The Munich Diet

July 9, 2010 at 5:58 am (Germany, Travel)
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Today we left Nuremburg and spent most of the day in Bamberg.  We took a brief tour of the cathedral, then had lunch in a biergarten.  So the only parts of town we got to see were on our walk from said cathedral to said restaurant.  It’s a very picturesque place and everyone wanted to stop and shop and take pictures.  Time did not allow for this.  I didn’t even get to buy a postcard. 

Lunch in the restaurant was ok, I had currywurst which is still not as good as what we bought off the street vendor way back in Oranienburg.  We left after lunch to tour a palace that was used by the prince bishopric I think.  (Priest bishopric?  I can’t remember.)  It was a 30 minute tour, we really only looked at some of the rooms on the first floor and then were off to Munich, which was about 2.5 hours away.

We passed the BMW headquarters on the way in, which is a massive cylindrical structure.  We also saw the top of the Olympic Stadium, which we’ll visit during our tour of Munich. 

We were free for the evening, which caused a rush of planning.  Hofbrahaus was at the top of many people’s list.  We know it’s as touristy as you can get.  But now we can say we’ve been to the original Hofbrahaus and had a beer.  Now I can say I’ve been to all three of them.  Since we all wanted to make other stops, we didn’t stay too long.  (Even the waiter, when asked for the bill, said “so soon?”)  I’m not sure anyone even finished their beer. 

I stopped by the Hard Rock to get a shirt for myself, and then met up with everyone else at the Glockenspiel which is awesome, although I may have spelled it incorrectly.  We were a little disappointed because the clock never started up, so we didn’t get to see what it does. 

Another biergarten (where locals actually go) was the final stop of our self made whirlwind tour of Munich last night.  This is the spot our group leader suggested.  We walked in and this place is huge.  There were easily 2000 people there, a live band, full tables in every direction you looked, and a playground for the kids.  The band was actually pretty good, they do some songs in English but the highlight for me was hearing them perform “99 Luftballons.” 

Back to the hotel after that, and luckily it’s a late morning.  I will need a lot of food though.  Dinner tonight consisted of a pretzel eaten while walking to the Hofbrahaus, a beer at the Hofbrahaus (which I did not finish, but it was a liter!) and then an ice cream cone while walking to the other biergarten.  I certainly felt full but ate nothing of substance.  It was a great dinner.  I wish I had gotten 3 scoops of ice cream instead of two. 

And now we’re looking at our last day in Germany as a group which is sad.  We had a really good group and a great itinerary.  Many people are extending their trips and taking off to many different places in Europe.  I’ll be spending a few days in Croatia before heading home.  Everyone is splitting up today, we get to choose what we want to see.  A few people are heading out to Dachau which I would like to see, but we have been to Sachsenhausen and if I went with that group that would take up all morning and early afternoon.  Plus, I also really want to see the Olympic Stadium and other sites around Munich.  We meet this afternoon for a tour of a monastery where the monks brew beer, and then have our final dinner together.

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It was fun while it lasted

July 7, 2010 at 10:01 pm (Germany, Travel)
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We returned to our hotel a little while ago from the public viewing area in Nuremburg where we saw Germany lose to Spain.  The crowd is very into the game, but what happened when the game was over surprised everyone I think.  There was no booing, no clapping for a good game, no sighing, no angry talk, no yelling, no patting each other on the back or hugging.  They called the game, and everyone just got up and started to head out.  Very bizarre.  I can’t imagine that happening at home.  Already you wouldn’t be able to have a public viewing like they do in Germany, since people can walk around with alcohol, but I think at home for sporting events that people are really invested in, there is some emotional expression when your team loses.  Not so much here.

And this means that we shouldn’t expect to see many flags around anymore.  We’ve had a couple of talks where it has been explained to use that Germans are uncomfortable showing any national pride, waving their flag, etc., and these things really came out for the first time in 2006 for the World Cup.  They are certainly out in full force for this World Cup but now from what we’ve come to understand, they’ll go away.  The last speaker who discussed this topic with us has never (in his 40 or so years I would guess?) sung the national anthem or waved a German flag.  All due to the uncomfortable feeling of showing any national pride. 

I am still impressed with how smooth and calm the public viewings are.  Yes there is excitement and cheering, but no one is out of hand and there were no problems that I could see.  Even the lone person waving a Spanish flag in the public viewing area was not harassed or ridiculed in any way.

I am sad Deutschland didn’t make it to the final game, that would have been awesome.  And so far the octopus has been absolutely correct.

We did have a couple of tours today-one at Staedtler, which was a factory tour.  Staedtler makes writing instruments.  It takes 10 steps to make a pencil.  It’s insane.  The factory was very clean, very efficient, and well organized.  It’s pretty green-all waste is recycled (for example, leads that get broken during the process go back to the beginning and are mixed again.)  They also seem to have a strong interest in worker safety. 

After Staedtler, we went to the Adidas group.  We toured the complex and saw their walk of fame as well as the Adi Dassler stadium that is on the grounds.  After that we went to the factory outlet store that’s nearby.

Then it was time to wander the Nuremburg city square for a little while before dinner.  Most everyone rushed though dinner to get to the public viewing area for the game.  We missed about 30 minutes of the first half, but we saw the rest. 

Tomorrow we head to Bamberg for a day trip and will arrive in Munich tomorrow evening.  Two nights there and Saturday morning our trip is over.

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I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike

July 6, 2010 at 9:47 pm (Exercise, Germany)
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We are now in Nuremburg, in southern Germany.  We’re staying at a Best Western.  This is my favorite hotel so far.  I’m using the free wifi in the lobby, I have a balcony, and there’s a clock in my room.  Best. Hotel. Yet. 

Of course we’ve done a ton of things since the last time I blogged and I’ll catch up on what I can as quickly as I can.

I’ll start with Sunday.  For the 4th of July, we spent the day on a cycling tour of Potsdam.  We took the train all the way out to Potsdam and the bike rental place was only a few minutes walk from there.  I was on a ridiculously large bike and even with the seat all the way down I could barely touch with the tips of my toes.  When we were about to leave, I almost fell over so the guys mentioned to the guides that I needed a bike that I would be more comfortable on.  I got it switched out and was fine after that. 

Potsdam is very pretty, although I had some difficulty watching where I was going and looking at all the fancy villas.  (Some with Porsches and security cameras.)  We saw the villa where Truman stayed during the Potsdam Conference, and we actually cycled out to the house where the meetings took place.  It’s very pretty and belonged to some princess.  You only get to tour the bottom floor, but you do get to go into the room where the conferences took place.  We grabbed lunch here and the guys went off in search of the bench where the picture of the big three were taken, but they couldn’t find it. 

Before the visit to the Potsdam House though, we stopped by a lake to swim if we wanted or just rest for about a half an hour.  There were many people here, and many of them elected not to wear a bathing suit.  Jinny had been keeping a count of all the naked people we’ve seen on the trip, but there were too many here.  Women, men, children, young, old, it doesn’t matter.  Even our guides stripped down and went swimming.  Most of us did not-one woman got in wearing her clothes, another guy stripped down but went elsewhere around the lake, and one guy got down to his underwear.  I stood by the bank.  I did have my running shorts on under my skirt, I kind of wish I had thought to take my skirt off and go in with my shorts and tank top, but at the time I didn’t want to bother with the sand and I certainly don’t want to lug that around  in my suitcase. 

So after our somewhat shocking visit to the lake and the Potsdam House, we rode around to a few more palaces and looked around in the various gardens.  It was a long cycling tour, about 6 hours total, although we stopped often to look at various landmarks.  I unfortunately don’t have any notes from this trip, since I can barely ride a bike, let alone take pictures or notes while riding a bike, although some in our group were very adept at snapping photos while riding.  Much of the way was on shady streets or in a park, and it was luckily a little cooler than it has been, so all in all it was a nice day.  We ended by taking the train back to Berlin and having dinner in a Biergarten.  We had pizza though, not traditional German food, but our guides told us this particular Biergarten had excellent pizza, and they did. 

A great part of the cycling trip was stopping to buy fresh cherries along the side of the road.  They were delicious.  Scott (our group leader) challenged me to a spitting contest with the cherry pits.  I’d say it was a draw, I told him I got a lot of practice while running.  One of our guides, Monika, wore cherries in her ears for the rest of the day.  I’m not sure if this is something that she just likes to do, or something that Germans in general like to do.  I can say that I have seen no other Germans with fruit hanging from their ears in my 10 or so days here, so I’m thinking it’s a Monika thing.

It was nice to be outside all day and to get some exercise, and I think most of the group thorougly enjoyed the cycling tour.

After dinner Kevin and I ran to the Hard Rock Cafe.  Kevin is a huge fan of ice cream, and since I love their hot fudge brownie sundaes, this field trip worked perfectly.  There is an awesome Trabant in the restaurant, and since it was the 4th of July they had streamers and balloons and flags up to celebrate.  After dessert we hopped on the train and headed back to the hotel.

So the 4th was one of my favorite days so far.  I was very European cycling in my skirt and flip flops.  (Although I’m sure my camera gave me away.)  I wish we were more bike friendly back home.  Everyone here rides a bike.  I wouldn’t mind another cycling tour, but we don’t have time.

We’re in Nuremburg for two nights, then off to Munich for one night and then I head to Croatia for a few days before coming home.  Hard to belive the trip is almost done!

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Deutschland Deutschland Detuschland

July 3, 2010 at 4:49 pm (Germany)
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We have just returned from watching Germany play Argentina in the World Cup.  Germany won, just like the octopus predicted, and from what I understand 4 goals is quite a lot. 

I did not go to the huge public viewing area this time because I was very tired after a late night and it is incredibly hot today.  It’s a long story which I’ll go into later, but I didn’t get to bed until after 2am. 

We did have a tour this morning, at the Reichstag, the German Parliament building.  (Sorry, pictures and notes are again upstairs in my room while I try to hurriedly type up what we did today before the concert this evening.  I’m not betting on having any internet time left once that’s over.)  It was a great tour, we got to skip the huge lines out front and enter through the side.  The Reichstag building wound up in West Germany while it was divided.  There is still damage and graffiti in the building, which they decided to leave. It was pretty interesting to visit the huge room where Parliament meets because it’s being rearranged because a new President was elected on Wednesday.  They do this each time a President is elected (every 5 years usually) but since he resigned rather suddenly they had an election and are not rearranging the room to move the seats of the various political parties around.

After this tour we visited the Brandenburg Gate (where the “tear down this wall” speech took place) and the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe.  (Which  I will also discuss later in a more somber post.)  The Memorial for the Murdered Homosexuals was the last stop, and then we were free.  I was a bit undecided about what to do-some people were shopping, the guys went to the Olympic Stadium, people split up everywhere.  Kerri and I ultimately decided to go grab some lunch and went with a group.  It was later than we thought, and the game started at 3, so we headed to a restaurant to watch and get some lunch.  We got there at a great time, tables were still available in the shade and we were able to order the lunch specials. 

The game started at 3.  Well, all the pregame stuff started at 3, I’m not sure when the game actually started.  It was a different experience than the game in Frankfurt because we weren’t with a huge crowd on the street, we were at a restaurant so it was a little more subdued I think.  But everyone cheered when Germany scored within the first 3 minutes.  It was awesome.  And everyone claps and cheers when the goalie stops a shot, and gasps when Argentina makes an attempt at a goal. 

The rest of the first half (to me anyway) was pretty uneventful.  I even struggled to stay awake for the last few minutes due to the lack of sleep.  But halftime rolled around and I visited a souvenir shop by the restaurant.  I missed the first few minutes of the second half, but I don’t think much happened so it was ok.  Then Germany scored 3 more goals and everyone went crazy.  It was after the second goal I think that the cameras began to show the coach for Argentina.  When this happened everyone in the crowd said “awwwww.”  This only got worse as Germany continued to score and the cameras showed him more often, and then started throwing in shots of very sad Argentina fans. 

Of course there was cheering and singing when the game was over.  A large group repeatedly sang something, the German national anthem maybe?  But overall, while everyone was happy and cheering, it was not as flamboyant as the public viewing area in Frankfurt.  I can only imagine what the public viewing area in Berlin was like.  I heard the count for the last game was 300,000 people.  I’m sure there were just as many today.

The next game I think will be this week-that’s what I’ve heard.  We should be in Nuremburg, and Scott (our group leader) said they have an excellent public veiwing area in the old town square.  I will definitely watch the next game from there.  I don’t know who Germany will play yet, but it would be kind of awesome if they won again.

And on a side note, I did wear my Deutschland Adidas shirt today, along with my lei during the game.  And Scott had a beer in mind he thought I might like, so I tried it.  I even finished the entire thing myself! 

We’re off to an organ concert now, then I plan on going right to bed afterwards.  But it was nice to have some free time today, and I enjoyed the game.  There’s just so much I want to do and we don’t have enough free time to get it all in.  I hope I don’t regret later not going to the Berlin Olympi Stadium, but really, I would rather see the Munich Stadium.  (Nothing against Jesse Owens though, I just like Pre.) 

And I’m really glad the octopus was right.  I can’t wait to hear his prediction for the next game.

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Sachsenhausen

July 2, 2010 at 9:35 pm (Germany)
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I’ll do my best with the next couple of posts, although I can’t promise anything.  We’re in Berlin now, after an extremely busy day.  I’m loving Berlin, except for the internet in the hotel.  I’m sitting in the lobby so I can pick up the wireless, and I can’t get the ethernet cable to work in my room.  My book with all my notes?  In my room.  I’ll try to remember what I can, but it was really information overload.  I know the last few posts haven’t been great since I was in the internet cafe, so I apologize for that.

Anyway, the first thing we did today was check out of our hotel in Schwerin and hop on a bus to head to Sachsenhausen.  Sachsenhausen is located in Oranienburg, and was the first concentration camp built.  This was not an extermination camp like Auschwitz, but rather a work and training camp.  The camp is atually in the town, and businesses moved into the area to take advantage of the labor provided by the prisoners in the camp.  This was the model concentration camp, that all other camps were modeled after.  All of the SS guards for all the other camps were trained here.  (Later the Soviets trained people here.  Oranienburg uses it today to train their police.)

Sachsenhausen was a triangle, which was considered the best shape for a camp because it offered the best views of the entire camp from the three guard towers at the corners.  Many of the barracks are gone.  After the camp was abandoned, the townspeople tore them down to use the materials to rebuild their homes, which has been destroyed in the war.  There is a large screen now that shows where the barracks stood.

The Jewish barracks are still there.  If you’ve seen the movie “The Lives of Others” this is where the Jewish counterfeiting team was kept.  Unfortunately someone set it on fire in 1992, so some of it was rebuilt and what’s left is still charred from the fire.  There is also an exhibit that has some of their counterfeit British pounds on display. 

Sachsenhausen did have a small gas chamber and creamatorium.  It’s the ruins now, but you can still see the outline of the entire floor plan and they have a good explanation laid out so you can see what rooms were used for. 

The camp was pretty big and open, and you’re able to walk around at your own pace.  We had about an hour and a half, so we couldn’t see everything but we did the best we could.  It’s very quiet and I don’t know if we were just there at a good time, but we managed to avoid most of the tour groups so for many of these buildings I was in there with only one or two other people from my group and that is kind of creepy.  I think the prison block with all the empty cells was the creepiest.  It was just a long hallway with many doors on each side that opened up into a small cell. 

The Soviets built a memorial at Sachsenhausen, although since it is located in what was East Germany, the only victims they commemorated were the Communist political prisoners.  Other things were added later to commemorate the other victims. 

Really the whole place was kind of quiet and eerie.  We easily avoided groups so you actually had time to reflect on what happened here, unlike at Auschwitz I where it was too crowded to do more than skim the information.  It was similar to Birkenau in the way you got to tour on your own, although I was very aware of the difference in the two types of camps.

We did a lot more than Sachsenhausen today, but it’s very late and I do have to be up for a tour tomorrow.  Plus I don’t know that you should talk about anything other than Sachsenhausen.  So I’ll save the tour of Berlin for tomorrow.

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Goodbye Schwerin

July 1, 2010 at 5:00 pm (Germany)
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Today we visited Neukloster, a little town about 45 minutes away from Schwerin.  We went to a Gymnasium, which is the high school for kids on the university track.  We took a tour and talked with a few teachers and sat in on a couple of classes.  We only had a few options for classes because most of the students were traveling throughout Germany or the Czech Repulic.  (These kids get to travel with school a lot!)  One of the classes we visited was a bilingual geography class.  These 13 year olds are taking geography in English.  It was very awesome.

Then we had lunch at a fantastic restaurant on the Neukloster See.  It was very pretty and the food was excellent.  I had a salad with several types of goat cheese.  Someone else in our group mentioned later that she looked this place up and it was a 4 star restaurant.  It’s in a very picturesque location. 

We also visited a small museum about the Neukloster when it belonged in East Germany.  This museum was the work of one man, who used to teach in the GDR.  He has done an excellent job, it was a great museum.  The Trabant car out back belongs to him.  When you ordered one of those cars, it took 12 to 14 years to actually receive it.

After our museum tour we went to meet the mayor of Neukloster.   We get on the bus, expecting to go to some town hall or other official place.  We pull into a dirt parking lot by the lake where people are swimming and sunbathing.  I wasn’t sure if we were swimming or fishing with the mayor or what.  So we walk by all these people who are enjoying the afternoon to a little cafe I guess in the area where there are tables set up outside and we have coffee and cake with the mayor.  (In my case I just had cake.  Good cake too.)  We got to talk to him for awhile.  This is his first year in office, and his term is 8 years! 

After the visit with the mayor (who looks very laid back) we headed back to Schwerin for our last night.  I napped on the way back and now am trying to get the most out of my hour at the internet cafe.  I hope in Berlin things will be easier.  Either more internet cafes or else more affordable internet in the hotel room, which I would really prefer so I can use my own computer with a familiar keyboard.  Then I can also post pictures.

We’ll get our last dinner in Schwerin and head back to the hotel.  We leave tomorrow morning at 8, and stop at Sachsenhausen on the way to Berlin.  This is a schedule change.  We were actually supposed to go to Sachsenhausen on Saturday at 3pm.  This is when Berlin is playing Argentina.  So the schedule has shifted so we can go to Sachsenhausen and watch the game in Berlin.

I’m looking forward to visiting Berlin but I will miss Schwerin.  It’s nice to kind of know where you are and to be able to get around a little on your own.  Although we are in Berlin for several nights, maybe I’ll learn my way around there as well.

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I do not understand standard English, but 4th grade German kids do

June 30, 2010 at 4:29 pm (Germany)
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I refuse to pay for expensive internet at the hotel again, so the next few days I’ll have to get by with an internet cafe.  That probably means no pictures and I’ll have to hurry on an unfamiliar keyboard.

Today we visited an elementary school.  I got to sit in on a 4th grade English class.  The kids usually begin learning a foreign language, most likely English in 1st grade.  This class sang a couple of songs for us, and went through an activity that culminated in a cut and paste exercise.  (We got to go around and help check work.)  The kids spoke to us in English and I tried to speak to them in German.  This was apparently hilarious, which I totally understand.  At the end the kids asked us a bunch of questions.  One girl asked me something in German, I didn’t fully understand so I asked the teacher to translate.  I thought she said are you from Germany, so of course I said no.  What she really said was are you FOR Germany, as in the World Cup.  I quickly corrected my mistake, and I’m glad the kids didn’t riot. 

After that we visited a building that was built from 1914 to 1916.  It was a courthouse, then was used by the Nazis, then the KGB after WWII, and then the Stasi Secret Police in East Germany.  We visited the prison and saw the interrogation rooms and cells.  This was a fascinating tour. 

Lunch was on our own again, although most of us ate together with the guides.  I ordered on my own, but had to ask for help when I paid with a 50 Euro bill and only got 10 Euro in return.  After that though, Jinny, Kerri and I set off to find the post office.  We did!  We even asked for directions from a woman, who gave them to us in German and we followed them and got to the post office!  And then we spoke German to get our stamps!  I was very proud of us.

We did have one last meeting this afternoon at the Ministry of Education.  They really focus on bilingual education, it’s awesome. 

We have some free time now before dinner, and Jinny and I visited a bookstore.  One thing I wanted was a Harry Potter book in German.  I got the first one, as well as a kids book  (for myself) that looks like a vocabulary builder.  But it’s set up by attaching a word to a picture, which is the way Rosetta Stone and Livemocha work, so I thought it might help me.

I hope to find an internet cafe tomorrow where I can use my own computer so I can upload some pictures and be more efficient since hunting around the keyboard and backtracking for mistakes takes a lot of time. 

Tomorrow we visit a high school, although what else is on the schedule I’m not sure.  We have two more days in Schwerin and then we leave for Berlin.

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Mr. Tarantino knows what he’s talking about

June 29, 2010 at 8:23 pm (Film, Germany)
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Today was a busy day, although it was nice because we had a late start.  First we toured Schwerin which is a lovely town in what used to be East Germany.  Today it’s pretty much a tourist destination.  We visited the Cathedral, toured the city center, etc.  I can’t wait to wander around on my own and see what else is around the town square.  There were lots of little shops and cafes that I want to check out.

After our city tour we had an hour to get lunch on our own.  Since it had only been a couple of hours since breakfast, and since most meals are heavy, Jinny and I stopped at a bakery near the town square.  I decided to try out my German.  (Not that I know much, but what’s the point of not using the little bit I know?)  Anyway, I managed to ask for an my food without much of a problem.  An apple strudel and a donut.  Then I asked for a Sprite.  She looked at me kind of funny.  So I pointed.  Mistake!  I pointed naturally with my forefinger.  I got two Sprites.  I saw her take them out and again couldn’t process what was happening fast enough to tell her that no, I only wanted one Sprite.  So I gave my extra one to Jinny.  I did not listen to Quentin Tarantino.  In Germany you count 1 from your thumb.  If you want one of something you point with your thumb.  If you point with your forefinger, you are saying you want two.  I’ll have to try to be more conscious of this next time.  However, ordering the food was a success.  I think I may have used the wrong article when asking for the strudel but I at least got what I wanted food wise.  I was rather proud of myself. 

The donut I got was a Berliner.  Of course this is what Kennedy said in a speech in June of 1963 in West Berlin, “Ich bin ein Berliner.”  The joke is he called himself  a donut.  So I had to try one when I saw it.  Delicious.

After lunch we took a tour of Schwerin Castle, which is huge.  A lot of it is under construction, we were only able to tour the 2nd and 3rd floors.  But it’s very ornate and beautiful and I enjoyed the tour.

We all opted to go on a boat ride after the castle.  Schwerin is located on a lake, so we took a 2.5 hour cruise around the Schwerin See.  The first half was very hot with no cloud cover, although not so much humidity.  But the sun beating down right on you made it very warm.  The second half was much more pleasant, it clouded over, the breeze picked up, and it actually started to rain at the very end.  But it was nice and relaxing, we just got to sit and talk for a couple of hours.

Dinner followed.  The specialities in the area are mostly seafood, and since I’m not a big fan of fish I opted for a salad.  It was good, and I figured that most meals are heavy so I should take the opportunity to get a salad when I can. 

Tomorrow we visit a school, and we have another tour or two I believe.  But I think our guides said we would be finished about 4:30pm, giving us some free time before dinner.  I hope to explore the town square a little more and visit some of the shops. 

We are making plans for Saturday, for the next World Cup Game.  We’ll be in Berlin.  I don’t know where we’ll watch it yet but we are pretty excited about it.  We hope of course that Germany wins, although many people seem to think it will be their last game. 

Tomorrow’s an early day, we have to be ready to go by 8.  So for now, ich bin müde.

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A lot can happen in 10 minutes

June 28, 2010 at 10:47 pm (Germany)
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Today was pretty busy.  We started out with a visit to Deutsche Bank, one of our sponsors, so it was business formal today.  It was pretty interesting, especially when they discussed the renovations of their headquarters.  When the building is finished it will be very eco-friendly.  Solar panels, rain water collection, windows that close automatically, all sorts of stuff. 

Right after that we headed to the Deutschland Fußball Bund, where they are preparing for the women’s World Cup, which Germany will host next year.  This was very interesting.  We learned about the growth of the sport among girls in Germany, how it’s still developing as compared to men’s Fußball, and how they’re preparing for the event next year.  Of course not much can be done now because all the focus is on the men’s World Cup in South Africa, but when that’s over they’ll work on  international marketing. 

After that we grabbed lunch at a steak place, and had a little bit of time to shop.  Jinny and I picked up Deutschland World Cup 2010 tshirts as souvenirs for ourselves, and we’ll wear them Saturday for the game.  Adidas is the sponsor of the team, so of course they made the shirt.  I am a Nike girl.  But when in Rome I guess?

After this we headed to the train station.  I had never taken a train before.  And I was worried because at our stop in Hamburg we had 10 minutes to get off our train before our connection left.  I did sleep a little on the train (which was good, I did not sleep well last night) and it was a much more pleasant ride than an airplane.  Our new guides for the next leg of our trip met us and they are geniuses.  Everyone was worried about getting our luggage and making our connection.  They had volunteers line the luggage up at the door before we stopped, and the volunteers then passed the luggage onto the platform.  Everyone else got off the train at the next exit and then went to retrieve our bags.  We made our connection with time to spare, no problem, even with 18 of us, a lot of bags, and having to go to a different platform.

We’re in Schwerin now, which I have a difficult time saying.  It’s much smaller than Frankfurt and I think I’ll really like it.  We didn’t get here unti a little after 9pm and then checked in at the hotel.  We all got dinner in the hotel restaurant.  I ate light, since our other meals are pretty heavy.  We hung out and talked for quite awhile afterwards (which is why I’m hurriedly typing this up at 12:40am.)  During our conversation when we were talking about our difficulties at the Goethe Haus yesterday, I said something about dropping my coin.  Twice.  (Did I tell mention this yet?  To sum up-needed to stay awake, so I played with the change purse in my wallet, on two occasions I opened it too far and a coin fell onto the wooden floor.  Loudly.)  Anyway, apparently the second time (I had no idea about this in my zombielike state) it took a second to register where the coin was and I just stood there and looked at it for a sec and the guide apparently told me that it was located on the floor.  I had no idea but it really cracks me up.  It’s like the coin hit the floor and the whole world froze while I processed that I dropped it again.  And since I was so tired it took so long to process and he thought he’d help me out.  I really think that’s funny and I had no idea it happened at all.  Oh well, he was in a hurry to get to the game anyway. 

Now I am up well past my bed time and need to get some sleep.  Tomorrow is a casual day, we’re touring a castle I think and we don’t have to meet until 10am.  I wanted to get up to run.  I thought I would wait until we toured the city so I could hopefully get my bearings before I ran around outside on my own, so I planned to use the fitness center at the hotel.  That doesn’t open until 9am.  We’ll see, maybe I can just run down the street or something.  Or maybe I can sleep in.  I really did not sleep well last night for fear of waking up late.  I did sleep a little on the train but it wasn’t enough. 

I’m looking forward to tomorrow, although it’s supposed to be warm and we’ll be doing a lot of walking.  My battery charger for my camera batteries isn’t working here either.  I may have to try to buy a European one.  I certainly don’t want to keep buying rechargeable batteries.  What would I do with so many?

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Zombies and vuvuzelas

June 28, 2010 at 4:17 am (Germany)
Tags: , ,

Yesterday was a long day.  Actually, it was more like two days.  With no sleep.

We started at 9:30am on Saturday in D.C. with part two of orientation.  Just things for the trip, our project when we return, etc.  Then we headed to the airport and our flight left around 6pm.  It was an uneventful flight.  Lufthansa has tv’s in the headrests, so I watched the Blind Side.  (Finally!  And I enjoyed it Jeffrey.)  Then my plan was to sleep.  This did not happen, I couldn’t doze for more than a few minutes.  No one could, so we all land in Frankfurt with no sleep at 7am Sunday morning German time. 

The airport really didn’t take long to get through.  Our group headed out to the bus to go to our hotel, and the other group stayed at the airport to catch their flight to Stuttgart.  Most of our rooms were luckily ready, even so early in the morning, so we could drop off our luggage and clean up a bit.  Our first event wasn’t until 2:30pm.  So we headed out to sightsee a bit around Frankfurt.  Since it’s Sunday all the shops are closed so we visited a couple of churches and an archaeological garden with ancient Roman ruins, then crossed the Main River to the other side of Frankfurt.  (We’re in Frankfurt am Main.  There’s also a Frankfurt am Oder, on the Oder River, closer to the Polish border.)  The Main River separates North and South Germany.  We did grab lunch while we were out.  I had real Frankfurters.  They’re trademarked, and if they’re not made in Frankfurt they are not Frankfurters. 

After our bit of impromptu sightseeing we headed back to the hotel for a short break before our tour at the Goethe House.  This tour lasted an hour.  The tour guide did an excellent job although I will have to look up everything he told us again on my own because I walked around like a zombie and could barely keep my eyes open.  (At one point standing there I must have had a very long blink because the next thing I know my head jerked forward, but that woke me up.)  The situation was the same for most people in the group. It was a very nice house and you could visit a lot of the rooms.  He took us on each floor (there were 4 or 5?) to show us rooms which was nice.  Usually when I think of tours like this you only get to visit one or two rooms and most of the house is closed off to guests. 

After the tour we walked by the public viewing areas for the Germany vs. England World Cup game.  They were packed and you had to be there early to get inside.  Many people crowded outside the areas where they could still see the screens.  They let us decide where we wanted to watch the game and told us where to meet when it was over.

I wound up outside one of the public viewing areas with Kerri, Jinny, and Danielle.  I’m glad Germany scored a lot because the crowd was great to watch when they did.  And yes, those horns are annoying.  I had not heard one before now.  Lots of fans dressed up in all sorts of stuff.  I asked some guys near me (one of whom was wearing a flag) if they would take a picture with me.  So Jinny takes the camera and takes the picture.  I was looking at here, not the screen, so I did not see Germany score while this was going on, all of a sudden the guys just started going crazy.  So I cheered too, although I was a little late as you can see in the photo.  (Which I will try to post later, as the internet here is so slow it won’t upload any pictures into my blog.)  The cool thing was after the game as we were walking to dinner (this was an hour or so later) and everyone was going crazy honking their horns and hanging out of their cars, these guys rode by.  The guy wearing the flag sees us on the sidewalk, points at us and yells “those are our friends!” to the rest of the guys in the car behind him.  So they all honked at us and waved and yelled.  We’ve got friends in Germany, how cool.

Dinner was good, although sitting down for so long most of us returned to our zombie like state.  I elected to walk back for some excercise, since I haven’t run in several days.  I downloaded yesterday’s photos onto my netbook and noticed while I was trying to post some pictures on Facebook that my camera battery charger was not lit.  I tried all the outlets in the room.  I’ve got one more set of batteries on me, and I’m hoping my charger works at the next hotel.  I don’t know if it’s because of the plug adaptor or what. 

I did get some sleep but woke up frequently because they stress being on time, today especially since we’re going to Deutsche Bank, and they’re one of our sponsors.  So today we’ll all be dressed up for this meeting, then we head to Fifa to talk about the women’s World Cup next year. 

This evening we leave Frankfurt for Schwerin.  I belive we’re taking the train.  I’ve never done that before, it should be interesting.  I know we have very little time between trains and I hope I don’t get left behind or wind up with my luggage in some other part of Germany.

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