I aptly named this post "Set Loose To Fly" for many reasons. First of all, this week is technically midterms week at IES. However, I only had one midterm on Monday, since I wrote my other two last week already. Secondly, I only had one midterm and could thus travel for nearly two whole weeks in Europe. Don't get me wrong, I still needed to take care of responsibilities while traveling, but I was rather free for the most part! Set loose to explore the beauty and grandeur in the cities around me!
23 Monday
Today I did an Easter presentation at school and found that one part of
the activity went well, but again realized that I went too far above my
students' heads. In the younger class, Eva Maria had me go through the
presentation more simply, then faster at a native speed. We also worked
on an activity using the vocabulary for the presentation in an Easter
egg drawing. Eva Maria told me that going through slowly like this is
called step-by-step teaching, working each concept on top of the other.
After finishing up studying and teaching, I headed over to IES to write my Managing Behavior in Organizations midterm in a very hot and stuffy room. The midterm went well and I knew most of the content on which we had to write, and well, you can always stretch your knowledge a little to fill in the gaps on psychology and sociology based subjects. My hand hurt after writing nearly 5 pages of short essay answers and I rejoiced with my exit into the free air and freedom from school responsibilities for nearly two weeks! I prepared for my trip by wrapping up a few things around my apartment and then going running. I quickly took a shower and headed to the train station, where I arrived about 6 minutes before my train left due to forgetting my backpack on the way out the door! Fortunately, I made it onto my train safely and soundly and headed overnight to Venice.
24 March
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| Riding over the Venice lagoon by train |
My ride overnight went quite nicely, especially since I had two empty seats next to me and could stretch out to sleep during the night. I found this experience far better than riding overnight with 6 people in a 6 person cabin, like my last overnight train ride. I accidentally stepped out at the wrong train station and tried to find my way around unsuccessfully, but decided to eat a little breakfast before taking the train all the way into the center island of Venice. Now, I thought that hot chocolate for breakfast would be nice, so I ordered some and found it to be incredibly thick. A little odd, but perhaps the Italians don't like their hot chocolate with so much milk.
(I later asked my walking tour guide and found out that Italian hot chocolate is actually just melted chocolate. So I literally drank a cup of chocolate for breakfast, aaah!)
After arriving on the actual center island of Venice, I locked up my luggage at the train station and got a map to explore the city. I went to a square nearby to meet up with a group for a walking tour of Venice. I did a similar tour in Budapest and really enjoyed it. Our guide led us to all the important places in the city, explaining their history and little bits of culture about them. A few things that stood out to me:
-Venice was its own city-state since the 700s/800s, making its development significantly older than some other European cities which did not start showing major signs of development till after the year 1000.
-Venice had groups of wealthy people called scuola, which sponsored health, culture, and art in the city, making Venice the treasure trove it is today. These were basically the original fraternity!!
-Some of the tunnels in Venice have holes in the underside of them, because they were used by prostitutes in the rooms above to spy on the people knocking at the door.
-Some doors have no easily visible key hole, because they were hidden in the door to more securely protect the inhabitants from robbery and crime.
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| Gate erected by a scuola |
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| Peephole in a tunnel ceiling |
We afterwards went out to a small restaurant with these appetizers which are regularly served in Venice. I can't really spell the Italian name, though! I had fun meeting up with some German-speaking friends on the tour and walked around to a couple spots in Venice with an Australian, a Canadian, and an Indonesian student studying in Germany. We went to go see the incredible St. Mark's basilica, which is literally covered with gold mosaics on the inside. The Indonesian student and I also wandered up to an old Venetian hospital with walkways between the buildings, which were quite low, spread out, and built of plaster. An interesting design for a hospital, although a little less exhilarating than I expected.
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| St. Mark's plaza |
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| Rialto bridge |
I planned to meet the group for dinner, but ended up not having enough time after going all the way back to the train station on foot and finally making it to my hostel on a different island of Venice. Exhausted and tired, I tucked into bed for the night after researching what I planned to do for the next day.
25 March
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| Glassblowing on Murano |
Trying to make an exact plan for sightseeing everyday honestly stresses me out, since I never know quite how long travel in between different sights will take. I thus try to be flexible and enjoy things as they come. I spent the morning getting ready for the day casually and then driving out with the Venetian public boat transport system to the island of Murano, known for its glass blowing shops. I saw a glass blowing demonstration and then wandered around to some of the shops in the area where I bought a few small gifts for my nieces and nephews. While I find the glass incredibly gorgeous, I could only buy small pieces due to its incredibly high price. The weather started picking up after I finished my shopping and I had a slightly
rainy ride on the way back to the main island.
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| Pasta bolognese |
I found my way into a small café and ate some delicious Pasta Bolognese for lunch, but I honestly thought the pasta was as good as gourmet Italian pasta you can buy in America. I had heard similar reports that food in Venice is good, but not necessarily on a completely different level of goodness. I nevertheless enjoyed my tortellini with prosciutto and cream sauce and felt prepared to tackle the next sights in Venice in the afternoon.
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| Favorite statue in the Del Frari church |
I headed down to the Santa Maria Patroccina Del Frari church to start by viewing the works of Titiano and other great Italian artists. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed. The artwork was truly breathtaking! I then meandered down to the charity house of the Scuola del Rocco, but found that the entrance price was 9 Euro - a little steep for the money I had already spent in Venice. I decided to pass on going through that building and instead visited the church next door, which quite conveniently required no entrance fee. I lastly went down to a beautiful dome called Santa Maria Della Salute. The dome is often depicted in pictures of Venice and I truly enjoyed viewing the magnificent painted and marbled inside. Overall, I found that Italian architecture incorporates far more brick and Greek-style shapes in buildings than many Austrian buildings. Italian architecture is by no means simple, but the inner structure allows the masterpieces of Italian art and architecture to shine truly on their own in the inside of each building.
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| Dome of Santa Maria Della Salute |
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| Pizza w/ prosciutto & mozarella |
I wanted to get an overall view of Venice by climbing the bell tower on the island of St. Giorgio, so I headed out there on a ferry. Unfortunately, the weather had severely worsened by the time I arrived. The wind whipped so sharply over the island that I found it rather hard to walk and worse, the bell tower was closed. I had a peek inside the church and then took the next ferry available over to my hostel, where I had left my luggage for the day. I then made my way back through the extraordinarily rainy weather to the main island, where I ate some yummy pizza and then waited in the cold train station to board my night train and finally get dried out.
In order not to end this day on a sad note, I should mention that I ate gelato a couple times in Italy and really enjoyed it. Had some super fluffy cream mousse gelato the second day that was definitely a highlight!
26 March
Thankful again for free spots next to me on the night train, so I could sleep during the night. I spent the morning in Vienna cleaning up around my apartment and re-packing for the rest of my trip. We visited a museum in the afternoon which showed the life of Victor Frankl, an influential Viennese psychotherapist. I had to attend this museum visit in order to make up for half of a class session which I missed after arriving back late from Cologne. I could hardly wait to get to meet my cousin Anna later that day in Munich. After the museum visit, I quickly headed over to the train station and boarded my train for Munich, where I met my German cousin, Anna, for the first time! So cool to finally meet each other after 2 years of talking over Skype and Facebook!
27 March
I was quite overwhelmed by the kindness of Anna, who had planned a great day of showing me around Munich. Writing this post now, on the 31st of March, I wonder if the whole weekend really happened. It was so strange and wonderful to feel like family with someone who I had only known over Skype. So surreal. I loved our day exploring Munich, getting to see some important monuments, the gardens, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Üniversität, the
Münchener Hofbräuhaus (Munich's Royal Brewery) and the incredible Rathaus in Munich. The Rathaus has these cool little wooden figures on the front which play a song and twirl around every day at noon. We arrived exactly on time to hear the clock and it was an absolutely charming way to ring in the noon hour. We continued our wandering around in the afternoon to the aforementioned places and ended up back at the Rathaus square later in the afternoon. We stopped at a café, where I enjoyed some hot chocolate and
Käsesahnetorte, kind of like a fluffy cream cheese cake. I noticed that the portion sizes in Germany are much bigger than in Austria and that food overall cost cheaper. For instance, soft pretzels in Austria generally cost between 2-4 Euro, depending on where you buy them. However, even the most decked out pretzels with salami, tomatoes, and cheese cost at most 2 Euro. Which is really quite wonderful, because pretzels with salami, tomatoes, and cheese are pretty much my favorite food all in one package.
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| Inside the Frauenkirche |
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| The Rathaus in Munich |
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| The Munich Royal Brewery |
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| Delicious hot chocolate and torte! |
Anyways, Anna drove out to Kaufbeuern, the small city next to which her parents live. Anna's mom was so excited to meet me and I loved getting to talk and eat dinner with them for several hours. I still can't believe this actually happened. Anna's mom made a Kazakhstani dinner for us with potatoes, meat, and
Dampfnudeln, which are basically giant balla of steamed and fried noodle-like substance. We talked for a couple hours afterwards, so I could hear the story of how they came to Germany and about their lives there. André and Nellie, Anna's parents, were born and lived in Kazakhstan for nearly 30 years. While our common ancestors came from the Ukraine, my great-grandparents emigrated to Canada and theirs stayed. During World War II, the German-speaking Mennonite population in the Ukraine was forced to emigrate to Kazakhstan in 1941. Those who stayed in the Ukraine eventually retreated with the German army back to Germany in 1942-1943. Thus, Anna and her family all were born in Kazakhstan. They left in 1991, after waiting two years to receive permission to enter Germany. They left everything behind - their jobs, their houses, their money. They could only take their suitcases and $200/person with them. And for some reason, all the leaving Mennonites took samovars with them even though they had never used them in the Ukraine! André and Nellie joked that Kazakhstan was emptied of all its samovars due to the leaving Mennonites. I also learned about their life here in Germany after moving. Most of the relatives settled in Ulm, but Nellie and André ended up moving out farther to the Kaufbeuern area. Johann, Anna's brother, works for a company called Grob as a technical work. Anna's dad works to design electrical set-ups for new construction and Anna's mom works as a kindergarten teacher. They built a beautiful house here about 15 years ago, where Johann and Anna then grew up. So neat to see how they have established their life here after moving from Kazakhstan. I ended the day by calling my Oma in my room to let her know about everything which happened!
28 March
Anna and I slept in this morning, especially because Anna had an inflammation of her tonsils and needed the extra rest. We woke up to a typical German breakfast made by Nellie with German rolls, salami, and cheese, along with fruit and caprese salad. Goodness, Germany is just so great, I get to eat my favorite food for every meal of the day!
After eating breakfast and getting ready for the day, we actually drove over to Neuschwanstein, the Cinderella castle! There is a castle nearby it called Hohenschwangau, which was older and in use longer than Neuschwanstein. We hiked up the mountain to Neuschwanstein and walked around the bridges in the area to get a good view of the castle. We accidentally forgot to get tickets for an inside tour, so I took an inside tour of Hohenschwangau later. The castle inside was beautiful with painted walls describing life in the Middle Ages or in nature. Many of the ceilings were covered with a dark color and silver studs to make them look like stars in the heavens. A true paradise inside this beautiful place. Nellie asked me outside if a beautiful prince had led me away during my tour inside! (Nellie and Anna waited outside because they have already seen the inside of both castles before).
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| At Neuschwanstein! |
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| With Nellie in the courtyard! |
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| Inside Hohenschwangau |
On the way back, we took a short drive around Kaufbeuern in order to see the city and then went back home for dinner. The evening went similarly to Friday, except that we actually Skyped my parents and got to talk with them. Anna's family got to meet my parents and we had fun figuring out the connections between us again. My Mom also spoke a lot of German during the conversation and we both translated. Mom translated for Dad and Anna and I translated for her parents. Mom had a bit of a hard time speaking right away, but she understood almost everything which Nellie said! I was really so proud of her, because I haven't really been in a situation where my Mom had to speak German before! I spent a little time catching up with my parents on my own and then we wrapped up the conversation and headed to bed an hour or so later.
29 March
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| Weißwurstfrühstück |
Slept in again delightfully this morning and then enjoyed a traditional German breakfast called
Weißwurstfrühstück, literally "white sausage breakfast." It's basically sausage, sweet mustard, soft pretzels, and beer. So again, my favorite foods at any time of the day!! Germany is so great!!
Did I mention that I like sausage? And cheese? You should definitely start making them your favorite foods too. They are really good and you can get very good quality sausage and cheese in Germany. Yes, very good quality.
We sat around the breakfast table for awhile in the morning and talked about that day, which was Palm Sunday, and the role which God played in our lives. Nellie and I watched part of a church service and I appreciated hearing her perspective on how she liked reading the Scripture and seeing God in creation. Their local evangelical church is quite rule-oriented and she has a hard time with the lack of joy among the people there. The phone rang towards the end of our conversation and Alex, Nellie's nephew, announced that he would be able to come over to visit that morning. We then wrapped up and I finished getting ready for the day, then went downstairs to meet Alex and his family.
Anna and I said good-bye to everyone in the early afternoon and headed back to Munich, where we visited the Olympic Games center, built for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and a BMW museum. We watched a movie and didn't do much in the evening, since we were tired from the long weekend and both had full weeks ahead.
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| With Anna's family |
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| View of the Olympic sports park from the Olympic Tower |
Looking back on the weekend, I feel so overwhelmed by the generosity of these people who are my family, yet who I had never met before. They welcomed me like one of their own and make me feel just like I do in my family gatherings with my Mom's family in Canada. Included. Loved. Eager to see one another. I felt so bad for some mistakes I made in communicating in German that came off wrongly when I was joking around, and was so thankful for their continued generosity. Truly a wonderful family. I am blessed and thankful for them more than words can express.
