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Published: March 22nd 2008
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We left for our week long class trip to Weimar and then Berlin only four days after arriving in Germany.
Weimar is a beautiful city with brick streets, a rich cultural history and famous buildings. Some of these buildings include: Hans Christian-Anderson's home, Goethe's home (Germany's Shakespeare equivalent), Bach's performance hall, a churhc Martin Luther frequently preached at and a hotel which housed Hitler for an extended period. Most of them had to be partially reconstructed after WWII bombing recked havoc on this artsy town. We toured the city with a native who experienced some of it first hand.
For dinner we went to an underground restaurant called a Ratsteller, where I experience, yet again a delicious new dish. It was a Russian soup, Soljanka, and a warm baguette. It had sliced pickels, shredded beef a tangy sauce. Delish! Afterwards we made our way to a bar made from an old castle turret, in which we sat in a nook in the wall. Later I had my first hostel experience, which turned out to be not nearly as rough as I imagined hostels to be.
In the morning, when Weimar was just awakening, I went out on a
run on the quiet streets and extensive park path with a few teammates whom are also over here in Germany. On our way back we got a little turned around. I enjoyed it anyway because the new way back took us past an large brick school house with very well dressed students scuttling down the sidewalk without parents. All the kids here dress well, its the European way, and most smaller towns seem to be safe enough for children to make their way to school safely all on their own.
When we got back and took quick showers there was a breakfast served on the first floor of the hostel. Meat sandwiches (Odd! Apparently but very common in Germany), cereal, yogurt with oats, jellies and ,of course, Nutella filled the serving table. A great start to the full day ahead.
My day in Weimar consisted of a tour of Goethe's home, a hard visit to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, and a stop a "eis" (gelato) cafe. Goethe's house was nice but I wished I knew more about him beforehand. I think I'll read some of his works just to get to know this German legendary artist better. The concentration
camp was hard but important to see. The most horrifying part was cremation room. Of course, the "eis" parlor was a nice break that afternoon. I had one of the most creamy dishes I've tasted in a long time. I let the strawberry flavor melt slowly, lingering in my mouth.
That evening we headed off to our big destination, Berlin. There we checked into Hotel Savoy, one with lots of character in it's high ceilings, wooden floors, a winding red-carpeted staircase and an antique brass elevator. It reminded me of the hotel in "Thoroughly Modern Millie". I didn't test the elevator to see if it required a tap dance for operation though. 😉
Throughout the week I ran a bit around the huge city block before indulging in the hotels extensive breakfast selection. There were huge fresh rolls with jelly, meats, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, fresh fruit salads and little individual pots of coffee to indulge in every day.
We experienced a three hour city tour, the Berliner Dome (a beautiful Cathedral), the Reichstag, a Holocaust Memorial, part of the remaining Berlin Wall, an active nuclear war shelter (which only could hold 1 percent of the city's population),
the Olympic Stadium, a tour of the summer home for Fredrick II-a Prussian King("Sans Souci") and more. In addition to all the historical sites I experienced the extensive food and shopping scenes that Berlin had to offer. It's like the New York City of Germany. On one of our "free days" I got to explore the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. I've been to so many zoos in the past but never before have I seen animals so close up. My favorite part were the pink flamingos and the famous rescued polar bear, Knut.
The trip was fun but I definitely experienced the distance from all those I love back home. The things I saw were unforgettable and I can't believe how much I've fit in only the first week here. The group is a little hard right now though as I don't have very much Christian fellowship with those here. It's whats most important in my relationships back home. God is with me though and will provide what I need.
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