Berlin

So here is long awaited (long procrastinated) blog about my trip with my parents to Berlin. First off, let me say the public transporation in Germany is wonderful! We took the ICE train to Berlin; instead of driving we got to relax for five hours. We had more room than in a car or an airplane and even had a table between our seats!


Below is a picture of a remnant of the Berlin Wall. Most of the wall was destroyed and recycled within the first couple of years after the Wall was opened. However, some portions of it remain.



Though most of the Wall is gone, in many areas the pavements remains marked by bricks recognizing the prior demarcation of East and West Berlin.




Below is a portion of the exhibit entitled, Topography of Terror. This display was erected on the site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters during the Nazi reign. It describes some of the terrors orchastrated by the Nazis and discusses those convicted during the Nueremburg trials. All-in-all it was a very sobering experience.




We also went to Checkpoint Charlie which was the most well-known border crossing between West and East Berlin during the occupation of Berlin. It was also the scene of many demonstrations and face-offs between the US and Russia as well as the site for many escape attempts. A house just to the right of this picture houses the Mauermuseum (Wall museum) which recounts the history of the Wall and escape attempts, both successful and unsuccessful.






Here are the signs posted on each side of Checkpoint Charlie.

The one on the left sits in West Berlin.

The one on the right sits in East Berlin.



The Reichstag, pictured below, is where the German parliment meets. The globe in the background is actually part of the Reichstag. You can walk up a long circular ramp to the open air top and get a 360 degree view of the city.




You can also look down at meetings of parliment. Not sure if I was allowed to take this picture, but it's an interesting perspective.




On a different note, we also visited the Berlin Cathedral. It's enormous and beautiful! We couldn't actually go inside, but it made me feel very small.




A symbol of German reunification, the Brandenburg Gate, is shown below. It was constructed in 1791 and during the division of Berlin sat on the line of the Wall.




The American Embassy (just on the other side of the Gate) is below. This picture was taken thru the window of the Starbucks across the street.

Yes, I did make my parents go to Starbucks each day that we were in Berlin!

We also took in some of the more modern city sites.

Of course, we did have to go to the Christmas Market (Weihnachts Markt)! Don't worry; I refrained from spending too much. I did have to get chocolate covered strawberries though! They were delicious!

Below is the entry way of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe); this is Europe's largest department store. I have to say, I enjoyed going to the Christmas Markets a lot more than to this store, but it was impressive!

Apparently, Berlin is doing with bears, what Chicago did with cows a few years ago. Scattered throughout the city are bears, like the one below, with different names and sayings on them. You probably can't read it, but this is the Albert Einstein bear. It says "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding." Very thought provoking.

Postdamer Platz is in former East German but now is host to new modern attractions. They have a huge Sony plaza with a movie theatre, restaurants, a Lego store and more. In the spirit of winter, they also had this sled hill. People could ride down the hill on inner tubes. I tried to convince my parents to go so I could get a picture of them. For some reason, they couldn't be convinced!

I continue to be amazed by the history in Europe. More to come later. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Germany

So we (my parents and I) are making a whirlwind tour of "countries that border Germany to the west and south". In the last two days, we've been to Luxembourg, Belgium and France (along w/ Baden-Baden in Germany). Below are a few of the highlights.

Luxembourg is a country of about 900 square miles that's west of Germany. We visited Luxembourg City which is a city of about 85,000 people. It was established in the 900s (yes that's right, the nine-hundreds).

This first picture is of the wall around Luxembourg City.

Next is a picture of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg City. The picture doesn't do it justice. But it proves that there was sun while we were in Luxembourg!

This last picture is of the cafe where I had the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted; and, believe me, I've tasted a lot of hot chocolates! Communication with the waitress was a bit difficult as she didn't seem to speak English or German; I tried both. Apparently, there are three national languages in Luxembourg: German, French and Luxembourgish (yes, it's really a language!).

Next we went to Belgium, but we just crossed the border and then turned around so my parents could say they had been to Belgium (see my previous post about going to Belgium a couple of months ago).

Yesterday, we headed off to Baden-Baden, Germany. Baden basically means "baths" or "to bathe". It is famous for hot springs that have fed baths since Roman times. Now it's a resort town with spas and a casino.

Yes, I actually went into the casino. In my defense, I was going to go to the Christmas market, but my parents needed help translating the German signs in the casino. We spent 8 Euro and didn't win anything. This is why I don't gamble!

We did also get to see a living manger scene. Well, the animals were alive and kept trying to topple the statue of Mary!

All in all it was a great way to spend the end of my time with my parents!

I promise, I will really blog about our trip to Berlin soon!

Now you see me; now you don't!

As some of you may know, my parents recently came to visit me in Germany and brought my two cats, Wonder and Thea! They (my cats) had been living with my sister in VA while I was in Korea. I'm very excited to have them here, but they have gotten lost in my apartment several times. Thea is especially good at this:

Does anything look unusual in this picture?

Look again.

Just a preview into my life with my cats. Next time I'll show pictures of Wonder.

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Okay, so I bought my first Christmas tree this year. Well, the first one that's real and is more than 2 feet tall. Since my two cats are now here and I don't have many ornaments, I bought a cute little Christmas tree.

Okay, so it looks a little sad, but it just needs some love (and maybe some garlands!)

On another note, I bought this handmade manger and figurines from a Christmas market in Nuremburg last weekend. I can't do it justice with my camera (or my photography skills), but it's beautiful.

More to come later about my trip to Berlin! Happy week before Christmas!

Closer to Christ

I've been trying to pray and talk to God more often. I stumbled upon this tile in the BX and placed it over my fireplace to help me be cognizant of God in my life. Just thought I'd share it with you! (Sorry the picture came out so dark. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Koeln Weihnachts Markt (Cologne Christmas Market)!

This weekend, I went to my first Christmas Market in Cologne Germany. Cologne has six Christmas Markets spread throughout the city. Different markets have different themes.

Unfortunately I didn't get many good pictures of the markets. Here is one picture looking down on one of the markets.

Here's another of me buying the traditional Gluehwein drink. Basically, it's red wine combined with various spices. Okay, okay, I didn't actually drink it!

Cologne also houses the largest cathedral in Germany. Here are a couple different view of it (It's virtually impossible to get it all in one picture!)

You can climb up 509 steps (although we only counted 491) to the top of the Dom. It's a beautiful view from the top. Unfortunately, it was too dark to get a good view. However, this is a view from part of the way up looking further up.

Another highlight of the trip was to the chocolate museum!

While I don't think the 7.50 Euro entrance fee was worth it, we did get some free chocolate samples.

They also had some interesting chocolate figures.

After all that strenuous museum learning we had to stop at the cafe on the first floor and sample the heisse trinkschokolade (hot drinking chocolate) and dreikoenigstorte (Three Kings cake). And, of course, I had to buy some chocolate to take home with me!

Okay, I didn't really buy this; but anyone want to get it for me for for Christmas?

I'd definitely recommend a trip to Cologne to anyone traveling to Germany!

What is going on?

So this is going to be a bit of a rant on my part; so be warned!

Normally I feel that I'm a fairly optimistic person; however, after recent events in the news I have to ask, what is going on in the world?

On an international level, terrorists hold hostages in various locations in Mumbai, India for more than 48 hours; and it's still not over.

On a national level (by this I mean American, not German), an employee who opened the door to a Walmart in Long Island on Black Friday was stampeded to death by the more than 200 customers waiting to get in. How do you trample a guy to death to get an Wii? Have we stooped that low?!

What can/should we do to stop this? I don't mean on a national level. I'm looking for is what we can do in our interactions with others (at work, home, walking down the street) to prevent the spread of this notion that "I am entitled to whatever I want and it doesn't matter who I hurt to get it".

Any thoughts/feelings are much appreciated.

Sorry for the rant.

The Speyer Cathedral (Der Kaiserdom zu Speyer)

Today, I went with some members of the Catholic young adult group (yes, at 30 years old I still consider myself a YOUNG adult!) to Mass at the Cathedral in Speyer, Germany. Before you ask, the Mass was in German. It paralleled the American Mass very closely and, thankfully, amen is still pronounced amen in German (although w/ more of an "AH-men" sound).


Here is our group before the drive.




Here is the cathedral.




And here is the main door to the cathedral. The blue sign on the left is about at the top of my head. (Yes, it was very large and heavy!)




The outdoor ceiling was very ornate and beautiful!




One thing I miss about the smaller churches I have normally gone to is the warmth. It was about 20 degrees outside the church and probably about 45 inside the church. Coats and gloves remained on. (The hypothermia resolved after a cup of hot chocolate in a cute cafe!)

All in all it was a great trip!

Snow! (Schnee!)

For the first time since I have been in Germany, it snowed! I'm sure it won't surprise anyone, but after waking up on Saturday morning and seeing the snow, I threw on clothes and ran out to walk in it and take pictures of it.

So below are my first pictures of snow in Germany. Enjoy!

When we get enough snow, I'll send pictures of my snowmen or snowwomen (or is it snowomen?).