Going Home

The Christkindmarkt in Bad Aussee

Well, it has been 10 months since I have seen my family, and I am finally able to go home! I am so excited I really don't know what to say. All I have wanted to do is it sleep to make the time go by faster. I want tomorrow to be Sunday, so I can give my mom a hug and kiss my nieces and nephew!

But of course as is everything with my life, looking forward to going home hasn't meant smooth sailing. I just hope that my string of bad luck doesn't mean something bad is going to happen on the way home.

There aren't a lot of stores here in Bad Aussee, and so I hadn't gotten a lot of my Christmas shopping done before last weekend. I had a few little things, but no gifts for my family. The next "big" town is about an hour away by train, but it is still really small. There is a shopping center, but it only has a handful of stores, most of which are only clothing. I had been invited to a ward Christmas party in Graz on Saturday night, and so I thought I might as well go in early and take advantage of the large city  to get all of my shopping done.

Saturday morning I was supposed to wake up fairly early to catch the train into Graz, but when I woke up I decided it was too early and would wait until the next train two hours later. This was just fine. I made it to the train, and had a pleasant journey. The only thing that didn't go according to plan was my needle broke. I had taken some cross-stitch to work on. In Graz I grabbed a Straßenbahn into the city. At least that was what I thought. It turned out that I got on the train going the wrong way. Luckily the trains there just go in circles all day, so I just had to be a little more patient.

Once in the city I walked around and found a few things along the way. All the time looking for a place where I could eat. I didn't actually find anything to eat until 4:30, and that was a Mc Donald's. It wasn't the best, but it is cheap. After I ate I checked out a few more stores and was able to find most of my gifts. I then met up with a friend to go to the Christmas party. At the party I met a few others of the young adults in the area and we went to see The Hobbit. (btw fabulous movie!) We were really lucky to find seats.

The shops werent open, most of then had Glühwein to sell

The next day was both good and bad. Church was good as usual, but after church, things didn't go quite as smoothly. I was walking to the train station with one of the other sisters from the ward, and got on a train. Then the train conductor came by to check our tickets. I had forgotten to buy mine! I had totally spaced it. I apologized, said I had forgotten to buy my ticket, and asked if I could just buy one now. He said no. I had to pay a fee of 65 €. I looked in my wallet and only had 60€. That meant I would have to pay the fee later. But instead of only paying 65, I would have to pay 95€. I was so mad at myself for not paying my ticket. I am usually so nervous that I have lost my ticket that I check several times. I thought, ok, I learned my lesson that will never happen again,And it wont. There goes my savings for this month.  So at the next stop I had to go and buy a ticket for the rest of the way home.

It turns out there was another little blessing in this fiasco. From the train station in Bruck an der Mur there are two trains to Leoben where I catch the next train to Stainach-Irdning, where I change trains again. If I miss both of these trains I have to wait two hours until the next train comes. I had happened to take the first train that day. I usually take the second. If I hadn't have taken the first train, and still forgotten to buy my ticket, I wouldn't have had time to buy a ticket before my connection left, and I would have had to wait two hours. 

I made it home fine after that. On Monday there were a few gifts that I still needed to get, and so I decided to go to Liezen, the next "big" town with only a handful of stores, to see if I could finish things up. If I didn't find anything there I was going to have to order something online and have it shipped to my mom's. That was the last resort, because I couldn't be sure it would be there on time, but I also couldn't be sure I would be able to find something on Christmas Eve. The only other day I would really have to shop. I was able to find the rest of the gift that I needed, but of course with out a bit of stress along the way.

Chris's new Märchenbuch

One of the things Chris really wanted to buy while he was in Germany was a fairy tale book in German. He never found one that he really liked, and so he asked me if I would continue to look for him. A month or so ago I found one, sent him pictures, and he said he wanted it. I didn't have any money at the moment so I said I would buy it before Christmas and bring it home then. Well, when I went to the store yesterday to pick it up there wasn't anymore copies. I asked if maybe I could order one. I didn't like the idea of having to go back to Liezen the next day to pick it up (yes it really is that fast usually), but I would if I needed to. Nope. He couldn't order it anymore. I didn't know what to do! I quickly looked to see if I could find it online somewhere and as luck would have it one of the other bookstores in town claimed to have a few copies. I went straight there and was able to find it. The rest of the day went smoothly, that is until I decided I wanted to go home.

There was a train that left at 16:23 and one that left at 17:25. I was at the station at 16:15, but hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. This train would make me connect to a bus, whereas the next train would connect me to another train, and I would get home an hour later, but in less travel time. I decided I would go get something to eat and take the next train. I had just enough time. When I got back to the train station I read the board and saw that the train left at 17:45. I didn't remember when the train was supposed to leave so I didn't think to much about it. I should have. I went out to the platform and stood in front of a train and watched it drive away, and then I realized that was the train I should have taken! The next train would take me to the connecting station, but I would have to wait about 2 hours before There would be a train to Bad Aussee. I felt like such at idiot. But I had my ticket.

 These things are little setbacks, but one small setback on top of another on top of my train ticket to Saarbrücken doubling has made things a little stressful. I am trying however to focus on the good things that have happened in the meantime. The little blessings, like getting my suitcase packed last night with minimal problems getting it to the right weight, or finding a hotel very close to the Hauptbahnhof in Munich for when I come back in January, for only 44€, or the surprise I found in my pay pal account from my step-mom. These little things are making the other things much more manageable. 

has it really been that long?

I haven't blogged in a very long time... I didn't realize the time was whizzing by so quickly. Life has found a new routine here, and I must admit it is nice to have a schedule again. Knowing when I have to do something and so forth. There are still a few things that I am adjusting to, for example so long without a schedule has made me much lazier than I want to be. So when I get home from school and notice that the floor needs to be vacuumed or the laundry done, I will say “Oh I will just do that tomorrow.” Of course tomorrow comes and I still don't want to be bothered. But that just takes a little bit of work to fix and a lot of self determination.

I think part of the reason why I am struggling here with writing the blog is because I have gotten into a little routine, and life for the most part is the same. I wake up at 530, shower, get dressed with hair and make up done, eat breakfast, read my scriptures and am out the door around 7. I get to school at 730 do a little finish prep. work/ check my email and then teach the classes I have that day. Monday through Thursday it is about the same. The only difference is what classes I go to. I get home around lunch, so I make something to eat and then I have the rest of the day to spend how I want. That usually means I cross-stitch and watch TV or plan lessons for the next week. It had gotten cold, but there still isn't any snow, so I haven't been hiking as much. Maybe I should.

special guest

Of course there are bright spots in my days when my friends and family skype with me or chat with me on Facebook. But for the most part life is the usual. I am loving what I am doing however.

I am working at three different schools: The BORG, HAK, and HLW. They are all in the same building which is nice, because sometimes I go from one school to the next and then back again right after each other. I really love teaching at the BORG, my mentor teacher is a great gal from Scotland. The students are all really great too. I really like working with the older classes (16-18yrs) because we get to play with the language a little more and we can banter back and forth. The younger kids (13-14) are great too, because they are still willing to do crazy stupid games with me. I teach the most classes there, working with all of the different grades most of the time.

special guests

In the HAK and the HLW I am not as regular, so I don't know the kids as well. In those classes I am usually by myself. I don't have a problem with that, but the topics I get to teach aren't as fun most of the time. I work with to classes in the HAK, almost every week. In the HLW I work with 3 different classes, but hardly ever all three in the same week it is usually just one class or maybe to, if I am there at all. Sometimes I feel like the teachers aren't using me to my full potential. As in having me talk with the class and practice their language skills, but they rather have me go over homework or supervise group work. That is ok, it is part of teaching, but not exactly what I am here for.

Halloween

There are some rules that I am supposed to follow, like not teaching alone, which is ok as long as I don't mind, but I have noticed that one of my teachers seems to be using me to teach her classes so that she has extra time off. That is absolutely not what I am there for. I will need to speak with her to make sure that she is in the building just in case there is some sort of problem. I have no idea what I am supposed to do if there was any sort of emergency while I was teaching.

Halloween

I have had some fun experiences while I have been teaching. And those are always good. The week of Halloween was a school break, and so the week before in most of my classes we did Halloween. We played pin the spider on the web, and witch's cauldron, where the kids had to get as many pieces of paper out of a bucket as they could using only a straw. I also found different Halloween themed crosswords for them to work on. With the older kids we played the who am I game. I pinned a different character of phrase on their backs and they had to figure out who they were. Then we watched a movie from the history channel about the origins of Halloween. They got a crossword to take home and enjoy over the break. Everybody really enjoyed the week.

Other little things make me smile when I think back on them. When I first introduced myself it was shortly after one of the classes had seen a video on YouTube about a lady who loves cats, I am sure you have seen it, but here watch it again.

Apparently I looked similar, at least to my students, to this lady. And when I told them I had a cat. One of the students turned around to their teacher and asked if I was her. My teacher laughed and told them no, and told me the story after word. I thought it was quite funny. Then a few weeks ago in the 8^th class I don't remember why exactly, I think it was to get their attention again, I starting saying, “I love cats, I just really really love cats.” Even though it was a different class, everyone burst out laughing. When they started getting off track again. I said, “Sorry I was just thinking about cats again.” Once again we all laughed and were able to finish the lesson.

Halloween

Overall life is good here. I am really enjoying the time, and although I am spending most of my time alone, and I am not meeting a lot of people my age. It is proving to be a wonderful experience. I was able to go to church for the first time, since getting to Austria, because it is a 2 hour train ride away, on Sunday. It was wonderful to be able to go again. All of the people I met there were super friendly and one sister offered for me to stay with her on Saturdays so I didn't have to get up so early on Sunday to make the drive. This weekend will be full of adventures in Graz, and so I will have something excited to write about. Until then :)

Salzburg and the money adventure

I went to Salzburg today. I wouldn't have gone today if I didn't have to find a Deutsche Bank to access my money in America without a 3% transaction fee. It costs 25 € round trip, and that is with a 50% discount, so I thought I would make a day of it seeing some of the sights as well. I was a little bit nervous about going. It was the first time I have been "sightseeing" on my own. I was also afraid I would be a little conspicuous where I was alone, with my camera, and the large amount of money I was going to be carrying. I did take my money belt and wore it under my clothes so no one knew I had a ton of cash on me, so don't worry there. :) I thought I was going to be a target for pick pockets. In that aspect everything turned out fine, in another not so much.

Palace garden

I found a guide book of Salzburg in my apartment and looked though it for ideas of things to do while I was there. The book is really cool, with three different walking tours of the city to see all of the major sights. I looked at all of them and decided, where they all started in the same place I would decide after I found out how much time I had. I was having problems with my internet, so doing this the old fashioned way was best, and fun.

Yesterday, I had taken a walk down to the Bahnhof to find out how long it would take me to get there and to see what time the train left, how much it was going to be, and so on. It takes me 15 mins to get there and the train left at 810. That meant it was going to be an early morning, as most of the days I have gone sightseeing, but I wouldn't have wanted to go any later because it takes over 2 hours/ almost 3 to get there. I hadn't woken up particular early that morning, so I tried my best to get to sleep early. Unfortunately my bedroom is rather light for it being nighttime and my brain wouldn't shut up. I finally remembered my sleep mask and was able to fall asleep around 11/1130.

The alarm was set for 6, and I woke up to it right away. I decided I would just get up, so I turned it off. Somehow, I fell back asleep, but luckily woke up 30 minutes later. This time I did get out of bed and ready for the day. I hopped online real quick- I didn't actually think it would connect because I was having problems with it yesterday, but it did! :) I wanted to double check the train times and apologize for standing up my Papa on our Sype date. I made an omelet for breakfast, mmmm yummy, and headed out the door.

The train ride was beautiful. Every time I look out the window here I am astounded by how beautiful it is.

TANGENT: When I first got to Austria one of my friends asked me if the hills were really alive with the sound of music. And if you are talking literally, then no. They are actually surprisingly quiet - not a lot of song birds. But if you are talking figuratively then yes. When you are up in the hills/ mountains, whatever you want to call them (mountains), you will look up from the trail and literally loose your breath from the Majesty and beauty of it all. It speaks to your soul the way music does.

To get back on track... Once I got to Salzburg I started heading in the direction I thought I should go. The maps in the book didn't really focus on the Bahnhof. There isn't much to see there. I kept walking down the street and right about when I thought I must be going the wrong way, I saw a little park. I though I might as well find a bench in the shade to sit on while I reorientate myself. As I was looking for an unoccupied bench I found the palace gardens I was looking for!

They were absolutely gorgeous, the building wasn't that impressive- it looked like an old hotel and is a conference center now. The gardens, they are something else. I wandered through the gardens for a little bit and when I came to the end I saw and advertisement for the "Zauberflöte" today at 1400. Now that just happens to be one of my favorite operas and where I really didn't have plans for the day I thought I might as well go check the price. It was at a marionette theater and only 18€. I thought that wasn't bad, but I wasn't sure if that was how I wanted to spend the afternoon. I told the nice lady at the ticket office I would think about it and come back. It was a good thing too!

Sign at the Deutsche Bank

I walked further down the street looking for an entrance back into the gardens, there were unexplored places still, and ended up walking right past the Deutsche Bank. And guess what? They don't have an ATM. Which only happens to be the only way I can get my money. It really wasn't a bank, but a finance center. They did have a nice plaque that told me where the nearest ATM was. Only across the border back into Germany!

I had no idea what I was going to do. I started calculating if I had enough money to just pay the forigen transaction fee, or if I had to go to Bad Reichenhall, where the ATM is. I had to go. I thought well I guess it is back to the Bahnhof to find out how to get there, and I was really hoping it wasn't going to be too expensive.

About this time I found an enterance to the gardens and the idea popped into my head that I should see if I can get wifi. I wasn't expecting there to be, because in the whole time I have been here there hasn't been a completely free hot spot anywhere. Sure if you are staying at a hotel or eating at a restaurant, but never completely free. I am really glad it never hurts to check. There is an absolutely free wifi network in the garden, go figure. I was able to find out I can take and SBahn, only a 35 minute ride there and it was only about 5 €. Not bad. The next train left a little after 1 and it was just a bit after 11. Plenty of time.

I finished looking around the garden. The place I had missed before was the Zwergegarten- just a little circular path with dwarf statues, really cute and fun.

I headed back to the bahnhof and discovered it was cheaper to buy my ticket from DB (Germany trains) verses ÖBB (Austrian trains).

Once I got to Bad Reichenhall I couldn't remember which way I needed to go first. All the rest of the directions I could remember. I went the wrong way, naturally. Right as I was thinking I had gone the wrong way there was a city map! Talk about being blessed today! I got on the right track and after walking past one and through another beautiful park I found the shopping center (not a mall). After wandering in the general direction, I found the street on the address, but not the right building number. I found 1 and 3 but not 2. I thought it must have moved and how on Earth was I going to find it now. Logically an ATM would be near the shopping area, but where. I wandered around again, this time fairly aimlessly. By pure chance I went into a little alcove full of shops. If I had been a little more observant I would have found it right away, but I had to go the wrong way first. When I turned around I saw the Deutsche Bank sign and finally the enterance. Not even on the right street, but a side street, walked right past it earlier.

I bought this little guy in Heidelburg,
 and I am pretty much in love with him. 

Where it was so far away I thought I would try and take out everything that I had, but that was over my limit. I tried 50 € less, and I still couldn't get any money. I started fearing that my card wouldn't work because I haven't extending my travel notes yet. I am having a problem getting the international number to connect! Finally the third time was the charm and I got my money. I am hoping it will last because it will cost almost 1/3 of what I have left to get the rest.

I decided I would walk through the garden I pasted by to get back to the Bahnhof. It was on the way after all. It was amazing, in the middle they had this wood and grass building that was wet, like a giant fountain almost. It cooled the air around it making it very refreshing.

Once I got back to the Bahnhof I tried to buy a ticket, but there was no one at the ticket counter and no machine. I asked a couple of old men where I could buy a ticket. They told me I could buy it on the train. I thanked them and went to my platform to wait for the train. When I went to get on the train I started freaking out a bit because the doors said to only board the train with a ticket. I thought I tried and maybe that will count for something. If not it will be 40 € and it is what it is. I was able to by my ticket on the train! whew!

By the time I get back to Salzburg I was tired and debated about just going right home. I checked the train times and I had two choices, both of which were more than an hour away. I had planed to for sure see the Mirabelle gardens and the Dom, so I headed out to see the Dom in my spare time. I am really glad I did! I watched the clock carefully and of course got turned around and a bit lost in the old part of the city. In the process of trying to find the Dom, I found a couple of other very beautiful churches. I found the Dom very last after I had missed the first train and had almost given up hope on finding it before I had to head back for the second one.

I found this little lady today, and thought
 she would be a good friend for my little guy.

I am kinda glad it came at the end. It was amazing and has 5 organs!!! I thought the 3 in St. Mikael's in Hamburg was overkill, but after hearing just the one in Dresden, I really wanted to hear all five playing at once. Could you imagine the complexity?

I made it back to the Bahnhof with enough time to buy some more liquid -I really needed that- and a snack for dinner. It is now almost 11 and I am super glad to be home and really can't wait to crawl into bed. Despite all the difficulties and twists in today's plan, it was a good day :)



Sorry there aren't a lot of pictures, I took a bit of film though. If I didn't have to edit the format and things before I could stick it up here it would be here already, but you all will just have to wait. It will come soon I promise. 

A quick morning walk?

This morning I decided to go for a little walk. The little walk turned into a three our walk around the neighboring villages. As I started I saw a sign that said there was a rundweg, or a circular walking path. I thought why not. I had no idea it was going to be such a long walk. it might be worth mentioning here that all I had with me was my phone and ipod - no water, no money, no ID. The other stuff was fine to leave behind, but I would have liked the water.

I started off following path 6 which leads up to the school where Sam works. Before you get to the school there is a little research center for the students which I walked through and then took a different path toward a little town. Turns out this town is Altirding (old Irding), and I was on path 3. I had debated if I was going to talk path 3 or 6, so now that I was on 3 I decided it was a sign it was the path I should take. I will probably take the other another day, when I am more prepared.

Barn in Altirding,
I like the detailing of the fan.

Path 3 was called Heiligenbrunn (holy well, I think), and it took me through Altirding and into the forest. After a little walk through the woods I found a little pray chapel with a fountain and some benches. There was also another path that started there and let up a little further into the woods. I thought about taking it, but decided to save it for another day. I continued walking along the trail until I came to a road. I wasn't quite sure where the path went from there, but there was a meadow across the road with a road that lead back into it. I decided to see where that took me. I got lucky and was right, I was still on path 3.

Can you see the path there?

The road took me to the river where it turned having me walk through the field and along the river. After a while I came to a little picnic table and another road. There wasn't any signs telling me I should turn so I just kept walking along the river. I walked for quite some time when I came to a seemingly dead end. I could however see a narrow path through the flowery bushes, that was definitely human so I decided to see where it went. Oh and at this point I was very happy I had worn long pants.

The bushes lead me right to the river and there was a little bit of rocky shore to walk along. I thought this is awfully pretty, and I am glad the water isn't higher, but I am not sure I am on the right path anymore. I walked as far as I could- aka about 100 yards- there wasn't a way to get back up to the field, so I turned around and walked back, very carefully with my arms above my head. That is how narrow this path was. I think the path I saw was a fisherman's trail. If I had waders and some gear with me we would have been eating fish for dinner.

I walked along the edge of the field looking for where this path was supposed to go and how it was supposed to get me back to Irding. Eventually I came back to the road by the picnic table, just a bit further down. Turns out I was supposed to take that road. I walked along a couple of other fields until I reach a round about. I crossed over and headed down a biking path toward Irding. I never saw anymore signs telling me I was on the right path, but I made it home. There are lots of different paths in the area, so I think I will be doing a bit more walking in the mornings.

Getting to Austria

The view from the backyard

First of all I need to apologize for not posting in so long. I have two posts started and outlined about Dresden and Heidelberg, but before I could finish them my wrist started hurting, and well, typing was very painful and so they haven't been finished, yet. I promise I will have them up in the next couple of days.

So next, unless you are also my Facebook friend you are probably wondering what happened to my wrist. I will tell you. I don't know. Just before we headed off to Dresden, I woke up with my wrist a little sore. I didn't think much of it thinking I had slept on it wrong or something. It was tender when I would turn it too much in one direction or the other, but that was all. So again I didn't think much of it. The Sunday after we went Heidelberg, almost a week from the first pain, I woke up with a lot of pain in my right wrist. I had hardly any movement and it was swollen. I went to the hospital and all they did was look at it. I mean literally, just look at it, put a numbing/ pain relieving cream on it, and then wrap it up. They did give me some pain killers, but nothing stronger than what I had at home already. The doctor told me if it still hurts to come back. Like I was going to go back there!

I was fairly sure something was wrong with it and I thought it was broken or fractured, because the pain and lack of movement was similar to what I remember from when I broke my other wrist. I was really scared because the timing could not have been worse! I only had a couple of weeks left in Germany and I knew I was going to need to pull all of my luggage around and on and off trains to get to Austria. I had no idea how I was going to be able to do that alone with only one usable hand.

The next day I went to a different hospital, because it still hurt. This hospital was much better. The doctor actually examined my wrist, imagine that! He took an x-ray as well, but I think that was more to placate me than it was because he thought it was broken. My wrist wasn't broken- thank goodness- but he still didn't know what was wrong. He thinks it is the beginning of a Ganglion Cyst. If that is true at some point I will need to have a, hopefully simple, in office surgery. But then again it might have just been sprained. I kept it wrapped and still wrap it at night or when I will be using it a lot. I couldn't use my right hand really at all for the next 2 or 3 days, which isn't any fun because: A. I am right handed, very dominantly so, B. I needed to start packing, and C. I needed to clean my room, so that it looked like I was never there. (My mother taught me well).

I started packing as soon as I could. It took me several days and repacking my suitcases three or four times every day to get it all to fit and in a logical way so I would only need to use one bag for the next several days. Then I had to clean. And did I clean. I think I might have over done it a bit, at least as far as my wrist is concerned, but all selves were dusted, the window I could reach was cleaned- inside and out- the floor was vacuumed and mopped, and the glass doors and mirror polished till they shone.  Basically the same cleaning job I do when ever I move out, but it was a lot of work.

After packing and cleaning it was time to say goodbye. Saying goodbye is hard. I made a lot of friends that I will miss, and unfortunately I wasn't able to say goodbye to all of them the way that I would have liked. We did have a little get together with the closest on Sunday, which was very nice.

look at all of that stuff!

Monday morning Myriam and Linda drove Chris and I to Frankfurt. We found a little place to eat lunch and then we had to say goodbye. They were so sweet to drive us to Frankfurt and then they gave us little presents too! I got a super cute little bag to hold lotions and other things of the sort, that fits in my purse, and it was already filled with goodies!

After they left Chris and I didn't go out to see the city like we had planed. Our hotel was a little weird, asking us to leave the key whenever we left. It was a real key, so I understand for their security they would want to make sure we didn't loose it or make a copy, but we didn't feel super comfortable leaving everything we own in our room. Especially when we came back from lunch and asked for the key they just handed it over, despite that the person working the desk at the time had never seen us before. They didn't even ask for a name, nothing. So when we did go out, to get something to eat and make sure we knew where we were going the next day, it wasn't for very long.

Yesterday I went with Chris to the airport. His flight left at 830, so it was an early morning, aka 430. We took the train to the Airport and finally found where to check in. Then we had to say goodbye. Three days in a row of goodbyes with no hellos. That my friends is rough! I am really going to miss having Chris around. He is a good man and a good friend.

And then I was on my own.

It really didn't hit me that I was alone until I was back in the hotel, showered, dressed, make up on, and all ready to go, just waiting for it to be time to leave. It was a weird feeling. I was sad because I had to say goodbye to so many wonderful people, homesick a bit, missing friends and family. But at the same time I was excited to go to a the next place and start something new. Not to mention how nervous and anxious I was. I was nervous about going to the next place and starting something new, nervous about how well I was going to to with all of my luggage by myself, and the unknown of what was going to happen next. So all of this is going on and my heart was just all a flutter not knowing how to feel the whole day.

yep it actually looks like that

I was able to make it to the train and I could handle my luggage quite well on my own :) yea me! But the train ride was awfully long. It was the longest trip I have taken on the same train so far, but only by about 30 minutes, it felt however like hours longer. I think that is mostly because I didn't have anyone to help break up the time. No one to play cards with or talk to. I had plenty to do otherwise, but still...

After what seemed like forever we were finally in Austria! At one point I looked out the window and there they were... Mountains. Real mountains, with snow capped peaks and cliff faces and everything. Oh how I have missed seeing them on the horizon! I didn't realize how much they mean to me until I lived without them! I am looking forward to exercising my hiking muscles while I am here!

One of the other teaching assistants, who is staying for a second year, met me at the train station and took me back to his place where I will be staying for the next few days until my apartment is ready for me. We went to a local place for dinner and then went for a walk to see some of the very tail end of the meteor shower. I think I am really going to like it here. :)

Northern Germany

the harbor in Stade

Well the last 2 weeks have completely flown by. I wanted to get a post up before we headed out again tomorrow for Dresden. (That obviously didn't happen...) This will be our last big trip, well it is only two days, but Chris and I both leave Germany in just 2 weeks! I really cannot believe that 6 months are over already. The time has been wonderful, exciting, and very insightful, but it is time to move on to other adventures! Before I get to philosophical about my time here and what I have learned and what not. Trust me that will be a post for when I am actually gone, I want to tell you all about the last week in Northern Germany.

Museum house in Stade

On Wednesday the 11th Chris and I arrived in Stade for a week long sightseeing tour of Northern Germany. We were really blessed to be able to stay with the family of our friend in Trier, Julia. Her parents live there and she works at her father's company during the semester breaks. We got all settled in on the first day and well... me being me kinda maybe fell down the stairs and well let just say I was lucky not to have broken any bones. It came pretty close with my finger, it still is tender.



Despite my clumsiness the next day we looked around Stade. It was raining, and I don't mean "hey I think we are getting wet" kind of raining, rather "oh my goodness we had better run for cover it is raining too hard for our umbrellas!" After taking shelter for about 20 mins or so the rain let up enough for us to walk around, and so we did! Stade is a little town, but I liked it. We went to the "highest" point, yep um I really wouldn't have even called it a high point, I barely even noticed we were walking "up hill".

our ferry to Hamburg

having fun our the boat tour

The next day we drove to one part of the Elbe River and took a ferry across the harbor to the city of Hamburg. We started walking around and went to St. Micheal's. Then I started to get sick. Joys right. Chris said it was only fair that it was my turn. I toughed it up and we went to the top of the tower to see the city. Then we went to the Einkaufstraße, which is basically the shopping center of town, aka mall and giant strip mall. Once I got some food in me things were better and we were able to explore a little more without me feeling too sick. I think my blood sugar was low and I was dehydrated, not a good combination. We saw a few other sights and then we went on a boat ride around the harbor.

one of three organs in St. Micheal's

Speicherstadt

The tour guide was funny, but he spoke in Hamburgerish so there was a few things we didn't understand. Luckily Julia was able to translate into high German. After the boat ride we walked around the Speicherstadt, which is a part of Hamburg where the rug dealers were a long time ago. Now it is mostly warehouses. The Hamburger Dungeon is there and so is the world's larges model train. It was too late to go see them, but we still had a wonderful day and were able to see the city. One of the last things we saw before we took the ferry back to Julia's car, was the Elbtunnel.  It is a tunnel under the Elbe river, and instead of having the cars drive forever on a ramp they have an elevator. Yes for cars! We were able to ride back up to the surface with some cars.

Welt der Sinne

That night we played memory with pictures of famous places in Germany. It was really funny because the next day we saw pictures from the game in real life. We saw a German Shepard and a classic house from the "Altesland" or translated "the old country". They were in a little town called Bremervörde. It isn't a town that is usually on a tourists must see list, but it is the birthplace of Chris's family.

Haus am See 

It was at the very least where his family emigrated from. There we played in a park called "Der Welt der Sinne" which is basically a senses themed playground. So there was hole to stick your head in and hmm and hear how the sound was amplified. A pendulum type swing. A walking path, that you were supposed to do barefoot to feel the different sensations, a rock maze and other things of that nature. There is also a big lake that we walked around. It was a shorter day for tourism but still good. That night we grilled, it was finally not stormy and we played a board game, that is supposed to last 45 minutes and well we played for about 4 hours I think.

border marker in Schnackenburg

typical architecture in Lüneburg

The next day made up for the light Saturday. We, all of us Julia's parent and us "kids" went to a little tiny town called Schnackenburg. The spelling is a little different from Chris's last name, but close enough that it was a must see. Chris was like a 2 year old in a candy shop with mom's credit card the whole time we were there and on the way. The town is small, but very nice. After we walked around a bit and ate lunch at I think the only restaurant in town we went to Lüneburg. Julia's mom wanted to show us the unique achritecture there and outside the city are fields of Heide. The German name for Heather. I was really excited to see the flower I was named for for the first time. :) Heide doesn't bloom until late summer early fall, and so there wasn't a lot to see, but there were a few blossoms! I was really excited.

Heide/Heather

Wattland

By this time in the week the weather was finally starting to work in our favor, and so we planed to go to the ocean! The area of coast we went to is really special. The land is super flat and so when the tide goes out, it goes out for a long time, taking all the water with it. They call it Wattland. I have no idea what it would be called in English. Basically what happens is the water line recedes for a ways and you can walk on the ocean floor!

Strandkorb, seats for the beach 

From this section of coastwe could walk to an island. When the water comes back, about 6 hours later, you can take a boat back to shore. The only down side is that the water never gets deep, only about waist high. It does make it better for families with children, because the water is calm and shallow. It was a really fun day laying in the sun on the beach and playing a bit in the water.

Bremen Musikanen

put money in this and you will
hear one of the Bremen musicians

The next day we decided to head down to Bremen. We didn't do a lot of planing, we just decided to wing it so to speak. We found a train into town, knew which direction to walk to find some sights, a very simple map with the highlights marked and a few return train times. That was it. It was a fun day. We didn't really get lost, but once we found tourist information and got a better map things went a little smoother.  We saw all the sights and made it home in time for dinner.

We said our good byes the next day and headed for home. It was a wonderful week! There is a lot of film, I think over 2 hours, so it will take me a while to get through it all but I will be working on it your you all.

Dresden

The last big trip of our stay in Germany was on Tuesday. We were going to meet one of our teachers from Boise State, but things didn't end up working out so we decided to go anyways. We had our train all planed out it was going to be an early morning, but that way we could see some of the sights on Tuesday, the rest Wednesday morning and then we would only need to stay one night. Beyond that we didnt plan very well so we ended up missing a few things, and we realized that two half days are not enough for the city. Sure we were able to see most of the really "important" buildings and things, but there were a lot of museums that would have been great to visit.

The ride there was fairly uneventful. we took the 6:04 am tram out of Köllerbach to Saarbücken. We were able to get on a train that went straight there, which was good and bad. It was a long trip without any breaks, but at least we could walk around.  When we got into Dresden we realized that we really didn't have a plan. We had a general idea of where to go to find the hotel but that was all. I was a little turned around so we walked a little bit in the wrong direction, but we found a different hotel with wifi. We weren't able to pull up google maps on our phones, but the hotel website, one of the sites we could get to for free, had a map that was able to help us move in the right direction. Once we found the hotel we checked in, but we couldn't get into our room until 3. It was 230. We had to leave our things is a storage room to come back after 3 for them so we could go see part of the city. Where we didn't have a lot of time to see everything we wanted to, waiting for 30 mins to check in really wasn't an option. We walked into old downtown, which is basically where everything is.


Our first stop was the Zwinger. It is an old palace, that now houses several art collections. The entrence for the collections was a little on the steep side, but we could go onto the grounds for free. We took lots of pictures and were amazed by all the little detailing everywhere. One thing about Dresden is that it is almost entirely Baroque style. The other thing that was really cool about Dresden is that during the war,WWII, it was practically obliterated during an allay air raid. The people have since rebuilt practically everything, but in the original style, so it still looks old.






After the Zwinger we walked around the back to the opera house. Where we discovered we could take a tour of the Opera. We luckily were able to catch the last tour of the day.

The Dom

We had about 30 minutes to wait so we decided to run across the street to the Dom. The Dom was very pretty as they usually are, but we were lucky enough to be there just before a mass and so there was someone playing the organ. It was the first time we were about to hear one of  the organs in the churches. Let me tell you the sound is amazing. And a little on the loud side. The entire church was filled with the music! I have some of it recorded so hopefully that part of the film will turn out :)

The Opera

Then we headed back for a tour of the opera house. They allowed Chris to purchase a photography license so he was able to get some cool pictures of the inside. The tour was interesting telling us about how the original opera was burned down and then redesigned by the same architect, later to be bombed in the war. Then after it was restored there was a flood in 2002, and parts had to be redone yet again.

inside the opera

There are a few places where the original stone still stands, and you can tell if you look closely, but they have done a really good job at matching it to the second original. We really enjoyed the tour until the end. The last stop on the tour was the actual theater. We went inside and sat in the seats, which was cool. They were working on the stage and so it was a little difficult to hear, but we managed, at least until the tour guide started go off on tangents about which plays were better than others and went over time by 30 minutes. The theater was warm, and where it had been such and early morning, it started getting really hard to pay attention, and then really hard to stay awake. I managed somehow.

Furstenzug

Across from the Opera is the Residence Schloss, we looked at the outside more the next day, but it wasn't very impressive. In between the Residence Schloss and the Dom is the longest porcelain mural in the world (I am pretty sure), called the Furstenzug. It is made up of yellow tiles, painted with the different princes of Dresden. The Furstenzug lead us right to the Fauenkirche, one of our favorite churches in Germany. Unfortunately it was 6 'o clock and they were about to start mass, so we couldn't go inside.

gold man

We decided to call it a day, grabbed some pizza and a salad for dinner, and headed back to the hotel. After chilling in our room for a few minutes we headed downstairs to the lobby. It was the only place in the hotel we could get wifi for free. We checked our emails, facebook, and planned a little bit for the next day. Then we went back up stairs to bed.

The next day we woke up around 7 and were out the door by 8. Our last train home left around 1 so we didn't have a lot of time to see the rest of the city. The first stop was a grocery store for breakfast and then the train station. We didn't want to carry the bag around all day so we locked it up in a locker at the station.

We decided to see what there was to see on the other side of the river and then work our way back to the train station. We saw a golden statue of a man on a horse (not really sure who he was...) and the Japanese Palais. The Palais wasn't what I was expecting it to be. It looked like a government building in the states, and had been turned into a museum. Maybe it was prettier on the inside. We didn't look, but Dresden is defiantly  a place I want to go back to so I will put it on the list for then. There are a lot of different museums there. We could have easily spend another couple days just visiting museums. Besides the Japanese Palais, which is a natural history type museum, I believe (there was a spider exhibit advertised), there are the transportation museum, the hygiene museum, and oodles of art museums.

Frauenkirche

The last thing we saw on the other side of the river was the Dreikonigkirche (Three Kings Church). It was still a little bit before 10, when the churches open, so we didn't go in. From what we could see though it was a modern interior in an old building. The outside was pretty. 


We walked along a tree lined path back to the bridge and then along the outside of the art school to the Frauenkirche. The art school is an amazing building. And it is massive! Along the outside were the names of different classical and ancient painters.

inside the Frauenkirche

 When we made it to the Frauenkirche we learned we would walk up to the tower. It is the only church you could go up. We decided to go for it, despite the sign outside saying we did so at our own risk, understanding that the path to the tower was not up to current building standards. It sounded a lot worse than it was. We took an elevator up about halfway and then walked along a ramp that lined the dome. Up a very steep staircase, or about 10 steps and then of course a spiral staircase and we were there. It was a great view, and one of my favorite parts about that climb was that where we were in the dome we could see down into the church. The church itself was amazingly beautiful. One of my favorites in Germany. The seating went up 4 stories.

police station

We still had a little bit of time to kill so we walked down a street we hadn't been down before and found a very beautiful building. It has amazing stone work on the outside, and we wondered what it was. Turns out it was the police station! Only the prettiest police station I have ever seen. We continued wandering around and came across another church.

I don't know what this church was called, but it was unique and one of my favorites for a different reason from the Frauenkirche. As I said before Dresden was almost completely destroyed in the war, but just visiting there you wouldn't be able to tell. Same with many of the other cities we visited. Instead of remaking this church in all of its original glory, it was rebuilt with cement and then left as it was. Where there were large salvageable pieces of rubble they were placed back where they would have been originally, but most of the church was just cement. It was different looking at the building and being able to tell what was old and what was new, and knowing that at one point all of it was just a pile of rubble.

intresting perspective

There was a different feeling in this church. One I can only describe as melancholy. Not a feeling of sadness necessarily, but one of sober reflection. Even though I don't think the church was meant to be a memorial of the war and its devastation, for me it was. I felt it stronger here than I did anywhere else in Germany. Not in the bunkers, nor in the memorials to the Jews in Berlin.

you can see the original and the new

As I wandered around the church looking at what was left, I thought about how devastating it would have been to see your church, your haven, in a time of fear be destroyed. I thought about how much it would have meant to those people to have it back again.  I thought about how important it was to remember that it was different before. A striking reminder of the consequences of war to the innocent. In most of the other places we visited, the war might as well not have happened. At least there was no proof or reminder, besides a few dedicated memorials. I am not saying that things should have been left ravished, but rather sometimes it is nice to keep a reminder. Not a new place, but an old place that actually felt the pains of war as a reminder, so we wont go back. 

After we were done looking around. We walked back into the city center, found some lunch and headed home. We only have one more trip planed before we head off to Frankfurt.

Just a fountain in the city center.