Kaiserslautern 10/29-10/30

This weekend was a bit of a disappointment. I really wanted to go to Frankenstein's Castle to have a fun, Halloween adventure, but tickets were sold out. Happily we found that out before making the three-hour train ride there. Instead we headed to Kaiserslautern for its Halloween parade. It was a pretty cool event, but not as exciting as a haunted house would have been. After the parade we had dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant, and I ate a yummy pizza. Sunday was a nice and relaxing day. I spent the day watching movies, finishing up on homework and eating good food. It was a good end to a mostly uneventful weekend.

Frankfurt 10/22-10/23

This weekend was a nice mix of fun and exciting and chill and relaxing. Saturday was a leisurely day of walking around and visiting the various sites, mostly churches, in Frankfurt. I bought a really cute ring from a street vendor who bent metal into different types of jewelry. He was really impressed by my metal earrings from Paris and tried to figure out how they were made. He kept touching them and marveling. It was pretty comical. After a short nap at the hostel, we woke up for the hostel's free pasta party and got some free dinner. It was bland and tasted a little watered down, but most importantly it was free so still good! We then went on a pub crawl organized by a group in Frankfurt. It was a good deal, because our entry was covered to each of the four clubs. But it should have been called a pub marathon, because each of the clubs were about five or more blocks apart... something my heel-clad feet did not appreciate. We started out in a salsa club, which of course set me in a great mood. It was so much fun getting in a little salsa, bachata and merengue. Then we walked all the way to our second club... more of a chill lounge area with thumping techno music. The third club was a sweaty, steamy mass of people shuffling to techno. The final club was my favorite and the perfect place to end. It was a good mix of techno and hip hop with a large dance floor and an exuberant crowd. I thoroughly enjoyed getting my ghetto dance on! Sunday we went to the German Cinematography museum, which is probably the coolest museum I have ever been to. It was such a comprehensive museum and had examples of cameras, costumes, lighting and every component that goes in to film over its lifespan. There was even an Academy Award and a prop Darth Vader mask that special effects artists referenced for lighting purposes. My favorite part of the museum was a set of four large TV screens that different movie clips were projected on simultaneously and one at a time. It was a total movie experience, which is what movies are really about, and brought together threads of similarities between different films. I could have sat there all day. But we eventually left and got some lunch. I was thrilled to have some Pho, because I have been craving it for a while. Sadly it was not as good as the Pho I've had at home, but it was still warm and tasty. We wrapped up the weekend by stopping at the Kaiserslautern festival on our way home. It wasn't really that exciting, because I have already been to so many German festivals and they are all so similar. But I did get some delicious chocolate-covered pineapple, so it wasn't a total loss. The evening was wrapped up with a Doner Kebab for dinner, a happy ending.

Koln 10/15-10/16

 

This weekend was so much fun, and I was able to experience things I love doing at home (i.e. I got my Latin dance on and ate some sushi). Friday night the girls put on a get together. Someone mentioned salsa dancing, so naturally I was all over it and discovered that one of the guys knew how to dance. He got his iPod filled with the necessary jams and we proceeded to have a Latin dance party, salsa, merengue and bachata included! It was so much fun! I had an ear-to-ear smile the whole time I was dancing. It had been way to long since I was able to bust out the salsa moves, so I thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity. Saturday I headed to Koln (Cologne). The train ride there was really long (5 hours), but I read an entire book during the trip there and back, so it was nice to have the time to read! (really long side note: I love the library here! I have read several books already... Emily Giffin is a fabulous author... and watched some movies from the library. There are also travel books that have helped me plan some of these weekend trips. I also have increased my music collection, especially with international music. The library is such a wonderful resource that I feel so lucky to have access to) Koln was a cool city and had some very interesting buildings. The Dom was huge... I really had to strain my neck to look up at the top of the building. There were several churches throughout the whole city, one of which was in ruins. That one was my favorite, because it had more depth and character. I did some shopping while I was there, because Koln has one of the best and biggest pedestrian shopping boulevards in Germany. There were so many stores! I spent the day strolling around and checking out the sites. It seemed to be the weekend for bachelor and bachelorette parties, because I saw at least four groups celebrating their friends' last day of singlehood. I also ate sushi for dinner. I was so excited to have sushi, because it had been at least two and a half months since the last time I had it, which is far too long! It was really delicious and totally hit the spot. Sunday I was able to go to church and then spend the last of the day relaxing. It was a wonderful weekend all around filled with things I love to do and eat.

Paris 10/08-10/10

 

Well it was a miracle that we even made it to Paris, and I'm so glad that we did! I absolutely loved the city and would certainly visit it again. Our bus was scheduled to leave at midnight Friday. We got to our bus stop about 20 minutes early and proceeded to wait and worry, wait and worry, repeat. We were at a random city bus stop with no station in sight, very little light and out in the cold. By the time 1 a.m. rolled around and we had yet to see a bus (but plenty of teasing semi trucks) the worry really started to escalate. Fifteen minutes later we decided to throw in the towel, assuming that we got scammed, and called a taxi. A beat later we saw a glorious, magnificent tour bus with "Eurolines" painted in large letters on the side... It was our bus! Our bus! I don't think I've ever been so excited to see a bus. The drive in to Paris was pretty uneventful and filled with fitful sleep.
Saturday we headed straight to the hostel to drop off our luggage and scored on an extra day of free breakfast. Our first stop in the city was, of course, the Eiffel Tower. It was a surreal moment, because I thought I'd never make it to the city, but here I was looking at the iconic image of Paris! We walked around for most of the day, stopping to see the Statue of Liberty's sister, a bridge that I'm fairly certain was in the movie Inception the Arc de Triomphe and the famous shopping boulevard Champs-Elysees. Later that night we saw the Moulin Rouge and then headed to a club called Showcase that our hostel receptionist recommended. His directions were all turned around, but we managed to find it with a taxi man's aid. It was a fairly fun club, but only pumped out techno all night, which was a bit of a disappointment after the hostel man promised hip hop, techno and dub step. He was just wrong on most counts. Getting home after the club was another challenge. We left late, and as we walked up to the top of the steps to get down to the metro, the gate closed. So we tried to hail a taxi. Well apparently everyone else was doing the same thing, because it took us TWO HOURS to finally find a free taxi with a driver (thank God for Mark!) willing to take us all the way to our hostel (it was a fair drive out of the main part of the city).
Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the Louvre getting there about half an hour before it opened. It was the best decision, because we got pictures outside of the museum without tons of people milling around, and we were first in line at the main entrance. We got through the museum in a little over two hours. Had we come an hour later, we would have spent that time in line to get into the museum and buy tickets. And another great thing was that we were able to get in for free, because we are international students studying in Europe. It was fabulous! The rest of the day we saw Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and the Montmartre district. The district was my favorite part of Paris. Artists showcased their work along cobble-stoned streets lined with shops and restaurants. And it is where we discovered hang music. The hang is a percussion instrument that has only been (hand)made since 2001. The sounds is so beautiful and unique, but familiar because it has hints of steel drum and tablas. Everyone walking by the musicians performing on the street was captivated by the relaxing music and had to stop to see what was happening. Happily I bought the CD that was available. We finished the night off with dinner at Cafe de France in Place d'italie, complete with French onion soup, a mozzarella tomato sandwich and creme brulee. Our final stop was the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, making it even more beautiful than during the day. Monday was a relaxing day. We went to Tuileries Gardens, which were exquisite and provided a glimpse of the Louvre, Obelisque, Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower. It was a great summation of the trip. We had lunch at a little cafe and then stocked up on some delicious pastries (croissant included) before heading home.

Heidelberg 10/01-10/02

I want to move to Heidelberg after spending Saturday there. It has been my favorite German city that I have visited so far. Heidelberg reminded me a lot of Brugge with its cobblestone streets and the river running through the city, but the architecture wasn't quite as cute. We visited Heidelberg Castle, which I actually enjoyed more than Neuschwanstein. It had more of a rustic feel and actually had crumbling walls. I liked that it was still standing even though part of it was in ruin. And there were beautiful, massive gardens surrounding the castle. The walls encasing the castle stretched out to the best view of the city down below. It was a gorgeous expanse of buildings cut in the middle by a large river filled with boats and straddled by bridges. After the castle we meandered around the city's market square and popped into stores along the way. We discovered a place that made a large variety of liqueurs, including a hazelnut (I love that so many things are hazelnut, and for that matter, blueberry flavored, because they are so good) liqueur that was on sale. It was absolutely delicious, so I bought a bottle! While walking down the main street, a herd of zombies edged their way through the crowd. It was totally unexpected, but so much fun! I loved the vibe of the moment, and it just made me like the young, hip, relaxed feel of the city.
Sunday was the best one I've spent while in Germany. I took a solo trip down to Landstuhl and wandered around the city taking pictures. It was the first time I've really gotten to explore my German hometown, so i really enjoyed getting a feel for the place I live in. I finally got to try this bakery, Barbarossa, that is at the end of "Cardiac Hill" (the steep hill that connects the post to Landstuhl, which is about a 15 to 20 minute walk). Every time I've passed by it has been crowded with people teeming out with delicious looking treats. I had the best pastry of my life. It was like a croissant, bear claw and baklava all rolled into one with only the best parts of each. And the best part about it was that it was only about $1.25, making it one of the cheapest items in the joint (which conveniently is a chain bakery, so I have access to these magnificent treats while on the road). After trekking back up Cardiac Hill, I headed to church on post for the Protestant service. It was the first time I've been to church since being here, and I absolutely loved it. The service and worship weren't anything spectacular, but it just felt so wonderful to be back in His presence. It was a fabulous, relaxing, fulfilling weekend.