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Published: June 11th 2007
Hallo, Everyone!
I hope life is pleasant and sunny on your side of the pond! Germany is doing well; the weather was a scorcher this weekend! How was it in the States? It’s not like I could get a clear answer to that question, though, since you readers are located everywhere from California, Montana, and Colorado, to New York City, Chicago, and Boston. And there are also European readers in the bunch, so it’s not fair to you either.
Before I get into the traveling business, don’t forget to vote! I’ve received many votes so far, but I’d love to hear more opinions from the rest of you! With roughly 100 friends and family reading this weekly, I could definitely conduct a semi-professional survey of North American perceptions of Europe and so on. So vote. And... I think I'm starting to get an idea of where I'll be heading...
Alright. Well, we have a lot to cover and many pictures to observe so I’ll just get right into it. First things first: On Thursday, June 7th(?), my program went to Eisenach and Weimar for the day since Thursday was a local holiday here. Apparently this holiday wasn’t throughout
Wartburg Schloss
I'm such a tourist...Germany, as Bjoern, my north-German buddy that you will soon meet, haughtily informed me. Only Hessians and southerners have that day off. Hmpf. Well, then. I’ve been put in my place (which is apparently located south of Hanover).
I was really excited about this trip, actually. I’ve been wanting to go to Eisenach for ages, and if any of you know a little bit about Reformation history, you’ll totally understand why. The Wartburg Castle, aside from being awesome and an amazingly impenetrable fortress, was the location where Martin Luther translated the Bible into the vernacular. As some of you know, I am a monstrously huge Martin Luther fan and was ueber-excited about this trip. Sure enough, I had a fantastic time in Eisenach! I highly recommend a trip to the Wartburg Schloss for those who plan on visiting Germany in the near future! For those afraid of heights (such as myself), it might be, um, a little much at times. But it’s definitely worth it! One thing I didn’t have time for, though, was visiting the Bachhaus! Can you believe it? I was beyond disappointed! I just didn’t have time to do both the Wartburg Schloss and visit the
place where Bach was born. But you know… that might be a good thing. I’ve traveled to so many composer’s houses lately that I might have been slightly disappointed if there wasn’t that standard and signature lock of hair enclosed in some glass case somewhere. Oh, who am I kidding? I wanted to go. I’ll have to go back someday, I suppose.
Following the fantabulous excursion up to Wartburg (and yes, ladies and gentlemen, fantabulous is a word- ask my sister), the bus headed up to Weimar. The only negative thing I have to say about the entire trip (pretty much), has to do with the people on my bus. And I know some of you are thinking, “but Kira, it was a bus full of international students! What could have possibly gone wrong?” Nothing went wrong, exactly. But out of all the countries represented (Indonesia, North Korea, Azerbaijan, Afganistan, Venezuela, Argentina, the US, Nigeria, Russia, you get the point), you know what language I heard the entire time on the bus? And Peter, don’t get upset with me when I say this. But seriously, the language most spoken on the bus was Italian. 14 (it might have been
just 7 but at their volume, it sounded like 14) screaming Italian girls trying to flirt with this American guy who, along with being quite cute and nice, is also quite deaf. He goes to RIT and is a Master’s student in public policy, focusing on deaf rights. Anyway. Perhaps these girls thought that screaming really loud and laughing like hyenas at everything he said would somehow do one of the following:
1. Look cute.
2. Restore his hearing?
If anything, it ruined the rest of our hearing. Khakim, this wonderful buddy of mine from Tajikistan at one point leaned over and rolled his eyes when the girls learned how to sign, “I like ice cream” or some such nonsense. I’m not trying to stereotype or discrimate against a nationality, but wow. Those screaming Italian girls seriously put screaming American girls to shame.
Once everyone, in a dazed and confused state from having their eardrums viciously attacked by shrieking college girls, got off the bus in Weimar, we had a lovely time. I would also like to go back to Weimar sometime! So much culture, art, etc.! The Goethehuas, the Schillerhaus… I saw where the Duchess Anna Amalia of
Luisa and I
So Luisa's from Columbia, I'm from the US, and we're acting like Japanese tourists in Germany. How awesome is that? Weimar lived (I played some of her keyboard pieces in college), and we did so many touristy things while there. It’s kind of like making a pilgrimage to late 18th-century Germany. It was literally all here at one point. I also liked visiting the Goethe and Schiller Monument in front of the Deutsches Spielhaus. If you notice, these two giants of literary history are not looking at each other… interesting… Although I can’t fully remember everything we did in Weimar at this point (aside from eating a Thuringian Bratwurst, which is apparently the best in Germany. It was pretty amazing, though, I have to say), I remember the general atmosphere of this tiny town. For those die-hard Goethe and Schiller fans (plus, those fans of 18th and 19th century German history- wait a minute, that might just be me), this is definitely a place worth checking out.
After the trip to Eisenach and Weimar on Thursday, I turned around and headed for Hamburg, Germany on Friday morning to visit my friend Bjoern. Bjoern, I would like to say right now, is awesome and I’m quite happy to have him as a friend. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t seen each
other in 6 years! And when we first met up in Hamburg, there was definitely a lot of snickering/giggling (mostly on my part, I’m afraid) because it was slightly unbelievable that we were in each other’s presence again. It was almost like it was a joke and I was waiting for the punch line (or more appropriately, for me to go home). I wasn’t actually seeing Bjoern; it was more like an excellent hologram of Bjoern who ate food on occasion.
The trip to Hamburg was relatively uneventful, although, as you will see, the windmills that I passed on this journey were fascinating. HUGE! Monstrously huge! They almost look like an amusement park ride or something…
Hamburg itself was fantastic! I really like Hamburg! I think that may be number one for cities in Germany in which I could actually live… Granted, I haven’t been to Berlin yet, but still…What I liked most about Hamburg was not that it was simply “multi-kulti” or what have you, but that it was fully integrated. Sometimes areas are “multi-kulti” but not integrated at all. The Turkish section lives over here, over on the west side is the Russian zone, etc… Not
Hamburg. I saw black girls with white girls walking arm in arm, Turkish guys talking to Japanese skateboarders… I really liked that. As someone who obviously stands out in Germany as a non-German, this integration factor in a big city is definitely key to my well-being (literally) and comfort.
So a brief recap of what I did in Hamburg:
Walked along the harbour on Friday with Bjoern and talked. That was nice. Although, my touristy self thought it would be a good idea to eat something very Hamburgian, aka, Fish. So I got a Fischbroetchen. As you will see from my photo at the bottom, it is literally like, a slab of fish on bread. And you know what I remembered halfway through my sandwhich? I don’t like fish. Hm.
On Saturday, I went to hear Bjoern and his band practice for a little bit. Oh yes! Bjoern’s in an awesome indie rock band called “Elefants.” They’re kind of like the Strokes before they became popular and stuff. I like them! So yes. I went to hear the band practice, and then took off on my own for a bit to see the city. I went to the
Wartburg Schloss- Martin Luther's Room
Where he translated the Bible into German. Kunsthalle in Hamburg, not fully knowing exactly what artworks were in there. Let’s just say that I nearly had a heart attack. A room, an entire ROOM of Max Liebermann paintings! I nearly died. My jaw dropped when I saw the famous painting, “Jesus in the Temple” that caused an outrage in late nineteenth century Germany. In this painting (I took a photo, and no, it wasn’t illegal), Max Liebermann did a very gutsy thing. He painted Jesus not as this blond and angelic child in the temple, but as a dirty and jewish boy with the Sanhedrin. His basic argument? Jesus was jewish. This caused such an outrage among Germans in the 19th century (for anti-Semitic reasons), that he actually went back and changed the painting. He altered, for example, the nose and the hair (Jesus is blond now). The Kunsthalle also had an entire room of Caspar David Friedrich works, which also made me nearly lose it. I did behave myself in that room, though. Promise.
Oh! Oh! My music buddies! You’re going to probably hate this last part of the blog, but… well, Brahms was from Hamburg, right? So I thought it would be a good
Wartburg Schloss- Interior
Wagner and Liszt actually renovated the hall to add a stage and some other things. Neat-o! idea to hear Brahms in his native city and whatnot. (Random comment: After visiting the Hamburg History Museum later on that weekend, I’ve concluded that Hamburg = Pirates. Therefore, Brahms was, by natural deducation, also a pirate. I’m thinking of an excellent dissertation along these lines. Example: “The German Requiem: Images of Piracy and Swashbuckling in Brahms’s Choral-Orchestral Works.” Thoughts?)
Anyway. After concluding that it would be nice to hear Brahms in Hamburg, I discovered, much to my delight, that I could not only hear Brahms in Hamburg, but I could hear Daniel Barenboim playing Brahms in Hamburg! And not only Barenboim playing Brahms, but Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting Brahms in Hamburg! Check that out! Concert Program? Schumann’s 4th Symphony and Brahm’s 2nd Piano Concerto!!! Conducted by the world famous Christoph von Dohnanyi and featuring the ever-saucy Daniel Barenboim on piano. And it was fantastic! Really! And Barenboim came out and played Chopin’s Nocturne in G major ( I believe it’s in G, at any rate) as an encore! How exciting is that! Now, I know some of you don’t like Barenboim… but seriously. If you had the chance to go hear a world-class act like Dohnanyi and Barenboim
playing Brahms in Hamburg for only 7 EURO (!!!), are you telling me you’d pass it up? I didn’t think so.
I’ll stop being so smug now. Promise. Anyway. Needless to say, I had a good time in Hamburg. And while seeing great art and hearing fantastic music definitely made my experience better, it was also nice seeing a good friend again. And Bjoern, don’t forget—next summer, it’s your turn. 😉
Okay. I have to get going. Tonight, my housemate T.J. and I are making Pesto pasta (with freshly diced tomatoes), and we’re having Ian and Sam (two New Zealanders) over for dinner. How lovely!
Off I go. Don’t forget to vote! And I miss you all so very much.
Bis dann,
~Kira
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Connie
non-member comment
I knew you didn't like fish...
... so when I looked at the pictures before reading the blog I was so confused! You remember when you ate that mini Snickers bar in the Financial Aid Office in front of me and stopped to think about it afterwards while I stood and watched you? That kind of confusion. :) Anyway- it sounds like you're going to have a hard time picking your favorite place to visit in Germany... so SO many good things to see... ...Anxiously awaiting the tally of your travel votes... *all my love*