'Tis the Season

On the first weekend of December, I went to one of the nicest (as I'm told) Christmas Markets in Germany in a city called Erfurt. 

Fun Facts: Erfurt is the capital city of the German state of Thuringia, has a population of 200,000, and is basically the big city closest to the Middle of Germany.  It's also really old, with evidence of settlement from 480. 

More Fun Facts:  Famous people lived here.  Johann Pachelbel, as in Pachelbel's Canon lived and composed like a bajillion (Ok, 70 per Wikipedia) organ songs here. Also, Martin Luther, who seems to keep popping up everywhere I go, graduated from the university here. 

Now, as I was travelling with some friends to Erfurt for the Weihnachsmarkt (Christmas Market), I didn't explore the city as much as I normally would have... But no worries, because I had a great day with some pretty awesome friends enjoying the Christmas Market like a real German (or any tourist).  

However, I can tell you that the City Center in Erfurt is really beautiful, the Erfurt Cathedral or Mariendom is gorgeous, and the City Hall is definitely worth a visit.  I am still totally awed by the old architecture all over the country.  Seriously, I am a total geek for hundreds of years old buildings, especially churches and castles.

Ok, I digress.  The Erfurt Weihnachsmarkt was pretty cool.  I wasn't totally sure what to expect as I have never been to a Christmas Market before, not even Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem (which I'm sure is completely different than the markets here).  Now, having been to a few Christmas Markets, I can tell you the basic setup is the same everywhere.  They build wooden huts in the main public squares of all the cities and towns (always outdoors - No Christkindlmarkt tents here!) and vendors set up shop to sell food, drinks and crafts.  Seriously, they sell everything from glühwein to christmas decorations to gingerbread hearts to cotton candy to jewelry and lovely wooden crafts and decorations.

It was pretty cold, so I really appreciated the glühwein and the eierpunsch and the cappuccinos.  Definitely going to be making some homemade glühwein back in the US though.  So, if you're lucky, you'll get the invite to try some :).  It was an awesome day, I learned a lot of fun new German words and taugh my friends some new, non-business English.   And the best part was, instead of shitty Deutsche Bahn, we took the bus.  So, no delays or waiting outside in the freezing cold forever!

Anyways, onto the important part, Pictures!

Before

After. No Stephanie, you don't look like an angry mushroom in that hat.

Not the glühwein, but the eierpunsch

 

 

 

 Yea, I like the way they celebrate Christmas here

 

Bernd das Brot = Bernd the Bread.  Spongebob-like famous.

Seriously geeked out here.  Coolest thing ever.  A bridge with houses / shops built on it.  32 to be exact.

 

Cute!

I actually ran into somebody I knew 2 hours away from Melsungen

 Cute gloves! And love the matching nail polish.

10 Things I Miss About Home

So, going home for Thanksgiving was amazing!  I was on the verge of burn out here so it was great to see everyone from home and relax for a week.  It also made me realize how much I miss certain things from home, so I made a list of the things I miss when I'm in Germany to share with you.  Also, this post is a way of procrastinating downloading my pictures from this past weekend (but what are you gonna do? I'll get to it soon).

It goes without saying that my family and friends are at the top of the list, obviously.  Anyway, here you go:

1. My social life - i.e. my family, friends and going out regularly.

2. My Bed

3. Being able to walk into any store / restaraunt / bar and speak english.

4. The Bethlehem Vacation Club - totally could have used a Halloween adventure! Or a pub crawl!

5. Steak

6. My Bed

7. Football - a little sad I never got to go to a Penn State game this year.

8. Clothes Dryers.  Seriously, not a fan of air drying.

9. Getting hit on by old men in bars...oh wait, no.  Don't miss that.

10. My Bed.


Well, there you have it.  It was actually difficult to come up with this list beyond #4 , but I do miss home.

Almost Famous

Yea, that's right.  People know me.


So, I was interviewed by the local paper here in Germany recently and it was just published this weekend.  I don't find myself or the interview very interesting, but a bunch of people (ok like 3) have asked to see it so I've decided to embrace my inner fame-whore and put it up on all my available forms of social media.

Here you go.....

Yes, yes, it's all in German.  I'll provide a loose translation for you though:  It says I'm awesome.  No, if you want to read the actual article, you can find it at this link:

http://www.hna.de/nachrichten/schwalm-eder-kreis/melsungen/selbe-firma-anderes-land-2595098.html

 

 

Google Translate does a pretty decent job with it.  Just remember, she and they are the same word in German so that'll probably be wrong in the translation.  Anyway, I'm signing autographs to those who want them.  Just send a blank piece of paper in a self-addressed envelope with postage lol.

Würzburg

Last weekend, I took a short trip to Würzburg because Carolin told me I should.  Würzburg is a city of around 130,000 in Franconia, in the southern, middle part of Germany, basically half-way between Frankfurt and Nuremburg.  It's also pretty popular for tourists because it lies on the Romantic Road and is well known for it's castles and wine making.


Fun Fact: Notable people from Würzburg include, of course, my friend Carolin and Dirk Nowitzki, oh and the guy who discovered X-rays.  There's several others but I never heard of most of them.

Unfortunately, the weather sucked when I was there.  It was freezing cold and either steadily flurrying or raining all day.  So, I didn't enjoy as many sights as I probably would have in better weather, but the city itself was still really cool.  I'd love to go back in the spring or summer and see it at it's best, and maybe go tour some local wineries.


I was all about being postal service-esque last week though.  I was like Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night....will keep me from seeing this city, especially since I had pre-paid for the train ticket, lol.


There are a lot of places to see in Würzburg so I recommend you put it on your travel list if you're ever in the region.  I read a little about the city from my travel books, so I set out on foot from the train station to see what I could find, heading in the direction of the Marienberg Fortress.  If you are like me and you love old architecture and churches and castles, this is a great place to see.


Note:  Würzburg was basically entirely destroyed during the war from a March 1945 aerial bombing.  90 percent of the city was heavily damage or destroyed.  But the city had painstakingly and accurately rebuilt all of the buildings of historical significance (according to good ol' Wikipedia, a lot of the rebuilding was done by women as the men were either dead or POWs immediately after the war).


On the way to the fortress, I came across the oldest stone bridge in Germany, built in 1120 and restored/rebuilt in 1476 (per Fodors).  It's pedestrian only and has some awesome statues of saints on it (added in the 1700s and rebuilt after the war).

 

 

 

 

Next up I hiked up to the fortress, which was built over several hundred years and became the home of prince-bishops of Würzburg in 1253.

 

 

Not my photo.  Couldn't get a good view of the castle from far away due to crappy weather

 

I was a little apprehensive to go through the creepy tunnel myself

 

 

 

Afterwards, I hiked back across town to go to the Würzburger Residenz, or Würzburg Residence.  The Residence is an awesome palace built for the prince-bishops from 1720 to 1744.  It was amazingly beautiful and ornate.  It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site for good reason!  A definite must see.

 

 

 

 

The only problem with the Residence is that they don't allow you to take any pictures inside, which totally sucks because it was beautiful.  Maybe I'll edit this post with additional pictures later if I can find any online.  But, I highly recommend visiting the palace and gardens because it was just awesome.  Also, I loved that they have an exhibit showing the before and afters of the palace, and what it looked like after the destruction from World War II, and how it has been restored over the years since.

 

 

Well, those were the major sights of my journey, but while walking around randomly, I came across a lot of cool churches (St. Kilian's Cathedral is a must), sculptures, fountains and randomly awesome buildings.  Here's a small selection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that was basically my day in Würzburg.  A good day despite bad weather.  Now if only I didn't have 2 hours worth of train delays and cancellations on the way home, it might have been perfect.

Berlin!

Honestly, I don't even know where to start with this post.  Berlin was seriously amazing. I know I say that about just about every new place I go to (and it's true), but Berlin blows them all out of the water so far.  It's got everything, history, culture, fascinating sites, international flair, and it's relatively cheap!  Needless to say, I had a great weekend.  But I absolutely have to go back as there is still sooooo much to see and do.


So, I started out walking from the train station towards the city center (I definitely walk almost everywhere when I'm traveling if possible, so much easier than trying to figure out the public transportation, lol).  After not even 5 minutes, I come up on the Reichstag building.  This is the seat of the German Parliament:

 

 

This dedication means "To the German People"

 

 

Fun Facts: The building was built in 1894 and used until 1933, when it suffered a major fire.  Hitler used this fire as a reason to accuse enemies of treason and suspend parliament and you know what happened next.  After the war, it still wasn't used because the East German government met in a builing in East Berlin and the West German government was seated in Bonn.  It's actually really crazy because the wall went directly behind the building, like 10 feet behind the back entrances/stairs.  After the wall came down, it was restored and in 1999, it became the seat of Parliament again.

 

 

I took this right next to the Reichstag building

 





Walking a block away from the Reichstag, I went to Pariser Platz.  Why there, you ask?  Because I saw these guys heading that way.

If there's one thing I've learned as a tourist, it's always follow the Segways, they will lead you to something awesome.  So, what's in Pariser Platz?  Just the Hotel Adlon. Ring any bells?  Didn't for me either, until I overheard a tour guide tell his group that this is the infamous hotel where Michael Jackson "introduced" Blanket to the world.

No, in all seriousness, I went there because as you can see from the corner of the Reichstag building, Pariser Platz is the home of the most famous landmark in Berlin, the Brandenburger Tur, or Brandenburg Gate.

Afterwards, I decided to go all touristy and get on one of those hop on hop off buses.  Seriously, don't knock them cause they are awesome.  I only had limited time in the city and the bus took me to see all of the major sights on my must see list.  I, of course, still have to go back and see a million more things (especially all of the museums) and get a more thorough look at everything, but it was a great start.  Anyways, before this post gets super-boring for you guys, here are some of the highlights of my weekend in Berlin.

The Victory Column

Checkpoint Charlie

 

Remaining section of the Wall

 

The famous TV Tower at Alexanderplatz

The Red City Hall or Rotes Rathaus

The city has different colored cobblestones in the streets marking the former path of the Berlin Wall.

 

 

There were also tons of other things I didn't get great pictures of, like the Schloss Charlottenburg (a really cool looking palace), the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral), Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and so many more.  I highly recommend you put Berlin on your must visit bucket list.