herbstferien mit gerlachs :D

For part of the last week of Fall Break with my host family the Gerlach's, we travelled to Trier, Aachen, and Köln. Trier is one of the oldest cities in Central Europe and it was really cool, we were only there for about a day and a half but it was still fun. The pictures are really out of order because well, I'm not sure why. This is Justus and I in Berlin, we were playing some sort of game that I don't really remember but this scene ended up happening, and Henning thought it was hilarious so we did a candid pose for the camera. I would say Justus and I are alot like me and Carmen...except Carmen would never let the bird fly freeeeee! This is us in Berlin, the first Mexican food in almost 2 Months...(Mike and Kitty(almost) Meddows: thank you for the advice to eat a TON of Taco Bell, it probably saved my life, and Jared, I am still working on the animal picture...) Any way, this food was REALLY expensive and Hilde got sick from it and we had to go home a day early and I felt bad because it was Fidi and I's idea to eat there. All is good now though, still no more mexican food.

This is a really old church in Aachen, sorry about it being sideways. I don't really remember going here, we went to alot of chuches, some where there is a picture of Fidi, Justus and I "sleeping" in one in the back...

This is Berlin from the top of the Köln Dom. It was freaking awesome to go up. But it was 1018 stairs total, in about 30 minutes. It was really intense, but the view was AWESOME. The inside was really pretty too, but we weren't allowed to take pictures with flash and the ones we had turned out blurry.

This is another sideways picture (sorry) of the Köln Dom. It is freaking MASSIVE and really cool. I also learned that because of the material that the Dom is made of there is ALWAYS construction, because it wears down realy fast. So there is always some sort of scaffolding up

This is the outside of Karl Marx's birth place. We went to the museum inside and I got an ENGLISH speaking thing to listen to the tour...it was awesome. There was ALOT of information though and it was really cool. I want to read the Communist Manifesto now because I think it is interesting now. But the Museum was cool, and I learned alot, and got a cool Pin for my jacket!

This is on the top of a Fort between the old Germany and France borders, we were still pretty close to it but I wasn't really sure where we were.

This was by far the best museum. A WHOLE MUSEUM FOR CHOCOLATE. and you get free chocolate too! This was a chocolate fountain and that lady was giving out stuff dipped in chocolate. It was Lindt Chocolate I think. Either way, it was declicious. and at one point we went into a room where Cacao Plants were growing and it really felt like I was in OompaLoompaLand. It was really warm and there were trees EVERYWHERE!

This is a view from the Swiebelbahn. A little hanging cart thing we rode over the Rhine River on. It was scary at first but then it was really fun. Really cold, but I think that is normal now. The views were really pretty, and you can see the Dom and some other new buildings!

This is what we rode in. We weren't lucky enough to ride in the Mouse one, but ours was red!

This is the Ampitheater I might have mentioned earlier, in Trier. It was really big, and there was an underground part. I kept imagining it as a Gladiator place, and when we went in the underground part I really wanted to see a lion or a dead gladiator or something really cool. But it was just really cold and nothing jumped out at us.

This is a view from the top of the fort that we were at. I don't remember the river names, but I think one is the Rhine.

This is part of the fort in Trier or Aachen or where ever we were. If you look realy close behind the tree in the middle there is a wooden structure and I thought it was a Guillotine but then I read the card (in german) and learned it was just a lame thing the Romans used to pound Bug stuff into the ground for making bridges or something.

Those were the highlights of the trip. The end.

Dresden

I went to Dresden with my Godmother, Sabine, and her family, and with another family that are their friends. We were there from Friday night (October 12 or something) to Monday afternoon (October 15 or something) We went to alot of cool places that were really old or looked really old because the Allies had fire bombed Dresden at the very end of the war and destroyed pretty much everything. This is the Frauenkirshe, a giant church that was right next to our hotel. (by the way our hotel was FREAKIN SWEET and I actually took a BATH, not just showers because it was so cool!! THERE WERE A LOT OF BUBBLES) Anyway, we went to this big church and we got to go to the very top, that you can barely see in the picture, it was really cool. The people in the picture...that is everyone except Yorke, Sabine's husband. This is all of us "kids" (yes, I was officially a kid that weekend!!) on top of FrauenKirshe!! This is at some garden place (I don't remember the name) and we are infront of the Chinese house building thing. The two kids with me are Sabine and Yorke's daughters. Yes, they are adorable. This is a Museum ( I think) that was also near our hotel...pretty gosh darn spiffy. So, now is a tower from a really awesome garden that we went to. I also don't remember its name, but it did have really crazy bells that rung randomly. There are definitly more pictures but I will show them when I get back...it takes a little too long sometimes.

Oktoberfest

On the next day I went with a lot of exchange students to Oktoberfest. We didn't get quite the experience because we aren't allowed to drink, but we met some people that were probably drunk enough for all 20 of us. And they were wearing LEDERHOSEN!! We also met some really cool kids from around Hannover that taught us to Polka...well tried to teach us. We weren't very good, except Gui and Candela because they knew the dances from being taught at home. We also rode some roller coasters...they were just like ones we have here, except that they cost 2€ a ride, and go about 6 times longer...so if a roller coaster in the US makes you sick...you will DEFINITLY throw up on these! But they were REALLY fun. I told my host family about Bumper Cars, and everyone thinks that is the funniest name because here they are called "auto scooters" which is a pretty lame name, we all agreed. My camera was lost on this day, along with all the photos of the lederhosen, hamburg, the party. let it rest in peace.

Hamburg Tag

Hamburg Tag was October 3. October 3 is the day of re unification of the two germany's, it is really important, everything is closed, there are HUGE festivals and no school. That is the history part. We went to Hamburg with Rotex and it was ok...It was a long train ride. But REALLY funny, it was about 11:30 AM some one asked what time we would FINALLY be in Hamburg, they said "twenty to twelve" and I don't remember who these people were but some one else said "WE ARRIVE AT 22:12? WHAT THE HECK!" because we are all used to German time, and if when the first person said 'twenty to twelve' it sounded like german time 22:12 and that would mean we were on the train till 10:12 PM...TWELVE hours. so then we spent the last 10 minutes of the train ride sorting that out. it was AWESOME. We get to Hamburg and one of the Rotex-ers has this AWESOME tour planned out and everything, and then everything he had planned was closed...so we just looked at it...outside, in the cold. There were also A TON of police officers everywhere because there were supposed to be riots and fights and things of people that are similar to Neo-Nazis and oppose the new Germany, but these police were HUGE, they had on huge riot gear and all this cool stuff and it was crazy...they looked like they could beat up Vin Diesel! Even the girls were huge. But we never saw a riot or fight...for every 5 bad guys there were at least 15 police... We walked around all day in the cold and then when we got home we were all exhausted...except Fidi invited me to go to a party... I got to the party at 10:30 PM maybe...and it was sooo cool, because at the parties they have supervision but its older people...so at parties everyone speaks english so the supervisors can't understand..so I understood everything and I didn't have to try! I also met a BUNCH of kids from my school, but i met so many that I can't remember anyones names... There are no pictures of this because...the day after all of this...my camera was lost/stolen.

ROTEX - September...

So...This event happened sometime in September and I haven't had time to Blog since then...I don't REALLY remember the date but I know it was one of the last weekends of September. So It was in Hannover, which was awesome because it was REALLY easy to get to. Friday night we played funny games like this one similar to Ships and Sailors except it was a McDonalds menu so that was funny. And another where you pretended you were in a park and would put people in funny positions. Then we had a candle light talk about anything that had happened or that was funny in small groups so everyone got to meet people and know them better. We had a dance party that night too but it was really lame so we played basketball and soccer instead. Saturday we went to the Rathaus, the Maschsee and had free time. The Rathaus is the new town hall and I think there are pictures in another blog. The Maschsee is the lake in Hannover, really nice...with GIANT carp. That night we had a more formal party, and it was AWESOME and it went till maybe 3 AM. Sunday we woke up at 8AM and had breakfast and then we were allowed to leave and do whatever we wanted - most people went home because we were all really tired. I went and had coffee and hot chocolate with people and then we went home. There are no pictures on here because the photos are on the broken computer ( I DIDN'T DO IT!) so here is a link to my photos... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72250&l=14677&id=724120287