So, I went to Paris....
I've only waited like my entire life! Haha. Anyway, it went something like this:
On Sunday, I started my journey at 8 am from Prien, as usual. I had to say goodbye to Lena and all of her family (except for Oma) because they were leaving for Greece on their holiday. Don't worry! They are going to the East of Greece and the fires are on the West hand side. They are there and hopefully having a good time. (Lena was dreading the entire trip.....sad) Anyway, I arrived in Stuttgart right on time and I had an hour to wait for my train to Paris. No problem, right? Well....when I went to the Netherlands my train said please reserve and I asked at the station and they said "Nah, it's okay. You don't have to." My train to Paris said that too. So I had an hour before my train and I thought I would go and make sure to reserve it. I asked the very nice man at the ticket desk (suprisingly nice for being a Die Bahn employee...) for my reservation and he says that the train is full and that I can't get on. And, not only was my train full.....all the trains to Paris were full.
Oh course, I was about in tears. I was about ready to cry and call the airport and give up and come home actually. (If you really want to know how I felt, that is) Then, the very nice man, who I think could tell that I was scared, said he would find a way for me to get there. And he did! The only catch was that I had to catch a train from Stuttgart to Mannheim and Mannheim to Cologne and then Cologne to Paris. (If you know anything about German geography, you'll know that adds about 6 hours to my trip.....sad) But I got there! That's what matters. I had my parents call and change the time on my reservation for my hostel and everything was okay. I was a little frazzled and worn out and stressed by the time I got to Paris although. I took the Paris metro going in the wrong direction at first, got lost in the streets of Paris at night, and ended up not arriving till 10pm. But I was there at the hostel and safe, eventually.
The hostel.....it is called Aloha hostel and it is within walking distance of pretty much everything. It was a mere 24 Euros a night (about $36) and included breakfast and free WiFi for my laptop. It almost smelled like feet, but that's another story. The atmosphere was most amazing. Everyone was relaxed and hanging out in the lobby and the downstairs. The downstairs had a kitchen and a little cave like eating area. It was sooo neat. Breakfast was served there in the morning and the rest of the time you could store your own food and cook for yourself for lunch and dinner. That meant that people from all over the world were cooking dinner and sharing wine with each other. How cool is that? I ended up meeting several people from the United States and others from several other countries including Scotland, Liverpool UK, Austrailia, West Africa, Japan, Italy, and probably many more.
On my first full day on Monday, I woke up, enjoyed my breakfast downstairs, and headed out for my first mission.....conquering the Eiffel Tower, of course! Fortunately, I was there when it opened so I didn't have to wait in line really. I climbed all the steps up to the second floor/layer and then I took the lift up to the very top. It was such a beautiful day to be able to see the Paris from the top. And, I will have you all know, I bought and ate a croissant at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I just couldn't pass it up. I had to!
Then I walked down the river and enjoyed the scenery on my way to the Louvre. I had a crepe in the park for lunch (which was actually terrible, but oh well...I don't think that was the best place to have one). I bought some drawings from an artist in the park before the Louvre. I am pretty sure that I got hosed in the deal but I know that I hosed him as well, so it's okay. They were pretty drawings that I am pretty sure he didn't really do but just signed that he was offering for $20 a piece or 2 for $35. Then the more I hmmd and hahhd the lower it got. It went to $15 or 2 for $35....then $12 each....then finally 2 for $20 and that's where I bit. (Sorry, that should have all been in Euros, but you get the idea!) Little did he know, I wanted them and was going to buy one anyway. ( : I feel like it's okay that I got hosed since at least I knew how to play the game! Then this other guy, before I knew it, had some string on my finger and braided a bracelet around my wrist. Then of course wanted me to pay for it. Ridiculous! It all happens before you know it and then it's too late to stop them from scamming you. Of course, he wanted 5 Euros and I told him that I only had 2 because I had just purchased the pictures.....which, of course, was a lie, but I was sure as heck not going to get screwed out of 5 Euros. I conned the cons! Ha! Take that!
Anyway, then the Louvre! It was amazing! I was a little annoyed that I had been conned out of that 2 Euros and it was also hot and I was in pain from walking too much, so it could have been better. I just wasn't in a very good mood, but the place was still amazing. I didn't know that the building itself was so gorgeous. Inside there is a lot of trim on the walls and beautiful staircases and such. Very nice. I went around and got lost in one of the wings and ended up seeing Napoleon's apartments. They were gogeous. Very ornamented. Very luxurious. Although, I am beginning to think that all the kings, in all the time periods, in all the countries.....all had the same interior designer! Just kidding! Then of course Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, and all the other most famous works of arts.Then I just wandered around the paintings and such for I don't know how many hours. Then it was back to the hostel for dinner I went!
Day two comes later....
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
The Netherlands
Hello Friends.
It's about time I caught you all up, eh? Here goes:
So, last sunday I left for the Netherlands. I went by train, as usual, and it took all day. It took four trains but I eventually made it there. (I got to take one of the nice ICE trains...they are the really fast ones that go 187-ish mph and have reclining seats and pillows...even in second class!) When I arrived in Amersfoort, NL, Elselien (for those of you who don't know, Elselien was an exchange student my senior year of highschool in PAHS) picked me up with her friend and we went straight home for a Dutch dinner. They then took me to the exhibit of miniature Netherlands. It took about an hour to get to the outside miniature park and it, of course, began to pour as soon as we got anywhere near. Eventually we gave up on the rain and went to the park anyway. (Heck, I am from Washington.....if I can't stand a little rain, I don't know who can! (; ) The park has all of the important things in the Netherlands like Amsterdam, the ports, the airports, the Dam, and all those things. It is full of real working miniature boats and trains and everthing that makes Europe what it is. We walked around for a bit and saw it all while they were getting ready for their nightly light (and fog) show of the little boy who put his finger in the hole to stop the flood from ruining everything. It was mighty cool and I suggest that every goes to see it if they can. Plus, I want to go back another time....in the day time so that I can see all the details on the buildings. Here is the website if you want to find out more:
http://www.madurodam.nl/index2.php
The next day we went straight to Amsterdam. What is really amazing to me is that all of the Netherlands that I saw is sooooo different from Germany. (Not that I thought it would be the same exactly, I just didn't realize that even the buildings would be different.) The buildings here in Germany, or at least down here in Bavaria, are mostly all stucco and tiles roofs. The buildings in the N'Lands (I saw that on a street sign, so I didn't just make that up) are all brick and shingle-type roofs. Weird, huh?
Anyway, Elselien said that she had never been to "The Redlight District", but knew where it was because her parents have always told her "DON'T get off the train and go LEFT!" Haha, so we knew right where it was. So what did we do?......get off the train and go left, of course! The Redlight District is not safe for women to walk in after even the early afternoon, so we made sure that not only were we early in the day, but also that there were three of us. It alternates between "coffeeshops" (where you can legally buy and smoke Marijuana) and whore houses where women stand mostly naked or naked in the windows and lure people inside. It was weird. I mean, I am opened minded....but that was weird. It was just like this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCN9KevQFiA
Too weird for me. Oh, and the signs in the windows which Elselien translated for me said "Room for the Night or Just the Evening" and the clubs on every corner that in English said "Live Porn Show"....yeah, I am opened minded, but that was a little too much for me. Haha. Let's just say, we didn't stay long in that part of town and quickly made our way to the Dam. The Dam is the center area of Amsterdam that has the big old pretty buildings and the huge white statue monument in it. Then we walked across some of town till we made it to the Gay Pride monument and Anne Frank's house. Both were very cool! After those we went to the Albert Cuyp Market that houses around 300 booths and sells everything from fake purses to fresh fruit. It was a successful day of tourism.
Then yesterday we went to Zaanse Schans (don't worry, I can't pronounce it either...) It is a little town a little outside of Amsterdam that is quite popular with tourists from every country. Once you see the pictures you'll see why. It is an old fashioned town, all painted in green that houses about eight old windmills. It is quite adorable. They have a small general store museum that is supposed to mimic the first "stores" that were present in small towns in the Netherlands. They also have a cheese making factory, a costume museum, several houses in the little bog area in which people still live, a wooden clog making house(!), and many other interesting shops. We toured around all the windmills, out to the very last one, and watched how wooden clogs are made today and how they were made in the past. Did you know that it used to take 3 hours of hand work to carve out the inside of a wooden clog and it now takes 5 minutes per shoe for the entire process? Now you know!! (I have a video of the process for anyone who wants to see when I get back.)
Then back to Amsterdam to end up the day, once again at the market deciding on our final purchases. Then we went to the Vincent Van Gogh museum and I got to stand just a few inches from THE sunflower painting of all time! How cool is that? You know, I have often wondered, why is it that almost all of the great artists have or have had mental issues? I mean, I have had a bad painting or two, but nothing so bad that I would shoot myself for failing talent. I mean, geeze!
Then today, I came back to Prien. The train that I was taking from Utrecht, NL had some kind of problem and they switched us at Köln, DE instead of waiting for Frankfurt, DE which was cool because not only did I not have to switch trains to get to Munich in Frankfurt, but also the new train went in a completely different direction so I got to see a whole new part of Germany! Hooray for problems, eh?
As of now, tomorrow we are celebrating a friend of Lena's, Anna's, going away party because she is going to study in Thailand for the next 6 months and doing some last minute shopping around here. Then Friday we head, once again, to Salzburg, Austria. It was my favorite place so far so we think it is only fitting that we go back again. Plus, I have not yet seen the gazebo from The Sound of Music, the castle on the hill up close, or the famous, really old cemetary. I am looking forward to going back there again. Saturday we will head to Munich to get a few last things and head back here to go to the beginning of the Rosenheim festival and then Sunday I leave for Paris. Lena and her family are leaving on Sunday to go to Greece for their holiday and since I will be alone anyway for the last few days I thought I would spend the time looking at art and staring with wide eyes at the wonderous Eiffel Tower. Sounds like a plan to me!
See you all soon!
Cori
It's about time I caught you all up, eh? Here goes:
So, last sunday I left for the Netherlands. I went by train, as usual, and it took all day. It took four trains but I eventually made it there. (I got to take one of the nice ICE trains...they are the really fast ones that go 187-ish mph and have reclining seats and pillows...even in second class!) When I arrived in Amersfoort, NL, Elselien (for those of you who don't know, Elselien was an exchange student my senior year of highschool in PAHS) picked me up with her friend and we went straight home for a Dutch dinner. They then took me to the exhibit of miniature Netherlands. It took about an hour to get to the outside miniature park and it, of course, began to pour as soon as we got anywhere near. Eventually we gave up on the rain and went to the park anyway. (Heck, I am from Washington.....if I can't stand a little rain, I don't know who can! (; ) The park has all of the important things in the Netherlands like Amsterdam, the ports, the airports, the Dam, and all those things. It is full of real working miniature boats and trains and everthing that makes Europe what it is. We walked around for a bit and saw it all while they were getting ready for their nightly light (and fog) show of the little boy who put his finger in the hole to stop the flood from ruining everything. It was mighty cool and I suggest that every goes to see it if they can. Plus, I want to go back another time....in the day time so that I can see all the details on the buildings. Here is the website if you want to find out more:
http://www.madurodam.nl/index2.php
The next day we went straight to Amsterdam. What is really amazing to me is that all of the Netherlands that I saw is sooooo different from Germany. (Not that I thought it would be the same exactly, I just didn't realize that even the buildings would be different.) The buildings here in Germany, or at least down here in Bavaria, are mostly all stucco and tiles roofs. The buildings in the N'Lands (I saw that on a street sign, so I didn't just make that up) are all brick and shingle-type roofs. Weird, huh?
Anyway, Elselien said that she had never been to "The Redlight District", but knew where it was because her parents have always told her "DON'T get off the train and go LEFT!" Haha, so we knew right where it was. So what did we do?......get off the train and go left, of course! The Redlight District is not safe for women to walk in after even the early afternoon, so we made sure that not only were we early in the day, but also that there were three of us. It alternates between "coffeeshops" (where you can legally buy and smoke Marijuana) and whore houses where women stand mostly naked or naked in the windows and lure people inside. It was weird. I mean, I am opened minded....but that was weird. It was just like this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCN9KevQFiA
Too weird for me. Oh, and the signs in the windows which Elselien translated for me said "Room for the Night or Just the Evening" and the clubs on every corner that in English said "Live Porn Show"....yeah, I am opened minded, but that was a little too much for me. Haha. Let's just say, we didn't stay long in that part of town and quickly made our way to the Dam. The Dam is the center area of Amsterdam that has the big old pretty buildings and the huge white statue monument in it. Then we walked across some of town till we made it to the Gay Pride monument and Anne Frank's house. Both were very cool! After those we went to the Albert Cuyp Market that houses around 300 booths and sells everything from fake purses to fresh fruit. It was a successful day of tourism.
Then yesterday we went to Zaanse Schans (don't worry, I can't pronounce it either...) It is a little town a little outside of Amsterdam that is quite popular with tourists from every country. Once you see the pictures you'll see why. It is an old fashioned town, all painted in green that houses about eight old windmills. It is quite adorable. They have a small general store museum that is supposed to mimic the first "stores" that were present in small towns in the Netherlands. They also have a cheese making factory, a costume museum, several houses in the little bog area in which people still live, a wooden clog making house(!), and many other interesting shops. We toured around all the windmills, out to the very last one, and watched how wooden clogs are made today and how they were made in the past. Did you know that it used to take 3 hours of hand work to carve out the inside of a wooden clog and it now takes 5 minutes per shoe for the entire process? Now you know!! (I have a video of the process for anyone who wants to see when I get back.)
Then back to Amsterdam to end up the day, once again at the market deciding on our final purchases. Then we went to the Vincent Van Gogh museum and I got to stand just a few inches from THE sunflower painting of all time! How cool is that? You know, I have often wondered, why is it that almost all of the great artists have or have had mental issues? I mean, I have had a bad painting or two, but nothing so bad that I would shoot myself for failing talent. I mean, geeze!
Then today, I came back to Prien. The train that I was taking from Utrecht, NL had some kind of problem and they switched us at Köln, DE instead of waiting for Frankfurt, DE which was cool because not only did I not have to switch trains to get to Munich in Frankfurt, but also the new train went in a completely different direction so I got to see a whole new part of Germany! Hooray for problems, eh?
As of now, tomorrow we are celebrating a friend of Lena's, Anna's, going away party because she is going to study in Thailand for the next 6 months and doing some last minute shopping around here. Then Friday we head, once again, to Salzburg, Austria. It was my favorite place so far so we think it is only fitting that we go back again. Plus, I have not yet seen the gazebo from The Sound of Music, the castle on the hill up close, or the famous, really old cemetary. I am looking forward to going back there again. Saturday we will head to Munich to get a few last things and head back here to go to the beginning of the Rosenheim festival and then Sunday I leave for Paris. Lena and her family are leaving on Sunday to go to Greece for their holiday and since I will be alone anyway for the last few days I thought I would spend the time looking at art and staring with wide eyes at the wonderous Eiffel Tower. Sounds like a plan to me!
See you all soon!
Cori
Monday, August 13, 2007
Festivals, Beer, and Castles!
Update on the last couples days....
Lena caught a little bit of a cold so we had to slow down a bit for the last couple days. But we still did a bunch anyway.
Sunday we went to the Markt Fest which is the beer festival located in the center of Prien. It is the traditional, annual festival that takes place right next to the old Bavarian church and museum (that I posted pictures of earlier). This is what one website says about Prien's Marktfest:
"Prien, like the rest of Bavaria, has a strong folk tradition, and this is in evidence at the annual Marktfest, sponsored by the Traditional Costume Society (Trachten). It is an all day affair with four bands (brass, jazz, alphorn and yodelling), schuhplattler (slapping) dancing, games, food (pork knuckles, barbecued trout, six types of bratwurst, sauerkraut...) and the smallest beer glass is 1 litre."
It was just as that said. Full of food and music and dance. There were tons of people all sitting close together in long table and people in Lederhosen and Dirndls (respectively, of course) walking about with huge glasses of beer in their hands. There were children dancing the traditional Baravian dances on one end and adults performing them on the other. One of the most amazing things to me was the whip cracking and shoe slapping dances the men would do. They had to all be so in time with each other and the music. Quite impressive. It basically looked just like this video from YouTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q6EzPkqt2Rk&mode=related&search=
It's amazing in person. Also, the beer glasses are really 1 L....that's alot of Beer! They weren't lying! And some of the "waiters" or whatever you would call them could carry like 8 of them at once....filled with beer! There are lots of pictures up on here and there will be more when we go to the next festival. Oh, and who do I run into at the beer fest? Someone from Port Angeles.....good ol' Kevin from my same class! Ha! Small world, eh?
Okay, let's get to my favorite part now....the architecture! We toured a castle today! Lena's Oma took Lena and me to Herrenchiemsee. The castle was built by the same king, King Ludwig the II, as built Neuschwanstein Castle; the castle on which Disney has based most of it's fairytale castles including Cinderella's castle. His castles are famous world wide for their fairytale quality. Herrenchiemsee is located on the biggest island in the middle of the lake Chiemsee that I am living next to. He built it during his reign in the 1800's in order to pay respect to King Louis XIV of France. The Palace of Versailles was used as a model for this palace, although only the middle section was ever completed. When you get off the boat and walk onto the island you see a big, normal Bavarian looking building which apparently was the original "castle" on the island where all the important political events took place. You can either take a lovely walk through the woods or you can take a lovely horse carriage ride through the woods until you reach the palace. When you arrive there you see the garden and the fountains first. The fountains, I think, were my favorite part. They all told stories and had amazing details in the figures. I took so many pictures of the statues and figures surrounding the castle.
Then, when you walk up to the actual castle, the details become even more ornate. Every window cornice is unique to that window. There are huge statues along the roof and in every nook and cranny. I couldn't believe the extent at which he decorated the littlest things on the exterior of the building. Then the tour of the rooms...oh! The rooms all have gold leaf and marble everywhere. There are more paintings of the French King than of Ludwig II himself. There are huge crystal chandeliers in every room and even a unique porcelain chandelier in Ludwig's dining room. (He actually destroyed the plans for that one himself as to make sure that no one would ever have another one like it.) Paintings adorn all the walls and ceilings and hand-emroidered curtains of velvet are in every room. In one room, he has two huge chandeliers and the two biggest mirriors in the castle so that the crystal will be seen for eternity. It was definately overdone, but he certainly made the statement he was going for....that is...in the rooms that are finished. There are 70 rooms in this castle alone and only 20 of them are actually finished. After room and room of gold and velvet the tour guide said "And this is what happens when a king runs out of money." We walked into this room who's shape was much like the others but was made entirely out of handmade bricks and wood. He actually just plain ran out of money! There wasn't even plaster on the bricks. No paintings, no gold. Only a couple stone statues sat in the room, unplaced waiting for it to be finished. Amazing! It was cool to see how it was built though. Nine million handmade bricks were made and then brought by boat to the island. 26 exotic and rare woods were used as inlay just on Ludwig's desk. I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to think I could like living as a Princess. (; Okay, so enough about the castle. (I know, some of you aren't historical architecture geeks like I am...)
So let's move on.....onto some more architecture!! Hooray! Quickly this time though. When we left to go back to the boats we had lunch at the cafe that is now at the old castle or political meeting place. Behind this building is an old church or parish called St. Maria's. It was built in 1469! It was sooo cute! Of course, we went inside and saw the lovely old religious paintings on the ceilings and the walls.
Then we took another boat to the second largest island, Frauenchiemsee. (Get it yet? Herr = man, Frau = women....Nevermind.) This is a much smaller island that is famous for it's ever blooming flowers. The island also holds an old women's convent or abbey that was built in 782. Can you believe it? I couldn't. I looked at paintings on the walls that were painted over 1000 years ago. I walked on stone that wasn't made with a curve in it, but had been worn by that many people walking over it over the years. It was very neat. Also, just a tidbit....since the abbey buildings were built so long ago, all the doorways were Cori-sized....any guesses as to why? Well, only about 1900 it was very common for all people to be Cori-sized. The nutrition was so much worse so people did not grow to be very big, nor did they live to be very old. Just thought I would share that from past research. (: See, I am not tiny, I was just born in the wrong time. More interesting info on the abbey's history can be found here:
http://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/objects/fr_chiem.htm
Anyway, I have purchased my train pass to be able to go to the Netherlands and to the Mediterranean now officially, so that will be coming up soon. Hope you enjoyed today's history lesson....I mean, blog. (:
Thanks for reading along!
Cori
PS. Don't forget....you can always ask me questions about stuff in my pictures or blogs!
Lena caught a little bit of a cold so we had to slow down a bit for the last couple days. But we still did a bunch anyway.
Sunday we went to the Markt Fest which is the beer festival located in the center of Prien. It is the traditional, annual festival that takes place right next to the old Bavarian church and museum (that I posted pictures of earlier). This is what one website says about Prien's Marktfest:
"Prien, like the rest of Bavaria, has a strong folk tradition, and this is in evidence at the annual Marktfest, sponsored by the Traditional Costume Society (Trachten). It is an all day affair with four bands (brass, jazz, alphorn and yodelling), schuhplattler (slapping) dancing, games, food (pork knuckles, barbecued trout, six types of bratwurst, sauerkraut...) and the smallest beer glass is 1 litre."
It was just as that said. Full of food and music and dance. There were tons of people all sitting close together in long table and people in Lederhosen and Dirndls (respectively, of course) walking about with huge glasses of beer in their hands. There were children dancing the traditional Baravian dances on one end and adults performing them on the other. One of the most amazing things to me was the whip cracking and shoe slapping dances the men would do. They had to all be so in time with each other and the music. Quite impressive. It basically looked just like this video from YouTube:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q6EzPkqt2Rk&mode=related&search=
It's amazing in person. Also, the beer glasses are really 1 L....that's alot of Beer! They weren't lying! And some of the "waiters" or whatever you would call them could carry like 8 of them at once....filled with beer! There are lots of pictures up on here and there will be more when we go to the next festival. Oh, and who do I run into at the beer fest? Someone from Port Angeles.....good ol' Kevin from my same class! Ha! Small world, eh?
Okay, let's get to my favorite part now....the architecture! We toured a castle today! Lena's Oma took Lena and me to Herrenchiemsee. The castle was built by the same king, King Ludwig the II, as built Neuschwanstein Castle; the castle on which Disney has based most of it's fairytale castles including Cinderella's castle. His castles are famous world wide for their fairytale quality. Herrenchiemsee is located on the biggest island in the middle of the lake Chiemsee that I am living next to. He built it during his reign in the 1800's in order to pay respect to King Louis XIV of France. The Palace of Versailles was used as a model for this palace, although only the middle section was ever completed. When you get off the boat and walk onto the island you see a big, normal Bavarian looking building which apparently was the original "castle" on the island where all the important political events took place. You can either take a lovely walk through the woods or you can take a lovely horse carriage ride through the woods until you reach the palace. When you arrive there you see the garden and the fountains first. The fountains, I think, were my favorite part. They all told stories and had amazing details in the figures. I took so many pictures of the statues and figures surrounding the castle.
Then, when you walk up to the actual castle, the details become even more ornate. Every window cornice is unique to that window. There are huge statues along the roof and in every nook and cranny. I couldn't believe the extent at which he decorated the littlest things on the exterior of the building. Then the tour of the rooms...oh! The rooms all have gold leaf and marble everywhere. There are more paintings of the French King than of Ludwig II himself. There are huge crystal chandeliers in every room and even a unique porcelain chandelier in Ludwig's dining room. (He actually destroyed the plans for that one himself as to make sure that no one would ever have another one like it.) Paintings adorn all the walls and ceilings and hand-emroidered curtains of velvet are in every room. In one room, he has two huge chandeliers and the two biggest mirriors in the castle so that the crystal will be seen for eternity. It was definately overdone, but he certainly made the statement he was going for....that is...in the rooms that are finished. There are 70 rooms in this castle alone and only 20 of them are actually finished. After room and room of gold and velvet the tour guide said "And this is what happens when a king runs out of money." We walked into this room who's shape was much like the others but was made entirely out of handmade bricks and wood. He actually just plain ran out of money! There wasn't even plaster on the bricks. No paintings, no gold. Only a couple stone statues sat in the room, unplaced waiting for it to be finished. Amazing! It was cool to see how it was built though. Nine million handmade bricks were made and then brought by boat to the island. 26 exotic and rare woods were used as inlay just on Ludwig's desk. I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to think I could like living as a Princess. (; Okay, so enough about the castle. (I know, some of you aren't historical architecture geeks like I am...)
So let's move on.....onto some more architecture!! Hooray! Quickly this time though. When we left to go back to the boats we had lunch at the cafe that is now at the old castle or political meeting place. Behind this building is an old church or parish called St. Maria's. It was built in 1469! It was sooo cute! Of course, we went inside and saw the lovely old religious paintings on the ceilings and the walls.
Then we took another boat to the second largest island, Frauenchiemsee. (Get it yet? Herr = man, Frau = women....Nevermind.) This is a much smaller island that is famous for it's ever blooming flowers. The island also holds an old women's convent or abbey that was built in 782. Can you believe it? I couldn't. I looked at paintings on the walls that were painted over 1000 years ago. I walked on stone that wasn't made with a curve in it, but had been worn by that many people walking over it over the years. It was very neat. Also, just a tidbit....since the abbey buildings were built so long ago, all the doorways were Cori-sized....any guesses as to why? Well, only about 1900 it was very common for all people to be Cori-sized. The nutrition was so much worse so people did not grow to be very big, nor did they live to be very old. Just thought I would share that from past research. (: See, I am not tiny, I was just born in the wrong time. More interesting info on the abbey's history can be found here:
http://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/objects/fr_chiem.htm
Anyway, I have purchased my train pass to be able to go to the Netherlands and to the Mediterranean now officially, so that will be coming up soon. Hope you enjoyed today's history lesson....I mean, blog. (:
Thanks for reading along!
Cori
PS. Don't forget....you can always ask me questions about stuff in my pictures or blogs!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Almost a Week
I have been in Germany almost a week, but both Lena and I agree, it feels like I have been here forever! It's nice here. I'm getting to the point that I feel comfortable walking away from Lena in a store. We can look at different things and areas without making me sooo nervous. I'm still a little nervous. I can't understand all what people say. I can understand body language and hand gestures....that's good! But like today, I was in a shop by myself and I went to the dressing room to try on clothing. No big deal, I just grabbed one when I women got done right? Well, I happened to grab the one that also contained the door to the store's backroom and it also happened to be the time that the saleswomen needed to get in there. She started talking to me soooo fast, there was no way for me to grasp all the words. I just don't have enough German vocab to have complete conservations....I mean, I've only had one quarter at college so far! But I am starting to not be so nervous to try. I can say "Ich spreche Englisch." and such, no problem. So I get by okay....sometimes.
Luckily enough the lady was very nice and made enough gestures that I knew to move out of her way. Hooray for coming from a family that talks completely with their hands! I truly mean it! I said a whole German sentence yesterday to Lena and she was so proud. She actually replied in German and then stopped, apologized, and spoke in English. She said that it sounded so correct, she forgot to reply in English anyway! Just a proud moment....made me smile.
So, yesterday. Yesterday we went to Munich for the day for shopping. When we left the train we happened across a natural store and finally got some aloe vera gel for my sunburn. (It finally is feeling a little better today! Yay Aloe Vera!) Then we proceeded on our way to my first trip on the German subway system. The student summer holiday train pass, that we convinced Die Bahn to let me purchase even as an American, works on the main subway system in Munich, as well as all the trains in Bavaria. (What a fantastic buy that was!!) We went shopping all day! Almost too much shopping for me even. (Can you imagine?!) Anyway, I got to see the huge Gothic style building in the center of town that holds the largest Glokenspiel in the world. Unfortunately, the tower containing it is under renovation to make repairs and such so I didn't get to see the actual Glokenspiel yet. In a couple weeks, maybe. From there we wandered to the old open-air market. It was really nice. I got to purchase some hand made items there at the market and had lunch at the Original Beer Garden in the very center. I also bought my first dirndl.......to wear to the upcoming festivals. It's black with roses on it. Very simple, but quite lovely. As we did our last shopping and headed to the main station in Munich a storm came our way fast. It poured! It was almost hysterical, Lena and me, runninng to the station in the huge rain drops of a thunder storm. Quite refreshing actually! I liked it. We were in the very center of the storm.....I couldn't even count the seconds between the lightening and the thunder! The day kinda ended there and we relaxed...
Today.....today was fun and kinda quiet. We kinda got up and ready slowly, while I wrote a bunch of post cards. Eventually we headed for Rosenheim, Germany. It's a town a little bigger than Prien, but no where near as big as Munich. They are having their season sales there that Lena's mother Tina told us about. (She lives there.) So we headed over and got a few things. I actually found clothing that worked for me and wasn't toooo expensive (like everything else is here...). I got a kind of dress that is really popular here right now. Now I'm hip in European terms...well, maybe. (; It was a nice day out and her grandma made Apfelstreudel for us while we were out. My first, real, German-made streudel.
Tomorrow is going to be a spontaneous day. We don't have much planned except for maybe finishing my post cards and if the weather is nice, I might talk her into a trip to the castle on the island. Who knows what we'll do! Thanks to all you who have been reading my little blog here. I'm so very glad that I get to share this whole experience with my friends and family back home.
Liebe,
Cori
Luckily enough the lady was very nice and made enough gestures that I knew to move out of her way. Hooray for coming from a family that talks completely with their hands! I truly mean it! I said a whole German sentence yesterday to Lena and she was so proud. She actually replied in German and then stopped, apologized, and spoke in English. She said that it sounded so correct, she forgot to reply in English anyway! Just a proud moment....made me smile.
So, yesterday. Yesterday we went to Munich for the day for shopping. When we left the train we happened across a natural store and finally got some aloe vera gel for my sunburn. (It finally is feeling a little better today! Yay Aloe Vera!) Then we proceeded on our way to my first trip on the German subway system. The student summer holiday train pass, that we convinced Die Bahn to let me purchase even as an American, works on the main subway system in Munich, as well as all the trains in Bavaria. (What a fantastic buy that was!!) We went shopping all day! Almost too much shopping for me even. (Can you imagine?!) Anyway, I got to see the huge Gothic style building in the center of town that holds the largest Glokenspiel in the world. Unfortunately, the tower containing it is under renovation to make repairs and such so I didn't get to see the actual Glokenspiel yet. In a couple weeks, maybe. From there we wandered to the old open-air market. It was really nice. I got to purchase some hand made items there at the market and had lunch at the Original Beer Garden in the very center. I also bought my first dirndl.......to wear to the upcoming festivals. It's black with roses on it. Very simple, but quite lovely. As we did our last shopping and headed to the main station in Munich a storm came our way fast. It poured! It was almost hysterical, Lena and me, runninng to the station in the huge rain drops of a thunder storm. Quite refreshing actually! I liked it. We were in the very center of the storm.....I couldn't even count the seconds between the lightening and the thunder! The day kinda ended there and we relaxed...
Today.....today was fun and kinda quiet. We kinda got up and ready slowly, while I wrote a bunch of post cards. Eventually we headed for Rosenheim, Germany. It's a town a little bigger than Prien, but no where near as big as Munich. They are having their season sales there that Lena's mother Tina told us about. (She lives there.) So we headed over and got a few things. I actually found clothing that worked for me and wasn't toooo expensive (like everything else is here...). I got a kind of dress that is really popular here right now. Now I'm hip in European terms...well, maybe. (; It was a nice day out and her grandma made Apfelstreudel for us while we were out. My first, real, German-made streudel.
Tomorrow is going to be a spontaneous day. We don't have much planned except for maybe finishing my post cards and if the weather is nice, I might talk her into a trip to the castle on the island. Who knows what we'll do! Thanks to all you who have been reading my little blog here. I'm so very glad that I get to share this whole experience with my friends and family back home.
Liebe,
Cori
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