Trip with Parents (Part Two)

One of the previous rulers of Munich

Sitting down to write this, I realised that so much has happened that I don't know where to start! Where were we? Ah yes, Munich. Our apartment was in a lovely part of town and we are all loving how great the German public transport is. Our first full day in Munich was Easter Sunday so we looked online for a church to go to and decided on the Protestant cathedral. The website said the service started at 11 but when we got there at 10:30 it had started at 10. So we very awkwardly slipped in the back during the sermon (which was way too difficult to translate for Mum and Dad). The young man sitting next to me suddenly started talking to me in English as I was explaining that it was time for Communion and turned out he didn't speak any German either. He was from Portugal and in Munich for a physio conference and he insisted on talking to me throughout the rest of the service. Then, in the middle of prayers, he asked if I wanted to go out with him!Perhaps go to a bar, meet some friends, go dancing etc? I admit to being rather shocked and used my parents as an excuse to say no (I knew they would be handy for something!). Anyway, the service was all right and the music was excellent.

Outside Nymphenburg

We spent the rest of the day wandering through Munich and decided to spend the next day out at Nymphenburg Palace. What an amazing place! Originally built for one of the Electors wives after she gave birth to a son, the palace has been added onto for generations and is now a rather large complex. The rooms inside were beautiful and the museum of coaches and sleighs was mind-boggling. "Mad" King Ludwig II certainly went in for over-the-top everything.

Sleigh

"Hall of mirrors" 

Ludwig II's state coaches

We saw this the next day as well when we detoured down to Füssen and made a very quick stop to see Neuschwannstein. We were on our way to Constance and had barely an hour there but it was worth the run up and down the hill to see the castle. It was definitely a surreal experience.

At Neuschwannstein

Constance and the whole lake area was such a beautiful place. We were able to take a couple of very relaxed days and simply enjoy the sun and the lake. One of the days we went to the island Mainau and I can't imagine a better time of the year to go. I have never seen so many tulips! We also took the ferry to the other side of the lake to Meersburg which was a very sweet town with a castle and plenty of old houses.

Mainau

Peacock made entirely of flowers

Mum and Dad on Mainau

In the weekend we met up with the Houbens in Koblenz and checked out the fort and the Marksburg.

Marksburg

Mum and Dad are now in London and I'm back at school for the last four weeks of my time. It's hard to believe how fast everything is going now!

Trip with Parents (Part One)

in Zeeland

Veere (town in Zeeland)

After weeks of nervous excitement Mum and Dad finally made it to Germany to visit me! They've been here just over a week now and I am absolutely loving it. Being able to show them around Effeld and school and my daily life has been very rewarding. They've arrived in time for my school holidays so we first went away for the weekend with my host family to Zeeland. A rather appropriate place to visit and we certainly enjoyed being at the sea, riding on the Dutch bicycles and spending time with each other. For me it was rather strange to have my two worlds collide but being able to share this part of my life with my parents is a huge blessing.

Frauenkirche Dresden

Zwinger (Dresden)

Leaving my host family behind, we took the train to Dresden. What an incredible city! So many amazing buildings but what makes it so special is how much it's been rebuilt. Dresden was severely damaged during WWII and instead of demolishing everything, they've saved as much as possible and restored it to it's former glory. Seeing pictures of what the place looked like after the war, and then seeing the buildings in front of you is certainly awe-inspiring. My feet haven't been doing very well and walking and standing becomes very painful, very quickly. With this in mind we took a bus tour which allowed us to see the important parts of the city while comfortably seated and meant we could hop-on, hop-off whenever we wanted.

Ritche at the Zwinger

St Vitus

Inside the St Vitus cathedral in Prague

Prague

The next day saw us on the train to Prague which was also mind-blowing. We spent the afternoon in the castle complex where centuries of rulers have added on and expanded the original. The church in the complex is beautiful with vibrant stained glass windows. The next day we went down the Charles Bridge which has to be the most decorated bridge I've ever seen. Statues and frilly bits everywhere you look! We continued down to old part of the city where there was a busy Easter market before catching a bus back to Germany and the city of Nuremberg.

Inside Nuremberg castle

I was in Nuremberg 4 years ago so was very excited to be able to show Mum and Dad around. I love the southern German towns with their fortified castles and Fachwerk houses (if you don't know what Fachwerk is, check it out on Google). The weather wasn't all that wonderful so we decided to pay to go inside the castle where there were displays about the former rulers of Germany, the Nazi role in Nuremberg and a history of weaponry (including real weapons). We also went out to the former Nazi parade grounds where you see the half-finished Congress building Hitler built, the parade grounds and the Great Road. It's rather sobering to see these places, especially to stand somewhere we you know Hitler stood to give speeches.

Getting ready to go on Siegfried's motorbike

Today, we took the train down to Munich with a stop in a cute little village called Roth. Very typical Bavarian town and we enjoyed just taking it all in. Sorry for such a long blog! There'll be another one early next week with the rest of our adventures.

Double chapel inside Nuremberg castle

Roth market square

On the Charles Bridge

Hitler's unfinished Congress

London Calling

Ritchie at the Cliffs of Dover

Tower of London

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

House of Commons

It's been a pretty full-on weekend and I'm exhausted but, my gosh, what fun! 5 countries in 24 hours - got to love Europe really. I went with school to London for the day! We left Germany at 3am, drove through the Netherlands, Belgium and France, caught the ferry at Calais, and arrived in England in beautiful sunshine to see the Cliffs of Dover. An hour and a half later and I was in London. I have to admit to being ridiculously pleased to see the sea and loved our calm crossing of the Channel. I also found it very strange to be back on the left side of the road and being surrounded by English speaking people! Driving through London and then walking through the centre was a crazy experience. The impact of seeing places that used to only exist in the T.V. was just amazing. Standing in front of the House of Commons, walking through Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace (cup of tea with the Queen perhaps??), Tower of London, I felt like I was in a dream!

London Eye

We let the students go shopping in Oxford and Regent streets and us teachers went looking for a pub and some food. Got asked how old I was by the security who wouldn't believe that I'm 22. Though according to my year 9 class I'm 35... London at night is SO beautiful, my camera doesn't do it justice and I can't wait to get back in June (still haven't seen The Globe). Bit of drama at the end of the day though. Bus was supposed to pick us up at 9pm but the drivers got lost, then got caught up in demonstrations in Hyde Park, then directed 10km out of London. We waited 2 hours for the them and made the ferry in Dover at the very last minute. Very tired students and teachers and we're all glad to have Sunday to sleep before school on Monday.

The weather is just incredible, I was walking around without a jacket and today I'm sitting outside in 20 degree sunshine to write this. Winter ain't coming, hello Spring!

St James' Park

Tower Bridge

Karneval in Köln

So Karneval is finally over and I seem to have been in shock through most of it. Köln was ridiculous! I went for the first day of Karneval which is a giant street parade. I may have started out feeling silly walking the streets in a penguin costume but not for long. It was pretty cool to have so many people out having fun and in crazy costumes too! Not just students but kids, families, grandparents and parents. But, naturally, also a lot of alcohol! I met up with Zsofi and some of her students from the polytech and we wandered the streets for most of the day. In all the squares all over the city there were parties with thousands of people, live bands, and, you guessed it, lots of alcohol! I was glad to see it but probably wouldn't want to do it again.

Looking out over the crowd

On Sunday I checked out the parade in one of our neighbouring villages. Think Christmas parade but without the Santa at the end and everyone in the parade drinking. Saw some of my students from school who found it rather embarrassing to see the teacher with her camera there! On Monday I went into Köln again for the Rosenmontag parade. The place to be on this particular day of Karneval. Over 1.4 million people watching, over 500 horses and 5 HOURS long!!!! The main goal? To collect as much candy as possible (young and old alike). I have so much chocolate, biscuits and lollies sitting in my room right now it will probably last until next year.

No school on Tuesday as it was also technically still Karneval but I went rock-climbing instead. Pretty fun 6 days really. But this is when Germans really let their hair down and go crazy (in this part of Germany anyway).

with some of the other language assistants

Steffen, Tiago and Vera

Plenty of music bands in crazy costume!

Loved this outfit

Check out our haul!

Effeld Sitzung

Entry march

The Prince and Princess (gosh I want his hat)

So I've survived my first ever Karneval Sitzung and now I am going to attempt to describe it to you. I did manage to take some pictures (and a video) which will hopefully help but this is not going to be easy! Right, first my part of the evening. The orchestra's job is to provide music in between acts, to play a march for people to walk in and out to, to provide music as part of acts and to highlight jokes made by people on stage. There a Karneval group who organise it all and a Prince is picked from the group who oversees the whole thing. Then there's basically an MC and a variety of acts. The comedy acts I didn't really understand because they were often very "in" jokes - about the village, the surrounding villages, current events, Dutch people etc. Or they were making fun of the accent by speaking in their very strong dialect and then I understood about 40% of what was going on! Apparently very funny though!. Then there were the dance groups who dance specifically for Karneval. Their style is a mixture between aerobics and cheer-leading and is done either as individuals or in groups. The theme for the evening was fairy tales so there was a skit of Hansel and Gretel which involved a LOT of cross-dressing, also hilarious. Everything was very relaxed, the audience also came in costume and got up and walked around throughout the evening. Everyone drank large quantities of beer (I had lemonade) and sang along to all the songs. By midnight it had just turned into a big party and, I suspect, continued long after the thing actually finished. The evening was sort of a mixture between a dance show, stand-up comedy, concert, Last Night of the Proms and Gang Show I guess. I had more fun than I was expecting and I hope you enjoy the photos and the video. This is a video of the Dreamboyz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLX4_o1GuCA&feature=youtu.be

Solo dance

Orchestra!

Group dance to , you guessed it, Singing In The Rain!

Hansel and Gretel...

This was very good. These are people's feet which then had their own dance routine