Berlin Trip

The group trip to Berlin left early Thursday morning. Hans, our bus driver, drove the 6 hour drive in his "coach." We made one stop on the way to Berlin in a town called Wittenburg where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses against the Catholic Church. I had taken a test earlier in the week in my World Civilization class about the Protestant Reformation, so actually seeing Luther's town and church made history all the more real. We arrived at the hostile in Berlin about 5 p.m. I shared a room with Briona, Jennifer, Jessica, and Kelsey. The group took the U-train, which is like a subway, to Zoologischer Garten for a bite to eat. I went with a group to mexican and had good chicken fajitas. We walked around the downtown area for a while, then went back to the hostile for the next busy day.

Day 2: On Friday we had a walking tour that lasted about 6 hours. The tour guide was born in Bulgaria, moved to New York when he was 7, and has been living in Berlin for the past few years. He did a wonderful job explaining the long, long history of Berlin. It just so happens that we were in Berlin for the 20th anniversary of the reuniting of east and west Berlin. I stood on the memorial of The Wall near the Bundestag, the "house of representatives" branch of government. I saw Museum Isle, the Brandenburg Gate which is a staple symbol to Germany, the American Embassy, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Dom, and many other landmarks in Berlin. I was most effected by how many buildings have only been re-opened since the 1990s because of repairs since the bombings in WWII. I also went to Ritter Sport, which is a German chocolate brand and bought a few different flavors to bring home. Mrs. Ritter invented the bar because it would fit inside a pocket and would not break easily. The old "design" of the chocolate bars were too big for a sport fan to take to a game and would melt easily. I helped myself to a chocolate bar for the full experience. The group also had a tour of the Bundestag at 8 p.m. The outside of the building had been repaired since the burnings by Hitler. However, the inside was all brand new with only a few pieces of vandalism on the walls kept as a reminder of old Germany. I took a test the previous week in German Culture over politics so this field trip was very interesting.

Day 3: I woke up early and got on the bus with Griffin and 10 other students to visit the Postdam to see the Palace of Sanssouci built by Frederick the Great. I walked around the outside of the palace and surrounding gardens for 2 hours and still didn't see all of it. The grounds consisted of tons of small paths with fountains and tree tunnels. When I got back to Berlin, I went with Toby and Kelsey to 2 museums: Pergamon and Neuses. The Pergamon museum housed the Gates of Ishtar by the Babylonians. Seeing these gates is another example of how I had no idea the amount of historical landmarks I would see when I decided to study abroad in Germany. I ended my last night in Berlin by going to Potsdamer Platz where the Sony Center is located. We saw a movie and brought sandwiches in for dinner. I was so happy to see a movie in English because going to a movie is my favorite!

Day 4: The intent to leave Berlin was suppose to be at 1, but because of some speculated security alerts in Berlin, we left early at 1o to drive back to Regensburg. The 20th anniversary of Berlin was taking place so it was best we said our good-byes early. My plan was to see a Jewish museum, but at least I conquered lots of Berlin the days before. In all the weekend was wonderful and I loved seeing the biggest city-state in Germany!

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."

The Hills are Alive

This weekend I had the privilege of traveling to the scenery of one of my favorite movie's of all time: The Sound of Music! Jennifer, Jessica, and I departed from Regensburg at 9:45 and arrived in Salzburg, Austria at 1 p.m. We switched trains at Munich and I had time to get a Starbucks coffee. This is where my weekend of good fortune began: Starbucks was having a free tall coffee day.? I had never heard of such a thing, but I gladly took my free coffee without debating. When we got to Salzburg, we bought a one day bus pass to save some time finding the hostel. The hostel upgraded us to a four person room with our own bathroom. We had a roommate Friday night, but the room to ourselves on Saturday night. We met up with Toby and Kelsey at Mozart's House for a guided tour. I learned many interesting facts about Mozart and his house was beautiful.

The five of us hiked to the castle next. We thought we could walk around it without going in for free, but they wanted us to pay. Instead, we climbed on the rock wall and took some amazing pictures of Salzburg. The weather was sunny and 70 degrees all day. Another piece of luck came when a Salzburg festival happened to be going on all weekend. We walked around the open markets and I bought myself a birthday present, since I turn 20 in less than 2 weeks. I got a pink paisley scarf from an outdoor vendor. After that we wandered the downtown streets and stopped for Gelato. I got peanut butter & nutella flavored ice cream!

Jennifer, Jessica and I were on a time schedule because we had to get back to the hostel in time to watch the free viewing of The Sound of Music. We changed into our pajamas and brought our bread, peanut butter, and jelly with us to the projector room. The audience consisted of 2 girls we met who are studying abroad in Switzerland and they go to Pepperdine in Malibu, California. There were also 2 boys who were backpacking Europe. The girls and I sat and ate pb&j's and pretzels while we sang along to the movie. The movie got us very excited for the tour the next day!

We woke up and got ready, then went downstairs for a wonderful continental breakfast. The word 'free' while traveling abroad is even better than in the States. The breakfast had the typical Europe menu items: bread, cheeses, cold cuts, jelly, eggs, cereal, and coffee. After breakfast, we got on the big tour bus for a 4 hour ride around Salzburg. The tour guide was a precious old man who really did a great job telling all the secrets to the movie. We saw: Liesel's gazebo where she danced 16 going on 17, the wall of the house where Maria sang 'I have Confidence', the nunnery, the back of one of the Von Trap houses where they fell in the water, the church where Maria married, the famous foot bridge for Do-Re-Mi, and the Rosegarten. The guide said it would take 20 hours to see every scenery in the movie, so we just hit the highlights. We had an hour to roam the church, but the girls and I went to a cafe for 30 minutes and split an apfel strudel and coffee. The tour was worth the opportunity to just drive around and look at Austria. And, there is nothing like being able to watch a movie and say "I've been there!" Had it not been for the rainy weather, it would have been an absolutely perfect day!

The rest of the day we roamed downtown and the markets again. We were exhausted from a day of constantly moving. In the morning, we woke up to the breakfast again, checked out of the hostel, and were on our way by 9 a.m. Our last stop before leaving Salzburg was the Nature Museum. Although most of the information was in German, we spent about 2 hours walking around the museum looking at everything from dinosaurs, aquariums, space exploration, and more. We got on a train around noon and were home by 4 p.m.! I love being able to conquer a country in a 3 day weekend.

Oktoberfest

Everyone says you have to go to Oktoberfest, so I went. My two friends, Jessica and Jennifer, and I looked at our calendar and decided the only day we had to travel to Munich was Thursday night before we went to Salzburg. After school we left around 4:40 for the hour train ride. We followed those dressed in dirndls and lederhosen for a fifteen minute walk to Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is basically Dult fest, which was held in Regensubrg, times about 5! The place was huge. Luckily, we went on a week night or else the crowds would have been unbearable. We each got a giant pretzel and some form of dessert. I chose a white-chocolate covered apple. Jennifer and Jessica rode a very fast, spinning ride and I held all the stuff. I know my limitations on fun and I drew the line there. We walked around until about 9, then got on a train to come home. Even the train was packed leaving Munich. It was standing room only! And most of the Germans were living up to their stereotype of smelling not so great. However, at least I can say, I experienced Oktoberfest!

The 50 Mile Bike Ride

Fifty miles is no exaggeration. I pedaled every single one of them. Jessica, Jennifer, and I met Mr. Griffin and Dr. Basile for a day of bike riding. I treated myself to a chocolate croissant this morning because I knew I would burn the calories during the bike ride. We went along the Danube, stopping after about an hour for coffee. We hopped on a wooden boat with our bikes that took us to the other side of the riverbank. This old man with a huge paddle shuttled us over. Then, we proceeded to bike for another 2 hours until we came to the town of Kelheim, which happens to be where I had just TRAINED 2 weeks earlier to view an old monastery. We parked our bikes at the bottom of a hill and hiked to view Ludwig I's memorial. I took a picture in front of the memorial where I am sporting some spandex biker shorts that were padded in the butt and I am very thankful for them! I would not have made the 50 miles without them.

Inside the memorial was a beautiful marble floor surrounded by stone angels that had plaques of all the battles. I climbed 165 stairs (this is after 25 miles of riding) to the top of the memorial to look down at the city of Kelheim. We left the memorial and road our bikes another hour and a half. We were all very hungry for lunch (even though it was now 4:20 p.m.) We split a huge cheese plate with bread. I got a milchkaffe (milk coffee) that have become my favorite thing to order here. After the lunch/snack, it was time to bike the rest of the way. It was a very difficult ride back because my lower body was in serious pain. There were a few tears shed, but at 6:30 I made it home! I loved biking through the country side of Germany and passing so many little towns. My favorite is seeing churches with a steeple in every single town I passed. Even though I may not be able to sit down for a week, seeing Germany from a different perspective is worth it!

Nurnberg

This week was busy! I have officially been in Germany for a month now. I started the week off by hosting the first girls Bible study in my dorm room. Two girls came, Jessica and Marta, who is from Poland. Tuesday brought a tour of the Old Town Hall in Regensburg. The Town Hall provided a meeting place for the political meetings of governing princes from the surrounding area. My friends and I attempted to make a strawberry cake from scratch using ingredients that required lots of "improvising." For example, we needed strawberry gelatin and I'm not sure if we bought pudding or jello. It still remains a mystery. The purpose of the cake was to celebrate the program director's birthday the following evening. We had a pasta dinner, movie night, and strawberry cake (however they turned out more like strawberry brownies with the dense consistency) at The Johnston's and at Griffin's. Thursday, I baby-sat for the four Johnston children. Finally, Friday came and the group took a day trip to Nurnberg.

The train ride lasted about an hour. Once we arrived, we got on a city train that took us to the Nazi museum. The museum is located where the Nazi party use to rally. I spent the next 2 hours walking around with a speaker device that told me all the information in English. It was information overload as far as content, but I learned so much about WW2 and Nurnberg. I found one fact very interesting: typically when a political party receives a "majority" vote, the percentage is 5-7%, Hitler came into power with a 34% popularity vote. I was absolutely amazed.

We took the city train back into old town and my friends and I took our time walking to the next excursion. We had to be at the Albrecht Durer house by 3, but from 2:30 to 3 we hiked around the Nurnberg Castle! I was so happy to finally get to look through a castle. I had only seen a castle the week before from the train. At 3 the tour of the artist's house began and the tour guide dressed in an authentic outfit of Albrecht's wife. The lady guide did a wonderful job and was absolutely precious. Albrecht's house was considered "modern" because it had a rope attached to the door allowing it to be opened from the 2nd floor. This house had 3 kitchens. One for the wife, one for the mother-in-law, and one called the "color kitchen" where Albrecht mixed all of his paints. We left the artist's house and spent 30 quick minutes walking through the toy museum since it closed at 5.

A group of us ate dinner at an underground German restaurant. I split a macaroni and cheese dish with Jessica. For dessert, I got sugar-roasted almonds from a vendor off the street. At 730 we loaded back on the train to come home!