This weekend marks the end of the fourth week that I've been here and the end of the first week of classes, which seems completely unreal to me. I don't want to already be 1/4 of the way done with the program! I want more time here! And less homework...now that classes have started I actually have to focus, which is much harder than it sounds. Let me tell you: after not having classes since the very beginning of December, it's awfully hard to get back in the class and homework routine, but I suppose I'd better try. But first things first: I've spent the first part of this afternoon catching up with my blog. For the first time, I was more than a week behind with my posts, but I've finally caught up! I posted about each day in chronological order, so the best way to read all the posts from today might be to start with the earliest (the one for last Thursday and Friday - Days 18 and 19) and ending with the one for yesterday (Day 27), but that's just me.
For now, I'd really better go start some of the homework that's due this week...remind me again why I have to take classes while I'm here?
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Bayrischer Volkstanzkurs - Day 27
Yesterday (Saturday, April 25), I went with a group of JYM-ers to a Bavarian folk-dance lesson. Now, I know that my coordination as far as dancing goes amounts to just about nothing, but I figured if someone could tell me exactly what I'm supposed to do, maybe I'd have a chance of not looking completely ridiculous. It ended up being a lot of fun - there were about twenty-five of us total, and a German folk-dancer taught us a couple different dances. There's a JYM Bayernabend party next Friday, and the theory is that those of us who went to this course will do two or three of the dances we learned...assuming we all remember what we're doing...
We took an afternoon train to Peissenberg, a small town about an hour and twenty minutes from Munich. One of my favorite parts of train rides is getting to see the country side. These photos turned out pretty good, if I say so myself, especially considering they're through the train window...you can almost see the Alps in the background:
Once we got to Peissenberg, it was about a twenty minute walk to the Gasthof zur Post, a restaurant and hotel in town. We had our lesson in one of the small halls, and after our lesson had dinner in the dining room. On the second floor, we got to see a small display of furniture from the room in the hotel where King Ludwig II of Bavaria frequently stayed the night on his way between Munich and his castle Neuschwanstein:
Learning the dances was interesting, but also a little confusing. Tony, the dance instructor, spoke a mix of Hochdeutsch ("standard" German) and Bayrisch (the dialect in Bavaria that's pretty hard to understand). You can't really see it in this picture, but I think most of us had an expression of complete and utter confusion on our faces for at least half the class...at least, I know I did:
In a lot of the dances, we switched dance partners throughout the dance. At this point, I ended up with Tony (the instructor) as my partner...we were learning a waltz, and I think I did pretty well, but that's only because I just had to follow wherever he pushed me...it was much harder when I tried to do it with another partner. That's me and Tony in the middle of the circle:
It will be interesting to see how much of this we can all remember a week from now for the JYM dance, but it was a fun way to spend my Saturday. Much better than all the homework I should have done yesterday and should be doing right now...
Der Anfang des Semesters - Days 21 - 26
This week was the beginning of the semester (der Anfang des Semseters) and the first week of classes, so I didn't do anything terribly exciting between last Sunday (April 18, Day 21) and Friday (April 23, Day 26), so I think the best way to catch up with this past week is to write one big post.
On Sunday, I went to church with Kathryn and her friend Britta. Afterward, we spent a couple hours trying to find a way to get Britta back to Barcelona, where she is studying for the semester. Her original flight back was canceled because of the volcanic ash from Ireland - I think just about all flights were canceled between Friday, April 16 and sometime last week, so flying wasn't really an option at all. She ended up finding a bus to Paris with the hopes of making her way back to Spain from there. I don't know exactly how she managed it, but I know she got back okay. I'm glad I wasn't traveling that weekend - at one point, I was trying to visit Emily (my UMW roommie) in Bilbao, Spain, where she's studying for the semester, but it would have been pretty bad if I got stuck somewhere and missed my first classes on Monday.
As for my classes, I need to take a total of five classes (15 credits). I need 12 of those credits to be German classes so that they'll count towards my German major at UMW because I want to finish my major while I'm here and only have my math major to finish next year. When I met with Hans Peter for my academic advising last week, he pretty much told me I could take whatever I want, so I signed up for four JYM classes and three LMU classes, and attended all of them this week. I think I've made up my mind about which classes I'm going to take for the semester, and it's ended up being four classes at JYM and only one class at LMU, and I'm okay mostly with that.
My first class of the semester was AGL - Advanced German Language - at JYM on Monday morning. We had a placement test at the end of the second week here that determined which level AGL we would be placed in. I somehow managed to test into the highest level, which surprised me and kind of scares me. The first class went okay, so hopefully I won't be in over my head all semester. After class I had the rest of the day free, so I went with a couple friends to explore LMU and figure out where all of our classes there are, which was really nice to know on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning was a little nerve racking because I had my first class at LMU - an introductory seminar to German Linguistics. I thought it might be interesting and relatively easy, since I've taken an English linguistics class at UMW, but it turned out a bit more complicated than I thought it would be. I think it's one of those things where you kind of have to know the language itself backward and forward before trying to pick it apart. Needless to say, I don't know German backward and forward, and we also have to attend a lecture every week that doesn't fit in my schedule, so I don't think I'm going to take the class. I felt thoroughly discouraged after that class, but lucked out when I found three of my friends - Kathryn, Jeff, and Corbin - coming from other classes that also didn't go too well. We cheered ourselves up a bit with lunch, and afterward I had two classes at JYM that turned out to be great. The first is called Contemporary German Culture, and we'll be looking at what German culture is like now (i.e. art, music, literature, film, food, etc.) as well as how the past has contributed to contemporary culture. The second class is Munich and National Socialism, which will be about the fact that Munich was were Hitler started his movement. Hans Peter is teaching the class, so I hope it will be really interesting. It's a little funny - whenever we're talking about the course in public, we all kind of mumble or whisper the course title so as not to draw attention to ourselves, since the Germans don't really like talking about Hitler or World War II in public. But that's beside the point - I think the class will be really interesting.
I had another LMU class on Wednesday morning, but this one wasn't as scary because it's being taught in English and it's about some of my favorite books - it's called Jane Austen's Heroines, and we'll be discussing Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. The class on Wednesday was great, and I have a lot of catching up to do (we were suppose to read all of the books before the semester started) but I think it will be lots of fun. UMW offers a Jane Austen class, but I've never been able to take it because I don't have the prerequisite courses, so I figured I'd have a little fun and take this class while I have the chance. It won't count toward my German major, but all of my other classes will, so I should be okay.
I had AGL again Wednesday afternoon (AGL is my only class that meets twice a week - the others are all once a week), and then Art in Munich, another JYM class. We'll get to travel to several different museums to see and discuss lots of different art, so I think it will be a good class. I'm a little nervous about it, because art is something I don't know much about even in English, so the words and phrases the teacher uses in German mean absolutely nothing to me. I think most of the class is in the same boat though, so hopefully it won't be too bad.
My seventh class was another LMU class Thursday afternoon called Lachen und Komik in der Literatur des Mittelalters - Laughing and Comedy in the Literature of the Middle Ages. Sounds interesting, right? I think it would be, and so did the 45 other people who showed up to the seminar and crammed into a room meant for 20 people. The professor was good and the couple students I talked with were really nice. The only problem is that the literature for the class is all written in Mittelhochdeutsch - German of the Middle Ages, which of course, I've never learned. There is an introductory seminar to Mittelhochdeutsch that the rest of the students in the class have already taken, and I could try taking both of those classes, but I don't think that would be a good idea, so I'm probably not going to take the class.
So, in the end, I think I'm going to take AGL, Contemporary German Culture, Munich and National Socialism, and Art in Munich at JYM, all of which are taught in German and should count towards my German major at UMW, and Jane Austen's Heroines at LMU, which is taught in English and serves no purpose other than giving me a great excuse to read Jane Austen. I'm a little bummed that my only LMU class will be taught in English because I wanted to have a chance to practice my German, but the other students are all German, so hopefully I'll get a chance to chat with some of them throughout the semester. I might try to find another LMU class that I could take instead of Art in Munich, but I'm not sure. I kind of like the fact that with the five classes I just named, I get both Thursday and Friday completely off - four day weekends every week is a definite perk.
So that was pretty much my week. Well not entirely...I did do stuff other than go to class. A couple people had birthdays on Tuesday and Wednesday, so on Tuesday we went as a huge group (almost all of the second semester JYM-ers) to the Hofbraeuhaus for dinner. It's kind of a tourist trap - the main beer hall of the city - but it was still a lot of fun and a good chance to just hang out with everybody. On Wednesday, I went with a smaller group to a bar to watch the FC Bayern Fussball (soccer) game. I actually watched some of the game (shocker, right?) and got a soccer tutorial from one of my friends. Thursday after class, I did some shopping (I feel like I spent soooooo much money this week, but most of it was for books for class or for food, so I don't really think I could have avoided it), and hung out with some friends. On Friday, we had a meeting at JYM for all of the students - full year and second semester - and then I did some more shopping (more books!) and had dinner, played cards, and watched a movie with some friends. Overall, an excellent week, and not a bad start to the semester! If only I didn't have homework...
On Sunday, I went to church with Kathryn and her friend Britta. Afterward, we spent a couple hours trying to find a way to get Britta back to Barcelona, where she is studying for the semester. Her original flight back was canceled because of the volcanic ash from Ireland - I think just about all flights were canceled between Friday, April 16 and sometime last week, so flying wasn't really an option at all. She ended up finding a bus to Paris with the hopes of making her way back to Spain from there. I don't know exactly how she managed it, but I know she got back okay. I'm glad I wasn't traveling that weekend - at one point, I was trying to visit Emily (my UMW roommie) in Bilbao, Spain, where she's studying for the semester, but it would have been pretty bad if I got stuck somewhere and missed my first classes on Monday.
As for my classes, I need to take a total of five classes (15 credits). I need 12 of those credits to be German classes so that they'll count towards my German major at UMW because I want to finish my major while I'm here and only have my math major to finish next year. When I met with Hans Peter for my academic advising last week, he pretty much told me I could take whatever I want, so I signed up for four JYM classes and three LMU classes, and attended all of them this week. I think I've made up my mind about which classes I'm going to take for the semester, and it's ended up being four classes at JYM and only one class at LMU, and I'm okay mostly with that.
My first class of the semester was AGL - Advanced German Language - at JYM on Monday morning. We had a placement test at the end of the second week here that determined which level AGL we would be placed in. I somehow managed to test into the highest level, which surprised me and kind of scares me. The first class went okay, so hopefully I won't be in over my head all semester. After class I had the rest of the day free, so I went with a couple friends to explore LMU and figure out where all of our classes there are, which was really nice to know on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning was a little nerve racking because I had my first class at LMU - an introductory seminar to German Linguistics. I thought it might be interesting and relatively easy, since I've taken an English linguistics class at UMW, but it turned out a bit more complicated than I thought it would be. I think it's one of those things where you kind of have to know the language itself backward and forward before trying to pick it apart. Needless to say, I don't know German backward and forward, and we also have to attend a lecture every week that doesn't fit in my schedule, so I don't think I'm going to take the class. I felt thoroughly discouraged after that class, but lucked out when I found three of my friends - Kathryn, Jeff, and Corbin - coming from other classes that also didn't go too well. We cheered ourselves up a bit with lunch, and afterward I had two classes at JYM that turned out to be great. The first is called Contemporary German Culture, and we'll be looking at what German culture is like now (i.e. art, music, literature, film, food, etc.) as well as how the past has contributed to contemporary culture. The second class is Munich and National Socialism, which will be about the fact that Munich was were Hitler started his movement. Hans Peter is teaching the class, so I hope it will be really interesting. It's a little funny - whenever we're talking about the course in public, we all kind of mumble or whisper the course title so as not to draw attention to ourselves, since the Germans don't really like talking about Hitler or World War II in public. But that's beside the point - I think the class will be really interesting.
I had another LMU class on Wednesday morning, but this one wasn't as scary because it's being taught in English and it's about some of my favorite books - it's called Jane Austen's Heroines, and we'll be discussing Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. The class on Wednesday was great, and I have a lot of catching up to do (we were suppose to read all of the books before the semester started) but I think it will be lots of fun. UMW offers a Jane Austen class, but I've never been able to take it because I don't have the prerequisite courses, so I figured I'd have a little fun and take this class while I have the chance. It won't count toward my German major, but all of my other classes will, so I should be okay.
I had AGL again Wednesday afternoon (AGL is my only class that meets twice a week - the others are all once a week), and then Art in Munich, another JYM class. We'll get to travel to several different museums to see and discuss lots of different art, so I think it will be a good class. I'm a little nervous about it, because art is something I don't know much about even in English, so the words and phrases the teacher uses in German mean absolutely nothing to me. I think most of the class is in the same boat though, so hopefully it won't be too bad.
My seventh class was another LMU class Thursday afternoon called Lachen und Komik in der Literatur des Mittelalters - Laughing and Comedy in the Literature of the Middle Ages. Sounds interesting, right? I think it would be, and so did the 45 other people who showed up to the seminar and crammed into a room meant for 20 people. The professor was good and the couple students I talked with were really nice. The only problem is that the literature for the class is all written in Mittelhochdeutsch - German of the Middle Ages, which of course, I've never learned. There is an introductory seminar to Mittelhochdeutsch that the rest of the students in the class have already taken, and I could try taking both of those classes, but I don't think that would be a good idea, so I'm probably not going to take the class.
So, in the end, I think I'm going to take AGL, Contemporary German Culture, Munich and National Socialism, and Art in Munich at JYM, all of which are taught in German and should count towards my German major at UMW, and Jane Austen's Heroines at LMU, which is taught in English and serves no purpose other than giving me a great excuse to read Jane Austen. I'm a little bummed that my only LMU class will be taught in English because I wanted to have a chance to practice my German, but the other students are all German, so hopefully I'll get a chance to chat with some of them throughout the semester. I might try to find another LMU class that I could take instead of Art in Munich, but I'm not sure. I kind of like the fact that with the five classes I just named, I get both Thursday and Friday completely off - four day weekends every week is a definite perk.
So that was pretty much my week. Well not entirely...I did do stuff other than go to class. A couple people had birthdays on Tuesday and Wednesday, so on Tuesday we went as a huge group (almost all of the second semester JYM-ers) to the Hofbraeuhaus for dinner. It's kind of a tourist trap - the main beer hall of the city - but it was still a lot of fun and a good chance to just hang out with everybody. On Wednesday, I went with a smaller group to a bar to watch the FC Bayern Fussball (soccer) game. I actually watched some of the game (shocker, right?) and got a soccer tutorial from one of my friends. Thursday after class, I did some shopping (I feel like I spent soooooo much money this week, but most of it was for books for class or for food, so I don't really think I could have avoided it), and hung out with some friends. On Friday, we had a meeting at JYM for all of the students - full year and second semester - and then I did some more shopping (more books!) and had dinner, played cards, and watched a movie with some friends. Overall, an excellent week, and not a bad start to the semester! If only I didn't have homework...
Fruehlingsfest - Day 20, Part 2
Remember that big empty stretch of concrete at Theresienwiese where Oktoberfest takes place? I figured out what else it's used for: Fruehlingsfest, the spring-time little sister of Oktoberfest. For two weeks (April 16 - May 2), Theresienwiese is filled with beer tents, carnival rides, and lots and lots of people, many of whom where Lederhosen and Dirndls. On Saturday night (April 17), I went with Kathryn and Britta to the Fruehlingsfest, where Britta met up with a few other friends who traveled with her. We walked around outside for a bit, but spent most of the evening (from about 6:00 until 10:30) in the Augustiner Beer tent. It was a lot of fun, even though it's not my usual way to spend a Saturday night. There was live music, delicious fresh Brezeln, and of course plenty of beer and smoke. We me a few Germans, who were all really nice and tried to teach us the words to the music, and we had a good time talking and dancing.
There was barely any breathing room in the beer tent, but we managed to find a table:
Kathryn and her friend Britta
Me and Kathryn - the picture's a little blurry, but not too bad for taking the picture myself
After the band finished and the tent started to close, we took a ride on the Ferris wheel and got some pretty good views of the fest:
The church is St. Paul's church, the same church I took pictures of a couple weeks ago when we were at the empty Theresienwiese...I think it's interesting to compare the photos
Kathryn, Britta, and me
After Fruehlingsfest, we hung out with some other friends we met up with at StuStadt, and then called it a night...or maybe it was early morning by that point, but it was a good day either way.
Die Residenz - Day 20, Part 1
I spent last Saturday (April 17) with Kathryn and her friend Britta, who is studying abroad in Barcelona this semester and who came to visit for the weekend. We spent most of the afternoon walking around Munich, giving Britta the grand tour of the city. We saw the Glockenspiel ring at noon, the Rathaus, Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche, Odeonsplatz, the Theatinerkirche, and some other sights that I've already posted pictures of. We also went into the Hofgarten, the gardens around the royal Residence, and then went into the Residenz Museum itself:
I don't actually know what this building is, but I think it's cool how it was rebuilt after being destroyed in the war - the original center section complemented by the modern glass new sections:
In front is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:
Next we went into the Residenz Museum itself, which served as the city residence for the Bavarian rulers through the early 1900s:
One of the prince's grand dining halls:
A waiting chamber in the ruler's quarters:
It must have been the style to have long halls like this through all the rooms, because I took an almost identical picture at one of the museums that used to be a palace in Augsburg:
I should start a collection of pictures called "The Ceilings of Bavaria" - they're always so pretty!
Another one of the main halls:
This was probably my favorite room - it's called the Cabinet of Mirrors. The walls were white and pale rose colored and were covered with mirrors and gold detailing, and then throughout the room, white and blue porcelain sat on little shelves. It was a really interesting little room. I wish I had gotten a better picture of the room as a whole, but you can see the detailing in this picture:
I liked this room too - it was a little antechamber off the side of the Cabinet of Mirrors, called the Cabinet of Miniatures - the pictures on the walls are miniatures of the rulers or someone. In the mirror, you can see some of the detailing the other rooms too:
Britta, me, and Kathryn
A gazebo in the Hofgarten with the Theatinerkirche in the background:
In front is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:
Next we went into the Residenz Museum itself, which served as the city residence for the Bavarian rulers through the early 1900s:
An inner garden:
One of the prince's grand dining halls:
A waiting chamber in the ruler's quarters:
It must have been the style to have long halls like this through all the rooms, because I took an almost identical picture at one of the museums that used to be a palace in Augsburg:
I should start a collection of pictures called "The Ceilings of Bavaria" - they're always so pretty!
Another one of the main halls:
This was probably my favorite room - it's called the Cabinet of Mirrors. The walls were white and pale rose colored and were covered with mirrors and gold detailing, and then throughout the room, white and blue porcelain sat on little shelves. It was a really interesting little room. I wish I had gotten a better picture of the room as a whole, but you can see the detailing in this picture:
I liked this room too - it was a little antechamber off the side of the Cabinet of Mirrors, called the Cabinet of Miniatures - the pictures on the walls are miniatures of the rulers or someone. In the mirror, you can see some of the detailing the other rooms too:
Britta, me, and Kathryn
By the time we finished exploring the Residenz, it was getting close to dinner time, so we made our way to Theresienwiese, where the spring fair Fruehlingsfest is taking place...
Hugendubel, Die Welt der Buecher - Day 18 and 19
I can't believe how behind I've gotten on updating my blog! It's been more than a week since I've written anything, and I think I'm going to try to completely catch up today...which means I'm going to post a lot of stuff! I don't know what order people will read my posts in, but I'm going to post them earliest first and let people figure out how they want to read it all.
Going back to when I last posted: last Thursday and Friday (April 15 and 16) weren't terribly exciting. On Thursday, I had academic advising with Hans-Peter, the director of JYM, to figure out what classes I should take at JYM and what classes I should take at LMU, but I'll say more about that when I post about my first week of classes. Thursday afternoon, I went shopping with Kathryn for school supplies, which turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than we expected...the school supplies that German students use aren't completely different than what we use at home, but they're different enough to be a little weird. For example, German paper is longer than the standard American 8 1/2 by 11 pages, binders only have two rings instead of three, folders don't really have pockets, and we could not find lead for mechanical pencils anywhere. Little stuff like that made it just a little frustrating to try to figure out what we wanted, but in the end I think we managed pretty well.
I spent Friday morning sending emails to LMU professors to apply for the classes I wanted to take, and doing other boring stuff like cleaning my room. The highlight of the day was that I discovered my new favorite place in the city: Hugendubel. Before I explain any further, I have to write a side note to Uncle Bob: if you're reading this, consider this advanced warning that you won't like what I'm about to say. Hugendubel's full name is Hugendubel: Die Welt der Buecher. Translation: The World of Books - Kelsie's dream world. It really is a magnificent sight: Hugendubel is right in the middle of the Fussgaengerzone (pedestrian zone in the town center), directly across from the Rathaus and Glockenspiel, and when you enter the store, you're greeted by six stories packed with books of every kind on every subject you can think of. Imagine a combination of Borders and Barnes and Noble, and maybe that comes close. I think I spent about an hour there on Friday (I would have stayed longer, but Kathryn was with me) and I've already been back at least three or four times since then (looking for books for my classes, but still...). If I wasn't a poor college student trying to travel around Europe, I would be Hugendubel's best customer.
I think Kathryn and I just hung out a bit for the rest of the night, but discovering Hugandubel was such a huge event that I can't really remember anything else about that day...
Hey, isn't that a Schildkröte?
I saw these Schildkröte in Regensburg:
Just like lions always make me think of Dad, and turtles always make me think of Kristin, owls always make me think of Harry Potter...but he's not family (and he's also not real) so that's not quite as important...
Monday, April 19, 2010
Es regnet nicht in Regensburg! - Day 17
It seems I should just get used to being perpetually behind with my posts, but I suppose there are worse problems to have.
I had this past Wednesday (April 14, Day 17) completely free, because most of the orientation activities this week were individual academic advising meetings with Hans Peter, the director of the program, and my meeting with him wasn't until Thursday. A couple of my other friends - Kathryn, Nicole, and Jeff - also had the day free, so we decided to go to Regensburg and do a little exploring there. It started out as an interesting train ride - we used another of the Bayern tickets, with which up to five people can travel anywhere in Bavaria within a day, and which are fantastic but come with a few limitations. Last week when we went to Augsburg, we learned exactly which kinds of trains we are and aren't allowed to use. Wednesday, we learned exactly when the tickets are valid: we left the Munich train station at 7:44am, but apparently the ticket isn't valid until 9:00, so we had to get off the train in Freising and wait there for the next train. I think it mostly depends on the mood of the person checking the tickets though, because we've definitely taken earlier trains with a Bavaria ticket and had no problems. We only had to wait about an hour in Freising, so it really wasn't too bad, but we stayed close to the train station the whole time because it was raining and cold, but the little we saw of the town was very pretty.
We got to Regensburg around 10:20, about an hour after we planned on being there, which actually worked out nicely because by the time we got there, the rain had stopped. I'll throw in another German lesson here: it's a little ironic that it wasn't raining in Regensburg, because "regen" means rain. While it stormed here in Munich, we managed to avoid the rain by going to Regensburg, although I guess the irony isn't completely correct because the town is named after the Regen River and not rain itself, but still...
There were a few sights we knew we wanted to see around town, but we mostly just explored wherever we could...because really, planning is overrated...
Nicole, Kathryn, and me in a cool looking alley we passed:
We got a cool picture of each of us poking our heads out from one of the archways here, but it was with someone else's camera, so I'll have to track down a copy.
I love all the stained glass windows I've seen:
This carving was one of the sights we knew we wanted to see. It was carved and painted in 1820 and is called die Lachende Engel - the Laughing Angel - and depicts the angel Gabriel as he delivers the Good News to Mary:
This figure of Mary is on the pillar across from the pillar where Gabriel stands. Mary's hand is raised in greeting to Gabriel:
I think there's also a carving of Joseph, but I'm not sure, and I didn't get a picture of it.
And even better: the first Cafe ever opened in Germany - the Princess Cafe:
Delicious!Even McDonalds looks more appetizing in Germany than in the States...but I refuse to eat there on principle alone - why come to Germany and eat at McDonalds, when instead, you could eat yummy apple pie at Germany's oldest cafe?
A view of the bridge and the park that was on the other side:
We actually first crossed a different bridge, and somehow ended up walking under the Steinere Bruecke, before doubling back and walking back across the Steinere Bruecke itself, but that meant we got up-close and personal with the bridge itself:
After crossing the bridge back into the main part of town, the only other site we knew about was a castle on the other side of town. As we headed there, we passed another couple churches. This one had an interesting entryway in addition to its beautiful interior:
I've started to realize that the organs in all of these churches are just as magnificent as every other part of the sanctuary. Can you imagine an organ like this at Kirkwood (my church at home)?
Back on the way to the castle, we passed a couple guard dogs...
...maybe Salty's long lost German cousins? When we finally found the castle, we couldn't quite find the actual entrance, so we just walked around the grounds for a bit. I think we would have had to pay to go into the main castle, so it was just as well that we stayed outside:
I had this past Wednesday (April 14, Day 17) completely free, because most of the orientation activities this week were individual academic advising meetings with Hans Peter, the director of the program, and my meeting with him wasn't until Thursday. A couple of my other friends - Kathryn, Nicole, and Jeff - also had the day free, so we decided to go to Regensburg and do a little exploring there. It started out as an interesting train ride - we used another of the Bayern tickets, with which up to five people can travel anywhere in Bavaria within a day, and which are fantastic but come with a few limitations. Last week when we went to Augsburg, we learned exactly which kinds of trains we are and aren't allowed to use. Wednesday, we learned exactly when the tickets are valid: we left the Munich train station at 7:44am, but apparently the ticket isn't valid until 9:00, so we had to get off the train in Freising and wait there for the next train. I think it mostly depends on the mood of the person checking the tickets though, because we've definitely taken earlier trains with a Bavaria ticket and had no problems. We only had to wait about an hour in Freising, so it really wasn't too bad, but we stayed close to the train station the whole time because it was raining and cold, but the little we saw of the town was very pretty.
We got to Regensburg around 10:20, about an hour after we planned on being there, which actually worked out nicely because by the time we got there, the rain had stopped. I'll throw in another German lesson here: it's a little ironic that it wasn't raining in Regensburg, because "regen" means rain. While it stormed here in Munich, we managed to avoid the rain by going to Regensburg, although I guess the irony isn't completely correct because the town is named after the Regen River and not rain itself, but still...
There were a few sights we knew we wanted to see around town, but we mostly just explored wherever we could...because really, planning is overrated...
The lack of rain was welcoming, as were the flowers:
We found several more beautiful churches...it's overwhelming sometimes to think about how many stunningly decorated churches there are here in Germany and Europe as a whole, and the fact that so many of them have been standing for hundreds of years.
Nicole, Kathryn, and me in a cool looking alley we passed:
This is the Regensburg Dom (the main cathedral in the city...massive!)
We got a cool picture of each of us poking our heads out from one of the archways here, but it was with someone else's camera, so I'll have to track down a copy.
I love all the stained glass windows I've seen:
This carving was one of the sights we knew we wanted to see. It was carved and painted in 1820 and is called die Lachende Engel - the Laughing Angel - and depicts the angel Gabriel as he delivers the Good News to Mary:
This figure of Mary is on the pillar across from the pillar where Gabriel stands. Mary's hand is raised in greeting to Gabriel:
I think there's also a carving of Joseph, but I'm not sure, and I didn't get a picture of it.
Around the corner from the Dom we found the Rathaus:
And even better: the first Cafe ever opened in Germany - the Princess Cafe:
Delicious!
Another site we knew we wanted to see was das Steinere Bruecke - the Stone Bridge - which was built sometime in the 12th century. The story goes that at the time, people believed that such a bridge would be impossible to build without the help of the Devil. The townspeople were therefore convinced that the builders had made a deal with the Devil, who would claim the soul of the first living creature to cross the finished bridge. According to our guide book, the townspeople made sure to send a goat walk across before any humans...though I don't know what happened to the goat. But the point is that we got to see and walk across this bridge that was build almost a century ago (and by century, I mean millennium, as Kristin was kind enough to point out), which was cool in and of itself, and on the way to the bridge we also found some great views of the city:
A view of the bridge and the park that was on the other side:
We actually first crossed a different bridge, and somehow ended up walking under the Steinere Bruecke, before doubling back and walking back across the Steinere Bruecke itself, but that meant we got up-close and personal with the bridge itself:
After crossing the bridge back into the main part of town, the only other site we knew about was a castle on the other side of town. As we headed there, we passed another couple churches. This one had an interesting entryway in addition to its beautiful interior:
I've started to realize that the organs in all of these churches are just as magnificent as every other part of the sanctuary. Can you imagine an organ like this at Kirkwood (my church at home)?
Back on the way to the castle, we passed a couple guard dogs...
...maybe Salty's long lost German cousins?
By this time, we had circled around to the area near the main train station and it was starting to drizzle again, so we headed back to Munich. We got back around dinner time, and the rest of my evening was pretty quiet as I tried to figure out what classes I should take (which I'm still trying to figure out, even though today was the first day of classes, but that's another story!)
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