AAAAAaaachen

Today was a half-day excursion to Aachen, home of Karl der Grosse (or Charlemagne), and a city that was completely destroyed in the war. 

(Mom wants more photos with people to show that I have friends, above the girl in black in my roommate from Portugal, the other girls are from Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Portugal, and Poland respectively from left to right minus me) We are in from of the center Dom, which was completely destroyed in air raids by the British

Karl was said to have gone here to Aachen for the hot springs. The whole town smelled like sulfur to me, and there was a fountain from which if you drink you will have good fortune (of course I had a sip just in case!) But this was also the home of centuries worth of German kings. Also this was a town that people would go through on sojourns throughout Europe, so some of the many churches in the city were from other cultures, most notably Hungary was represented.

This water fountain is supposed to represent German culture. The masks at the bottom of from Karneval and there is also men and women and horses and a rooster. All aspects of this fountain are mean to be tangible, so many of the creatures can move.

There are always little playgrounds for children in these German cities, but I thought this was one of the more precious ones. There is some green space in the middle of Aachen and our tour guide said that the city of Aachen makes it very hard to get a new building approved by the city, over a half a year in most cases, so instead it all remains free space for gathering (like the german punksters, of which I saw more in Aachen than any other city so far)

 Aachen is also known for their "Printen" which is basically a gingerbread with various toppings on top. During our tour, a bakery actually brought out some Printen for us to try. It was pretty good when it was covered in chocolate, but when I tried it with orange flavor it did not have the same effect.

 This is the city hall, but formally Charlemagne's house. Most interesting to me is that it too was also completely destroyed in the war! Also there are many German kings depicted on the side, which either lived in Aachen or were brought there after death to be buried.

Here is the crest of Charlemagne and it was on the sidewalks all over the city. Apparently when he signed his letters, he used this crest.Once again, Dan Brown would like this figure I suspect. I am sure this sis some sort of famous thing like the eye of god or something but I just recognized it from the back of the dollar and thought it was worth a picture.

Here is inside the central Dom and I was thoroughly impressed with the ornate style of this church, which had to be rebuilt after WWII because it was destroyed! I keep emphasizing this because even after a couple of hours thinking about it, it is hard to imagine. There is supposedly a bunch of rubble as a memorial to the destruction of the city somewhere in the church, but I could not find it.

 I took this picture for mom (maybe it will appear on a certain twitter account?)

 There is a special right now to go to Tunisia, I can't imagine why...

 I took a picture of this in case Uncle Vince gets any more ideas, there is a biking guide of the Roman Rheinland


















There was also chocolate stores all over Aachen, which I believe is the home of Lindt chocolate, and this was a finny little thing I saw, which was a spoon that has chocolate on the end. You can put it in warm milk and mix it to make hot chocolate. This was the ever popular Tomato Basil flavored Hot Chocolate

On the way there I saw an atomic energy plant, which I feel like is very rare, and wont exist for much longer. As I previously said, the Germans are set to get rid of all nuclear energy by 2020

Two in one day? Hooray!

So for some reason I feel like I have a lot to say today, and rather than adding non-Trier events to that blog, I decided to make a second one of the day. So if you havent checked, I posted about my trip to Trier earlier today so make sure to check that out. This blog is going to be about misc food adventures, my cultural insights, and my trip today to the Botanischen Garten

Here is a McDonalds, which there are always tons of people in. A german was telling me that it is rather chic to eat McDonalds or fast food in Germany. Some of the menu items are a little different, and they have "American fries" that are bigger (along with the ones we are used to). The prices are much more expensive, 7 Euros for a meal. I havent eaten here yet to compare the taste, and hopefully I wont.

These little farmers markets are all around every day of the week, and I find that this is how most people get their fruits and veggies (and sometimes even meat and cheese!)

I decided I have to try this sauerkraut juice before I leave....who would buy this?

Dirndl and Lederhosen fashion

How much more German can you get? I'd like to know

So today I went to a flea market so that I can make my TV debut on Antiques Roadshow (this is a joke... mom!) I say these extravagant little kids dresses. You chose, is it for Toddlers and Tiaras or Big, Fat, Gypsy Wedding? 

^lol @ German punkster with a fannie pack

Here is Poppelsdorfer Schloss (in Bonn). From what someone told me, Clemen August (who was the Kurfuerst from Koeln who build the University palace) built this as well to house his mistress. He started to build a canal between the two palaces (.5 kilometers away) but money ran out before it was finished. Now the grounds are run by the Zoology department of the university. Every type of plant imaginable is planted around the grounds of the palace.

^Bees!

Okay so I know that I have been talking about how the dogs here are very well trained and I have gotten a bit of interesting cultural insight on that. Apparently people in the villages here are very cliquey and it is very hard to be welcomed by the community (but something that everyone seeks). So it is very important to train your dog really well so that you are not ostracized by the community. I thought this was kind of interesting and I am hoping to learn more things like this about the culture.

Trier

Yesterday our group sojourned to Trier, which historically was the first city in Germany (our Reisefuehrerin explained that they defined this because it was not just a palace or manor back in the day, but an actual city surrounded it). Above and below you can see the Porta Nigra, which got its name in the Middle Ages after the stones started turning black, but it was built much earlier by the Romans who settled here.

Trier, I was surprised to find out, has a very rich history because of its location. It has been conquered by many countries including Napoleon. Also during the French Revolution, ranking members in the church (among others) fled to Trier to seek a safety. Kaiser Konstantine der Grosse ruled the Holy Roman Empire from Trier. Learning all of this, you may be surprised to find that Trier is actually quite small, and it was no problem to see all of the sites there in just a couple of hours

Among a lot of the famous people that can put Trier as a place of residency, Karl Marx grew up here, and actually lived in the pink house you can see above.

This is the so-called "Dreikoenigen Haus" and it was the first building that was built of its kind. People of noble or wealthy status would stay here because of a security feature that you can see in this picture. If you notice, the door is on the second floor. Back in the olden days, there was not the door on the ground floor, and the second floor door had a roll-up staircase, so that in the event of danger, the staircase could be rolled up and the intruders could not get in.

This is the Frauenkirche that Kaiser Konstantin der Grosse built. It is a catholic church, and the most famous feature of this church is actually something you should find in a Dan Brown novel (my words, not factual). There is an old shirt that lies inside that is rumored to be the shirt of Christ when he was crucified. On first glance, I thought this was actually a tomb, because it is in an ornate casket-looking vessel. Below you can see a video of the inside of the church, the shirt of Christ is at the far end of the church where people are gathering.

Here is Kaiser Konstatin's palace... the most stunning feature is actually the garden:

This was such a pretty day, I tried to take a video to capture it better than a picture 

The Romans do make great sculptures, if I do say so myself =)

Trier was having some celebration for Weimar this weekend, so there were people who were dressed in Roman outfits (Dont see the connection but....when in an ancient roman city...) and there were bands playing in the street. Also, I have never seen so much ice cream shops in one city in my life, it was ridiculous. But we have really been lucking out on weather, yesterday it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit (still not used to Celsius...maybe it was like 23?), and it was sunny the entire time. I got a really fresh fresh lunch yesterday of prosciutto, spinach, freshhhh mozzarella, and olive oil and spices on a focaccia bread, one of the best meals I have had yet. 

Here we are on the Autobahn on the way back. For as glamorous as Americans make the Autobahn out to be, I can safely say that "hate" is becoming the adjective I use mostly for driving on it. The altitude changes so much in such a short time that it gives me headaches. But one thing that I have noticed is there is really never traffic (that I have seen), and I think this is a very interesting part of the cultural differences between the frequency of drivers in Germany vs. America. On the way home, me and the girl sitting next to me were panicking a little, because the bus was over an hour late to pick us up (Germans are only punctual some of the time I am starting to figure out), and we had to go the the grocery store before it closed, aka we wouldnt be able to eat on Sunday. We got really lucky and got to a store 15 min before it closed, and I got fresh mozzarella to have today...everybody wins.

googlen, googelt, gegoogelt

My vast array of social observations about the differences between the cultures is becoming less interesting, so my blogs may begin to become a little less frequent. Over the past two days I have had classes nonstop (not literally but the days have felt so long!). It is so tiresome to have to think in German all day long and then have to take your work home with you, so to speak. It is way more tiring than I expected. Also there is some sort of sickness that is plaguing the international students. People are dropping like flies, and there are some people who have had to go to the doctors. scary. So today I am just posting a casual blog with not much to say.

Things I have not gotten used to:
-Addressing older people with formal pronouns and verbs
-having church bells ringing ALLL the time
-Seeing older people and knowing that when they were growing up, it was Nazi Germany
-hand washing my clothes =P
-Saving all of my bottles to recycle for money
-people WANTING to go to McDonalds
-Girls here always wear eye shadow
-Public bathrooms are few and far between

Things about Germany I love
-There is always some community event going on
-Public transportation
-Everyone is so friendly
-People are very political here, and like to have perhaps controversial discussions
-Mom and Pop places thrive here
-There are so many people speaking any language at any time
-The food is delicious
-Downtown is full of people at all times of the day
-Everyone here is so happy

Every Tuesday and Thursday we have a coffee hour at the International Office, so yesterday I was talking to someone and we were laughing over the "germanized" american words that have slipped their way into the German language. For example: googlen, skypen, chillen, chillaxen, etc.... and the past tense of google would be googelt, and perfect form would be gegoogelt. Its just funny to think about the mixing of languages.

Drachenfels

Today we went to Drachenfels, which is a little ruined fort on the top of a steep hill that overlooks the Rhein and neighboring cities. It is a mythical story in this area, that a knight had to kill a dragon that guarded this fort in order to protect his village. So here is a snapshot of my climb to the top:

Bottom of the mountain on the Rhein, this was probably one of the most beautiful days here!

Here we all are, this was after the first major hill.... getting closer

See this building (may have to enlarge it), This was the US Embassy when Bonn was still the capital.... not too shabby eh?

Another view of the embassy, actually it is now a Hotel that Bill Clinton stays in when he visits Bonn

The Rhein countryside, wie schoen?

This is Drachen Schloss (dragon palace) and it is about half way up the mountain

Made it to the top!!

I'm falling!!! I need some chicken chunks!

I got the whole world, in my hands

Me conquering the dragon!

Sun is setting.....

Back down the mountain, this is Drachen Schloss

....and again from another angle.

The hike was long, but totally worth it! The whole afternoon was so pretty. After we got to the bottom, we stayed in this little city, which is known for growing grapes and brewing wine. Right now it is in season for something called Federweisser, which is a by-product of brewing wine. So we all tried some of it and it is like really sweet wine that tastes like it doesnt have any alcohol in it. The said it is only going to be in season for a little longer. After this, I went back to Bonn via the U-Bahn and ate at a cafe with 5 other people. We talked about politics, and the 2 polish girls talked about their President's death a year and some change ago. It is weird because they were talking about exactly where they were and describing how scared they were because they thought there would be a terrorist attack. It is strange because I remember exactly where I was as well when I heard the Polish president died. I remember reading it on my phone and then telling it to the person next to me, who replied "who cares." Its so strange to have this memory as these two girls are talking to me. Also people were asking me about American politics and asking if I think Obama will be reelected. "Isnt there some politician from Alaska who is favorable" one of them asked.... I thought this was funny. When we got out of the cafe at 10pm, there were fireworks going off! (For who else but Beethoven) It was a great way to end a great afternoon