Pictures from Bonn and the past week
Hello, well Blogspot decided to work today so here are the pictures (actually they are Alex Stoll's pictures because I am too lazy to get them off my own camera) so enjoy! I'm off to Amsterdam this weekend.
Beer festival in Bonn. The light attendance was probably due to the spurts of rain and also it was early.
Cover band playing at the beer festival. They had a bunch of hilarious costumes including a one piece metallic gold suit.
Park view (parks are everywhere in Germany)
Nice place along the way up the hill. The rest of the pictures are images that Alex took along the way.
Night time at the Cologne Dom.
Quick update
So, been a bit slow on this, but that's because my supervisor and I finally got the program that I am simulating working and as a result, I am a bit busier than usual. These past couple weeks have been interesting. KC and I found a group of people who play ultimate every Weds and Sun so that is very exciting to play in organized sport again. Its good to keep in shape and plus their skill level is about the same as mine so I don't feel so bad if I don't make the behind the back diving catch thrown by some hippie.
Also last week, Lynn and Felix left so our "crew" is down by a few, but we found another American from Rice University, Alex Stoll.
Last weekend, I went to Bonn to see what the international beer festival and former capital of Western Germany had to offer. Turns out we didn't get to spend too much time in Bonn since we had to catch the last train back to Dortmund and had stopped in Cologne along the way since some people haven't been there yet. We did however hike to a high point in a neighbouring borough and saw these ruins that were at the top of a 2 km uphill hike with a spectacular view of Bonn. I wish I had some time to walk the museum mile as well as see some of the Beethoven exhibits (he was from Bonn). Next time, I'll travel alone.
On Sunday I was acousted by German police and transit staff for not having a correct ticket for the subway which I am positive I had. Turns out I need a this free plastic customer card (wtf is that??). I was forced to pay the 40 euro fine and then the next day I went to complain to the officials at the HBF. Turns out I only was supposed to pay 2.50 euro, but since I already paid, there's nothing I can really do about it. A friend of mine just faxed a complaint letter on my behalf so hopefully some of this money will show up.
This weekend will be headed to Amsterdam. Can't wait. Alright I'd throw in some choice photos from Bonn, but blogspot is being stupid.
Heidelberg
Heidelburg is a beautiful student town in a valley, situated along the Neckar River and overlooked by an old majestic castle. It is home to Germany's oldest university and is one of the nicest towns I have been in so far. It was also the site of the RISE Meeting of Scholar's sponsored by DAAD where participants from all over Germany converged onto this small university town to meet and greet each other and share our experiences.
The majority of the Dortmund group (minus Reed and Sasan) left at 9:38am Thursday morning and ~4 hours later, we arrived in Heidelburg after a quick changeover in Manheim (I think...I don't remember). We ran into other students from neighbouring towns and caught the bus to our Jurgenburger (Youth Hostel). It was a really nice modern building with a pretty decent sized cafeteria. After checking in, we sat through several lectures illustrating how RISE has expanded and grown over the past year and how important it was for us to be there and to spread the word back home.
Thursday night, Ozel (Queen's 06) took us on a tour of Heidelberg's student night life which included a stop at a place for one of the largest absinthe bars in Western Europe as well as a bar which served 33% (probably more like 13%) beer which had the viscosity of molasses.
Highlights of the trip for me would be the excursion to the castle, the actual tour of the Merck manufacturing facilities, jumping off a 40 foot dive platform 5 times (this was a serious rush), a nighttime trip back to the castle to hang out in on the castle gardens, going on a walking tour of Heidelberg, taking the philosopher's path and walking up the hill to get a better view of the city, and dipping my feet into the Neckar waiting for the time to pass. That's about it. I do wish I had more time to check out the other places such as the student prison and some of the bars with live music, but overall, it was a great trip. I've thrown in some of the nicer photos that I like from Heidelburg.
Been a while, but here goes - Further Dortmund Explorations and Bochum meeting
Well, it has been a while so here's the gist of things since my last posting. Last weekend, Reed and I looked up a Dortmund tourism website and mapped out all the places we wanted to see in town. These included historic houses with moats, museums, harbours, a river walk, and swimming pools to go to.
I took my bike and did a ride around the nearby historic houses and industrial museums but they were closed by the time I got there. I don't think I will venture back for a paid tour because it is mainly the grounds of these places that are nice to visit.
On Tuesday evening, the RISE exchange students were invited to Bochum for a get-together of all the RISE students in the Ruhrland region. We had tea/coffee and cake, met new people from neighbouring towns, a tour of the botanical gardens (including the Chinese garden which was really nice except the tour lady kept looking at me for confirmation of facts) and then finally, a piano concert with a 5 song encore (this was amazing, but I really would have liked further notice on the number of encores an artist does). That week was short because on Thursday we went to Heidelberg for the weekend.
This is my supervisor, Christian Sonntag btw.
Cologne and Further Explorations (also World Cup Weekend)
It's finally over. One month of pure football and now it has all come to an end. What are we going to do in the evenings now that there are no more games to watch? Germany played an excellent game against Portugal, completely dominating the play resulting in a 3 goal lead and leaving behind many instances of C. Ronaldo and co, grabbing their poor legs with a tear in their eye and looking at the refs for the calls that didn't come. That was great refereeing. In the final, Italy won for their 4th time in history in penalties 5-4 in penalties after Zidane was kicked off the pitch in his final game for head butting a Italian player in the chest. Sure it looked viscous, but those Italian players aren't especially known to have some solid footing either. Whenever I watch a football game nowadays, it is like in the movies with the explosions and kicks blowing people through walls and flying through the air. Oh well, it's all over now.
On Saturday, we went to Cologne and saw the massive cathedral that was situated right outside the main train station (HBF). It was gothic style and all along the walls and inside are pictures depicting demons getting punished or people burning in hell after being smote by the wrath of God for not praying or something along those lines. Nothing quite like these images to put the fear of God into His followers. Inside the cathedral, for 1 euro, we climbed up +1000 stairs to the top to see the bell tower and also to get an overview of the city. The catherdral is also famous for housing the remains of the 3 Wise Men who brought gifts to the birth of Jesus. Chuck Norris's painting was nowhere to be found with his gift of beard. These sacred relics are housed at the front of the church by the alter in a massive gold coffin/tomb. There were many other tombs around all with little pets present in the stone relief of the person who died. I'm not sure who was in entombed inside the cathedral, but it was pretty cool.
We walked along the waterfront and wandered around the city, flying frisbee in the park and crossing back and forth between bridges. We found a Chocolate Museum and naturally, went to check out the exhibits. It was sponsored by Lindt and I think that would be a sweet process job there (pun intended). There was also a lady there who's job was to dip wafers into a chocolate pool and pass them out. Very tasty. The displays and explanations were orientated towards women. Such lines as "It has been found that chocolate would reduce mood swings incurred during various times of the month" and "Chocolate provides additional vitamins that we would normally receive from the sun. That is why chocolate consumption is increased in the winter months" were the giveaways. Visiting the gift shop, we picked up some chocolates and chocolate liqueur to try it out. Quite good, but very rich.
After, we found a nice restaurant that was reasonably priced by the water and enjoyed a pizza dinner with a local Koln beverage and then took the train back to Dortmund to catch the Germany-Portugal game at a small Italian joint near the train station.
We met up with Felix at the Starbucks downtown (there is only one, believe it or not) and watched the game in the full Friedenplatz with the rest of the French and Italian fans. The game ended and we tried to find some Shaum eis, but all the carneys were packing up and I had to settle for a last taste of the half meter long bratwurst.
On Sunday before the game, Reed, Lauren and I went exploring around Dortmund. Reed and I did some research on the web and marked all the nice spots to check out on our maps. Unfortunately, we didn't get out of the house until after 3:00pm so we did a whirlwind scouting tour of some of the locations. We found the harbour and Westfalen park, but we did not get a chance to really walk the areas. I'll do that another time.
Monday is the best day because of our staff breakfasts which usually have meats, cheese, bread, pudding, and fruits as well as juice so I love Mondays. This week, in short will be a Tuesday meeting in Bochum with the RISE participants in Bochum, and then Heidelburg conference from Thursday until Sunday so I am looking forward to these trips!
Sad Germany and Failed July 5 BBQ
Strawberries. This is the smell that wafts through my open window every morning along with the 100% humidity that's been lingering around in the Westphalia region. Across the street there is a large strawberry field where if you wake up early enough you can pick a whole bunch and have fresh fruit and breakfast too. Unfortunately, I'm too lazy, but one day I'll get up and do it.
As most of you know by now, Germany lost their semi-final match against Italy after 120 minutes of hard fought football. Germany had never before lost in Dortmund and with this history, we were expecting a huge party that night. As the Italian ball passed across the goal line, you could feel the collective sigh in the city as Germany's cinderella dream came to an end in Dortmund. The city was rather quiet after the game as 250 000 people quietly shuffled to the main train station to go home. However, I am quite sure the German people are proud of their team and their achievements considering the team was internationally criticized and not expected to proceed past the round of 16. They will be playing Portugal for 3rd place in Stuggart on Friday.
On July 5th, at the insistance of our patriotic American exchange students we had a bbq to commemorate the respective national holidays back home (which led to "huh? you guys don't celebrate on July 4?") All was well the morning of the bbq. The sun was shining and the heat was almost unbearable. Then, sometime during the day nature decided to throw in a large thunderstorm and rain down hail for the better part of the afternoon. As the sun broke through again near quitting time, we felt the worst was over and we would have our bbq afterall. Turns out no. With everything damp and no lighter fluid for our "self-lighting" coals, followed by strong winds and rain, the bbq was a bust and we were forced to move indoors. The girls and a Quebec frenchman, Felix brought various cheeses, bread and salads. I panfried the sausages and we had a feast with wine and beer. Some of us knew our limits. One other didn't, leading to a night of dry heaving and hugging the toilet. We put him to bed and after another late night, everybody went home.
