Blogs from Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe - page 3

The week leading up to our first travel weekend was mostly spent on recovery. I was still a little sick from Amsterdam, and I hadn't yet realized how short four days can be between trips. Classes were entering their second week, the syllabi were handed out, and real work was setting in. The idea of a new country every weekend still seemed like distant dream, and it wasn't until Thursday night, after a long game of Monopoly, that the next day's trip really sank in. A week earlier one of my roommates, Ben, had suggested a bike trip to Dusseldorf, a place I only knew as international vampire headquarters in the animated Cuban feature "Vampiros en Habana," but I liked the idea of a bike trip and told him I was interested. Meanwhile other kids started ... read more

Nos encontramos en el aeropuerto de Amsterdam con los tíos Cristina y Gaby, que venían en un vuelo de KLM desde Ginebra a las 7 de la tarde. A las 8 ya estábamos arriba del auto sin tener el menor plan donde ir, aunque si sabíamos la vuelta que queríamos dar. Al final entre charla y charla decidimos comenzar por Alemania. La primer ciudad que nos parecía interesante para conocer era Düsseldorf, así que le pedimos a nuestra amiga Norma GPS que nos indicara el camino. Unos 220km aproximadamente nos separaban de nuestro destino. Tiempo suficiente para charlar un rato y ponernos al día con las novedades familiares. A eso de las 9 de la noche, coincidieron 2 factores claves en nuestro camino: el hambre y el Mc Donalds, así que en el primer pueblo cruzando ... read more

Hello Everyone! We are here in Dusseldorf, Germany!! We are safe and had a fabulous trip and first day in Europe. Our flight was amazing. We highly recommend LTU for your next international flight! They fed us every half hour, gave us blankets (which are going to turn into our beach towels in a week or so), pillows, socks, even a tooth brush! We have had some encounters with a few entertaining characters already and cannot wait to see who else we will meet in the next three weeks! We are staying in a very nice hostel tonight. We leave tomorrow morning for Amsterdam. We have already learned many important lessons and had plenty of laughs. We will share all the stories with you soon but now it's time for bed because we are trying to ... read more

Um 14.00 MEZ betraten unsere Füsse nach nun 6 Wochen und unendlich viel zurückgelegten km und geküsst von der Sonne Afrikas wieder deutschen Boden. Schon am Flugzeug standen Zollbeamte und kontrollierten nicht-europäische Pässe nach Visa und wir bemerkten, dass wir nun wirklich wiedre in Deutschland sind. An der Gepäckausgabe dauerte es über eine Std bis unsere Rucksäcke kamen. Unser liebgewonnener in Sansibar erworbener rosa Schirm bis indessen verschollen. Da er zu lang war für unsere Rucksäcke und er nicht mit ins Handgepäck durfte, bekam er ein extra Gepäckzettelchen umgebunden und wir waren schon sehr gespannt, ob ers denn schaffen würde. Er tat es nicht. So verliesen wir als letzte geknickt und von Trauer durchdrungen, die mittlerweile verlassenen Hallen und nur das gleichmässige Schnurren der Motoren des Gepäckbandes säusselte durch den Raum bis es verebbend in der ... read more

So I’ve finally gotten around to telling you all about the rest of my ‘round-trip’ of Germany! Sorry about how long it’s been...I lost a bit of motivation somewhere along the way! I left off in Berlin, having stayed longer than intended but still enjoying every second of it (except maybe when I was sick - not quite so enjoyable...)! Due to no reply to my request to surf a couch in Hamburg, from Berlin I took a LONG train ride to Düsseldorf. I think it was about 4 or 5 hours. And unfortunately I’d finished Harry Potter the night before! I did have another book to read, though, so I wasn’t COMPLETELY bored...plus I got some sleep in, as it was an early train too. I was to stay in a youth hostel for this ... read more