Adventures while abroad!: October 2009

31 October 2009

Some Berlin pics

A sweet bike

Puppet performance outside of the Reichstag

Amazing train station at Potsdamerplatz

The Reichstag building

Topograhy of Terrors Exhibit

Dome of the Reichstag

This guy had soooo many pretzels on that bike!

The Berlin wall

Last weekend I took a very nice weekend trip to Berlin. It was an Ohio State reunion of sorts, and conveniently timed to coincide with my friend Cory's birthday. As Cory, and another Ohio State student, Laura, are studying in Berlin, we had some guides for the weekend and a nice place to stay for free! There were quite a few of us, 8 Ohio State design students (me and Jackie from Darmstadt, Tim and Will from Essen, Laura and Cory who live in Berlin, and Jackie and Shaina from Swabisch Gmund) and Jenae. We got there on Friday afternoon, but since everyone arrived at different times it was 11pm by the time everyone had arrived and taken their stuff to Laura's [very very nice] flat. Laura and Cory both live in Prenzlauer Berg, outside of the main city but very nice. They have a mall and an amazing coffee shop that had sensational seasonal concoctions such as my favorite the Apple Cinnamon Latte.

On Friday we went out to a few bars and a club. Berlin is quite famous for its nightlife and there are many bars, clubs, and prostitutes everywhere. I don't believe I have ever travelled anywhere where the hookers are so abundant! (We accidentally found ourselves in a red light district of sorts the second night too when the boys tried to get us to go into a strip club that they were convinced was really a sportsbar.) We stayed out pretty late the first night, arriving back at Laura's at about 530am (which is early for Berlin) and stopped at the bakery for some straight from the oven treats before bed...or rather a nap...and headed back out at around noon to do some sightseeing. It was quite a dreary and cold Saturday, and looking at Holocaust monuments did not really brighten up the mood. The Jackies, Jenae, and I went to a monument for the victims of the Holocaust created by Peter Eisenman (an American architect who also created the Wexner Center at Ohio State!). The monument consisted of hundreds of concrete rectangles protruding from an undulating surface. The rectangles varied in height due to the irregular surface beneath. There was a very interesting and well done exhibit beneath the monument detailing major WWII events and included many letters, pictures, and quotes from Holocaust victims. We next went to the Topography of Terror exhibit which is set on the remnants of what were Nazi Secret Police headquarters in Berlin. The imagery here was quite disturbing as it included a lot of photographs of those murdered at the hand of the Nazis during WWII. We also saw some remaining panels of the Berlin wall. This October was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall so there was a lot of extra signage and exhibits around the city.

After being quite downtrodden while looking at these memorials we were in dire need of laughter, smiles, and some food to fuel us through the rest of the night. We met up with everyone else (who had stayed in bed all day) and went to a charming little restaurant with typical German fare for Cory's birthday. After this we were on the hunt for a good place to have a drink and ended up at a bar inside a hotel. We met a nice German couple who reside in Mainz (right near Darmstadt...the church with the pretty windows...) and had quite a funny bartender who was constantly making fun of the boys (they had consumed far more to drink than Laura, Jenae, and I) but she ended up coming out with us afterward so they must've been quite charming.

We next tried to go to a club which we were not quite dressed for and didn't want to pay the 10 Euro cover fee. So we headed back to Laura's with hopes of catching some more Berlin sights on our way out of town the next day. We saw the Brandenburger Gate in the morning, which is a main symbol of Berlin, the only remaining gate of the gates which people could formerly enter Berlin. We then went to the Reichstag which is home to the German Parliament. The building was free to tour and had an audio guide telling about everything you can see through the glass dome and also discussed German parliament. The tour also told about the architecture of the Reichstag, which is state of the art in heating and cooling and has a hole in the top with a cone underneath to collect and use rain water as well as a filtering system for bringing fresh air into the parliament chamber.

I thought Berlin was really nice, it is very clean and a pleasant place to visit. There are giant bear statues everywhere because Berlin is "bearland" or so I am told...Even in the most touristy parts it did not seem to be too busy though we did wait in line at the Reichstag. It was also nice that we didn't have to pay for any of the touristy activities, which has not been the case in other towns. It was also neat to see how much pride there is in Berlin and their willingness to educate both locals and visitors alike on the events of the war and Berlin's enormous role in the war. We were instructed by a "German culture class" not to really bring up the war at all but it is hard when remnants of it are everywhere. It was interesting to see Berlin's take on this subject and cool to see the city embracing and teaching about what occurred.

26 October 2009

Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau

A model of Neuschwanstein

Mom and the Cinderella castle :)

Hohenschwangau castle

Hohenschwagau castle

Neuschwanstein!

The Cinderella castle

The fairytale castle nestled in Bavarian Alps

"The Mad King"

Next on the journey with mom came a trip to the very quaint village of Hohenschwangau, about a 10 minute bus ride from Fussen, and a million short legs of train travel from Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Hohenschwangau, also on the famous Romantische Strasse, (Romantic Road) is home to two very stunning castles associated with the beloved "Mad King of Bavaria"- Ludwig II. The first castle, Hohenschwangau was where Ludwig II spent his childhood with his family. The second castle, called Neuschwanstein, is the castle that Walt Disney used as inspiration for the Cinderella castle.

Arriving in Hohenschwangau was quite a site as the train gently rolled into the Bavarian Alps and the castles were set into the mountains. Our hotel was quite nice, though not as lavish and charming as the one in Rothenburg. Once we were settled in, we went out to "explore" Hohenschwangau, which basically consisted of eating dinner because the small town outside of Fussen only has accommodations, restaurants, and gift shops for the visitors to the castles. There is not much else to do in the area. So after watching some CNN and finagling how to operate the shower sans showercurtain we went to bed early and headed to the castles the next day.

We woke in the morning to quite a dreary day with some sort of nasty winter mix precipitating down on us. (Mom was quite happy that I had called before she came and ensured her that she would need to bring her winter coat and gear, she was thanking me for it all weekend!) The mix did not deter us from our scheduled castle visit, though it did make so that the minibus was not running, thus forcing us to walk or travel by horse drawn carriage to the castle nestled in the Alps. We opted for the latter because I mean, honestly who doesn't want to say that they rode in a horse drawn carriage up to the Cinderella castle? The castle was quite stunning set in the mountains with snow falling upon it. (The nasty winter mix turned to beautiful snow as we climbed into the mountains) We were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle, in an effort to preserve the paintings and artifacts. Much of the castle was not finished as Ludwig died before carrying out the plans for the entire castle. After the visit we acquired some very tasty, freshly pulled out of the oil donuts that were much tastier than the "schneeballen" and took a carriage down as well as it was getting quite slippery and mom only had tennis shoes which are not pristine for climbing down a steep hill in the ice.

We wanted to go in the afternoon time to a cable car that took you way up into the mountains. But alas, this was not running for who knows what reason. So we decided to visit the Hohenschawgau castle as well, which turned out to be quite a good decision! This castle had much more lavish decoration and was finished as opposed to Neuschwanstein. There were a lot of interesting artifacts given to the Bavarian king as gifts which were on display. The tour gave a lot of history about the family that Kind Ludwig II emerged from and insight into some Bavarian history.

After the second castle, we headed into Fussen to take a look around. It was a bit late on a Saturday so many shops were closed but the town was very cute and we saw the city wall and the castle and such there as well.

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon, we headed back to Frankfurt where I showed mom the town. She especially loved the old town part of Frankfurt with the picturesque German buildings as well as walking along the water. I showed her around Darmstadt the next day, she was completely grossed out by my flat but did purchase me a reed diffuser and a nice pillow to make it a little more homey :)

21 October 2009

A little note about "Schneeballen"

If you ever go to Rothenburg, do not get sucked into buying the treat known as a "schneeball" or "snowball"...Mom and I bought one of these round doughy treats thinking it was going to be like a tasty donut ball dipped in various things (strawberry yogurt, chocolate, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, chocolate, coconut...all sorts of delicious things...) but boy were we wrong! This treat, which is apparently quite famous and has half a dozen shops in Rothenburg built around it was super dry and crunchy fried dough ball that was not very tasty at all! Even after eating one though we continued to stare at them in amazement wondering if perhaps we had just gotten a bad one because they look so luscious...but we did not dare make the same mistake and buy one again. So here's to Rothenburg's very tasty-looking but not so tasty-tasting treat!

A very cool dog spotted outside the "Schneeballen Shop"

But it looks so good?!?!

Mom testing it out

Pretty confused about getting tricked by the pastry into thinking it was a delicious donut-like treat...

Yet they still look soooo tasty...

Rothenburg Pictures 2

Our super comfy bed

The entrance into the city

The view from the wall

Another entrance into the city...see the winter gear? Deutschland apparently decided fall was unnecessary and skipped to winter with the leaves still on the trees!

The Night Watchman

Rothenburg Pictures 1

Mom inside the city wall!

Reunited and it feels so good!

Famous fork in the roads in Rothenburg with the slanty house (it is definitely not level!)

Amazing detail of the woodwork in St. Jacob's

The courtyard at our hotel

Mom's visit Part 1- Rothenburg ob der Tauber

So mom is the most amazing mom in the world and came to visit me last week! We went to a little walled town straight out of the Medieval age called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It was the cutest German town I have been too yet, and despite the cold weather (and snow!), we really loved it!

We arrived in Rothenburg after a short train journey from the airport in Frankfurt and checked into the most charming hotel I have ever been a guest at. We had a grand four post bed with a nice mattress (much more comfortable than the one in my dorm/flat...) and a big bathtub where I even got the luxury of enjoying a bubble bath! The hotel is right on the city wall so they have a little courtyard and it was all quite lovely and hospitable.

We visited the gothic style church of St. Jacob. The church had magnificent wood pieces and it is rumored that the most famed one in the church, done by Tilman Riemenschneider actually contains a drop of Christ's blood...perhaps unlikely but interesting none the less! After the church we putzed around the city and went to a giant Christmas store. Rothenburg is famous for being a town of eternal Christmas as many of the Christmas shops remain open all year round! We really wanted to buy some Christmas linens for decorating mom's house, but they were a bit too pricey...but so pretty! We also walked a good portion of the city wall which protected the town during Medieval times. There were many different levels of the interior of the wall and you got a very nice view out onto the city and the surrounding areas out the slight viewing holes. We then ate a fantastic dinner and mom is now a big fan of schnitzel...she ate it all weekend long!

The evening was spent taking what the famed Night Watchman tour of the city. At 8 o'clock each evening a very tall and ominous figure meets tourists in the town square and takes us around the city. He is a very theatrical and entertaining guide and we learned a lot about Rothenburg's history and such. We also purchased his DVD so hopefully that will be equally entertaining and enlightening. From Rothenburg we travelled to Neuschwanstein to visit some very famous and stunning castles...

A few more Switzerland photos

Beautiful Swiss Alps :)

That's the Matterhorn in the distance...just like Cedar Point

There are no red trees in fall here, just green, brown, and orange

Fall in Switzerland is quite lovely I think!

14 October 2009

Interlaken, Switzerland

The group of canyoners

Right before I jumped off

It was really scary!

In the Alps

The guides told me to "look cool and say hi to mom"...I was positively scared out of my mind!

This past weekend Jenae and I traveled about 5 hours by train to Interlaken, Switzerland. A town built for people like Scotty, all they have there is adventure sports basically. They have rafting, canyoning, hang gliding, skydiving, parasailing, hiking, biking, all sorts of adventures in the Swiss Alps. We were supposed to go on an 8 hour canyoning adventure, but unfortunately due to a lot of rain and the canyon we were supposed to go into being very narrow, we had to go on the shorter excursion instead. I felt bad because Jenae had already done the shorter canyon a few years ago, but she went again and still had fun.

Canyoning, for those who aren't aware, is a mix of rappelling, zip line riding, cliff jumping, swimming, and going on rock slides! It was super fun but also really stressful because the rocks are quite slippery and I am mildly afraid of heights, so rappelling down cliffs is frightening. Also, they are really particular about where and how you jump into the water so as not to hit the bottom or catch a rock on the way down. The Alp water was a bit chilly, but my body stayed relatively warm underneath a wet suit, 2 jackets, a life vest, water shoes, and a helmet. It was really really fun and a definite energy rush to jump off cliffs into the water!