Friday, July 1, 2011
On my “hit list” of places to see since I starting planning this giant co-op trip was Prague. Since my aunt had spent an extended period of time there in the past, I was hoping to make it there as well so we could compare notes someday. I had planned to visit there this weekend with my friend, Zach, and we were all set to go… until the European train system FINALLY failed us. With bags packed and hostel rooms booked, we arrive at the train station an hour before our train was supposed to depart. At thirty minutes before departure, we learned that our train would NOT be traveling due to the workers strike with the ALEX train company. It wasn’t a German train, but it was no less disappointing. After stopping at the travel center, we found that this was to be our only way of getting to Prague that evening… and it just slipped away. I guess it wasn’t meant to be…
A little disheartened at the trip’s fall-out, we decided to head back to my apartment to email our hostel and develop “PLAN B”. The second bout of bad luck happened on the U-Bahn (subway) on our way back. We were wrapped up in conversation when suddenly I realized we were the only ones left on the train. It stopped and then the engine turned off. Stranded in the subway…
On instinct, I opened a window shouting, “HALLO!?” “Hallo… Ist jemand dort??” Silence. A few minutes later, after trying a faulty emergency call button in the car (yes… dare to imagine the scene playing out), the conductor found us and looked more amused than annoyed. She informed us that the train was at the end of its line and would soon start up again. We hadn’t realized this, but because of a music event in Munich this week (Tollwood), the train schedules were a little different. For a while, I was prepared to spend the night in the tunnels of Munich!
We did eventually make it back to my place and we determined we would visit Rothenburg ob der Tauber for the day on Saturday. It is a small town about three hours northwest by train from Munich. After the bad encounters with two trains that evening, we decided a delicious pizza was in order. We found a good local restaurant, parked it, and enjoyed the remainder of the evening… thankfully without any more bad luck.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
At one point in the middle ages, Rothenburg was Germany’s second largest city with 6000 residents. It is today one of the only German cities that still has its original city wall intact. It is located on the Romantic Road and is famous for its beautiful architecture and cozy town atmosphere. Walt Disney modeled the town in Pinocchio after Rothenburg and some scenes of the last Harry Potter movie were shot here. The local specialties: Schneeballen, teddy bears, and Christmas ordainments.
We set off for the town at around 7:30 AM and arrived at 11:00 AM. Indeed this town is a bit off the beaten path as it lies in a valley just inside a wood next to a river. I wasn’t so sure about the genuine medieval look of the city until I walked through the main city gate and soon saw livestock in pens right in the town square. Next to the pipe organ, potters, and wool spinners, I was sold. I immediately felt like I was in the middle ages… only there were Japanese folk EVERYWHERE. Apparently they had a popular TV show filmed here and now it is one of Germany’s top Japanese tourist destinations. I felt like I was in Niagara Falls all over again… only here the Japanese weren’t throwing up the peace sign in every picture!
We basically meandered the entire day. There were many things to see and do. The coolest was walking the city wall. Without an entrance fee or a lawsuit waver, we were able to walk along the city walkway where the guards would patrol in the 1200s. You can nearly circumscribe the entire city on this wall! Besides that, we checked out some of the old churches, the old castle gardens, and the fortified entrances to the city. The only thing missing was the mote!
At around lunch, we discovered the local bakery specialty… Schneeballen! Basically, take the dough for a pie crust, ball it up loosely with some sort of caramel or chocolate inside, bake it, and then cover it with chocolate, sugar, powder, or caramel, and serve. DE-LI-CIOUS. This ended up being both lunch and dinner for us! Cheap and good tasting!
In the early afternoon, we found the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas shops and museum. I have been in Christmas stores in the US, but this was practically a theme park in a small building! With a giant Christmas tree in the middle and lights imitating stars on the ceiling of the shop, this multi-level Christmas maze put me right into the spirit! All I can say is this… Germans know how to make Christmas “gemütlich.” Many Christmas decorations and traditions come straight from Germany. Some of them include the following:
- Lebkuchenhäuschen (Gingerbread Houses)
- Räuchermännchen (Incense Smokers)
- Schwibbögen
- Pyramiden (Pyramids)
- Nussknacker (Nutcrackers)
- Adventskalendar (Advent Calendars)
- Glühwein (Mulled Wine)
- Tannenbaum (Christmas Trees)
- Kuckucksuhren (Cuckoo Clocks)
- Nikolaustag (St. Nick’s Day)
The hand crafted items were simply beautiful. You could tell that the Germans took great pride in the quality of each hand crafted ornament, crib scene, and Schwibbogen. I was afraid of breaking something! Cautiously browsing through the store, I felt very much like it was Christmas Eve. Warm nutty and apple smells came from the little smoking men. Deep reds and greens were accented by gold and silver tinsel and bulbs. Wooded window displays of bakeries and candy shops gave a soft glow on the many shelves of merchandise. I don’t think I have ever seen so many beautifully crafted nativity scenes! If I wasn’t a klutz and didn’t have to transport the items a few thousand miles, I might have been very inclined to buy something! It really just got me excited for the German Christmas market held every year in Colerain by the Cincinnati Germania Society! I would highly recommend attending!
Zach and I discovered further culture later in the day when we found some free concerts taking place in the city square. Sure enough, Texas’s ears were ringing after my last blog post, because there was a Texas band playing American music for the Germans in the square. To boot, they played Stars and Stripes Forever as their encore! To fitting for an Independence Day weekend outside of the United States! I felt like I served my patriotic duty of celebrating. The best part was meeting some KKΨ guys afterwards. Even in Germany, you can find a brother!
We watched this concert while sipping some freshly pressed apple juice (literally pressed right in front of us!) in the 60 degree air. Apparently such cool weather in Germany in July is VERY normal. I could get used to that pretty easily.
After the Texans showed their stuff, we were treated to some local traditional dance to bagpipes. This was really cool! …and, once again, I felt my tinge of patriotism as Amazing Grace was played. So much for missing the 4th of July!
After checking out some more of the cool little shops, buildings, and sights, we decided to hit the road and truck it back to Munich. Not bad for an unplanned day trip!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Today started off with another surprise. I showed up at church today only to find out that the 8:30 AM mass was cancelled! I’m not sure what was up with this weekend and everything being constantly cancelled… but this was actually a good surprise. Apparently, St. Georg was celebrating Corpus Christi (a day celebrating the body and blood of Christ) on Sunday instead of the Thursday a week ago. To do this, they have a special procession every year. We started “mass” in the courtyard near the church with a reading and some prayers. We then processed, while singing, across the neighborhood to the Evangelical Church nearby. There we met their congregation and the next neighboring Catholic congregation who also processed from their church! Once all together, we celebrated mass together outside in the courtyard. As one giant community after mass, we made a return procession back to St. Georg led by the priest with the monstrance held in front. Once back, we had a short benediction followed by a meal big enough for the three congregations to celebrate the day. HOW COOL? The outdoor procession and celebration was impressive enough for me, but the coming together of three different communities (even of different denominations) was very uplifting for the morning! Had I been in Prague, I would have surely missed out on the event. There is yet another example of, “God always has the better plan”!
Later in the afternoon, I met up with almost all of the ICP guys and Herr Rademann (our ICP instructor who prepared us for the Germany trip) at Tollwood in Olympia Park. This is a two week music festival in Munich and is quite large. Tents were EVERYWHERE and liters of beer were being poured at every corner. I guess if I had to be away from the St. Henry Picnic for the weekend, this would do as a good second place substitute. It was great to see the guys again and even better to meet up with our professor with our much improved German speaking skills. We had come a long way since the last time we saw him in March!
So… we didn’t make Prague this weekend, but the events that transpired in spite of the cancelled trip made up for it. It was an excellent weekend, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.
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