Suitcase Stuffing and Goodbyes

     After 10 days full of sight-seeing, mobbing Tescos, and 59 hours of driving, our group of 70 arrived in Esslingen at about midnight last night. I wouldn't say that travelling in such big groups is exactly my thing now that I've done it, but it was still a blast to see England (except for London) and stay with a completely strange family with whom I could finally speak English with. I learned many things about the English culture, but mostly I just learned that it's more similar American than German. One of these being that yes, British people learn other languages but, they usually only learn one (compared to a typical two or even three in Germany) and don't really learn them in order to speak them (much like how Americans learn Spanish, I would say). In the Yearsley family (the one Joern and I stayed with), Jeremy (who is 16) had been learning German for about two years, but could barely understand a word when Joern and I would speak German together. Now that I think about it, I realize that before I came to Germany, I had learned German for only two years and that I had a hard time understanding more than just a few phrases. I guess that that just shows how far I've come in just these past few months.

     Anyways, now that the 10 days are over, all I have to do is figure out how I'm going to fit all of the crap I bought into my two suitcases without exceeding the weight limit before I fly home on Friday. My strategy is to stuff all of the books and heavy things (like sand, don't ask) into my carry-on as there is no weight limit and to bundle the Sekt and wine up and pray that 1) none of the bottles break and 2) that my check-in will weigh less than 23 Kg. Worst comes to worst, I can always shove tons of stuff into my backpack and pray that it'll fit under the seat in front of me OR I can sneak my backpack AND my handbag in as hand luggage like I did in February at O'hare. And if that doesn't work, I can always pull an Anne Frank and wear 10 layers of clothes to save space. No matter how I figure out how to get there, everything's going onto the same plane and will weigh the same no matter how it's distributed. The only difference will be whether I have to pay extra for it or not, and I'm not planning to. 

     Luggage (or baggage, I forget which one's British and which is American) aside, today was the last day of school for both Joern and me at Schelztor Gymnasium. It was extra dramatic because not only am I leaving on Friday and this was the last time that I would see a lot of these people, but also because Joern is transferring to a Wirtschaftsgymnasium (business school) downtown and this was his last day with his class as well. Even the weather was feeling the mood and decided to drench us on the bike ride to and from school, but of course it's sunny now as I sit indoors and write this. Nonetheless, after school we drove downtown so Joern could get his braces on and I could buy some books while he did so, so I can continue to learn German even though I won't be surrounded by it anymore. It's almost kind of scary to go back to the US because of the fear of losing all of the language I have worked so hard to acquire and not having Joern around as my walking talking dictionary anymore. It's funny because the only difference between Joern and the dictionary on my phone is that Joern has better translations and knows slang, but other than that it takes just as long to get an answer out of him and his battery dies after about 10 translations. I don't blame him for being annoyed by my always asking for words and "was heisst ...?" and "wie sagt man ...?" but I mean it would be a little bit more helpful if I could squeeze more than a few words out of him per hour before he says "I'm not your dictionary!" and stops answering all of my questions. Anyways, I know that I am definitely going to miss Joern and my next objective is going to be convincing my family to take a vacation to Europe. 

     It's looking like Joern won't be coming to the US next year which is going to break up the annual visits to America that he has been making for the past three years. And it's also not looking like I will be coming back to Germany in the next year as my family is planning a trip to Asia, so I guess this is goodbye for now. We've spent the past year of our lives together and probably know each other better than anyone we'll know for a while, but now we've come to the part where our paths split and we move on to see what's next. 

Today is 26.7.2017 

Broken Lamps and Gold Hair

Gold Hair

     I think that a parent's biggest fear when they send their kid off to another country is, "Crap, they're probably gonna come back with dyed hair and everyone's going to think we're terrible parents." But let me just say that I am not being rebellious, but rather adventurous. 

     I did make sure to get permission from those whom might be concerned with me potentially burning off my hair due to the powerful chemicals that my dark brown hair requires. These people included my parents (I made sure to mention that they lived through the 80s and were once adventurous too) and Joern's parents. The only requests that I received were to get it done professionally and to not mess up the bathroom if I chose not to. And I chose not to mess up the bathroom; however, I would recommend one to conduct more research than what I had before going straight to the internet and ordering the bleach, developer and toner that one thinks are the "oh so easy" steps to getting blonde hair. 

     I may not have done enough research to come out of the bathroom looking platinum, but I still had a full head of hair that wasn't orange, which is saying something. Anyhow, after waiting a week for my straw-yellow hair to recover from the harshness of the bleach, I had ordered another toner that I thought was supposed to make my hair either silver or platinum (don't ask), but neither color ended up being mine as I had ordered the wrong toner. Again, I wished I had done more research, but it is what it is and now my hair is somewhere between hazel and CrayolaⓇ crayon gold.

Broken Lamp
     Joern and I like to bicker a lot. I would say that we have achieved that status of conjoined twin old ladies/men. It's fun for us because neither of us really takes it seriously (except for when we do) and it really gets on his parents nerves. For example, at the lunch table today Joern and I had a whole opera about a little speck of food on his chin. I wanted him to wipe it off and he didn't want to, so I decided to act like I couldn't understand him because I couldn't get past the lentil on his chin while he decided to talk anyways. It was really funny because here Joern and I were, having a grand old time, while his mom was sitting directly across from us, trying not to blow like Yellowstone and rain her fire upon us. And so it is in this house.

     Saturday; however, the bickering turned into a little bit more while Joern and I were trying to watch Netflix. I won't go into the details of who I think is justified and so on, but I would like to say that it doesn't make sense to point light at the Mac screen because it's "better for your eyes". The aftermath of the battle included a neck strain for Nat, a very angry Joern that didn't want to watch Netflix anymore, and a lamp that had it's plug decapitated.

     Today is Monday and we (meaning me) got around to fixing the dang thing. I'm not sure why, but no one was on board with my idea of electric-taping the wires of the old lamp to the wires of a new plug. I mean, electric tape is made for this stuff and if the house burns down, then we can just sue the company that made the tape, right? Anyways, we ended up attaching a whole new head to the wires without electric tape and everyone's happy. I'm just not satisfied with the fact that there's no one to sue now when the house burns down.

 Update 
      With the party bus for the England trip something like two or three weeks away, I am still trying to stay afloat in school and not get called on by a teacher until then. We had the official ground-rules meeting for the trip on Friday and I found out that we might be close enough to London to get the Starbuck'sⓇ You Are HereⓇ London mug after all. Win. Everyone is constantly saying that the food in Great Britain is supposed to be terrible, so I'm super excited to get up in there and try it for myself. Being a person that eats pretty much anything, I don't think I'll ever understand why people don't like certain foods to the point where they don't eat them. The closest I see myself coming to that point is bleu cheese and even then, I will still eat it without the slightest cringe.

Remember, flip flops are shoes

Nat

Stealing Cherries and Sweating to Death

     Cherry season is in full swing up here on the hill above Esslingen and it seems impossible to go for a walk without seeing a cherry tree lush with dark, juicy cherries, waiting to be eaten. I know that it's very illegal to go onto other peoples' property and take their produce, but the Witch From Next Door (an Into The Woods reference) hasn't caught me yet. We have a cherry tree in our backyard here too, but the cherries are smaller and only turn red instead of the ultra-delicious lip-staining dark wine red of the tree not but a three minute walk from the house. I mean, how am I supposed to help myself when I find myself hungry, out for a walk and there's this gorgeous, lush tree just waiting to be climbed and share its fruits with me. I don't think any person would be able to resist that without keeping their sanity.

     Cherries aside, school is back in swing after Pfingstferien (Pentecost Vacation). To recap, we went to Italien (Italia, Italy) for the two weeks and saw enough cities, landscape and mountains to last me a while. If you would like to know more about what happened in Italy, do what I always tell my family when they ask me and, read my blog. Anyways, Joern seems to have Arbeit (Half an American exam, I would say) after Arbeit after Arbeit and I feel totally helpless because it is very difficult for me to study for them and impossible to receive a grade that is even on a measurable scale. There's about four weeks of school before our 10-day trip to England and then Joern's six-week summer vacation kicks off and I am kicked out and hop on a plane back to the USA. And no, it doesn't seem like my time here went fast or slow because time is time and it will always go the same speed. But back to school. Despite my inadequacy in the German language at the moment, I can get by day to day in German and make normal conversation. I can definitely see myself one day being more proficient in German and I definitely would like to pursue it because when it comes to the real world, German is pretty much useless unless your German is better than the typical German's English, which I must say is pretty good. 

     We've been going through a little bit of a heat wave down here in southern Germany too. This whole past week has had highs of 32+ and it's been quite miserable. I guess the fact that air conditioning is foreign to German schools and houses has contributed to the heat being so oppressive as well. However, the nuclear-ready cement walls of our house and the space curtains that can make it feel like night in here, do a good job of keeping the heat out and the cool in during the hottest hours. Our school (Schelztor) is not built so well; however, and today we got Hitzefrei (heat free, directly translated) which means that we got the afternoon hot so we didn't roast to death inside of the school. Thinking about it now, I should have taken the temperature inside the school to see how much hotter it really was inside there than outside. Anyways, the heat might not have been so bad for us, as our main classroom is on the first floor, but anyone on floors two or three was getting burned out and I definitely understand why it isn't possible to conduct class when everyone is only focused on leaving the building.

     Today I also gave a presentation for the 8B English class about Sheboygan and the differences between the US and Germany. I made sure to include that the US is much more than just New York and L.A. and also that, indeed, not all Americans like President Trump, as these two are things that I feel are very often confused as being things that all Americans are on board with. I mean, I've never even been to New York and I've been in 40+ states. Other than that, the presentation was very well received and I enjoyed giving it.

     Also, in my presentation I listed how many fast-food restaurants Sheboygan has and I must say that it took me quite a while to list them off. Thinking about it now, I think that we might have a few too many Subway's in Sheboygan. I mean, Esslingen has 90,000 people, no McDonald's, one Starbucks, two Subway's (compared to Sheboygan's seven) and one Burger King and that's IT. It took me a while to count them up and I'm not going to share what I got, but I can definitely say that Sheboygan has way too many and I would encourage everyone to count up the number of fast-food restaurants in their area because chances are, it's probably way too many. Anyways, as I was listing them off, I can definitely say that 8B couldn't help but smile at the obscene amount of fast-food that my hometown has to offer.

Today is 22.6.2017 and I just listened to The Book of Mormon

Nat

Fresh Dirty Mountain Air

     The past two days have been loads of fresh air and hiking around in the mountains. I say fresh dirty mountain air because, while the air might be great for most of us, it's not so great for Lars because he can't breathe due to all of the pollen up here. I'm not sure if it's the grass or the pine trees, but these past two days have been getting progressively worse for Lars. But Lars isn't the only one with problems up here. I know bloody noses are for that weird kid in fourth grade that got them all the time, but today I got one for the first time in a while. I think that it was the high elevation plus the sudden low pressure drop because of the storm that passed over us, but I have yet to ask Google why it happened. Despite our problems with the air, the freshness of it makes up for the problems it brings. It's funny because it truly feels like being cleansed from all of the people and cities we've seen in the past two weeks.

Today is 16.6.17

Nat

A City Sinking

     Venice is fabulous in the same way an aluminum can is fabulous in that you know that no matter how much fun it is, it's only temporary. Our trip to Venice yesterday reminded me to that even if tourists flood the streets and you can buy a postcard on every corner, a city can still keep it's charm 1,000 years later. The main streets of Venice may be filled with tourists, but the 55,000 residents prove that Venice is still very much a city where people live and thrive. I know this because we spent the whole day walking around the whole of the city, seeing what feels like every corner, nook and cranny there is to see of the place. I don't think it's quite possible to describe or even capture the feeling of the city with photos or words, so I won't even attempt it. But, I can say that it was quite refreshing to not see a single car in such a crowded and exciting place. As with the city being temporary, I got the chance to see the sinking city before it sinks and I am very aware that not everyone has that opportunity; however, anyone with the opportunity should without a doubt take it up and see the place before the Adriatic swallows it up, because who knows if my kids will even be able to see it.

     After hitting 30,000 steps, we boarded the train and rode for an hour back to Bassano del Grappa to find some dinner. The question was whether to go to the same restaurant or to find a new one. I, of course, was against all pleads to go to the same restaurant because I think doing the same thing twice is completely grausam when you can do something different and explore. It seemed as though it was me and Mutti against the rest of the family and no one was going to be happy. After looking around for a little bit, we hadn't found anywhere good to eat so the general consensus was to head back to the pizzeria from the day before. I didn't feel like putting up a fight because 1) Lars wanted me to, 2) I was really hungry, and 3) I kind of liked the place. The name of the place escapes me at the moment, but it was totally Italian in that the whole family was working there at the same time and I'm pretty sure that we were the only people eating there that weren't Italian. The reason Joern's mom and I wanted to find a different place was so that we could sit outside, but maybe it was good we didn't get our way so that we could experience something completely authentic all over again. It was funny because the same couple that was eating there the day before was eating there again as well, just another reminder that we had made a good choice. Also, the family dog remembered us and let us go straight to petting. The dog was cool because there was a wall mural that had a dog in it that looked suspiciously familiar to our friend. We can only guess, but we were all pretty sure that the dog from the mural was the same dog that watched us eat. Anyhow, I got pizza rather than a calzone this time with "spicy salami". It turns out that pepperoni has nothing to with Italy and is 100% American. Furthermore, my spicy salami was far better and impossible to compare to the fake-meat pepperoni that I have known my whole life. For dessert I had a slice of homemade gelato meringue cake that I can only describe as being a taste of The Good Place. After dinner we didn't mess around and headed straight back to the car to rescue it from the parking lot as we were paying 1€/hr to keep it there for the whole day. After getting back to the B&B, we got ready for bed and called it Feierabend.

     This morning we woke up to 3 different varieties of homemade cakes, steaming hot coffee and fluffy scrambled eggs. After having breakfast outside, we packed our things and hit the road for the mountains. The drive was quite sucky because of the twisty turny curvy passes, but eventually we   came upon the village that is near where we are currently staying. The village is in the Northern Italian Alps close to the border of Austria. I'm told that before WWII this was part of Germany but, after the war, has since been annexed into Italy due to the post-war agreements. Today, it is quite confusing which language (Italian or German) is superior due to the people being German but also Italian citizens. After our trip downtown to the supermarket, my current assessment is that it's about 50/50, but I really have no idea.

     After stocking up, we headed up the north side of the valley to find the farm where are currently staying. Again, the twisty turny curves of the switchback were stomach-wretching and furthermore, the narrow road left us in constant fear that we would get caught in an unsolvable stand-off with a other car (which we did). Nonetheless, we made it to Kerschbaumhof without a scratch on the car, unlike Rome (where the car got more than a few scratches). I'm not sure what makes this place a farm, as it is quite sideways and I don't see how growing  anything is possible, but I guess there are chickens which is farm enough for me. But despite all the downsides of being on a mountain, there is one thing that makes driving all the way up to our little chateau worth it, the view. we have a view of die Dreizinnen (the three peaks) right from our rooms. It's also really awesome because we have a balcony where we can sit out on and watch the sun rise over the mountains tomorrow morning. I have no idea how Joerns's parents found this place, but it is yet another dream straight out of a movie.

     We'll spend the next few days hiking around the Nationalpark Sextener Dolomiten and cleansing ourselves of all of the city we have seen in the past week and a half. I'm super pumped to get my relaxation on the next couple of days and see me some moubtains.

Today is Wednesday the fourteenth of June in the year MMXFII

Nat

Drama and Real Pizza

10.6.17
     When we first arrived at our apartment four days ago here in Rome, we were devastated to find that there was no dishwasher. The apartment seemed to have everything (namely air conditioning) that we could have wanted, but it seemed as though we would be doing the dishes by hand for the next five days. Now that those five days are almost up, we have had a chance to see how the "we're all gonna take turns" system worked out. And let me just say, it didn't. It seems that Lars and Joern are both two unstable chemicals, that, when you mix together, explode in a loud, abnoxious and (usually messy) way. It's not that they don't get along, it's that they do get along and aren't quiet about it. Hence, Joerns parents have given up on the "taking turns" dish system and have switched to method that leaves Joern and Lars in separate rooms, doing the dishes themselves. I would call it genius of Joern and Lars, but I'm not quite sure that they're even aware of the great system that they have going.

     Dishes aside, Joern's dad said something sarcastic today. It was really funny because I've only ever seen him as this really serious guy that gets annoyed when Joern and I have arguments just for fun. We were talking about marrying Mexicans for citizenship and how I may or may not do it one day. I also learned that it is extremely illegal in Germany and results in deportation and detaining of the German that attempted the stunt. It was then that Joern asked, "Do they fly back in economy class?" and Joerns dad countered with, "No, they fly back first class." I guess stupid questions will always get stupid answers.

     These past two days have been lots of walking, church-seeing and ice cream eating. Since the first two days was seeing the big stuff, the last two days of our five-day stay have been walks through the city. It's been really funny because Lars and Joern never stop asking when we will go back to the apartment. They're like magnets I guess that constantly feel pulled into the abyss of doing nothing. Anyways, it's been a long four days and we've still got one more to go.

12.6.17
     It's a few days later and since the last time I wrote, we've packed up from Rome and headed up north to Bassano del Grappa which is a little north west from Venice (which we will see tomorrow). After driving for six hours, we finally came to our gorgeous house that we will be staying in for the next two days. I couldn't shut up about how cool it is because it feels like something straight out of a movie because of how the rooms are all elevated over a common area with no walls but still a roof. Anyways, after settling in, we headed into the city to get some food because we don't have a kitchen.

     This was our first time eating out in Italy on this vacation and my first time trying real Italian food. I got a Calzone Ricotta e Spinaci and, of course the black woman inside me couldn't help but moan. Sure any restaurant can have a wood oven and a cooled table to make pizza on, but ain't nobody got nothing on the secrets these Italians have. I guess that now I can say that I have tried the pizza of the homeland and that nothing else is truly as good. Tomorrow, we will take the train into Venice as the city is 1) sinking and 2) parking is extremely expensive​ due to it's popularity.

I already said the date

Nat

Three, Four or Five? No One Knows

     Sitting on the balcony of our eighth floor apartment, one could watch the cars, motorbikes and whatnot else flow by for hours. Rather than the big street having designated lanes like there would be in the ever so organized Germany, there is simply a line through the middle of the road so that cars don't hit each other head-on. Other than that, the street is a free-for-all. Hence, it is quite a fun activity to watch the cars fight for dominance and form three, four or five lanes depending on how aggressive everyone is feeling. In fact, when one adds in the lanes the motorbikes make when they squeeze between the cars, I would say there could be even seven. All of this in what would be the equivalent to the size of a two lane per direction boulevard in the US.

     I would say that the word chaotic isn't quite strong enough to describe the traffic in Rome. Our drive in Yesterday was a nail-biting, hold-on-to-your-seat, hope-you-don't-die experience​. And I loved it. I'm pretty sure that if I would have been driving, I would have run over at least 20 motorbikes and how many other countless pedestrians that think they own the street. Nonetheless, I don't think words can describe the tension in our mega-mini-van as we fought through the streets yesterday.

     After driving in a few circles around the block, we eventually found a parking space where we could squeeze our mega-mini-van in, and unpacked. Luckily, but also unluckily, our holiday apartment is on the top floor of the building. That means that 1) we get the best terrace but 2) that we have to take two trips with the teeny tiny elevator or take the stairs. Nonetheless, we unpacked the car and headed out to find a grocery store to load up on supplies. I got some real, Italian prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) that was probably the best ham that I will ever eat and also some cool elderberry-lemon Fanta that they apparently only have in Italy. After the grocery store, we headed back to the apartment to cook some dinner and go to bed.

     This morning was what I would call in the Fischer Family, one of the more stressful ones, but nevertheless we got going and were ready to start the day by about 930. First we had to find the metro. From what I've seen so far, I would call the Rome metro another one of Italy's desperate attempts at infrastructure due to the lack of connections, overcorwding and failure to offer an alternative​ to driving due to the latter. The lack of connections doesn't effect us so much, as we only need to get to the the main things, but still, a city this crowded requires reliable public transportation. Anyhow, we arrived at the Piazza Venezia at about 10 and started our day. There, we found the Basilica di San Marco which is found behind the big white monument that looks a lot like a bigger version of the Lincoln memorial. After getting our photos and a quick history lesson, we the headed over to Colonna Traiano (Trajan's Column) which is all of his battles from some war wrapped around a big tall column. It was really cool to see it because when we were in a museum somewhere in Munich the other month, we saw a mini version and I said to Joern, "We're gonna see the real thing when we go to Rome." and now we have and it's full circle and Joern, surprise, still didn't care. Anyhow, next we headed over to the Foro di Traiano and Mercati di Traiano (Trajan's Forum and Market). The forum is just ruins, but the market was really cool to see because we learned about it in history class.

     I could go on and on about all the endless ruins of basilicas, shrines, courtyards, gardens, churches and arches we saw in the Palatino and not to mention we saw the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus), but when it comes down to it, they're all just ruins and there isn't much to see, but rather to learn. Eventually, we came out of the ruins to the Colosseo (Colosseum) and I guess one could say that it is colossal. We were smart and had advanced tickets, so we got to skip the insane line and go straight in. It was funny, because it felt like a Six Flags ride, but actually wasn't. Anyhow, I've seen plenty of movies about the Colosseum so you could say that I pretty much know everything there is to know about it. And I have to say, it was super awesome to be in the same place where Russel Crowe fought off the other gladiators and whupped butt. In my opinion, they should rebuild the place so that it actually has use other than for sweaty tourists to take pictures of. But then again, I also think we should air-condition​ the Sahara so it's not hot anymore, so what do I know.

     After the Colosseum, Inga and Lars wanted to get ice cream and Joern and Lars wanted to head back to the apartment to "study". It was already 1600, so we started our search for a decent ice cream parlor, which isnt too hard in Italy. I got Dulce de Leche, Caffé, and Vaniglia. And of couse, they were amazing. After ice cream, we headed back to the apartment​ on the wonderful public transportation, went grocery shopping again, had some dinner drama, and are now winding down for the day.

Today is 8 June 2017

Nat

Call It Paradise And Kiss It Goodbye

     Sitting on a bench today, taking a break from our day of walking the crowded streets of Firenze, we decided to have a little power-snack to keep us going. Not two seconds after we opened our bags to take out some num-nums, a lonely little pigeon had found us. And not two seconds more until a whole flock was bobbing away at our toes, trying to eat our shoes. And so it is with people when someone finds something good.

     At about 900 we stepped out the door and bought some bus tickets to get us into the city. Little did we know that the bus system in Italy is total kaputt, disorganized, and übervoll. So we we ended up not taking the bus. Once we finally were finished fighting through the construction that wasn't being constructed and the traffic that wasn't going anywhere, we arrived into the downtown area. I wouldn't describe it being a relief from any of the latter, but I have to say the buildings were substantially prettier. First, we walked past the Galleria dell' Academia where we wouldn't be seeing the David Statue due to the INSANE line of people that seemed to never end; however, I did get a picture of the line of the people to see the David Statue which is basically the same thing.

     From there, we headed over to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore where we also wouldn't be going in because the line wrapped around the whole thing and it happened to cost money. So far, it was two things on the list that Germany does better; the public transportation and free entrance to churches. The good thing was that most of the money was spent building the church rather than decorating the inside. My guess is because they ran out of money by the time they were done building the church out of solid marble. Nonetheless, we got our photos and moved on.

     Next up was a lot of walking where, along the way we saw plenty of expensive shops, people, statues, marketplaces, landmarks such as arches, bridges and fountains, churches that we did go inside, and of course lots and lots of street hawkers. For those who don't know, in Italy there are many African  immigrants for whom it is difficult to obtain work, so many of them have taken to selling plastic junk to tourists as a means of survival. Joern and I have adopted the the name of "pigeons" to these pesky people that will never leave us tourists alone, and we strongly stand by our vows "Not to feed the pigeons!". As I always say, it's not a racist thing, but rather that anyone shoving stupid crap in your face ever two meters would be extremely annoying. So, we didn't feed the pigeons today.

     Of course along the way we found an ice cream shop to indulge ourselves in. After all, we are in Italy, are we not? It seems as though that it's impossible to find an ice cream shop in Italy that makes you moan like a black woman (or me) at KFC after the prohibiton of chicken has been lifted. I thought that Wisconsin had something going with it's frozen custard or Cedar Crest or whatever, but all of that is forgotten now. Nothing beats Italian ice cream.

     After trying to eat our ice cream as slow as enjoyably possible, we stumbled upon another Sunglass store that happened to be having a sale. Joern's mom and I instantly turned to Joern expectantly, hoping that he'd want to go in and find a pair. Despite his excitement yesterday over all the different kinds of glasses and my new ones that I had got, he had a bad case of shoppers-anxiety and denied our pleads for him to go inside. It was funny, because I often see this in my brother, Josh whenever he is unsure about a purchase. I; however, follow my gut and know what I want when I see it and what I don't when I do. I guess not  everyone is that way, and that's okay. Anyways, Joern ended up getting the boring-est pair (in my opinion) of Ray•Bans® that the store had AND forking over 100€ for them. I don't think I'll ever quite understand why someone would blow so much money on something that has either 1) no bright colors or 2) is not shiny, but I guess not everyone thinks like I do. For now, I guess I have to say I understand it but I don't.

     After walking and walking the beautiful, non-Italian filled streets some more, we came upon a church with wet stairs where I learned that the Italian government actually spends money on keeping them wet so that tourists won't sit on them, but rather eat in a café and spend more money. So, anyone looking to come to Florence, I recommend you bring a tarp along. As well as wet stairs, we walked past countless leather stores, stalls and vendors that seemed to have no end. I bought a bracelet as my "leather souvenir from Italy", but maybe one day I'll come back with my millions and get a few more things.

     As the day was coming to an end, we decided to take a snack break on a bench in a nice little square with a nice pigeon-pooped on fountain. It was there where we were swarmed by pigeons and I couldn't help thinking of how, at one time, this city wasn't filled with tourists, but rather a unique culture and peole that must have been at one time a beautiful thing to see. Don't get me srong, Florence is still a life-filled and vibrant, growing city, it's just that I was reminded that it's impossible to find something truly genuine in this world, but rather, we have to make it ourselves.

Today is 6 June 2017

Nat

Inside: The Life of a Professional Tourist

     It seems as though I've been all over the continent of Europe in the past few weeks, but I know that it is far from being over. Don't get me wrong, I love every second of it and I have come to identify myself as being a professional tourist.

     To be a professional tourist, one must find the delicate balance between gobbling up the cheesey, famous stuff AND enjoying the not-so-famous hikes, walks, and nooks and crannies of the place being visited. I would say that my career as a professional tourist began three years ago in our trip to Berlin for the first time. We were taking a bus tour and it was very difficult to take pictures of the landmarks we were driving past, but me being the determined person I am, got good enough pictures from the moving bus. I said, "rule #1, a professional tourist will do anything for a good photo". And that's where it all began.

     Three years and 10,000 pictures later, I have seen plenty more through the eyes of a professional tourist and am ready to take on the the arguably tourist capital of the world, Italy. One must know the ropes pretty well to take on a country so diverse and daft as Italy, and I get the privilege of taking it on.

     We started our trip at four in the morning last Friday to beat the Pfingstferien (pentacost holiday) traffic; being of course the professional tourists we are, we knew that the whole of southern Germany would be making the mass Exodus to Italy and we knew to beat them by getting up early. The drive through die Schweiz (Switzerland) reminded me a lot of driving through Colorado, just overall nicer. Sorry, no offence Colorado. I also got the chance to exchange a few euros for some Schweizer Franken at a gas station that let you pay with euros but gave you change in Francs. It was a little sleazy because the Swiss franc is worth considerably less than the euro and I only got the change back that I would've gotten if I'd payed with francs, but that's the price you pay I guess.

     We were able to tell that we were out of Swizerland, not because of the big sign, or even the the border drive-thru, but rather because of the fact the the tunnels through the mountains were considerably less fancy Tha. Switzerland and the buildings were no longer built to survive the next nuclear war. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Milan is a beautiful city, it's just that Switzerland does it better than Italy I guess. Anyways, after the twelve-hour drive, we finally arrived at our Ferienwohnung (holiday apartment) in Firenze (Florence, Florenz in German). It was burning hot, but luckily air conditioning is a must-have in Italy, unlike in Germany, so we won't have to completely die in these next two weeks. We hit up a near by grocery store to stock up on suplies and I got to hear some Italian spoken.

     I haven't heard too much of the language, but so far my gist of Italian is that it's a lot like Spanish but way more fun.  Joern thinks that it's more like French, so I'm not quite sure who's right, but I guess we both hear what we know.

     Yesterday was our first full day of professional tourism and we hit up a village about an hour away from Florence called San Gimignano. San Gimignano is famous for having lots of towers that families built at one time to show their greatness over each other and also for the archery match the happens once every year between the green and the blue sides of the city. One knows this because of the flags displayed along the main promenade through the city. Being in Toscana (Tuscany), the landscape around the village is also gorgeous, so of course we had to make a short two hour hike out of our trip to see more than just where the amatuer tourists hang out.

     Today I got to photograph what is probably one of a professional tourist's biggest wet dreams. You guessed it (or not), today we went to Pisa. It was totally awesome to see it for real, but besides the tower, the church, and the dome there isn't much else to see in Pisa, but the nearby city of Lucca; however, is much more interesting and has, in my opinion, much more personality. In lucca, we went up one of the many church towers that make up it's skyline. The one we went up was really cool because it had trees at the top and there was a steel door on one of the landings near the top that you could use to lock people on the top. But sadly, Joerns mom wasn't as excited as we were to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

     After walking around the city for awhile, we stumbled upon a sunglass store that was having a decent sale on some name brands. It was funny because we had been talking about buying new glasses tomorrow when we go shopping in Florence, but fate has it's own plan and I ended up buying a pair of super cool 60€ Polaroids that weren't even on sale. Joern didn't instantly fall in love with anything so he will still be looking tomorrow when we go into the city. After the sunglass store, we walked a little bit on the Stadtmauer (City wall) where we may or may not have gotten yelled at by the Polizia for going too close the the edge which, mind you, was a four meter fall. Then we headed back like horses to a stable to the air-conditioned car.

     Tomorrow we go to Florence, the next day we go to Siena and then to Rome.

Today is 5 June 2017

Nat

Still Alive, But Barely

Stress, but not for me

     This past week has seemed crazy stressful for Joern as it seems as though his teachers will be throwing every single test and quiz they have at the class in the coming weeks. Lucky for me, I'm the exchange student that doesn't speak German and that no one expects anything from. So I don't really HAVE to do anything but stay awake in class. I guess that it's a great feeling to not have to work my butt off for a couple of months, but I also feel kind of guilty that I can't take most of the class tests because 1) they would be IMPOSSIBLE to understand and 2) even if everything were in English, I still would be completely behind because I haven't been with Joern's class for the past year. Don't get me wrong, I hope to get to a place where I can do better than a 5- (what I got on my most recent Spanish test, equal to a D-), but for now all I can do is try to binge learn as much of the language as possible.  

     I've tried to convince myself that it's okay to be flailing like a drowning goldfish (goldfish drown when they're exposed to air, right? or would it be suffocating then? anyways) by trying my best to improve my speaking, vocabulary, hearing, grammar and whatnot else by reading and watching TV. I've been reading Greg's Tagebuch (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and I've actually been understanding most of it, which I'm pretty proud of. It's not like I'm up to Harry Potter level (though I hope to be) quite yet, but I would strongly recommend books like Greg's Tagebuch to anyone trying to learn a language as the pictures can help clear up any words you may not know without having to whip out the dictionary. 

As well as chomping on some books, I've also discovered Netflix

     I've never had Netflix before (no, I'm not an alien), and now that I started my free trial, I'm not so sure about how easy it will be to let it go on 1 June when it's over. But nonetheless, it's for the good of learning, right? 

     I'm not quite sure if it's better to watch with subtitles or without, but I like watching with so that I can understand more than just the basic plot and compare what I hear with what I'm reading in real time. I think that I heard from somewhere that Swedish kids can speak fluent English by the time they're six because they grow up reading subtitles. So at that pace, I better move in here, cause it's gonna be another five and a half years. Kidding, but I'm hoping that I'm making the right decision with the whole with or without thing. As always, please leave a comment if you have any advice for me on this. And as always, remember that Kommentar Veroeffentlichen means publish comment. 

Trapped under the clouds

     Every so often, the sky will give us a break from it's relentless torment of rain and gloom. This week, the day we got to see the sun was Saturday. It's getting pretty tiring that the weather won't let up for more than a day at a time, but hey, at least we get a day every once in awhile. As Joern and I like to say, "Die boese Wettermaenner sollten fuer uns besser wetter schicken." (Those evil weathermen should schedule better weather for us). 

     The weather aside, I've been holding in there and getting excited about yet another upcoming trip, but this time to Berlin. And no, I'm not getting sick of always travelling, it's more of a dream that I'm getting to actually live out. Even though we went to Berlin two years ago, I'm still super excited about this trip because it looks like we might be doing an escape room or something fun and of the sort. And even though I've already seen all the big stuff, it can 1) never hurt to see it all again and 2) always teach you something new because this time, hopefully you'll be paying better attention. 

     Today's Monday and when we got to school, we were not only soaked to the bone, but we also came to the realization that all of our classes had been cancelled for the day. Even though was it a once-in-a-lifetime coincidence, we still had to bike all the way back up the hill in the refreshing morning downpour. Hooray. Luckily, the rain had let up and I would say that overall, I had a net loss of wetness by the time I got home. Today, I spent the day sitting inside watching Netflix and pretty much doing nothing, but all in the name of learning, right? 

Today is Monday, the Eighth of May in the Year of Our Lord MMXVII

Nat

Bavaria (and Austria) in Three Days

Arriving in Muenchen

     After waiting out the typical German holiday Stau (traffic jam) and being stuck next to a lady from Montana that talked about organs and who knows what else for the 3-hour-long trek, we finally arrived at the Muenchen ZOB (main bus station). There, we greeted Joern's Aunt, Tante Bine and drove off. She was very flustered because we had a movie to catch and we were a little late because of the Stau. But not that late. She had brought the salad to eat in the car because she thought that we wouldn't have enough time to eat the rest of dinner at home. There wasn't really any reason to be in a rush, but I definitely enjoyed the faster pace for a change. Anyways, after inhaling a delicious meal of asparagus, potatoes, Nueremburger wurstchen and a too-big quark fruit salad for dessert, we rushed our way to the Cinema. 

     For those that don't know, Munich is Germany's fancy city (at least in me and Joern's opinion) and the City Centre cinema was no disappointment. We saw Fast and Furious 8 and no, I haven't seen any of the other ones because car movies don't pique my fancy, but I guess I can say that I've seen it now. Anyways, after the movie was over I finally got to go pee and then we took the U-bahn back to Tante Bine's apartment which, mind you is only two stops away from City Centre.

2 Castles, 2 Churches and 1 Fortress: Day 1 
    I'm pretty sure that it's impossible to have a single still moment with Tante Bine as I woke up at 6.30 and were all out the door by 7.00. On a Saturday. It was really funny because me and Tante Bine were both ready with our shoes and jackets on at 6.55 while Joern was still moping around trying to get his teeth brushed and who knows what else. Finally, we were ready to go.

     By 8.00 we had reached our first of 5 destinations for the day. It was the Rococo style (don't ask because I don't know) Pilgrimage Church of Wies

Let the record state that the snow was only pretty because we had to see it for one day

It was really fun because, since we were up in the the Alps, there was snow everywhere and it made everything look magical with the sun so early in the morning. It was also cool because the church was so isolated from anything significant besides the mountains.

     From there, we drove for another thirty minutes to our second and third destinations for the day; Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Fortress. First we saw Hohenschwangau (high swan's valley). I know it's boring but I find the history of these two castles really funny because they were both built by some rich guy named Ludwig II. So he was this gay guy that lived FABULOUSLY but, he also spent all of his money and died before his new vacation home (Neuschwanstein) was completed, shame. But before he started building Neuschwanstein, he had inherited the "hunting cabin" of Hohenschwangau, which is more of a modest castle

Anyways, after taking a tour of Hohenschwangau, we turned around (literally) and walked up the other side of the valley to the Neuschwanstein (new swan stone) castle

The way up wasn't that bad as we only encountered some falling snow from the trees above and horse carriages (that apparently killed someone last year).

the outside is nice but only the main rooms on the inside are
complete as Ludwig II ran out of money and also died before
 it completion of his castle 

Hohenschwangau is somewhere down there

The fabulous Tante Bine on the left

     The last two pictures of the latter were taken from the infamous bridge that has the best view of the castle. Due to the snow, the bridge was technically closed off. But only by a slinky little piece of caution tape guarded the entrance to the path, so not really "closed off" rather not recommended. And us, being the professional tourists we are, decided to cross the tape in search of a good photo. I still can't say if it was worth it because we basically had to ski our way back down the hill to keep from falling over. Don't get me wrong, the skiing wasn't the sucky part, it was actually pretty fun, but the not so fun part was that me and Joern didn't have an extra pair of shoes along and we still had a museum, a church and a fortress to see yet. By the end of the day our feet were pretty stinky and my suitcase still smells from having to carry those socks, may they rest in peace.

     Despite our stinky situation, we had to power through and after the castles we stopped in the Bavarian Kings Museum to learn a little about the kings that made Bavaria the beautiful castle-dotted country that it is today. Normally in museums, Joern and I are held back by Joern's mom who always wants to look at EVERYTHING and it takes forever. But her sister is very different, as we found out, and we found ourselves being waited for when we got out of the exhibit. After the Bavarian Kings museum, we hit the road for Austria to fill up on cheap gas.

.15 €/L lower; that's .62 $/gal cheaper than just across the border in Germany

Before hitting up the Schloss (not quite sure what the translation is, but I say Fortress), we stopped a couple times to enjoy the view

     The Schloss that we visited was also built by our Ludwig II friend and was way over-the-top fancy on the inside, especially for being in such a secluded place. The gardens around the castle were really nice too, but unfortunately the fake caves that Ludwig had constructed were under construction. Who knew building fake caves would be so hard.

After seeing the Schloss, we had to rush rush rush our way over to our last destination which was a church in a nearby village. But first, of course I had to take a picture with the theme-of-the-day fitting swan that just so happened to cross our path:

Our next destination was a monastery church. All I can say about it is that the inside was round as opposed to the traditional long shape of a church. Don't get me wrong, it was a cool church, I had just been sleeping in the car and was ready to return to doing just that. It had been a long day.

Salzburg and Onkel Ernst: Day 2
     On Sunday we made the trek out of Munich once more to pick Onkel (uncle) Ernst up from where he lives. I'm not sure I'll ever understand why, but for some reason Onkel Ernst and Tante Bine don't live together. I'm told that they're looking for a house at the moment though. Anyways, after picking up Onkel Ernst, we drove back into Austria to the gorgeous city of Salzburg. Now I know what you're thinking, "That's the town from Sound of Music, right?" and yes it is, but we didn't see any of the typical American voodoo as it's pretty much just fake tourism. Rather, we saw the awesome castle on top of the hill

 And did a bunch of other cool things like take the sideways train up to the castle

     It was really cool because the train basically went 45 degrees up the hill rather than winding and curving to get to the top. The track was a little bit dodgy, but the train itself was far fancier than the one in Stuttgart and went way faster. At the top, Onkel Ernst brought out the selfie stick and let us play around with it. It was really funny because here I was, surrounded by Japanese, Chinese and Korean people all snapping away on their selfie sticks, and then there's me, the he-looks-asian-but-he's-speaking-english person snapping away as well. But nevertheless, I will never be able to shake my ancestral urge and love for the selfie stick

     After snapping a thousand pictures on the overlook, we headed into one of the museums. I particularly liked the way that this castle was set up because, rather than there being one huge museum that takes hours to get through, there were a bunch of small museums that made it like a museum buffet. It was set up so you could take a tour of what you wanted rather than be stuffed full of history and be bored to death. Hence, the first little museum we went in was a little puppet museum where we got to play around with one of the fun puppets that originated in Salzburg

And yes, there was a display on the puppets from the Sound of Music, but it was definitely not the focus. After the puppet museum we took an audio guided tour of one of the main parts of the castle where we got to go up a tower and I got to whip out the selfie stick again

It feels as though every single museum has an audio guide tour in literally every single language. I'm not sure what the deal is but I guess they make sense. I love taking the tours, not to listen to the boring information, but rather to watch everyone walk around like zombies, bored to death. But that's just my opinion.

The picture above reminded me a lot of the dodgy train tracks from The Polar Express, where the tracks go down a really steep hill and there's buildings all around. And the picture below is from the other dodgy train that we took up, but this time we were taking it down (and we got better seats).

After the castle we went to the mozart museum (which is just his old house), bought mozart kugeln (famous chocolate marzipan balls), went inside one of the big churches in Salzburg, and got lunch. I had schnitzel that was OK, but nothing too special as we were planning on having a bigger dinner. Anyways, from Salzburg we headed to some place that I forget the name of, but nonetheless, it had a good view

In the place who's name I don't know, we took a 40 minute boat ride to a little secluded church and tourist hotspot that could only be accessed by boat. Apparently all the other tourists had thought the sunny Sunday was a good day to take a boat ride as the line to get on a boat back stretched back for at least 200m. But in the meantime, we got some food. I got Johanisbeerschorle (red currant juice soda), spaetzle and some kind of Bavarian meatloaf with mushrooms on it

After eating we decided that we had no choice but to wait in the thankfully shrinking line

I found it funny because after waiting for 100m outside, we were led into this line-house just like Six Flags or Disney, but the difference was that we were in the middle of nowhere in the Alps. Anyways, after finally getting to the car, we started driving back to take Onkel Ernst home. But first, we decided to make another photo-stop by the Koenig See (King Lake)

I like this picture because you could take a marker and draw
whatever face you want on our faces

Munich: Day 3
     Since I saw most of the important sights in Munich on my last trip to Germany in 2014, we walked around a bit and settled for a big museum called Das Residenz that was the residence of the Bavarian monarchy for a very long time. But it was pretty much just a learn-until-you-bust and fun pictures day

yes that's a skull in there

I am Elsa

I am also the King

*and death*

Yes, it was a fun day. After having lunch, Tante Bine drove us to the bus station where we said our goodbye's and I thanked her for the awesome Bavaria-in-three-days tour. It was a great weekend and I really hope that I see Tante Bine again some day.

Update
     I know that this post is more like the length of three posts, but I promise I'm almost done. So Joern and I have come to the realization that we both have a severe coffee addiction and that we need to do something about it. We spent a good hour this afternoon reading about coffee addiction, the goods, the bads, and the benefits of quitting. It was very interesting, but we came to the conclusion that we can still reap the benefits of the magic of coffee if we siphon it down to only Thursdays (the day we have school until 17.00), Sundays and days with big tests. In the end, it should come out to be three times a week that we drink coffee rather than the 10+ that we are both currently at. If anyone has any tips, please please please help us and drop some advice in the comments. Remember that Kommentar Veroeffentlichen means "publish comment".

As usual, it's really late and I still have homework to get around to procrastinating.

Today is 2.5.2017

Nat

Sexism and Other Atrocities

Like the Wisconsinites
     April in Germany has brought cold weather and truncated days to our tourism (yes we're still going) in Dresden. Which has left plenty of time for us to burn in our hotel room. It's just me Joern and Lars and we can pretty much do whatever we want because we're on a different floor. Our first day here at Holiday Inn, we were being a bit loud and Joern's dad called to tell us that someone called the front desk and complained about us being too loud. We found out later that it was just a joke, but I was extremely annoyed at the time. I wasn't annoyed because we got in trouble either, but because I thought that someone had called the desk instead of confronting us at our door. I know it's dumb to expect everyone to be like me and confront thier problems head on, but I found it unnerving that some (presumably) German people complained about us when they could have cut out a middle man and just asked us nicely to quiet down. It was just a joke, but Joern told me that similar behavior can be very typical of German people. I found this tidbit funny because being passive-aggressive and not telling people your problems is very Midwest and (in my opinion) is very unhealthy.

Sexism in Germany
     Also being cooped up in our hotel room has given us plenty of time to watch some authentic (as well as dubbed American) TV shows. I find some of the German ones particularly interesting because of their attitudes towards the roles of men and women in society.

     As many people know, I like to joke around and poke fun at miniscule details and things that probably aren't even sexist for fun when watching TV and what else. But when it comes down to it, I am a total die-hard Gender Equality Advocate (I find the term 'Feminist' sexist) and I really do believe that women and men should be treated as complete equals. Different, sure, but 100% equal.

     Anyways, watching German TV has surprised me in the fact that it is not nearly as careful around the topic of gender as American TV is. One would think that, being a European country, Germany would be far ahead of the US in terms of gender equality, but it turns out to be quite the contrary (in my opinion). For example, we were watching this one show (don't ask why) called Frauentausch (or Wife-swap). In the US, one would (at least I would) assume that a show with a name like Wife-swap, yes, sounds sexist, but probably depicts the wives as being independant and send an empowering message to women in the end. But in Germany, apparently one can't expect television to be so progressive. In Germany, a show called Wife-swap is exactly what it sounds like: stay-at-home moms (housewives, so the Germans say [Hausfrauen], how I hate that term) being ridiculed for thier bad cooking and spending thier days cleaning, only to have a family that could care less about how hard they work. Yes, this show really got me ranting so we ended up turning it off, but I found it abhorrent that something so sexist is even allowed on TV.

     I have yet to figure out if the German media is to blame for this problem, but I've been doing some reading and I've started to find out that the problem runs much deeper. From what I've found out, the problem lies with the attitude that women and men take towards themselves. For example (I've noticed this at home), Inga loves to watch midieval-themed kids soap opera shows that usually end up with some girl becoming the princess, falling in love some rich guy and having all her problems solved (I prefer Moana because who needs a man?). Rather than these shows being empowering, they have quite the opposite effect and teach kids that men do the dirty work while women sit pretty and have the babies.

     I could go on and on, but my point is that watching German TV has opened my eyes to how far the US has come in terms of empowering children to be themselves and to grow up to be their own individual rather than someone's lesser or greater half.

Other Atrocites
     Whew. The deep topics aside, I have also been noticing (as well as participating in) some quite peculiar oddities that the typical American would be naturally repelled by.

#1: French Fries with Forks

     I find this absolutely horrible as well, I mean it makes no sense at all, like weren't french fries made to be eaten with your fingers? Nonetheless I have been (at least trying to) do it as much as I can because I am a firm believer that I am here to abosrb the culture rather than bring mine here.

#2: Pizza with Forks

     This one makes a bit more sense because Italian pizza is super-thin and doesn't slice well, but it is; however, acceptable for children (I will forever be a child) to slice pizza and eat it by hand.

#3: Paying to use the bathroom

     Let me just say that peeing is a right, not a privelage.

#4: Paying for water

     Something everyone should know as well as not getting refills.

#5: Tatort

     To an American, Tatort is the biggest atrocity of all. Let's just say that Tatort is basically Germany's attempt at a cop show. A cop show without good detectives, cool cop cars, believable bad guys and worst of all, without guns.

Still Going    
     It's been a long two-week vacation and I'm pretty sure everyone is ready to go back to Esslingen for some good quality non-family time. Today we went to the opera here in Dresden, which was more educational than interesting because it had real-time subtitles in German and English. They were conveniently side by side, so I could read both while trying to figure out what the heck was going on in the actual show. After 3.5 hours of solid concentration, my head exploded and we went to dinner where I got a not-only-bigger-than-your-head-but-bigger-than-everyones-at-the-table-combined sardine and caper pizza. It was very salty.

     After dinner we came back to the hotel and watched Germany's Next Top Model (Lar's pick, don't ask why). I started getting frustrated because of it's shallowness (hence, the topic for this post) so I decided to put in some headphones and write.

     Tomorrow we leave the former communist East Germany for Bavaria. Namely for a day trip to Nueremberg and then back home to Esslingen in Baden-Wuertenburg. Like I said it's been a long two weeks, but I'm totally ready to hard core tourist whatever Nueremberg has to offer.

Today is 20.4.2017

Nat

Rain and "Brothels"

Trip to Muenster

     After gorging ourselves for the last time on the breakfast buffet at Holiday Inn Express Essen, we hit the road north for Hamburg. But, of course, since no one wants to drive for a solid four hours, we decided to make a quick jaunt to the town of Joern's dad's alma mater, the Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet in Muenster. 

     My first impression of this college town was all of the bikes. Even for Europe, the amount of bikes and dedicated bike lanes was quite overwhelming. To go along with the pedestrian-oriented theme, there is also a promenade around the Innenstadt (old/inner city) reserved for pedestrians and bicycles. I really liked it because it felt like a big wrap-around park. 

the pedestrian way and bicycle way side by side (naturally the bikes get the bigger path)

After visiting Joern's dad's old apartment and going to the "beste Baeckerei Muensters", we made our way into the Innenstadt. The Innenstadt is famous for it's Arkaden over the walkways to shelter the entrances to the elegant boutiques

 For lack of a better word, I guess you could call the Arkaden awnings, but I wasn't quite sure. 

     After gawking at expensive clothes and things that hopefully I will one day be able to buy and going into yet another slew of churches, we piled into the Multivan and finished our trek to Hamburg. 

     For dinner I had Hamburger Labskaus mit Rollmops

A red beet, ground beef and potato patty with an egg on top (Labskaus) and herring rolled pickles (Rollmops)

with a house-brewed pilsner, of course. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

     We woke the next day to a windy, rainy, cold day in Hamburg. Typical, so I'm told. After riding the bus past the countless brick buildings so common in northern Germany, we arrived at our first stop.

Like most of our tourism, this was yet another snap-and-go destination. It is a brick building (naturally) built in the shape of a ship to commemorate Hamburg's history, and present status as a major port city. 

     From there we walked to the old harbor district that is now home of a bunch of museums and other popular tourist destinations that aren't important. Then we crossed the Elbe on one of the 2,500 of the city's bridges to make our way to the Elbphilharmonie, a new famous theater that cost a whopping 789 million euros to build

A picture from the boat ride we took

     From there we took refuge from the Scheiss Wetter on a boat ride that took us up the Elbe and then back down (about an hour). It was very interesting to see the contrast between the city-side of the Elbe with all of the fancy buildings to the other side, with all of the cranes and modern port-related things. After the boat ride and a bit more walking, we took refuge yet again in yet another church, but this time the church was a different style, which I found refreshing. Instead of it being the typical medieval style of church (like the Koelner Dom), this church was more renaissance themed and felt a bit like the architecture of Washington D.C. 

     After seeing the Hauptkirche St. Michaelis, we took the U-bahn (subway) the the city's main shopping district. There, we checked out the cool apple store with it's badass glass staircase and mediocre product (my and Joern's opinion). But, nonetheless, I got to touch a red iPhone 7 which made me feel pretty cool. 

     When we were finished gawking (once again) at things that we will one day buy, we gave up our fight against the weather and headed back to the hotel. Just when everything was almost dry, we headed out to find something to eat for dinner. I wasn't in the mood to try anything too outrageous so I ended up getting Haenchenbrust Schnitzel over some kind of pasta that smelled like snot, but tasted good

with a beer, of course. I got an Alsterwasser which is a 50/50 mix of lemonade and pilsner (I think)  that is called Radler everywhere else in Germany except Hamburg, so I guess it's kind of special, but only because it has a different name. 

Day Two

     On our second day, I woke to discover that the sky had not permanently become grey, but is still the blue that I once remembered it. It was very refreshing, but there still was the occasional shower that would blow through during the day, so there really was no escape from the rain. 

     The weather aside, we decided to make a tour of the city's main sights that we had missed the day before. We started out taking the train out of the city a ways, up the Elbe and to an old "poor" fisherman's village. I say poor because it once was poor, but no more. There, we got to see an original reed-roofed house 

 and a cluster of charming "poor peoples'" homes on a hill

from there we walked back towards Hamburg along the Elbe for a few kilometers. I found some cool broken red brick pieces to keep as a cool souvenir and I got to touch the Elbe

I was very disappointed that I didn't get to touch the Rhein when we were in Duesseldorf and Koeln, but I'm pretty sure it could matter less XD.  Anyways, after our walk along the Elbe and seeing the Airbus factory on the other side, we took a bus back into the city where we walked through the old tunnel that leads to the other side of the Elbe. But not only is this tunnel for pedestrians and tourism, cars can also pass through for a mere two euros which was a little bit annoying at times.

I  also found it really cool (everyone else thought I was crazy) that the place where you have to take the elevator down, felt exactly like the pit-prison from The Dark Knight Rises

it was kind of hard to get into one picture, but it felt pretty cool to climb out of the pit (or at least a similar one) that Batman did. From there we got Fischbroetchen because we were dying of hunger

It's pretty much what it looks like, fish on a bun. I think mine was herring. From there we walked to the shopping district again where we saw the town hall and other cool-looking government buildings and also saw a few different shops that we didn't the day before. While walking we saw more things that I will one day have such as watches that cost 315.900 euros

From there we took the subway to Hafencity which is this really cool district completely built on artificial land into the Elbe. They're still building many of the buildings, but much of it is also complete. For example, there are many apartments that are built and available around the Elbphilharmonie, but as you go farther east, the buildings become newer and newer and you see more and more construction. We came out of one of the new subway stations to find ourselves in the middle of all of this construction. It was very interesting to find such a big and fancy subway station and so few people, but I guess they built it to be prepared for the future. 

"Brothels" 

    From the very fancy and soon-to-be upscale district of Hafencity, we walked (just a short ways) to the district of St. Pauli which contains Hamburg's renowned red light district. And inside of the red light district, one can find the Herberstrasse which is famous for it's many whorehouses (or Brothel, so I'm told the politically correct word is) And no, we didn't go in because there was a gate and a  sign that very clearly stated that to enter you must be 1) at least 18 and 2) a male (which I found very sexist), but just from walking around the rest of the red light district, we got the idea of what the renowned Herberstrasse contained. 

     Hamburg is a city of contrast when it comes to it's many districts. Just next to the graffitied streets of the red light district, right across the street in fact, one could see the very nice and well kept streets of the Bavarian Quarter with all of it's nice buildings and expensive hotels. I found it fascinating to find such contrast so close. 

     From our little jaunt in the not so family friendly red light district, we headed back to our hotel (which was also in St. Pauli, mind you) to take a short break (Pause, so the German word is) before dinner. For dinner I got some kind of flat fish with bacon on top. But nevermind what I got because Joern got trout. And being a vegetarian (pescatarian, rather), he had to decapitate his own fish and sort out the bones himself

Which was hilarious. I; however, being the team player I am gladly took the head and removed the eyeballs for myself as a yummy treat. Joern's mom was totally grossed out I could tell, but didn't say anything. 

     The next day was black Friday (Good Friday, oops) and I tried the whole not eating meat thing for the day. We had breakfast in the hotel, packed our bags, and hit the road for Nieheim. 

Nieheim

     Yesterday we arrived in the tiny and lonely village of Nieheim to visit Joern's grandparents. I soon found out that Nieheim is the home of all of the cousins, aunts, uncles, and exes of those aunts and uncles as well as Oma and Opa Nieheim. It turns out that Joern's parents are the only ones on this side of the family to not be divorced. Anyhow, the whole family came over last night to go for a walk and ended up staying for dinner. Now I know who got who's nose. 

     Today Fastenzeit (Lent) is over and I can finally drink tea again. I hope I don't overdose. I started the day out with going to my first Aldi Nord (North) with Joern's dad to stock up on groceries to get us through the next few days

Aldi Nord is different than the Aldi Sued. Aldi Sued is what we have in America and Baden-Wuertenburg and, in most peoples' opinions, it is much better. After finally going into an Aldi Nord, I can finally say for myself that Aldi Sued is better. After unloading the groceries from the car, I took another trip into the city (one could call it) with Joern's grandpa to get beer in a Tante Emma Laden (Auntie Emma Shop). Not as common in Germany anymore, Tante Emma Laden are supposed to be tiny stores where you can buy everything. And, as with Aldi Nord, after seeing one for myself, I now know that you can buy everything in a Tante Emma Laden.

     After an in-car tour of the village with Joern's grandpa, we came home to have Mittagsbrot (light lunch) as we will have a big dinner tonight. Then, this afternoon I piled into the car with Joern's mom, aunt, Cousinen (girl-cousins), and Inga to go to a slightly larger village that has a Kino (Cinema) of it's own. While the cousins and Inga all watched Bibi & Tina, me and the ladies hit the streets to do some shopping.

     Now that we're all back home and Fastenzeit is over, the family cracked open a bottle of Sekt (German Champagne) to break the alcohol fast. Dinner is almost ready and I think we're going to be having venison. I'm told it's so good that even Joern and Lars eat it, so we'll have to see.

Today is 15 April 2017

Nat