Blogs from Germany, Europe - page 689

Yesterday we drove from Munich to Münster, stopping at what we believe to be the nastiest toilet in all of Germany. We arrived St. Nickolaus Church in the town of Wolbeck, a suburb of Münster, to separate into different cars and be taken to our host families. My host family was wonderful. Before preparing a delicious dinner, my host mother offered to do all my laundry for me the next morning. I was most appreciative for this after our experience in Italy! Today we went into Münster to see the historical sites. Below are pictures of the cages on the steeple of St. Lambert's Church, where the corpses of the Anabaptist heretics were exposed after their execution for preaching polygamy, among other things. Their faces are carved on one of the front columns of the Town ... read more

Auf ein Neues geht es auf. Diesmal drei Monate. Mein Flieger verlässt morgen München um 21.10 Uhr, 10:50 später bin ich dank Thai Air hoffentlich einigermaßen entspannt in Bangkok. Rückkehr ist für den 21. August geplant. Alles dazwischen steht noch in den Sternen. Ich will Klettern in Thailand, Laos/Kambodscha wiedersehen, tauchen lernen und chillen an Stränden auf den Philippinen. Alles abhängig davon, wen ich unterwegs so treffe. Das erste Guesthouse heißt "The Artists Place" und ich hoffe, es existiert noch. Die Homepage ist nämlich 2004 das letzte Mal aktualisiert worden. Ich bin noch heftig am packen und planen, alles ist etwas spontan. Wieder einmal zieht der Spruch "Man hat solange ein Motivationsproblem bis man ein Zeitproblem hat". Aber im Fachjargon heißt sowas "Just-In-Time"-Produktions. Bei VW klappts ja auch :). ... read more

It was through soccer, as usual, that I made my first connections in India. And, as usual, I had brought a soccer ball with me, this time deflated in my stuffed bag. I pumped it up with the help of a neighborhood bike repairman. He set up shop in the spotty shade of a scraggy bush next to the main road, sitting on a rock until a customer came. With a newly full ball in tow, I walked through my immediate neighborhood of mud huts and cement houses juggling the ball in the air, hoping to initiate some sort of interaction. No sooner had I gone twenty yards, when a flock of young kids surrounded me, excitedly yammering in Tamil, a language which, at that point, I had yet to learn. There was a miniscule girl ... read more

Today started at the concentration camp site in Dachau. This was followed by a visit to the American embassy (lunch at McDonald's). From Dachau, we went back to Munich and visited BMW World, then back to the city center. We parked in a garage that had an automobile elevator large enough for our van! I had never seen such a thing before. In the evening we saw the Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche, the Odeonsplatz, the Hofgarten, and the famous English Garden. We ate near the Chinese Tower before heading back to the Marienplatz. Fortunately, the festivities were ending when we got there! This was the victory celebration for the soccer team, and Paulaner had donated 13,000 liters of beer for the fans. You can imagine the mess! Patrick... read more

Ja, vi are here in Munchen ja!!! We took the train from Zurich to Munich where we could be take it easy for five days. We thought we might be able to recharge the batteries a little there. Yeah, about that, no, not so much. Let's break it down to the days: Day 1: So we arrived in town, and went on a bit of an impromptu walking tour along the main pedestrianised street to Marienplatz, which is the main square. The Neu Rathaus (town hall) is there, in all its neo-gothic glory. It was next to impossible to get the whole building in the photo, so we found a church nearby where we could take pictures of the views of Munchen and the Fraunkirche. There were even views out to the Allianz Arena where TSV ... read more