Blogs from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe - page 15

Wir besuchten das Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao und haben den Eindruck, dass das Museum sehr viel Platz braucht um sich selbst darzustellen. Unsere Idee war, die Heimreise mit einem Tag fahren, einem Tag Urlaub zu bewältigen. Leider ging dieser Plan nicht auf, da wir aufgrund des Wetters doch jeden Tag ein Stück gefahren sind, auch wenn es nur 50km waren. Unser nächster Halt war die Grenzstadt Hondarribia, wo wir von der spanischen Meeresküche Abschied nahmen. Der Urlaubstag fiel dort buchstäblich ins Wasser, da es morgens regnete. Da beschlossen wir, bis zur Sonne zu fahren. Dieser begegneten wir im Städtchen Pauillac im Médoc. Den Urlaubstag verbrachten wir auf dem Rad und haben auf der landschaftlich sehr abwechslungsreichen Tour einige "Sclösser" von Weinbauern bestaunt (u.a. Rothschild). Vom Médoc ging es zu den nächsten Schlössern an der Loire. Hier ... read more

"A Journey Is Best Measured In Friends, Not Miles" Tim Cahill How we are at this point in our journey already is absolutely beyond me. I sit to compose this blog post, mostly packed, excited for our adventure in Paris to begin, but not ready for our time in Germany to end. My mind is full of the amazing experiences we have enjoyed here, the wonderful people who have opened their hearts and their homes to us, and the many friendships that have been forged in the process. The German portion of this exchange is coming to an end all too soon, and it culminated in a wonderful event this evening. We met in the nearby town of Rangendingen at the local soccer stadium and park for an event that was sure to be enjoyed, but ... read more

David versus Goliath, U.S. Hockey versus Russia in 1980, Seabiscuit versus War Admiral, Rocky versus Ivan Drago, the Imperial System versus Metric. None of these underdogs, these dark horses, given no chance to even compete, can hold a candle to the position of Team American Exchange today at Haigerloch School's Sport Day. We, the rag tag group of American's, inexperienced in the obscure sports of Baden Wurttemberg, thousands of miles from home, exhausted from travel and countless activities these past two weeks which were specially designed to create even more of a home field advantage for the hosts. We were vastly outnumbered on this day, 50-1 really. And the odds, much, much longer than that. We assembled this morning on the steps with the rest of the school for mandatory warm ups. Then, we moved on ... read more

First, a quick shout out to a great hike leader and musical mastermind. A German student who is a loyal reader of this blog, Hello Phillip! We met today at a spot we thought would be pretty quiet. Last time we were there, we were basically the only cars in the parking lot. We expected much the same today at the nearby prehistoric caves. The positive reviews published on this blog two years ago must have really done a lot for the popularity of this site (uhh huh), as when we arrived, it looked more like Europa Park. The lot was full, the sides of the drive leading to the parking lot were full, and there were guys with radios parking cars in a nearby field. We ended up having to walk about a kilometer to ... read more

It was one of those days when you walk out of the house at 7:30 in the morning and it is already hot. The news reported that this was going to the be hottest day of the year so far, and they were right. In addition, our destination was Stuttgart. It's geography places the downtown portion of the city firmly at the base of a large bowl, thereby negating any hope of a cooling breeze. Combined with the heat generated by the urban environment, the temps this afternoon easily climbed into the mid 90's. There were zero complaints or gripes from the kids however, and they made it a great day! Our first stop in Stuttgart was the Mercedes Benz Arena, home to Stuttgart VFB, he local soccer club, which was founded in 1893. The stadium ... read more