Gudde Moien! As you probably realized from the greeting, I have left Germany. I'm now in Luxembourg (the world's last sovereign Grand Duchy) where Luxembourgish is the most commonly spoken language of the official three - French and German being the other two. Luxembourg is an amazing little country of less than half a million people. Despite its small size, there is nothing simple or even ‘quaint’ about Luxembourg. The architecture is massive and ancient, the city is well laid out, and the streets are filled with incredibly nice cars. (Not surprisingly, Luxembourg does ha [View Full Entry]

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Gutten tag! While planning my trip to Germany, I made a conscious decision to see relics of the country’s dark past along with its vibrant culture of today. In Berlin I visited the wall that divided the city physically and the world symbolically, in Nuremburg I visited the site that was the epicenter of Nazi power, and in Munich I walked around the area were extremists took hostage innocent civilians. Even though I had reservations about going to a concentration camp, I decided it would have been irresponsible not to. Just because I knew the day at a camp would be [View Full Entry]

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Gutten tag! After spending more time than I had anticipated in Nuremberg, I got into Munich in the early evening. The hotel was just a few blocks from the train station, and from there it was just another 10 minute walk to the town center. I spent the whole first night walking around the city, seeing things at dusk and then in the dark. Marienplatz is the main square in Munich, and it is impressive. The most famous icon in Marienplatz is the Rathaus-Glockenspiel. Three times a day the huge display comes to life with bells, whistles, music, and 32 life-sized [View Full Entry]

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Gutten tag! I planned a half-day stop in Nuremburg on the way from Berlin down to Munich. Nuremburg was pivotal in Nazi Germany as the city Hitler envisioned as his fascist capital. Many of the newsreel clips we’ve all seen of the gigantic rallies and Hitler inspecting soldiers all came from Nuremburg. Since I didn’t allot much time to seeing the city (and Alissa and I were both lugging around all of our baggage) my only goal was to hit the few really historically important sites in Nuremburg. The first stop was the Nazi Party Rallying Grounds. The place was used [View Full Entry]

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Gutten tag! While still trying to get into a normal sleep pattern, I got up even earlier than I had planned this morning to take a trip out of Berlin for a few hours. My goal was to spend the morning in Potsdam, just taking in the city to see what something other than the capital looked like. First, there was Cecilienhof Palace. Built in the early 20th century when there was still a royal family, it is pretty low-key for a "palace.” The only reason I actually made it a point to stop and take a tour is that Cecilienhof [View Full Entry]

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****NOTE**** I apologize for taking so long to get things going here on the blog. I have only been online for short spurts in Internet cafes. Between the smoke, multiple foreign languages being spoken in the background, and the screwy German keyboards, I have not been able to think clearly enough to read e-mails let alone try to write anything. Plus, since I couldn’t upload pictures until now, I figured the lackluster writing would be even more obnoxious coupled with nothing to look at! Anyway, please bear with the following sum-ups of different cities. The writing won’t be f [View Full Entry]

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Just when you all thought you were done getting the obnoxious e-mails from TravelBlog, here I am sending out one more. Sorry this last entry is so delayed; by the time I got home from this trip, I only had a few days at home in the QC before moving back onto campus in Des Moines. Since then, I haven’t had time to sit down and write or post my last pictures. I would have just let it go but since this blog is my only account of my time in Japan, I wanted to finish it off, if for no [View Full Entry]

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Konnichi wa! Believe it or not, this entry is to tell you about how I spent my last weekend in Japan. I have seen and done a lot of amazing things since getting here and I almost couldn’t imagine anything that would be as exciting as what I have experienced so far. But, much to my pleasure, this past weekend was one of the most amazing ever. Saturday morning I set out see some really crucial things that there was no way I was going to miss while living in Tokyo. After leaving Tokyo Central Station (which is a really amazing [View Full Entry]

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Konnichi wa! I hope you aren’t all getting sick of receiving e-mails saying that I have created another entry on this goofy blog. For those of you who are tired of reading my ramblings, feel free to do what my brother does and simply scroll through the pictures! For the few of you who have the energy and time to be listen to my latest adventures, please enjoy. Last weekend I contemplated sleeping in for the first time since being here but I resisted that urge and instead got up on Saturday morning to see another area of Tokyo. I jumped [View Full Entry]

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Konnichi wa! Well, I’m happy to say that this trip has been full of things I never thought I would do. The sights and sounds of this country are cool enough as it is, but everything has had an extra rush included for me because it’s all been an experience unlike anything I’ve ever done before. Last weekend was no different as I got up at the crack of dawn and jumped on a train headed for one of the more rural districts of Tokyo. A group of us who are working at ASIJ decided to climb Mt. Takao. I was [View Full Entry]

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