Blogs from Weimar, Thuringia, Germany, Europe - page 2

Und endlich melde ich mich aus einer ziemlich langen Sommerpause zurueck....und eroeffne die Saison mit einem kurzen Bericht ueber meine ersten Eindruecke in der Provinz. 5 Wochen werde ich insgesamt in Weimar wohnen, im Hedwig-Pfeiffer-Haus, das in dieser Zeit nur unserer Gruppe von 25 Studenten und 2 Lehrkraeften zur Verfuegung steht. Ideal gelegen, naemlich direkt am Park, bietet das Haus genug Platz fuer alle und fuer mich sogar ein Einzelzimmer mit Bad. Ein Luxus, von dem die Studenten nur Traeumen koennen. Den Tag verbringe ich morgens in der Bauhausuniversitaet. Zusammen mit der Leiterin des Programms unterrichte ich eine Gruppe von 12 Studenten. Unser Thema: Wirtschaftsdeutsch mit besonderem Augenmerk auf der Region. Das ist leider nicht immer so spannend, wird glueckerlicherweise nachmittags jedoch sehr gut durch Fuehrungen und Besuche einzelner Firmen und Sehenswuerdigkei... read more

After an easy non-driving day in Leipzig, we girded our loins for a tougher day driving across northern Germany. Our route would take us to Buchenwald (near Weimar), then to Gießen, then on to Köln. All told, the journey would be some 519 km (322 miles). This area of Germany is mostly rolling hills, forested in areas, and driving on the modern highways is very easy. Most of the driving was on freeways. I like getting off onto smaller roads, but it is not really very practical when you need to cover significant distances. We would have liked to spend some time in Weimar, an important in German cultural history, but there was simply not enough time, and our object was Buchenwald, the concentration camp nearby. I had never previously seen a concentration camp, and always ... read more

Amber's Journal: We managed to survive the flight and arrived safely in Frankfurt at 11:30 this morning. We were originally supposed to take a taxi to the downtown Budget office to avoid airport fees but they were kind enough to let us rent from the airport without the extra fees. Apparently they only allow certain car models to be taken into the Czech Republic so we were given a free "upgrade" as well. Our "upgrade" turned out to be this totally ugly granny mini-van. It seats seven and is way bigger than what anyone else here is driving. We laughed about it all day but we were grateful to have a car, especially one that is diesel and has a GPS system. I was glad I let Preston do all the driving. He handles the stress ... read more

17th - 18th September We left Lake Constance and headed for a town called Schiltach which is in the Black Forest. We have loved it here. The lonely planet guide didn’t give it much of a write up but it did say it was the prettiest town in the Black Forest and they weren’t wrong. There are two rivers running through here which meet. The houses are built on the side of the hills and are half timbered. The boys were simply happy to be camping by the river and making rafts to float down and watch the trout. We went out sightseeing today and everything we did was free. The bath museum was great - the 1970s bathroom stood out. The boys said that the 1970 bathroom reminded them of Uncle Cliff. All the information ... read more

Well as many of you know, Weimar is where I spent my two glorious study abroad summers in Germany. SMU had a program there for Music History and German, which fit my studies perfectly, so I went twice! :-) One of my great friends on the program, Justus, was placed in Erfurt, so I decided it would be wonderful to meet up with him at the Zwiebel Fest in Weimar and then he was nice enough to let me crash at his place! I woke up early on Saturday morning and headed out with the train, and was supposed to make a stop over at Goettingen to change to a regional train, but of course the punctual german train was 11 minutes late and I missed my 7 min connection. So after some crazy confusion with ... read more