Goerlitz/Bautzen

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June 11th 2011

Published: June 14th 2011

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katybug

june 11, 2011 006

Goerlitz building facade

A little late, but it's been a transition being back home. Our last trip we took was to Goerlitz, the border town where 1/3 of the town is actually in Poland, and Bautzen, where there was cool stuff including a mustard store with free samples!

Goerlitz was actually really beautiful. The buildings were lovely and it was a quiet, non-hectic place, and I really liked being there. We went to this amazing Medieval shop where the storekeep sold hand-crafted jewelry and had a huge variety of old Celtic music. I ended up getting this really beautiful necklace that's actually a sun-dial! So cool~ he was amazingly nice, and I totally wanted to buy everything.

Then we went to an old beautiful church with this famous organ called the Sun Organ, designed by a German who went to Italy to study. The interior was pretty amazing, and it was nice seeing one final church like that before leaving. And the church had the bonus of being right near the bridge that crossed over the river into Polish territory, so we crossed that and entered Poland! It was pretty crazy to see the sudden change that happened as soon as you

june 11, 2011 008

Goerlitz streetview

got into Polish territory; all the language was Polish and the buildings looked like they were remnants of the Cold War still, run-down and crumbling. It was very different. We walked around for awhile and saw the sights a bit, where the city improved away from the border, and then went back to the German side once more to get our train to Bautzen.

Bautzen was also a beautiful city. We walked around for awhile and hit the mustard store where they gave us these really yummy free samples, and then saw some old churches and ruins that were amazing- one of them had been destroyed all the way back in the 16th century, and the ruins were still standing, with an apartment built into the back! So awesome.

We got dinner and it started pouring on us, and of course we were sitting outside, so we ended up moving underneath an umbrella and half the table had to hold their own umbrellas up to try and keep dry, which didn't really work. But it was still a very good last night in Germany, spending it with people I liked in the program. <3

I was incredibly

june 11, 2011 009

Street signs

sad to come home, even though I missed my apartment something terrible. Of course, I came home to my car not working at all, and am still in the process of getting it fixed so it will at least RUN, but I guess that's just the way life works, haha. 😊 I already miss Germany- it was such an amazing experience there!

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