The Last Days of the Grand Tour

(Note: This post was posted many days after it was written; life got in the way of posting it earlier.)

Dear readers:

I’m writing this on an airplane from Dublin to New York… playing catch-up, I suppose, since I haven’t been able to post an update in a while. Plus, I’ve got something like four hours to kill, and I just finished “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson (for the umpteenth time; LOVE that book). So, I’ll update you on the events of the past few days – maybe not in chronological order, because I’m not sure if I remember the chronological order – with some Random Facts added in for the sake of variety and entertainment value.

1) Heidelberg University has a Student Jail -- where, around the turn of the century, they put students who were guilty of petty crimes like drunk and disorderly conduct or criminal mischief. Which would be only mildly interesting, except that the students got hold of cans of paint, and painted all over the walls of their living area -- painting silhouettes of each other, and writing the stories behind their incarceration in rhyming verse. (I couldn't understand them, but Ina told me the poems were hilarious.)

An example of a typical wall in the jail:

Some bedrooms:

2)
Saw posters around campus, the whole time I was in Heidelberg, for an "Orchid Party":

Ina explained it to me, and I thought it was so funny that it needed to be shared with my American friends, in the hopes that they might bring the tradition (or something similar to it) over to the US.

In Germany, some academic disciplines -- e.g. Classics, History, Literature -- are called "Orchid Disciplines", because, like orchids, they are lovely, delicate, and not practically useful at all. Also, apparently these majors are not very large, for the most part. So, they host parties for all the "Orchid Disciplines" together, instead of hosting parties for them individually (which is apparently what they do with the larger majors), so they can get to know each other and bond over their... orchid-ness.

3) 
On the edge of town, on a mountainside, lies a lovely monastery, which Ina and Jorg and I visited:

We didn't get the chance to go inside, but we saw the grounds (which were lovely), and right as we were about to leave, we happened upon a restaurant and high-end grocery -- where all ingredients and products were either made/produced by the monks themselves, or obtained from other local sources. We bought some almond pesto and had it with pasta that night; it was really good.

We also happened across this drink while we were there:

Malted lemonade -- seemingly not very interesting, right? What made it interesting, was that we'd seen ads for this lemonade all over town, all week long, and Jörg and I were so impressed with the ad, that it became an inside joke/impossible wish: "We're going to buy that stuff before I leave." "Definitely!" But as soon as we walked into the monastery grocery: there it was, on a shelf! So we bought it, and it was perfectly respectable.

4)

As it happens, Neckargemünd -- sister city to my hometown of Missoula, MT, and city where Kallista studied German over a summer in high school -- is a short trip down the Neckar river from Heidelberg. So, more for the sake of the journey than the destination, Jörg, Ina, and I, all took a boat down the river to check it out:

What a cute town! Much cuter than we expected; Jörg's friends had made jokes about it, when he told them he was visiting there. (To put things in perspective for my Montana friends: they were the same sorts of comments that one of us might make if we were visiting, say, Anaconda.) We spent a short while walking around town, taking pictures and trying to keep our sunburns -- which we'd developed on the boat there -- as shaded as possible.

During the walk, there were quite a few moments of unexpected beauty:

(On the left: a public bookshelf -- a concept that's started to pop up in some of the more hippie-ish corners of the US, but that I think should be everywhere!)

And of course, my favorite thing -- half-timbered houses -- showed up on every corner!

5)
When we got back from the boat trip, we went picnicking on the Designated Grilling Area in a park in the center of town. I wasn’t able to get pictures of the food we made, because it was so dark outside that we had to use Ina’s phone to even see whether the beef and bratwurst were done(!), but we had a really nice time.

Fun fact: "Designated Grilling Area", in Germany, means: in this area, you can bring your disposable grill(?!?), use it here, and then throw it away. Whereas, at home, it means: you can use the grill we have provided for you in this grilling space, and then clean the grill when you're done. Maybe this is my Montanan-ness talking, but I had never seen a disposable grill in my life, and using it was a very, very interesting experience. (Especially in the dark!)

6) One last Beer Fact:

This brewery is STATE RUN. Apparently it was an abbey brew that wasn’t very successful and was essentially bailed out by the state. It sells well enough now to actually earn money for the state.

It's also worth mentioning that beer in Germany is So. Incredibly. Cheap. Which makes sense, because there’s no sin tax on it; beer is taxed like any other grocery item there (although wine is not).

 -------------------------------------------

That's about it! Tune in next time, when I reflect a bit on the trip overall.

Much love --

- Beth

Strasbourg on 14 Juillet!

Dear readers:

Prepare yourself for a long, photo-heavy post, and Welcome/Wilkommen/Bienvenue to the multilingual and multicultural town of Strasbourg!

Part of the Alsace region -- which most of my American friends (hopefully) know from the WWI section of US History class -- it's flipped back and forth between rulers for centuries. So when you go through town, you hear both German and French being spoken, you see streets with names like Rue Finkwiller, and you see half-timbered houses everywhere.

A part of town called La Petite France, located on and around an island in the middle of town, was especially cute. Funny story: the island, once upon a time, was where they put people with "The French Disease"... a.k.a. syphilis. Hence, "The Little France".

(Above: Ina taking pictures of one of many cute little riverside parks.)

We also saw some people decorating for Bastille Day -- though we didn't see a whole lot of decorations overall.

But the whole time we were meandering, we were meandering in the general direction of La Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, a massive and impressive Catholic cathedral in the heart of the city. From far away it almost looks like rusted metal, but when you get closer, you realize what you're looking at:

And then you realize how immense it is:

It's gorgeous on the inside as well:

And it also contains the Strasbourg astronomical clock:

(We saw it chime on the hour at about 3:00 or so, but it didn't do all that much; not all the figures moved. We figured they must move a lot more at noon.)

...And, being the good progressive rock fan that I am, I couldn't get this song out of my head the entire time I was looking around the Cathedral.

(Especially the second half of the song, starting at 1:55. Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!)

After we left, we had delicious Alsacian lunch!

Top: Chicken with sauce and spätzle. Bottom: The best quiche I've ever tasted (with salad). Right: Riesling that Ina ordered (in its traditional glass), and the Alsacian beer I ordered.
The beer label was highly amusing:

Yes, that child is drinking his body weight in beer. Problem? Nah.

When we were done with lunch, we weighed our options and decided that, of our numerous museum options, we'd most like to visit the Strasbourg Historical Museum. So much cool info!! Made me want to read a book about Strasbourg. ("I need to read a book about that" = a major theme of this trip.)

Some fun highlights of the museum included this dollhouse from the 1600s(!):

and dressing Ina up in traditional garb:

Stylin'.

We stayed at the museum til closing time -- when we got ourselves some beverages -- Orangina!! -- and went to a little park to relax and read.

While I read and Ina took a nap, we had a great soundtrack: a big group of friends having a jam session in the park. They were actually pretty good!

(Check out that guy's turquoise bass!)

Finally -- we knew that there was a party going on for Bastille Day, somewhere in town, so with the help of my sometimes-reliable smartphone, we found an outdoor celebration with cheap pretzels, dancing Strasbourgers, and a live band!

Overall, an excellent (and long) day. About as long as this post is long! But took great photos, ate great food, bought souvenirs and gifts, and had a wonderful time.

Now, a few more days in Heidelberg, and then I head back home to the US. Best not to think too much about it!

Much love to all you readers,

Beth

p.s. Follow-up on the Random Facts blog post: Apparently bottles of soda in vending machines are stored nose down in France, as well -- not just Italy.

Got a photo this time!

Castles, Food, Space, and the Oxford Comma

Dear readers:

Some updates, by theme -- not in exact chronological order, but still in the order shown in the post title.

CASTLES
Ina and Jorg and I visited Heidelberg castle, and Ina and I visited Hohenzollern castle -- Heidelberg castle a few days ago, Hohenzollern castle yesterday. Both were awesome, but Hohenzollern was especially great, for historical reasons.
Pics of Heidelberg castle (and the nearby view):

And then a few days later, we went to Hohenzollern castle -- which existed for centuries on top of a particular mountain, and was always owned by the Prussian royals, but which ended up getting rebuilt in the 19th century.

Loads of fun. Especially learning about the Prussians, who I didn't know much about before. Also: going through an English-language tour that used English as a second language. I had never experienced that, and it was a bit of an adjustment -- though it added a unique charm to the experience.

We also returned to Heidelberg Castle today to see the fireworks! Didn't get many pics of them, though. But we picnicked and had a great view. Apparently neither Ina nor Jorg had been to see the fireworks on top of the mountain before (like we did today), and apparently it was the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the fireworks tradition!! How fortuitous!

 FOOD AND DRINK

I mentioned food a little bit, earlier, but I can update with more news/factoids/opinions:

1) German strudel is delicious (obviously);

2) German coffee is better than Starbuck's, but not better than your average artsy American coffee;

3) Swarbian cuisine is cheesy and delicious and horrifically bad for you; 

4) To make German stadium food, all you have to do is cut up some pork sausage, cover it in ketchup, sprinkle curry powder all over it, and call it "Currywurst";

5) Uncased sausage is much tastier than cased sausage;

6) Apparently at German grocery stores, the Jagermeister is sold by the checkout right next to the Skittles and the bubble gum; and
7) I am now hopelessly obsessed with Apfelschorle.

It is the most beautiful thing. 60% apple juice, 40% carbonated mineral water (usually; sometimes 50/50). I am definitely going to try making this at home!

Now for today's food news:

For late lunch (after starting my day with the aforementioned strudel and coffee), I had the "German national dish":

i.e. Turkish Doner Kebab!
(Next to it: Turkish soda. Very fruity and sweet; not my favorite.)

This is courtesy of the significant ethnic Turkish minority here in Germany; apparently they've integrated into working-class German society to the point that working-class non-Turkish Germans are adopting Turkish accents. (Pardon my obviousness; I've been getting a crash course in German sociology since I've arrived here.)

Then we had a picnic while we watched the aforementioned fireworks! Content of picnic included:
- Bread with zwiebelwurst (meat onion spread)
- Catalan national dish (toasted bread with garlic rubbed on it and tomato squeezed onto it)
- Catalan salami
- Salad
- Three types of cheese: Mild blue, middle-aged gouda, and swiss
- Bionade organic elderberry lemonade
- Passionfruit juice
- TamTam brand mini cakes
So. Incredibly. Delicious.

SPACE
For the past few days, the three of us have spent a lot of time talking about the issue of space, in both the US and Europe, linking it not just to house and car size but also to politics. Part of that conversation was sparked by this sight:

A whole row of cars parked several feet up on a curb. Why? Space! There'd be no room for passing cars without parking on the curb. Even on small streets in the US, you wouldn't see that. It's a mindset difference.

That's it for now, folks. Tomorrow: Strasbourg!

<3,

Beth

p.s. Can someone please bring Innocent brand smoothies to the United States? They are so incredibly delicious. I don't think I can ever drink Odwalla again.

Köln und Heidelberg!

Dear readers:

Sorry for the delay. Internet trouble plus being very tired last night equals lots of difficulty getting a blog post up. So today's post will be longer, and less thematic -- for the purpose of updating you folks. No-frills and direct, in the German tradition!

We arrived in Cologne from Dusseldorf roughly on schedule, met up with Kallista's friend Julia, and left the station, only to be faced with this, which I was not even remotely expecting:

Slapped in the face with a beautiful cathedral? (High Cathedral of St. Peter, or Kölner Dom, if you were wondering.)

Both the station and the cathedral were right next to the waterfront, so Julia, Kallista and I went to a little restaurant on the waterfront and had flammkuchen. Apparently it’s traditional to have it with bacon and onions, but I had it with gorgonzola and pear.

I also had the local Cologne beer, which is famous for being 1) a major source of pride for Cologne residents, and 2) generally served in small and oddly shaped glasses:

(I thought it was pretty boring, but it worked fine in this case because it didn’t overpower the strong flavors of the flammkuchen.)

Delicious food and great conversations all around -- for several hours, in beautiful weather! 

It was great to meet Julia; she seemed quiet, but cool. Would have been nice to hang out with her more, but she had work before then, and work the next day. Bad timing! But we made the most of what little time we had.

(That's Kallista on the left, and Julia on the right, leading us to the station en route to the airbnb place where we spent the night.)

Now, Kallista and I have parted ways -- me to Heidelberg (where I am at present), and Kallista back to New York. It was sad to split up, but she had other engagements, and I had to go meet up with Ina and Jörg, so it had to be done.

They have been excellent hosts, by the way. When I arrived, we had a mid-afternoon snack/small meal of homemade tabbouleh (courtesy of Ina and her knowledge of Moroccan/Spanish cuisine!), and almost immediately headed out in the direction of More Food. En route, Ina and Jörg gave me a short Heidelberg tour; we know each other well enough to know that we’re all history/language enthusiasts, so that tended to be the general theme of the tour.

Examples:

 

 (Church of the Holy Spirit)

 

(Heidelberg town hall)

And did I mention how phenomenally beautiful this town is??

 

 

With the mountains and the river running straight through the city, I can't help being constantly reminded of my hometown of Missoula, MT -- which, as it happens, has a sister city right next door to Heidelberg. (Kallista spent a summer studying German there, as a teenager -- unrelated to any of our reasons for visiting Germany! (Fortuitous?!))

Didn't get a chance to take a picture of the food we ate when we arrived at our dinner destination, but I did get a picture of the hops(? I think?) that they had hanging from their ceiling!

  

And I did get a picture of this morning's breakfast. 

Approximately from left to right: Danishes from a local bakery; bread rolls from a local bakery, buttered and ready for more toppings; a huge block of gouda (for the bread); yogurt (for Ina); Strawberry rhubarb jam (also for the bread), prepared and canned by Ina's mother; Nutella, and instant espresso (not as bad as you'd think).

Currently sitting and blogging while Ina is finishing a project for work. It's been a nice, productive early afternoon, doing laundry and blogging and such. Looking forward to more new and exciting experiences in Heidelberg in the coming days!

<3

- Beth

Fun Facts!

Dear readers:

Kallista and I are hanging out at the Dusseldorf train station (hbf), waiting for our train, slightly regretting buying our tickets online -- more expensive, it turns out? -- and using the free Starbucks wifi. So... blog post!

Not much happened today, besides our uneventful flight to Dusseldorf, so I'll dedicate this post to some of the small but entertaining things I've seen and learned in each location I've been to so far on my Grand Tour.

(Note that this is all in my limited experience!)

DUBLIN
1) People were, for lack of a better word, folksy. Friendly and nice to tourists. Sometimes very foul-mouthed, either to impress you or to show you that You're On The Same Page, i.e. that you can relax around them. (This is an attitude towards swearing that Kallista and I grew up with in Montana -- which is part of why, when I say "folksy", I refer to the same type of folksiness that you see in the Rocky Mountain West. Part of why I was so utterly charmed by Dublin was because its people reminded me so much of people back home.)
2) Apparently there are insurance advertisements starring leprechauns. Could you get more stereotypical??

LONDON
1) Proper tea is everywhere. (I saw this the last time I was in London, but I'm reiterating for emphasis.) Whether you're at a restaurant, in a hostel, or on an outward-bound flight, there will be proper tea. And they will label it as such. And on that note:
2) Proper everything is everywhere. Even proper popcorn ("Propercorn"). Accept no substitutes.

ROME
1) Trains, depending on location and time of day, may or may not run on the honor system.
2) If you want a bottle of water (that isn't mineral water), or a glass of milk, people get confused.
3) The only difference between a Caffe Latte and a Latte Macchiato is the order in which you pour the milk and the espresso into the glass.
4) In vending machines, soda is stored nose down... like wine. And, on a similar note,
5) The fanciest espresso brand I know of in America -- Lavazza -- is sold in vending machines in Rome.

VATICAN CITY
1) If you visit St Peter's, only take the stairs if you're ready for a long, sweaty, and arduous hike. Otherwise, pay the extra 2 euro! (I took the stairs and loved it -- it made the view much more rewarding -- but beware if you're out of shape or have health problems!)
2) Don't worry if you missed a gift shop... because there's another one around the corner. Oh, and around that corner too. Almost out the gates? Gift shop! On the very top of the basilica? Gift shop!! And almost every one of them is staffed by sweet and helpful nuns.
3) You're hard-pressed to see or buy anything with Pope Benedict on it. It's there, but 90% of the swag has John Paul II on it. The remaining 10% is Pope Francis giving you a thumbs up.
(Is it sacrilegious to call him a total cutie?)

That's it for now! May add more later.

- Beth

Vatican City: Beauty Around Every Corner

Dear readers:

The title of this blog post is not an exaggeration. At all.

We got to see a little bit of Rome, yesterday, before we went to the Vatican. We saw the Piazza del Popolo, which was lovely, and we saw the Villa Borghese and its gardens -- also lovely, and satisfyingly reminiscent of Italian nature paintings I studied in school.

The Piazza --

-- The Gardens --

-- and the Villa.

But none of that -- NONE* -- compares to the Vatican. From when we got off the metro at Ottaviano, to when we left St Peter's Square five hours later, everything was beautiful. All through the Vatican Museum, and then all through St Peter's Basilica, I was blown away. A scholar could spend his entire career studying just one room of some of these buildings.

I wish I could let the photos speak for themselves, but there's something about being there. Seeing the immensity of these spaces. Realizing that every square centimeter of the rooms surrounding you is covered with ancient art -- from the frescoes on the ceilings, to the tapestries on the walls, to the mosaics on the floors.

Absolutely mind-blowing. Just look at the scale of the above picture (in St Peter's Basilica). I envisioned the Basilica interior being about half that size. But, for scale, look at how tiny those people are. There's a feeling, throughout these spaces, of being a tiny speck in the immensity that is the beauty of the world -- exactly what one wants in this sort of religious space!

Heading to Cologne tomorrow to visit one of Kallista's friends. Would elaborate on our Vatican experience -- e.g. on the insane hike up to the top of St Peter's, or on the entertaining exhibits in the Vatican museum on Vatican postage and the Popemobile/Papal vehicles throughout history -- but I've got to rest up for tomorrow's flight.

Much love to you all readers, and I'll do my best to update you again tomorrow!

- Beth


*Well, maybe the Coliseum does. But we only saw that for a few seconds, in the dark, en route to our camp. That was quite an experience!