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Published: October 14th 2006
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Time to play catch-up! This post is dedicated entirely to all of the cities that I visited in Germany last month and haven’t written about yet. If you’re interested in hearing about Vienna first, wait about 15 minutes and another post will be on its way, I promise. :-)
A group of us students decided to take a day-trip to Stuttgart since most of us have only seen the hotels there. (Stuttgart is a major hub in Germany, so a lot of the students flew there and then made their way to Schwaebisch Hall.) One of the newest attractions in Stuttgart is the Mercedes Benz Museum. It is only a few months old and houses a massive collection of Mercedes Benz automobiles, starting from the very beginning when just the engine was being developed. I’ll admit, I’m not a huge car fan, but it was cool to see how the cars have developed throughout the years and also just to see what sort of creative concoctions the designers came up with. I don’t believe that all of the cars were mass-produced, but the fact that they were even created is intriguing enough for me. Another note I would like
to make is: while we were making our way to the museum, I noticed that every single taxi I saw was a Mercedes…just something I found interesting.
Tubingen is a small town, though it is considerably larger than than Schwaebisch Hall. One of the ladies that we met in August had moved to Tubingen at the end of August. She will be studying there for a semester, if not a year. We walked around the majority of the town and also climbed the steps to the top of the tower in the church. We got an excellent view of the city, even though it was a bit hazy that day. One of my favorite photos is the one with the flower in the foreground…I think it just about sums up the city. It was beautiful and we had so much fun visiting our friend.
The day after we visited Tubingen, I went to Heidelberg with two other friends. Heidelberg was more of a touristy town than Tubingen. We were there on a Sunday and the city was still pretty active, which is a little odd for a city in Germany…most places completely
shut down on Sundays, but we believe it was all for the tourists. Heidelberg hosts a beautiful castle, of which you must climb up a hill to reach. After our trek up the hill to visit the castle, we found a bakery where we had an afternoon snack. You can see the variety of desserts they had to offer. Now come on, you know you’re jealous. ;-) It was a long day, but a lot of fun.
The last weekend I was in Germany was a busy weekend. On Saturday I went to the Backofenfest and then on Sunday I made my way to Oktoberfest. The trip to the fest was hosted by the local Rotary Club. Approximately 14 students went along, which made for about even pairs with the Club members. Every single member was very nice and eager to learn about where we came from, why we chose Schwaebisch Hall, etc. The members led us on a 1 ½ hour long walk through a wooded area to reach the fest. It was a gorgeous day, so the fresh air was welcomed. Upon arrival, we were directed into a restaurant where we were treated to
Church in Tubingen
Can you imagine attending service here on a weekly basis? lunch by the Rotary Club. Afterwards, each student received an envelope containing an entrance ticket into the Freilandsmuseum, where the fest was being held, and also 10 euros for transportation back to the school. I spent the entire rest of the day exploring the museum and fest with a couple of friends. The Freilandsmuseum is a living history farm, so as you wandered through, you saw people baking breads and cakes, animals that you could pet, and apple & plum trees from which you could pick the fruit. The cakes were fresh from wood-burning ovens and were available for purchase. Of course I sampled one or two, and yes, they were scrumptious. :-) It was quite a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend the day, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather.
The following day I joined a group of students from the Goethe Institut and headed to Munich for Oktoberfest. (Can you imagine this girl at Oktoberfest?!?!) Munich is by no means close to Schwaebisch Hall, but it shouldn’t have taken us as long as it did to get there. Our journey there took 5-6 hours due to “construction” on the train tracks. We
then spent 4 hours in Munich, and then 4 hours on the trains back. So it made for a short visit, but it was long enough for me. Honestly, it reminded me of a county fair - a very large county fair. There were vendors, games, rides (rollercoasters, ferris wheels, etc.)…everything you can imagine at a county fair, but on a much larger scale and directed more towards the consumption of beer. I joined some of my fellow students for about 2 hours in one of the beer tents. If you’ve never been to Oktoberfest, let me tell you that when you are in a beer tent, you cannot purchase a beer in anything other than a 1 liter size. The mugs are massive, but there are pretzels to match, as you can see by my photo. I told myself that as long as I was in Germany celebrating Oktoberfest, I should try to get the full experience, so I ordered a beer and a pretzel. I did my best, but could not finish the beer, and another gentleman in my group was kind enough to finish it for me. The other two hours I spent wandering around the rest
of the grounds. I imagine it would have looked much more festive at night when the lights from all the rides would have been glowing, but there was still a lot of activity during the day. We saw numerous people in traditional German clothing (dirndls and lederhosen). Occasionally we even saw entire families dressed alike. It was a fun experience, but I’ll be satisfied if I only ever get to go once in my life.
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Joyous
Joy Schoer
Mercedes-Benz and Beer
I absolutely love your pictures! Especially the one with the rose and the one with the fisherman. I have to say I`m jealous that you got to go to the Mercedes-Benz museum, it was closed when I was there. I think the beer might be 1 liter no matter what time of year at a beer garden. At least that`s what it was in Munich when I was there. (I didn`t have any though). That`s one gian pretzel. Yikes. Keep having a great time.