The trials and tribulations of the German train system-- all for the love of gummi candy!
The big plan for Saturday was to travel south of Bonn to Knoblenz where I could buy wild berry fruit juice gummi candies—the best gummi candy in Germany!
Mistake #1 was paying for a ticket for the slow train and accidentally getting on the faster one. This turned out to be a non-issue because the conductor never came by for my ticket. I got to Knoblenz and had a great time—found the gummi bear store and then took a chair lift to a fortress above the city where you could see the Rhein and Mosel Rivers converge. There was also a museum in the fortress that was running a Haribo gummi bear exhibit—it tied in well to the main theme of the day☺ The exhibit contained furniture and clothing made out of Haribo gummi candy!
The next part of my plan was to take the train to Linz where I would get off and go back to Bonn via boat. But while on the train I realized that I had missed the last boat so the conductor sold me a ticket from Linz to Bonn.
Enter train mistake #2—I did not purchase a ticket to the main Bonn train station, but rather to some suburban station that required me to metro back into town…oops! Long story short, I didn’t realize the mistake until I was 15 miles north on Bonn at the Cologne trade center.
The moral of the story is that when you think it is weird a train that is supposed to connect two cities along the Rhein is no longer following the river, you would be correct!
The happy ending of the story is that I now have 5 kilos of gummi candy in my hotel room☺
Cheers
ET
Expanding Horizons
Friday was a very interesting exercise in international relations. Our group of 20 visited the German Defense Ministry. Though the Americans asked questions about the future of conscription in the German military and long term strategy, the Russian fellows were most interested in why NATO still exists and more importantly why it is expanding towards Russia. As many already know, NATO is my favorite international organization (let the geek jokes begin!) While I learned in school that an expanding NATO is an important issue for Russia, it was mind-boggling and fascinating to see that it truly is a concern. I was told to expect that having Russians and Americans together in Germany would be open my mind to a different way of viewing history and current events. Today’s trip could not have been a better example of this!
The evening found us at a classical piano concert at the baroque Augustusburg castle. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night!
The Duvet Burrito
I haven’t written in a couple days, but I will try to keep this somewhat short (what a responsibility blogging is!)
Wednesday’s orientation highlight was the German History Museum (Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.) The museum does a wonderful job of telling the story of Germany after WWII (from the perspective of the East and the West as well as after reunification.) I am definitely going back this weekend to see all of the exhibits again! My only criticism was that our guide spoke about Americans and Italians helping to rebuild Germany and the cultural things that they brought with them (ie. Elvis Presley and gelato) but there was no mention of the Turks. Can you say Doner Kebab (gyros)!! There is a Doner stand on every other block— maybe the Starbucks of Germany! If the Doner stands and the ice cream stores were closed on Sundays people might die of hunger (or at least the Americans who forget to grocery shop on Saturdays would!)
Thursday’s highlight was dinner and a ragtime piano concert at the American consul-general’s house in Düsseldorf. Why America has a consulate in Düsseldorf I am not sure, but it was a great evening. Doritos and salsa and veggies and ranch dip as well as Country Time lemonade were served as appetizers (no joke). The Russians were a bit confused by the food choice, but seemed to like it in the end. Brent Youens performed the music. He did a great job of explaining the history behind the music and was very animated. The Russians and the Germans in the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves (score one public diplomacy point for the State Department!)
Still no spaetzle, but maybe I will make some for myself and watch the election debate between Schroeder and Merkel on Sunday evening (spaetzle and Germans intensely debating the issues of the day—what could be more German!) I am happy to report that I had my first pizza on Wednesday (pizza in Germany tastes different). It is still to warm for a delicious piece of apple strudel with vanilla sauce but I think fall is just around the corner.
Erin’s good news of the day:
I think I have perfected the European duvet “burrito.” For those who are unaware, Germans don’t sleep with a top sheet, but instead sleep with a duvet. Though this is disconcerting to some Americans (like my dad who travels with his own top sheet when he comes to Europe), I love them!
Unfortunately, in Freiburg I could never figure out how I was supposed to fold the duvet to “make” my bed in the morning. But now I’ve got it… you fold it like a burrito (the two sides in towards the center) and then turn it 90 degrees! If I learn nothing else this year, I can at least return to the States with this fine accomplishment☺)
