One.

One full weekend left in Heidelberg. One week of school left. One month until my European adventure is over.

Just as it was surreal to walk down the streets of Heidelberg 10 months ago, now it is surreal to think that my Fulbright year is drawing to a close. A year full of ups and downs. Where new friends were made, and new places were explored. And despite feeling that this was the most difficult year of my life, with so many days that the end did not seem in feasible sight, I am sad to go. Even with the trying days, where I questioned my decision to take this grant, I have collected so many memorable experiences, some of which are detailed here, others which *hopefully* will be detailed here once I return stateside (at least that is my current intent).

The past month has been full of saying goodbyes. First to Holly, Miriam, Fiona, Sarah, and Steph- the British, Australian, and Canadian Teaching Assistants who finished up at the end of May. Since then, there has been a lull in the goodbyes- I still had technically a month until my grant finished, and that seemed like a lifetime. But with a two week vacation compiled with a three week adventure around Europe with my sister and her boyfriend, it has left only a week and a half of school. So with saying goodbye to my sister on Thursday, it started up with a whole new series of goodbyes.

I personal dislike saying goodbyes. It is as if I never expect to speak or hear from the person again with such a closure. So as my year draws to a close, I will inevitable be saying goobye- but be thinking instead, I hope to see you again. For Heidelberg has become my European home, the place where I have spent 14 months of my life over the past 3 years living, and I hate to think that when I leave, I won’t be coming back. Maybe the good fortune that brought me back this time will work it magic again someday down the road.

To my fellow teaching assistant friends I have made, I thank you for all of our adventures over the past year representing the “English Speaking Countries of the World”.

To my colleagues at school and my small group of German friends- thank you for opening your classrooms, homes, and hearts to me. Your kindness and help throughout the year was extremely appreciated, and made me feel at home.

To my family and friends back home who have emailed, Facebook messaged, Skyped, called, wrote letters, sent packages, and even visited over the past 10 months, I thank you for always being there for me, through thick and thin, and trying to perk me up on those days when I was so down. While I am sad to leave, I am thrilled to be returning home to you all and begin the next chapter.

 

Dachau

Another site Sarah wanted to see while in Germany was a former concentration camp. Two summers ago, when our friend and roommate Susanna interned down in Alexandria, VA, for the summer Sarah visited her and together they visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington. And while I try to focus upon the more picturesque aspects of Germany when taking visitors around, it is important aspect of history that should not be forgotten.

Fortunately our plans to visit Munich/Linderhof put us near the Dachau concentration camp, and thus the trip to Munich allowed Sarah and me to both see something we wanted to see. Early on our final day in Munich, we were driven to Dachau and set off to experience the remnants of the camp. Previously in 2009, I had visited Struthof Concentration Camp on the German/French border with AJY. Not located near a major city, my exchange group was the largest number of visitors there that day. This time around, Sarah and I were greeted by throngs of students attending Dachau on a field trip. For me, this was a new experience to see so many young people at one of these sites at once. It really goes to show how the German education system emphasizes the horrors and errors of the past.

After we got past the tour groups and picked up some audio guides, we headed in. During the course of a couple hours, we learned about the camp and its occupants. Dachau was the longest running concentration camp, and was the first to open only 51 days after Hitler took power. Over the course of its operations, it imprisoned political prisoners, clergy, Poles, Russians, French, Yugoslavs, Jews, and Czechs. These prisoners were exposed to dismal living conditions, hard labor, and toward the end of the war, part of the camp became a hospital where prisoners were subjected to diseases and extreme conditions in experiments. And while the crematorium and gas chambers have not been proven to been used for mass killings, there mere existence at Dachau are a physical reminder of how many did die in other camps during the war.

Today, the only buildings standing within the camp are two reconstructed barracks, and the former maintenance building, which serves as a museum today. The foundations of the other 32 barracks are still remaining as well. While initially the current site of the former camp seems large, when one takes into account the space that would have been taken by the additional buildings plus the constant overcapacity that the camp had, the space begins to feel cramped. In addition, the day we visited the site the weather, while dry and not too hot, was overcast and dreary, and definitely complemented the place we were at. In the couple of hours we were at the site, Sarah and I walked the entire grounds, listening to many of the historical tidbits and looking at the reconstructed barracks, as well memorials that have been put up since the site opened as a memorial. Before departing, we walked through the museum, which documented further the prisoners of the camp.

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Emotionally spent after visiting the site, we decided to head into Munich for a couple hours on our final afternoon. The evening before, we had scheduled to meet up with fellow Villanovan Leah for lunch at the Hofbräuhaus and thus headed first toward there. After chatting with her and enjoying a wonderful lunch, Sarah and I headed off toward the Pinakothek der Moderne (Modern Art Museum). After for what seemed like forever, we arrived there…. only to find out it was closed on Tuesdays. Upset and a bit tired from the past couple of days, we decided not to visit anything else that day, and just headed back to Planegg to rest and get our stuff before catching our train. This was a smart call in the end, because the local transit system in Munich was having issues that afternoon and not running on schedule, so we were able to plan accordingly and allot enough time to get to our train. Before departing, Sarah and I were able to catch a nap and enjoy one final meal with our hosts. While not an action-pack day, it was a wonderful conclusion to our trip to Munich.

Linderhof, Oberammergau, & Munich (day one)- Full of Surprises

Rather than head to the most famous castles of Crazy King Ludwig, Sarah and I went to one of his other palaces. Linderhof is the only palace completed during Ludwig’s lifetime, and it served as a summer getaway. Upon first appearance the palace seems tiny in comparison compared to its counterpart Neuschwanstein- but that might be partially because it was a home in which only Ludwig used. He had no visitors at Linderhof, and only 6 servants worked there (but were never seen by the King). But despite being a home built for one, it still had an opulence that should have been shared, rather than coveted by one.

So on Monday morning, Sarah and I headed to Linderhof with Mary and her friend. During on journey southward, we hit some rain and snow showers, which we hoped would not damper our visit to Linderhof. But little did we know that precipitation would factor into our day.

I had been interested in visiting Linderhof not to just to see the palace, but also the castle grounds. The gardens, along with numerous other structures built on the grounds, are considered highlights. Since the weather had been getting warmer around Heidelberg, I had hoped the grounds would at least be open and navigable for visitors. I was not expecting flowers to be planted or trees to be blooming…. but I hadn’t expected a foot of snow to be still on the ground.

wow

It never dawned on me that since Linderhof lie in the shadow of the German Alps could mean snow on the ground in March. With the amount of snow on the ground, the gardens were closed, which limited our visit to the castle. While that was a little of a downer, the castle was still worth the trip.

Snow covered Linderhof gardens

Linderhof Palace

Snowed covered Alps

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After our tour of Linderhof, Mary drove us to the nearby town of Oberammergau. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember why. Mary reminded me however that the town is famous for the Passion play performed there every 10 years (which several Villanovan Augustinians attended in 2010). The town is also known for their wood carvings and painted houses. After some lunch, Sarah and I got to explore the town a bit before we got back in the car to head back toward Munich.

Example of painted houses in Oberammergau

wood carved Lederhosen- how did they know I wanted a pair?!

Example of painted houses in Oberammergau

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"The hole in the wall of a church"
Asamkirche

Munich Rathaus at dusk

That evening, Sarah and I also headed into Munich to check out some of the Innenstadt. Since it was pretty late in the afternoon when we finally arrived in Munich, we didn’t get to visit any museums, but instead check out some of the highlights I knew about from my previous trip. And for dinner we went to an unexpected place. Since it was Sarah’s third day in Germany, she was started to get a little tired of German cuisine, and was looking for something else to dine on. After a tip from Leah, we headed toward a Mexican Restaurant! Sarah and I both feasted on (and didn’t finish) huge plates of fajitas, complete with guacamole and salsa sides that I had been craving. Overall, our full day in Bavaria was perfect.

The Ties that Bind: Villanovans in Munich

Since Sarah’s only wish for Germany was to see a castle, we decided to head toward Munich- not to visit the famous Neuschwanstein (because I had been there twice already), but another castle.  But the two days we spent in Munich was so much more than a castle visit- but was just as magical.

Even before I had left for Germany, my mother had told me of a coworker who had relatives who lived in the Munich area. This coworker had said that if I was ever in the area, that the relatives would have no plan with accommodating me. I kept this advice in mind, and decided to contact the family a couple weeks prior to Sarah’s and my scheduled trip. After a couple of emails, I learned that these relatives were ex-pats in the Munich because of the husband’s job. They said they would have no problem taking Sarah and I in, and the wife also said she could drive us to the castle, if we wanted. The offer sounded good already, but it wasn’t until Sarah and I got there that we learned how great the time was going to be.

We decided to come in on Sunday evening, so that we could have all day Monday and most of Tuesday in Munich/castle/elsewhere. We arrived at the local train station just after 9pm, and were met by John, the husband/brother of my mom’s coworker. He led us the way to their home, and we greeted on the spot upon our arrival with dinner. We weren’t expecting this at all. On top of that, they showed us upstairs, where we had the CHOICE of where to sleep. But it didn’t stop there- over the course of our two days in Munich, the wife, Mary, cooked breakfast each morning (her sons claimed they got that kind of breakfasts when guests were around), and she drove to Linderhof Palace, Oberammergau and Dachau concentration camp, and paid for our admission to the palace and our lunch that day. Sarah and I couldn’t believe how welcoming the family was, and we thanked them so many times for all that they provided us with.

But the connection to the accommodation was not simply relatives of my mom’s coworkers– the family was also a long line of Villanova alumni. The husband is an alum of the Engineering school, a daughter is currently a business major at the school (and ironically lived in Stanford last year… small world), and another son is currently studying towards a MBA. It was wonderful to feel the Villanova connection half a world away.

In addition to the family’s connection to Villanova, Sarah and I also met up with another fellow Villanovan during our trip to Munich. Leah, an alumna who graduated with me, is currently aupairing in the city. During our two days in Munich, Leah gave us tips on what to see and where to eat and also met us on our last afternoon for lunch.

All in all, Sarah’s and my trip to Munich could be defined by the hospitality we received from fellow Villanovans. Being half a world away from the Main Line and Nova’s campus, it was such a comfort.

SARAH COMES!

As I said in a previous entry, March came in like a lion and hasn’t stop running. Although I don’t officially have another break until the beginning of April, I have not been spending too much time at school. But that was because I had a guest!! To coincide with Villanova’s spring break, my friend Sarah came and visited me Heidelberg for 9 days.

For Sarah, it was only her second in Europe; previously, she studied for a summer in Italy with Villanova. But for her and I, this is only the first chapter of our European adventures; she hopes to come back at the end of my Fulbright year to travel for three weeks throughout Europe.

Since we had a week and a half to explore, we decided to visit and stay in two cities, and then spend a couple days in Heidelberg. At the beginning of the week we spent a couple days in Munich, and then headed at the end of week for a 5 day weekend to Paris.

The upcoming entries will chronicle our journey, completed with the ups and downs (but there were more ups than downs, I can tell you that). Enjoy!

On our epic journey, part one!

“Er weckt mich alle Morgen…”

Although my Fastsnachtsferien continued until February 26^th, I returned home on the 22^nd. But I had a good reason.  The one choir I sing with, Kantorei an der Friedenskirche, had the unique opportunity to take part in a concert as part of a series known as Jahr der Kirchenmusik. This year, the Protestant church of Germany is having a concert series for the entire year. Each day of 2012 there is going to be a concert held in a different city, and the concerts follow a path around the country. On Friday, February 24^th, the stop was at Heidelberg’s Christuskirche.  For the concert we had learned an individual piece, which was the Our Father in Czech. For me, this was my second attempt to learn Czech in Germany; during my study abroad semester in 2009, I had considered taking Czech 1 at the University. But learning a new foreign language in your first foreign language, and not your native language, is so difficult. So I bowed out after one class. Fortunately, my second attempt was much more successful. In addition, the choir learned several pieces that we sang combined with the other groups that performed at the concert.

In preparation for our concert on Friday, the choir had one final rehearsal on Thursday evening. I perceived that the rehearsal was to be at the church hall in Handschuhsheim, which is in the northern part of Heidelberg and where rehearsal was usually held. So I set out at 7:30pm, making it a couple minutes before 8pm. But I didn’t head into the building because there was another group there. After waiting about 15 minutes, and not seeing anyone else from the choir arrive, I walked up to the door of the building and realized there was a sign indicating that rehearsal was at Christuskirche (the site of the concert), which is a whole lot closer to my apartment. I rushed back south to the church and arrived fortunately only a half hour late; I later found out that an email had been sent out about the change of location, but I didn’t receive the memo.

Kantorei an der Friedenskirche singing

The concert on Friday turned out alright. Unfortunately at the last minute we had to have a fill-in soloist because the original soloist was sick and had no voice. And since the fill-in only had the afternoon to learn his part, he made several mistakes; which was quite upsetting and put a damper on the hard work the choir had completed. The concert also went extremely long; between the Kantorei, the other choir, and the brass choir, the concert was over 2 hours long, and probably had too many combined pieces at the end, plus too many speeches. At several points it also seemed the coordinators of the event were unorganized, which led to further delays. Despite these bumps, the concert was still enjoyable. I was also extremely happy because all of the British and Australian ETAs from Heidelberg and Mannheim that I know came out to support me. To celebrate the concert and Miriam’s move to a new apartment, we had a small apartment-warming party after the concert, complete with Chinese food and ice cream. All-in-all, it was still a great, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a wonderful way to end my break.

Apartment Warming Party!

Choirs Combined!

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Fastnachtsferien: Oldenburg/ Bremen

Sorry for the delay in my last post about my Fastnachtsferien- March came in like a lion, and has yet to slow down. For the final leg of my Northern Germany trip, I visited Carolyn in Oldenburg- a small university city a half hour train ride from Bremen. Bremen is one of Germany’s city-states (along with Hamburg and Berlin) and it is also an important port city for the northwest part of the country.

After leaving Braunschweig on Monday afternoon, I caught a train to Oldenburg and met up with Carolyn at the train station so we could head toward her place. Instead of going to work that week, Carolyn had taken off to study for the DSH. This entrance exam for German universities tests foreign students’ knowledge of the German language; when I studied at the University of Heidelberg in 2009, I had to take the exam prior to the start of my fall semester. Carolyn is currently applying to German graduate programs for the next year, and as part of her application she needs to pass the DSH in order to enter the programs (since they are taught in German). So while it was a week off from teaching for her, it wasn’t a vacation; she instead was studying and reviewing during the day for the exam. Since the exam was coming up, we decided that we could meet up midday Tuesday in Bremen and go to the art museum. That way, I could explore Bremen and she could study.

Tuesday morning I caught a bus and then train from Oldenburg to Bremen. Unfortunately, the weather on my last full day was not ideal; in fact it was the worst weather of the week, with a cold, raw mist settling over the city, making it almost unbearable to be outside.  Once I arrived in Bremen, I first made my way to several sites in the Northern part of the city, away from the city center. Unfortunately, these couple churches that were highlighted on my map were not open, so all I could do was take some exterior pictures before continuing on my way. I then spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon in the heart of the Altstadt.

Rathaus and the Bremen Cathedral

Bremen is another German city that was severely damaged in WWII, but the city has worked hard to preserve and restore the remaining buildings. Around the two main squares stood two churches, and the town hall stood as a testament to the former architectural glory of the town. Since the weather wasn’t too great, I spend a bunch of time in each church, using the opportunity of the indoors to warm up and dry out. Before lunch I also visited Böttcherstraße, which was an eclectic mix of architecture and boutique shopping.  Since I brought lunch with me, I ate outside in the shadow of the Town Hall, and while the site was lovely, it was pretty cold.

detail of stained glass in Unser Lieben Frauen Kirche

detail of stained glass in the Bremen cathedral

Bremen Roland

Böttcherstraße

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One of reasons Bremen is well known is because of the Brothers’ Grimm fairy tale about the Bremen Stadtmusikanten (city musicians).

Bremen Stadtmusikanten

For those who might not know this fairy tale, these musicians are not typical. They are a donkey, rooster, dog , and cat. And to commemorate the story, the town has erected a statue next to city hall that features these musicians. Unfortunately for me it took the better half of a hour for me to final get a good picture of myself with the statue. Since I was exploring alone I had to do the one-hand self-portrait maneuver, and failed several times. Trying to not look like an idiot, I would try, fail, walk away, and then come back in 10-15 minutes to try again. Finally after about the 3^rd try, I was successful in getting a picture.

typical street in Schnoor

After exploring (and successfully getting my picture), I decided around 1pm to leave the Altstadt area and start making my way toward the Bremen art museum.  Along the way I visited Schnoor, a section of town with lots of little shops and more traditional German architecture. I made it to the art museum about a half hour before I was supposed to meet Carolyn, so I decided to head into a nearby building that had a few shops, food places, and also held the city library. There, I was able to warm up with a bowl of soup from a soup shop (I am starting to love finding those places in the cold). Finally, I met up with Carolyn and we spent about 3 hours in the art museum. They had an extremely interesting exhibit about Munch and his reuse of canvases. In addition we were able to see all of the permanent collections that were on display. Afterwards, we decided to head back to Oldenburg and together cooked dinner.

Wednesday was my final day of traveling, and was also Ash Wednesday. While Northern Germany is not known for its Catholic population, I was able to find a church to attend services at in the morning. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the city, so that meant a 45 minute bus ride at 7am. Afterwards, I met up with Carolyn and the other Oldenburg ETA, Chris, for bunch. They took me to this cute boutique and café called Kaffee und Kleid. Once we had a bite to eat and warmed up, we spent time exploring Oldenburg’s Innenstadt. A little while later Chris had to leave Carolyn and me to meet up for some tutoring. To finish up my time in Oldenburg, I checked out the Schloss museum while Carolyn studied. Afterwards we headed back to Carolyn’s so I could get my things and head toward my trains home.

Chris and I

inside of Kaffee und Kleid

inside of Lambertikirche

Looking from the Schloss toward Lambertikirche

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Unfortunately my success with trains during the course of the week turned against me on my trip home. My first train, a regional rail from Oldenburg to Bremen, seemed to look like it was going to arrive on time for my connection. Much to my dismay (and another traveler in my car) the train stopped shortly before the Bremen train station and because of the delayed arrived 10 minutes late. I missed my connection, and I panicked, thinking I would not make it home. Fortunately, I went to the information desk and they fixed my ticket and gave me a new timetable to get home. Ultimately I arrived in Heidelberg an hour later than I had planned, and then proceeded to sit on the wrong section of the local rail on the way home (but fortunately it stops at a station 20 minutes from my apartment). Despite my travel troubles on my way home, I had a wonderful time visiting Northern Germany.

Thank you so much Carolyn for letting me stay with you and taking me around Oldenburg!  I had a wonderful time!

Fastnachtsferien: Karneval x2!

While I am not a seasoned veteran of attending Carnival/Mardi Gras celebrations, I think I have learned a thing or two from my experiences this year in Hannover and Braunschweig.

1) Depending upon where you are in Germany, Carnival can be called different things.
In the North it is known as Karneval, but in the South it is known as Fasching.

2) The Carnival Season in Germany begins…. in November.
Every year on November 11 at 11:11am the Carnival season begins. To some Germans, this is the “fifth season”, and it a period until Ash Wednesday which planning and celebrations occur prior to Lent.

3) With Carnival, you learn new vocabulary and songs.

Helau!

During this carnival season, I picked up a couple new terms and learned a couple new local songs. At each parade, the passing floats yells to the crowd “Hannover” or “Braunschweig” (depending upon the city), and the crowd replies “Helau!” It was away to get everyone into the celebrating mood, and it was a really pleaser to get a float to throw out goodies.

Song wise, I learned a couple German staple songs, which are sung at Carnival because everyone knows them- in German they are called Schlager. One includes Schatzi schenk mir ein Foto.

4) The most Carnival celebration occur on the Sat-Sun-Mon before Ash Wednesday.
As from my experiences, the main Carnival event, the Karnevalzug or parade, occurred during the weekend prior to Ash Wednesday. But in Cologne and Mainz, which have two of biggest Karneval parades in the country, have them on Monday (known here as Rosenmontag).

5) The size and importance of the Karnevalzug determines who dresses up.

Child dressed up in Hannover

Family dressed up for the Braunschweig parade

Carnival is the equivalent of Halloween in Germany- and depending on where you are determines whether you dress up. When I was in Hannover, only children were dressed up.In Braunschweig, adults and children were dressed up, and it was more a minority of people in street clothes. In Mainz and Cologne, EVERYONE dresses up. At both parades I went to, I wore my German Mickey ears!

6) The size and importance of the Karnevalzug determines the level of float execution.
I think the complexity and elaborateness of the Braunschweig floats trumped the floats in Hannover; this could because Braunschweig’s is the largest parade in Northern Germany.

Hannover

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floats

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Braunschweig

I liked these better?

floats-

See why

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7) You get something so much better than beads at Karnevalzug.

My Carnival Stash from Braunschweig

Free glass of beer

Rather than thrown out beads, Germans thrown out so much more… Candy, Caramel Corn, Small Toys, Baked Goods, and more! Even in Hannover I was handed a glass of beer, and I saw people in Braunschweig being handed bottles of Champagne and Sausages. Here’s pictures of some of my Carnival stash.

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8) The level of craziness is equal to the popularity of the Karnevalzug. (To some degree)
In cities such as Cologne and Mainz, the end of Carnival season is a 3 day crazy affair of parades, drinking, and fun. My closest to this craziness was in Braunschweig; as Beth and I were walking back to her place, the main square in front of the Schloss was littered with hundreds of bottles, cans, and wrappers. At least I didn’t have to pick it up.

On the other hand, no matter what parade you are at, I think you will experience crazy people going after the Karneval goodies. In Hannover there was an older woman on the barricade with using an upside down umbrella to catch goodies, and wouldn’t let some children stand in front of her “since she was there since 10am” (no way that is true). In Braunschweig, Caitlin, Beth and I started in the front row on the curb; by the time the parade began going by, we were in a second row because the children and their parents stood in front of us in the street. And EVERYONE is diving for goodies once they fly. Since children are closest to the ground, they have a best chance at diving and quickly grabbing all the candy; although I did see some adults with some equal dexterity skills.

But no matter where you are, from New Orleans to Cologne to Mainz to Hannover or Braunschweig, Carnival is about having fun in the days leading up to Lent! It was a great way to have an added celebration during my trip!

Fastnachtsferien: Braunschweig- Too legit to quit (except on Mondays)

After departing from Hannover, I made my way to Braunschweig. Fortunately, the distance between these two cities was only a 48 minute train ride, so it wasn’t a long journey.

Now since my last time coming to Germany, I was told with the upmost confidence by my best friend Maria that I should visit Braunschweig. I still don’t know exactly why she insisted I go to Braunschweig, but I have a couple ideas. But overall, I am happy that she kept telling me to go to Braunschweig, because it was well worth the trip.

The clothing chain New Yorker was established in Braunschweig. Maria is from New York. Possible Reason?

Upon my arrival to Braunschweig, I met up with Beth at the main train station. I had recently seen her/roomed with her at the Winter Ball, and I am going to see her/room with her at the Berlin Conference in a couple of weeks, so we have been joking that after that, we are going to go through some withdrawal. Once we met up, it was an adventure in itself to get to her apartment. We had hoped to take a bus from the train station to near her apartment, but after waiting around for 15 minutes we realized that the last bus for the evening came 45 minutes ago. So then we started to walk toward it; she said it wasn’t more than a 20 minute walk, so I wasn’t concerned. After about 10 minutes of walking though, she didn’t recognize where we were, and after consulting a transit map at a bus stop, she realized we were in the wrong direction. Luckily, we weren’t too far off and were able to backtrack and go the correct way to her apartment. With my luggage safely stowed in her apartment and after taking a couple minutes rest, we headed out to walk to the Innenstadt for some dinner. Fortunately, Braunschweig is not a very large city, and even with Beth living not directly in the Innenstadt, it only took about 15 minutes to get to the Innenstadt, and it was pretty much a straight shot in.

After dinner, we decided to walk around the Innenstadt for a bit and Beth showed me some of the main sites by night. Like Hannover, Braunschweig was mostly destructed during World War II, although to me it seemed less than Hannover, because the existence of older architecture was more prevalent. This is partly because the city government in the last couple decades has decided against building modern, and instead has pushed increased efforts to rebuild historical structures. We stopped and took some pictures of the schloss, town hall, and the famous lion statue before heading back to her place for the night.

Rathaus at night

Gewandhaus at night

Schloss at night

Dom at night

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Me with the famous lion statue

More lion architectural details

The lion statue, along with every other image of a lion in architecture, door handles, bench legs, and more found in Braunschweig link back to Heinrich der Löwe. He was a powerful prince in the 1100s who during his reigned ruled both an area of Northern and Southern Germany, in which Braunschweig was the capital of the Northern area. Since Braunschweig was a capital of Heinrich’s, it coat of arms and symbol has remained the lion, and the animal can be found all over the city.

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Lions incorporated into the architectural details

Lion door handle

Every lion bench leg was different

Lion bench leg

Heinrich der Löwe's possessions during his reign (Brunswick=Braunschweig)

On Sunday, I got up a couple hours before the Carinval Parade in Braunschweig to attend mass. Caitlin, the other Braunschweig ETA, regularly attends mass in Braunschweig, so it nice to have a buddy who knew where to go. We met up in the Innenstadt and walked to the church. After mass, she headed back to her apartment to do some things before the parade, and I headed back to Beth’s for breakfast and to warm up before the parade.

While Hannover’s parade was a nice first example of Carnival in Germany, I think Braunschweig was closer to the more famous Cologne and Mainz celebrations. Braunschweig’s parade is the 4th largest in Germany, and the largest in Northern Germany. Fortunately, with that information in mind, Beth and I looked up the parade route in advance and decided where we would scout out a spot that was not going to be jammed packed, but still had the possibility of a bunch of candy/snacks. Since the spot we decided on was halfway along the parade route, we didn’t have to showed up exactly when the parade began, but left Beth’s apartment around 12:30 to head toward it. Thankfully, we were able to find Caitlin with no problem, and were able to get a front row spot along the parade route.

Parade Plan, with our spot circled.. The tip even says "beautiful view"

Finding Nemo float

Float promoting music in the parks.. quite beautiful

Now fast forward three hours. The parade is almost over, our pockets and purses are bursting with snacks/toys/candies we have caught, and the weather has been cold, but the threatening weather has been holding off. We have seen lots of floats of various themes, including Finding Nemo/political jabs/even NASA and Country Square Dancing. Unsure how much longer the parade was going to last, Beth and I were contemplating leaving, while Caitlin had to run to meet up with an appointment she had. We snapped a final group picture before she headed off, and just in time.

The cutest Darth Vader ever waiting for the parade

Space Shuttle, ready for liftoff

Cannot get enough of the traditional Carnival dress

Country Square Dancers of Braunschweig

American Football Team of Braunschweig... the costumes were football fields

Political Jab Float... In the days prior, the President of Germany resigned amid a corruption scandal. Prior to being President, he was a politician in Osnabrück.

Group Shot!

Snow Deluge!

Not even five minutes after Caitlin left, the skies open in a hail-snow-rain deluge. Fortunately, our spot was not to far from an overhang, so we ran toward it and took cover. For about ten minutes, we stood in awe of the turn of events, trying to figure out what to do from here and feeling bad for the parade participants (although they didn’t seem to mind). Finally, the hail had turned into giant snowflakes, so we decided to take our chances and try to head toward a cafe in the Innenstadt. But just as we crossed the street, the end of the parade came by. We quick took a snapshot, and kept going. It seemed however that most of the parade crowds had the same idea as us, because both the places we tried were packed. But in this time, the deluge stopped, and the sun came out. With now beautiful blue skies overhead we decided just to head back to Beth’s to warm up and enjoy some tea. We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing, cook and ate in, and I only ventured out to the train station to buy my train ticket home.

Oker river, which was diverted around the Innenstadt of Braunschweig to create a moat.

Alte Waage.... was rebuilt in the 1990s (was a historic building destroyed during WWII)

Monday is unfortunately Beth’s long day at school, so she had to leave before I even ventured to get up that morning. Fortunately, she decided to leave me the key so I could venture in and out as I pleased. Since it was my last day in Braunschweig, I decided I should try and explore most of the morning and afternoon before my train that evening to Oldenburg. So after getting ready for the day and packing up my stuff, I headed out. Between 10-3 I was able to see all of the Innenstadt, plus many of the other sites noted on the map Beth let me borrow. The weather even remained the beautiful sunny skies with no threat of a deluge, so I took some great pictures of what I saw.  I even saw some Carnival revelers still celebrating at the Altstadt Rathaus, showing that in some ways in Braunschweig it is too legit to quit. Except when it comes to churches and museums on this lovely Monday. Every museum was closed (but it is pretty standard worldwide for museums to be closed on Monday) and every church except two were locked up (even the Catholic church was locked up, which disproved my theory about Catholic churches always being open). This put a little of a damper on my exploring, but overall I was happy to enough time to see everything, even it was just the outside of the buildings.

Beautiful building I passed exploring

Happy Rizzi House... According to Beth, "you can't miss it, and once you have seen it, you know instantly what it is"

St Martinis

Some of the remaining historic structures in the Innenstadt

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Inside of Dom

Altstadt Rathaus

Grave of Heinrich der Löwe in the Dom

The schloss today is a mall and museum... It was also rebuilt, and the dark pieces are original

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Carinval revelers... still parading a day after the parade.

By 3pm I was pretty beat from walking around, so I headed back to Beth’s. Unfortunately, getting into her apartment wasn’t as easy as just having the key. Her door is a little detrimental, and it took me several tries (plus minutes of waiting) before I finally got in. Soon after Beth arrived back from her day at school, and we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, and then enjoyed some Chinese before I headed to the train station and journeyed on to my next destination.

Thank you Beth and Caitlin for showing me around Braunschweig!
I had a great time, and finally understand why my friend Maria kept pressuring me to visit!

Fastnachtsferien: Hannover

My first stop on my journey around Northern Germany was Hannover. And since my break started a little early (my only commitment on Friday, choir, was cancelled) I decided to head up on Thursday evening.

Other than traveling up to Orientation in Cologne back in September, this trip was the first time I traveled so far solely using the rail system. And except for one mishap at the end of my journey (which I will detail in later entry), my trip proves that German efficiency is alive and well. In anticipation for this trip and several future trips I am making in the upcoming weeks (I am becoming a real international traveler, finally), I bought a discount card for the rails in Germany. Saving a little money is always good, right?

During each of my stops along my six day trip, I was able to meet up with two Fulbright English Teaching Assistants in every city. It was a wonderful chance to see people I really haven’t seen since Orientation (except for a couple who were at the Winter Ball) and was also helpful to have an expert on the towns take me around to see the sites!

Once I arrived in Hannover on Thursday evening, I met up with Elena first on the platform. Shortly after, I realized that Malissie, the other Hannover ETA was not with her, and I hadn’t received a text or message since Monday with her. Since I was supposed to stay with her, I was a little concerned. It was also not until that moment that I learned that Malissie doesn’t have a cell phone, so that is why I at least didn’t get a text. Concerned on where and how we would meet up with her, Elena and I left the platform and headed toward the main entrance/exit. Fortunately, I saw Malissie walk past as we were walking out, and with my suitcase, ran after her and got her attention. With all parties accounted for, we first headed to get me a transit pass. Unfortunately securing a transit pass was not as simply as I thought. As with all my traveling, I did research in advance about each city; with Hannover, I had learned in particular that they had a HannoverCard, which served as a transit card valid on all transportation, but also gave discounts for some of the major sites. Since this was the best buy for my needs, this was what I sought to buy. But unfortunately, it seemed no one in Hannover knew about this card. I first went to the train station ticket center- they had no clue. Then we stopped at a booth just outside the train station that was for the local transit company- the lady there still really didn’t know anything and referred me to the main ticket office, which was about a kilometer away from the train station. But since it was in direction of the place where Elena suggested for dinner, we headed there. Even here, the first guy I talked to had no idea what I was talking about. Fortunately, at this location there was a pamphlet on the card, so he had no way disputing they didn’t have it. Finally, one of his co-workers (or maybe his boss?) knew what the HannoverCard was and was able to sell me one. Finally with a transit card in my possession, we all headed to dinner.

Elena suggested we go to Cafeto- it was a Cafe near the ticket office we were just at, and it seemed to have reasonable prices for food. On top of all of that… they had BAGELS! While I was weary of a German bagel ever comparing to a NY Bagel, I took the chance. I ordered a Pollo Chicken, which a bagel with chicken, chipotle sauce, onion, peppers, and tomato. And was it worth it- so good. I wanted to take a picture of it; thought about it before my order came, and while I was eating the first half. Unfortunately the thought didn’t stick, and I don’t have a picture. I can report though that while the bagel was not up to NY par, it was very close to a Thomas’  Bagel, and tasted pretty good to me.

After dinner I decided to head back with Malissie to her apartment. She doesn’t live in Hannover proper, but in a small suburb south of the city called Hemmingen. It takes about 20 minutes by bus to get there, and since I was pulling my luggage at this point, I wasn’t in the mood to tour. Once back at her place, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing. And since she then didn’t have any internet (because she had just recently switched apartments and was waiting for the modem to come in the mail), we also spent the evening catching her up on Glee.

Friday morning both Elena and Malissie had classes at school, but we had decided the night before we would meet up for lunch and then explore together in the afternoon. But in the meantime, I decided to head into Hannover on my own and explore the major sites. Bidding Malissie “so long for now” at the bus stop, I headed into the city and began my “red thread tour”.

the "Red Thread"

Hannover Opera House

one of the buildings I detoured from the red thread for

Neues Rathaus

one of the Nanas- modern sculptures in Hannover

Aegidienkirche- it was bombed out during WWII and left as a reminder of the destruction

According to Elena, after WWII the remaining structures of historical significance were all relocated to the same area of the Innenstadt

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To aid tourists in seeing the major sites of Hannover, the city paved a red line throughout the city, passing many of the major sites. Beginning at Tourist Information just outside the main train station, it takes you throughout the Innenstadt. Fortunately, Malissie and Elena had both already been on the tour, so they were able to let me borrow the guide book that provided additional information about each site. But even without the book, a tourist could

just walk the line and see all the sites. Over the

course of a couple of hours until I met Malissie

Marktkirche

altarpiece at Marktkirche

and Elena for lunch I completed the majority of the red thread tour, seeing sites such as the Opera House, Neues Rathaus, Marktkirche, Aegidienkirche, and more. I also took a couple detours from the thread at a couple of points during my exploring, stopping to take pictures of some of the wonderful architecture of the city. By the time 12:30 rolled around, which was when we hoped to meet, I had reached the

point on tour where I supposed to meet them- so
it worked out perfectly.

Me with the Neues Rathaus

The destination for lunch was the Markthalle. And to me- it was a Reading Terminal Market-esque kind of place. Located in a hall, it was a mixture of fresh food and eatery stands, where one could pick up dinner supplies, but also have a wonderful lunch. To top it all off, a plate of food was only 3.50€! So we each had a wonderful, warm plate of food (I had pasta with chesse and spinach) before heading out for an afternoon of fun.

Markthalle

Before coming to Hannover, Elena had alerted me that the history museum and Landesmuseum both had free admission on Friday, so we decided to visit the history museum that afternoon. Beyond there permanent exhibit on Hannover, they had two interesting temporary exhibits. One was of photographs of Hannover prior to World War II. Like many German cities during the war, Hannover was mostly destroyed by bombing. It was interesting to view the loss architecture and compare it to the remaining pieces that can be found in the city. The other temporary exhibit was on iconic photographs. While I was thinking it was going to span any theme, these iconic photographs dealt with life-altering events, such as the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and 9/11. After exploring these exhibits, we visited some of the permanent exhibits before museum fatigue set in. After the museum, we needed an energy boost, and what better way than with tea and cake? Elena also knew of a great place nearby, called the Teestübchen, so we headed there. I had a wonderful, freshly made fruit tea with a slice of chocolate-cherry-nut cake. So good, but with a catch- it cost more than lunch.

My wonderful tea

The rest of the afternoon we finished up seeing the sites in the Innenstadt before heading back to Elena’s for dinner. Since Elena lives in Hannover, it was a much closer trip to her place. That evening (after a quick grocery store trip) we relaxed and had a lovely dinner of pasta with tomato-ricotta-mozzarella sauce, garlic bread, tomato and mozzarella salad, and wine. It was a lovely evening of food, conversation and fun.

On my final day in Hannover I got my first glimpse of the Carnival season in Germany. Since Hannover was having its parade, we decided to attend. So after getting ready for the day and packing up my bag, Malissie and I headed to the Innenstadt. We first stopped at Elena’s to drop off my bags (so I didn’t have to travel back to Malissie’s before my train) and then we ran for a quick lunch at the Markthalle.

Fortunately, we staked out a spot toward the end of the parade route, so we were able to get pretty close. After waiting about a half hour, the parade finally arrived. It was a mixture of floats, bands, dancers, with lots of free candy and people dressed in costume. I was able to snag several bags of caramel corn, a couple candies, and even a free glass of beer. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience for my first glimpse into the carnival festivities in Germany.

pre-parade entertainment

balloons! It must be a parade

A syringe for a baton

Love the hat, sir.

Waiting for the parade with Malissie and Elena!

Me with my free glass of beer!

After enjoying the parade, Malisse, Elena and I decided to get out of the Innenstadt for the couple hours I had left in Hannover. We headed up to the Nordstadt, and first enjoyed a warm hot chocolate (since we stood outside for a while during the parade). After warming up, we walked around Georgengarten und the Herrenhausengartens. Now since I arrived in Hannover, Malissie was trying to keep me away from the gardens. Since it is not the height of spring or summer, she said it was not worth the time to see the parks now. But since I was in Hannover (and am unsure if I will make it back) I thought I should see the parks in the state they were in. Even without flowers or leaves on the trees, it was interesting to see the parks. And it gives me a reason to go back to Hannover! We walked around the parks for about a hour and a half before I had to start heading back to Elena’s and pick my bags to head toward my train to Braunschweig.

Georgengarten

Herrenhausen Palace

more of the Georgengarten

part of the Herrenhausengarten

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Thanks to Malissie and Elena for guiding me around Hannover!
I had a wonderful time!