Beethoven Fest

(^video above is the Beethoven Fest lazer/light show)

I am combining Friday and Saturday into one blog again. I am going to do more commentary in this blog rather than an hour-by-hour report. So the past day or so I have been having headaches, and there are several people who are having the same phenomenon. I actually found out that people in Bonn are more susceptible to headaches because it lies in a valley, so the air is stiller, which I guess causes headaches. It reminds me of the thing we learned in psychology about the wind that makes everyone crazy in Switzerland or something. I think the change of altitude everyday is something that my body hasnt quite adjusted to.

Because I live on a hill, yesterday I was surprised to find the city center covered in a thick layer of fog. The university building and garden (as seen above) looked like a scene straight from a Jane Austen book. I dont think I will ever get used to the old buildings and palaces and churches all over the city.

Okay I know some people are interested in the garbage-sorting here. So there are 6 different dumpsters here and there are 4 different types of trash. So all of the trash belongs in one of 4 categories (i.e. our kitchen has 4 different trash cans). It is pretty straight forward, but I am still trying to get used to it.

Here is a common site on the streets. I am surprised at how many cars are parked on the sidewalk. People do this all of the time, actually more often than not.

I saw this in the park today. It seems like the culture of germany is more interested in other people in society than the US is as a whole. This is a stand of books that people can either add to or take from. I thought this was really cool, and it doesnt seep like people take advantage of it because it was completely stocked when I walked by. 

Today I went to a little fair. This was a Haribo stand. Haribo is everywhere in Bonn since it was founded here. So if you like gummis (which I do not) this is the place to be.

This is a little sweets stand (not at the fair but at the Beethoven light show) and I think these hearts are very cute. When I went to Oktoberfest they were everywhere. I think that boys buy it for girls and then they wear them around their neck like necklaces for the rest of the night. I have seen them in other stores as being bayrisch, so I think that is is kind of a bavarian thing. 

Beethoven lit up at night

Church with the crowd in front

You can see some of the show in the video at the top. For dinner I had Reibekuchen, and it was quite good, but I couldnt imagine having a lot of it. It is a potato pancake with onions, but it is fried, so it is a bit heavy. People were getting 3 or more with applesauce, I was perfectly happy with one as I watched the show. It was a really cool atmosphere with people of all ages.