that are occurring. The first one is the local English club/school called Mortimer's. The second thing, and the title of this post, is my trip to the very scenic Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Just two streets away from my house in Germany is a small business called Mortimer's English Club. My host mom knows the owner and teacher, Bernd. I met Bernd at a Stammtish (bonus points if you remember what that is) he was having for students of his school. Almut invited me and I got to speak with some of his students and they were excited to be speaking with a native English-speaker. I was then introduced to Bernd who is a young, charismatic fellow. Frankly, I thought he was a native speaker when I first met him. He was happy to meet me and happy I came to talk to some of his students. He then invited me to come and attend a course at his class to see how it operates and to offer my services (I suppose) as a native speaker.
This was several weeks ago. I attended the evening conversation course (there is a different conversation course every weekday at 6 PM) and had an absolute blast. The classes are usually between 3-6 people. And I was surprised at the average age of the students in these classes. In the first class I went to on Wednesday, roughly half of the class was 60 years or older--with the oldest being 73, I believe. They were incredibly warm and inviting. And although self-conscious of their English (which is honestly quite good), they were very happy to speak with me and to ask me questions about the USA and what I thought about Germany and everything. It was such a good time that I agreed to come back the next week. And after the next week, Bernd convinced me (although it didn't take much convincing considering how much fun I was having) to attend the evening conversation course whenever I could. And I have tried to do just that.
Doing this, I have met many people spanning various ages (17-73), professions, reasons for learning English, and levels of English competency. I have learned a good amount about their culture and the "average" German's view of America. In fact, in the first class I attended, Bernd threw out his lesson plan and we did an impromptu lesson about different stereotypes and conceptions (or misconceptions) of Germany and the USA. It was quite and interesting experience hearing what they had to say and sharing what I believe to be commonly held German stereotypes by Americans. (Only representing my country--no big deal.)
Last Saturday I decided to take a Saturday trip to a town called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. First, let me tell you a little bit about the town and then I will show you some pictures. The reason the name is so long is because Germany contains several Rothenburg's. And in order to tell them apart, there is a second part to the name. In this town, they added "ob der Tauber," which means "over the Tauber [a river]." It is often shorted to just "Rothenburg odT." The town is incredibly old. I believe dating back to the 14th Century or so. It was built on a plateau overlooking a valley through which the Tauber flows. The town is surrounded by a large wall as a kind of fortress to protect its citizens and royalty.
Due to its beautiful setting and historic buildings, the Nazi Party in the 1930's considered it to be the ideal German town. It was essentially put up on a pillar to be admired by all Germans. During WWII, there was only minor bombing (compared to the other cities I have visited like Augsburg where large portions of the city were destroyed) because the US general understood the historical importance of this city and ordered it not be shelled with artillery. When the German soldiers occupying it realized the Allies would win, the commander went against Hitler's orders of fighting to the bitter end and threw down their weapons in order to preserve the town. To me, this is an incredible demonstration of both sides understanding the importance of history and not wanting to destroy it.
Now, a little about my trip (though there really isn't much to talk about...oops). I woke up QUITE early to shower and get what I needed. I rode my bike in the cold darkness of morning to the Neu-Ulm Bahnhof, bought my ticket, and jumped on my train three minutes later. Like my trip to Füssen with Becky and my trip to Freiburg, this trip involved changing trains many times. Luckily, I had a small index card in my wallet where I wrote out what time I would be arriving at what stations and what platform my next train would be on, so I was never in a hurry and always knew what was next. In total, the trip to Rothenburg odT was 3 hours one-way. Similarly to my trip to Füssen, the closer I got to Rothenburg, the more Asians I saw. It's interesting, really.
When I arrived at the tiny, tiny Bahnhof in Rothenburg (only one track that only goes to one other station), I was underwhelmed. I expected to be greeted almost immediately by this beautiful city. Instead, I was greeted by a very modern town. I walked to a street corner that I thought might be the way to the scenic section of the building and a German man came up to me and asked me (in German) if I knew where this particular building was. I shrugged and said, "I don't know" in English...it slipped my mind how to say that in German at the moment. He laughed and asked if I knew what he said and I told him yes and I translated the question into English, but that I didn't know where that building was. He then completely understood that I was here for the tourist part of the city. I asked him if he knew where it was and his answer was very simple: he pointed at a group of Asian tourists reading papers and said, "just follow the Chinese." We shared a laugh and I followed his advice. Of course, following the Asian tourists took me straight to the city.
One of the multiple entrances to the walled town.
What most of the streets looked like.
Had to grab a little snack when I arrived. The thing on the far left is a local specialty called a Schneeball, which means "snowball." It's a pasty made from strips of dough compounded together...or something. Pretty good.
I had no final destination or things that I HAD to see. So like my trip to Freiburg, I was armed with my phone camera and a desire to see some beautiful buildings and to see what Rothenburg has to offer. I also had a good gift ideas for my family back home, so I made sure to buy a couple of things. So instead of telling a story about my day (because it was basically just me walking around and admiring things), I am just going to post all the pictures and comment if I have something to say. Just like my day, I want you to just enjoy the sights.
Lots of colorful buildings.
These towers can be seen around the town. They used to guard the major roads in and out of the city.
The Rathaus. Unfortunately, they were doing construction (like the rest of Germany). But because it's a popular tourist spot, they put up a tarp that looks like the building, as you can see at the bottom of the building.
Nice try, Rothenburg.
The side of the Rathaus and the bell tower connected to it.
One view from the outer wall.
It was surprisingly hilly.
Large church (for the town, small compared to the Münster and other churches). They wanted me to pay for admission. I'm sorry....but no.
A semi-creepy, Jesus-y figure outside the church.
People like to rub his finger for luck.
More colorful buildings.
This store NAILED their target audience. Good work.
Frankly, I don't remember taking this photo.
Another view from the wall.
The road split in two. This is a popular view of the city.
A smaller church.
Part of the fortification around the town.
You can walk on the wall and see the town from a higher vantage point. Very small walkway, though.
A picture from the wall.
Another tower and gate.
A view from the wall.
There was a part of the town that was basically a nice garden overlooking the valley.
Picture taken from the train back home. Bavaria is just killin' it.
Selfie on the wall overlooking the valley. Yeah, I'm rockin' the tourist backpack.
As for the future, this weekend is very busy. The magazine my host mom publishes is released once every two months. Therefore, I have to stay home and watch the kids all weekend while my host parents spend all day finalizing the newest issue of the magazine. So I probably won't have any pictures from places I go because I won't be going anywhere.
The Wednesday evening class at Mortimer's is also having a raclette dinner. A raclette is a grill that sits at the table and you melt cheese and heat up meat and other foods. It sounds similar to a fondue, but is a little different. I will be able to tell you more about it when it happens, but I am excited. This came about because we were discussing cooking and someone mentioned they had a raclette meal and I asked them what it was. We were talking about it for a bit and then Bernd suggested we bring some raclettes to class. People were assigned to bring certain things (I'm in charge of wine) and we are going to speak English and make some delicious food.
This upcoming week, I am going to try really hard to make a blog post about German culture. I want to discuss various aspects of German culture that I have found interesting during my time here. Many of these things I hope you will find interesting, too. It will consist of little things that you might not think of to bigger things that are hard to miss.
And for some very exciting plans for the future, I depart for Paris on the 23rd! I am very excited to spend the week in Paris with Becky. While she works during the day, I will be doing a little exploring on my own and we will meet up later in the day. There are a couple of things we are doing together, though. We both want to go see Versailles and I believe we are going to climb up the Eiffel Tower. You know, tourist stuff. I am excited that I will get to spend Thanksgiving in Paris AND with an American. Due to lack of kitchen in Becky's apartment, I have offered to take us to dinner on Thanksgiving. My way of repaying her for hosting me.
I will try really, really hard to write my next blog post about culture next week. I don't want to make any promises, though...things happen, you know?
Thank you for reading! Sorry again about the long time between posts... Hope you enjoyed.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
October 31st: Becky Visits: Part II
Hello!
So, for those of you paying attention, you will know that this post is a bit late. Quite a bit late. I suppose I got a little ahead of myself when I said "a couple of days." I kept telling myself in the back of my mind "write that blog post" throughout the week, but just never did it. Finally my mom told me firmly via Facebook to get on it, so here I am.
The next day of Becky's visit, we planned on spending a little time in Ulm, mostly to see the Münster. She had only seen the Münster at night and it seemed a little creepy with its Gothic appearance and menacing moon overhead. I wanted her to see the inside of the building and we planned on climbing the steeple. I have climbed it before, but of course I was willing to join her for a second trip to the top. After that, we planned on going to Munich to wander around and go to the Hofbrauhaus.
We did not have a timetable of when we wanted to do what. But we knew we were going to do the Münster first, then go to Munich when we were ready. It was a change of pace from the much more structured day at Füssen.
We took the scenic route into Ulm. We walked along to Donau and Becky took some pictures of the fall foliage and sights along the path. I guess I have traveled that path so many times, I didn't feel like taking many pictures, though it was pretty. When we got to Ulm, we went straight to the Münster. It was fairly early on a Monday (11 AM or so), so there weren't too many people there. When we walked in, Becky seemed absolutely amazed at the beauty of the church. She quickly reached for her camera to start taking pictures. She thought the side area we entered was tall, but was quite surprised when we walked to the middle section and it only got taller. We slowly made our way around the building and I let Becky have all the time she needed for pictures. She commented on how the outside seems so dark and (a little) creepy, but the inside seems so light and peaceful.
When we were done taking pictures of the interior, we began our journey up the steeple. As I said in my earlier post about the Münster and my climb, the spiral staircase is simply too small to photograph. Becky tried and came to the same conclusion. We made sure to stop at every rest area for rest and photos. Luckily, there were not many people on our ascent. We actually climbed at a pretty good speed. It did not seem as grueling as the first time I went up. Maybe I am in better shape or something? No clue. When we stopped at the big rest area before the final staircase to the very, very top, more people started to show up. They did not rest for long for pictures like Becky and me, so they went up. Which stinks because the top section gets VERY crowded. We waited for a couple of people to come down before we went up. Luckily, there was standing room for us, but rotating around the circle is a slow process. We had to wait for people on either side of us to move before we could move. But we got to go around the whole thing and take pictures, so it was nice.
On the descent, Becky and I had a good laugh at the wobbly-knee phenomenon I warned her about. After climbing the 780+ steps to the top, you then have to make the same trip going down. You have gravity on your side, but you also have to be careful in the small stairwells not to trip. We made it to the bottom (following a group of German teens) and high-five'd upon making it back to the lobby.
From there, we decided that drinks and a snack were in order, so we went to Müller, which is like a big version of CVS, I suppose. Very big. It feels like a combination of CVS and Walmart or something. We grabbed some candy (oops) and I bought a big bottle of some sort of fruit juice. Becky bought herself a lot of chocolate to take back to France. Hazelnut chocolate bars or some nonsense. We sat by a small fountain on the busy shopping street and enjoyed our food. As I sat down, I pulled out my box of Skittles (yes, box). As I was unwrapping it, a man came over and asked I had a cigarette and he was willing to pay 20 Euro cents for it. I said no, and he revealed from a distance the Skittles box looked like a cigarette pack. Which I will admit, it kind of did. We had a laugh and he went off. He did not appear to be homeless at all, probably just wanted one cigarette and didn't want to buy a whole pack. Who knows?
Afterwards, Becky and I traveled to the Hbf and got on our train and waited a little bit before departing to Munich. The train ride was fairly uneventful. And unlike Füssen, we did not have to make any changes. Just ride the train until it ends in Munich. Those trains are my favorite. It was still a regional train, so we made frequent stops, but I am used to that journey by now.
We arrived at the large Munich Hbf and went to a bookstore to look for a guide to Munich in English. Alas, we could not find one, so we decided to just enter the city. We were immediately greeted by a casino and bar attached to a fitness center. ...okay, Munich. We seemed pretty lost and just kind of wandering, but quickly saw one of those tour buses that travels to popular sights throughout the day. It stopped at a bus stop and we walked over to it. At the stop was a map with some popular destinations that the bus goes to. We looked at the map and found a high density area near the Hofbrauhaus. We remembered the incredibly complex directions (right here and keep going until you see churches, then go down a little bit) and went on our way.
We quickly came upon a massive traffic area with confusing pedestrian paths and cars going every which way. We went to where we thought was a crossing and there was a woman looking at traffic waiting for her chance to run across, so we stood behind her. She turned around, said something in very fast German to Becky, laughed at what she said, then started to run across the street. Becky and I looked at each other, laughed, and followed her. When we got to the other side, she realized Becky had no idea what she said (or maybe she heard us talking) and said, "Do you speak English or something?" We said yes and she told us that we weren't technically at a crosswalk, but she was going anyway. We made it to the other side, said goodbye, and parted ways.
Becky and I traveled to a large arch that she noticed. This arch led to quite a busy shopping street. We walked down the road and were quite amazed with the amount of people and stores. We eventually came across a gorgeous building. We took some pictures and while Becky was taking more, I approached the building to look for a sign saying what it was. Turns out, it is Munich's Rathaus (city hall). After we were done with pictures, we kept walking.
I noticed a tall facade of a building that looked a bit like a church. It was attached to the buildings around it, so we weren't sure. But it had church-like doors, so that was my first clue. We decided to see if we could go inside, and the doors were open. It was, in fact, a church. It was a large Catholic church with white walls and floor. There was an organist playing some beautiful music and people silently walking about. We began taking some pictures and slowly walking around. There was a place to light a candle like in other churches, but it was a bit too expensive and I didn't have change. And, I'm sorry, I wasn't about to pay 20 Euros to light a candle.
We left that church and noticed that we had reached the cluster of churches we saw on the map. We went to another large church a little ways down the street. This church was actually fairly plain on the inside, which seems quite strange for these old, German churches. We were only in there for a couple of minutes before everyone was asked to leave because they were starting some sort of service.
After we left, we found a life-size statue of a woman named "Juliet." A few things seemed strange about this woman. The first was that she was partially topless (which, I suppose isn't too strange), but it was a little strange that her exposed breast was a completely different color from having been rubbed so often. Another strange thing was that she was holding a real rose in her hand. As Becky was taking pictures, I went to the plaque on the wall and read that it was actually Juliet from Romeo and Juliet.
We kept walking and our attention was drawn to a large market. We walked over to it and many of the booths were closing (it was around 5 or 6 PM--when everything in Germany closes), but we saw that they were selling all of the typical Bavarian goods. Cheese, meat, wine, and so on. Judging by the booths, it seemed like this market was there everyday.
After wandering the market for a little bit, we began our quest to find the Hofbrauhaus. We knew we were close (based on the map we saw earlier....and the high density of Asians), but we were not sure if it would be on the main street we had be traveling or not. After a little bit of walking with no signs, I stopped to ask a middle-aged woman (they seem to be the most willing to help in Germany) at the bus stop if she knew where the Hofbrauhaus was. She did not speak English (I had asked her in German) and mentioned that she has not been to Munich in a long time, but she was pretty sure it was a couple of blocks "that way" (she pointed, of course) and wished us luck. We followed her direction and quickly saw a sign pointing us to the Hofbrauhaus. As we approached it, the density of people built up. We went to the menu posted outside to check if it was in our price range. It was a bit pricey as we expected, but not unreasonable. It was also Becky's birthday and it was the freaking Hofbrauhaus, so we decided to go in.
I have been mentioning the Hofbrauhaus in this post and realized I might not have said what it is. It is a beer hall that is one of the oldest breweries and beer halls in Germany. It was built in 1589 (yeah, pretty old) and, like most major buildings in most major cities in Germany, was partially destroyed by bombs in WWII. This has become an INCREDIBLY popular tourist destination. This was clear by the fact that the place was packed.
We entered the doors to the sound of people laughing, talking, yelling, and a typical Bavarian band, completely surrounded by tourists, jamming out to some German songs. The way the Hofbrauhaus, like all beer halls, operates is that there is no hostess, you just sit down where you can find a table. So we walked and walked until we found an area that hadn't been filled yet. We sat at a table and there were a few empty tables around us that we figured would get filled. We looked at the menu and it was all in German. The waiter came over, noticed we were speaking English, and brought us English menus. We both got some Weissbier, of course. I had a Bratwurst with Sauerkraut and Becky got some other kind of Wurst (can't remember what it was) with potato salad and a pretzel.
Soon after our food arrived, a few people took an empty table behind us. They were speaking English with an Irish accent and mentioned more people coming. Eventually more people started to show up at the tables they claimed. And more people. By the time we left, their party had grown to about 20, spanning 3 tables. Becky and I noticed not all of them spoke with Irish accents, though. Many of them were American. One of them (an Irishman) was a bit drunk (of course) and was being loud and silly. Him walking off to demonstrate something prompted the people sitting behind Becky to turn around to look at him and I said something to one of them and we had a laugh. Then a little later, one of them turned around to talk to us. He had an American accent and introduced himself. We introduced ourselves and said we were from Indiana and he was amazed to find other Americans (although it is the Hofbrauhaus) and he was from California.
He told us that he was here with this group and his job is to set up the lights and sound. We were a little confused and he forgot to mention that he, and everyone he was with, works for Celtic Women. Celtic Women is an Irish music group consisting of three female singers and a band. Needless to say, we were rather shocked. The Celtic Women themselves were not there (probably because the loud atmosphere and beer would damage their voices?) but everyone there was either in the band or on the crew. Becky mentioned that she went to a show of theirs in Indy a couple of years back. This man then introduced us to the person sitting directly behind Becky. This man was the bass player who has been with the band since it was first started. Him and Becky talked for a little bit and got a picture.
At the end of our meal, we said goodbye to everyone and began to walk out. After we got a little ways out, a woman from the group approached us and said, "My boss wants to offer you tickets to the show if you will be in the area tomorrow night." Which is totally awesome. Unfortunately, we had to say no. The train ride is 2 hours one way and the show would go so late that the trains would have stopped going back to Ulm. We thanked her for the generous offer and made our way back to the Munich Hbf.
As we were sitting in the Hbf waiting for our train, Becky laughed at the situation. The fact that she was sitting in a train station in Munich with me on her birthday and we had just met the band of Celtic Women and were offered tickets to their show. We got on the train back to Ulm and crashed when we got back to the house.
The next day, Becky was planning on going to Dachau to see the memorial. Since I had there a week before, I decided not to go. I helped Becky plan her trip on how to get there and sent her on her way. My day was a normal au pair day for the most part. Becky and I did make plans, however, to get dinner with a friend she met while studying abroad in Peru who, oddly enough, now lives in Ulm as of two days prior. So when the time came, I met Becky at the Ulm Hbf in the evening where we were also meeting her friend. He took us to a place called Nudelbar in Ulm. I had never heard of it, but it was quite good. You pay 10 Euros for all-you-can-eat from an Italian, pizza, and Mexican menu. There were plenty of options and I think I more than got my 10 Euros worth of food. We had a nice meal and talk. Nothing too eventful happened. After that, we walked back to the house and went to bed a little bit later.
The next morning, we woke up rather early to take Becky to the Hbf. I got to show off my stick-driving abilities as I drove her to the Hbf. I wasn't completely sure where I could park, but I improvised. I parked the car, gave her a hug and thanked her for coming. We parted ways and I drove back to the house and fell back asleep because I was pretty tired.
It was incredibly fun having Becky here and going on the adventures that we did. And I am glad I got to help her celebrate her birthday in a very interesting way. Needless to say, I am excited for my trip to Paris at the end of November. I will post more about that as the time approaches. You can check out Becky's blog post with vastly superior pictures about her trip to Munich (and probably Dachau later) on her blog here:
http://beckygoesabroad.wordpress.com/
I will not make any promises about my next blog post. I have been taking it easy since Becky's visit because we did so much traveling. I am not sure where I will be going to next...
As always, here are a couple of quotes! This time, the first quote isn't from Becky, but it is from the Irish folk we heard at the Hofbrauhaus.
"It's quiet over here. It won't be once the Irish get here." - Random member from the Celtic Women band
"I liked Germany; I'm not into Berlin, it's to huge and empty and imposing, but Munich was good." - Graham Coxon
So, for those of you paying attention, you will know that this post is a bit late. Quite a bit late. I suppose I got a little ahead of myself when I said "a couple of days." I kept telling myself in the back of my mind "write that blog post" throughout the week, but just never did it. Finally my mom told me firmly via Facebook to get on it, so here I am.
The next day of Becky's visit, we planned on spending a little time in Ulm, mostly to see the Münster. She had only seen the Münster at night and it seemed a little creepy with its Gothic appearance and menacing moon overhead. I wanted her to see the inside of the building and we planned on climbing the steeple. I have climbed it before, but of course I was willing to join her for a second trip to the top. After that, we planned on going to Munich to wander around and go to the Hofbrauhaus.
We did not have a timetable of when we wanted to do what. But we knew we were going to do the Münster first, then go to Munich when we were ready. It was a change of pace from the much more structured day at Füssen.
We took the scenic route into Ulm. We walked along to Donau and Becky took some pictures of the fall foliage and sights along the path. I guess I have traveled that path so many times, I didn't feel like taking many pictures, though it was pretty. When we got to Ulm, we went straight to the Münster. It was fairly early on a Monday (11 AM or so), so there weren't too many people there. When we walked in, Becky seemed absolutely amazed at the beauty of the church. She quickly reached for her camera to start taking pictures. She thought the side area we entered was tall, but was quite surprised when we walked to the middle section and it only got taller. We slowly made our way around the building and I let Becky have all the time she needed for pictures. She commented on how the outside seems so dark and (a little) creepy, but the inside seems so light and peaceful.
Fall on the Donau
When we were done taking pictures of the interior, we began our journey up the steeple. As I said in my earlier post about the Münster and my climb, the spiral staircase is simply too small to photograph. Becky tried and came to the same conclusion. We made sure to stop at every rest area for rest and photos. Luckily, there were not many people on our ascent. We actually climbed at a pretty good speed. It did not seem as grueling as the first time I went up. Maybe I am in better shape or something? No clue. When we stopped at the big rest area before the final staircase to the very, very top, more people started to show up. They did not rest for long for pictures like Becky and me, so they went up. Which stinks because the top section gets VERY crowded. We waited for a couple of people to come down before we went up. Luckily, there was standing room for us, but rotating around the circle is a slow process. We had to wait for people on either side of us to move before we could move. But we got to go around the whole thing and take pictures, so it was nice.
On the descent, Becky and I had a good laugh at the wobbly-knee phenomenon I warned her about. After climbing the 780+ steps to the top, you then have to make the same trip going down. You have gravity on your side, but you also have to be careful in the small stairwells not to trip. We made it to the bottom (following a group of German teens) and high-five'd upon making it back to the lobby.
From there, we decided that drinks and a snack were in order, so we went to Müller, which is like a big version of CVS, I suppose. Very big. It feels like a combination of CVS and Walmart or something. We grabbed some candy (oops) and I bought a big bottle of some sort of fruit juice. Becky bought herself a lot of chocolate to take back to France. Hazelnut chocolate bars or some nonsense. We sat by a small fountain on the busy shopping street and enjoyed our food. As I sat down, I pulled out my box of Skittles (yes, box). As I was unwrapping it, a man came over and asked I had a cigarette and he was willing to pay 20 Euro cents for it. I said no, and he revealed from a distance the Skittles box looked like a cigarette pack. Which I will admit, it kind of did. We had a laugh and he went off. He did not appear to be homeless at all, probably just wanted one cigarette and didn't want to buy a whole pack. Who knows?
Afterwards, Becky and I traveled to the Hbf and got on our train and waited a little bit before departing to Munich. The train ride was fairly uneventful. And unlike Füssen, we did not have to make any changes. Just ride the train until it ends in Munich. Those trains are my favorite. It was still a regional train, so we made frequent stops, but I am used to that journey by now.
We arrived at the large Munich Hbf and went to a bookstore to look for a guide to Munich in English. Alas, we could not find one, so we decided to just enter the city. We were immediately greeted by a casino and bar attached to a fitness center. ...okay, Munich. We seemed pretty lost and just kind of wandering, but quickly saw one of those tour buses that travels to popular sights throughout the day. It stopped at a bus stop and we walked over to it. At the stop was a map with some popular destinations that the bus goes to. We looked at the map and found a high density area near the Hofbrauhaus. We remembered the incredibly complex directions (right here and keep going until you see churches, then go down a little bit) and went on our way.
We quickly came upon a massive traffic area with confusing pedestrian paths and cars going every which way. We went to where we thought was a crossing and there was a woman looking at traffic waiting for her chance to run across, so we stood behind her. She turned around, said something in very fast German to Becky, laughed at what she said, then started to run across the street. Becky and I looked at each other, laughed, and followed her. When we got to the other side, she realized Becky had no idea what she said (or maybe she heard us talking) and said, "Do you speak English or something?" We said yes and she told us that we weren't technically at a crosswalk, but she was going anyway. We made it to the other side, said goodbye, and parted ways.
Becky and I traveled to a large arch that she noticed. This arch led to quite a busy shopping street. We walked down the road and were quite amazed with the amount of people and stores. We eventually came across a gorgeous building. We took some pictures and while Becky was taking more, I approached the building to look for a sign saying what it was. Turns out, it is Munich's Rathaus (city hall). After we were done with pictures, we kept walking.
The arch Becky noticed leading to the main street
The Munich Rathaus
I noticed a tall facade of a building that looked a bit like a church. It was attached to the buildings around it, so we weren't sure. But it had church-like doors, so that was my first clue. We decided to see if we could go inside, and the doors were open. It was, in fact, a church. It was a large Catholic church with white walls and floor. There was an organist playing some beautiful music and people silently walking about. We began taking some pictures and slowly walking around. There was a place to light a candle like in other churches, but it was a bit too expensive and I didn't have change. And, I'm sorry, I wasn't about to pay 20 Euros to light a candle.
Wasn't sure if it was a church or a government building.
The main hall.
A pretty cool altar.
We left that church and noticed that we had reached the cluster of churches we saw on the map. We went to another large church a little ways down the street. This church was actually fairly plain on the inside, which seems quite strange for these old, German churches. We were only in there for a couple of minutes before everyone was asked to leave because they were starting some sort of service.
After we left, we found a life-size statue of a woman named "Juliet." A few things seemed strange about this woman. The first was that she was partially topless (which, I suppose isn't too strange), but it was a little strange that her exposed breast was a completely different color from having been rubbed so often. Another strange thing was that she was holding a real rose in her hand. As Becky was taking pictures, I went to the plaque on the wall and read that it was actually Juliet from Romeo and Juliet.
We kept walking and our attention was drawn to a large market. We walked over to it and many of the booths were closing (it was around 5 or 6 PM--when everything in Germany closes), but we saw that they were selling all of the typical Bavarian goods. Cheese, meat, wine, and so on. Judging by the booths, it seemed like this market was there everyday.
After wandering the market for a little bit, we began our quest to find the Hofbrauhaus. We knew we were close (based on the map we saw earlier....and the high density of Asians), but we were not sure if it would be on the main street we had be traveling or not. After a little bit of walking with no signs, I stopped to ask a middle-aged woman (they seem to be the most willing to help in Germany) at the bus stop if she knew where the Hofbrauhaus was. She did not speak English (I had asked her in German) and mentioned that she has not been to Munich in a long time, but she was pretty sure it was a couple of blocks "that way" (she pointed, of course) and wished us luck. We followed her direction and quickly saw a sign pointing us to the Hofbrauhaus. As we approached it, the density of people built up. We went to the menu posted outside to check if it was in our price range. It was a bit pricey as we expected, but not unreasonable. It was also Becky's birthday and it was the freaking Hofbrauhaus, so we decided to go in.
I have been mentioning the Hofbrauhaus in this post and realized I might not have said what it is. It is a beer hall that is one of the oldest breweries and beer halls in Germany. It was built in 1589 (yeah, pretty old) and, like most major buildings in most major cities in Germany, was partially destroyed by bombs in WWII. This has become an INCREDIBLY popular tourist destination. This was clear by the fact that the place was packed.
We entered the doors to the sound of people laughing, talking, yelling, and a typical Bavarian band, completely surrounded by tourists, jamming out to some German songs. The way the Hofbrauhaus, like all beer halls, operates is that there is no hostess, you just sit down where you can find a table. So we walked and walked until we found an area that hadn't been filled yet. We sat at a table and there were a few empty tables around us that we figured would get filled. We looked at the menu and it was all in German. The waiter came over, noticed we were speaking English, and brought us English menus. We both got some Weissbier, of course. I had a Bratwurst with Sauerkraut and Becky got some other kind of Wurst (can't remember what it was) with potato salad and a pretzel.
Soon after our food arrived, a few people took an empty table behind us. They were speaking English with an Irish accent and mentioned more people coming. Eventually more people started to show up at the tables they claimed. And more people. By the time we left, their party had grown to about 20, spanning 3 tables. Becky and I noticed not all of them spoke with Irish accents, though. Many of them were American. One of them (an Irishman) was a bit drunk (of course) and was being loud and silly. Him walking off to demonstrate something prompted the people sitting behind Becky to turn around to look at him and I said something to one of them and we had a laugh. Then a little later, one of them turned around to talk to us. He had an American accent and introduced himself. We introduced ourselves and said we were from Indiana and he was amazed to find other Americans (although it is the Hofbrauhaus) and he was from California.
He told us that he was here with this group and his job is to set up the lights and sound. We were a little confused and he forgot to mention that he, and everyone he was with, works for Celtic Women. Celtic Women is an Irish music group consisting of three female singers and a band. Needless to say, we were rather shocked. The Celtic Women themselves were not there (probably because the loud atmosphere and beer would damage their voices?) but everyone there was either in the band or on the crew. Becky mentioned that she went to a show of theirs in Indy a couple of years back. This man then introduced us to the person sitting directly behind Becky. This man was the bass player who has been with the band since it was first started. Him and Becky talked for a little bit and got a picture.
At the end of our meal, we said goodbye to everyone and began to walk out. After we got a little ways out, a woman from the group approached us and said, "My boss wants to offer you tickets to the show if you will be in the area tomorrow night." Which is totally awesome. Unfortunately, we had to say no. The train ride is 2 hours one way and the show would go so late that the trains would have stopped going back to Ulm. We thanked her for the generous offer and made our way back to the Munich Hbf.
Our beers. Not too bad, I guess. We both finished them, though.
Birthday Girl with her beer. You can see the empty tables that soon became occupied.
My food and beer. I ate some of the Sauerkraut. Not my favorite food, I learned...
And then it became busy. The woman there was walking around selling MASSIVE pretzels.
Hofbrauhaus selfie. Not sorry.
A not-so-great picture of the band I took while walking past.
As we were sitting in the Hbf waiting for our train, Becky laughed at the situation. The fact that she was sitting in a train station in Munich with me on her birthday and we had just met the band of Celtic Women and were offered tickets to their show. We got on the train back to Ulm and crashed when we got back to the house.
The next day, Becky was planning on going to Dachau to see the memorial. Since I had there a week before, I decided not to go. I helped Becky plan her trip on how to get there and sent her on her way. My day was a normal au pair day for the most part. Becky and I did make plans, however, to get dinner with a friend she met while studying abroad in Peru who, oddly enough, now lives in Ulm as of two days prior. So when the time came, I met Becky at the Ulm Hbf in the evening where we were also meeting her friend. He took us to a place called Nudelbar in Ulm. I had never heard of it, but it was quite good. You pay 10 Euros for all-you-can-eat from an Italian, pizza, and Mexican menu. There were plenty of options and I think I more than got my 10 Euros worth of food. We had a nice meal and talk. Nothing too eventful happened. After that, we walked back to the house and went to bed a little bit later.
The next morning, we woke up rather early to take Becky to the Hbf. I got to show off my stick-driving abilities as I drove her to the Hbf. I wasn't completely sure where I could park, but I improvised. I parked the car, gave her a hug and thanked her for coming. We parted ways and I drove back to the house and fell back asleep because I was pretty tired.
It was incredibly fun having Becky here and going on the adventures that we did. And I am glad I got to help her celebrate her birthday in a very interesting way. Needless to say, I am excited for my trip to Paris at the end of November. I will post more about that as the time approaches. You can check out Becky's blog post with vastly superior pictures about her trip to Munich (and probably Dachau later) on her blog here:
http://beckygoesabroad.wordpress.com/
I will not make any promises about my next blog post. I have been taking it easy since Becky's visit because we did so much traveling. I am not sure where I will be going to next...
As always, here are a couple of quotes! This time, the first quote isn't from Becky, but it is from the Irish folk we heard at the Hofbrauhaus.
"It's quiet over here. It won't be once the Irish get here." - Random member from the Celtic Women band
"I liked Germany; I'm not into Berlin, it's to huge and empty and imposing, but Munich was good." - Graham Coxon
Thursday, October 24, 2013
October 24th: Becky Visits: Part I
Hello!
I suspect this post is going to be a long one. In terms of words and pictures. But it's for a good reason.
As I have mentioned, Becky has been living in Paris for about a month now teaching English at a French school. Paris is about 5 hours by train to Ulm and she had a two-week break (for some unknown reason), so she booked some tickets to come visit me!
She arrived Saturday night (Oct. 19) and left early Wednesday morning (Oct. 23). We made plans to go to see Castle Neuschwanstein, Ulm, and a little bit of Munich. Then she was going to spend a day by herself going to see Dachau.
I left a little early to walk to the train station to pick her up. The walk is about 40-45 minutes from the house. I sat at the platform she was going to arrive on and read a book on my phone and listened to some music. Finally, the TGV train came screeching into the station and Becky made her entrance to Ulm. We talked for a little bit as we left the train station. I checked to see how much German she knew and what I could possibly teach her before she left. I had to make it a learning experience, afterall.
We walked into Ulm from the Hbf, but it was night, so there wasn't all that much to see. The moon was quite bright and partially hidden behind some clouds and was right next to the Münster from the direction we were walking. This sort of gave Becky a bad first impression of the building because it is quite Gothic on the outside and the creepy moon did not help its appearance. We walked around just for a little bit and began the trek back to the house. We walked through Neu-Ulm because I wanted her to see it and because there were lights. Didn't feel like walking besides the Donau with no lights.
When we got back to the house, I was unsure who was home or what was going on. The light in the kitchen was on, but I did not hear anyone. And it was only 10:30, so the parents are usually awake at that time. Becky and I decided to have some bread and cheese (so European, as always) and chat in the kitchen. Eventually my host dad made an appearance and said he was listening to music in his study and didn't hear us. So we talked for a little bit about our plans and he asked Becky some questions. We then went to our bedroom and discussed the plans for the next day (train times, connections, etc.).
We woke up at our scheduled time, but took just a bit longer than we planned to get ready. So we had to run out the door, jump on a couple of bikes, and make our way to the Hbf in Ulm. It was still a little dark, but Becky got a better view of the Donau as we biked along it into town. We didn't stop unless we came to a red light, so we were moving at a good speed. While Becky locked up our bikes, I ran inside and bought our ticket. She might me inside and we jumped on the train that left a minute later.
The train ride was about 3ish hours. We had to change trains twice, I believe. But that is not a big deal. As we got closer to Füssen (home of the famous Castle Neuschwanstein), the scenery from the train only got more and more beautiful. We were floored at the rolling green hills, lakes, mountains, and fall leaves. It became obvious that we were on a train with a lot of tourists all going to the same place.
Upon arriving in Füssen, we jumped on a bus (which was also covered by the train ticket) and rode to the visitor's center. From there, we got to see the absolutely gorgeous scenery and Neuschwanstein watching us from a mountain range nearby. We stopped for some pictures and made our way to the ticket center. The ticket center reminded me a line at Cedar Point in mid-June. It was absolutely chaotic. The only difference is there were more languages in that line than at Cedar Point. The line was so long that by the time we got near the front, all (ALL, not just English) of the tours for Neuschwanstein were sold out. We decided to get tickets for the older, less-known Castle Hohenschwangau. I taught Becky how to say it before we got up to the ticket counter, don't worry.
After we got our tickets, we had some time to kill before our tour was supposed to begin. We walked by a grab-and-go kind of grill on our way to the ticket center with some typical German food, so Becky and I decided to go back to that. I ordered on our behalf and Becky was oddly impressed by my ability to order in German. I tried to explain that saying "two Bratwurst" in Germany isn't too difficult...whatever. Apparently it sounded "authentic." In any case, we both enjoyed the food and ventured to the nearby Alpsee (Alp Sea. Super original.). This thing was out-of-control beautiful. A lake set in a mountain scene with changing, autumn leaves. There were couples enjoying the view and enjoying a snack, Asian tourists taking a million pictures, and some young boys tempting fate by standing close to the edge of the lake and the ducks.
We enjoyed that scene (in which Becky took a million pictures along with the Asian tourists) for a bit before walking up a beautiful, wooded trail to Hohenschwangau. This hike was, of course, gorgeous beyond words. We really came at the right time of years--the colors were breathtaking. Finally, we arrived, after a short walk, to Hohenschwangau. Unlike it's more famous, younger sister across the valley, this castle is more ornate on the outside and also yellow. A bit more bold, eh?
We both took tons of pictures outside the castle and in the gardens/courtyard. The view of the surrounding mountains and fall leaves was incredibly from there, so we spent plenty of time taking pictures. Then we got to the line and waited for our tour number to be called. While in line, we saw the young boys from the Alpsee. They were speaking American English with two middle-aged women. I went over and said hello and asked where they were from. One of them was visiting her friend (the other woman) from Michigan and the other woman said she was originally from the States, but has been living in Ulm for years. Strange, right?
Photos were not allowed inside. But it was quite lavish. The royalty living there (the Crown Family of Bavaria) lived comfortably, it is safe to say. Everything within the castle was actually original, so touching was absolutely forbidden. One thing Becky and I found interesting and bizarre was a house-warming gift from a royal family in Russia (I think?) of salt and bread. So in this case sat a loaf of bread....that was 200 years old. Like....why? Becky also got a kick out of the fact that the king's bedroom had a secret passage in the wall leading to the queen's bedroom. What a dog.
After the tour, we made way for Neuschwanstein. The trail up to the castle was a bit longer (and more steep) than the previous trail. But luckily the weather was nice and the scenery was pretty enough that we didn't complain too much. When we finally reached the castle, we went picture crazy. Taking pictures of the castle, the mountains, and the valley of Füssen (and much more, for that matter). Becky noted that the castle seemed rather plain up close. (As plain as a 19th century castle could be, I suppose.) And to an extent, it's true. Let's just say it is a photogenic castle. I'm sure the inside is absolutely incredibly, though. But alas, we could not get inside.
Behind the castle, tucked away in the woods is a semi-famous bridge. The Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge) was built for Queen Mary by the king so that she could get into the mountains faster. And also to enjoy the clichè, but incredible, view of Neuschwanstein. If you have seen pictures of the castle, I can guarantee that one of them was probably taken from this bridge. I was on the bridge for about 30 seconds. The bridge was basically wooden planks over small, metal beams. This meant that the planks would bend slightly whenever someone walked. And this bridge was PACKED with tourists. My fear of heights kicked in quickly, so I snapped a couple of pictures of the castle and got off and waited for Becky to do her thing.
After that, we made our way back to the bus stop. We had some time to kill again, so we went into a small souvenir shop right next to the bus stop. We looked around and ultimately got some ice cream bars and ate them outside. The sun had gone behind the clouds and it was clear it was going to rain soon. Luckily the bus came before the rain. When we got to the train station, it was only a small drizzle. It was clear that everyone in Füssen wanted to leave on that train, too. When the train finally showed up, people got right up to the tracks. The train stopped and the pandemonium began. People were acting like this was the last train of the day and it was leaving in 10 seconds. Pushing, shoving, blocking...really childish stuff. Because Becky and I did not feel the importance of fighting for early entry, we got on with minimal fighting and took our seat on the floor of the bike car of the train. We were in there with about 10 other people. It was actually quite nice. Plenty of leg room, not a lot of people talking. I think the people who fought for seats missed out.
After several hours and a couple of train connections later, we arrived in Ulm in the late evening. We were hungry, so we stopped at a fast-ish food place. It was a Turkish-owned Kebap, Dönner (gyros), and Pizza place. Believe me when I say these places are ALL OVER Ulm. We enjoyed our meal and enjoyed the bike ride back to the house where we crashed shortly thereafter.
This concludes Day 1 of Becky's visit. Because of how much we did and saw each day, I decided it would be best to break it down day-by-day. Less writing for me in one sitting and less reading for you at once. This way, you can read it over the next couple of days as I release them. Also, feel free to look at Becky's blog! She just posted her thoughts and experiences on Day 1. I tried not to overlap too much, but when you spend the day with someone, you will probably mention similar things.
http://beckygoesabroad.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/a-bavarian-dreamscape/
Expect a blog post tomorrow or Saturday about Day 2 in which we explore Ulm a little bit (we had to climb the Münster and go inside, of course) and make our way to Munich for some interesting sights and experiences.
Until then I will leave you with two quotes instead of just one.
"It just smells like Germany." - Becky, upon leaving the train station in Ulm
"There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees." - Shakespeare
I suspect this post is going to be a long one. In terms of words and pictures. But it's for a good reason.
As I have mentioned, Becky has been living in Paris for about a month now teaching English at a French school. Paris is about 5 hours by train to Ulm and she had a two-week break (for some unknown reason), so she booked some tickets to come visit me!
She arrived Saturday night (Oct. 19) and left early Wednesday morning (Oct. 23). We made plans to go to see Castle Neuschwanstein, Ulm, and a little bit of Munich. Then she was going to spend a day by herself going to see Dachau.
I left a little early to walk to the train station to pick her up. The walk is about 40-45 minutes from the house. I sat at the platform she was going to arrive on and read a book on my phone and listened to some music. Finally, the TGV train came screeching into the station and Becky made her entrance to Ulm. We talked for a little bit as we left the train station. I checked to see how much German she knew and what I could possibly teach her before she left. I had to make it a learning experience, afterall.
Becky's here! Yay!
We walked into Ulm from the Hbf, but it was night, so there wasn't all that much to see. The moon was quite bright and partially hidden behind some clouds and was right next to the Münster from the direction we were walking. This sort of gave Becky a bad first impression of the building because it is quite Gothic on the outside and the creepy moon did not help its appearance. We walked around just for a little bit and began the trek back to the house. We walked through Neu-Ulm because I wanted her to see it and because there were lights. Didn't feel like walking besides the Donau with no lights.
When we got back to the house, I was unsure who was home or what was going on. The light in the kitchen was on, but I did not hear anyone. And it was only 10:30, so the parents are usually awake at that time. Becky and I decided to have some bread and cheese (so European, as always) and chat in the kitchen. Eventually my host dad made an appearance and said he was listening to music in his study and didn't hear us. So we talked for a little bit about our plans and he asked Becky some questions. We then went to our bedroom and discussed the plans for the next day (train times, connections, etc.).
We woke up at our scheduled time, but took just a bit longer than we planned to get ready. So we had to run out the door, jump on a couple of bikes, and make our way to the Hbf in Ulm. It was still a little dark, but Becky got a better view of the Donau as we biked along it into town. We didn't stop unless we came to a red light, so we were moving at a good speed. While Becky locked up our bikes, I ran inside and bought our ticket. She might me inside and we jumped on the train that left a minute later.
The train ride was about 3ish hours. We had to change trains twice, I believe. But that is not a big deal. As we got closer to Füssen (home of the famous Castle Neuschwanstein), the scenery from the train only got more and more beautiful. We were floored at the rolling green hills, lakes, mountains, and fall leaves. It became obvious that we were on a train with a lot of tourists all going to the same place.
One picture taken from the train, hence the reflection. Still pretty.
Bus selfie!
Upon arriving in Füssen, we jumped on a bus (which was also covered by the train ticket) and rode to the visitor's center. From there, we got to see the absolutely gorgeous scenery and Neuschwanstein watching us from a mountain range nearby. We stopped for some pictures and made our way to the ticket center. The ticket center reminded me a line at Cedar Point in mid-June. It was absolutely chaotic. The only difference is there were more languages in that line than at Cedar Point. The line was so long that by the time we got near the front, all (ALL, not just English) of the tours for Neuschwanstein were sold out. We decided to get tickets for the older, less-known Castle Hohenschwangau. I taught Becky how to say it before we got up to the ticket counter, don't worry.
After we got our tickets, we had some time to kill before our tour was supposed to begin. We walked by a grab-and-go kind of grill on our way to the ticket center with some typical German food, so Becky and I decided to go back to that. I ordered on our behalf and Becky was oddly impressed by my ability to order in German. I tried to explain that saying "two Bratwurst" in Germany isn't too difficult...whatever. Apparently it sounded "authentic." In any case, we both enjoyed the food and ventured to the nearby Alpsee (Alp Sea. Super original.). This thing was out-of-control beautiful. A lake set in a mountain scene with changing, autumn leaves. There were couples enjoying the view and enjoying a snack, Asian tourists taking a million pictures, and some young boys tempting fate by standing close to the edge of the lake and the ducks.
Just a snapshot of the ticket center.
Castle Hohenschwangau from the streets below.
The Alpsee. This photo doesn't do it justice, but hopefully you can imagine.
Selfie of me and Becky...taking pictures!
We enjoyed that scene (in which Becky took a million pictures along with the Asian tourists) for a bit before walking up a beautiful, wooded trail to Hohenschwangau. This hike was, of course, gorgeous beyond words. We really came at the right time of years--the colors were breathtaking. Finally, we arrived, after a short walk, to Hohenschwangau. Unlike it's more famous, younger sister across the valley, this castle is more ornate on the outside and also yellow. A bit more bold, eh?
We both took tons of pictures outside the castle and in the gardens/courtyard. The view of the surrounding mountains and fall leaves was incredibly from there, so we spent plenty of time taking pictures. Then we got to the line and waited for our tour number to be called. While in line, we saw the young boys from the Alpsee. They were speaking American English with two middle-aged women. I went over and said hello and asked where they were from. One of them was visiting her friend (the other woman) from Michigan and the other woman said she was originally from the States, but has been living in Ulm for years. Strange, right?
The beginning of the trail up to Hohenschwangau.
Castle Hohenschwangau up close and personal.
One of the garden/courtyard areas. Swans are the basic theme here.
Ain't she pretty?
A view of the city and mountains from the courtyard of Hohenschwangau.
Photos were not allowed inside. But it was quite lavish. The royalty living there (the Crown Family of Bavaria) lived comfortably, it is safe to say. Everything within the castle was actually original, so touching was absolutely forbidden. One thing Becky and I found interesting and bizarre was a house-warming gift from a royal family in Russia (I think?) of salt and bread. So in this case sat a loaf of bread....that was 200 years old. Like....why? Becky also got a kick out of the fact that the king's bedroom had a secret passage in the wall leading to the queen's bedroom. What a dog.
After the tour, we made way for Neuschwanstein. The trail up to the castle was a bit longer (and more steep) than the previous trail. But luckily the weather was nice and the scenery was pretty enough that we didn't complain too much. When we finally reached the castle, we went picture crazy. Taking pictures of the castle, the mountains, and the valley of Füssen (and much more, for that matter). Becky noted that the castle seemed rather plain up close. (As plain as a 19th century castle could be, I suppose.) And to an extent, it's true. Let's just say it is a photogenic castle. I'm sure the inside is absolutely incredibly, though. But alas, we could not get inside.
Neuschwanstein waiting for us...
Getting closer! This was a popular picture spot.
And if you turned around, you would see this gorgeous view.
In one of the courtyards of the castle. Tried to capture some more interesting features while also dodging people in the picture.
Behind the castle, tucked away in the woods is a semi-famous bridge. The Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge) was built for Queen Mary by the king so that she could get into the mountains faster. And also to enjoy the clichè, but incredible, view of Neuschwanstein. If you have seen pictures of the castle, I can guarantee that one of them was probably taken from this bridge. I was on the bridge for about 30 seconds. The bridge was basically wooden planks over small, metal beams. This meant that the planks would bend slightly whenever someone walked. And this bridge was PACKED with tourists. My fear of heights kicked in quickly, so I snapped a couple of pictures of the castle and got off and waited for Becky to do her thing.
The obligatory Neuschwanstein picture from the Marienbrucke.
My favorite view of the whole day. This was on the trail between Neuschwanstein and Marienbrucke.
You can see the Alpsee on the left, Hohenschwangau just to the right of it (and the town below) and the beautiful farmlands just at the foot of the mountains on the right.
A picture of Becky taking a picture of Neuschwanstein. She didn't know. When I told her later, she just said, "We can call this the 'behind the scenes.'"
After several hours and a couple of train connections later, we arrived in Ulm in the late evening. We were hungry, so we stopped at a fast-ish food place. It was a Turkish-owned Kebap, Dönner (gyros), and Pizza place. Believe me when I say these places are ALL OVER Ulm. We enjoyed our meal and enjoyed the bike ride back to the house where we crashed shortly thereafter.
This concludes Day 1 of Becky's visit. Because of how much we did and saw each day, I decided it would be best to break it down day-by-day. Less writing for me in one sitting and less reading for you at once. This way, you can read it over the next couple of days as I release them. Also, feel free to look at Becky's blog! She just posted her thoughts and experiences on Day 1. I tried not to overlap too much, but when you spend the day with someone, you will probably mention similar things.
http://beckygoesabroad.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/a-bavarian-dreamscape/
Expect a blog post tomorrow or Saturday about Day 2 in which we explore Ulm a little bit (we had to climb the Münster and go inside, of course) and make our way to Munich for some interesting sights and experiences.
Until then I will leave you with two quotes instead of just one.
"It just smells like Germany." - Becky, upon leaving the train station in Ulm
"There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees." - Shakespeare
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