TRA[life]VELS

Our first "reading week" was last week which I spent in Trier, Germany. Trier is where Chris' mom grew up, in Western Germany near Luxemborg. So we were spoiled and instead of paying to stay at hostels, we stayed at his Grandma's house and got most of our meals for free courtesy of all his family. The Rhineland is beautiful with its rolling hills and beautiful rivers. The bonus was that the sun actually came out! Seeing the blue sky was so novel.

On Monday there was a parade for Fasching. The best way I could describe Fasching would be to have you picture a Mardi Gras and Halloween hybrid. Even the Germans we talked to didn't really know the point of it, but the general consensus is that its an excuse to get work days off so you can dress up and get drunk. The parade had all kinds of crazy floats, and when you shout "helau!" they threw candy at you. The bummer was that it snowed the entire time, but after that first snowy day we had some consistent nicer weather.

On Tuesday we decided to play tourist and go see some of the sites. Trier is the oldest city in Germany, and has its roots in being occupied by the Romans. We went to see "Porta Negra" [The Black Gate] which was the original entrance into Trier, a Roman Colosseum, the Roman Baths, and Pauline's Kirche [the church where Chris' parents got married]. That night we went to Chris' great-aunt's house. Her and her husband live in this beautiful house on the river that has been in the family for hundreds of years. I realized that night just how much I appreciate communication...especially the being able to do it part. There were about ten people at dinner with us and they all obviously spoke German. Sometimes I would pick up on things with the words I knew and then use their non-verbal communication to fill in the blanks, but many times I sat completely dumbfounded. They were all very sweet though, using what English they knew to try to include me whenever they could. On Wednesday for lunch we went to his other great-aunt's house. Sigrid and her husband Horst were so great. Sigrid made us chicken and rice, but the Tiramisu was probably the best. Just when we were about to pop, she asked us if we liked it and we said yes. She took our plates to clean them off, we thought, but came back out with MORE. Needless to say, we were fed well that week. After lunch, they drove us up this hill to where there was a path that led through the forest. Sigrid kept saying "Grey, grey, everything is grey. In the summer it is much better!" I'm sure that's true, but the lack of greenery gives you an opportunity to use your imagination. It's beautiful either way. We stopped at a lookout that gives you a view of the town, some of the surrounding hills, and the river. Even the rain clouds couldn't take away from that walk. We went back to the house and before leaving, in true grandparent-ish fashion, Sigrid and Horst gave me 20 euros! Thursday was basically free so we just went walking into town for some food and coffee, later we went back to a family friend's house - the Gombold's - for dinner. We left Friday at noon on the 9 hour train ride back to Regensburg, only to pack up so we could leave for Dresden the next morning.

Currently we're all in Wittenberg on our Reformation study tour for Reformation History with Dr. Cleaver from Liberty University. We're gone this entire week. Saturday we were in Dresden, yesterday we stopped in Berlin for 4 hours and then headed to Wittenberg where we are today and tomorrow. We depart for Eisenach tomorrow for 2 days and then Heidelberg until Sunday. I'll have a lot to tell! Until then...

"Slow down you crazy child, take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile..."

Yesterday, instead of Starnberg, we made our way to Garmisch. I'm not quite sure how it worked out that way, but I don't think any of us really cared where we were going as long as we were just...going. Garmisch is a town in the mountains about 3 hours south-west of Regensburg. So we left an uncharacteristically sunny Regensburg from the train station around 9am headed toward our connecting train in Munich. We honestly didn't have too good of an idea where we were headed, what we would do when we got there, or even if we were on the right train, but again, none of us seemed to care. We were going to enjoy our independence for all it was worth. As the train made its way further and further south, the towns got more obscure. At one point we just kept looking out the window wondering where our sun had gone! I don't think any of us would have been shocked to look out the window and see a couple eskimos, or a dog sled. The blowing snow made it hard to see much past the few scattered houses. Soon enough our train pulls into the Garmisch station. By the sound of the town's name, and the "under construction" look of the station, we jumped to conclusions that this place was a little sketch. Thankfully, as soon as we walked out the doors and into the town, we realized how great the place actually was. The sun started peeking through and we could see mountains on every side. For those of you who know Big Bear, it reminded me a little of that - only Germanized. So we walked around for a bit stomping through some serious snow, looked at some souvenirs, and then headed for a coffee shop. I'm going to miss that about Germany [the bakery/coffee shops]...Starbucks doesn't even come close. After some "coffee chocolat," Heather and Lisa stayed to read for a bit while Chris and I explored some more. We ran into a couple cool churches, and stumbled on an awesome path that goes kind of above the city. Pictures would explain it better than a description, but I didn't actually take any [oops!]. The other three did though, so check them out.

Yesterday we took another field trip and went to Nurnberg which is about an hour away from Regensburg. Our plan was to hop on the bus, get to the train station, and then head strait to Nurnberg. Well, we were almost late for our bus, and we thought we were almost late for our train...so we ran a little. Turns out that the train was running 15 minutes late that morning. This is pretty unusual for Germany. Just within the past couple decades, scheduling has been getting a little more lax. There's an old saying that went something to the effect of being able to set your watch by the German trains. Anyway, with our extra time, some of the group decided to go grab some coffee while the rest of us went to wait on the train that had just pulled in. So we're sitting on the train and we notice that its about to take off [a little sooner than we thought]. Just as we're about to get nervous for our 4 classmates, we see them hurrying down the platform. At that moment Chris turns to me and goes, "wouldn't it be hilarious if the doors just slammed right now?" Well coincidentally, they did...with a vengeance. As soon as those doors slammed we all looked over to see if they had made it. One-two-three...oh no, where's Jeff? I looked out the window to see Jeff standing alone on the platform, pleading with the railway worker. When I saw the man vehemently wave his hands to signal "once they're closed, they're closed" I knew Jeff wouldn't be joining us that day. Luckily we weren't too far from the hostel. What made the whole thing even more comical was the fact that 5 minutes later, a man with a cart came rolling down the aisle shouting "coffee!...cappuccino!...tea!"

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Last year I was able to drive home so we could go out to dinner at Johnny Carino's, but this year we had to settle with skype. Yesterday's AmBex adventure was a trip to Neuschwanstein castle, built for [mad] King Ludwig in the 1800s in classic medieval style. The castle was never finished because Ludwig died (likely murder) in the process...just a few days after being declared insane (likely because he was massively in debt!). It took us around four hours to reach the castle by train and we had to switch trains twice. This winter day produced uncharacteristic sunshine that bounced off the snow and fog to display a picturesque scene. Neuschwanstein is also the castle that the Disney castle was modeled after. Oh! I also found out that this is the lace of the actual Swan Lake (Ludwig had an odd obsession with swans). The hike up to the castle was long, and even colder than what we've been used to, but we were so distracted by the snow-peaked Bavarian Alps that we didn't mind all that much. After a minor bus mishap in Regensburg, we finally made it back to the hostel...safe, sound, and in enough time to wish mom a "happy birthday!"

Yesterday our group made the trip to Rothenburg, Germany, a Medieval town about 2 and a half hours from Regensburg. The town is very well preserved. The best way to describe it is probably cliche, but I felt exactly like I stepped back in time. The cobblestone roads, the moss covered bridges, and the colorful houses all contributed to the atmosphere. Apparently, Rothenburg was the inspirations for the setting of Pinocchio. We also kept coming across shops filled with teddy bears, and Kelley told us that this was the place where they first made them. I don't know too much about the history of the town, just that it is extremely old and extremely well preserved. The parts that were destroyed in World War 2 were restored back to their original state. We came across this cool little carousel that was way too small for us...but we sat on it anyway. When we put in a euro, we were disappointed to find out that it didn't work. We got a cool picture though! There was a man in the shop window laughing at us the whole time...Germans get a kick out of American tourists...because we're completely clueless.