Dresden, Germany

A couple of weeks ago, Chris and Al came out to Germany for the week. I picked them up in Hannover, then they hung around here in Braunschweig on Saturday night and Sunday. From there, they traveled to Berlin and Munich, but unfortunately I had to stay behind and work. However, me and Loren did take Friday off, and we all planned on meeting up in Prague, Czech Republic, for the weekend.

We woke up early Friday and headed to Hannover, from where we jumped on a train to Dresden, in eastern Germany. We were supposed to catch another train from the Dresden Central Station. Unfortunately we got off one stop too soon, and missed our train by 6 minutes. We were able to catch another train, but we had to wait a 3 or 4 hours. So, we decided to take a walk through Dresden, as I have heard it to be a beautiful city. It sure didn’t disappoint. The center of the city was filled with old, elaborate buildings and cathedrals. We checked out a few shops, then walked by the Dresden Kreuzkirche, the Dresden Cathedral, and a few other old clock towers. It turned out to be a great way to kill a bit of time!

We headed back to the train station, and finally hopped on our train to Prague. However, we didn’t start moving. After 30 minutes, we knew something was wrong. They made an announcement that a new train was on its way, as ours was broken. So, it was another hour or so wait before we were actually on our way.

At least it gave us a chance to see Dresden!

Internship - Hannover Grosser Wellenkanal

Things have been pretty busy the last few weeks or so with work. We finally got involved with the project we are taking part in, and we’ve put in a lot of time already. As an overview, I am working for TU Braunschweig’s Leicht Weiβ Institut für Wasserbau. So far, I have done most work at the Grosser Wellenkanal in Hannover, which is the world’s biggest wave tank, at 300 meters long. In the tank, we are building a dike, on which we will eventually run wave breaking tests on. When I first started, the sand core of the dike was already laid down. So, I helped lay down the next layer of clay. Once the clay was all compacted and smoothed out, we began to add on the top grass layer. For the grass, we used large soil and grass mats, each of which weighed over 100 pounds. We had to cut each mat to size, and bring them by crane to the dike at the center of the wave tank. There, we put the mats in place. Finally, we set up lamps over the grass. Now, we are giving the grass 3 ½ weeks to grow and set in. Then, we will fill the wave tank with water, and run tests and experiments on the dike.

All of the information on the EroGRASS project can be found at:

http://www.kyst.dk/sw12634.asp

Bad Luck

Well, I have been striking out lately as far as traveling goes. Two weekends ago, I had plans to go to London. The flight was booked, the hostel was booked, and a tour of the Baths, Stonehenge, and Windsor Castle was booked. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out as planned. I made sure to pack the day before so I wouldn’t forget anything in the morning, and I thought all was good. We woke up early, caught a 7:00 train to Bremen, and arrived at the airport an hour and a half before our flight, which is perfect timing for flying Ryan Air. As we went to check in, one of the people traveling with me said, “I hope everyone remembered their passports.” Ooops. Right away I knew that I had forgotten all about it. I talked to just about everyone at every desk I could find, and I was pointed in the direction of the airport police. For a minute, it looked as though things would be ok. I was told that the police could make me a temporary passport, which was accepted by nearly every airline. That is, of course, except Ryan Air. Go figure. So, instead of going to London, I had to take a 3 hour trip home. And, the flight was nonrefundable. At least I will never do that again! I’m sure I will get to London soon anyways.

The following weekend, three of us made travel arrangements to head to Croatia from Saturday to Wednesday. We planned on flying out of Dortmund to Split, and spending a night there. Then, we had arrangements to island hop on the ferry all the way down to Dubrovnik, before taking a bus up to Zagreb, where we would fly back out of. Unfortunately, the few days prior to our departure, problems arose in nearby Serbia and Kosovo. While Croatia is independent from the others, we heard that there was a chance that problems could occur, since the countries border one another. So, we decided that it was better to be safe than sorry, and we cancelled our trip. So, that’s 2 strikes on the last 2 travel attempts. Hopefully the next one will work better!

Instead of Croatia, we just ended up hanging around Braunschweig for the weekend. But, we did also take a quick train ride into Wolfsburg for a motorcycle convention as well, and it was pretty neat. I definitely missed the trips, but the weekends still always turn out fun!

Braunschweig Carnival

Last Sunday was Carnival in Braunschweig, and I had been hearing about how great it was all week. Honestly, I didn’t expect too much from a small city like Braunschweig, yet I was told by numerous people that it was one of the biggest parades in Germany. Well, it lived up to what I had been told, and certainly didn’t disappoint. Sunday morning at 12:00, Ray and I walked a few bahn stops down from where the parade was supposed to begin, as all of the roads had been blocked off. I was surprised right away by the sheer number of people….more people than I have probably ever seen before, as far down the street as was visible. And, this parade route stretched 6 kilometers to the city center, so we were not even in the busiest or most popular area! Still, on every corner, booths were set up selling beer, bratwurst, and kabobs.

The parade was scheduled to start at 12:40, and believe it or not, as soon as my watch said 12:40, the first float was on its way. All of the floats were extremely elaborate….nothing like I have ever seen before other than on TV for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. All together, I heard that there were over 50 bands and 400 floats. The atmosphere was pretty neat, and we were just about the only ones not dressed up. Little kids were running around dressed as Indians, pirates, and super heroes….and even most of the adults were in full costume! Everyone was certainly happy! All of the kids ran around with pillowcase-sized bags, trying to get armfuls of candy and toys. Many of the adults participated as well. The floats weren’t only throwing hard candy like you’d normally see, but full sized candy bars, bags of chips, stuffed animals, T-shirts, calendars, gift certificates, bottles of wine, and toys of all kinds. One float was even handing out small bratwursts, while the baker’s float tossed freshly baked buns. After an hour, almost every kid had a full bag! We ended up staying over 3 hours, until nearly 4:00, but finally decided to head home. Unbelievably, the parade was still going, and it didn’t look like the end was near. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and we had a beautiful day….I’m not jealous of all that snow you guys are having back home!

Later on that night, at about 11:00, a huge group of us all met at Barnaby’s Blues Bar to watch the Superbowl. The owner lived in Chicago for 40 years, and has an American sports channel. It was a great time, but things didn’t turn out how most of us would have liked them. Enough said with that. Oh, well. The Celtics have been on a tear, and the Sox are already reporting to Spring Training. We have a lot to look forward too!

Lübeck

Since everyone was still getting back in and settled from Christmas vacation, five of us decided to take just a day trip to Lübeck, in Northern Germany, on the Baltic Sea. Lübeck, the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, and the largest German port on the Baltic Sea, is full of rivers and canals. It is also world famous for one of the largest annual ice sculpture exhibitions in the world, known as Ice World. Every year, Ice World is held in the Lübeck Convention Center, inside a giant refridgerated tent. Since the event was only showing between Christmas and the end of January, we figured this would be our last chance to go.

We woke up very early, and caught the 6:20 am train out of Braunschweig to Lübeck. At the train station, we ran into a friend and his girlfriend, who just happens to be from near Lübeck, and she said that Ice World was something that we did not want to miss. After a 4 1/2 hour ride to Lübeck (at least I got to see a bunch of deer in the fields), we finally arrived at the main train station. We asked for directions to Ice World, and started towards the Convention Center, which was merely 500 meter away. However, when we got there, the entire building was empty. Noone could point us in the right direction from there, so we took a lunch stop at Subway instead. Afterwards, we asked about Ice World at a nearby hotel, only to find out, that for some reason, the event was not taking place this year. They have it every year, just not this year. Go figure. Anyways, it was a nice day, so we made the most of it and walked around the center of town for a few hours. The town is beautiful, and we got to see the Holstentor, the town hall, and handfuls of rivers and canals.

Unfortunately, we had to head out pretty early, as we had a long trip back. The way back had four connections, and we had no problem up until the last stop. When we were about 1 1/2 hours outside of Braunschweig, we waited at the final station, but our train never came. It was listed as arriving, but it never showed up. So, we had to sit at the station for 2 1/2 hours until the next train, and didn't end up making it back until after midnight. To make it worse, one of the people on the trip with us lost her wallet on the train. So, it turned out to be a pretty unlucky day. But, the town of Lübeck itself was amazing.

At least we got rid of all that bad luck in one day. The next day, the Pats had no trouble moving on!!!!!!

Family Trip To Hannover

We woke up early the next morning, grabbed breakfast once again at the hotel, and then took the S-Bahn to the nearby Munich main train station. Once there, we found our train to Hannover no problem, and dragged our luggage on for the long, 4 ½ hour journey, to Hannover. By the time we made it to Hannover, it was already starting to get pretty late. We checked in our belongings at the Best Western Hotel, and bought a drink in the pub while we decided what to do with our remaining time. When we were finished with the drinks, we headed out to the Bahn stop out front, and rode into the city. We walked around for a while, and Rachel got to check out a handful of stores along the way. Once it was dark, we headed to another Block House for our final family dinner together in Germany. The supper was great, and we headed out for a bit more shopping once we were finished. We also stopped at a bakery, as well as an ice cream shop on the way back to the hotel. Once back at the hotel, we organized all of our luggage for my family’s plane ride home in the morning. I ended giving them my large suitcase to take back for all of the gifts and souvenirs.

In the morning, we made it to breakfast at 6:15, ate very quickly, then jumped on the Bahn for the main train station. From there, we caught another train the rest of the way to the Hannover airport. We were a little early, so we waited around for about half an hour until the gate opened. Then, we said our goodbyes, and they were on their way. Luckily, everything went well. My family made it home no problem, and I had no trouble getting back to Braunschweig. It turned out to be a great family trip!

Family Visit To Munich, Day Four

We woke up the next morning, our final day in Munich, and decided to head to the Dachau concentration camp. We hopped on the U-Bahn, and then took a bus the rest of the way to the camp. As one would imagine, the atmosphere was much different than that at the castles a couple of days earlier. Though the atmosphere was pretty gloomy, it was a neat trip, and we learned a lot about the history of the area. We were able to walk through many of the building that the Third Reich used as a concentration camp from 1933-1945, during which time over 32,000 of the captives died. First, we walked through the barbed wire gateway, to the first building that had been full of cells. The building was left as it had been found, and we were able to see the horrible state in which the prisoners were forced to live. They even had smaller, solitary confinement cells, where one could not even have room to sit down. In addition, this first building contained the cell of Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the officer who unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Hitler in 1944. The second building we went in showed the normal housing in the camp. Each prisoner had a tiny bed, and they were packed in shoulder to shoulder in bunk-beds stacked three high. Hundreds and hundreds also shared one public bathroom at a time, and they also had a small locker, which if had so much as a fingerprint on it, they would be sent to solitary confinement or punished even worse. Many of the remaining buildings had been turned into a museum, dedicated to the horrible events that took place in Dachau. The museum even showed numerous scientific tests that were performed on prisoners in the camp, including hypothermia tests, low pressure experiments, infecting prisoners with malaria by strapping a cage of mosquitoes to their limbs, and even hitting prisoners with hammers to see how their bodies reacted. A lot of the exhibits at the museum were pretty gruesome just to look at. From there, we went to one of the final buildings, the gas chamber, and then to the mass gravesite behind it. The weirdest part was that right next to the gated camp and barbed-wire watchtowers were three separate churches. It’s strange to try to figure out how they thought the two different aspects were somehow connected. We headed out from Dachau and back into central Munich, and I think were all glad to out of there.

On the way home, we heard about a hunting and fishing museum near the Marienplatz, and asked the concierge at the hotel more about it once we got back. He thought we were talking about the Deutsches Museum, and sent us in that direction. The museum sounded really neat, and is surprisingly Germany’s most visited attraction. One of the largest technology museums in the world, it even houses entire submarines and ships. Unfortunately, when we got there, the museum had already closed. Come to find out, the hunting and fishing museum is completely separate, so it will give me something to see when I get back down to Munich. Since the museum was closed, we headed off to look for something for dinner. We wanted to try the Chinese Bier Garten at the Chinese Turm in the Englisher Garten, and started walking in that direction. We found the Englisher Garten, and asked for directions from there, knowing we were within one block. However, the Turm was in the center of the park, which was not lit at night, so we doubted we could ever find our way. Instead, we went to a small grill near the Marienplatz for schnitzel cordon bleu, and it turned out o be great. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel, and packed up our things for the next morning’s trip to Hannover.

Family Visit To Munich, Day Three, New Year's Eve

As it was getting near dinner time, we decided to check out the Tollwood Festival, a well known, New Year’s Eve celebration sight. When we arrived at the grounds, it looked like a lot of fun with live bands, shows, bonfires, and fireworks. However, we all decided to get something for supper instead of going in. We headed back towards the Marienplatz, and checked out the Hard Rock Café Munich, but it was only serving drinks for the evening. We found the same thing at a handful of restaurants, before we ended up back at the Hofbräuhaus. We tried to get a seat downstairs, but the Hofbräuhaus was packed beyond belief. I have never seen so many people. So, we tried the upstairs again. Luckily, most seats required reservations for the special night, but we got one of the last open tables available. They even had live music and dancing in the next room over, so it was a great atmosphere. Plus, we got to have the famous one liter beers again! The roast pork salad for dinner was excellent, and we topped it all off with vanilla apple strudel.
After dinner, we decided to go back to the Marienplatz for the fireworks at midnight. As soon as we got there, the place was crazy….almost out of control. We squeezed our way into the crowd, and watched the commotion for about an hour. I have never seen so many fireworks in my life. People were so packed into the square that you could not even move. Everyone was shooting off their own fireworks by holding them over their head, and others were down the street shooting them out off beer bottles. The fireworks were everywhere, bouncing off of buildings, off of the Glockenspiel, off of people. It was amazing to see, but seemed to be getting pretty dangerous by the time we left. We headed back to the hotel after a great New Year’s Eve, where we could hear fireworks going all the way up until first light the next morning.

Family Visit To Munich, Day Three, Morning

While we knew the castle tour would be hard to top, we expected another great day in Munich before the New Year’s Eve celebration. We decided to get up pretty early again, and catch the first city bus tour of the day. Unfortunately, the bus tour was not the greatest. The double-decker bus was freezing, and not all of the headsets worked. But, we did get to see a lot of the city. As we neared the Marienplatz, we decided to get off of the tour and visit the famous Viktualienmarkt. The open air market is full of stalls, all selling fresh bread, fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses, as well as the occasional shop selling beer and gifts. It was packed with people, even on a winter’s day. While the market was neat to check out, we only walked through shortly, as we headed off to see the Glockenspiel come to life in the Marienplatz at 11:00. We made it back to the clock tower with a couple of minutes to spare, and found a nice spot among the crowd. We were all shocked by how many people were waiting. As soon as the clock struck 11:00, the life-sized knights on their horses in the clock tower began circling around, and the character on the bottom row began dancing. While I’m glad that we got to see the much talked about Glockenspiel, I think that we all thought it was definitely very highly overrated.

After watching the Glockenspiel in action, we decided to hop on the U-Bahn and head to Olympiapark. We got off at our stop, and headed towards the BMW tower, where we found BMW Welt, the new BMW Museum. The museum looked awesome, but unfortunately, it was closed until the day we had to leave Munich. So, we made our way to the Olympic stadium, passing by the Olympic Tower. We walked through much of the park, before looking into the stadium itself, as well as going into the Olympic poolroom. As we walked a bit further, a band was playing and we could hear loud music coming from up ahead. Apparently, a huge race was scheduled through the park on that day. Within minutes, the empty park was filled with thousands of runners and onlookers, and we stayed and watched for a while before heading back to our hotel.

Schloss Neuschwanstein

After taking a family picture outside the castle, we headed back to the bus, and were on our way to Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein. First, we passed Schloss Hohenschwangau, which was King Ludwig’s childhood home. However, we did not enter the castle, as more time was allotted to the famous Schloss Neuschwanstein, after which the Walt Disney castle was modeled. From where the bus dropped us off, we could see the amazing castle high up amid the mountains. We had a couple of hours to visit, so we went to get a quick lunch before going up, and decided to get chicken sandwiches and fries. However, after waiting in line for 25 minutes, the chicken sandwiches were given to us, still inside their microwavable bags. We all were brave and tried them, but no one was able to take more than one bite. Pretty gross! We tossed the rest of the lunch, and began the mile-long hike up a trail to the Schloss Neuschwanstein. On the way, we passed the Jägerhaus, decorated with stag antlers, as well as many horse drawn carriages. Once all the way up to the castle, the view of the Alps, the village below, and the castle itself was amazing. The castle, built between 1868 and 1886 and dedicated to the Wagner operas, is only partially completed, but nevertheless looks like something out of a fairy-tale. On the castle tour, we were able to walk through the 15 completed rooms in the castle, which were even larger and more elaborate than the ones in Linderhof. In the dining room, the dinner table was built on a lift, so that it could be sent to the kitchen below. King Ludwig’s servants would place food on the table, and it would be lifted back up to him. It seems like he went through a lot of work just to avoid his servants! While the castle looks amazing, it was never completed due to the king’s death. Evidently, King Ludwig was suspiciously found drowned in a pool of water. After his death, the castles were opened to the public, to help pay off some of his debt. The tour turned out to be really neat, and we got a good view of the Marienbrücke from a top floor window inside. The bridge spans a valley between two peaks, and would have given us a great view of Neuschwanstein if we had time for another short hike. However, we had to head back down the trail, which looked beautiful in the dark with the castle lit up behind us. We got on our bus after stopping in the souvenir shop, and headed back to Munich.

Once back in Munich, we decided to go back to the Marienplatz to find a restaurant for dinner, and we ended up at a small Italian pub. We all got pizza and salad, as well as Lowenbrau, before my mom went to grab her coat and pulled down a support beam along with it. After getting out of there pretty quickly, we headed across the street for Häagen Dazs ice cream to finish off a great day.

Schloss Linderhof

From the tiny village of Oberammergau, we hopped back on the bus and headed 5 miles further south, until we came to the first castle, Schloss Linderhof. Schloss Linderhof, set in a beautiful location amid the Alps, was built by King Otto Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It was completed in 1878. We walked up a short, dirt road to the castle, and waited for our tour, while we admired the scenery. As beautiful as the castle and location was, it must be even more amazing in the spring and summer. The pools, fountains, and waterfalls surrounding Linderhof had been shut down for the winter, and were covered in snow. Once inside, it was easy to see how Kind Ludwig had compiled such debt in building his castles. Built in the French style, all of the rooms were elaborately decorated with gold, tiles, sculptures, and paintings. There was an enormous master bedroom, crystal chandeliers weighing a half ton, and even a room for parties, yet we learned that the king never allowed anyone but his servants in the castle the entire time he was there. Evidently he liked to be alone.

Oberammergau

We woke up early the second day in Munich, had a quick breakfast, and met the Castle Tour bus outside in front of the hotel. As we began the drive south towards the Alps, the rainy weather quickly turned into sleet and then into a blizzard….a little scary when your sitting in the top deck of a bus. The roads got pretty bad, and the bus scraped a stop sign at one point, but we made it to our first stop in about an hour and a half no problem. When we finally arrived in Oberammergau, we only had about 30 minutes to walk around before heading further south. Luckily, the snow stopped, and the weather was beautiful. We went into a few local shops, saw some of the famous woodcarvings, and even learned a little history of the small village. Oberammergau is known for the Passion Play, which began in 1634. Years before, the village was stricken by the plague, and a vow was made by the villagers to perform the Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ every 10 years from that point on.

Family Visit To Munich, Day 1

After a busy day in Köln, we woke up early the next morning, walked to the Köln train station, and caught the 4 ½ hour, ICE, high speed train to Munich. Once at the Munich train station, we got directions to the K&K hotel from the information booth, and headed on our way. The hotel was only a few stops by S-Bahn or U-Bahn, and we found it no problem. It was nice not lugging all of our suitcases around the city again! After we checked in and dropped our luggage off in our rooms, we quickly jumped back on the U-Bahn towards the center of the city and the Marienplatz. It was already getting very late, but we quickly swung through Marienplatz, where we saw the Neues Rathaus, the Altes Rathaus, the Frauenkirche, the Mariensäule, the Talbruck Gate Tower, and the Glockenspiel. A few minutes later, we were able to find our way to the famous Hofbräuhaus. We walked through the downstairs portion of the restaurant, where a Bavarian-dressed Oompah band had already begun to play the night’s live music. Unfortunately, the lower level was too crowded, and there were not four seats available. So, we went upstairs to the other half of the brew house, where we found a much quieter scene, a great atmosphere, and a nice table. Mom and Rachel braved the crowd to go downstairs and get us a couple huge pretzels from the pretzel stand, and we were even treated with English menus. The very first thing we ordered was the famous beer, served in huge, glass, one-liter mugs. After the 0.2 liter Kölsch served in Köln, I think my dad was finally rewarded with a beer bigger than he could ever imagine! Of course, we made sure to drink quickly so that the beer wouldn’t get warm! Our food arrived, and although we were stuck with more sausage, it turned out to be fairly good. My dad and I had some kind of sausage made right in the Hofbräuhaus’ own butcher shop, while Rachel was happy with her turkey and mushrooms on spätzle. My mom’s meatloaf turned out to be pretty funny, however. It was nothing more than a misshaped hotdog! But, the meal had been worth it just for the beer. After dinner, we caught the U-Bahn back to our hotel, where we decided to spend the following day on a castle tour in the Alps.

Family Visit To Köln

We all woke up on the morning of the 27th, dragged our luggage to the main train station in Berlin, and caught an early train to Köln. The ride was a long one….about 4 ½ hours….which in a way turned out to be a blessing, as it took about that long to get all of our suitcases up into the luggage compartment. It was actually a pretty interesting ride. We passed through a lot of country, and got to see all kinds of wildlife, including stag, as well as miniature deer (Roe deer, I believe they are called. Looking it up online says that 30-35 pounds is normal). Either way, it was pretty neat!

Upon arriving in Köln, we found some more American type food to eat for lunch: Domino’s Pizza! It was delicious! We dragged our luggage outside the train station, where we were standing in the shadow of the Kölner Dom: probably the most amazing structure I have ever seen in my life. The large, dark, gothic cathedral is absolutely enormous. It not only has the largest façade of any church in the entire world, but it has the second tallest spires as well. In fact, for the four years following its completion, it was the world’s tallest structure, until surpassed by the Washington monument. However, it’s not only the sheer size of the building that’s impressive, but its history is as well. Construction of the cathedral began in 1248, and lasted over 600 years until 1880. And, as the story is told, it houses relics of the Three Kings. It’s amazing to see such an amazing monument, especially taking into consideration that it was partially built before our country was even known to exist. After staring at the Dom for some time, we walked around the cathedral and down the street about 100 yards to the Sofitel Hotel. We walked through a maze of construction work, checked in, and dropped off our luggage. Then, me and Rachel went and met my friend, John, in front of the Dom. John had stayed with a host family in the area for a few weeks, and knew Köln well, so he offered to show us around. We walked through some of the main streets and the shopping district, before stopping for some Kölsch beer at the Malzmühle Brewery. From there, we went to a local Früh Kölsch brewery for a goulash and bratwurst dinner. As we were all tired from the traveling, we headed in for the night. However, me and my mom decided to go for a walk later that night, and ended up stopping for apple strudel and Irish coffee at a nice dessert restaurant.

The next morning, we ate a big breakfast at the hotel, and walked over to the Dom. We walked around inside for quite a while, before beginning our 30 minute climb up the circular-stair spire. From the top, the view was unbelievable, and we could see the entire city, as well as the Rhein River and the Hohenzollern, Deutzer, and Severins Bridges. We looked into taking a Rhein River cruise, but the cruises had just stopped for the winter. And, the Köln Christmas markets were being dismantled as well. So, we decided to check out the Imhoff-Stollwerck Lindt Chocolate Museum, which was on a peninsula, overlooking the Rhein. The museum turned out to be pretty big, and was actually pretty interesting. At one point, we were able to see chocolate Lindt truffels being made, and we were able to buy them fresh off of the conveyor belt. We also got to taste some of the chocolate in the Lindt chocolate fountain. After the Chocolate Museum, we walked to the German Sport and Olympia Museum. However, we decide to walk around the city a bit more instead of doing another museum. On our walk we passed numerous sights, including many more museums, numerous breweries, and the Church of Gross St. Martin. We even got to check out a Rhein River bait and tackle shop, where we learned that the owners would soon be off to Florida for Tarpon fishing! Hungry, but once again tired of bratwurst and schnitzel, we decided to eat dinner at the Hard Rock Café Köln. We got right into an empty table, where we got to listen to great music, while drinking Sion Kölsch and eating cheeseburgers….with a top AND bottom bun no less! After dinner, and trying to convince my parents that they didn’t need to leave a 20% tip in Germany, we went to a souvenir shop, where I finally broke down and bought myself a nice stein. It was an easy choice once I saw one with hunters and red stag! We headed back to the hotel, had a drink in the hotel pub, and packed our bags for our trip to Munich the next morning.

Christmas In Berlin

After spending two days in Braunschweig, we woke up early the next morning, caught a tram to the Braunschweig train station, and then took a 2 and a half hour train to the main station in Berlin. After a quick bite to eat, and getting directions to the Kron Prinz Hotel from an information booth, we headed off by tram in the right direction. Unfortunately, we were told to get off one stop too early, and although we were within a couple of hundred yards from the hotel, we could not get to it due to the way the roads were set up. We were lost for about an hour, lugging around all of the suitcases, seemingly through the entire city, before we called it quits and went back to the tram station. As it turned out, we just had to take another tram one more stop, and we found the Kron Prinz right across the street. We checked in, dropped off our luggage, and headed out into the city for a couple of hours, as it was already pretty late. After the initial trouble finding the hotel, we didn’t have any other problems finding our way by bus, S-Bahn, or U-Bahn throughout the city. We got off the S-Bahn near the center of Berlin, and walked past the Reichstag Dome and the Brandenburger Tor. From there, we walked further along Unter den Linden, to the Christmas Market near Friedrichstrasse. Unfortunately, the market was pretty much closed down for the night, as it was Christmas Eve. So, we walked to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center, where we checked out the Christmas Lego Land display, before warming up with some hot chocolate in Dunkin’ Donuts. When we were finished, we caught a bus back to the hotel, hoping that we could find somewhere to eat Christmas Eve dinner. After inquiring about restaurants at the hotel, we decided to take a walk up the block, and we stopped right in front of the House of 100 Beers. It was open, there were tables available, it was pretty nice inside, and above all, it had 100 types of beer. So, that’s where ended up eating our Christmas Eve dinner of schnitzel. It was actually very good!

The next morning, we slept in a bit, and took a bus to our Christmas lunch reservations at the Twelve Apostle’s Restaurant. We kept it pretty simple, but the food was great....we had a pizza that was over a meter in diameter! Surprisingly, we just about polished the entire thing off, and the waiter seemed thrilled to be able to practice some English on us. When he heard that we were from Boston, he said “Boston….that gives me….how do you call them....goose bumps.” He went on to name the Boston Tea Party, Boston Legal, and most importantly to him, William Shatner. It definitely made for a funny meal! From there, we walked up the road to pick up a city bus tour. We got great seats in the very first row of the double-deck bus, and saw, among many other sights, Kurfürstendamm, the KaDeWe, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Gedächtniskirche, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, “The Pregnant Oyster,” Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center (which houses a small Lego Discovery Center and an IMAX theater), the Jewish Museum, the Holocaust Memorial, the many embassies, Checkpoint Charlie, the Wall Museum, Gendarmenmarkt, the Berliner Dom, Alexanderplatz, the Berliner Rathaus, Unter den Linden, the Brandenburger Tor, Reichstag, the Tiergarten, the Kulturforum, the Schloss Bellevue, the Victory Column, and the Schloss Charlottenburg. As the bus began its second round, we got off at Potsdamer Platz, where we stopped for another drink before heading across the street to the BlueMax Theater for the Blue Man Group. The show was a lot of fun, and it turned out to be a nice Christmas night. After the show, we grabbed bratwurst for supper beneath the giant tubing track at the nearby Christmas Market, and then headed back to the hotel for the night. Before going to bed, we planned out the next day, while having a couple drinks in the hotel pub. Not your typical Christmas, but it was a fun one!

We woke up early the next morning, had breakfast (eggs, bread, cheese, and salami) in the hotel restaurant, and took a bus back to the Gedächtniskirche, where we spent a couple of hours in one of the large Weihnachtsmarkts. Dad got another motorcycle to add to his collection, and we got lunch while roaming through the unique stalls. From there, we caught another bus to the Siegessäule, the Victory Column, and climbed our way to the top for a nice view of the city. We then wanted to climb the Reichstag Dome, but the wait was over 2 hours long. So, we walked through the Brandenburger Tor, to the huge Christmas market on Unter den Linden instead, which consisted of hundreds and hundreds of gift and food stalls, an outdoor ice skating rink, and carnival rides of all sorts. After walking through for a while, we stopped inside a car museum to warm up, and then walked to Checkpoint Charlie’s to get a closer look. Once it started to get dark, we took a bus to Alexanderplatz, walked past the Marienkirche, and took the lift up the famous TV Turm. From the top, we could see the entire city, which especially with all of the Christmas markets, was lit up beautifully. A bit tired of schnitzel and bratwurst, we went to the Block House Steakhouse for dinner before heading back to the hotel. Hoping for some American food, we all ordered burgers. Rachel could barely help herself from laughing out loud when they came without tops. But, they were delicious….even with only half a bun! After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, where we planned out the following day’s trip to Köln, before heading to bed.

Family Visits Braunschweig

The holidays were definitely a lot different this year, but they turned out to be a lot of fun. I went to my last class on Thursday, and then made sure to clean up the apartment a bit on Friday. I woke up very early on Saturday morning (about an hour after jumping in bed after another Celtic’s win), in order to catch the 6:30-ish train from the Braunschweig train station to the Hannover central station. From there, after a bit of searching, I caught another train to the Hannover airport, where I found my way to the correct gate within 20 minutes of my family’s arrival. I was great to see them all again! We dragged all of the luggage (no easy task!!!!!!) to the S-Bahn stop, and caught a train back to the Hannover station, followed by the Braunschweig main station. From there, we were able to quickly hop on a crowded tram to the center of the city, to the Deutsches Haus Hotel. We got our rooms, unloaded our luggage, and headed out to force them to resist the urge to sleep.

First, I brought my mom, dad, and Rachel back to my apartment to show them around. We had a few drinks….my dad got his first taste of German beer….and we opened up each other’s Christmas presents, so they all wouldn’t have to make the trip with us. We headed back towards the center of town, and for Rachel’s sake, quickly visited the Schloss….Braunschweig’s huge mall that is inside a renovated palace. Since they were all so tired between the flight and the 6 hour time difference, we ate at Alex’s before it got too late. It was pretty funny watching them struggle to say “BBQ Burger” in what they thought was a German accent! From there, we headed to bed a bit early, so that they could catch up on sleep.

We woke up relatively late the next morning, and went outside to the Weihnachtsmarkt….the Christmas Market….to get half meter bratwursts for lunch. They were delicious, and surprisingly, even Rachel tried and liked them. My mom tried the popular Gluhwein, but was not a fan. After lunch, we walked through the rest of the market, looking at all of the booths and stalls in the Burgplatz. We saw the Rathaus, the Dom St. Blasii, the Burg Dankwarderode, and the Braunschweiger Löwe. We actually went into the Dom expecting to be able to look around, and ended up walking right into a mass! From there, we walked around the city center to the outside ice skating rink, then went and checked out the Altstadtmarkt, including St. Martini-Kirche, the Altstadtrathaus, the Gewandhaus, and the Marienbrunnen, as well as a couple other churches. Later on in the afternoon, we met a friend and his family from Long Island, as well as a friend from Braunschweig, at the Christmas market. We all went to a great German pub for dinner, and had our fill of Franziskaner and schnitzel, before returning to the market for some Eiyer Punsch before the night was over. We headed back to the hotel and packed up, knowing we’d have to be up early the next morning, to catch our train to Berlin.

Braunschweig Weihnachtsmarkt

I can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming. My family comes out to visit for the holidays in only 3 more weeks, and the Braunschweig Christmas Market, or Weihnachtsmark, has already begun. Because Braunschweig is a relatively small city, I didn't expect too much when a handful of us check out the market on opening night. I figured that it couldn't compete with the markets put on by huge cities like Berlin and Munich. But, I was happily surprised. The Weihnachtsmarkt is like nothing I have ever seen before when it comes to celebrating Christmas. It is only what I can imagine like Time Square must look like during the peak of the holiday season. The market takes up the entire Burgplatz in Braunschweig, and reminds me of something like a carnival. The castle square is filled with Christmas lights, Christmas trees, ornaments and decorations, and 150 small shops or booths ranging from carnival games, to bakery and candy stands, to gift shops, to Bratwurst booths, to small bars and pubs. Everything looks amazing surrounding the old castles, and looks like something out of a movie. One of the biggest attractions, it seems, at the Weihnachtsmarkt, is the Gluwein stand. Gluwein is a specialty hot spiced wine, which is a bit different, but definately warms you up on a cold winter day at the market. After seeing this Christmas Market in Braunschweig, I'm really looking forward to checking out some of the others during the Christmas break.

I'm off to Amsterdam in the Netherlands in the early morning for the weekend. A bit of a train ride, but hopefully it will be fun!

Thanksgiving in Braunschweig

It wasn't quite the same as normal, without being with family for Thanksgiving, but it ended up being a lot of fun. Because there were so many of us, we split into a few different groups for Thanksgiving. About 15 of us got together after class for dinner. We all brought a few dishes, so it turned into a ton of food. Everything from the turkey, to mashed potatos, to cranberry sauce, to mushroom pizza and eggplant parmesian......all of the classics and more! We had a pretty international group again.....I think we had the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Germany, and India represented. It turned out great, and was an awesome way to start the weekend!

It was nice talking to you all back home on Thanksgiving as well.......hope you all had a great time!

This weekend has been pretty quiet, as we didn't have much time to plan with Thanksgiving on Thursday. However, we already have more planned coming up. This upcoming Friday is Volleyball Night.....we get to play volleyball in the gym from 8:00 pm until 8:00 am, so it should be a lot of fun. Then, on Saturday, we are trying to schedule a tour of the Beck's Brewery in Bremen. The following weekend is our trip to Dublin, follwed by a possible trip to Amsterdam a few days before our Christmas Break......yes, it's getting to be that time already!

Talk to everyone soon!

Hopefully you guys picked it up a notch for the last couple days of bow season!

International Soccer Tournament

I ended up staying in Braunschweig this weekend, after a long weekend of traveling last week. We were still able to keep busy though. Saturday night we formed a team for the International Soccer Tournament, which was an indoor tournament just for fun at TU Braunschweig. We needed two countries represented on our team, and were able to put together a US-Sweden team: Team Schmerika. As we expected, we lost every game. But, we didn't do quite as bad as we expected, losing only 1-0, 2-0, 1-0, and 1-0. It ended up being quite a lot of fun!

Sunday we went to another New Yorker Phantoms basketball game, and the Phantoms won again, to push their record to 11-6.....good enough to be in 4th place right now. About 10 of us or so also booked a trip to Dublin for the weekend of December 7. So, I'll be traveling again soon!

Another good night of sports, too. URI basketball is 5-0, the Pats still look ridiculous, and the Celtics even almost pulled off a win after being down 20.

Happy Birthday, Gramp! Hope the party was fun!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

German Paperwork

Trying to get all of this paperwork done in Germany has been ridiculous. We met with some people to register for Visas last month, but the whole thing was set up terribly. There were about 50 students sitting is a hall, and each student went in and talked to the people individually. They took about 20 minutes each. Anyways, we waited at least a couple of hours just to get in, then they told us we must meet again on November 5 to finish things up. So, no class today, but I had to get up at 7:00 to get to the international office, which takes about an hour. We get there, and again there are about 50 students sitting in a hall waiting. After waiting about an hour, they finally call all of us from RI in at once, only to tell us that we cannot get anything done today. We need to prove that we have 600 euros per month to live on for the length of our stay in order to proceed. Usually the school writes a letter to clarify this, but they didn't this year. So, we all were told to get proof in the form of scholarship paperwork or bank statements, and that we would have to meet once again next Tuesday morning for the same thing. I won't be back from Malta then, and I also had all of my paperwork on me because of DAAD, which they said would be fine to use as proof, yet they wouldn't let me do my paperwork today because they "didn't have time." So, I have an appointment to wake up early again tomorrow to probably sit in a hall for a couple of hours again.

At least the late night last night was worth it! Awesome wins by the Celtics and Patriots!