11.8.10--Wien, München
So today after waking up and leaving Wien, we stopped at the Seegrotte just outside the city. This is the largest underground lake in Europe. It was originally a gypsum mine (discovered by accident when searching for water), and then after an accident, it filled up with water and such. Later, the Nazis seized it and it was there that they built the first fighter jet. So, lots of history there. It was pretty cool, especially the boat ride underground. Disney's 3 Musketeers was also filmed there, and they had a little cave prison cell still there, and they also left the dragon boat there (tour guide claimed they were too lazy). After the cave, we hopped in the car and drove the 4-5 hour drive to München. I think I was in Germany for too long, because when we got there I felt like I was home. We had dinner at a little Italian restaurant across the street, then walked arounda bit, got some Spaghetti Eis, and went back and packed and eventually got to sleep.
12.8.10--München, CHICAGO!
Today was fairly uneventful, except that now WE ARE HOME! Nothing of importance really happened on the plane....I had 3 lunches, because me and Alex bought a sandwich at the airport, then we got pasta, and later we got a sandwich and chips. Therefore, my stomach is currently confused and I do not know whether I am hungry or not. Anyway, my grand total of pictures from this trip is 4786. Crazy shit. I´m gonna go now....brave the ridiculously hot weather to see the friends I haven´t seen in AGES. Not entirely sure whats happening to this blog now that the trip is over, so this may be the last one.
Auf Wiedersehen!!!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Österreich, nicht Austria!
6.8.10 (ctnd)--Holzkirchen
So the Abschiedsabend was pretty fun. Tasty buffet, some boring thank you speeches, some hilarious plays and songs and certificates. The teachers all made funny joke certificate things to prove that we are done. Mine was "group photographer," no big surprises there... Everyone loved the slideshow, one kids host father said it was the best he´s seen in all 11 years of hosting students, so that was pretty sweet. After the night was over, a few of us went to a local pub for one last time. It´s so strange to think that after seeing these guys every day for the past 2 months, I most likely won´t see any of them ever again...
7.8.10--Holzkirchen
This morning, the last of those in Holzkirchen, my host father took me to the Trachten Outlet (Trachten= Dirndls and Lederhosen). I got a Dirndl, its brown with a lime green apron! The best part about it is that it was only 130 Euro! (As opposed to the normal 200 or higher). Later, my host mom and 2 of the girls had lunch with my family at a local restaurant, which was pretty interesting and fun. I then gathered my things and left my host family´s house for the last time...which was pretty bittersweet. =( Me and my family dropped off the luggage at the hotel (back at Alte Post again!) and went wandering. However, since it was Saturday, and since it was Holzkirchen, there wasn´t much places open, so we went to the HEP (and a grocery store, where I bought a Vuvuzela). At the HEP we bought a CD and had some coffee, both were pretty good.
8.8.10--Salzburg
After one last breakfast at the Alte Post, we started our trip to Österreich. We reached Salzburg, checked into our hotel, ate a record-fast lunch, and hopped on our own private 4-hour Sound of Music bus tour. Some of it was pretty cool, but other parts were a bit dry. We did get to ride down an alpine slide though, which was pretty sweet. Sound of Music-wise, we saw the steps from Do Re Mi, and the lake they fell in, and the house (from the movie and real), the trees they hung in, the wedding church, and the mountain they climbed over into "Switzerland" (it actually leads to Germany, and it is also the same mountain Hitler´s place was on in Berchtesgaden. After the tour, we walked around for a bit, and then grabbed some dinner. We then walked around the dark, closed-up city for a bit more, then called it a night.
9.8.10--Salzburg/Wien
This morning we went to Schloss Hellbrunn, which was built by a very rich archbishop with a sense of humor. It is full of trick fountains that spray the guests from all angles, as well as some pretty cool hydraulic technology. For example, he had a table in the garden (the Prince´s Table) that was made for cocktail parties. If the guests got too loud, he´d turn on the water, which sprayed upwards from every chair, and from the back, so the party-goers got sopping wet. He was smart, however, and made it so his chair stayed completely dry. There were a few other cool things too, but I´ll talk more about that on the pics I´ll eventually upload (if you are very curious, wiki it). After looking around the castle, which wasn´t too interesting inside, we boarded the rent-a-car and departed for Wien. On the way, we hit Melk, which is a small town built around an abbey, and we only stopped because my dad remembered having good beer there on his high school trip. It turns out that my Oma and her family were there even longer ago. It was the first place they went after they escaped the concentration camp, and they stayed there for a bit while her dad worked to get enough money to get to the next train station. (I got quite a lot of interesting family history on the car ride afterwards.) At the restaurant in Melk, a cat came up by our table, and I petted it, and it was SO ADORABLE. The waitress gave it a few coffee creamers and some ham, and it was just such a cute kitten! Unfortunately, we had to leave the kitty behind, for there is barely room in the car for us and our luggage. We soon arrived in Wien, where we ate some dinner and then just bummed around until bedtime. You all should Youtube Bernd das Brot by the way, he is the looping nighttime show for the children´s channel KIKA, and he´s pretty hilarious.
10.8.10--Wien
Today after breakfast (which had a pretty large selection by the way), we saw a bit of the city by accidentally going in the complete opposite direction. We eventually figured out where we were and hopped on a touristy sight-seeing bus. We got off at the Stephansdom, which is pretty cool looking on the outside, and just your standard cathedral on the inside. There were at least 5 people dressed up as Mozart outside the Dom selling tickets for a concert tonight. I probably saw at least 30 Mozarts today, not counting the ones on candies. Austria LOVES Mozart. It´s pretty ridiculous. They also really love Sisi, or Kaiserin Elisabeth. We went to Schloss Schönbrunn after lunch, which was the Wien residence of the Hapsburg family (mainly Maria Theresia), and later Sisi and her husband, Franz Joseph. Basically just your standard palace, with the rich people from years ago, and the restorations of the old things. We didn´t end up going to the zoo, even though it is the oldest one in the world and has giant pandas. What was quite exciting, however, was the Oma cookie store (Manner wafers, for anyone who had a sad childhood). They have everything with the Manner logo on it there! Alex bought a towel, lol. Anyway, after the castle, we got some dinner at a tasty chinese noodles place, which was by the Anker clock, which is very interesting, yet hard to describe. Google it or wait until I upload pictures. We then went to the Prater, which was a small carnival-type amusement park, with a world-famous ferris wheel. Each car fits about 10-20 people, and you can even rent them out for cocktail parties or other dinners, which is pretty sweet. Since it was dark, we didn´t get much skyline pics, but we did get to see what little smount of things were lit up at night. I also bought a hat today for my Dirndl, so thats pretty sweet too. Its dark green, and Tirol style. The one thing I´m really frustrated about on this trip is the amount of english everywhere, especially on the souvenirs. I´ve found maybe 2 shirts that say Österreich and not Austria, or Wien isntead of Vienna. Oh well... I am falling asleep on this now, so I am going to bed. Tomorrow we leave for München, and then the next day is CHICAGO!!! Wooooo!!!!
So the Abschiedsabend was pretty fun. Tasty buffet, some boring thank you speeches, some hilarious plays and songs and certificates. The teachers all made funny joke certificate things to prove that we are done. Mine was "group photographer," no big surprises there... Everyone loved the slideshow, one kids host father said it was the best he´s seen in all 11 years of hosting students, so that was pretty sweet. After the night was over, a few of us went to a local pub for one last time. It´s so strange to think that after seeing these guys every day for the past 2 months, I most likely won´t see any of them ever again...
7.8.10--Holzkirchen
This morning, the last of those in Holzkirchen, my host father took me to the Trachten Outlet (Trachten= Dirndls and Lederhosen). I got a Dirndl, its brown with a lime green apron! The best part about it is that it was only 130 Euro! (As opposed to the normal 200 or higher). Later, my host mom and 2 of the girls had lunch with my family at a local restaurant, which was pretty interesting and fun. I then gathered my things and left my host family´s house for the last time...which was pretty bittersweet. =( Me and my family dropped off the luggage at the hotel (back at Alte Post again!) and went wandering. However, since it was Saturday, and since it was Holzkirchen, there wasn´t much places open, so we went to the HEP (and a grocery store, where I bought a Vuvuzela). At the HEP we bought a CD and had some coffee, both were pretty good.
8.8.10--Salzburg
After one last breakfast at the Alte Post, we started our trip to Österreich. We reached Salzburg, checked into our hotel, ate a record-fast lunch, and hopped on our own private 4-hour Sound of Music bus tour. Some of it was pretty cool, but other parts were a bit dry. We did get to ride down an alpine slide though, which was pretty sweet. Sound of Music-wise, we saw the steps from Do Re Mi, and the lake they fell in, and the house (from the movie and real), the trees they hung in, the wedding church, and the mountain they climbed over into "Switzerland" (it actually leads to Germany, and it is also the same mountain Hitler´s place was on in Berchtesgaden. After the tour, we walked around for a bit, and then grabbed some dinner. We then walked around the dark, closed-up city for a bit more, then called it a night.
9.8.10--Salzburg/Wien
This morning we went to Schloss Hellbrunn, which was built by a very rich archbishop with a sense of humor. It is full of trick fountains that spray the guests from all angles, as well as some pretty cool hydraulic technology. For example, he had a table in the garden (the Prince´s Table) that was made for cocktail parties. If the guests got too loud, he´d turn on the water, which sprayed upwards from every chair, and from the back, so the party-goers got sopping wet. He was smart, however, and made it so his chair stayed completely dry. There were a few other cool things too, but I´ll talk more about that on the pics I´ll eventually upload (if you are very curious, wiki it). After looking around the castle, which wasn´t too interesting inside, we boarded the rent-a-car and departed for Wien. On the way, we hit Melk, which is a small town built around an abbey, and we only stopped because my dad remembered having good beer there on his high school trip. It turns out that my Oma and her family were there even longer ago. It was the first place they went after they escaped the concentration camp, and they stayed there for a bit while her dad worked to get enough money to get to the next train station. (I got quite a lot of interesting family history on the car ride afterwards.) At the restaurant in Melk, a cat came up by our table, and I petted it, and it was SO ADORABLE. The waitress gave it a few coffee creamers and some ham, and it was just such a cute kitten! Unfortunately, we had to leave the kitty behind, for there is barely room in the car for us and our luggage. We soon arrived in Wien, where we ate some dinner and then just bummed around until bedtime. You all should Youtube Bernd das Brot by the way, he is the looping nighttime show for the children´s channel KIKA, and he´s pretty hilarious.
10.8.10--Wien
Today after breakfast (which had a pretty large selection by the way), we saw a bit of the city by accidentally going in the complete opposite direction. We eventually figured out where we were and hopped on a touristy sight-seeing bus. We got off at the Stephansdom, which is pretty cool looking on the outside, and just your standard cathedral on the inside. There were at least 5 people dressed up as Mozart outside the Dom selling tickets for a concert tonight. I probably saw at least 30 Mozarts today, not counting the ones on candies. Austria LOVES Mozart. It´s pretty ridiculous. They also really love Sisi, or Kaiserin Elisabeth. We went to Schloss Schönbrunn after lunch, which was the Wien residence of the Hapsburg family (mainly Maria Theresia), and later Sisi and her husband, Franz Joseph. Basically just your standard palace, with the rich people from years ago, and the restorations of the old things. We didn´t end up going to the zoo, even though it is the oldest one in the world and has giant pandas. What was quite exciting, however, was the Oma cookie store (Manner wafers, for anyone who had a sad childhood). They have everything with the Manner logo on it there! Alex bought a towel, lol. Anyway, after the castle, we got some dinner at a tasty chinese noodles place, which was by the Anker clock, which is very interesting, yet hard to describe. Google it or wait until I upload pictures. We then went to the Prater, which was a small carnival-type amusement park, with a world-famous ferris wheel. Each car fits about 10-20 people, and you can even rent them out for cocktail parties or other dinners, which is pretty sweet. Since it was dark, we didn´t get much skyline pics, but we did get to see what little smount of things were lit up at night. I also bought a hat today for my Dirndl, so thats pretty sweet too. Its dark green, and Tirol style. The one thing I´m really frustrated about on this trip is the amount of english everywhere, especially on the souvenirs. I´ve found maybe 2 shirts that say Österreich and not Austria, or Wien isntead of Vienna. Oh well... I am falling asleep on this now, so I am going to bed. Tomorrow we leave for München, and then the next day is CHICAGO!!! Wooooo!!!!
Friday, August 6, 2010
The Solution is Just to Drive Away from the Rain!!
5.-6.8-10
The past few days in Holzkirchen have been fairly uneventful, for the most part. Lots of stress about last minute homework and the slideshow, but everything is done now!! We finished the slideshow last night, and its pretty awesome. I´ll try and get it online, but idk if that is going to happen, because it´s 25 minutes long, and I think Youtube and Facebook both have time limits for that. Since I was at Divesh´s working on the show last night, his host parents asked me to stay for dinner. It was some kind of Thai dish...a soup full of mushrooms and shrimp. So, I picked those out, and ate the broth, peapods, and tomatoes. Other than all that work for picking out stuff, it was actually pretty delicious. After dinner, we sat around for about another hour or two talking about random things. His family is soo nice and really funny too. I kinda wish I got a family like that where not only do they have dinner every night, but its a big affair with lots of conversation. Oh well.... In other news, its been pouring for about 2 straight days, and its about 60 degrees. However, there is a happy part--Austria is bright and sunny and warm!!! And after lunch tomorrow, I leave my host family for my real family, and we depart to the land of the sunny warm weather! And after 6 days in Österreich we return to Sweet Home Chicago!! I´m in a fairly good mood right now, for the above reasons, and a few others. I was able to bs my way through the book discussion, being an "expert" on a chapter I read less than half of (and I read even less of the rest of the book...but in my defense, I could not read more than 2 pages without falling asleep). I wrote my very last essay for my film class today after I got home in about half an hour. I was pretty proud of my German writing speed. =) Tonight is the Abschiedsabend (Farewell Dinner), and everyone gets to see my and Divesh´s slideshow, and I get to see everyone do the skits and songs they´ve been working on, and it´ll be a pretty fun time. It´ll be a bit sad, because I most likely will not see any of those people ever again, and I´ve become pretty good friends with some of them. I´ll also miss my host family, though I will not miss the loud house. I never really considered my house a quiet one, but I guess it is. 3 little kids make a big difference. It´ll also be nice to get back to my (ir)regular sleeping schedule. I was a bit disappointed with myself when I found that I could not stay up past 1:30 am or sleep past 11:30 am (as opposed to my normal 2:30 am to 2:30 pm sleep schedule). Perhaps jet lag will "fix" that, lol. Right now I am packing, and I am about halfway done (I took a short break to write this). I think I bought too many souvenirs. Oh well. I think it will all fit. I´ll try and get some more pictures up soon, I have about 6 albums in the queue ready to go, it´s just a matter of finding enough time to do so.
speaking of, Dresden/Crimmitschau: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051242&id=1135320260&l=21197999b9
The past few days in Holzkirchen have been fairly uneventful, for the most part. Lots of stress about last minute homework and the slideshow, but everything is done now!! We finished the slideshow last night, and its pretty awesome. I´ll try and get it online, but idk if that is going to happen, because it´s 25 minutes long, and I think Youtube and Facebook both have time limits for that. Since I was at Divesh´s working on the show last night, his host parents asked me to stay for dinner. It was some kind of Thai dish...a soup full of mushrooms and shrimp. So, I picked those out, and ate the broth, peapods, and tomatoes. Other than all that work for picking out stuff, it was actually pretty delicious. After dinner, we sat around for about another hour or two talking about random things. His family is soo nice and really funny too. I kinda wish I got a family like that where not only do they have dinner every night, but its a big affair with lots of conversation. Oh well.... In other news, its been pouring for about 2 straight days, and its about 60 degrees. However, there is a happy part--Austria is bright and sunny and warm!!! And after lunch tomorrow, I leave my host family for my real family, and we depart to the land of the sunny warm weather! And after 6 days in Österreich we return to Sweet Home Chicago!! I´m in a fairly good mood right now, for the above reasons, and a few others. I was able to bs my way through the book discussion, being an "expert" on a chapter I read less than half of (and I read even less of the rest of the book...but in my defense, I could not read more than 2 pages without falling asleep). I wrote my very last essay for my film class today after I got home in about half an hour. I was pretty proud of my German writing speed. =) Tonight is the Abschiedsabend (Farewell Dinner), and everyone gets to see my and Divesh´s slideshow, and I get to see everyone do the skits and songs they´ve been working on, and it´ll be a pretty fun time. It´ll be a bit sad, because I most likely will not see any of those people ever again, and I´ve become pretty good friends with some of them. I´ll also miss my host family, though I will not miss the loud house. I never really considered my house a quiet one, but I guess it is. 3 little kids make a big difference. It´ll also be nice to get back to my (ir)regular sleeping schedule. I was a bit disappointed with myself when I found that I could not stay up past 1:30 am or sleep past 11:30 am (as opposed to my normal 2:30 am to 2:30 pm sleep schedule). Perhaps jet lag will "fix" that, lol. Right now I am packing, and I am about halfway done (I took a short break to write this). I think I bought too many souvenirs. Oh well. I think it will all fit. I´ll try and get some more pictures up soon, I have about 6 albums in the queue ready to go, it´s just a matter of finding enough time to do so.
speaking of, Dresden/Crimmitschau: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051242&id=1135320260&l=21197999b9
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Chiemsee and Stress and Excitement!
2.8.10--Chiemsee
Today the class went to Chiemsee, the largest lake in Bayern. After an S-Bahn, a regional train, a little shuttle train, and a ferry, we finally arrived at our first stop: Herreninsel. This island is where both the old and new palaces are located. We first went to the Altes Schloss, which was not that interesting, and not many rooms were open for tourists. This was where the German constitution was written in 1948. After a bit of a history lesson, we went to the Neues Schloss, which Ludwig II. built (same guy that built Neuschwanstein). He based this castle off of Versailles, but only one wing was built. It´s got some pretty interesting fountains in the garden, and its beautiful inside. Though more of it was finished than Neuschwanstein, it still was not completed, due partly to money problems and partly to his death. He only was in the palace for about 10 days. After the Neues Schloss, we took another Schifffahrt to the Fraueninsel, where we had lunch in a Biergarten. I had some kind of mess of spätzel and meat, with a side salad (I forget what it was called), and for dessert I had an Eisroulade, which was a "Swiss roll filled with ice cream" according to the menu. It was pretty delicious. It then began to storm, so we did not get to go swimming or anything, which was a shame. At least the entire morning was sunny! After a bit of exploring the island (it had a pretty cool little church--in the back there were a bunch of letters/plaques to God thanking him for things, like babies and such), we boarded another ship to return to the mainland, where we took the shuttle train and the 2 other trains back to Holzkirchen.
3.-4.8.10
Nothing too exciting has been happening these past two days...I just have a lot of last-minute projects and such to do for school. On top of all that, the end of program party is this Friday, and me and another student are making a photo slideshow, which should be pretty cool (just a lot of work on my plate right now). This Saturday after a lunch with both my families (host and real), I return to my real family and then Sunday we depart for Austria!! I´m pretty excited to be going there, it should be cool. I´m also excited/sad because I go home in exactly one week.
Today the class went to Chiemsee, the largest lake in Bayern. After an S-Bahn, a regional train, a little shuttle train, and a ferry, we finally arrived at our first stop: Herreninsel. This island is where both the old and new palaces are located. We first went to the Altes Schloss, which was not that interesting, and not many rooms were open for tourists. This was where the German constitution was written in 1948. After a bit of a history lesson, we went to the Neues Schloss, which Ludwig II. built (same guy that built Neuschwanstein). He based this castle off of Versailles, but only one wing was built. It´s got some pretty interesting fountains in the garden, and its beautiful inside. Though more of it was finished than Neuschwanstein, it still was not completed, due partly to money problems and partly to his death. He only was in the palace for about 10 days. After the Neues Schloss, we took another Schifffahrt to the Fraueninsel, where we had lunch in a Biergarten. I had some kind of mess of spätzel and meat, with a side salad (I forget what it was called), and for dessert I had an Eisroulade, which was a "Swiss roll filled with ice cream" according to the menu. It was pretty delicious. It then began to storm, so we did not get to go swimming or anything, which was a shame. At least the entire morning was sunny! After a bit of exploring the island (it had a pretty cool little church--in the back there were a bunch of letters/plaques to God thanking him for things, like babies and such), we boarded another ship to return to the mainland, where we took the shuttle train and the 2 other trains back to Holzkirchen.
3.-4.8.10
Nothing too exciting has been happening these past two days...I just have a lot of last-minute projects and such to do for school. On top of all that, the end of program party is this Friday, and me and another student are making a photo slideshow, which should be pretty cool (just a lot of work on my plate right now). This Saturday after a lunch with both my families (host and real), I return to my real family and then Sunday we depart for Austria!! I´m pretty excited to be going there, it should be cool. I´m also excited/sad because I go home in exactly one week.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall....(And, If You Act Now, You Can Meet The Family! Call within the Next 10 Minutes and Learn About Cultural Differences!)
29.7.10--Holzkirchen, Aying
Today at school was the usual, the only really interesting thing was that we watched a terrible movie (Don´t ever watch Nikolaikirche--seemingly-longest, most boring German film I´ve ever seen). After the movie, we had about an hour until we had to meet up for our trip to the Brauerei Aying, where we learned how they make beer. During the tour, we got to taste ground water (90% of beer), smell some Hops, eat various flavors of Malt kernels, taste unfiltered beer straight from the tap in the factory, eat some "beer bread," and, of course, try a bunch of different kinds of beer that the brewery makes, all of which was pretty tasty. The tour began in the factory, where we learned about the type of water used to make the beer (betcha didn´t know it needs a special kind! But when it is 90% of the product, it´s pretty important). We then moved on to the other ingredients: malt and hops. Our guide explained the processes to take both from seeds to plants to "liquid bread." Next we followed him through the rest of the factory, where we saw the distillation tanks, the "ground control" room where there are a few computers that alert you when a certain machine isn´t doing its job (it will apparently also text you, in case you aren´t in the room!), and the filtration tanks. From there we walked across the street to the bottling plant, where we saw all the conveyer belts and machinery necessary to wash the returned recycled bottles, fill them up again, add the labels, put them in crates, and put said crates on pallettes, ready for delivery. After the bottling plant, we returned to the factory building, where we saw a 3D movie about the history of the brewery and brewing families. After the film, we went down to the bar, where we sampled some bread made from the leftover malt and hops that didn´t make it into a beer (the stuff that couldn´t be used otherwise), and as many different kinds of Ayinger Bier we wanted. And, to top it all off, on our way out we each received an Aying beer bottle opener!
After the brewery, we went to an Aying-owned restaurant, Liebhard´s (one of the original beer-brewing families), where I had the biggest schnitzel I have ever seen in my entire life. Basically, it didn´t fit on the plate, and if I laid both my hands flat on the table next to eachother, it would still be larger. It came with lemon butter and cranberries to spread on top, and, as an added bonus, underneath the schnitzel was a bed of french fries (which, by the way, were delicious...I am now convinced that the best way to serve fries is underneath a schnitzel). To drink, I got the Ayinger Celebrator, a really dark beer that was so dark it tasted like coffee. Odd, but tasty. One of the other kids on the trip got some lamb dish, which came with "Speckbohne"--`bacon beans.´ Essentially, they were green beans either cooked with bacon, or cooked in bacon fat, I´m not entirely sure, but the point is that they TASTED LIKE BACON. It was pretty insane.
So, throughout the whole evening, I sampled: ground water, malt seeds, unfiltered beer, beer bread, and about 5 different types of beer. Yummy day.
30.7.10--München
In Literature class today, we read a poem called "Der Werwolf" by Christian Morgenstern. I´d definitely suggest it to anyone who understands German (if you don´t, sorry, I don´t think you´d understand the joke...its a very tongue-in-cheek hilarious poem, with grammar jokes). After school, we again went to Da Tosto, the delicious break from the sub-par daily cafeteria food. After lunch, I traveled to München to meet up with my family (yay!!!). We walked around the Altstadt, saw a few churches (though one was having mass and we couldn´t go inside), and got rained on (boo =[ ). For dinner, we went to the Hofbräuhaus, which was again crowded and touristy, but still delicious. I finally had some Münchener Weißwurst for the first time (as Bayrisch as Brez´n, Lederhosen, and Bier). It was definitely an experience. They came in the water they were boiled in, so I had to take them out, put them on the plate, and then peel them, because they have very tough skin. They were good, though a bit bland, but the Senf (sweet mustard) took care of that. After the Hofbräuhaus, I walked them back to their hotel and returned home until the next day.
31.7.10--München
Today me and a few other students went to the Deutsches Museum--all science and math stuff, with a bit of history mixed in. It´s a huge place, with everything from ships and planes to nanotechnology, optics, and glassblowing. We started the day off with the must-see high-voltage demonstration, which was pretty sweet. They put so much electricty into it that you could see the lightning strikes and hear the `bzzz´ that is normally only present in cartoons. We then walked around looking at various exhibits, some interesting and some not so much (mostly interesting!!) until we went to the liquid nitrogen demo, which was also pretty kickass. They have a hell of a lot of exhibits there (50 exhibition areas!), so we only saw maybe 1/5 in our 3 hours there. All in all though, it was quite fun. We then walked around and looked for some lunch, because we were starving. I ended up at Que-bap (the other guy went to the Subway next door), which is a "Turkish Barbeque" (read: fancy Döner chain...for those of you who haven´t heard me talk about Döner yet, refresh your memories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab Delicious, Turkish sandwich that is EVERYWHERE in Germany. Dlner stands are more prevalent than McDonalds.) Anyway, so Que-bap has special different kinds of Döners--Classic, Asia, BBQ, Spicy, and PESTO. (Guess which one I got, lol). It was frickin delicious, with its overflowing basil leaves and mozzarella...so good. I also got fries, with some sweet and sour sauce to dip em in. These fries were also different...they were kinda U-shaped, like the bottom end of a slurpy straw. However, they smelled and tasted quite a lot like McDonalds fries, but a bit better. All in all, very satisfying meal (except for the drink, which was very small). We ate our respective lunches en route to the Englischer Garten, where we walked around for quite a while trying to find the famed river surfers. After walking around the garden about twice (and its big too, the largest inner-city public garden in the world), we finally found them! It was so exciting. The reason they can surf on this otherwise slow-flowing river is because at the point where the Isar flows into the garden, it flows into a much smaller man-made creek through a drain under a bridge, creating a very fast moving, constant wave. There are signs posted everywhere saying that only one, very experienced surfer can ride this wave at a time, for on either side of the river is a concrete wall, and I believe the floor of the river is also concrete, so it´s quite dangerous. Nonetheless, the really good surfers go and show their stuff to the nearly 50 people watching. (To give you an idea of the constant-wave idea, it´s a bit like the surfin´safari ride at the Kalahari resort in Wisconsin Dells. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisbach ) We then walked down the street to the Hofgarten (court gardens), which is surrounded by various official government buildings, all much prettier than ours back home. We walked around the city a bit, until we reached Marienplatz and the Peterskirche. We payed the 1 Euro student entrance fee and ascended the tower (lots shorter than the Kölner Dom!! Also less claustrophobia and acrophobia!). It´s said to be the best tower in München to climb, because it gives the best view, and I would probably agree (though I haven´t been up any others, it certainly was a great 360 panorama). I was a bit disappointed, for I didn´t have any more 1 Euro or 5 cent coins, so I couldn´t get any of the pressed pennies from the ~5 machines we passed on the way up (which are not very prevalent in München, I´ve only seen 1 other machine, and that was at the Olympic Stadium). After we descended, the other student went back to Holzkirchen, and I wasted a few hours in a bookstore reading German comic books waiting for my family to return from their trip to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. When they finally arrived around 10 o´clock, we had a late dinner together and went our separate ways home.
1.8.10--München
This morning I woke up bright and early to meet my family at the Residenz Museum (too bad they had car problems and got there an hour late). However, with my extra time, I was able to take a few cool artsy pictures, so not all was lost. We finally entered the Residenz, which was the city-home of the kings, emporers, and electors (depending on the era). Basically, it was where they lived when they had official state business to attend to. The original palace was rather small, but each resident decided to add an extra building or two, so now its rather large, with a huge variety of building styles. We only saw a small part it (partly because not all of it is open to the public, and partly because we did not buy tickets to see the treasury, only the palace museum), but it still took us a good 2 1/2 hours to see what we did. Some of the rooms were pretty cool, like the Grotto courtyard, and others were a bit repetitive. Pretty cool place though. Definitely wouldn´t want to live there; I´d get lost on the way to breakfast every morning. After our jaunt through the palace, we were pretty hungry, so we got some lunch across the street before saying goodbye for the next week.
Along my travels, I´ve realized that Germany and America could probably make a pretty good profit off of eachother if they pool their resources:
Various things I´ve noticed that Germany has and America needs (or needs more of):
-German food (obviously)
-Döner stands
-Gelato-type ice cream (almost as common as Döner stands)
-Pretzels
-Good beer
-Lederhosen/Dirndls (lots of people wear them for everyday things, not just ceremonies and such)
-Vests and male capris (America doesn´t necessarily need them I guess, but they are rather prevalent here)
-Interest in the World Cup
-Bicycles/bicycle lanes (EVERYONE rides a bike here, EVERYWHERE)
-Natural gas for cars (see the Dresden/Crimmitschau posts)
-More efficient, prevalent, and reliable public transportation
-Dollar and 2 dollar coins
-Colored/different sized dollar bills
...and probably a few more that I can´t think of right now...
Things I miss in America that I believe Germany could use:
-Mexican food (first thing I want when I get back--Chipotle)
-More smoothies (2nd thing I want--Jamba Juice)
-Chinese food
-More Mountain Dew
-More food variety in general
...there´s less on this side....but that´s all I can think of at the moment...
In other news, new photo album up--Hilter´s summer home, the top of a mountain, a shnaps distillery, and a salt mine! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050845&id=1135320260&l=08c83290f3
and another one! WM public viewing and Trachtenverein (traditional bavarian dances) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050941&id=1135320260&l=e0b4c33521
Today at school was the usual, the only really interesting thing was that we watched a terrible movie (Don´t ever watch Nikolaikirche--seemingly-longest, most boring German film I´ve ever seen). After the movie, we had about an hour until we had to meet up for our trip to the Brauerei Aying, where we learned how they make beer. During the tour, we got to taste ground water (90% of beer), smell some Hops, eat various flavors of Malt kernels, taste unfiltered beer straight from the tap in the factory, eat some "beer bread," and, of course, try a bunch of different kinds of beer that the brewery makes, all of which was pretty tasty. The tour began in the factory, where we learned about the type of water used to make the beer (betcha didn´t know it needs a special kind! But when it is 90% of the product, it´s pretty important). We then moved on to the other ingredients: malt and hops. Our guide explained the processes to take both from seeds to plants to "liquid bread." Next we followed him through the rest of the factory, where we saw the distillation tanks, the "ground control" room where there are a few computers that alert you when a certain machine isn´t doing its job (it will apparently also text you, in case you aren´t in the room!), and the filtration tanks. From there we walked across the street to the bottling plant, where we saw all the conveyer belts and machinery necessary to wash the returned recycled bottles, fill them up again, add the labels, put them in crates, and put said crates on pallettes, ready for delivery. After the bottling plant, we returned to the factory building, where we saw a 3D movie about the history of the brewery and brewing families. After the film, we went down to the bar, where we sampled some bread made from the leftover malt and hops that didn´t make it into a beer (the stuff that couldn´t be used otherwise), and as many different kinds of Ayinger Bier we wanted. And, to top it all off, on our way out we each received an Aying beer bottle opener!
After the brewery, we went to an Aying-owned restaurant, Liebhard´s (one of the original beer-brewing families), where I had the biggest schnitzel I have ever seen in my entire life. Basically, it didn´t fit on the plate, and if I laid both my hands flat on the table next to eachother, it would still be larger. It came with lemon butter and cranberries to spread on top, and, as an added bonus, underneath the schnitzel was a bed of french fries (which, by the way, were delicious...I am now convinced that the best way to serve fries is underneath a schnitzel). To drink, I got the Ayinger Celebrator, a really dark beer that was so dark it tasted like coffee. Odd, but tasty. One of the other kids on the trip got some lamb dish, which came with "Speckbohne"--`bacon beans.´ Essentially, they were green beans either cooked with bacon, or cooked in bacon fat, I´m not entirely sure, but the point is that they TASTED LIKE BACON. It was pretty insane.
So, throughout the whole evening, I sampled: ground water, malt seeds, unfiltered beer, beer bread, and about 5 different types of beer. Yummy day.
30.7.10--München
In Literature class today, we read a poem called "Der Werwolf" by Christian Morgenstern. I´d definitely suggest it to anyone who understands German (if you don´t, sorry, I don´t think you´d understand the joke...its a very tongue-in-cheek hilarious poem, with grammar jokes). After school, we again went to Da Tosto, the delicious break from the sub-par daily cafeteria food. After lunch, I traveled to München to meet up with my family (yay!!!). We walked around the Altstadt, saw a few churches (though one was having mass and we couldn´t go inside), and got rained on (boo =[ ). For dinner, we went to the Hofbräuhaus, which was again crowded and touristy, but still delicious. I finally had some Münchener Weißwurst for the first time (as Bayrisch as Brez´n, Lederhosen, and Bier). It was definitely an experience. They came in the water they were boiled in, so I had to take them out, put them on the plate, and then peel them, because they have very tough skin. They were good, though a bit bland, but the Senf (sweet mustard) took care of that. After the Hofbräuhaus, I walked them back to their hotel and returned home until the next day.
31.7.10--München
Today me and a few other students went to the Deutsches Museum--all science and math stuff, with a bit of history mixed in. It´s a huge place, with everything from ships and planes to nanotechnology, optics, and glassblowing. We started the day off with the must-see high-voltage demonstration, which was pretty sweet. They put so much electricty into it that you could see the lightning strikes and hear the `bzzz´ that is normally only present in cartoons. We then walked around looking at various exhibits, some interesting and some not so much (mostly interesting!!) until we went to the liquid nitrogen demo, which was also pretty kickass. They have a hell of a lot of exhibits there (50 exhibition areas!), so we only saw maybe 1/5 in our 3 hours there. All in all though, it was quite fun. We then walked around and looked for some lunch, because we were starving. I ended up at Que-bap (the other guy went to the Subway next door), which is a "Turkish Barbeque" (read: fancy Döner chain...for those of you who haven´t heard me talk about Döner yet, refresh your memories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab Delicious, Turkish sandwich that is EVERYWHERE in Germany. Dlner stands are more prevalent than McDonalds.) Anyway, so Que-bap has special different kinds of Döners--Classic, Asia, BBQ, Spicy, and PESTO. (Guess which one I got, lol). It was frickin delicious, with its overflowing basil leaves and mozzarella...so good. I also got fries, with some sweet and sour sauce to dip em in. These fries were also different...they were kinda U-shaped, like the bottom end of a slurpy straw. However, they smelled and tasted quite a lot like McDonalds fries, but a bit better. All in all, very satisfying meal (except for the drink, which was very small). We ate our respective lunches en route to the Englischer Garten, where we walked around for quite a while trying to find the famed river surfers. After walking around the garden about twice (and its big too, the largest inner-city public garden in the world), we finally found them! It was so exciting. The reason they can surf on this otherwise slow-flowing river is because at the point where the Isar flows into the garden, it flows into a much smaller man-made creek through a drain under a bridge, creating a very fast moving, constant wave. There are signs posted everywhere saying that only one, very experienced surfer can ride this wave at a time, for on either side of the river is a concrete wall, and I believe the floor of the river is also concrete, so it´s quite dangerous. Nonetheless, the really good surfers go and show their stuff to the nearly 50 people watching. (To give you an idea of the constant-wave idea, it´s a bit like the surfin´safari ride at the Kalahari resort in Wisconsin Dells. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisbach ) We then walked down the street to the Hofgarten (court gardens), which is surrounded by various official government buildings, all much prettier than ours back home. We walked around the city a bit, until we reached Marienplatz and the Peterskirche. We payed the 1 Euro student entrance fee and ascended the tower (lots shorter than the Kölner Dom!! Also less claustrophobia and acrophobia!). It´s said to be the best tower in München to climb, because it gives the best view, and I would probably agree (though I haven´t been up any others, it certainly was a great 360 panorama). I was a bit disappointed, for I didn´t have any more 1 Euro or 5 cent coins, so I couldn´t get any of the pressed pennies from the ~5 machines we passed on the way up (which are not very prevalent in München, I´ve only seen 1 other machine, and that was at the Olympic Stadium). After we descended, the other student went back to Holzkirchen, and I wasted a few hours in a bookstore reading German comic books waiting for my family to return from their trip to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. When they finally arrived around 10 o´clock, we had a late dinner together and went our separate ways home.
1.8.10--München
This morning I woke up bright and early to meet my family at the Residenz Museum (too bad they had car problems and got there an hour late). However, with my extra time, I was able to take a few cool artsy pictures, so not all was lost. We finally entered the Residenz, which was the city-home of the kings, emporers, and electors (depending on the era). Basically, it was where they lived when they had official state business to attend to. The original palace was rather small, but each resident decided to add an extra building or two, so now its rather large, with a huge variety of building styles. We only saw a small part it (partly because not all of it is open to the public, and partly because we did not buy tickets to see the treasury, only the palace museum), but it still took us a good 2 1/2 hours to see what we did. Some of the rooms were pretty cool, like the Grotto courtyard, and others were a bit repetitive. Pretty cool place though. Definitely wouldn´t want to live there; I´d get lost on the way to breakfast every morning. After our jaunt through the palace, we were pretty hungry, so we got some lunch across the street before saying goodbye for the next week.
Along my travels, I´ve realized that Germany and America could probably make a pretty good profit off of eachother if they pool their resources:
Various things I´ve noticed that Germany has and America needs (or needs more of):
-German food (obviously)
-Döner stands
-Gelato-type ice cream (almost as common as Döner stands)
-Pretzels
-Good beer
-Lederhosen/Dirndls (lots of people wear them for everyday things, not just ceremonies and such)
-Vests and male capris (America doesn´t necessarily need them I guess, but they are rather prevalent here)
-Interest in the World Cup
-Bicycles/bicycle lanes (EVERYONE rides a bike here, EVERYWHERE)
-Natural gas for cars (see the Dresden/Crimmitschau posts)
-More efficient, prevalent, and reliable public transportation
-Dollar and 2 dollar coins
-Colored/different sized dollar bills
...and probably a few more that I can´t think of right now...
Things I miss in America that I believe Germany could use:
-Mexican food (first thing I want when I get back--Chipotle)
-More smoothies (2nd thing I want--Jamba Juice)
-Chinese food
-More Mountain Dew
-More food variety in general
...there´s less on this side....but that´s all I can think of at the moment...
In other news, new photo album up--Hilter´s summer home, the top of a mountain, a shnaps distillery, and a salt mine! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050845&id=1135320260&l=08c83290f3
and another one! WM public viewing and Trachtenverein (traditional bavarian dances) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050941&id=1135320260&l=e0b4c33521
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