Germany

GET THE CURRENT WEATHER: Magdeburg Berlin Hamburg Brunswick Munich Lübeck Frankfort Neuburg

PRELUDE- Henning was a guest exchange student in our home during the 1997-1998 school year. He lives in Magdeburg and is a student at the university there. He was gracious enough to plan this trip for Josh and I. Meike was an exchange student of our neighbors during the 1995-1996 school year (I think). She was kind enough to take us on a tour, as you’ll read later. Y.F.U. is the organization that places the exchange students. We appreciate all the people we came in contact with on this, our first, visit to Germany. Without all these friends, we would have simply been tourists.

Friday, March 9, 2001: Berlin area

Tour of the town: We visited Brandenburg Gate, Potsdam Square and a few other places. Josh and I have been awake for over twenty-four hours now, so we’re not taking all this in very well. Our brains have ceased to function. We had lunch at KFC, of all places. Then off to the University Of Potsdam, which resides in a castle, built in the 14th century. We spotted on one of the buildings "MDCCLXIX". Loui 14^th had something to do with this whole place, but I’m not sure what.

Potsdam: Sansoucci Palace, (pronounced saw-sa-see) summer home to King Frederick II, who reigned over Prussia 1740-1786. On the way here, we got our first taste of the autobahn. Henning was doing 200kph and there were people flying right by him! People EXPECT this kind of driving and act accordingly, unlike the U.S. where people create road rage and just shoot each other. Tired, we went back to Henning’s flat in Magdeburg. We had to climb 60 steps with all of our luggage to his penthouse apartment. It didn’t take long for us to fall asleep.

Saturday, March 10, 2001: Hamburg area (TOP OF PAGE)

We’re staying at the home of a fellow YFU person that Henning hasn’t actually met yet. Her name is Lena Maas. One thing of interest to me is that this city will be the birthplace of the new Airbus A380 (an aircraft that will be bigger than the Boeing 747). This morning, we walked through an open market that had everything from flowers to cheeses to clothing. Then we took a train to the River Elbe (downtown) where we took a boat tour of the river. Then we took another train to another area. On this train, we met a girl from California that was working here the past six months and ready to get home. We walked around, shopped, and got in some pretty strange areas. Here’s what I envision as possible (or permissible) so far: take the train to work, drink beer all the way home. It seems as if beer is available everywhere and you can drink it anywhere. It’s totally acceptable here. We grabbed a bratwurst for lunch and shopped a bit more then headed back to Lena’s. (I've noticed that Germans trust each other a lot more than US people do. They recycle everywhere and they believe in the bus and train system).

After we rested a little, we drove north to a town called Lübeck for coffee and Marzipan (an almond paste delicacy). We met up with Lena's parents at a coffee shop; very nice people. We took a walk through a 12th century church whose twin spires stood at a height of around 425' tall! It has remained the same all these years. The name of the church is St. Mary’s. Its design is a three-aisled Romanesque basilica, that is, a church whose nave is twice as high as the aisles. One thing Henning told us about the churches here is that years ago they were the central meeting point in a community. The church also took full care of peasants to assure them a good life, while monies came from the wealthy in the community. Sounds like today’s churches. One notable feature of this church is the two bells that fell from a height of about 200 feet as a result of a fire in 1942. They were so heavy that they broke through the floor and broke in pieces. They are left there as a reminder. There is also a large castle-like structure at the entrance to the town. This building has been sinking steadily since it was built and looks like the leaning tower of Pisa.

A wall to serve as protection from intruders surrounds the old part of this town. Then we drove back to Lena's. Got gas along the way. Cost is DM 1.99/L ($3.00/gal.). Her parents served dinner. It was very unique. Boiled potatoes, then you take some baking device that sits on the table and melt the soft cheese with garlic and pour it over the potatoes. Also we had salad and beer. Then we had more beer and talked until 1:15am. Josh couldn't believe how late we stayed up!

Sunday, March 11, 2001: Hamburg & Brunswick areas (TOP OF PAGE)

Had breakfast of, basically, salami sandwich on a bun. It was good, but not what I’d eat for breakfast at home. Then we went for a walk, but of course (Mary warned me that he Germans like to walk). We saw a modern lighthouse. Then Uwe (Lena’s dad) said something about an old house built in 1698 that we could see it. He pointed up on this hill and I thought he was joking. No way! WE CLIMBED AT LEAST 800 steps. My heart rate was about 210 when we got to the top. I couldn’t believe I was that out of shape, but then, even someone that was in shape would be huffing and puffing over this. After looking this place over, they pointed to where their house was... over that mountain. Hey, I'm just not accustomed to all this walking. When we got back, we had water (ahhhh), which by the way is always seltzer water. No just plain old spring water. We left around 1300 hrs. That’s how they do time over here.

Then we headed toward Hanover via A7 (the autobahn). Just before we reached Brunswick, we got on the back roads to "see the countryside". It was interesting for the first few kilometers to see some of the old farmhouse, but we started nodding off. Our next stop is Henning's girlfriend's house in Brunswick. Her name is Christine. After we picked her up, we had lunch at BK (they serve beer) then we went to tour the town, home of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria and one of the most powerful men of his time.

We first went through the Brunswick Cathedral. Construction began on this in 1173. The decoration of this Cathedral is of death and resurrection. This was evident as we toured the basement full of crypts. We then walked around and saw the school, the public buildings and the town square. Then, back at Tine's house, we met her parents, Klaus and Christa and her sister, Katerine who just got back from 6 months in Australia where she was working. We had coffee, pastries and beer. These were all very nice people. Gotta go, though, back to Madgeburg at Henning’s place.

Monday, March 12, 2001 Hanover to Munchen (Munich) (TOP OF PAGE)

I hate Monday, but this one is o.k. Breakfast consisted of toast, cereal, orange juice, vollmilch (milk). Then we met Norbert, Henning's dad. He drove us to Hanover, where we boarded the ICE train (Inter City Express). Along the way I noted that wind power is big alternate power source. They're closing their nuclear power plants which were Russian-made, no wonder. We just passed through what used to be an east/west checkpoint station. You could see parts of the old 'wall'. Finally we on got aboard the train. Tickets cost DM 374 ($190) for Josh and I. Actually, they were round trip, but we're only going one way. The train is smooth. It has comfort-conditioned cabins that seat six. The countryside is beautiful. We’re moving along at a good clip. First stop Göttingen. Next stop (1055) Kassel-Wilhlmshöhe. Next stop (1200) Fulda. Josh and I had a sandwich and a beer in the dining & smoking car. Next stop (1235) Wurzburg. Next stop (1422) Augsburg. Next stop (1450) Pasing. Next stop (1458) Munich. Met up with Meike and Christian. They took us around town, and first stop was the Horbrauhaus for a 1-Litre beer. One litre of beer is a lot of beer! Then we walked (staggered) about for a while and off to Meike's parents house in Neuburg, north about an hour. We hit a traffic jam on the autobahn but managed to get off on some back roads and get around it. The radio stations do an excellent job of posting slow spots. We met her parents, Werner and Elizabeth, also her sister, Caroline and brother Fabian, both of whom I’ve met in the U.S. (Oh, yeah, and Osco, the Irish Setter) we had dinner, conversation and beer, then to bed around 0030.

Tuesday, March 13, 2001 Neuburg, Fuessen and Kempten (TOP OF PAGE)

We had a quick breakfast at the Mottl's. Elizabeth had to be at school, Fabian went to work, Werner left after breakfast on his bicycle to go to work. Meike took the countryside roads and showed us through old Neuburg before starting our long trip to the castle in Füessen, overlooking the Austrian border. Actually, it only took about an hour and a half. Along the way we went through some beautiful rolling hill areas (Buching) with the Alps all around us.

Soon we could see the castle, which resembled an unset jewel, framed by the magnificent countryside, standing high upon the rocks. We parked the car and walked to a shop to get our tickets. Meike kept telling us we had to walk way up this winding road to get up to the castle. Once again my mind had me looking for a bus or trolley or something. But no, the only way up was to walk or ride a smelly old horse and wagon for ten D-marks. So we walked…and walked…and walked. It kept getting steeper and steeper. Finally we reached the top. It was worse than that hill climb in Hamburg. Grades of at least 30%! O.K., I’m done complaining; about the castle. We toured the Castle Neuschwan (New Swan). The swan was King Ludwig’s trademark. It was a beautiful castle inside and out. The tour was rather short, though. Built for King Ludwig II, he lived in it for only 174 days before his mysterious death. After our tour, we walked to the Queen Mary Bridge that hovered above the waterfalls by at least 500 feet. We took some pictures. The sight of the castle from here was one of the most magnificent sights I have seen in the world.

As we walked down to the car, we couldn’t help but notice a heavy-set woman panting her way up the hill. Now, folks, this walk is difficult for even those in the best of shape. This woman should have never attempted this walk. And that’s enough of that story.

We then went into town, had coffee and pastry, walked around, headed for Austria via the winding mountain roads. It is absolutely awesome up in the mountains! A couple of the ski resorts were still grooming the slopes, although there were some dirt patches showing. We went through Switzerland on Hwy. 199. Altitudes of up to 2km, or 6500 feet. Josh’s sinuses and mine were very affected by this altitude. Later we arrived in Kempten, got a hotel room at Hotel Fürstenhof, and the four of us went to an Italian restaurant that Meike knew about. The food was good. She dropped us back at our room and headed back to her parent’s house, about two hours away. We had a lot of fun today. It was nice to have Meike’s company and we appreciate her showing us around.

Wednesday, March 14, 2001 (TOP OF PAGE)

Henning rented a car, which was a VW Golf diesel (of course). We made a quick stop in Pforzheim on A8, then off to Heidelberg. Went by Patton Army Base. Couldn't get in though. We went downtown, walked around, had lunch, walked around, stopped at the Audi dealership, and then headed for Frankfort at 1500 hours. It's been raining most of the day. We're soaked.

We had plenty of time before we met our host of the evening, so we went to the new terminal at the airport (FRAport ) and watched planes land. We finally decided to head downtown. We ended up eating at a restaurant and then shopping some more. Finally we met up with Christian and his girlfriend, Meike (a different one). Patrick, another exchange student met us later in this bar. It was an old stone, Gothic-style basement which was apparently the remains of a bombed out building. We all left for Christian's apartment around midnight. (Mieke was on the German swim team in the 2000 Olympics in Australia. She won a bronze metal). It’s 0100 hours and everyone is yakking like there's no tomorrow. It will probably appear rude, but I'm going to sleep!

Thursday, March 15, 2001 (TOP OF PAGE)

Got up around 0800. Nobody took a shower because we couldn't figure out how it worked. Sprayed some smelly stuff on, brushed our teeth, and we're off. No breakfast. We headed back to Henning’s apartment. For the first time since I’ve been here, I started feeling the end of our vacation was near. It didn’t matter, because we’ve seen almost every part of Germany you could see. By now, Henning has probably had enough of us. It’s got to be a long week interpreting all the time.

At 1200, we stopped at a nice roadside restaurant and had a good lunch, and a ½ Liter of Lachenschwakenflügernutbier. Then we got back on the A7 headed for Brunswig, first, to see Christine. I feel like I'm in a Grand Prix.... winding, hilly roads at 200kph! Along the way on the autobahn, fortunately on the other side, was an accident. It caused a back up of 12km, which is apparently quite common. People park the car and socialize while some poor schmuck gets airlifted to the nearest hospital. We figured it was holding up around 1000 vehicles. Once in Brunswig, we saw Tine for a few minutes, and then headed out for Madgeburg, about 80km away. We ate pizza for dinner then went to an Americanized complex and bowled three games. Then we returned and watched a video and drank beer.

Friday, March 16, 2001 (TOP OF PAGE)

This is our last full day. I sure appreciate everything Henning has done for us. Without him, we wouldn't have seen near as much of Germany. We just made a quick stop at Otto von Guërike University where Henning attends. Then we went into town, visited the main church, then a women's monastery where we almost got kicked out. Then we drove south to the 'teknikalmuseum', or something like that. It was a museum, which housed a bunch of old cars and machinery. On the way back, we walked through a cemetery, all before noon. Stopped at a Turkish restaurant and had 'döner kebob' (gyro), oh, and beer. Good stuff, bad after taste. We went to a nearby mall and I realized that there are a lot of women that try to die their hair red, but for some reason, it just doesn’t work.

Back to Henning's flat, then off to his parent's house in Haldenslben for strudel, coffee. We had a nice visit with his parents (Norbert and Heidi). We also drank more beer. Then it was back to Henning's flat for a 'night cap' of Pitú (a Brazilian liquor) and beer. We also had some stew that Henning's mom made up, with bread. It was very good. It's 2030 here and I'm getting a bit anxious to get home. We'll only get about four hours sleep before we need to leave for Berlin. We got a little sleep, and then headed for the airport in Berlin. Henning was kind enough to wait until the ticket counter opened up and make sure that we made our arrangements o.k. We got on our planes and arrived home safely in the U.S. at 1700 hours in Grand Rapids. End of story. Back to work Monday.

We want to thank everyone that we came in contact with for his or her kindness and generosity. This kind of treatment doesn’t seem to happen in the United States. We especially want to thank Henning for all or his hard work and effort in planning this trip and making it work. I know it wasn’t easy to see as much of Germany as we did in a week’s time, but we did. Thank you all!

POST NOTES: Cars we saw- (TOP OF PAGE)

VW Lupo, Polo, Caddy,

SMART car

AUDI- A2, A3, A4, A6, A8

MB- E320, E330, E370, Z3, S500, C220

OPEL- Astra, Corsa D,

Ford- KA, Scorpio,

Rover-600,

Citroën- Jumpy

Volvo- V40

Renault- Magene, Twingo

and one 'Chrysler' Neon (we call it a Dodge Neon in the states)

WHAT WE LEARNED HERE:

C.E.O. NAP: sit in the crapper, pants up, keys in fist. When you doze off, the keys hit floor and you'll awake! Try it.

When you raise your beer glass to each other, you say 'Prost'.

Before your lunch and dinner are consumed, you say "Gutten appetite"

Recycling can be accomplished.

Saving energy should be a way of life.

The autobahn really works!