Neuschwanstein Castle

Bright and early Saturday morning we rose to get ready for our jaunt over to the Alps and visit Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle is known for a number of reasons, but the primary reason for Americans to visit this castle is because this is the castle which Disney based Sleeping Beauty’s on. The weather for this outing did not look promising. Our transportation was the train which lasted a few hours with some minor transfers. We arrived in Fussen to take the bus up to the castle. This particular castle was commissioned by King Ludwig II. Construction began in 1869 and was halted in 1892 when Ludwig was declared mad. To this day, the interior is still unfinished. To reach the castle, one has to walk a bit which gave us a beautiful view of the mountains, I felt like I was home in the Rocky Mountains! God must have answered our prayers because as we began to near the castle, the clouds began to part with the sun shining through them. This effect gave us a glorious view of the castle.

As we took the tour of the interior, we were told that Ludwig was not very responsible with money and resources and began too many projects. The people of Bavaria did not like this and declared him mad, which immediately stopped his projects. Supposedly, this castle was to contain around 200 rooms, but not more than 15 were finished. The rooms that we were able to tour were quite extraordinary. Unfortunately, pictures were forbidden and my descriptions are not going to give it justice. In one of the rooms, the floor was an entire mosaic which was hand laid with tiny shard of elements to compose the detailed pictures. I cannot fathom how much delicate planning and labor that took to complete. King Ludwig was obsessed with swans which was apparent in his room. From door handles to sink nozzles was based around a swan. This castle did not serve any concrete purpose for Bavaria other than the fact of appearance and a sign of wealth.

On our return journey, we made it to Regensburg safe and sound and was told the bus number to take us back to our hostel. This was our first bus adventure. Somehow, we either hopped on the incorrect bus or did not get off in time, but safe enough to say… we were lost. We were not lost to the point where we did not know our surroundings or location, but to the extent where we knew we had a ways to walk before reaching our destination. After some discussion, waiting at a different bus stop, we decided to walk back to the hostel. We were quite entertained and made it back to our hostel a little later than expected. But overall, it was a hilarious experience in which we learned to not trust Chris. Kidding of course.

Criminal Museum

Fortress Outside of the Crimnal Museum Teddy Bear

Our first field trip was to Rothenburg ob ter Tauber, Germany which is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Germany. When we first arrived we began walking to the center of the Old City. At the beginning of the fortress, there were stairs that we were able to climb and look at the city from a bird’s eye perspective. This walled city was the epitome of a German village. Its windy cobblestone streets and architecture gave it character that I appreciated. At one time in its long history, it was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. A certain figure that Rothenburg is known for is the teddy bear! This was the origin of teddy bears and there are still certain stores that are known for them! Our main priority for this excursion was to visit the Criminal Museum which displayed torture devices that were used during the Middle Ages. It is one thing to read the stories and to create visual images, but to actually be in a room where the instruments are makes my visions more vivid. Many punishments consisted of certain masks that an individual had to wear. Each mask would depend on that individual’s crimes and some were quite ridiculous. Each picture of a device has a corresponding sign which explains the tool in ways that one can begin to visualize seeing or experiencing.

We were given a small amount of free time to roam and wander the cobblestone streets for ourselves. We were told to try schneeballens, which are egg dough that is fried and doused with sugary goodness such as chocolate or powdered sugar. Some of them have various fillings by I went for the original powdered sugar. I am disappointed to report that I believe this dessert is overrated.

Schneeballens

Our next adventure is to Neuschwanstein Castle!

Germany: New Home

For the past week, we have been taking German People and Places. We are currently reading, Germany: Unraveling an Enigma which surprisingly has been very interesting. We were even privileged to have an unexpected guest who was a teaching staying at our hostel. Since we are living in a hostel, we get many students and groups passing in and out through the rooms and halls. She further solidified what we had been learning about German people and culture in our textbook and gave us a personal experience to coincide with those theories. Here are some interesting facts that I have learned from this book so far:
Ø Oral agreements are upheld in court
Ø Home-schooling is illegal
Ø Spanking is illegal
Ø Germans have rules and regulations for EVERYTHING
Ø Within the German school system, a hierarchy is present which consists of 3 levels which are: Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium.
o Gymnasium are the students who are expected to attend the University
§ 3-6 years
Ø 22:00 – Quiet Hours
Ø Difficult to fire employees
Ø Turks cannot get citizenship
Ø Du versus Sie
Ø Generation after WWII was very anti-authoritarian
Ø North is predominately more Protestant than the South
Ø Bavaria – BLACK – Catholic
Ø Berlin – criminal rates are higher
Ø Bavaria – Academic results exceeding other states
Ø Sidewalks have to be shoved
Ø Socialized education and medicine
o Students complaining for having to pay a couple hundred dollars
Ø Germans are very direct
Ø Do not have a sense of “personal space”
Ø Do not like getting married, have “significant others”
Ø Young vs. Old Generations
Ø East vs. West Germany
Ø 83 millions people
Ø Size of Montana
Ø Rivers: Danube (west to east), Main (East of the Rhine, goes through Frankfurt towards Nuremburg), Rhein (north south), Elbe (comes from North of Prague, with a northwest course through Wittenberg), Oder (border between German and Poland), Isar (goes through Munich and drops into the Danube. Important to Regensburg.) Inn (in Bavaria, flow from Alps into the Danube.)
Ø Strong sense of accountability
Ø Highly taxed

Synagogue-Now Protestant Church Statue of Don Juan

We also toured Regensburg to see some of the main highlights of our new home. One of the sites we visited that had the greatest impact on me was learning about the anti-Semitic attitude and the atrocities that were committed in the past. We visited a church where a synagogue once stood, but was torn and burnt down. It was rebuilt and exists as a memorial and is currently a Protestant church. We also passed a statue of Don Juan, who was the illegitimate child of Charles V. He led the Spanish army into victory in defeating the Ottoman Turks at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto. We also crossed the bridge over the Danube which served as a tool for imports and exports. One of the major commodities was white gold, which is salt. On a specific arch of this particular bridge was where they would hang and dip people into the water for punishment.

Oldest Sausage House Old School Sista!

Echoes of Music

St. Peter's Cathedral

Well the next morning we woke up bright and early to more snow! We planned on attending the Regensburg Cathedral, St. Peters, and made the treck through inches of snow. The snow was still falling and the flakes were massive! We made it to the church just in time and took our seats. Even though this service was in German, it was still very interesting to listen to and observe the people. The Regensburg Boys Choir was performing and it is said that they are 2nd best in the country! I had never been in a church like that before! It is massive and gorgeous! Even though it is built of stone, it still has a warm touch with all of the candles inside. This church is classical German gothic which is very interesting to see. It also survived the bombings of World War II which makes it more special to the city. It would cost loads of money to heat this cathedral, so they don’t. During the service you could hear the teeth chatter and see arms quivering. The service ended and the rest of our day was spent relaxing and adjusting to German time. Tomorrow we will start German People and Places and continue taking that class for the rest of the week.

Germany Here I Am

After crossing the ocean and many miles of land, we have arrived in Munich, Germany! It just so happened that Chris and Kammie were on our same flights from Philaldelphia and we immediately recognized one another when we were boarding the plane. Once we landed in Munich, we met up with each other while waiting for our baggage. I used the restroom and returned to find no known faces. I could not find the way to exit and stood there hoping someone would find me, and then Tanner came walking down the stairs! Andrew finally spotted me and I joined the rest of the group. Jerry greeted us along with Jeff and Dalton. Once we all assembled and had our luggage in our possession, we headed to load up the van and venture to the heart of Munich. Kelley had Jerry’s GPS so we got a little lost, which was fine because we got to see the city from the windows of the van. An interesting fact Jerry shared with us was that the hills that we could see were manmade mounds during World War II. It was hilarious when Jerry pulled out his compass, who uses that these days?! Apparently he does and it did the job because ended at our destination! This was the first time I had ever been in a foreign country (I do not count Canada) and definitely felt out of place considering I could not understand everybody. The signs, food, people, and buildings looked foreign and unfamiliar. On our walk around Marienplatz, downtown, we learned that Munich is the richest city in Germany and is also the capital of Bavaria. Germany is known for its cars and BMW headquarters is stationed here. We walked around the shops and headed to the Frauenkirche, which means church of our lady.



It was frigid outside and we used this opportunity to warm up. The other three members of the group didn’t fly in until early afternoon and we had time to kill before we met up with them for lunch. In Marienplatz, we were able to see the Rathaus-Glockenspiel which Munich is famous for. Everyday at a specific time, the clock re-enacts 2 stories from the 16th century with 42 bells and 32 life size figurines. We then proceeded to walk around outside some more and then headed to the Hofbräuhaus House which is one, if not the, most famous beerhall in the world. Here they serve traditional German cuisine and also play folk music. I had my first encounter with a German menu. All I knew was that I did not want saurkraut and I knew what that was in German so I was safe. I ordered Käsespätzle, which is German style macaroni and cheese. It was delicious! Here, we got the chance to get to know the rest of our group and see how their travels went. Thankfully, everything went smoothly and we all arrived safely. We have 10 students with an even number of boys versus girls, 5:5. The group consists of: Me, Courtney, Kammie, Heather, Lisa, Andrew, Dalton, Jeff, Tanner, and Chris.



We were all exhausted and were waiting for our journey to Regensburg. We all piled back into our vehicles and the moment we all got settled we fell asleep, the next time I opened my eyes we were entering Regensburg. The first thing I noticed was graffiti on the wall outside our hostel of the welcoming “Old School Sista.” We then ate dinner and Jerry was adamant on keeping us awake so that we would sleep through the night, which was successful! First German culture fact I learned, they have weird beds. Usually, beds have a sheet, multiple blankets, and a comforter. German beds consist of 1 large comforter! When this fact was made apparent to me I thought I was going to freeze during the night. Surprisingly enough, this comforter insolates heat and keeps the sleep quite toasty during the night.